A Christmas sequel to Joseph Gets Passed Over.

The subject matter of this article was corrected, revised, and expanded in December 2018 and published here: Matthew 2: Jerusalem as Egypt.

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.  (Genesis 2:10-14)

After the Herod and Shylock post, I had one complaint that the Worship as Commerce tag didn’t really do what it said on the tin, so I hope to capture it (briefly?) here. Now, where to start? As James Jordan explains, the idea begins in Eden.

“Eden is the land of food, and the outlying lands are lands of other raw materials. The Bible conceives of commerce between these lands, so that those of Adam’s descendants who lived in Eden would have to engage in trade with those who had moved downstream to Havilah. In this way, precious stones would be brought from Havilah back to Eden to adorn the sanctuary. When Israel came out of Egypt, she sojourned in the land of Havilah while the Tabernacle and the High Priest’s garments were made (Genesis 25:18). Here in this land of rocks were made many items of gold and onyx. Indeed, the only reference in the Bible to the onyx stone, outside of Genesis 2, is in connection with the High Priest’s garments. The shoulder stones of the “ephod” were made of onyx, and had the names of the twelve tribes put upon them (Exodus 25:7; 28:9-12).” [1]

When the worship of God is both central and elevated, the priests of God carry the Spirit to the nations. In return, the nations bring to Eden the gold and precious stones of the surrounding lands. Because of Solomon’s request for wisdom instead of wealth, the Lord honoured his selflessness, his godly rule, with wealth from the surrounding nations. The kings of the world brought their glory into the Temple. As Israel’s kings continually disobeyed the Lord, the wealth was stolen away. The Lord was like a thief in the night. The gold shields stolen by Egyptian invaders were replaced with bronze ones. Nebuchadnezzar made Judah a vassal kingdom and taxed it the way Solomon and Rehoboam had taxed the tribes. Finally he took everything.

But this “wealth for wisdom” is not only typological. God is not against wealth per se. He wants a church that is glorious both inwardly and outwardly. It is when the church becomes a shell, as Judah did, a false witness with false whiteness, that God cuts it back to Adams in animal skins. [2] The letters to the Asian churches in Revelation 2-3 recapitulate Old Testament history, [3] which makes Herod’s Judah parallel with Laodicea. Well, not so much a parallel as the same sin but fully grown.

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realising that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

First century Adam pretended that he was independent of God, that he had life in himself and did not need Jesus, the Tree of Life. Eating from the “Greek” Tree of Wisdom had left him wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked—the state of first century Jewish worship. What does Jesus say?

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich…

In Revelation, worship is symbolised as a commercial transaction. Jesus’ advice here echoes His words in Isaiah 55:1-3, calling on Israel to buy from Him kingdom wine and milk without money.

The Black Horse

This also explains the rider on the Black Horse, who starves the Old Covenant worship but leaves the New apostolic worship unharmed. Moses brought manna, Alpha food, but this old priesthood would be starved to the point of cannibalisation and then death (Zechariah 11:7-9). John would decrease while Jesus increased. The Old Covenant worship, pictured as a commercial transaction in grains, became an expensive exercise. Like the half-ephahs of grain in the hands of the woman suspected of adultery, (Numbers 5) it would be weighed in the balances, offered on the altar and become lean and barren. Jesus made wine. The oil (Spirit) and the wine (blood), the Omega food of the New Covenant, would be given “without price”.

The Beast

In Ezekiel, the King of Tyre is a compromised High Priest, an Adam covered in gemstones. In Daniel 6, the kingdom of Belshazzar is weighed in the balances. The handwriting on the wall is commercial language. In Zechariah 5, the wicked woman in the ephah basket is a counterfeit of the Ark of the Covenant, a box covered in lead instead of gold. Finally, it explains the mark of the beast. Summarising Jordan’s interpretation:

“…no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

Worship again is signified as commerce. Those without the mark were excluded from the Temple. Acts shows a progression from saints meeting in the Temple to Paul being arrested and the doors being shut (Acts 21:30; Acts 26:21). Christians became outsiders. The Temple was a house of prayer for the Gentiles. The Gentiles were supposed to bring their glory into it willingly, but the Jewish leaders were ripping them off. Their role was supposed to be priestly but they were lording it over the sheep. The money wasn’t the problem. It was the manner of the commerce being conducted. The Jews condemned the harlots and tax collectors, but Herod’s Judah was the biggest harlot and tax collector of all, and an unrepentant one. A godly economy is a shepherd. A beastly economy oppresses and devours like a wolf. It settles for bread.

Jerusalem, not Rome

One of the best arguments against the harlot of Revelation being identified as Jerusalem is the commercial language employed to describe her demise. Jerusalem was certainly at the “navel” of the world, but was she really that rich? Jordan brilliantly observes that the description of her wares in Revelation 18 is simply an expansion of the materials plundered from Egypt, Amalek, and then given willingly by the people of God to build the Tabernacle. Worship is described as commerce. The kings of the “earth” are the Jewish rulers of the Land. The Gentile worshippers are merchants, the proselytes who became twice the children of Gehenna. Jesus turned the Herodian Wall Street into the Wailing Wall.

What is even more crucial is the fact that it follows the seven Tabernacle speeches, which in turn follow the Creation week. The Temple, like Noah’s ark, was the “world-in-a-box”, a new creation. Its destruction removes the “buying and selling” from Judaism forever. [4] The centre of worship was now in Jesus, in heaven. [5] During this current age, all nations are bringing their glory into the kingdom. The strong man is tied up and Jesus, through us, is plundering his house. [6] The nations are His riches for sure, but this is not just their souls. It is also their pocketbooks, their businesses and their economies. All is sacred.

Exchange Rates Today

The idea that amassing wealth destroys the world and oppresses the poor is common in Scripture. It occurs when man seizes kingdom instead of waiting patiently for God’s timing. We look at our resources and think that’s all we have to play with. But based on the Bible, if we have been faithful with them, God has a way of making the cup run over in unforeseen ways. Wealth is not the problem at all. God made Christian nations wealthy. After the Reformation, God made Protestant nations wealthy. But we have followed the path of Solomon, who ended up using oppression to build his kingdom “earlier” than God intended. He turned the kingdom of God into Egypt.

When the Bible says that righteousness exalts a nation, it is talking about the outflow of personal and family government in prosperity and political clout. Europe had it and lost it. Britain had it and lost it. The US has it and is losing it. It seems the nation that faithfully invests by sending out missionaries to serve and die ends up as a world power. The Christian’s refusal to pursue money ends up with greater wealth for all (Matthew 6:32-33). The promise that the meek will inherit the earth (Land) is not just about the hereafter. Like Christ, when we fall into the ground and die to ourselves, there is a greater harvest, and it is not just about winning souls. Jesus died and then the Father gave Him everything, including the cattle on a thousand hills. Dominion follows faith, not coercion. Christians think they have to compromise to gain votes to get into power when all God asks of us is to pray, tithe and wait. The dominion will come, as it always does, when we can be trusted with it.

The gospel is holistic. Saved souls change culture, and history shows that it does not take many souls to do so, usually a few committed, praying people around a table over a few decades. To limit the harvest to pie-in-the-sky is the rankest gnosticism. True worship is directly reflected in economics. Cultus becomes culture. The God who sees worship as a commercial transaction paid our debt, but He still loves and blesses just weights and measures. It is most certainly Jesus in all of life. This project will end when the entire world actually is a Tabernacle for God. [7] This includes our economies.

All this stuff is in JBJordan. You should get into him and put those lesser theologians away for a while. I doubt you’ll want to go back to them after such rich fare.
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[1] James B. Jordan, Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World, p. 73. [PDF] For more on onyx and the High Priest, see Gold, Onyx and Bdellium.
[2] See Rags to Robes.
[3] Check out Jordan’s Revelation lectures, and there is a summary in Totus Christus).
[4] See Totus Christus for a full outline. The light of the Lampstand is at the centre, of course. Judah’s sun, moon and stars came crashing down as Jesus predicted. See Thief in the Night. But also, the references to musicians and craftsmen corresponds exactly to those of Tubal-Cain, Jubal and Jabal. Herod’s Temple had become inherently Cainite. See The Significance of Tubal-Cain and The Significance of Jabal and Jubal. On craftsmen, see Unashamed Artisans.
[5] For the Roman Catholic readers, the centre of worship is still Jerusalem (the one above) and not Holy Rome. See Schism or Resurrection?
[6] See Under Your Feet.
[7] See A New Heavens and a New Earth and Blood and Soil.

“Come, gather for the great supper of God,
…..to eat the flesh of kings,
……….the flesh of captains,
……………the flesh of mighty men,
……….the flesh of horses and their riders,
…..and the flesh of all men,
both free and slave, both small and great.”

It’s only subtle, but after observing this pattern so many times it gets easier to see. The first line is the Ark/Word [Sabbath], the kings rule in the firmament [Passover][1], the captains are the “Firstfruits” head of the body; the mighty men/giants always appear in the Pentecost wilderness (always! beginning in Genesis 6. They are the children of compromise); point 5 is always the body/army [Trumpets]; at six we have the High Priest/Adam [Atonement]. In Revelation, “men” refers to the mediating Jews; and finally Tabernacles refers to Sabbath rest, a Jew-Gentile feast where all are welcome, but in this case it is Herod’s Jew-Gentile kingdom as fare on the table.

This short passage also works its way down from the throne of God to the average Joe Jew. No one would escape the judgment.

What is even more interesting is that the passage within which this heptamerous invitation occurs also follows the pattern, and this invitation occurs at “Firstfruits.” In the greater pattern of the Revelation, the Firstfruits is the Lamb slain who opens the seven-sealed scroll of the New Covenant Law. So this invitation to the scavengers who carry out the cleansing after the Covenant curse falls is the outcome of the rejection of the blood of the Lamb.[2] The menu itself is a seven-sealed Covenant scroll. It is a free pass to the meat market of Club Gehenna.

“For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” Matthew 24:28

Tabernacles, as the final harvest of the year (grapes and olives), was also called “Ingathering.” Matthew 24 also follows the feast structure (twice), and Jesus uses this factor to make a terrifying joke. [3]

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[1] In Revelation’s big pattern, this spot is taken by the Lampstand churches ruling in the firmament as New Covenant governing lights.
[2] See also No More Sacrifice for Sins.
[3] This passage contains the “scroll” command to “gather” because it is “Tabernacles” within an even greater structure. In Revelation, Jesus often has this Dominion/Feasts structure going at 3 or 4 levels simultaneously. The Revelation is designed like a Swiss clock. See Totus Christus for a full commentary.

or Daniel’s 70th Week Postponed

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”  Isaiah 9:2

A great deal of time has been spent on the chronology concerning Daniel’s seventy sevens. Quite frankly, chronology is not my strong point [1], but perhaps the solution for this enigmatic problem is not chronological but theological.

Firstly, a quick definition of the “abomination of desolation.” Jordan observes that this is a crime that can only be committed by God’s priests. It is the “desolating sacrilege”, and the subsequent destruction of the Temple by Gentiles is the punishment, not the crime. When considering the deeds of Antiochus Epiphanes, many people think the sun shone out of the Jewish priests, but they need to remember the sons of Aaron and the sons of Eli. Antiochus was the punishment. The crime, as in Genesis 6, was the sin of the sons of God. [2]

Anyhow, some commentators believe that the abomination of desolation that Jesus refers to is His crucifixion. Slaughtering God-as-man outside the Temple should qualify for this like nothing else. Jordan observes that Jesus forgave His murderers, which actually put Daniel’s prophecy on PAUSE. Yep, after all that, there IS a gap. But it doesn’t stretch for  two millennia. It stretches for one generation. Of course, Jesus knew this even before He died.

“But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.” Luke 23:28

What we do see at the end of this “postponed” week is the glory departing. But is was inside people. It was the fire-filled saints of Pentecost. The centre of worship moved from Jerusalem to Antioch, and the reigning Herod became a human Gehenna. Both these events were “liturgical” symbols of what was to come in AD70.

The postponement is predicted typologically by Israel’s initial failure to enter the Land of Canaan due to unbelief. The first century situation was the same, hence the warnings in the book of Hebrews, only, this time it was a heavenly country. We see the giving of the new “Levitical” Law in Christ and the apostles. Then, in the early 60′s, there is a “Deuteronomic” repeating of the Law to the Jews of the diaspora, just before the destruction of Jerusalem as Jericho.

Revelation also shows this postponement. The four angelic army commanders, four winds of judgment, the four horns of the Altar looking for blood, are told to hold off until the saints are sealed.

So, the Messiah was “cut off” in the middle of the 70th week. Due to His grace, there would be a remnant. Israel would not be totally destroyed like Sodom (Romans 9:29). But when the unbelieving Jews started slaughtering Christians, the end was truly nigh. Guess when this happened? In the midst of the 70th week, the second giving of the Law. This is the subject of Revelation 14, the harvest of the saints as bread and wine. Their blood is symbolically spilled across the Land of Israel (the four-cornered Altar) and the avenging angels are finally let loose with seven bowls – the seven “sprinklings” to atone for this shedding of innocent blood. This time, there was no forgiveness. There was no more sacrifice for sins. [3]

This final week began with Nero’s torching of Rome and Herod’s COMPLETION of the Temple in AD64. Is there any wonder many saints were losing their nerve? Both tyrants would build their new world orders on the blood of Christians. For Nero, the saints were a helpless minority, the perfect patsy for his bloody crime. For Herod, the completion of the Temple proved that Jesus was a false prophet. The irony here is delicious. While the saints “filled up” the sufferings of Jesus, Jesus let the Herods “fill up” their sins.

Wonderfully, Revelation measures the last three and a half years of the apostolic witness in DAYS, but during the same period, the blasphemies of Herodian worship are measured in LUNAR months (Rev. 11:1-3). The Old Covenant festivals took place “during the night”, but the Sun of Righteousness had risen and the true shadows had fled. Those who preferred the shadows had replaced them with their own demonic traditions. In AD70 they were cast into outer darkness. [4]

The following three and a half years of hell on earth for Israel during the Roman siege are also measured in lunar months. The Old Covenant, like Jesus, like the Passover Lamb, like the blood on the Ark at Yom Kippur, was tipped out in the dark.

The whole idea is that the Law is given, the Lord postpones judgment for 40 years, then the Law is received by the next generation before conquest of the Land. Perhaps the “wilderness” between AD30 and AD70 solves the chronology problem.

The postponement allowed for the ascension of the whole sacrifice, head (Jesus) and body (the apostolic church).

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[1] Jordan is brilliant with chronology. Start here. For his comments on chronology concerning Daniel, see The Handwriting on the Wall, currently available as an ebook here. (Second printing is due in Sept-Oct.) This work took seven years and is indispensable.

[2] See Jordan on The Abomination of Desolation.
Part 1 (PDF)
Part 2 (PDF)

[3] See No More Sacrifice for Sins.

[4] Those terrifying scenes in the movie Ghost come to mind.

Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.”

They cross Land and Sea to make one disciple for their corrupted religion, and make him twice the child of Gehenna as themselves. “Ge-Henna” is Greek for the despised Valley of Hinnom southwest of Jerusalem, the previous location of Tophet’s child sacrifices that became an open, mass grave during the Babylonian seige. It became the rubbish dump, full of maggots, with the refuse continually burning. Jesus quotes Isaiah 66:23-24 to describe it. The Roman siege would begin when Jews from all over the empire were in Jerusalem for Passover. Their “Table” was made a snare, and Gehenna was filled with the bodies of these deceived “children.”

When the priesthood – the Land-mediators – disobeyed God, the Abyss was dredged up to cover the Land (holy place). We see this first in the flood, and later in the invasions of Assyria, Babylon and Rome.

The Valley of Hinnom became a symbol of the ‘Abyss’ below the true mountain of God. As an evil twin of the holy place, it was an ‘Adamic’ clay pit with no glorious metal. It was also the place where Judah sacrificed their infants to false gods. It was counterfeit worship in the tabernacle of hell, and the Lord said He would fill it with their bodies. Their dark ‘table of showbread’ became a snare. [Read Jeremiah 19]

After the Babylonian captivity, Zechariah saw the church in “the deep” (often translated valley or glen). A new Land-altar was rising out of the ‘waters’ – a new mountain of God, with a new Eden-temple to mediate for the world.
TAOTA

“Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:24

Interestingly, these blessings are mirrored by the curses upon the saints’ evil twins in Matthew 23, the Jews who sat in Moses’ seat of judgment.2 The “woes” follow exactly the same pattern, and climax with Christ’s prophecy of the destruction of the Old Covenant Temple. And what do we find in this passage at Day 3?

They cross Land and Sea to make one disciple for their corrupted religion, and make him twice the child of Gehenna as themselves. “Ge-Henna” is Greek for the despised Valley of Hinnom southwest of Jerusalem, the previous location of Tophet’s child sacrifices that became an open, mass grave during the Babylonian siege. It was made the rubbish dump, full of maggots, with the refuse continually burning.

Jesus quotes Isaiah 66:23-24 to describe it. Just like the Babylonians, the Romans would besiege the city. This time the invading armies would trap Jews from all over the empire who were in Jerusalem for Passover. Their unclean “Table” was made a snare, and Gehenna was filled with the bodies of these deceived “children” of corrupt Judaism. Like Jeroboam’s evil altar, it would be defiled with bones, and their world would be destroyed in a “flood” (Daniel 9:26).

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TAOTA

“And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the Land, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the Land and gathered the grape harvest of the Land and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.” Revelation 14:18-20

Like Pharaoh, the “plagues” Trumpet warnings only hardened the hearts of the Jewish leaders. Like Pharaoh, he had raised up the Herods only to demonstrate His power in their destruction (Romans 9:17).

Their final response, when under siege, was to scapegoat the Christian converts in the city. This massacre of Christians in the middle of this final “week” of Judaism is the subject of Revelation 14. Jesus forgave His murderers, but for the murder of His bride in the same manner, He would not forgive. James Jordan writes:

“…the fact that the wine press is outside the city is not a sign of judgment but of union with Christ. The saints die as their Master did. In fact, Hebrews 13:12-13 makes the association clear: “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate; hence let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”

Bearing His reproach to the ultimate extent means martyrdom. Moreover, Jesus had predicted that the saints would be put out of the synagogues (John 16:2), and in Acts 8:1 they were driven from the city (compare Revelation 12:14, which speaks of the same event). Thus, dying outside the city is not a symbol of judgment but of blessing, for the city in 14:20 has already been identified as apostate Jerusalem (11:8).”1

Mother Israel was giving birth to a son of man (the totus Christus), and in childbirth she would die. The body of the sacrifice was now following the head, fulfilling the Law (Lev. 1).

For Mother Babylon, however, it was an issue of blood that made the Land ceremonially unclean and called up the Avenger upon all her firstborn, men and animals.2

Symbolically, the entire four-square Land was flooded to its uttermost edges with the blood of the saints. The Ark lid was covered with blood after the first goat ascended.

It was time to deal with the second goat—Judas—in the Field of Blood. The Jews had revived Tophet. Using the Roman armies, Jesus was about to revive the Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna. TAOTA

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1  See James B. Jordan, The Grape Harvest of Revelation 14:17-20 .
2  See Genesis 4:10; Exodus 1:22; 7:20; 12:23; Numbers 35:9-34; Deuteronomy 21:1-9.