When Ahaziah, king of Judah died, his mother Athaliah wanted to be queen. She ordered all her grandsons to be slaughtered. Only one escaped. The nanny Jehosheba hid baby Joash in the Temple of God for six years.

When he was seven, Jehosheba’s brother, the High Priest, called the royal bodyguards and escorts and showed them the king’s son. Athaliah was executed and the temple of Baal was torn down (2 Kings 11).

The Bible gives us a family tree, with a single “royal” bloodline from Adam to Jesus (see Matthew 1). If Joash had died with his brothers, that bloodline would have been severed, making impossible the fulfilment of God’s promise in Genesis 3: the offspring of Eve would crush the serpent’s head.

King Herod also slaughtered innocent children. One escaped: Jesus. He too would be anointed King and tear down all false worship by dying as payment for the sins of mankind. This task continued with the destruction of Herod’s Jerusalem in AD70 and will continue until all His enemies are under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight — if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven…”  (Colossians 1:21-23)

Merry Christmas from the Bulls. Thanks for reading! Catch you in 2010…

Notice that in this structure, different words become key. For instance, here it is cross instead of peace because that statement is now at the centre. Paul as a minister is at the end of the passage. See Paul the Epistle.

The structure begins with Christ as a single mediator.

Notice the silent-as-a-Firstfruits-lamb Tabernacle of Moses (creation formed) and the awesome-as-an-army-with-banners’ battle-cry Tabernacle of David at Trumpets (creation filled). The Old Covenant built a new sky and sea, and the New Covenant filled these spaces with multitudes of “birds” and “fish”.

The reconciliation here is not just man to God, but Jew to Gentile. The cross fulfills the circumcision. The wilderness step includes the end of Adam (as He opens the Law) and the beginning of Eve, in whose place He stood under that Law as a substitute.

At Atonement, Christ as High Priest carries us holy and blameless before God.

Ministry of Adam – head

Genesis  /  Sabbath
“And he is the head of the body, the church. 

Exodus  /  Passover
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 

Leviticus  /  Firstfruits (Tabernacle formed)
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 

Numbers  / Pentecost
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross…

. . . . .

Ministry of Eve – body

…And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, 

Deuteronomy  / Trumpets  (Tabernacle filled)
in order to present you before him holy and blameless and above reproach,

Joshua / Atonement
if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, 

Judges  /  Tabernacles
which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”  (Colossians 1:18-23)

The structure finishes with our testimony to the nations as a corporate mediator in a new Land. Paul here matches Christ as head, as he begins the next cycle as an incarnation of Christ in His resurrection power.

This contribution by Kelby Carlson, who just finished my book. He deserves a big medal. He also thinks it should be longer!

For our English class we are reading The Scarlet Letter. It’s amazing how much symbolism there is in literature, and your book (Jordan’s, too, and a few others) have really started to help me see that. I think man fundmentally fits symbols into everything, even if sometimes it is unintentional. I am just amazed at how something that at first appears simple can say so much; which has me even more in awe of the Scriptures.

I was just reading Colossians 1:15-20 and had heard that those verses were structured as a liturgical hymn. This is an astoundingly compact and intricate series of verses and it is one of the best and most beautiful proclamations of the Gospel-Through-Word in the entire New Testament. It is structured both around creation and around the liturgy; its parallelisms are constant and rhythmic even in an English translation. It also reflects a pattern from Garden (ark-throne), to land (the holy people), to world (glorious reconciliation.) Here is an outline following the seven steps of the Dominion chiasm:

Creation (garden, light, ark, word): He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Division (firmament-heaven, veil, mediation: For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;

Ascension (head, firstfruits): all things were created by him and for him.

Testing (lampstand, ruling light, mighty man): He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Maturity (incense-clouds, holy people, totus christus, garden to land): And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Conquest (Atonement, High Priest, final filling, land to world): For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven

Glorification (booths, final libation, wine, blood): by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.