Numbers 12:3 says that Moses was the meekest man “on the face of the ground [adamah].”

Psalm 37:11 says the meek will inherit the Land [eretz] and delight in abundant prosperity.

Isaiah 11:4 says that

with righteousness [God] shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the Land;
and he shall strike the Land with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips she shall kill the wicked.

Firstly, what is meekness? And secondly, why is it connected to “face of the ground” (Adam), or Land?

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“And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food’; and it was so.” Genesis 1:29-30

“‘Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.’” Genesis 9:3

We can’t accurately imagine what the pre-Fall world was like. If there was no death for Adam, was there animal death? And if there was animal death, was there death for things like bacteria?

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“…falling headlong, he burst open in the middle…”

Todd Robinson commented:

“I’ve enjoyed your particular brand of orthodox preterism. Working through Acts recently, I began to wonder what Michael Bull’s take on Acts 1:11 and 3:19-21 would be… Thanks for any insight.”

On Acts 1:11:

Luke works through the matrix, forming the Covenant Head in the first part, a New Covenant Body in the second part, with the death of Judas at the centre being the reason for the apostolic “Day of Atonement” goat drawn by lot, a makeshift Urim and Thummim:

Commandments (Ark – Transcendence)
…..Delegation to Israel (wait for power)
…..(Veiled promise concerning Israel – Hierarchy)
……….Ascension of Christ (Altar) HEAD – flaming torch
……….Ascension of Disciples – upper room (Table)
……………Judgment of Judas–head and body–under the
……………Old Covenant Law as a picture of AD70
……………(Lampstand – Ethics) [1]
……….Witness of Apostles (Incense) BODY – smoking firepot
…..Selection of Matthias for the “first” death (Mediators – Sanctions)
Apostolic Succession granted (Shekinah)

On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest made two approaches, one for the Covenant Head, the priesthood, with the blood of a bull; another for the Covenant Body, Israel, with the blood of a goat, the “first death.” (The second death was the Azal goat, carrying the curses. [2])

Jesus was taken into the glory cloud as Great High Priest, the Covenant Head, not with the blood of a bull but with His own blood.

“Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12)

He would return from “behind the Veil” for the second approach. “So that where I am, you may be also.” He would receive them to Himself to complete the sacrificial ascension of Israel, Head and Body, Adam and Eve, and celebrate the marriage supper, the “rest” for the Old Covenant faithful. [3] This structure is laid out in the ascension offering in Leviticus 1. Notice that we see this predicted in Daniel 7. Jesus is already on His throne, and “one like the Son of God” ascends to be with Him. This interpreted later in the chapter to be the saints inheriting the kingdom. They see Him because they are like Him. [4]

On Acts 3:19-21:

I think verse 25 is the key, the “blessing of all nations” promised to Abraham. The Restoration was prefigured by Israel’s restoration from Babylon. But then, this first century restoration, at the end of the Old Covenant, was the end of that social divide. The end of the New Covenant will be the end of the Creational divide, an even greater restoration. History is chiastic. The judgments are: Physical / Social / Personal / Social / Physical. [6]

But I think, judging by Peter Leithart’s excellent exposition of 2 Peter, that Peter had AD70 in mind. [7] The prophets always preached for the purpose of a moral response in light of a coming judgment, i.e. be the good (repentant) goat, not the bad one.

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[1] See Fool’s Gold. It’s interesting that Judas is lifted up in the gospels and “deposed” around Pentecost, just like Satan, and just like the Herods. Notice that Abraham’s sacrifice had the holy birds as undivided head, and animals as divided (Jew-Gentile) body. (See Pass-over and Pass-through). Jesus’ and Judas’ bodies were both divided and emptied, but filth came out of Judas (like Eglon) and living water came out of Jesus. Jesus left the burial linen arranged in the same manner, head and body. The Covenant Head was not crushed.
[2] See The Second Death.
[3] See The End Is Not Yet.
[4] See High As the Horses’ Bridles.
[5] See James Jordan’s exposition of this in his Daniel commentary. The structure of Daniel 7 follows the same pattern as the Levitical Atonement rite, with the fragrant saints caught up in “clouds” prefigured by the incense.
[6] See A New Heavens and a New Earth.
[7] See How To Read the New Testament.

“And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying,
Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount,
or touch the border of it:
whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death.”
Exodus 19:12

The Bible beats blood and water into us over and over again. Blood is death. Water is resurrection. Blood is the Bridegroom and water is the Bride.

Blood is the split rock, the Adam ripped open. Water is the river of life, the Eve that flows from inside Him into the world to glorify it.

Blood is circumcision, the cutting of the flesh before it is put on the Bronze Altar below. Water is baptism, the washing of the flesh before it is offered to God as smoke on the Golden Altar above.

Blood is the husband willing to die in the desert. Water is the wife suddenly discovered by a well.

Blood is the Man or Beast speared through at the bottom of Sinai, the Old Jerusalem who is in bondage, tied up like Isaac. Water is the Laver tipped over on the top of Sinai, the New Jerusalem, the Mother of all the living, the Mother of us all.

So, blood was shed at the door to the mountain of God. The blood goes up in the Ascension of Christ and, like Moses, the Spirit descends as purifying fire upon the people. The mountain of death becomes a mountain of life.

The prohibition against touching the border of Sinai reminded me of the Israelite woman who touched the border of Jesus’ garment. (See Healing in His… Tassels?) Jesus’ form as an Adam robed in seamless white was a picture of His completed ministry, the bloodied Lamb at the centre of a purifying, bridal outflow.

Touching the border of Zion does not bring purifying Covenant death but purifying Covenant life. [1] However, it remains a process of purifying. The difference is the blood that went before us. The flaming mountain of death is swallowed up in the victory of the Crystal Sea (Revelation 8:8). As the gospel flows out, Jesus extends the borders of His robe, of His tent, His firmament, and all the nations are healed.

The cherubim and the Aaronic priests guarded the sanctuary with a sword. KEEP OUT. The Temple and the church are guarded, but there are water chariots. The message is different. It is COME IN and then GO OUT. And keep going out until there are no bounds, no bondage, and no borders, no seams.

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[1] The sharp rocks of the Law (cut out “without hands”) that execute the unfaithful Bride are now the five (bridal army) smooth stones from the brook that kill the false suitor.

Picture: Bridal Veil Falls by Ian Cameron.

During the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me, “Jeremiah, since the time Josiah was king, I have been speaking to you about Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Now, get a scroll and write down everything I have told you, then read it to the people of Judah. Maybe they will stop sinning when they hear what terrible things I plan for them. And if they turn to me, I will forgive them”… (CEV) Jeremiah 36:1-3

God’s Covenants are always temporary. Every Covenant is a to and fro. It reflects the Word sent to the Son by the Spirit and the “bridal abundance” received in return by the Father. The Word is often pictured as a scroll, for obvious reasons. Scrolls were written and sealed with wax. The seal was temporary, something to protect the confidentiality of the contents, but something to be broken once the document reached its intended destination. The Bible Matrix makes plain the symbols used by God to illustrate this step in the Covenantal order of all He has made.

In the Creation week, Light is the Transcendent Lawmaker, and a seal is set upon this Covenant document on Day 2. It is the firmament, a scroll that is stretched out, opened, but one that hides heaven from earth. [1]

In the Tabernacle, it is the Veil, hiding Man from the consuming fire of the Covenant in the Ark.

In the Covenant/Dominion pattern, it is the delegation of a human representative (or representatives) who are sent to speak this word. At this point, Joseph receives a robe. Just like the Veil — and the firmament — Joseph’s robe was intended by God to be torn and bloodied as a witness that the Word had been carried out. In darkness, the delegated Man is made prostrate. He falls on his face and God writes on him as a living epistle. The Word is engraved into him, and he receives it with meekness (Jas. 1:21). The Man then makes an Exodus with the scroll, or rather, as the scroll.

The third step is the unsealing of the document. This occurs at the Ascension of the delegated Man, the Covenant head. The Man is Moses on the mountain, opening the Law to God’s people. We see this throughout the Old Testament, and in the gospels. Interestingly, pretty much every time an Apostle stands up to preach in the Book of Acts, it is at Ascension. The Apostles themselves had become Tables spread with bread and wine, and were unsealing the invitation to God’s people. But the invitations of God are bittersweet. They always contain blessings and curses.

Revelation completes the book Daniel was commanded to close, to “seal up,” concerning “what is to happen to your people in the latter days” (Daniel 10:14). The latter days refers to the Restoration era, the Covenant restored in Zechariah, and they ended in AD70. The book was closed because the time was in the distant future, half a millennium away.

Now John was given visions because that time had arrived. The latter days were coming to an end. Jesus’ warning was in no way a generic, long-term “picture book”. It was an urgent seismic alert to those on the empire-Land. But it was also an invitation to a New Covenant, a new Creation:

(Revelation 1:1-3:)

TRANSCENDENCE
Creation – Genesis
The revelation
…..of Jesus Christ,
……….which God gave him
……………to show
……….to his servants
…..the things
that must soon take place.

HIERARCHY
Division – Exodus
He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

ETHICS
Ascension – Leviticus
who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ,

Testing – Numbers
even to all that he saw. (Governing Law-Lights)

Maturity – Deuteronomy
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy,

SANCTIONS
Conquest – Joshua
and blessed are those who hear,
and who keep what is written in it,

SUCCESSION
Glorification – Judges
for the time is near.

Notice that the first “week” or “seven” is a microcosm of the entire introduction. In the first week (Sabbath), it is Jesus who is the delegate. Then it is the angel, the messenger, sent to speak to John. (In Revelation 5, there are seven blessings that correspond to the seven ruling lights in their order of ascension. Mercury, the messenger, is number 2.)

At Ascension, John is the bread-and-wine, the sacrifice on the Bronze Altar. The reference to sight at the centre (Testing) is a common one, and here it corresponds to the “show” in the first sequence.

Then at Maturity, it is the angels of the resurrected body, the church, who are to speak the words aloud as Moses did to the new generation of Israel.

At Conquest, the division between the goats is the difference between those who merely hear the words, and those who both hear and keep them.

Finally, at Glorification, we have Covenant succession, and a reference to the final line in the first stanza. Here it is ironic, however, because the Revelation is the final word concerning the Old Covenant. The final point concerns the future of the Covenant, but the Old Covenant had no future. Its generations, including its genealogies, were about to be cut off and thrown into the fire. [2]

But every time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king would tell him to cut them off with his penknife and throw them in the fire. Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he ignored them, and soon there was nothing left of it. The king and his servants listened to what was written on the scroll, but they were not afraid, and they did not tear their clothes in sorrow. (CEV) Jeremiah 36:23 25

The Jewish rulers tore up the New Covenant, so the Lord tore up the Old. Removing the Veil brought them face to face with God’s Law.

This pattern structures the entire book of Revelation. It expands and expands like ripples from a pebble dropped into a pond, or more correctly, like soundwaves from the very Source of the Created Order. At Ascension, Jesus is presented as The Firstfruits Lamb, the Man on the Altar, Bread and Wine. He is the first Man worthy to open the scroll. Was this the scroll sealed up by Daniel? In one sense, yes, because although the opening of the New Covenant ended the entire Old Testament construct of centralised worship, its last incarnation was the Restoration Covenant. That is what Jesus was about to judge.

Daniel ascended to the right hand of King Nebuchadnezzar and opened the mystery of the next 500 years. But its very end was to be sealed, TOP SECRET. The Covenant that had been stretched out in Zechariah as a new heavens was about to be rolled back up, snapping shut upon those who refused to enter the New Order. What was in the secret document? The mystery of Jews and Gentiles in one body. The rejection of this truth was the offense that sealed the doom of those who were the “unwise” of Daniel 12. They failed to realise that every Covenant installed a “Jewish” head and was supposed to return to God with a hybrid body, an arkful of animals, ie. Gentile worshippers. The Restoration Covenant, despite the fact that many scholars fail to even acknowledge its existence, actually succeeded. Even while certain Jews and all the Judaizers were hardening their hearts to God’s fresh work, Gentile God-fearers were crawling out of the woodwork and coming to Jesus, their Noah, their Rest.

Tragically, but perfectly, the firstfruits church was the torn, bloodied robe presented to the Father before Jerusalem’s doom. The mystery of the Gospel was opened as a testimony for all time, for all subsequent history. It was publicly shouted from the rooftops. Even these saints, these martyrs were sealed as Covenant documents, with the earnest of the Spirit, only to be torn open. The Apostolic epistles are Covenant documents, witnesses both for the first-century prosecution of the Covenant-breakers and the first-century defense of the Covenant-keepers. To read them in any other way is to miss the point.

Well, I’ve slammed modern evangelicals. Now it’s time for the hyperpreterists. The scroll that was unsealed by Christ in early Revelation is not the scroll that snapped shut later in the book. The New Covenant was opened, but it is still open. This new, friendly sky will remain open until this Covenant, too, has carried out its work.

Another thought: The seal placed by the Jewish authorities (with the Romans in cahoots, ie. harlot riding beast) on Jesus’ tomb symbolised their deliberate intention of maintaining the integrity of the Old Covenant. Case closed. But the Old Covenant was designed to die, to be completed, to be opened, in the New. When the stone was removed, the seal was broken. The day dawned. What was loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven at the Ascension.

Application: The seal of the Spirit is not something to “keep me safe until heaven.” If I fail to live publicly for Christ, I remain a Covenant document with an unbroken seal, a message whose contents were intended by God to be sounded as Trumpets and poured out as Bowls.

____________________________________________
[1] See Firmament of Flesh.
[2] See Pedigree Papers.

The recent Australian federal election resulted in a hung parliament, with the balance of power held by a small number of elected independents. Not being forced to toe the party line, each of these men is free to stand for the needs of his own electorate. This can certainly slow down the process of government in the courts of men, but not in the courts of God.

As Christians, we are taught to toe the party line. This is a false piety. Our Father actually loves a lively, argumentative parliament. The process of maturity is supposed to bring us to the point where we are wise judges whom He can include in His government (pictured in baptism), standing on the crystal sea as joint heirs with His Son, Great Prophets whose very words change history.

Back room deals and bargaining with God are an abuse of prayer. Or are they? Not when those disputing with God are men whose hearts are like those of the Father. Abraham and David did it. God’s desire is that we should be like them.

As Covenant heads, Christ, the ministers, the husbands and the fathers to whom He has given authority, have the same responsibility as the ascended Son of God: advocacy. Sadly, our lack of perseverance in prayer becomes an unspoken fatalism. As is the way with our appointed political advocates, the church culture’s party line is to pray like Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes, Minister. Doug Wilson says,

There is a great difference between complaining about God and complaining to God. Arguing with God, complaining to God, is not inconsistent with piety. We must let the Bible teach us how to relate to God.

When the children of Israel are in the wilderness complaining about the food; when you’re driving around downtown in the rain and the windshield is fogged up and the kids are irritating you from the back seat, and you are muttering under your breath, you are not bringing your concerns to God.

We all understand that such murmuring is sinful. We don’t want to be like the Israelites whose bodies were scattered in the wilderness because they displeased God. But if we turn to the Psalms, we find that David and the other psalmists bring their complaints, concerns and agonies to God. They let God know all about it.

If you try to avoid murmuring about God by not saying anything at all, you are actually trying to be holier than the Bible, holier than the men whom God has set before us as a godly example.

We should all know what happens to those who murmur, complain, moan and grumble. Their bodies are scattered over the desert. But the alternative to this is not stiff-upper-lip stoicism.

In Psalm 55:2, David makes a noise so that God will hear him. If you want to pray like God’s saints in the Bible, lay out your case before Him. Reason it through. Don’t pray like you were a block of wood or you will get answers of the sort that would satisfy a block of wood: tepid, anaemic responses.

The Psalms teach us to sing and pray and argue rightly. The faithful servant in prayer does not want to simply “say the right words.” He wants an audience. He wants God to hear, and prays as though he wants God to hear. He wants to offer up prayers that cannot be refused. You come like the widow who wanted justice from the unjust judge: she wouldn’t leave him alone. Jesus said, “Be like that!”

But we, thinking that it reveals a high doctrine of the sovereignty of God, fall into, not Calvininsm, but stoicism. “Whatever was determined from the foundation of the world is going to happen and I can’t stop it.”

But that is a distortion of the sovereignty of God. He does not teach us to pray, “I am the sovereign God. Just sit there like a block of wood and take it.” That is not what we are called to do.

The great Puritan Goodwin said that when we pray to God we should “sue him” for things. A Puritan said that? Yes, they were Biblical people.

Now, we shouldn’t sue God in the court of the devil, or in the court of the world. But we should go into the courts of heaven and plead our case with God. You might say, “I’m not competent to plead a case of any complexity.” Well, John Bunyan said it’s better that your heart be without words than your words be without heart. It’s not prim and proper words that count. It’s heart.

This is the first thing we learn from Psalm 55. David is in trouble, and he itemises his troubles to God. He wants to tell God all about it and he wants God to do something about it. He pleads his case with Him. “Lord, hear me. Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thy face from me.” Where are you going, God? Don’t hide! Hear me out, here. Attend to me, I tell you!

Now, does that sound godly to you? No it doesn’t, and the reason is that we have our own tradition of what a pious prayer sounds like:

“Dear Father in heaven, Whatever happens, happens. And bless everybody indiscriminately in such a way as I can’t tell whether or not anything has ever happened.”

We’re afraid of getting a “no,” so we build escape hatches into all our prayers. If you get a “no,” you are getting some feedback and you are learning how to pray. What you want to do is submit yourself to the text of Scripture, pray the way God’s people prayed, and as you do so you will discover that you are imitating it rightly in some instances and wrongly in others, and you make adjustments.

Remember the acronym, G.A.S.P. God Answers Specific Prayer. If that doesn’t sound pious, then we have something wrong with our definition of piety. And I submit that we have allowed ourselves to drift into these misunderstandings of piety because we have not been singing the Psalms. We are not steeped in the Psalms. If kids in the Christian church were steeped in the Psalms, marinating in them for ten or fifteen or twenty years as they grew up in the Covenant community, these false traditions of piety could not take root. You could not get away with telling people, “This is how you pray. Don’t say anything specific.”

There are actually seminars for aspiring politicians which teach them how to answer questions without saying anything. When someone on television talks for three or four minutes and nothing clear ever comes out, that’s not natural. One has to study to do that, and they do study. And we have our own schools which teach Christians how to pray that way.

Argue like David did. Argue like the apostle Paul did. Don’t complain about God. Bring your case to God. [1]

For me, one of the most striking examples of such prayer comes from the life of John G. Paton. What made it so memorable for me was the common, uncomplicated and very achievable ministry of advocacy it portrays, and the results that simple, persistent dealing with God can have as a foundation for the courageous faith of those for whom we advocate, and for the sovereign God in changing the history of His world. John Piper writes:

John G. Paton was a missionary to the New Hebrides, today called Vanuatu, in the South Seas. He was born in Scotland in 1824. I gave my Pastors’ Conference message about him because of the courage he showed throughout his 82 years of life. When I dug for the reasons he was so courageous, one reason I found was the deep love he had for his father.

The tribute Paton pays to his godly father is, by itself, worth the price of his Autobiography, which is still in print. Maybe it’s because I have four sons (and Talitha), but I wept as I read this section. It filled me with such longing to be a father like this.

There was a “closet” where his father would go for prayer as a rule after each meal. The eleven children knew it and they reverenced the spot and learned something profound about God. The impact on John Paton was immense.

Though everything else in religion were by some unthinkable catastrophe to be swept out of memory, were blotted from my understanding, my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut itself up once again in that Sanctuary Closet, and, hearing still the echoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the victorious appeal, “He walked with God, why may not I?” (Autobiography, p. 8 )

How much my father’s prayers at this time impressed me I can never explain, nor could any stranger understand. When, on his knees and all of us kneeling around him in Family Worship, he poured out his whole soul with tears for the conversion of the Heathen world to the service of Jesus, and for every personal and domestic need, we all felt as if in the presence of the living Savior, and learned to know and love him as our Divine friend.” (Autobiography, p. 21)

One scene best captures the depth of love between John and his father, and the power of the impact on John’s life of uncompromising courage and purity. The time came for the young Paton to leave home and go to Glasgow to attend divinity school and become a city missionary in his early twenties. From his hometown of Torthorwald to the train station at Kilmarnock was a 40-mile walk. Forty years later, Paton wrote,

My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence – my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in hand, while his long flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later years white as snow) streamed like a girl’s down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain! We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: “God bless you, my son! Your father’s God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!”

Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him – gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I rounded the corner and out of sight in instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dike to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dike and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his face toward home, and began to return – his head still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as he had given me. (pp. 25-26)

The impact of his father’s faith and prayer and love and discipline was immeasurable. O fathers, read and be filled with longing. [2]

Quite a few people have asked me for a more clear definition of what Ascension means in the Bible Matrix. This is it. A Covenant head who is bread and wine: the ceaseless, specific advocacy of an upright man in the throneroom of God for those whom God has given him as a body. After twenty-six years of being a Christian, I feel like I am only just beginning in prayer.

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[1] Doug Wilson, Psalm 55: Mischief in the Midst of It. Christkirk sermon podcast, 12 October, 2010.
[2] John Piper, John G. Paton’s Father.

A critic wrote that Mel Gibson, with The Passion of the Christ, invented a new cinematic genre: the religious splatter film. This was intentionally disrespectful, but of course there is some truth to it. Perhaps more truth than we realise. God desired a world covered by blood.

The content of this post has been revised and included in Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key.

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[1] A summary of James B. Jordan, Re-Creation in the Ascension Offering. Notice that the Tabernacle furniture itself, of course, also aligns with this structure of events, being a microcosmos.
[2] See Half the Blood.
[3] See also The Whole Bloody Bible.

Adam couldn’t face God. Cain’s face fell. Moses’ face shone with reflected light when he returned from the mountain of God. Bezalel and Aholiab constructed the Table of Facebread, which corresponded in the cherubim to the Face Of The Man. David and his men ate the facebread. Saul feared Goliath, but David’s face was red, literally “filled with blood,” before he bloodied Goliath’s face and the usurper fell facedown. [1]

What is interesting is that all these and other references to “the face” appear at exactly the same position in the Matrix structure (Ascension). It refers to a worthy Adam, someone who can face God. Throughout the Bible we have Cains and Abels. All the Cains usurp the Abels through oppression and bloodshed.

The book of Daniel, as a unit, follows the pattern. At Ascension, the Herods take control and throw the stars (godly priesthood) down. But by the end of the book, new godly rulers have taken possession of the kingdom and they shine like stars. As Jesus predicted, the first century fake sun, moon and stars were cast down, and the Herods were deposed.

So, what is the face of the deep in Genesis 1? The face reference is again at Ascension.

Creation In the beginning (at the head) (Ark)
…..Division God created the heavens and the earth. (Veil)
……….Ascension The earth was without form, and empty;
……….(Bronze Altar)
……….and darkness was on the face of the deep.
……….(Table of Facebread)
……….And the Spirit of God was hovering
……….over the face of the waters.

What happened when Jesus rose out of the Jordan as a new mediatorial “Land”? He was anointed by the Father as the Man who could face God.

This process is also the pattern of sacrifice. So far, God has taken the sacrifice (Creation), torn it in two (Division), placed it as “facebread” on the empty Altar (Ascension). Then, He puts fire on the Altar.

……………Testing Then God said, “Let there be light”;
……………and there was light.
……………(Lampstand)
……….Maturity And God saw the light,
……….that it was good;
……….(Incense)

At Maturity, in later patterns, we often find the two witnesses. They symbolise the faithful church. They are the body. It is plural. It is smoke. The smoke is a witness in God’s nostrils. It is a pleasing aroma or it is a stench. In later references, we find both, and they are (as far as I have looked) always at this point. When two or three witnesses are gathered together, there is Yahweh in the midst. It is a legal process. We see this when Jesus is flanked by Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets who are witnesses against unbelieving Judah. In Revelation, the firstfruits church is pictured, among other things, as two legal witnesses having exactly the powers of Moses and Elijah. They are slain as sacrifices and ascend to heaven as smoke, a pleasing aroma.

…..Conquest and God divided
…..the light from the darkness.
…..(Mediator)

Here is the Day of Atonement. The High Priest takes the Urim and Thummim, a white stone and a black stone. He uses them to choose which goat will ascend to God, and which goat will descend to the abyss. This is the separation of the Covenant body under the Covenant sanctions. At Ascension, it is a face-off between Aaron and Korah, David and Goliath. Here, it is about their sons, the warrior bride.

So, this division between day and night, evening and morning, corresponds to the Day of Atonement, when God renews the Covenant for another year for the sake of the Body. The evening is the Old Covenant, the Lunar (nighttime) festivals. The morning is the New Covenant.

These were contained all along on the bosom of the Man Who Could Face God, the High Priest. At Atonement, the Facebread-Man is vindicated. He chooses a faithful bride, and the harlot is expelled for another year.

Glorification God called the light Day,
and the darkness He called Night.
So the evening and the morning
were the first day.
(Shekinah)

At Glorification, we always find Judges (the seventh book) and judgment. It is the throne of Solomon and his bride. Even when Adam could not face God and he and his wife hid themselves, God still asked him to judge wisely. He asked Adam to call what he had done “Night.” Adam failed again. He called good “evil” and evil “good.”

Here, God judges His work. It is not yet “very good,” because it is not yet mature. Only God is good. Jesus was not “very good” until He had a Covenant body, until He was condemned under the Pentecostal fire of the Law and resurrected as body of fragrant smoke that could pass-through Atonement doors. Even He was perfected by suffering.

The darkness is about forming (Moses); the light is about filling (Christ). Only after this first-day heptamerous pattern is expanded into a full week will it be “very good” because the world will be formed and filled.

God then forms and fills Adam (which is described separately in Genesis 2 because it follows this pattern independently of the greater, not because it is a myth, despite what over-educated, yellow-bellied theologues tell us), and then He forms Eve, a Covenant body, as the filling of Adam.

So, what is the face of the deep? It is the face of Goliath. It is Adamic meat, uncut by the sword of the Word (uncircumcised) and without the Spirit.

As mentioned in Deus Ex Machina, in Revelation 5, John wept because the deep, the Gentile abyss, was once again ready to sweep across the disobedient Covenant people (the Land), and there was no one worthy to face God.

Until John saw the missing table, the Lamb. As New Covenant Head, Jesus opened the New Covenant scroll, and there was Pentecostal Light. Only those in the ark, in Christ, survived the flood of Rome (Daniel 9:26) that closed the Old Covenant scroll.

As long as Jesus stands before God, that New Covenant scroll remains open. In Him, we cannot lose face.

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Art: Crossing the Red Sea by Justin Gerard, 12stoneart.
[1] See The Holy Headbutt and Horns of Moses.

Re The Wrath of Love, Michael Micklow commented:
(Correction – not Michael Shover – Michael got his Michael’s crossed)

“The prophet did not have to remind God, so much as he had to remind himself of the love of God, and to see God’s judgment as the wrath of love.”

What about the dangerous yet successful Mosaic paradigm in Exodus 32:7-14? In this section, the prophet is able to approach, contest and sway God’s wrath (vv. 11-13). In response to Moses’ challenge, the text tells us, “and the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people” (v. 14)…

… And what was the cornerstone of his defense? — the appeal to memory (v. 13). Moses cites the exodus event, and he further appeals to the covenant established with Abraham.

Exegetically said, human agents when in-line with the memory of Scripture are empowered to approach and challenge the memory of God himself. — Indeed, there may have been another deluge if it weren’t for Moses’ agency, and God may have lamented as he did so poignantly in Genesis 6:6.

It might sound crazy that God needs, or relies, on humans in order to bring about his purposes for the cosmic renewal or eschaton, but a close exegesis of Exodus 32 supports it; furthermore, the overall canonical sweep of Scripture supports such a daring mutual interdependency of God/heaven and humans/earth, founded by Gen. 1:26-28, and supported in Gen. 5:1, Gen 9:6.

Therefore, I am not quite on-board with your above claim, as the relationship between humankind and God, as depicted in the biblical account, is more complex and nuanced.

and then he wrote:

Caveat: or perhaps God was fishing for an answer, testing his prophetic subject in order to see how he would respond to such utter destruction of his Covenant people. But if Moses had not chosen to speak up, then would the fire and brimstone have been unleashed? I think so.

I think this caveat is a good solution to the problem.

Moses and every other “mediator” foreshadowed Christ, standing before God as our advocate. It is not that God has a short memory, but that a Covenant memorial is required, a permanent testimony to the covering that was provided. Christ is enthroned “permanently” at the right hand of the Father, mediating for us until the New Covenant comes to an end and He presents the completed kingdom for final glorification.

God allows crises, as Jordan observes, to bring us to maturity. As God’s sons, we are not called back to the innocence of childhood (or Adam), back to square one, but forward to government. The mature prophet, like Abraham, David, Joshua the High Priest and others, is invited to join God’s council and deliberate with Him on the best course of action. Abraham bargains with God over the cities of the plain. David is given some horrific options to atone for his counting the troops, and he wisely chooses the best of them.

The devil stood at the Father’s right hand accusing the brethren. His job in the garden was to bring Adam to maturity, and despite his rebellion, God used him for just that purpose. And He still does. The Lord just about plays “devil’s advocate” in some instances. [1] He removes His protection from Job. He calls Abraham to kill Isaac. [2] Like Solomon, He calls for a sword to kill the baby. Jesus said plenty of spiky things, and on the Emmaus Road, He pretends as though He is going further. After His ascension, He allows Satan to test the firstfruits church with false doctrine.

What is my reaction in a crisis of faith? I think of Spurgeon’s complaint to God when he was ill, that if he were God, he wouldn’t treat his son this way. And he got better! God allows room for complaint. We see this in Habakkuk, where the prophet complains about the lack of justice, and the Lord is then able to fill him in on the bigger picture.

In the New Covenant, Jesus has given us bread and wine, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Wisdom. When tested, what will be my judgment? Will it be wise, and most importantly, will it be mediatorial? Will I step in between the serpent and Eve, between Israel and the plague? Whatever the test, we now have an Advocate when we fail instead of simply an accuser. We now have a true Teacher instead of an envious angelic pedagogue. His Spirit in us turns stumblingblocks into hurdles. He enlarges our path so our feet do not slip. He teaches us how to make war, and gives us the necks of our enemies. He puts them, and the accuser, under our feet.

In one sense, any dispute with God is sin. He is always right. There is no point debating. At the last judgment, every mouth will be stopped. But in this sense, in this call to maturity, it is an honour to be invited to a “disputatio” with God, a terrible honour: in God’s court, neither the dilemma nor the stakes are ever hypothetical. We are called, robed in white, washed and seated as judges, and our ministry is to stand in the gap (as bread-and-wine people) and avert tragedy through intercession.

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him…  And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” …the Angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying,

“Thus says the Lord of armies:
…..‘If you will walk in My ways,
……….and if you will keep My command,
……………Then you shall also judge My house,
……….and likewise have charge of My courts;
…..I will give you places to walk
among these [heavenly elders] who stand here.

(from Zechariah 3).

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[1] The site of Isaac’s offering was where David saw the angel with the sword. He purchased it for the construction of the Temple.
[2] See The Dirty Birds.

“Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens…” Hebrews 8:1

Conservative Christian people know and understand that we deserve to be brought low. We know and understand the Law of God. We know our own sinfulness. We are very aware of how we fall short in many ways. We know that the holiness of God casts us down. This is all good, as far as it goes. This is healthy, as far as it goes. This is much needed in our day, as far as it goes. But we need to follow God’s purposes all the way out.

We need to understand what God is up to. We need to understand the narrative arc. We need to understand the story, and the story is: death and resurrection; humiliation and exaltation: ascension to the right hand of God the Father.

God humbles us, which we deserve. But He also exalts us, which we do not deserve at all. And this is often the point where we stumble. This is the point where we don’t go along with God’s purposes. This is the point where we often rebel against the Good News, where we kick against the Gospel.

In his great hymn to the obedience of Christ, the apostle Paul urges us to have the same mind in us that Christ had in Him. When this is presented to Christians, many think, “Jesus humbled Himself, so we need to humble ourselves. Jesus was brought low; we must be willing to be brought low.” This is true, but Jesus, as it says in Hebrews, did all this for the joy that was set before Him, for the exaltation that was coming. But we don’t want to have that mind in us, and that’s the problem.

If you don’t understand the process of death, resurrection, ascension and enthronement, you don’t understand the Gospel. When Paul says the mind of Christ should be in us, he is talking about the whole thing. We can’t just take a snapshot of Christ doing one thing and make it a screensaver. You must have the mind of Christ in the whole story.

We do not just follow Christ to Jerusalem to die with Him, as Thomas was willing to do. But Thomas did not yet have the mind to follow Jesus to life. Death is the doorway to life. Thomas did not understand what Jesus was talking about, and many Christians do not understand what Jesus was talking about. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son. God is up to something, and He is taking us all the way through.

Christians tend to say, okay, I admit that I’m a sinner, God has forgiven my sins, I’m cleaned up and now I’m back to square one. We are like the prodigal who wants to be forgiven and restored, but only to the level of a servant in the house. The prodigal son was not expecting the fatted calf to be killed. He was not expecting a party to be thrown. He was not expecting his father to hire a small jazz band… and neither was his older brother. He wasn’t expecting to be exalted. He was expecting to be restored at the bare minimum.

This is where our faith staggers. We expect to be forgiven. That’s God’s job. But even though we read and sing about it, and Christians have done so for two thousand years, we still don’t expect the robe, and the ring still surprises us.

Adapted from Doug Wilson, Christkirk sermon podcast May 18, 2010.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9)