I’m no Hebrew scholar, but I love how God uses both its alphabet and its traditions to speak to us. After all, Jesus was a Jew.
I look forward to each time the Hebrew New Year approaches. Like a child eagerly awaits the bounties of Christmas morning, I wait on the Lord to get a picture for the coming year. Every fall, He impresses on my heart a key word or image that becomes the focus for me and I pray it becomes the same for you by the end of this article. I’ve learned that it takes time to really comprehend what He’s saying through the prophetic symbols, but as the months go by and as I dig into the details, the picture becomes clearer.
This past Rosh Hashanah (the celebrated 5778 New Year) the Lord came through once again and spoke to my spirit. He said, “I’m doing new things and there will be movement.” It took some months before I received the full picture, but as I studied the meaning of the year 5778, I began to gain the right perspective on what He was trying to get me to understand.
Before we jump into the interpretation of the year 5778, let’s learn a bit about the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters and each has a meaning, a picture association and a numerical value (which is how Hebrew numbers are rep- resented). Numbers, in some cases, are made up of a combination of letters because only 22 letters are available. Diving into the past Hebrew New Year, I’d like to focus on interpreting the significance of the last part of the number —78— to shed some light on what I feel God’s saying is to come.
The Symbolic Meaning and the Prophetic Meaning
The number 78 is formed by the combination of two letters, Ayin (the 16th letter having a value of 70) and Chet (the 8th letter having a value of 8). On the surface, they might just seem like ordinary numbers. As we dig in to the specifics, the connection and relevance to 2018 clearly shines through. If we look close enough, it’s hard to miss what we should focus on for the coming year.
To start off, Ayin has a pictograph that looks like an eye. It implores us to open our eyes—to see beyond the physical. It’s meant to take us from dark to light and it urges us to break through the walls of limitations in order to see what’s not yet visible to us. This year, as we approach the end of the Ayin decade, the Lord’s emphasizing the importance of us seeing with our spiritual eyes. He wants us to obtain vision for the future and make these details our compass for the next movement. We’re called to press in and strengthen our spiritual vision, to see past natural things and everything that’s limited us decades before.
Now to shift our focus on Chet. Shaped like a tent or a Chuppah (a canopy that couples stand underneath during Jewish weddings), it beautifully rep- resents the covering of the Lord through covenant with Him. Out of the old and into the new is what we’re being called to, but it won’t happen by accident. With a pictograph that looks like a wall, a gateway or a fence, we learn that it’s going to take us getting past what was to be able to partake in the beauty that’s in front of us. This represents a crossing from one place to another, a crossover into the new year covered by the Lord. Chet’s normally associated with resurrection life and new beginnings. This 2018 is a year of new beginnings and the Lord confirmed this by speaking to my heart through Scripture, “See, I’m doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19).
Adopting this new understanding, we have to be willing to take a look at ourselves on a deeper level. The Lord’s gracefully exposing how a lot of us have been held captive in an old move and haven’t been able to enter into what really belongs to us. It’s time in this fresh season to move forward and pass over to our new beginnings. God’s doing a new thing we’ve never seen or heard of before and we must be expectant for it. We’ve got the blood as our protection and nothing but ignorance can stop us from experiencing His fullness.
When we see beyond the natural, there’s always a war that takes place in the supernatural. Knowing this, we must have a keen eye to know when it’s God and when it’s not. Again, this is new for all of us and it’ll take time to become familiar with His different ways. With that said, we have the opportunity to live aware and open to whatever He wants to do next. Alignments are taking place around the world through a move of authentic and organic connections. Those in unity with the Lord are divinely coming together through His perfect timing and we don’t want to miss out.
These details represent an open invitation for us to join His rapid flow. We have the freedom and ability to move where He’s directing us. We can utilize the gateway set before us and walk straight into a new level of His glory. We can see this move described in the New Testament of the Bible, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV). It’s our honor and privilege to get to partner with Him and experience transformation in the process of moving forward.
As we move with God’s flow, there will be growing pains we can’t avoid. This movement of the Spirit is sure to agitate and bring discomfort, but it’s all the more reason to press on. We don’t need to lie to ourselves; we’ll be pushed, feel beaten and even thrusted forward (what it means to “stir” in Hebrew). Just as the Lord began to stir Samson in Judges 13:25, He’s doing the same today. Though it may feel violent in nature, it’s just like the birthing of a child through the birth canal. As the atmosphere breaks through our response to join His movement, it’ll be the catalyst for real life our world’s long- ing for.
Like the beating of the hoofs of a running horse, we can feel the intensity and urgency of the Lord’s heart in this season. He’s stirring our hearts and it goes beyond our- selves. [The word stir is “paam” in Hebrew, formed by three letters: Pe (mouth), Ayin (to see) and mem (water).] With a deeper under- standing of what we’ve stepped into, we must use our mouths to speak of this new thing which will let others see (with spiritual eyes) the ways of the living waters of the new move of God. The Lord’s revealing this new move and will thrust us through the gateway into the waves of living waters like a running horse and the best way to move in this New Year is to “trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not lean on our own under- standing…in all our ways submit to Him, and know that He’ll make our paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-7 paraphrase).
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One of the things that makes walking out the Christian faith so fulfilling is the journey of uncovering the mysteries and depths of the Kingdom of God. Now that we’ve uncovered some of the prophetic mysteries of the year 5778, we can dig a little deeper to fully embrace 2018 as the year of Open Doorways. Learning is one thing, but if we really want to launch through to the divine opportunities in the coming months, there’s a bit more truth to marinate in. Remember, “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6 NIV).
It’s a Mystery
Moving forward, we should know that God is full of mystery and wonder. He loves to let us know that He’s around and that He’s embedded in everything. With thoughts far beyond us, He loves to speak in very unique ways because we’re all created uniquely. And, I think He likes to keep us on our toes, waiting in excitement for what He might say next and how He might say it. Understanding this is part of the adventure in growing closer to Him. The more we learn that it’s the uniqueness, beauty, and brilliance of the bride that He wants boldly displayed, the more we can live freely with Him and take advantage of what’s in front of us.
If we’re too afraid of the unknown or the supernatural, we’ll sadly dismiss much of what God may want to show us. We’ve got to come to terms with Him being the God that’ll go way out of our comfortable box to reveal Him- self. We never need to look for a sign; we only need to desire the heart of the Father and the powerful love of Jesus. He’s more than happy to show off for us when our hearts are pure towards Him. Over time, I pray that more of us will dive into the stream of what He calls “living waters.” It’s time we live refreshed in His new wave of love, away from what’s kept us stagnant for far too long.
For the Sake of the Kingdom
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ Let anyone who’s thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life” (Revelation 22:17). If I’m correct, most of us wouldn’t even pick up on the part that says the Spirit and the bride say. This is us—we are His Bride and we have authority that He wants us to actually use. If we’d take more time to listen, God’s constantly revealing life-changing things to us (Biblically, spiritually, prophetically, numerically, symbolically, metaphorically, naturally and supernaturally). If we pay attention to what’s in plain sight, we probably wouldn’t hesitate to walk through those doors already opened for us.
We can see the idea of Open Door- ways showcased in Revelation 3:7-8. Jesus explicitly speaks of God opening doors no one can close and closing doors no one can open. This truth in itself is rich enough to carry us through to the next thing. Whatever that looks like for each of us. However, it’s going to take us being willing to recognize that He’s opening doors to position His bride for the sake of the Kingdom. As shown throughout many of the articles, “It’s not about you…” or me. There’s a much bigger picture, but the beautiful thing is that we all get to play a part.
Christ the Ultimate Open Door
As a final thought, you should celebrate this time if God’s opening doors for you because it means you’ve been preparing yourself as the Bride. It hasn’t been easy getting to this point, but you’ve kept standing. This truly is a year many believers have been waiting for. The biggest thing to be excited about is knowing there’s always more. More to learn, more to uncover, more to experience. Jesus will always be the path no matter what decade or generation we’re living in. He’s been waiting for the day we come alive in that truth. He is the “Way” and the “Open Door.” Our mission is, and forever will be, to simply seek Him with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our strength. To honor Him and all His glory, let’s lock arms and be thrusted into new life and His abundance of love that can change the world. Together, let’s not miss the call and let’s charge through the year 5778, the year of God’s Open Doorways.
