“According to I Chronicles chapter 15, 16:4-6, 37-43, David rearranged the Levitical priesthood into 24 courses (orders); he assigned 16 courses to Eleazer, and 8 courses to Ithamar. This rearrangement was chartered because of a population explosion in David’s reign.” [1]

More evidence for a human government installed in heaven in AD70 (the firstfruits church). If the rebuilt Tabernacle (the Tabernacle of David [2]) prefigured both the restoration of the Jews after the captivity (which is what Amos is actually referring to) and the Jew-Gentile church, what could David’s rearranged priesthood mean typologically?

AD70 saw the old mediatory governments get shafted, both in heaven and on earth. Twenty-four angels carried out their final Old Covenant tasks and left the Sanctuary empty. Their final task was tipping out seven Atonement “sprinklings” (the bowls) upon the earthly mediator, the demonic harlot “in the air” over the waters of the nations.[3] The triumphant firstfruits church entered as a new administration. [4] The New Jerusalem followed as Solomon’s “bridal” temple, and the true Jew-Gentile Feasts of Tabernacles was fulfilled on the mountain of God, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

The first century saw a “population explosion” in the people of God. A rearranged priesthood was required. The saints entering heaven are a combination of Old and New Covenant martyrs, 12 apostles and 12 tribal princes. They sit as judges in the pearl gates of the New Jerusalem.

Another support is the structure of the entire Bible itself. You guessed it, it follows the Bible matrix.

Sabbath - Creation to Abraham

…..Passover - Circumcision divides humanity in two

……….Firstfruits - Under Moses, a priesthood ascends before God,
……….and draws near over blood sacrifices

……………Pentecost - In the biblical pattern, this central point is always
……………testing in the wilderness. This is the life of Christ,
……………who is tested in the way all men are, but who does not sin

……….Trumpets - Christ assembles the New Covenant church,
……….making out of Jew and Gentile one new man in the first century

…..Atonement - A corrupted Judaism is destroyed as Jericho, vindicating
…..the words of Christ. This is the first conquest of the age
…..in which we now live

Booths - the final coming of Christ and the last judgment,
after which the saints live with Him in glory

Just as the beginning and end of the circumcision correspond chiastically [5], Mosaic Israel and the firstfruits church also correspond chiastically. When we overlay the Tabernacle speeches (Ex. 25-31), we find that Mosaic Israel and the firstfruits church also correspond to altars. Mosaic Israel drew new to God as the bronze Altar (Day 3, the Land), and the firstfruits church drew even nearer to God as the Incense Altar (Day 5, the next generation “swarms”). So, just as the old priesthood governed for God on earth, the firstfruits church now governs worldwide from heaven as Joshua divides up the inherited Land.[6]

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[1] From an excellent summary of The Levitical Priesthood.
[2] See The Sacrifice of Praise.
[3] See Jesus’ New Broom.
[4] See In the Air.
[5] See A New Heavens and A New Earth.
[6] I believe this observation has deep ramifications for the meaning of baptism. See Weapons of War 3, 4 and 5. This observation also puts hyperpreterism to death with a single right hook. There, I think I’ve managed to alienate eeeeveryone now.

“Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?”  Acts 7:42 [NKJV]

James Jordan observes that in using the phrase “The Book of the Prophets”, Stephen refers to what we call the minor prophets, considered as one book in the Hebrew canon. The main themes in this Book were the jealousy of the Lord and the day of the Lord. Another judgment, death and resurrection of Israel was on the horizon.

The Book of the Twelve, Lecture 1, available from www.wordmp3.com