When was “The First Resurrection”?

At the end of what we call the Old Covenant, the long history of sacrificial “ascensions” also came to an end. Along with this, all the Old Covenant saints ascended to heaven in what the Revelation calls “the first resurrection.” However, it seems to me that the sacrificial rites themselves indicate that the saints did not ascend in AD70 but instead just prior to the beginning of the Roman siege.

The sacrificial rites which found their fulfilment in first century events divide the seven year process into two parts: the tribulation of the saints and then the “days of vengeance” upon the sinners. Thus, the Jewish War was not the Great Tribulation, since the Jews were the primary persecutors. The Roman siege was the final judgment upon Jerusalem and Jewry for a generation of persecution.

Two Goats

The period from the tearing of the Temple veil to the destruction of the entire Temple was a great “ascension” offering (Leviticus 1), with Christ ascending as the clean Head of the sacrifice, being taken up into the glory cloud, and returning a generation later “in like manner” (Acts 1:11) and “in clouds” for the washed Body. This “heavenly” offering is recapitulated in a national “earthly” sense in the Day of Atonement, where the High Priest made two approaches to the Most Holy, the first for the priesthood, and the second for the people.¹See James Jordan’s brilliant exposition of this pattern providing the structure and meaning of Daniel 7 in his Daniel commentary. It is the Day of Atonement rite which helps us to understand the events surround the destruction of the earthly House of God.

The history of “The Circumcision” follows the pattern found in microcosm in Israel’s annual festal calendar, at the end of which was the Feast of Booths, a great blessing for all nations from a purified Israel. Before this feast (and the promise made to Abraham concerning the blessing for all nations) could be fulfilled, animal sacrifices had to come to an end. Animals represented Adam and Eve and their offspring, as “blameless” people. Since believers were now indeed blameless before God, with the apostolic church offering itself as a willing sacrifice,²See Feed My Lambs the sins would be carried by those who had trodden underfoot the blood of Christ. They would carry the sins of the people as the cursed goat carried the burden into the wilderness. Unbelieving Judah would be expelled from the Covenant in the way Judas was exiled from the table of Christ.

Applying this to first century history, we see that the murdered saints ascended to heaven as the first goat when the persecutions ended and the siege began. After this, all the sins were laid upon the earthly Jerusalem as the second goat, and Israel according to the flesh was driven to destruction.

Avenging Abel

The final “week” of seven years follows the sacrificial pattern set by Christ’s three year ministry the initial apostolic testimony to the Jews, a period which corresponds to Paul’s time of training in the wilderness at Sinai. However it was now the blood of the Christians being spilled in the great city at the end of three years of Jewish jubilation, and the second half of this repeated week would see Zion itself turned into Sinai, a burning mountain cast down into the wild sea of the nations (Revelation 8:8).

As it was with the blood of Abel, the murderous “oblation” in the midst of the week would be a legal witness calling down judgment from heaven upon the ground, in this case the “Land” of Israel. So it was the final martyrdoms in Jerusalem—most likely Christians being murdered as scapegoats, as those who “troubled Israel” like Elijah (1 Kings 18:17) and “tormented those who dwell upon the Land” (Revelation 11:10)—which brought an end to the 3½ year tribulation of the saints, and began the Roman siege. It could then be the saints in heaven (from both the Old and New Covenants, as two legal witnesses) calling down the Mosaic curses upon the city for the second half of the week. They could do this because the Jewish Christians had either been murdered (Revelation refers to them as “two legal witnesses”) or fled to the nearby city of Pella.³See Pella: A Window On Survival by Mark Wilson. Like Sodom, there was no one righteous left in her.

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.” (Luke 21:20-22)

Thus, the pattern of the final seven years—the Great Tribulation—is the final “sacrifice for sin,” and it is the entire “holy city” whose smoke would go up as a memorial.⁴This is the context of Hebrews 10:26: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…” The entire four-cornered Land became a bloody Altar of Bronze.⁵One commenter on Sin City – 2 noted that Gentry could be correct in his assertion that the Revelation concerned only this final “week.” Although it does follow the same pattern, this final week is described only in the “Seven Bowls” section of the book. This means that Gentry interprets the details of the book incorrectly.

The Final Week

The fact that the final seven years of Jewish history follows the pattern laid down in Genesis 1 reveals it to be a “de-Creation.” The Temple had represented the entire cosmos,⁶See James Jordan, The First Ascension. but that role was now fulfilled in the Body of Christ.

So it makes sense that the saints suffered and ascended (as the “first goat”, the first resurrection) for 3 years before the second goat, the unrepentant Jews, became the second goat, “the second death.” (Although, the deaths of the final witnesses and the flight of the remaining saints to Pella was also a twofold event, a sacrificial “binding and loosing” on Moriah.)

Indeed, the language used by Jesus concerning the final Feast of Ingathering (another name for Booths) employs “Day 4″ symbols:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the [Land] will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29-31)

The ascension of the elect of all the previous ages—including Abel and Abraham, and the apostolic martyrs—to reign with Christ is what allowed Him to pour out a “harvest” of destruction upon the Jerusalem below.

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8).

We cannot understand the Revelation rightly, or indeed the New Testament, without having the praxemes of the Torah either on our tongues or close at hand, but more importantly in our hearts. Otherwise we will fulfill them just as the Jews did. But the Church will never suffer again in the way it did before the end of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:21), a firstfruits Church which like her Master was offered up for the life of the world (Colossians 1:24).

“Modern commentators seem to overlook the promise of children in Genesis 1, and how these unmentioned ‘innocents,’ yet in Adam’s loins, are silent but crucial characters in Genesis 3.”

When Paul refers to Abraham as the father of all who believe, the one through whom all nations would be blessed (Romans 4:9-22), we must be prepared to interpret his inspired words through the lens of the House of God, the ever-present architecture of Eden.

The Name of the Father

God’s household in heaven was a tent of servants—the angels—but there was only one Son, through whom came all Creation. This means that the first verses of John’s Gospel, which describe the pre-incarnate Word, can tell us a great deal about God’s intentions for Adam, the incarnate image of God. All that Jesus was in heaven, Adam was to be on earth:

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“Sanctions corresponds to the Day of Atonement. One goat goes to heaven (as fragrant smoke) and the other goes to hell, carrying the sins of the people into the wilderness, to be eaten by the birds and beasts. The difference here is that we have not two goats, but two High Priests…”

Matthew 26-27: SANCTIONS

The fourth major cycle moves us from the Covenant Ethics to the Covenant Sanctions. This concerns the pouring out of blessings and curses for obedience or disobedience to the Covenant, and the cleansing of the Land from the guilt of sin and the ensuing barrenness.

Aligning this pattern with its corrupted prototype in Eden, the “war of words” between Adam (Jesus) and the serpent (the Jewish rulers) is over, and it is time for some face to face combat, and a reckoning.

The Covenant “macrostructure” is as follows (click the link for the previous blog posts):

Sanctions corresponds to the Day of Atonement. One goat goes to heaven (as fragrant smoke) and the other goes to hell, carrying the sins of the people into the wilderness, to be eaten by the birds and beasts. The difference here is that we have not two goats, but two High Priests: Caiaphas and Jesus. Which one would truly carry the curse of the sins of the people? The Herodian priesthood believed they were the true mediators, thus designating Jesus as the second goat. Of course, the opposite was true. In this case, the blessed earthly rulers would be cursed and the cursed heavenly ruler would be blessed.

The Sanctions section has two parts, and the events put an interesting spin on the Day of Atonement. This should not surprise us, since we have a mercurial God who loves to confound the wise, and thus never fulfills His prophecies in quite the way we expected.

On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest made two approaches to the Most Holy, offering the blood of a bull for the covering of the sins of the priesthood, including himself, and then the blood of the first goat for the covering of the sins of the people. Priesthood and kingdom are the “head and body,” a pattern which we see in the Ascension Offering in Leviticus 1. [1] So, how does the Spirit spin this in Matthew? The first cycle concerns Jesus in the hands of the Jews (representatives of one nation, Israel as the priestly head); the second concerns Jesus in the hands of the Gentiles (representatives of all nations, the Gentiles as the stately body). Land and Sea would both condemn the incarnate God.

Matthew 26 – FIRST APPROACH: Jesus in the Hands of the Jews

Because Matthew’s Sanctions is a shorter section, we can analyze it in more detail.

The correspondence of the event to the matrix pattern is fairly straightforward. But the matrix is only one strand of a woven cord. When we align the events with the other strands, the significance of each event as a fulfillment of the Old Covenant should make the saint weep.

Creation: The Plot/Jesus Anointed

These two accounts each follow the matrix, but together give the first step a head and a body. Moreover, both accounts also give us a head and a body. So we have the totus Christus working at three levels:

Head: Jesus speaking about Passover to the disciples
Body: The Chief Priests and the Elders gather in the palace of the High Priest

then, combining these two as the head,

Head: The Plot to Kill Jesus
Body: Jesus’ head and body anointed at Bethany (“House of God”)

The anointing at Bethany follows the Covenant pattern, with Jesus’ head anointed at Transcendence, the disciples murmuring at Hierarchy, Jesus defending the Woman (as Adam and Eve) at Ethics, Jesus’ body anointed at Sanctions, and the woman honored at Succession. Since these two stories together form the “Sabbath” of the greater structure, the irony is that while Jesus is reclining in “the House of God,” the High Priest and his minions are not only working, they are plotting a murder.

The structure of each account is sublime literary architecture. The second is outlined above, so I will only arrange the first here:

Take a moment to look at the symmetry here. Jesus predicts the plot at Ascension (opening the future, like Joseph and Daniel) and it is described in the matching stanza at Maturity. At the center of Ascension is the Son of Adam, and at the center of Maturity is the seed of the serpent (trickery). You might also notice that the plot to arrest Jesus appears at step 5, which is exactly where it occurs in the greater structure of Matthew 26. The cycle finishes with the rulers attempting to shelter themselves (Booths).

Division: Judas Bought/Jesus Sold/The Passover

The second step also has two parts. Judas’ meeting with the chief priests highlights the “Veil” theme. Division also concerns circumcision and Passover, so we have an illicit union to cut off the Lamb. Jesus’ pronouncement of “woe” upon Judas corresponds to His earlier woes pronounced upon all of Judah. Like Egypt, the Bronze Altar-Land of Israel was hungry for the blood of her murderous rulers. Jesus’ words, “It would have been better for that man if he had not been born,” are likely included to highlight the “firstborn” slain at Passover. This time, Jesus would not escape as He did as an infant.

Ascension: A New Covenant/the Disciples Scattered

At the Bronze Altar step, Jesus institutes a new feast. Here, He is “opening the scroll” and it is His own body, the Word incarnate. As the Land was formed and filled on Day 3, so Jesus, the true Isaac, the true Israel, and the true Land, is de-formed and de-filled. The bread is the old altar broken in two (1 Kings 13:5) just as Israel itself would be divided by the Gospel, cut up like a sacrifice and placed upon the altar. Since we are at the Ascension step, it is worth mentioning that at this step Moses received the Ten Words, written with the finger of God. God incarnate now uses ten fingers to break this “tablet” of bread in two. The typology here is both mind boggling and heart breaking.

The Table highlights the sacrificial lamb, and Jesus predicts the scattering of the flock (again, we have a correspondence between the prediction/promise at Ascension and the fulfillment at Maturity, the Giving and Receiving of the Law). The disciples identify themselves with the Lamb.

Testing: Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

The walk through the Tabernacle as a new Creation continues as we reach the Lampstand. The disciples are called to be “governing lights,” or watchmen, while Jesus prays in Gethsemane. The Lampstand was fuelled with holy olive oil, and Gethsemane is the place where olives were crushed for their oil. The Testing theme is highlighted with the cup, the jealous inspection (Numbers 5). The disciples fail to watch, so Jesus twice commands them to “see.” Their eyes are opened.

Maturity: Soldiers Arrest Jesus, Scatter the Disciples

The Maturity symbols here are many. Firstly, Joseph’s brothers betrayed him at this point in his first cycle. [2] We have swords and clubs and legions of angels mentioned, as well as a nod to the prophets. The high priest’s servant’s ear is of course significant, since the human body relates to the Tabernacle. Since the sword is usually in the right hand, it was likely his left ear, corresponding to the Table. The allusion is also to the servant whose ear was bored through to ratify his desire to remain in the service of his master’s house (Exodus 21:6). And Jesus would have healed it with His right hand. Jesus does not free slaves through revolution. It only leads to worse bondage. His reference to the swords of angels is also interesting, being another reference to Passover.

Jesus Before Caiaphas and the Council

Finally, we have the face off between the two high priests, one an image of Jesus by office, and Jesus an image of God by nature. The structure tells us two things: firstly, it alludes to Adam’s trial before God (“He deserves death,” v. 66) and secondly it alludes to the recompense for faithfulness to the Covenant Oath. Of course, Jesus has been entirely faithful to His oath, but in dying He would become a fulfilled oath for all those who believe.

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.” (Revelation 3:14)

At step 6 within this step six cycle, the High Priest tears his robes (which was illegal for the High Priest alone), which corresponds to the open Veil at Atonement, the tearing of the Veil at the crucifixion, and the destruction of the Temple in the first century pattern. Even the silence of Jesus was a sword that would cut Israel in two.

Peter Denies Jesus

At Glorification/Booths/Succession, Matthew places Peter’s denial of Jesus. This step is about the outflow of step 6, Atonement, for the sake of the nations. Instead, Peter invokes a self-maledictory oath, legally cutting himself off from the shelter of Jesus, which looks like death but is life. The cry of the rooster is the only true witness to the coming dawn. Peter pictures unbelieving Israel, and his outflow is bitter tears.

Matthew 26 – SECOND APPROACH: Jesus in the Hands of the Gentiles

The second cycle follows the same pattern, but the action has escalated to a greater court. Since the Jews were prohibited from executing criminals without reference to Roman law, Jesus could only be murdered via a Jew-Gentile conspiracy.

Morning comes as a new Creation, and Jesus is bound as a sacrifice.

Judas again appears at Division, and the Field of Blood is a reference to the child sacrifices of Israel’s kings. [2]

At Ascension, Jesus is the silent Firstfruits Lamb, the “standing sacrifice.” The Revelation follows the same structure. Here, He gives no answer. The “opening” of His body would lead to a corporate mouth, the apostolic testimony. The indwelling Spirit would cure Peter’s fear and make him a bold witness.

At step 3 of the Testing cycle, we have the ruler and his wife, who receives a troubling dream, as Gentile rulers are wont to do when God’s man is faithful in a Gentile court. At the Atonement/Sanctions/Oath step (the Laver), Pilate washes his hands of the matter, while the Jews take full responsibility for Jesus’ death. This corresponds to the choice they were being given in the Gospel: be cut off with the Circumcision, or be cleansed and freed in Baptism.

At Maturity, we have the symbol of the robe of office, and the crown of thorns, which pictures for us the fruit of Israel according to the flesh: cursed thorns and thistles awaiting the fire.

Analysis of the Conquest/Atonement step of this chapter reveals Matthew’s reason for mentioning the things he does. The “anointed head” at Creation is the Place of the Skull. Jesus’ garments are divided at Division, matching the tearing of the Temple Veil at Conquest. The promise of a Temple rebuilt “in three days” appears at Ascension. Instead of the Lampstand, we have the midday darkness at Testing. And at Maturity, we have the true fruit of the Land, resurrected holy ones, who testify in the city. Conquest/Sanctions also contains the “oath” of the centurion concerning the true identity of Jesus. Matthew is a literary marvel.

The Sanctions section finishes with another Jew-Gentile two-part cycle, Jesus “priestly” burial, and His Gentile guards, hired by the murderous Jews. The “seal” on the tomb is a Day 6 symbol, the legal pronouncement upon all those captive to death. [4] But the Law was now satisfied, and all the prisoners were legally free.

Finally, for further meditation, it might help to align these two cycles, Jew and Gentile, visually:

If you’ve been around here for a while, you might understand the correspondence between this arrangement and the Ten Words, which is even more food for thought.

Having been condemned at the hand of the Jews, and also at the hand of the Romans, qualified Jesus as a Priest-King, after the order of Melchizedek. He was not bloodied on the right ear, thumb and toe only, but on both sides, ending the Circumcision, and making of the two “Abrahamic” halves one New Adam.

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[1] Of course, this two-fold approach is repeated “fractally” between AD30 (the ascension of Christ) and AD70 (the first resurrection). See One Taken, One Left Behind. Also see James Jordan’s fascinating comments concerning the “Day of Atonement” structure of Daniel 7 in his commentary, The Handwriting On The Wall.
[2] See Dogs and Pigs.
[3] See The Field of Blood.
[4] The “seal” upon Daniel in the lion’s den is step 6 (Sanctions) in the first cycle of the book. See Daniel’s Long Shadow.

“But Peter said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.”’ (Acts 3:6)

Israel consistently failed to keep the final feast, the Feast of Sukkot, because she took her calling to be elitist rather than priestly. She thought her calling, gifts and purification were for herself, rather than for the healing of the nations.

Part I   Part II

This brings us to the New Testament, and the final years of the Mosaic Law. Jesus was dealing with the house of Israel but also with Gentiles, as a precursor to the ministry of the apostles. His ministry, like that of Moses, included the appearance of the glory cloud at significant moments. Through Jesus’ atonement for sin, Israel was about to enter into God’s rest. This time, it was the heavenly country perceived by all the saints, not a temporary house of branches like Canaan. However, this Feast of Clouds would require temporary shelters to become “houses of fire,” as a witness to the glory of God in His people.

The first sign was the Day of Pentecost. A single house was filled with a mighty, rushing wind, signalling the presence of God, just as His presence moved into the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple once His instructions had been obeyed. The Spirit anointed human lampstands with oil and tongues of fire measured out Yahweh’s architecture not in gold or silver (Acts 3:6) but in human character restored to health.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. (Acts 3:6-8)

However, this Pentecostal house was but a single house. A greater sign was required to indicate that the third promise to Abraham was finally being fulfilled: the blessing to all nations. After Pentecost, Acts records four events where entire households were visited by God. These correspond to the four “Altar horn” corners of the Land, whose territory was later expanded into four Gentile beasts as guardian cherubim around God’s throne. It appears that they correspond these four Gentile empires, but also to the four gospels, which are the horsemen of the apocalypse. Now that Christ had ascended, the four horns of atonement had become four winds of the Spirit.

This final “household” sign is also the point at which Paul completes his official witness to Jewish synagogues. Maintaining their allegiance to Herodian worship, they have become houses filled with demons, strange fire. At Maturity, the Bible Matrix pattern moves from head to body, from Israel to the nations, from heaven to the filling of the sky and the sea.

These “household conversions” were clearly not the norm, because the fact that all believed before they were baptized is specifically mentioned in three of the four instances. (The fact that it is not mentioned in the case of Lydia is beside the point, since Acts makes clear what were the qualifications for baptism, and it was not membership in a believing household.)

Moreover, the normal effect of the Gospel was a house divided. Jesus had stated that the Gospel would be a sword: “…a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” (Matthew 10:36) To claim that these miraculous events are the norm to support an unbiblical agenda is akin to claiming that the apostolic gifts continued unabated after the destruction of the Temple (which was also heralded with miraculous signs), or that all babies in the womb are filled with the Spirit as was John the Baptist. If a signpost is the norm, it isn’t a signpost. It’s a fencepost.

So, what was the purpose of these four “household” events?

The movement in each is from a faithful household head who believes to an entire body of believers (including family members and servants), just like the initial “house-filling” of Pentecost was being measured out “architecturally” across the empire. Each event also incorporates a Jewish witness and Gentile “sponsors,” Graeco-Romans who bring their glory into the Church. The first and last are vindications of prior belief of entire households (Day 1 and Day 4), and the other two are conversions of entire households.

These believing households were four horns which put the old Israel, the Jewish rulers who rejected Pentecost, on the Altar, ready for the fires of the Roman armies.

These believing households were also four compass points on a new Israel, four Tabernacles at an empire-wide Feast of Clouds. They were a Pentecostal sign to the Jews that their Abrahamic ministry to the nations had been fulfilled. The transformation of these signature Gentile households into “booths” meant condemnation for Herod’s “Tabernacle.” As it was with Peter’s speech on the Day of Pentecost, and the miraculous apostolic gifts, these new hybrid (mixture) houses were a warning to Jews during the “overlap” of Covenant administrations between AD30-70. This was the final stage of the Abrahamic Covenant before it was finished. It could at last be seen that all of Israel’s history was prefigured in her festal calendar (see Bible Matrix).

We don’t hear about household conversions after Acts 18. It was an “Abrahamic” sign, but the end of Abraham, not a new beginning. Israel was finally purified, the ungodliness banished from Jacob (Romans 11:27) and she had completed her ministry. The only “household of faith” mentioned after this is the gathering of believers.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10)

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God… (Ephesians 2:19)

As Revelation 2 shows us, every Church is a household with its own fire, a Lampstand de-centralized and able to multiply across the world. But these lamps are trimmed and oiled by Jesus, who judges them first, nipping their sins in the bud, and then judges the house where they were allowed to become full grown.

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

The Black Sabbaths were over for everyone except the old tent of God, whose priests and kings had kindled a strange fire and become a new Egypt. She would lose her lampstand be burned with fire. The gloom of utter darkness had been reserved for her wandering stars. The day had dawned and the entire world was now filled with light. And all Jerusalem, once the Abrahamic navel of the world, was a barren womb shrouded in the darkness of an empty tomb.

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[1] Ascension concerns the blameless man bound and exalted, like Joseph or Daniel. The correspondence for Greece might have something to do with the rescue of Jerusalem from an invading Alexander.

Flavius Josephus in “The Antiquities of the Jews” Book XI, chapter VIII, p 350. Tells this story of Alexander the Great arriving in Jerusalem:

“And when he (the High Priest) understood that he (Alexander the Great) was not far from the city (Jerusalem), he (the High Priest) went out in procession with the priests and the multitude of citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of other nations … and when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that followed him (Alexander the Great), thought that they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which the king’s displeasure fairly promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he (Alexander the Great) saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed in fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his miter on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of G-d was engraved, he (Alexander the Great) approached by himself, and adored that name (the name of G-d), and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did altogether, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; where upon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his mind (They thought Alexander was crazy for bowing before the High Priest). However, Parmenio alone went up to him (Alexander the Great) and asked him how it came to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, “I did not adore him, but that G-d who hath honored him with his high-priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit (high priestly garment), when I was at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself, how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he (G-d) would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit (high priestly garment), and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind.”

There is a tradition that says when the high priest met Alexander the Great outside Jerusalem that he took with him the book of Daniel and showed Alexander the prophecy concerning him. It is said that this so moved Alexander that he went to the temple to offer a sacrifice and worship God. [link]

[2] Justus means “upright, just,” and Crispus means “curly headed.” Perhaps the combination of priesthood and kinghood in the Great Shepherd (Revelation 1:13-14).

Part II – The Black Sabbath

“For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night,
in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.” (Exodus 40:8)

Continued from The Household of Faith – 1

“You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.” (Exodus 35:3)

Israel took the man who was collecting kindling on the Sabbath and nipped his sin in the bud. His intentions were plain, so they wanted to know what should be done with him. It sounds brutal, but Exodus and Leviticus give us a plethora of strange laws for Israelites. At least, they seem strange until we understand that not only was Sinai replicated in the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle was to be replicated in every Israelite tent, and indeed in every Israelite. Every household was a tent of God, a cloud, and every Israelite a burning star in the sky. The tribes were, after all, arranged around the tent in military “constellations.” This new Black Sabbath was to reconnect every tent with its source, the tent of God.

The man executed for collecting kindling is referred to not as an Adam but as an Ish. Ish is Adam’s “new name,” a Covenant/bridal name, in Genesis 2. It may be related to the word for fire. “Strange fire” is thus spiritual harlotry, and this man is a Covenant breaker. He has put his own household, his own authority, above the authority of God. Perhaps the reason his actual motives are not recorded is the same reason such things are not recorded elsewhere in the Bible. It is to force us to contemplate the events in the fiery light of the Law. We are called to judge these situations, just as Israel did in this instance. This is one time they got it right. [1]

What was the reason for the introduction of the Mosaic Law? It was because of transgressions, not merely those of this generation, but also of the tribal heads, the lawless brothers of Joseph. The multiplication of Israel into a nation required a national law, although, as suggested above, this law also made every Israelite a “living sacrifice.” Its ethical, ceremonial and civil elements cannot be untangled from each other, any more than Father, Son and Spirit could be divided.

On the Sabbath day, the only fire was to be God’s fire. The only warmth, God’s warmth. The only light, God’s light. To have one other light visible among the tents would be to claim autonomy. Perhaps this darkness was a disciplinary measure after the idolatry of the golden calf. Without a fire for every household, the Sabbath would have resembled the ninth plague in Egypt, where the entire land but for Goshen was veiled in darkness. And Goshen was a Garden. A single brightness coming from the tent of meeting would be like the flaming sword at the Gate of God. Every Sabbath would be a reminder that Israel had failed to enter into God’s rest.

Immediately after this new commandment, Moses called for donations for the construction of the Tabernacle. This was a new creation. Light and darkness had been divided, with only the light of God visible. That was Day 1. Now the construction of a new house began.

At the end of this process, the glory of God moved in, and those who had been in darkness saw a great light. This building process takes us from Day 1 to Day 7, and we see a correspondence in Israel’s entire festal year, with one major difference.

The Sabbath Week becomes the “first day” in a sense, as a pattern for the entire year. And the Feast of Booths becomes Day 7, when Israel, after the Day of Atonement, has been purified, and is now ready to invite all nations to participate. It is at this feast that every house becomes a “glory cloud.” At the Feast of Booths (Ingathering), every house had its own fire. In this great international feast, Israel symbolically entered into God’s rest. Instead of a Black Sabbath like that of Adam, God became the father of lights. His promises would still come to pass.

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[1] For a manifold revelation of how often we moderns misjudge the events of Genesis, get a copy of James B. Jordan’s Primeval Saints.

I’m currently working hard on Bible Matrix III: The House of God. This third volume is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It really is. Being so engrossed in the shape and processes of the Bible (yes, even more than usual), it has struck me how foreign the various theological schools’ thinking and speech is to the actual text.

The debates about “Pauline Theology” are the perfect example, especially the focus on narrow (yet important) topics such as justification. An academic divides and redivides the text in the way an expert in any science overspecializes. He ends up knowing everything about nothing. After spending a few hours each day wandering and describing the halls of biblical architecture, I am more convinced than ever that the only way to fully understand Scripture is architecturally. This is because, for our glorious God, architecture is ethics, and ethics is architecture. Divorced from the biblical mud map, the Edenic grid, modern theologians are discussing less than a dim distorted reflection of the book God has given us. They are feeling their way around the house with their eyes shut.
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ART: Cody F. Miller

“Once the architecture is taken into account, the text is not ridiculous but terrifying. It marches inexorably through the deep rhythm of the seven days with laser precision, stately deliberation, and omniscient vision. These words were breathed by the source of all breath.”

Part I – Picking Up Sticks

“You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.” (Exodus 35:3)

Many Christians ignore, and atheists poke fun at, the weird bits of the Bible, as though these texts are primitive, distorted, or contrived. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that these texts are designed to choke the faithless, and to be chewed over, meditated upon by the faithful, that we might be changed.

Why was fire forbidden on the Sabbath? The first thing to do with any text is identify its context. No more treating Bible texts like fortune cookies, do you hear me?

Firstly, it is the first new commandment after a “new covenant” has been given. It follows the breaking of the “old covenant,” that is, the first pair of tablets after Israel’s sin with the golden calf, and the establishment of a “new covenant.”

The account of that sin is flanked by “Tabernacle” chapters. Before the sin are the chapters of instructions for the building of the tent of meeting. After the sin are the chapters concerning its actual construction. The golden calf is a “fiery” event at the center of the process, between the Word and the Flesh.

However, there is also fire at the end.

So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:33-35)

You might notice that the cloud covered the tent (external) and the glory filled the tent (internal). Here are the Old and New Covenants, external and internal Law. But the point is that the glory of the Lord did not fill the house until all the materials were donated, crafted and assembled.

The Tabernacle was a substitutionary model of the Lord’s people, their own tents being gathered around it in Numbers. At this point in Covenant history, the people themselves could not be filled with the glory. James Jordan observes that the timber poles of the court and the tent, “trees of righteousness” (having been cut down and “resurrected”, transferred from nature to culture) represented God’s people at one level, the Natural. Then the timber furnitures in the Holy Place, covered in gold, each one with an architectural “crown,” represent the glorified people of God at an even holier level, the Supernatural.

The Lampstand was a replica of the “burning bush” which was not consumed, but the entire tent was a gathering of wood which was not consumed by the fire of God. Moses, had he entered the tent, would have been consumed in this house which despised the flesh. The house was a picture of resurrection: a tree which remains evergreen, despite the cutting of the wood (Bronze Altar) and the most ferocious testing by fire (Lampstand), it was covered in a “cloud” of fragrant leaves, burial spices which could not die (unlike those which Adam and Eve used to hide themselves – Incense Altar).

So, what of the text? It follows the “Creation Week” order of the Tabernacle elements, which give us a clue as to its meaning. Once the architecture is taken into account, the text is not ridiculous but terrifying. It marches inexorably through the deep rhythm of the seven days with laser precision, stately deliberation, and omniscient vision. These words were breathed by the source of all breath.

Moses, with face veiled, was speaking as the mouth of the uncreated Word:

We must learn these patterns. They are the manner in which God always speaks. Every splinter of the Bible is, as Peter Leithart commented, a lens through which the entire Bible is refracted. If we do know these patterns, we will see that the household fire not only corresponds with the filling of the Tabernacle with the Shekinah, but also with the Feast of Booths, otherwise known as Tabernacles, and Ingathering. The word “booths” literally means “clouds.” [1]

The feasts are not given until Leviticus 23, but the point of Booths was that every Israelite household, now purified after the Great Day (Atonement), would be a temporary Tabernacle, and Israel would minister to the nations. This is what the world would have been like had Adam not sinned. A man would leave his father and mother (now the dead stone tablets in the Ark [2]) and establish a new household of faith, yet filled with the Spirit given to faithful Adam in the Garden. [3] The entire world would be filled with lights, (much like those nighttime satellite photos), just like the stars in the sky. But the light would be Triune: Physical (Genesis 1), Social (Genesis 2) and Ethical (Genesis 2), a house of many dwellings (John 14:2), each in its own unique way a three-level house like the Tabernacle.

So, the significance of the prohibition goes beyond the labor necessary in those days to kindle a fire. The Sabbath, picturing our final rest, and the glorification of all nations, is the day when the only fire is that of God dwelling in all human flesh as evergreen burning bushes, trees of righteousness who are not consumed but animated by the Words of God. A household fire on the Sabbath was a strange fire, a sin against the entire congregation, much as any false religion, philosophy, ideology or heresy is a sin against all mankind, a fire that must be stamped out.

It seems that gathering kindling on the Sabbath instead of being “gathered” to God made one an idolater. One’s own household was usurping the household of God. In Numbers 15: 32-36, the people of Israel understood this. They judged with wisdom based on the stoicheia given them in Exodus 35. In this instance, they themselves became “transcendent words,” that is, self-governing. Israel was becoming the holy house which consumed the unholy within it.

Once again, an awareness of the structure of the text fills me with awe and terror. It follows the fivefold (closed scroll) pattern, yet the word of the Lord is sevenfold, a curse upon One Man that is the blessing of a new creation for all Israel. The Sanctions cycle and the entire cycle end with the phrase “outside the camp” in the place of Booths, or Shekinah. The strange fire, the false god entertained by this Adam, must be cast out. This “new commandment” would remind them to love their neighbors as themselves, as one household, a household of faith.

Jesus was One Man, gathering timbers and sticks for kindling for His own house on the Sabbath.

“I came to cast fire on the Land, and would that it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49)

“The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.” (John 10:31)

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ART: Moses and the Burning Bush, Joe Moorman.

[1] See A Place Called Clouds.
[2] See Why Ten Words on Two Tablets?
[3] See Spirit of Adam 1 and 2.

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies,
but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind,
and the glory of the earthly is of another.
(1 Corinthians 15:40)

Did Adam receive the Spirit of God? If he did receive the Spirit, was the Spirit taken away when he sinned?

This post has been slain and resurrected for inclusion in my 2015 book of essays, Inquietude.

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Paul’s Genesis

It’s time to put another epistle under the matrix-scope!

TRANSCENDENCE Paul’s Authority (Galatians 1:1-10)

The first stanza is fairly simple. There does seem to be a “three-decker” Tabernacle structure at Hierarchy, which is unusual. Paul seems to be saying that his “official robe,” his delegated authority, has nothing to do with Judaism. It is not from the Temple, nor from the Circumcision.

Now, this initial cycle should lay down the pattern for what follows. We’ll see!

HIERARCHY

Just as the first stanza as a whole concerned the Transcendence of Paul’s authority, so the second has to do with the Christians in Galatia as a New Covenant hierarchy. All the terms which once applied to Israel are now being applied to the Church. If we are not aware of the structure of Paul’s text, we are going to miss much of what he is implying.

Notice the symmetry of the Father at Passover and Atonement. These two feasts have to do with covering sin. It is interesting that the “will” of the Father is mentioned at line 6, which is usually where baptism turns up.

“…who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13

Saints are those not born by the will of man (nor the authority of man) but by the will of God, which implies to me that circumcision was an indirect authority, via the flesh, but that baptism is a direct authority by the Spirit. It is thus not to be tied to parenting or any other tribal significance.

ETHICS 1

Now we move from Hierarchy to the Ethics (1) section of this first cycle.

Wow. Here is where the Covenantal “shape” of the text shows how cutting these words actually are. Not only this, but it makes very clear whom Paul has in mind: Judaizers. The “exodus” here is ironic. It is the same sort of exodus made by the family of Elimelech in the book of Ruth. This ended with the death of the father and the sons. “A different gospel” appears at Testing, which ties in with Jesus’ naming the Pharisees as a brood of serpents. As the devil was the “head,” so the Jews who rejected the Spirit at Pentecost became a false Covenantal “body,” just as we see in the book of Numbers. Jesus conquered the head and His firstfruits church would conquer these fiery snakes (a false spirit) who were troubling them. The “trouble” appears at line 6, which has to do with ownership and cleansing of the Land. Who were the true mediators now between heaven and earth? This was a battle between Jacob (Christ) and Esau (Herod) for the Covenant Succession. Finally, notice the statement of truth repeated at Deuteronomy.

ETHICS 2

Ethics 1 (Ascension) concerns the giving of the Law (as above). Ethics 2 (Testing) is about the opening of the Law. It has to do with Pentecost, exposure to the rule of God, the “sun, moon and stars,” or their counterfeits. Just as the centre of stanza 3 was about serpents on earth, so this central stanza is about the serpent from heaven, and the curse of the Covenant.

Not only is this a replay of the satanic “false witness” in Eden, this legal testimony before God to the Galatians churches is Covenant-shaped.

ETHICS 3

Just like Moses, Paul is warning the “new generation” before they conquer the Land for Christ and tear down Jerusalem’s walls.

Being Covenant-shaped, not only is this stanza a replay of Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan, it also works its way through the Ten Words. At the centre are murder and adultery (knife and fire), the false sacrifices of a now demonic Judaism. Line 2 would thus be Paul’s call for the Galatians to “yoke” themselves to his testimony, the testimony of Jesus, rather than the “Baals” of the flesh-cutting Jewish rulers. In all of this exhortation and warning, the book of Numbers is just below the skin!

Even better, the fact that the “Deuteronomy” of this first cycle (which aligns with the Theft and False Witness commands) is a repeated witness makes Paul’s message even more pronounced.

OATH/SANCTIONS

Although this is not the end of the chapter, it seems to be the end of the first cycle. Paul ends it with his office of “bondservant” to set the mood for his discussion of bondage and freedom. At this point, the corresponding feast is “Atonement.” Paul is the “Isaac” bound that the future of Israel might be loosed. As is sometimes the case, the writer leaves the seventh cycle out to make his point: those who disobey the Gospel will not enter in God’s rest.

Conclusion

Those who take no notice of the Covenant-literary shape of Galatians will miss the Old Testament allusions, especially the idea that Judaism post-Pentecost was now the lie of the serpent, a river of false living water spewing from its mouth and swallowed by the Land (Revelation 12). The gospel according to the Pharisees promised “godhood” to Adam (Christ) and then to Eve (the Church), so the authenticity of Paul’s authority from Christ to His bride was of paramount importance. The elect would not be deceived. Not this time…

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[1] For more on “this present evil age,” see The Circumcision of Satan.

Atheists love to embarrass Christians with a snide reference to the story of Elisha setting two bears upon some helpless children. What nobody, even Christians, seem to get is the “Covenant significance” of all the players in the story, harking back to Moses. The prophets were, after all, God’s “repo men.” [1]

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

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