Many believers today suffer from what is called the “Lullaby Effect.” This is the condition where people just repeat words they hear without looking at what they are saying. For instance, we sing a song called, “Rockabye Baby” to a child without really looking at the words. But the song is about a baby in a tree top who gets knocked to the ground by the wind. What kind of a song is that to sing to a child! It’s because we don’t look at the words. Spiritually, we do the same thing with the Scriptures, concepts, idioms, and phrases found there. We just repeat what everyone else says without really checking it out. That is the “Lullabye Effect.”
We are going to present an example of this. It is designed to expose the reader to other meanings of the statements and teach them to expand their spiritual horizons when interpreting spiritual concepts found in the Scriptures. This was a big lesson for us years ago, helping us realize that we need to expand how we see things. We first learned this from a book called, “Will the Real Jesus Please Stand?” by Vendyl Jones, Institute of Judaic-Christian Research, published in 1983. We are going to give you seven riddles and we want you to have the answer in mind as we move along. The answer is very simple so you don’t have to be a genius to figure it out. At the end, we will give the answer that we had in mind, too. The end result should be to help you look at things a little differently and discern the words, and expand your outlook. Once you have learned the lesson, you can use it to discern other Scriptures and concepts as well.
Our thoughts are like trees in a secret garden, and on each tree there are leaves, and these leaves are words that are blown by the wind (ruach). As a result, they can utter a myriad of meanings.
1. I am thinking of someone in history who left an indelible imprint on mankind. Without a biological miracle in the womb of his mother, his birth would have been impossible.
2. As an infant, he was called the son of God.
3. He was taken to Egypt to preserve his life.
4. He returned to the land of Israel and was hated by all those around him. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief.
5. He was hated so greatly that he was executed by the Romans.
6. The third day he will come back to life.
7. He will never die again.
Now, if you were thinking I was talking about Yeshua, you were wrong, but Yeshua brought Israel’s meaning to its fullest depth. However, “I am thinking” (see # 1) about Israel in these riddles. So let’s look at these again with Israel in mind.
1. I am thinking of someone in history who left an indelible imprint on mankind (there is no question that Israel has left the greatest imprint on the world than any other nation; even Mark Twain in 1899 said it in an essay called, “Concerning the Jews”). Without a biological miracle in the womb of his mother (Sarah and Isaac-Gen 18.1-15), his birth would have been impossible (Gen 18.14).
2. As an infant he was called the son of God (Exo 4.22).
3. He was taken to Egypt to preserve life (Joseph sent there at first to preserve life-Gen 45.5; when there were only 70 people, Jacob was told to go to Egypt in Gen 46.1-4 during a famine).
4. He returned to the land of Israel and was hated by all those around him (the Canaanites; Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Palestinians, Iranians, Syrians etc). He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief.
5. He was hated so greatly that he was executed by the Romans (Josephus said the Romans crucified so many people that they ran out of wood; there were so many slaves that they were bought very cheaply; over a million were killed; Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed; the gold taken from the Temple was used to build the Roman Coliseum and the Arch of Titus).
6. The third day he will come back to life (Hos 5.11 through 6.3; Ezek 37.1-28).
7. He will never die again (Ezek 37.1-28; Ezek 40 through 48; Jer 30.10-11, 31.31-37; Rom 11.25-26).
All of this has been a fun lesson, and given to help illustrate the importance of expanding your perspective when looking at the Scriptures, and looking at the words and their meanings, and not be subject to the Lullabye Effect. If you do this, it will give you much more insight and meaning than you have ever had before.
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