A New Creation – The Story of Naaman
A New Creation – The Story of Naaman
4 December 2006
I had a great impulse to pen this down the moment I got home on the night when I received this revelation!
It was such an awesome feeling whenever God drops one of these nuggets in my spirit. It’s like the Holy Spirit just unveils the things in the Scripture concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Pastor Prince puts it, it’s about the unveiling of Christ each time the Gospel – the good news- goes forth.
I’m not going to jump straight into the revelation because I want to recount the steps in which God led me to behold the beauty of His Son through the Scriptures.
Well, obviously, as the title of this entry suggests, it’s about Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, from 2 Kings 5.
What happened was that continuing from my previous entry on 2 Kings 3 about the grain offering and how the Lord delivered the three kings from the Moabites, I decided to carry on reading from 2 Kings 3.
And coming to the story of Naaman, I was inspired to look up the Hebrew meanings of certain words mentioned in this chapter.
In sum, the story of Naaman talks about this Syrian army commander, who though the Bible calls him a “mighty man of valour” and a “great and honourable man in the eyes of his master”, was a leper.
So he heard about this Jewish prophet called Elisha from one of his wife’s maid, and asked the King of Syria to send a letter to the King of Israel for Elisha to heal Naaman.
So Naaman went to see Elisha, and was told instead by Elisha’s messenger to “go and wash in the Jordan seven times” (2 Kings 5:10) and “your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean”.
Upon hearing this, Naaman became furious, the Bible says, because he thought he had been taken for a ride.
Naaman was expecting signs and wonders you see - he was expecting Elisha to perform some miracle or something.
The Bible says Naaman retorted to the messenger: “He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.”
Doesn’t that sound familiar? Naaman sounds just like us, doesn’t he? Sometimes, we are so anxious about the obstacle or challenge that we demand God to perform His magic and instantaneously turn around our situation.
Besides, Naaman was prideful – he thought that the rivers of Damascus are far better than the Jordan, so why should he go and do such a stupid act?
He said in 2 Kings 5:12: “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?”
So, he turned and went away in a rage. (2 Kings 5: 12)
Then his servants tried to talk some sense into him saying “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, [Wash, and be clean]?” (2 Kings 5:13)
Basically, his servants are saying: “Eh sir, chin chai la, either way you have nothing to lose what, just do what he tell you to do la.” (That’s my Singlish interpretation, for al you Singaporeans reading this).
Naaman did as he was told, and dipped seven times in the Jordan, and “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”. (2 Kings 5:14).
So not only was Naaman healed of his leprosy, God renewed his youth supernaturally, until his skin is like that of a little child.
I suggest ladies, you can throw away your SKII mask at this juncture – because God is going to renew your youth like the eagles, like that of a little child!!!
Amen ladies?
Let’s pause here for a while because if you were to continue reading the story, you will find how one of Elisha’s servants Gehazi later became greedy and tried to obtain rewards from Naaman for his miracle healing.
And that’s another prophetic picture altogether.
As mentioned earlier, I was prompted to look up the Hebrew meanings on the words “Abanah” and “Pharpar” after reading it last Friday after Pastor Lian’s message.
I was thinking, since they were Hebrew names, sure got something behind them one right?
Which I did, and I also looked up the name of Naaman in Strong’s dictionary.
But I came away disappointed, because I couldn’t piece together the meanings of the words or establish a link among them.
This is what I found out about the meanings of these words:-
Naaman: pleasantness, beautiful, son of Benjamin
Abanah: support
Pharpar: swift
So I was puzzled, and I asked the Lord: “Lord, no flow leh, I cannot find any connection. Show me Lord, what you mean.”
And it was not until this Friday, when Pastor Prince referred to Jesus’ account of Naaman from Luke 4: 27 as one of two accounts of the Lord blessing us with divine health and wealth (the story of a widow in Sidon) in the new covenant.
I had given up on trying to decipher the meaning of the story behind Naaman until that point, and I asked the Lord to show me again.
You know what people, He is just so amazing. I remembered just after we were called onto the stage after altar call, I was standing there and listening to Pastor wrap up his message, God dropped a nugget.
He said: “Jordan means [Jehovah came down]”. And I was stunned (in my mind la), I was like…hmmm…wow!
Then a lot of questions started to race through my lightning fast mind.
So what’s the meaning of Abanah and Pharpar? What’s the link to Jordan? And what about Naaman, what’s the connection Lord?
Where? How? Why?
And I had nothing to check – no PDA, no Strong’s dictionary – I just had to cling onto the fact that the Holy Spirit told me “Jordan is Jehovah came down”.
If you guys remembered, Pastor expounded on a lot of meanings behind a few Hebrew words on that night.
Fresh from what has just been taught, I decided to ask the Lord to show me again, and He began to unveil the story of Naaman to me all over again.
Naaman, an army commander of the Syrian army, was a picture of the Gentiles, and leprosy, in those times, was a picture of sin. And in the Book of Leviticus, we were told how lepers had to segregate themselves and live outside the tents.
And they are not allowed into the open, and when they do, they had to shout “Unclean, unclean” so that they do not spread the leprosy around.
So, Naaman, mighty and strong as he was, was a leper – he was flawed.
When Naaman was told by Elisha to wash in the River Jordan, what was his response?
He said: “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” (2 Kings 5: 12)
Oh by the way, the Lord directed me to check up the meaning of Elisha and you know what it means?
Elisha means “God is salvation”.
This time, the Lord taught me to look up the root words of Abanah and Pharpar.
And boy am I excited when I found out the meanings, because the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit now.
The root word for Abanah (or Amanah) is “stone”, and that of Pharpar is, catch this – to break or to take away, to make void, always used figuratively, as a covenant.
Hallelujah! Are you starting to see the picture my friends?
Abanah and Pharpar, put together, refers to the Ten Commandments, the covenant cast in stone, that was made void when Jesus Christ died for our sins on the Cross!
And Naaman boasted in this covenant, in that he said, aren’t these greater than all the rivers of Israel? He boasted in the strength of the law, the promise of the old covenant cast in stone, that was made void and which Paul refers to as the ministry of death and condemnation in the New Testament.
But the Gentiles, typified by Naaman, was persuaded by Elisha’s messenger – to do what? Go to the Jordan and dip seven times!
Now what’s the meaning of Jordan?
Earlier on, I told you guys that the Lord told me it means “Jehovah has come down”, so this spirit of unbelief in me wanted to CONFIRM that it was indeed as He has said.
Have you been there before? Every time the Lord lets you in on something, you always want to confirm one. Or you will ask for some kind of confirmation.
So I did, looked it up in Strong’s and it means “descender”, and its root word means “to go or come down”.
And He again prompted me to look up how the word “Jordan” was written in Hebrew. Here it is:
הירדן
hayarden
For the benefit of those not from our church, the Hebrew language reads from right to left, just like the Chinese language.
Furthermore, the Hebrew language has 22 letters, and each letter has a picture associated with it.
You can easily look this up in Wikipedia if you are interested. Just type Hebrew alphabet in the Search column.
Taking apart the word “Jordan” or “hayarden”, we get
ה – pronounced as ‘hei’, picture of a window because the Jewish rabbis didn’t have a picture for it. Now we, who have sat under Pastor’s preaching, know that ה means ‘grace’
י – pronounced as ‘yud’, meaning God, as in Jehovah – יהוה
ר – pronounced as ‘resh’, meaning ‘head’, also means ‘beginning’.
ד – pronounced as ‘dalet’, which means ‘pathway’ or ‘to enter’.
And finally, we have ן – pronounced as ‘noon’, which means ‘life’, ‘fish’, ‘kingdom’, Messiah who is Heir to the Throne.
So let’s put them together and see what we get.
| ן | ד | ר | י | ה |
| life/Messiah/heir | entrance/pathway | Head/beginning | God | grace |
Remember that Hebrew reads from right to left, so put together, the word “Jordan” means “The grace of God is the beginning of the pathway to life”.
Hallelujah! So awesome!!! I love this!!!
You know what’s more, the Lord explained to me why Naaman had to dip seven times in the Jordan.
It’s a picture of our Jesus Christ who came down to Earth from the seventh heaven – the highest level in Heaven – to become sin for us and die for us on the Cross.
And Naaman is a typology of the fallen Creation, whom God created originally in beauty, but was then afflicted with sin (typified by the ‘leprosy’) after Adam fell.
But praise be to God our Abba that today WE, the Gentiles, the fallen Creation, like Naaman, have been washed clean of our sins, that we may ascend and be seated together with Christ in the Heavenly places, on the right hand of God – IN THE SEVENTH HEAVEN!!!
Hallelujah!!! Ain’t that powerful, people?
Church, today, we are A NEW CREATION!!!
The story of Naaman is actually a picture of the divine exchange – Christ for our leprosy and sins, that we are washed as white as snow because Jesus came down from his Heavenly throne and become our salvation.
And not only is our ‘leprosy’ or sins completely healed, our flesh, our physical body are constantly being renewed as the Bible says “our youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalms 103:5)
Praise Him!!! C’mon, lift Him up!!!
Shout Hallelujah!!!
* * *
The Water Flows!!!
The Water Flows!!! (Edited, adding verses from Ephesians)
25 November 2006
How many of you attended Bible Studies on Friday night? It was awesome, wasn’t it?
I was so blessed by Pastor Lian’s message, and there was such a strong powerful presence of the Lord in the auditorium.
After altar call, when Pastor Lian called the musicians and singers on stage, she said to the congregation:” Let’s just continue to worship the Lord for a little while…”
And there was this peace that settles at the end of the worship, when Pastor sensed the Lord’s Presence, and asked the congregation to bring to the Lord’s remembrance those things that we desired.
I don’t know about you but where I was standing, eyes closed, I could feel it. People started breaking into tears in the congregation. It was such a tangible intimate moment with the Lord.
By the way, if you have not attended the Bible Studies, Pastor Lian shared on the story of 2 Kings 3 – the story of how Jehoram, the King of Israel, Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, and the king of Edom defeated the Moabites.
Now it happened that Jehoram was the son of Ahab, who had just passed away. So Mesha, the king of Moab, who had been paying tributes to King Ahab, decided that this is the perfect opportunity to rebel, since a new king just replaced the deceased King Ahab.
Pastor Lian shared about the Hebrew meanings of Jehoram (which means “Jehovah is exalted”). Jehoshaphat (which means “Jehovah has judged”) and Edom (which means “Red, typically of a garment stained with blood”).
Well, apparently, having a holy name does not mean you are holy because Jehoram, the King of Israel was an evil king, in the eyes of the Lord, like his father, King Ahab.
So what happened was that the three kings decided to come together to battle King Moab.
Therefore, “the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched on that roundabout route seven days; there was no water for the army, nor for the animals that followed them”. (2 Kings 3:9)
And the king of Israel, typical of his ancestors who came out of Egypt, grumbled and complained.
“Alas! For the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab,” says the king of Israel.
But King Jehoshaphat decided to seek the advice of Elisha, who was travelling with them.
Now, to cut a long story short, Elisha called for a musician, and then when the musician played, the hand of the Lord was on Elisha, and he spoke the words given to him from the Lord.
He told them to dig ditches in the valley.
“You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink,” Elisha said. (2 Kings 3:15-17)
As it turned out, the ditches were not only filled with water, they would later save the three kings, and their armies from the hands of the Moabites, and instead enable them to defeat the Moabites.
So, that got me really interested and I decided to read the entire story again today.
And lo and behold, the Holy Spirit dropped a nugget of revelation again!
It was just so amazing!!! Hold your horses, let me get to it.
Continuing from where we left off about the digging of ditches, 2 Kings 3:20 says “Now it happened in the morning, when the grain offering was offered, that suddenly water came by way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.”
Now, are you getting it?
Pastor Lian shared about how the water speaks of the Holy Spirit, and notice that the “water came by way of Edom (red, garment stained with blood)”.
And she says, Edom speaks of the blood of Christ. So the Holy Spirit was given by the shedding of blood from our Lord Jesus Christ.
But wait, there’s more.
Let’s read the verse again.
“Now it happened in the morning, when the grain offering was offered, that suddenly water came by way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.” - 2 Kings 3:20
Can you see it?
I thought we were told by Elisha that they only had to dig the ditches. So why did they have to offer the grain offering?
Do you realise that the water did not come immediately after they dug the ditches, unlike the case of Moses striking the rock and then water gushing out from it.
Do you also notice that it was in the morning, when the grain offering was offered, that suddenly water came by way of Edom?
C’mon, some of you are getting it already!!!
And why the grain offering? Not the sin offering, not the peace offering, not the trespass offering, but the grain offering?
What is the significance?
Let’s turn to Leviticus, shall we?
Leviticus 2:1 says “WHEN anyone offers a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.”
Stop. Who was anointed with the oil from the Heavenly Father to speak words of wisdom, and who was anointed with perfume just before His death?
Leviticus 2:2 continues to say:”… He shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.”
Ephesians 5:2 says it like this:"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."
What does the flour speak of? And did you notice that it is an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord?
Who exhuasted the fire from Heaven and the wrath of God, so that He took upon His body all the punishment from the sins of the world?
Let’s go on. Leviticus 2:4 says:”And if you bring as an offering a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.”
Leaven speaks of sin, and the Lord instructed the children of Israel to partake of unleavened bread on the night of the Passover.
Can you see the similarity between that and the unleavened bread?
In addition, what does ‘unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil’ speak of?
Shall we go further?
Leviticus 2:13 says ‘And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.’
Do the verses Matthew 5:13 and Mark 9:50 come to your mind; where Jesus says to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? And “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt”.
By now, I’m sure you already know what I’m trying to get at. All these descriptions in Leviticus on the grain offering points to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the unleavened bread mixed with oil, burned by fire, and seasoned with salt.
And it is for this reason, that when the grain offering was offered, that SUDDENLY, water came by way of Edom.
In other words, the three kings witnessed the miracle of the water filling up the ditches so that they and their animals can quench their thirst, AFTER the offering up of Jesus Christ as the perfect sacrifice!
You know folks, when we need a miracle, we often think of praying. Some Christian denominations still preach that you have to pray very hard, you know, as if God sees that “wahhhhh..you pray so hard ah, wahhh, you good Christian ah….ok la, give you your promotion la…”
Wahhh, if that’s the way God works ah, I think there’s no way I’m going to get my Lamborghini man!
Don’t talk about Lamborghini, I think Chery QQ also got problem!
But has Christ been offered up as our grain offering?
Has Christ, who was sinless, died for all our sins, that today, we enjoy the blessings that He died to give us?
Yes, so we do not have to resort to trying to twist God’s arm. As if Daddy God would be persuaded to withhold His blessings from us – He would more than be willing to give us.
But, hey, everytime we partake of the Holy Communion, we are bringing to our remembrance that Christ has been offered up as our sacrifice.
Today, whenever we need a miracle in our situation, be it at work, at home, relationships, etc, all we have to do is to bring Christ’s sacrifice to our remembrance (because obviously, Daddy God does not forget, though we like to think He does.)
You know what, then the water flows! Suddenly!
“You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink,” Elisha said. (2 Kings 3:15-17)
You don’t see the signs coming, you think “oh, nothing has changed…life’s the same…whine whine whine…Alas! God….tian ah!!!”
But hey, remember, you don’t see the wind, you don’t see the rain…but SO WHAT?
SO WHAT? THE WATER FLOWS!!! YOUR MIRACLE FLOWS!!!
Because Christ is our grain offering, and He has been offered up!!! Amen?
Or you can also see it this way. When you need a word from the Lord, regarding choices, or decisions you have to make it in your life, well, go to the Lord.
See our Lord Jesus Christ offered up as our grain offering. And SUDDENLY, the water - which also is a picture of the Holy Spirit, which comes by way of Edom [the blood] – starts to FLOW!!!
Hallelujah! Whichever way you see it, there’s no work on your part.
All you have to do is, behold the sacrifice on the Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ!!!
AND THE WATER FLOWS!!! HALLELUJAH! PRAISE HIM!
Amen?
Okay...excuse me, think I might need the loo…
