“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.
Would that you were either cold or hot!” (Revelation 3:15)

The world is a cosmic Tabernacle. The first domain of Mediatory Man was between the waters. The waters below (springs) were necessary for life but they were not “a place to live.” The waters above did likewise. However, these were temporary veils, boundaries to be crossed in an increasing advance-by-faith.

The crystal Sea was the Laver before the throne of God. In AD70 it was raised up by the breath of God as “watery walls”, a crystal city for the government of the saints of the old administration. This Sea was a blessing to the saints but a curse to sinners. It was a boundary they could not cross without a ministry of death. In Revelation 19, as final judgment upon the Old Covenant approached, this crystal Sea also became a Laver of bronze, a lake of fire, so the water above must be temporarily divided in some way. The New Jerusalem has a moat. This fiery aspect of the Sea remains until the final judgment, the destruction of the devil.

Genesis 1-10 follow the same “Tabernacle” structure as Genesis 1. The Edenic “mediatorial springs” on Day 6 become the flood waters in the greater pattern. The waters are a Day of Atonement, the sixth feast, a festival of death-and-resurrection.

Interestingly, Creation scientist Barry Setterfield believes that Noah’s flood (or its initial release) was scalding hot. There was most certainly volcanic activity involved in the event. Imagine magma-heated boiling water bursting from the deep.

We also read that it rained. Most people seem to ignore the fact that the springs burst forth and concentrate on the rain, presuming a vapor canopy which collapsed as being the major source of the waters. There may have been some kind of a vapor canopy over the early earth, but it would have been much higher than the clouds we see today if life on earth was to have survived. The majority of the rain which fell was from the waters which had burst forth, carrying with them massive amounts of pulverized debris from under the crust. They would have burst forth to a height greater than even our volcanoes of today. This would have produced a hot rain full of rocks and mud as well as remains of any vegetation and biological life which were in the vicinity of where the waters burst out. In other words, this was a rain that was like no other before, and there has been none other like it since. [1]

I disagree with his idea that the deluge was due to a natural process simmering away since the Creation and waiting to burst. That’s not how God ever works. The earth was blessed. The soil was blessed. The dust was not cursed until after Adam’s Fall. Now, the sea was cursed. Now, the entire globe was “out to get him.” The flood was a miraculous judgment, a transformation of blessed springs into a cursed flood upon Man. Even the mouth of God cannot be a spring of blessing and cursing upon the same Man. The bitter river of the generations of Adam had “filled up” the world. The rivers of blood–and the tyranny that was their source–had to be washed away.

In the Great Flood, both the Sea above and the Sea below became a firmament of burning bronze, closing in and closing forever as great doors on the primeval world, a scalding, hissing mist that brought death to “all flesh.”

Of course, it’s only speculation, based on “cross-eyed exegesis,” but God’s symbols are consistent.

ADDENDUM: Of course we see the same elements of fire and water in the Red Sea crossing. Plus, Psalm 77 tells us there was water above and below in the ministry of Moses and Aaron.

___________________________________
[1] The Bible  and the Geologic Column.

Well, here’s Day 6 at last, and the end of Genesis 1 (this is a really bad chapter division!)
Here’s the rest of this series:   1 2 3 4 5

In this final act of Creation, the Lord puts the lords in the palace. As James Jordan observes, ancient kings sat on thrones of beasts. As king, Solomon was enthroned over lions. His priestly government, imaged in the bronze sea, was enthroned over twelve “tribal” sacrificial bulls, carrying the living water to the nations. And in the Revelation, we see the four beasts filled with eyes beneath the throne of God. The animal kingdom was, in some important sense, to become Adam’s throne.

If you’ve read Bible Matrix, you’ll also have seen that Israel’s history follows the Creation Week, with the four Gentile “beast” empires preceding the final “empire of The Man” Christ Jesus (Daniel 7). Using the matrix, we can also see that the initial history in Daniel 1-6 follows the same pattern, with Daniel’s “dominion” over the lions (turning them into “mutes”) situated at Day 6. And, of course, Noah was also enthroned over those “from afar off.” And then, looking at the entire biblical history, at the Last Day, Jesus will be the one fully enthroned over every enemy, with every “beastly” mouth stopped.

The Lord formed the Land on Day 3, and gave it a preliminary filling which corresponds with Day 7. But the “eaters” of those firstfruits turn up on Day 6:

1 – Light      >      4 – Lights
2 – Waters/Firmament     >     5 – Birds and Fish
3 – Land     >    6 – Mediators
3.5 – Grain & Fruit Plants    >     7 – Rest: Bread and Wine

Watch 12 year old Zack Block explain it here.

Creation

Then said God,
…..“Bring forth from the Land
……….the breathing (flesh) animals in species: (forming)

……………mute beasts, (Rulers, wilderness)
……….and crawlies, (Swarms)
…..the animals of the Land in species; (sacrificial Mediators) (filling)

and it was so. (future)

[Notice that just as the stanza ends with Succession, forming and filling also each end with a Succession, the “kinds.”]

Division

And God made:
…..the animals (flesh) of the Land in species,
……….the mute beasts in species,
…..and the crawlies on the Land in species.
And God saw that it was good.

[Creation is the initiating word. Division is the installation of the new delegation. This seems to be a five-fold scroll rather than a seven-fold Creation, perhaps awaiting the dominion of man at the centre. We do, however, see the “speaking” or sacrificial animals in the upper level, the mute ones in the literary “wilderness” and the “swarms” as plagues/sanctions in their usual spot. Here, they are all given Succession, offspring.]

Ascension

Then God said,
…..“Let Us make man in Our image,
……….according to Our likeness;
……………let them have dominion
……….over the fish of the sea,
……….over the birds of the air,
…..and over the animals,
…..over all the Land
and over every creeping
thing that creeps on the Land.”

[Here is the sacrificial animal that speaks literally rather than merely symbolically. Notice the command to be a “ruling light” at the centre of the matrix. The “image” speaks of delegation or mission. The “likeness” speaks of form.  Somehow, in this structure, Adam is the Altar of Land and all other life rests upon him. True dominion is service. For a preliminary period, Adam is a little lower than the animals (the earthly symbols of angels).]

Testing (Rulers, Ethics)

So God
…..created man
……….the image;
……………the image of God
……….He created him;
…..male and female
He created them.

[Notice man and woman on Day 6. Another literary structural support for credobaptism following the new birth. Man and woman are the sacrificial head and body on the Day of Coverings. Eve also moves the entire structure from forming to filling, from singular to plural.]

Maturity (Plurality)

Then God blessed them,
…..and God said to them,
……….“Be fruitful and multiply;
……….fill the Land and subdue it;
……………have dominion
……….over the fish of the sea,
……….over the birds of the air,
…..and over every living thing
that moves on the Land.”

Conquest
And God said,
…..“See, I have given you every herb [that] yields seed
……….on the face of all the Land,
……….and every tree whose fruit yields seed;
……………to you it shall be for food.
……….To every animal of the Land,
……….to every bird of heaven,
……….and to everything that crawls on the Land,
…..in which lives life,
…..every green herb for food”;
and it was so.

[Conquest corresponds to the entry to the Promised Land. In Israel’s annual calendar, the sixth feast took the Land from Israel, put it into the grave and gave it back to them anew for another year. Notice that the food test seems to be right at the centre, in the wilderness. The multiplied blessings of the animal kingdom upon the Land are at Step 5, and the “nephesh” sacrificial life seems to be at Day 6. In this structure, it is now an ascended Adam resting on the animals, as they carry him enthroned into a new world.]

Glorification
Then God
…..saw everything
……….that He had made, (Formed)
……………and behold (Lampstand)
……….[it was] very good. (Plunder not plagues)
…..So the evening and the morning (Day of Coverings)
were the sixth day. (Succession)

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There is great advantage in tracking the shape of God’s work in history through the Old Testament. This is because God is consistent. Everything He does has the same shape, even though He does it in new and surprising (and sometimes devastating) ways.

One of the big handles in Scripture is the five-fold Covenant pattern, described by Ray Sutton in his book, “That You May Prosper: Dominion by Covenant.”

Transcendence – God is distinct

Hierarchy – God delegates a representative

Ethics – He outlines the rules, the laws that, if kept, will bring success

Sanctions – He lists the blessings for obedience/curses for disobedience

Succession – Finally, he outlines the arrangements for the next Covenant “mission,” the next generation

Sutton uses Deuteronomy as his prime example of this structure. But it is found right throughout the Bible, including the five books of Moses, the Ten Commandments, the Psalms, Hosea, and Hebrews. It is even the foundation for the seven-fold Creation week and Feasts pattern, but that is beyond the scope of this post (the Ethics step gets split – “opened” – into three).

As a Covenant lawsuit, the book of Revelation also follows this structure:

Transcendence: Jesus is distinct from other men, as the divine, and first-glorified, man.

Hierarchy: Jesus assesses the sins beginning to sprout in His new goverment, the seven pastors.

Ethics: The New Covenant scroll is opened, and the Spirit is poured out upon the Land. It puts Judah on the Altar and sets her alight. (This is Firstfruits, Pentecost and Trumpets)

Sanctions: The seven bowls of Spirit-oil on the Law-Lampstand are carried out by the angels and tipped onto the Land one last time. It is an anti-Pentecost, for Israel’s blasphemy of the Spirit. The harlot drinks the cup and the bride is married to her Bridegroom. This takes us to the end of Revelation 19.

Succession: Here is the point of this post. Throughout the Old Testament, this final point details the future of the Covenant once this one is carried out. It concerns the next administration, the next generation, the “godly (or ungodly) offspring” of this first arrangement. It is the legacy in history of the obedience or disobedience of God’s people. Those who disobeyed are cut off by the Sanctions. Those who obeyed remain and prosper.

The final chapters of Revelation were not fulfilled in AD70. They are the outcome of the Sanctions poured out upon the Old Covenant, the judgment which brought it to an end. It was not a destruction of God’s people but a pruning.

So it is not inconsistent to claim that these chapters stand distinct in some way from the rest of the book. It is nothing new. It is the way God always presents His Covenant. He deals in securities and futures, and His lawyers include these in all their documents.

The Revelation, as the final warning in a Covenant lawsuit, is no different. Every Covenant has an element of futurism because the Covenant process is how God directs history and moves it forward. Moses helps us to identify which part of Revelation is yet future. To claim otherwise is to ignore the structure of the entire Bible. We can quibble about words and phrases forever. But structure is where the real answers lie, and they are damning for hyperpreterism.

_________________________________

Available in June/July, Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key explores the shape and use of this structure in the Scriptures, and shows how it is also the foundation of the Creation week/Feasts which were outlined in Bible Matrix.

Psalm 11 seems a simple one to break down. As usual, once the structure is parsed, the author’s allusions are allowed to shine. The odd progression of the subject matter of the song suddenly makes sense. Now, remember we are dealing with poetry. All those silly rules you learnt at Bible college don’t apply. But all those good rules you learnt in English class do apply. The context is the Covenant, and Covenant breakers, and all the allusions are drawn from the history of the Covenant so far. It all takes place inside the tent of God and the Land of God, because that is where judgment begins.

Genesis – Creation – Day 1 – Sabbath
In the LORD (Transcendence)
…..I put my trust; (Hierarchy)
……….How can you say to my soul, (Ethics)
…..“Flee as a bird (Sanctions)
to your mountain”? (Continuity)

Five lines is an unopened Covenant scroll. The allusion is to the book of Genesis, God’s mountain and the Spirit-Word returning with the author’s soul to the sanctuary, i.e. not void. The mountain is at Tabernacles. In Adam’s Testing cycle, he was at last exiled from this mountain.

Exodus – Division – Day 2 – Passover
For look! (Word)
…..The wicked (Bad hierarchy)
……….bend their bow, (Covenant rainbow)
……………They make ready their arrow (death at foot of the mountain)
………. on the string, (Warrior bride)
…..That they may shoot secretly (from behind the Firmament/Veil)
at the upright in heart. (God’s true Man is the mountain)

Leviticus – Ascension – Day 3 – Firstfruits
If the foundations (Source)
…..are destroyed, (by Delegated Sons of God; Pass-over)
……….What can the righteous do? (Ethics)
…..The LORD is in (Sanctions – blessings/curses; pass-through)
His holy temple, (Tabernacles – on the mount)

Usually, the pattern at Ascension is heaven above, Land below, under the Land, the three level Temple. But this reversal does ascend. The order is failed Government, helpless Sacrament, but everlasting Word. The tent down here might be destroyed, but the real house of God stands firm.

Numbers – Testing – Day 4 – Pentecost (rulers above, rulers below)
The LORD’s throne (Transcendence)
…..is in heaven; (Hierarchy)
……….His eyes behold, (Ethics)
…..His eyelids test (Sanctions)
the sons of men. (Continuity)

Again, we have a closed scroll, which is odd for Day 4, which usually has seven lights. The seven lights here are the seven flaming eyes of God, the Lampstand. But the seven-fold pattern is inherent in it anyway. Sanctions corresponds to Atonement, the Day of Coverings, so the author refers to eyelids. How brilliant is that. It means God “winks at” the sins of the righteous (first goat: blessing), but he doesn’t overlook the sins of the wicked (second goat, second death – cursing). And then for the Continuity step we have “the sons of men.” It all makes sense with The Covenant Key.

Deuteronomy – Maturity – Day 5 – Trumpets
The LORD
…..tests
……….the righteous,
……………But the wicked
……….and the one
…..who loves violence
His soul hates.

The Law is repeated. “Second Law”

Joshua – Conquest – Day 6 – Atonement
Upon the wicked
…..He will rain coals;
……….Fire and brimstone
……………and a burning wind
……….Shall be the portion
…..of their cup.

Well, this one really ought to blow you away. In the beginning, or “at the head” (which is how the Bible begins) we have the heads of the wicked. They are a false “Ark,” lawless men.

The waters above at step 2 are coals, which is also the “Exodus” step of this stanza. Also, remember that coals from the Altar were taken to set fire to cities that were entirely under the ban, “devoted” to God. This is an allusion to Jericho.

Fire and brimstone, at step 3 (Day 3), concern the four-cornered Altar-Land, which has broken the Covnenant and become a spiritual Sodom. Instead of fragrant smoke there is a stench in God’s nostrils as she burns.

The burning wind is, of course, at the centre, where the Spirit always is. He is the holy fire that incinerates the rulers who refused to rule over sin (Day 4 – Testing).

The portion mirrors the Land in the chiasm. Quite often we will see the Land at step 3 and those ON the Land (the “swarms/tribes/hosts” of God) at step 5. The first is the bronze altar and the second the golden altar (incense). In Joshua, the Land was divided into portions.

Now, and this is the serious part, the Conquest of the seven-fold pattern corresponds to the Sanctions of the five-fold pattern. The cup is the cup of blessing or cursing for the Bride of God (a la Numbers 5). In the Covenant pattern, this is where Israel swears to keep God’s commandments. They take the oath, the “Amen.” But when God comes a-calling for the Adam/High Priest, the cup tests him. He is made to eat (or in this case drink) his words. This is the point at which Herodian Israel is forced to drink the cup in the Revelation, which follows exactly the same pattern as Psalm 11.

Finally, notice that this stanza is a 666. The Sabbath rest is missing (as it is in Revelation 13). For calf-worshippers, who are made to to drink the calf, there is no Covenant continuity, no glorification. Instead of being metal men like Jesus, their gold eats them up from the inside, and they are slain with the Levitical sword.

Judges – Glorification – Day 7 – Tabernacles
For the LORD
…..is righteous,
……….He loves
……………righteousness;
……….His countenance
…..beholds
the upright.

The Day of the Lord is the Day of Adam as a wise judge. The pattern is completed in God’s Man, the 7.

(I think it’s pretty funny that the best way to find chiasms in Scripture is using the Return Key.)

or Raising Up the Temple

An analysis of the literary structure of Day 5 of Creation and passages that are apparently parallel.
Here are links to Days 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Day 5 contains some surprises. It mirrors Day 3 in the chiasm:

1
…..2
……….3
……………4
……….5
…..6
7

and yet Day 5 fills the space created on Day 2:

Forming the spaces
1
…..2
……….3

Filling the spaces
4
…..5
……….6

Stanza 1

As with Day 3, it contains 2 stanzas (or cycles). What is really surprising is that I can only get this first stanza to fit the Creation pattern if I run it BACKWARDS. Sure, the water of 2 and 6 is still mirrored, and the Lord is at 1 and 7, but 3 and 5 are very different.

Then God said, (Day of the Lord)
…..“Let the waters abound (Laver – Mediators)
……….with an abundance
……….of living creatures, (Incense – Swarms/Clouds)
……………and let birds fly (Lampstand – Heavenly Rulers)
……….above the [Land] (Altar – Land above Gentile Sea)
……….across the face (Table of Facebread – Grain and Fruit)*
…..of the firmament (Veil – Firmament)
of the heavens.” (Ark – In the beginning)

*Notice that the Altar and Land are a self-contained unit, and so their order is not swapped, even though the whole process runs backwards. The plants still follow the ascension of the Land as glorified Adamic soil.

Now, the Creation pattern only runs backwards when God is deconstructing the world (or its microcosmic tent or Temple). But we are in the brief time before sin entered through Adam. What is going on here?

If you look carefully, you can see that the stanza works its way up from the deep, through the fish, out of the water to the birds, up to the sky and then into heaven. Day 5 is Step 5, and Step 5 is the resurrection of the body. It seems that the Author is communicating resurrection as both creating something new, and also a turning back of time.

Step 3 is the Ascension of the Covenant Head to receive the two stone witnesses of the Law. Step 5 is those stone Laws written on two tablets of flesh, the Covenant Body as Two Witnesses. The Law is written on resurrected hearts, and unlike the silent Head (silent as a Lamb), they speak and sing. It is the difference between Sinai and Deuteronomy.

This step is also military; it is ten plagues, or two witnesses marching 5 abreast. It is ten backward steps of the scorching sun of Day 4 on the stairway of Ahaz as a witness to the promise of healing:

(2 Kings 2:8-11)

(Creation – Day 1)
Hezekiah had asked Isaiah,

…..(Division – Day 2)**
…..“What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me

……….(Ascension – Day 3)
……….and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD
……….on the third day from now?”

……………(Testing – Day 4 – Pentecost – Law opened)
……………Isaiah answered,
………………..“This is the LORD’s sign
…………………….to you
………………..that the LORD will do
……………what he has promised:

……….(Maturity – Day 5 – Two Witnesses)
……….Shall the shadow go forward ten steps,
……….or shall it go back ten steps?”

…..(Conquest – Day 6 – Day of Coverings, open Veil
…..Man divides morning and evening at Atonement)
…..“It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,”
…..said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

(Glorification – Day 7 – Rest and Shelter)
Then the prophet Isaiah
…..called upon the LORD,
……….and the LORD
……………made the shadow (death defeated)
……….go back the ten steps (Day 5)
…..it had gone down
on the stairway of Ahaz.

**Division is Sanctification, a setting apart of God’s man.

Stanza 2

So God created great sea creatures (Genesis)***
…..and every living thing that moves, (Exodus)
……….(Land rulers and Sea rulers divided – Leviticus)
……….with which the waters abounded,
………. according to their kind,
……….and every winged bird
………. according to its kind.
………………..(Numbers – Judgment of Body)
………………..And God saw that [it was] good.
……………(Deuteronomy – Blessings/Curses upon Body)
……………And God blessed them, saying,
……………“Be fruitful and multiply,
…..(Joshua – a new body of Jew and Gentile)
…..and fill the waters in the seas,
…..and let birds multiply on the [Land].”
(Judges – rulers in the Land)
So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

***Only three created things are described as wonderful: the heavens and earth, the great sea creatures, and Man. Here, the sea creatures are “at the head” of the stanza as wonderful.

I can only surmise that Day 5 has two stanzas because the first forms the “Bridal” Covenant Body and the second fills it, which is exactly what we see in Ezekiel 37, just before the Conquest of Haman and Persia in Ezekiel 38 and 39. So Day 5 is a microcosm of the entire week as a whole, and also in its two parts. Wheels within wheels indeed.

Throughout the Bible, there are good swarms and bad swarms, good armies and bad armies, fragrant smoke and sulphur, at “Day 5.” One is the offspring of the Incense Altar, and the other is the offspring of the Altar of the Abyss. In Revelation, the Judaizers are described as this offspring, a smoke from the abyss that turns into locusts that devour. But what does Jesus do later in the book for the martyred Firstfruits church? He turns back time for the faithful, the “two witnesses” church which is also an army from the east (literally, from the Sunrise). In fact, for all those who died at the hands of Cainites under the Old Covenant, Jesus restored the years that the locust had eaten. He brought about The End of Shadows.

or Ulterior Motifs

Jesus’ reference to sun, moon and stars in Matthew 24 has nothing to do with the physical world, and everything to do with the microcosmic world of the Temple. Because of this, the Covenant Creationists think Genesis 1 is only about the Covenant with Adam, not about physical creation. They’re wrong, just as the literalists are wrong about Matthew 24 predicting the end of the world.

Genesis describes the construction of the world as a Tabernacle. The actual Tabernacle and Temple were microcosms of this (and Christ Himself, as a man, was a microcosm of all of the above [1]). The prophets used de-Creation language such as sun, moon and stars, birds and fish, to describe the end of the microcosmos. Just as Isaiah uses the flood motifs (branch, wolf and lamb, etc.) to describe the end of Israel’s kingdom under a flood of Babylonian troops. Identifying the motifs doesn’t make the source non-historical. Covenant Creationism is false. And having an historical source doesn’t mean the motifs are literal. Dispensationalism is false.

Anyhow, I’ve previously analysed Days 1, 2, and 3. Here’s Day 4. The sun, moon and five visible planets (to the naked eye) are the seven lights on the heavenly Lampstand that watches over Israel (Table) who is/are the firstfruits of the Land (Bronze Altar).

Creation – Ark/Throne
Then God said,
…..“Let there be
……….lights
…..in the firmament
of the heavens

…..Division – Veil - C I R C U M C I S I O N
…..to divide the day
…..from the night;

……….Ascension – Table
……….and let them be (Hailing)
……………for signs (Hierarchy)
………………..and seasons, (Harvest)
……………and for days (Homecomings)
……….and years; (Heritage)

……………Testing – Lampstand watchman over Table
……………and let them be for lights
………………..in the firmament of the heavens
…………………….to give light on the [Land]”;
…………………………and it was so. (Ethics fulfilled in Lights)

……….Maturity – Incense/Ruling Body
……….Then God made (Transcendence)
……………two great lights: (Hierarchy)
………………..the greater light (Covenant Head)
…………………….to rule the day, (Ethics)
………………..and the lesser light (Covenant Body)
……………to rule the night; (Sanctions)
……….the stars also. (Continuity [children])

…..Conquest – Laver – B A P T I S M [2]
…..God set them (as rulers)
……….in the firmament (on the crystal sea)
……………of the heavens (as firstfruits)
………………..to give light (with wisdom)
……………on the [Land], (over the thousands)
……….and to rule over the day (Head)
……….and over the night, (Body)
…..and to divide the light from the darkness. (as Judges, shekinah-eyes!)

Glorification
And God (Transcendence)
…..saw that [it was] (Hierarchy)
……….good. (Ethics)
…..So the evening and the morning (Sanctions)
were the fourth day. (Continuity)

In AD67-70, the angelic “animalia” angels retired. Animal sacrifices ceased. The heavenly court received justified flesh as a new government. As Daniel predicted, the wise shined like stars at the end of the age. [3]

_____________________________________
[1] See A New Heavens and a New Earth.
[2] Just like I keep saying. Look at the subject matter here! Those that have been cut at division are now the ones qualified to bear the sword. Not a bubba in sight. He who began the work was faithful to complete it. The literal word was (ful)filled in flesh (matter/motif). The New Covenant sign reflects this. It is for wise judges, not those who cannot judge between good and evil, or even between mother and father. The curds and honey of the Law is for them (Isaiah 7:15-16; 8:4).
[3] See Jesus’ New Broom, Communion of Saints and Better Angels.

Peter Leithart writes:

“Why so much attention to the pillars of Solomon’s temple in 2 Kings 25? It is likely that these were the last major items left. Ahaz had already dismantled the bronze sea and the water chariots. King after king plundered the temple for bribe money. When Nebuchadnezzar came, not much was left. Perhaps even the ark was among the ‘gold’ items removed earlier.” [1]

Like most things in the Temple, the bronze pillars had multiple significances. Jachin and Boaz were priest and king, church and state. Anointings took place before them. They were silent witnesses.

Being stately representations in the court (World), they represented dualities in the two levels above them. Jachin and Boaz were the public representations of the Gold Table and the Gold Lampstand hidden inside, (Table and Jachin on the north side, the side of sacrifice, etc.). As the bronze weathered to green, they also represented the two trees in the Garden of Eden, bread and wine, priest and king, obedience and rule, youth and eldership, submission and exaltation, Alpha and Omega. In this, they represented the two great cherubim in the Most Holy Place, flanking the flaming sword of the two tablets (Tablet I: church; Tablet II: state) within the fiery chariot-throne of God, the Ark.

They were also the two bronze-armoured legs of a mighty metal man, the true Goliath, the Colossal Totus Christus stretching from heaven to earth Who would one day stand on the Land and Sea, Jew and Gentile, and unite them with a word, and also call down the Covenant curses upon the Herodian “kingdom of Saul.” The Tabernacle was a mobile, flying tent. The Temple was stationary and thus had landing gear.

The Restoration Temple was bereft of these pillars. Priest and king were no longer exterior, and no longer separate. In Zechariah, the High Priest is given a kingly crown to wear. The old Table and Lampstand were united in a nation of kingly-priests, an Altar of Incense, flesh and Spirit united in resurrection. The church-state that was intended was a stately Daniel advising a Nebuchadnezzar, a Mordecai advising a Darius.

Dr. Leithart recently noticed a Creation pattern (well, de-Creation) in the description of the dismantling of the pillars. [2] It was, after all, the end of the old Eden, the two trees on the old mountain of God finally swept away in the flood; the original sanctuary made desolate because of the abominations committed by the sons of God.

He focusses on the items listed, and there is most certainly a chiastic arrangement. I’ll give it a go with the structure of the passage itself, and then step out a level to see what we find.

Firstly, we seem to find the 5 books of Moses. This is, after all, a recording of the execution of the curses of the Covenant.

Genesis – DEFILED SANCTUARY:
The bronze pillars that were in the house of the LORD,

Exodus – CHARIOTS AND SEA:
and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the LORD,

Leviticus – NEAR-BRINGING:
Bronze Altar-Land: the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon.
Table of Facebread: They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. (ie. the stuff that sits on the surface)

Numbers – REFINING/RULERS: (Gold and Silver – Sun and Moon – Lamptand)
The firepans [fire] and the basins [blood], the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. [Lampstand: the Temple had ten lampstands made of solid gold (rulers – fire), 1 Kings 7:49, as well as lampstands of silver (armies – smoke), 1 Chron 28:15

Deuteronomy – PLUNDER/PLAGUES INNUMERABLE AND COVENANT REPEATED:
The two pillars,
…..one Sea,
……….and the carts,
……………which Solomon had made
……….for the house of the LORD,
…..the bronze of all these articles
was beyond measure. [vapour of smoke]

Joshua – MEDIATORS/CONQUEST/HEAD & BODY:
The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it [was] of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network. (The pillars were also pictures of men. [3])

There is no stanza seven, no glory, no more Promised Land. Solomon’s kingdom was the Sabbath of a process begun in Ruth (domination of Garden and Land), yet, as a new Adam, he failed to enter into a greater Sabbath. Domination of the World was given to a kingdom that would bring forth the humble fruit God desired: a kingdom ruled by Nebuchadnezzar.

The theme of this 6-verse structure is plunder, mostly bronze. Bronze was the “outer” metal of the Tabernacle, the brown Land. Iron was the outer Gentile courts (cf. Daniel 2 for the Gentile Tabernacle within which the Restoration Jews were to be wise men/prophets). This would suggest that this section is the Step 5 of a greater structure. What do we find if we take a step out, fractally, and look at the entire chapter?

Creation:
King
…encampment (tent/veil)
……siege wall / Zedekiah (de-Ascension of head)
……….famine (un-Pentecost)
……wall broken through (see BMX p. 181-183)
…king escapes between two walls
by way of the plain (no mountain of God)

Division:
Pursuit by Chaldeans (delegated authority)
…Zedekiah taken to Riblah
……brought up before the king
………sons killed before eyes, eyes taken out
……bronze fetters
…transported
to Babylon

Ascension: (Holy Place constructed but not filled)
Nebuzaradan the servant
…comes to Jerusalem
……Burns the houses:
……Lord’s house
………King’s house
……Great’s houses
…City houses
Burned with fire (Shekinah)

Testing: (death in wilderness, new ruler mentioned repeatedly)
Chaldean army
…captain of the guard (delegate)
……Jerusalem walls broken down (ascension)
………Nebuzaradan (ruler opening Law)
……multitude taken captive (plunder)
…defectors separated (Atonement)
poor as vinedressers (Booths)

Which brings us to our chiasm at Maturity: Temple Plunder
Trumpets is fairly consistently plural, so the two pillars feature: priest and king dismantled instead of resurrected

Conquest: Atonement: Murder of Gedaliah

Glorification: Booths: Future of Covenant – food and shelter – of Jehoiachin in Babylon

___________________________________
[1] Peter J. Leithart, Pillars.
[2] Peter J. Leithart, Temple Plunder in Kings.
[3] See Pillar and Man.

“…of the angels He says:
‘Who makes His angels spirits
and His ministers a flame of fire.’”

God is the source of all things, and He identifies Himself as such in His speeches. Every speech is Covenantal, and every preamble within His speeches is a statement of transcendence. “I am the Lord your God.”

After the initial call comes delegation, Covenantal Hierarchy. A man, a Moses, an Abraham, receives the Word with meekness.

We know that angels are God’s messengers, the sent ones. They administered the Old Covenant as our tutors, Satan becoming the first false teacher, the first corrupt ambassador, or, if you will, the first publican.

[This post has been refined and included in Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes.]

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“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you
and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” Matthew 21:43

We unpacked the “face of the deep” of Day 1 and the “flat universe” created on Day 2. Time to analyse Day 3!

Land of Promise

The third day has two parts, Land and raw food. The raw food has two parts: grain and fruit, the foundation for the Two Trees at the centre of the Garden, nourishment and taste, life and wisdom, priest and king, bread and wine.

Then God said,
…..“Let the waters under the heavens be
…..gathered together into one place,
……….and let the dry [land] appear”;
……………and it was so.
……….And God called the dry land Earth,
…..and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas.
And God saw that it was good.

Notice:

1. the first half of the structure is “Word” (Covenant Head) and the second is “Flesh,” a physical Covenant body for the Word. God speaks to the void and it becomes full. The “and it was so” is the Covenant obedience of the natural order to God’s Law. God speaks, and only then does nature have Laws;
2. the Land is called at Ascension (the Bronze Altar) and named at Maturity (the Incense Altar). Being called lifts the Land into existence; but being names lifts it higher again, to a Covenant significance written in heaven. The most obvious application would be Israel’s bloody Land before the exile and the “resurrected” Israel of elder-priests after the Law-curses were applied.
3. The waters at Division are a firmament hiding the Land. The dry ground is commanded, literally, to “be seen.” But when the reader “sees” it, it is still naked. It is formed, but not filled. It is an Adam waiting for a glorious bride, a Land awaiting Covenant “generations” that, despite gaining further glory through variation, will remain faithful to the original kind.

Kingdom Fruits

Man has a budget; but God has abundance. For obedience, He promises fruitfulness in every area of life. Again, Adam is ordinary. “…as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.” But the plunder of His faithfulness unto death is everlasting life, an entire people, a New Jerusalem founded on His obedience. These crops come out of the Land as fruitful Eve would come out of dusty Adam.

Then God said,
…..“Let the Land bring forth grass,
…..the herb that yields seed,
…..and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind,
…..whose seed is in itself, on the Land”;
……………and it was so.
…..And the Land brought forth grass,
…..the herb that yields seed according to its kind,
…..and the tree that yields fruit,
…..whose seed is in itself according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good.

Notice:

1. this only seems to divide into the 5 point Covenant pattern. This means it is a “Word,” a dark saying, yet to be opened. The commandment to grass, grain and fruit is the delegation (Hierarchy) and the fulfilment of that Word is the Deuteronomic response of the Land (Sanctions).
   …..God says
   ……….Delegation
   ……………Obedience
   ……….Results
   …..God judges results
2. Notice that “on the Land” ends the commandment. The grain and fruit are a promise of bread and wine on the Table (of Showbread). They are the Firstfruits of the Land offered to God on the Land-Altar. Yet the fulfilment doesn’t mention the Land, but only God’s assessment. I can only guess that this means the fruits are the harvest God expected, trees instead of thorns, etc. He desires godly offspring (seed) and godly-ness (fruits). Obviously, in this first case there were no thorns. The Land was obedient to the gospel.
   “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” Matthew 7:16
3. Grass, Grain and Fruit seem to be World/Land/Garden, listed in order of height from the bottom up – an ascending order, and also an order of delight. Day 3 corresponds to Ascension and Leviticus. It is the building of God’s microcosmic 3-level house within His macrocosmic 3-level world. It is the founding of an Israelite “world,” a centralised priesthood as Covenant Head, mediating above, and for, the lower Gentile Sea of nations (that grow as quickly as grass and wither even more quickly) with a ministry of innocent blood.
4. In the Tabernacle, the Land is the Bronze, and the crops are the Table. Yet, as one reader pointed out, the Table is not outside the tent with the Altar, but inside the Holy Place. This is because the crop is the bread-and-wine Man Who ascends to stand before God as Mediator for His brothers. Yet the Hebrew Word for Land is feminine. This grain and fruit Man bows to the Father – in submission – as a Holy Warrior, a “virgin.” This table is only a betrothal, a promise of a better one to come on Day 7, a true feast, if Adam is faithful to enter into God’s rest.

So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Then, perhaps we can see that Day 3 as a whole follows the matrix:

Waters gathered [Creation]
…..Land and Sea separated [Division]
……….Land and Sea named (Covenant) [Ascension]
……………Fruit commanded [Testing]
……….Fruit delivered [Maturity]
…..Evening and morning (Sanctions) [Conquest]
Day 3 [Glorification]