Hey - Light, The Essence of God

Send your light and your truth to guide me, to lead me to your holy mountain, to your home (Psalm 43,3)!

The 5. letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Hey (h) symbolizes a window. 

In the Song of Solomon it is written about the beloved of the bride: Behold, he stands behind the wall of our house, he looks in through the window, he glances through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. My dove, in the hiding places of the rocky crevices,
in the secret places of the cliffs, let me see your figure and hear your voice. Your voice is sweet, and your figure is lovely (SOS 2:9b-10 and 14).

Jesus, our bridegroom, does not only want to hear our voice, but he also wants to see our figure. When we are singing and dancing for him, then we praise him with our voice and our figure.

While Daniel the Prophet was a captive in Babylon, he prayed three times a day and his windows were opened in the direction of Jerusalem (Daniel 6,10b). Babylon is not only a name for a city and an empire, it is also a name for the headquarters of Satan. When we are living there, where the throne of Satan is (Rev. 2,13), then we should fix our eyes on Jerusalem, on the headquarters of God, and let the light come in us, because the teachings go out from Zion and the Lord’s word goes out from Jerusalem (Is. 2:3b); because the command is a lamp and the teachings are a light (Proverbs 6:23a). As light comes through the window into the house, in the same way light comes in our innermost parts through the word of God.
John the Apostle saw in his vision seven lamps of fire, burning before the throne of God, which are the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 4,5 and Is. 11,2). The human received his spirit from God, and so even the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching and examining all the innermost parts of his being (Proverbs 20:27).

The lamp of fire, the burning torch and the golden seven-branch candlestick, the menorah, are symbols used for praise dance. 

 

The menorah was a furnishing in the tabernacle of Moses and later in Solomon’s temple. It was a symbol, a prophetic sign for Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, as the Light of the world. He who follows
Jesus will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life (John 8:12). In the Book of Revelation it is written that Jesus walks among the seven golden lampstands which symbolize churches (Rev. 2:1b).

God wants us to arise for him, to shine for him and he wants his glory to become visible upon us (Is. 60:1). For Zion’s sake we shall not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake we shall not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like the dawn and her salvation shines like a burning torch (Is. 62:1).

When we dance before God and humans with symbols of light like torches, lamps and candlesticks, then we declare these spiritual verities before the physical and the spiritual world.

We confess: God is light and in him there is no darkness at all (1. John 1:5).

Aleph - Mantle of glory and calling

I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father (Is. 58:14).

We live in times of restoration of all things. God restores all things which must be restored before Jesus (in Hebrew: Yeshua) comes back. Peter announced in his first sermon on Shavuot (Pentecost): Repent and turn to God, so that he will wipe away your sins, so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord‘s presence, and that he may send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you. He must remain in heaven until the times of restoration of all things, as God announced by means of his holy prophets of long ago (Acts 3:19-21).  

The understanding of our Jewish foundation and inheritance, the understanding of the biblical symbols and of dance as praise, worship, intercession and warfare belong to those things, which must be restored. The understanding of the Hebrew letters, which declare the glory of the Lord and speak about our story and the story of the world, is a part of our Jewish inheritance. 

The first letter is Aleph (a, Alpha in greek), the last letter is Tav (t). The ancient word picture for Tav was a cross. The symbols used for praise dance are doors in the spiritural world and they correspond to letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The mantle, Aderet in Hebrew, corresponds to Aleph. The ancient pictographic meaning of Aderet is the first door for a person of the cross. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness (Is. 61:10). The mantle is a symbol for salvation, redemption, righteousness, anointing and calling. The mantle is a symbol for the threefold anointing: The anointing with blood, water and oil (1. John 5:6-8). God wants to give us the oil of joy instead of mourning, and the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness (Is. 61:3). You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent (Psalm 30: 11-12). God wants to turn our mourning and our sickness into dancing. We can receive this promise by faith and start dancing before the Lord even while we are still in the midst of sorrow or pain. By taking a dance step we can activate our faith so God‘s healing power can be released. I have seen it in my own life and also in the lives of others. I don‘t feel my pains when I dance for God. Worship and praise are the best medicine for depression or for any anxiety or fear. We would surely have less people among us with psychical disorders, if there would be more freedom in the churches and people would feel free to dance for God. More people would experience healing for their bodies, minds and souls. 

 

Aderet does not only mean mantle, but it also means glory and splendour. The prophets wore mantle as a symbol for their calling. Joshua received the mantle of Moses. The mantle of Elijah fell on Elisha. The mantle of Messiah is too big to fall on any one person. On the Day of Pentecost the Spirit of God fell on his disciples and they received the mantle of Messiah. Everyone who is born from God receives a part of Messiah‘s mantle. It is in his mantle that our calling and ministry are found. There is a calling for the ministry of praise dance. In June 2016 we danced with Movement in Worship on the streets of Augsburg. We danced with staffs as a testimony for the visible and unvisible world. While we were dancing a sister had a vision: She saw Jesus sitting on a white horse and he had a very long mantle; and we all praise dancers were inside his mantle. This means we all were fullfilling our calling! The mantles of the prophets were made of animals´ hair like the mantle of John the Baptist. The mantles were big, great and heavy. The mantles we receive often seem us to be too big and too heavy. They are greater and more glorious than we are, who wear them. Our mantles are not meant to fit who we are now. They are meant to fit who we are to become. Our mantles must be beyond us, that we can grow into them and rise to them. We should appreciate and respect our mantle, our calling and the mantles of our brothers and sisters as a part of the mantle of Messiah! 

We can use mantles for dance as a form of surrender and honour like the people who spread their clothes on the road before Jesus (Luke 19:36). We can also use the mantle as a weapon against the powers of darkness: Let my adversaries be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle (Psalm 109:29). For though we walk in flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2. Cor, 10:4-6).