The "Gospel" Contained in the First Word of the Bible

 

A Word Puzzle Application

Word puzzles are a great American pastime for many people. I recall one from elementary school, where we were asked to see how many words we could make from another word's letters. Today's lesson will be very much like that; only the words discovered will not be random or meaningless. The discoveries will reveal a confirming, checking, and balancing system built right into the Word of God.

The Gospel In the Beginning

While researching another topic, I stumbled across a YouTube teaching that discussed in its entirety the first Hebrew word of the Bible, "bereishit" בראשית) In the beginning. I was surprised to discover that this single Hebrew word contains the entire Gospel message. So I sat down with the Hebrew word "bereishit" (בראשית) and began making all the Hebrew words I could find in it. The only rule I followed was not to rearrange the letters randomly; instead, I would read them from right to left and see how many letter combinations formed other Hebrew words related to the Gospel. I discovered that each word was part of the Gospel story foretold in the very beginning. 

I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times, things that are not yet done.

— Isaiah 46:9-10

A friendly reminder that, as we proceed with the study, I will use Hebrew fonts for Hebrew words. Therefore, the letters should be read from right to left, as in the original Hebrew. Knowing Hebrew is not necessary. It is simply helpful to understand letter placement when discussing them.

Pictographic Hebrew

Hebrew is also a pictographic language that assigns an image to each letter to help us more deeply understand the truth or concept God wishes to communicate. The pictographs will be used throughout this study. An important note, as Frank Seekins writes in his book "Hebrew Word Pictures."

"Hebrew word pictures do not replace, define, or limit Scripture. They illustrate Scripture. The word pictures are valid only when they agree with Scripture"

This idea brings up another vital mention that reading the Scripture in its entirety is just as valuable and essential as viewing it microscopically, as we often do in these word studies. The broader view grounds us in our more specific studies, so we don't stray from God's big picture and come up with private or strange interpretations that don't agree with the whole of Scripture.

A Family outside their tent

Bet—A House

We will begin by looking at the very first letter of the Hebrew word for "in the beginning," "bereishit" (בראשית), which is a "bet" (בְּ). It is also the second letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet. "Bet" is conceptualized by the floor plan of a home or tent and communicates the idea of home and family. In fact, "bereishit" ( בראשית) contains the Hebrew word for a house, which is "bayit" (בית) when combining its first letter with its last two letters. What a beautiful way for God to begin the great news that His first and foremost intention was to create a household and family! Not a family separate from Him, but God Himself is the Father of this family. 

... Built By The Son ...

If we look at just the first two letters of "bereishit" (בראשית), we have the Hebrew word "bar" (בר), which means "Son." "Bar בר" is not commonly used for "son" in the Hebrew Scriptures. "Ben" בן is the most widely used word for "son." Gesenius' Lexicon defines 'bar' as a poetic expression of a chosen and pure son. As recorded in Matthew, the prophet Isaiah foretold God's Son as the sent and chosen one. 

Here is My Servant whom I have chosen, My beloved in whom My soul delights; I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. 

— Matthew 12:18 

In his first epistle, Peter writes about Jesus, the Son of God, emphasizing His preciousness and purity.

... rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious ... 

— 1 Peter 2:4 

... you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ (God's Son), as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 

— Peter 1:18-19

When a "yod" ( י) suffixes this word, it reads "my son" ('בר) and means a beloved and begotten son. "Yod" ( י) is included in our Hebrew word "bereishit" (בראשית) and is used in a prophetic and Messianic Psalm that speaks of God's beloved begotten Son.

The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son ('בר (, Today I have begotten You ... Kiss the Son (Show that you are loyal), lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. 

— Psalm 2

The foretelling of this event is discovered in John.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

— John 3:16

Jesus the Carpenter's Son

Jesus, the Son of God, was sent to build a family.

Is this not the carpenter ...? 

— Mark 6:3

Jesus said the following.

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 

— John 14:2

To which we may reply, as did Paul.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

— Ephesians 3:14

We know from the Scriptures that we are that Temple.

... you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

— 1 Peter 2:5

Giovanni Battista Langetti

... Through A Blood Covenant ...

God would build His house through a blood covenant with His one and only Son because the man (Adam) He made to make a family violated the original covenant between them. Therefore, he became disqualified from being with God; Christ became the necessary fulfillment and sacrifice to repair and restore that breach.

He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 

— Hebrews 9:14

This breach brings us to our next word. The Hebrew word for covenant is "bri't" (בר'ת), which also appears in the word "bereishit" (בראשית)." Bari" ('בר)," my son," studied above, with a "tav" (pictograph of a cross meaning sign or covenant) at the end, reveals that the covenant would be made on a cross by His Son.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 

— Colossians 1:19-20

He Bore Our Fiery Judgment

The word "brit" (בר'ת), for covenant, can be made from "bereishit" (בראש'ת), when the aleph (אֶ) and sheen (שִׁ) are removed from the very middle of the word. Aleph and sheen spell the Hebrew word for fire "esh" (אש), which carries the idea of consuming. It is often associated with judgment. Look at the following verse regarding Moses's experience with the appearance of the Lord when he is called to deliver God's people from their bondage.

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed. 

— Exodus 3:2

Is it possible that this scene of the burning bush was none other than Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself our fiery judgment at the cross as part of fulfilling the terms of the covenant we broke, but yet He was not consumed as He was raised from the dead?

... who (Jesus) was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. 

— Romans 4:25

His resurrection was to deliver us from eternal sin and death.

... what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. 

— Romans 8:3-4

Jesus told the Sadducees the following.

Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 

— Luke 20:37

The Passover lamb was roasted over the fire, which prophetically pointed to the Christ who would undertake our fiery judgment and deliver us from our bondage to sin.

Do not eat it raw, nor boil it with water, but roast it over fire. 

— Exodus 12:9 

When the fiery judgment for sin is dealt with, symbolized by removing sin, it restores the covenant.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. 

— Acts 3:19-21 

... And Our Shame ...

The Hebrew word for shame is contained in "bereishit" (בראש'ת). This word "bosheth" (בשת) expresses how Jesus bore our shame upon Himself.

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

— Isaiah 53:4-6 

 

He Was The First fruits.

If we remove the "bet" from "bereishit" (בראש'ת), we have the word "reishit" (ראש'ת), which means "beginning" or "first" and refers to first fruits in several Biblical instances. 

As for the offering of the firstfruits (bereishit"-בראש'ת), you shall offer them to the Lord ...  

 

— Leviticus 2:12

Again, we see none other than the Lord of all, Jesus.

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

— 1 Corinthians 15:20 

The "Firstfruits," Christ, was "In the beginning."

All Things Created and Exist Through the Son

Firstfruits relates to another word made from "bereishit" (בראש'ת), that being "bara" (ברא), the first three letters of "bereishit" (בראש'ת), which means create. Jesus was the first fruit of His creatures.

He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. 

— James 1:18 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 

— 2 Corinthians 5:17

A clear definition in Brown-Driver-Briggs for "bara" (ברא) suggests a trade involving cutting, or "to beget" with a change of liquid (from an Assyrian word compared to it). The above definition captures the essence of Christ's redemptive act of shedding His blood. The event was the cutting of a blood covenant.

... though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. 

— 2 Corinthians 8:9

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

— 2 Corinthians 5:21

This Hebrew word also comes with the idea of filling. 

... the fullness of Him who fills all in all 

— Ephesians 1:23

It is also about fulfillment.

... those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 

— Acts 3:18

"Bara" (ברא) shows us that God, represented by the "aleph" (אֶ) at the end of the word, created all things by the son (בר). Notably, "bara" is also the second Hebrew word of the Bible.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 

— Colossians 1:15-17

It all begins with the Son of God!

... And The Head Of All ...

"Rosh" (ראש) is another word that appears in the term "bereishit" (בראש'ת). It is defined as "leader," "high in rank," and "supreme."

He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 

— Colossians 1:18

Its first occurrence in the Bible refers to crushing the serpent's head, an essential element of the Gospel.

I will put enmity
Between you (serpent) and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He (Christ) shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.

— Genesis 3:15

Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834-1890)

... Wearing A Crown Of Thorns ...

The next word made from the word "bereishit"(בראש'ת) is "shayith" (ש'ת) and means "thorns." It is rooted in a word meaning to place upon. Combining these revelations, we can see the crown of thorns placed upon His head.

... they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head. 

— Matthew 27:29

 The only thing Jesus would have been wearing on the cross was a crown of thorns. The Bible describes Him being stripped of all other clothing except the crown of thorns. The word thorn, taken from the first word of the Bible, gives us an identifiable adornment by which we could recognize Him, since Jesus was not the only man hung on a cross.

Thorns represent the consequences of sin and having to live in the field rather than the garden.

"Cursed is the ground for your sake;

In toil you shall eat of it

All the days of your life.

Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.

— Genesis 3:18-19

"Toil" is the keyword in the Scripture verse above. The parable of the soils, as it refers to the seed planted among thorns, further explains them to represent 

... the worries of this life ... 

— Matthew 13

Before the fall, life was not weary nor toilsome. The good news of Jesus Christ, who bore the thorns of our worries and cares of both mind and body, presents us with this offer of good news because of what He has done for us.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

— Matthew 11:29 

 

God's free Gift of Salvation is packaged in the beginning.

God's Free Gift

If we look at the "sheen" and "yod" from the word "bereishit" (בראש'ת), it spells the Hebrew word "shai"(שיִׁ)." Shai"(שיִׁ) is defined in Gesenius' Lexicon as a gift or a present that so pointedly expresses what the Gospel truly is.

... through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

— Romans 5:18

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

— Romans 6:23 

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 

— 2 Corinthians 9:15

Alpha and Omega

The final word we will make from "bereishit"(בראש'ת) is a little word pronounced "et" (אתֵ) and is also the third Hebrew word of the Bible. It consists of the first letter, "aleph," of the aleph-bet, and "tav," the Hebrew aleph-bet's very last letter. As we can see, it all begins and ends with Jesus.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." 

— Revelation 1:8 

He told us the end from the beginning.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 

— Ephesians 1:3-6 

The above are pictographs for the Hebrew word "bereishit" (בראש'ת), meaning "in the beginning."

A Pictographic Conclusion

I will conclude this lesson with a pictograph that sums up the Gospel message as studied from the word (ְּבֵראִׁשית) "bereishit." "Bet ב," the first letter of "bereishit" (בראש'ת), symbolizes a house, and "resh ר," the next letter, represents the head of a person and the highest one. The highest one in God's house is His one and only Son. Everything begins with His Son. Recall as well that these first two letters spell "Begotten Son." 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 

— John 1:1-4

"Aleph א," the first letter of the aleph-bet and the third letter of our word study, is conceptualized by an ox illustrating a strong, reliable, and leading one. In this case, it represents the first person of the Godhead, namely God the Father.

Father begins with an "aleph א," as does Elohim אלהים.

"Sheen ש," the fourth letter of"bereishit" (בראש'ת), a picture of teeth, illustrates the idea of consuming and destroying.

"Yod י," our word's fifth letter, is a hand and illustrates power

Tav ת, the final letter, is a sign represented by the cross symbol.

Putting it all together, we can see that the Gospel is a home/family/kingdom that begins with the Son of God, the creator of all, who is destroyed on our behalf. That is the power and message of the cross. It is the sign of the covenant restoration of those who choose to come to Him through faith in His one and only Son. 

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

— 1 Corinthians 1:18

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