"Shin" - The Presence of God

Grace and peace to you in the Precious Name of Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord for the many blessings you have received from Him as you sought His Presence in your lives. For those of you who have been on the original mailing list, you would recall that we are now entering into the third month.

This email ministry is a personal sharing of what I have learnt from anointed bible teachers and from spending time in His loving presence and is not meant to be an official broadcast of the bank.

For this issue I felt that a bit of sharing by illustration and in-depth study of the Bibile would be helpful for some of us.

The Hebrew Alphabet is made up of 22 letters and there are no numbers, ie, the Hebrew letters are also used to represent numbers. For example, the first alphabet is "Aleph" and is also used to represent 1 or 1000 and the last letter "tav" represents the number 400. Also the Hebrew alphabets are quite pictorial and for each letter, there is a picture associated with it.

The 21st Hebrew letter is "shin" which looks a bit like our English alphabet "W". It is interesting that there are a lot of important Hebrew words that has this alphabet in its spelling. The Hebrew name "El Shaddai" means "Almighty God, the All Sufficient One" and the "shin" is the first letter in the word "Shaddai".

It is also interesting that the Jews place a symbol ( the same "Shin" ) outside their house on the doorpost of the main door. It is the Jewish customer to kiss the Mazzuzah before leaving the house and again before they enter the house on their way home. The Mazzuzah stands for "El Shaddai protects the family" and if you had the opportunity of watching the epic movie "Ben Hur" you woul dhave seen him kissing the Mazzuzah when he came home after serving as a slave for a few years and finally being adopted as a son by one of the powerful Roman senators.

So you can see that the letter gives the impression of protection.

If you look at the following Hebrew word, you will notice again that the letter "shin" appears in the middle of the word "Y^erusalayim" (Hebrew) or Jerusalem. God told King Solomon that He had chosen Jerusalem that He may put His Name there.

2 Chronicles 6: 6 Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.

The name of Jerusalem in Hebrew means "Cities of many peace" and if you look at the map, you will find that the city is built over three valleys ( in shaded area ) - (starting from left to right) the Hinnom Valley, the Tyropoeon Valley and the Kidron Valley. God instructed King David to build his capital city in Jerusalem and later on King Solomon was instructed to build the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem so that the Presence of God can come upon the city and dwell therein. El Shaddai leaves His mark even on the city permanently in the shape of the hilly terrain.

No wonder Jerusalem is called the Cities of many peace. When we are with God, we will find peace. However, the present day Jerusalem is hardly a city of peace - far from it. In fact you may say that it is the city of many conflicts - Jews, Muslims, Catholics and even Christians have claims over the rightful ownership of that city. Only when Jesus returns and a new Jerusalem is built then will there be true peace because the Great King Jesus Himself will come and reign over the Earth making Jerusalem His capital city.

If you think that God only left His mark on the city of Jerusalem, then I am happy to tell you that He went one more step - He left His presence on our hearts. You see, when God created mankind, He made us special. To all the living things He created, He only gave them life but to Adam the first man, God breathed into Him. What does that mean? For one thing, we are spirit beings which means that we will live for eternity - whether in Heaven with Him or in Hell away from Him forever when we leave this earthly body. Animals do not have that privilege although it is recorded in the Bible that there are horses, birds.

God adopted the "shin" of His character and planted it in His Son Jesus Christ Looking at Jesus' Hebrew Name "Yeshua", the shin is right in the middle of Jesus' Name ( the "sh" highlighted ). Our Heavenly Father simply loves to leave HIs mark everywhere as a sign of His great love for us.

As we are spirit beings, we will always have this emptiness within us until we find our "rest" in Jesus. Something else that is unique about mankind is that God had also left something in our body as a mark. If you look at the outline of the chambers of our heart ( see picture ), you will again notice the "shin" planted there.

It is for a purpose. When I first saw this some time back, I asked Jesus what He meant by that and He gave me a picture of how some parents, when they part with their children, purposefully break a precious piece of yoke into two and give one piece to the child ( or rather make the child wear it like in those gungfu shows ) while they keep the other. The piece of jewellery is meant more as an identification mark so that even years later there could be reconciliation between loved ones. What wonderful plan the Lord has for mankind.

In fact the Bible tells us of this in a more than three passages: -

Ezekiel 36:26

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

2 Corinthians 6 :16

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: " I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

Ephesians 3: 17 -19

¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love

¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height

¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

So you see, the moment we are conceived in the womb, God already left that precious mark on us in our hearts to remind Him that we are special and that we are worth His sending His Son to die for our sins. Even if you were the only person in the whole world, God would still send His Son to die for you. Such great love He has for us. Such dedication God has to His redemption plan. His search for you and I will only end when He has found us. And when He has found His "lost children" He will call for a great feast and invite everyone to join in the celebration.

Our Lord Jesus did speak of a wedding feast prepared for us in Heaven and the feast is about to begin. Looking at the events taking place around us, don't you get the impression that we do not have to wait long? Soon, Jesus will return to call all God's children to go into the banquet hall of Heaven and the feast will begin.

The invitation cards to the great feast have been prepared and sent out to all. Some of us have accepted that invitation but others are still lingering. If you are worried that the hall may be completely packed and there are no more seats for you at the Table, let me tell you that your worries are unfounded because the owner of the banquet hall is the Creator Himself. Space is not an issue; the whole universe is His.

Make sure you are there. See you at the banquet table and cheers.

Best regards,

Andrew L W Lee

Dated : 30 August 2001

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