Satan is currently bound from gathering the nations in kingly rebellion so that Jesus might gather them in priestly unity.

Everything which Scripture records for us, no matter how mundane or mysterious, exists as part of a process of growth to maturity. This transformation is achieved through relationships established by a Father who delights in His Son and rewards His faithfulness as “seed” with abundant fruit.

History is thus written in “harvest cycles,” and each of these ends with blessings and curses. As in Eden, after a period of silence which allows the righteous and the wicked to fulfill their potential, the Lord comes suddenly (Revelation 22:10-11). As in Eden, He inspects and collects the fruit and gives His trees a pruning. In history, each cycle lasts approximately 400 to 500 years, since that is the time it takes for a new Word to finish its work in a culture. From our beginning in Adam, these cycles also appear to come in pairs, a Forming and a Filling, resulting in “themed” millennia.

Continue reading at Theopolis Institute.

The first thing to notice is that what Haman says is correct. The Jews do have different laws and customs. The word here is dat, which is a general word for laws and customs and mores. This much is quite true, and has been no problem in the Persian empire.

I shall make the point here that there is absolutely no reason to think that there was any prejudice against Jews for this. Other people had their customs also. We have no evidence and no reasons to think that the Jews were held in contempt by other people.

The second thing to notice is that Haman is correct in accusing the Jews of being rebellious and disobedient to the Great King. The Jews rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar for twenty years until finally that king destroyed their city completely. Haman can point to plenty of historical records to show that the Jews cannot be trusted.

This matter is central to the book of Esther. The Jews rebelled against the king God put over them (Nebuchadnezzar) and were exiled as a result. Now the Chief Jew, who is on the Supreme Court of Persia, openly defies the king God has put in charge. So, what will go do now in the face of this even greater rebellion? Perhaps He will raise up Haman to wipe out the Jews and start over with a new Abraham! Twice God had told Moses that he would wipe out Israel and start over with him (Ex. 32:10; Num. 14:12). On both occasions Moses interceded with God, and that is what Esther will do in this instance.

Excerpt from Biblical Horizons No. 227, April 2012. Subscribe at www.biblicalhorizons.com

Of course, God’s new golden-haired boy got things wrong, as all Adams do when given the opportunity of glorious kingdom. The metal man in his dream (the new “empire-Tabernacle”) only had gold at the head, but King Nebuchadnezzar’s obelisk was gold from head to foot. This new king, under whom Israel was now a “Covenant vassal,” would be taught by God that he, too, was subject to a higher authority.

James Jordan observes that the four “animal” empires correspond to the four cherubim guarding God’s throne. The animals do not match exactly, because symbols are relationships. The animals describe the relationship of each empire to the people of God.

A couple of years ago, I heard Al Stewart at the Katoomba Men’s Convention give a good summary of the first part of the book of Daniel. Unlike liberal scholars, he corresponded the four beasts with the empires beginning with Babylon, not the Medes (the liberals can’t believe that Daniel wrote about Rome because it didn’t exist at that time in history, so they have to make Greece number 4. They split Medo-Persia into two empires, which doesn’t work at all since they were contemporaneous.) When Al got to Rome, he told us that Daniel’s prophecy doesn’t match history. He didn’t do what dispensationalists do and tell us that God’s Jewish clock stopped, but he didn’t have an explanation.

The explanation is one you will only find in Jordan’s work. The Roman empire did continue to exist after AD70, but Daniel, and all the prophets, view the world as God’s Tabernacle. The characters on the stage are viewed by their respective Covenant callings as they contribute to the plan of God in history. They are priestly or kingly ministers in His court.

This is a crucial factor to understand. It solves the mystery of the identity of the sons of God in Genesis 6. It explains why the Revelation describes the destruction of the Roman “Sea beast” in AD70. And it also explains why, in God’s economy, there are no more Jews. Their calling as “sons of God” was terminated with the Temple. Or rather, it was transformed through death and resurrection into a new calling. As John says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God…”

Just like Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar came to a full understanding his calling as a vassal king through a process of death and resurrection. He was exiled by God as a Gentile beast into the wilderness and returned as a Man, an Adam, a Covenant head. Just as Joseph converted Pharaoh through his faithful service, Daniel converted Nebuchadnezzar.

The fact that these four Gentile empires were under God’s throne, vassal subjects in the kingdom of God, explains why their authority was transferred over the 500 year Restoration period. It was a form of “Covenant succession.” If the emperor cursed the people of God, the empire would be cursed, the kingdom handed over to another who would bring forth the fruit desired from their delegated authority, their Covenant calling. Belshazzar lost his kingdom overnight. Esther and Mordecai saved Persia from an unspeakable fate at the hands of God through the intentions of the serpent Haman. But Persia eventually fell to Greece, and Greece to Rome. The Revelation describes Rome’s “de-conversion” from a metal man back into a beast. The guardian put in place by God to provide a framework of law, protection, infrastructure and civilisation for the spread of the gospel was manipulated by Satan against the people of God. The family dog was turned against the children it was called to guard.

Rome did not cease to be an empire in AD70. Just as the calling of the Jews passed to the Christian church, Rome ceased to be a guardian for the people of God when the fifth empire arrived. Adam succeeded the animal kingdom on Day 6 and was supposed to be enthroned over it, rule over it, on Day 7. Jesus as Adam succeeded the animal kingdom—the Gentile empire—and took on the calling of the vassal emperors as guardian of the church. In these last days of the Old Covenant, God shook the world one more time, and the “times of the Gentiles” came to an end. [2]

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[1] Have you got The Handwriting on the Wall yet? You will find all this and much more in Jordan’s groundbreaking work.
[2] This is actually the context of the “sheep and goats” judgment of the nations in Matthew 25. It is history, although it was most certainly a microcosm of the final judgment at the end of the Revelation.

Doug Wilson recently made a distinction between what usually passes for hypocrisy in Christian circles, and the kind practiced openly by the self-righteous:

One of my central pastoral responsibilities is that of keeping Christians away from hypocrisy, of the kind described in the New Testament. But this task, not surprisingly, is often misunderstood — and the reason it is misunderstood is that there are always lots of people who don’t want to be kept out of that kind of hypocrisy, and misdirection is that name of the game.

Of course, personal and sinful inconsistencies are hypocritical. If a man cruises around in PornDeluxe.com for most of the week, and shows up for worship Sunday morning, all bright and shiny, that is hypocritical. The same for a man who tyrannizes his wife and family, and is gentle and soft-spoken in the sanctuary. God hates this kind of stuff, and we generally know that God hates it.

But the kind of hypocrisy that the New Testament lampoons is what we might call the Hypocrisy Parade. Jesus nails not only the private sins, but also the very public ones. He mocks those who shop at the Wide Phylactery Warehouse. He skewers those whose robes flow behind them like trails of woven glory. He sends up the Rev. Drs. and rabbis and such, and pops the assembled theologians like they were so many balloons. There is a species of hypocrisy that does not fear exposure, but rather stands on the street corner, palms facing outwards, awaiting the expected applause. And it does not await such applause in vain. People do this because it works. [1]

Wilson’s full article is dealing with something else entirely, but I think it can be easily attached to a strategy practiced throughout history by those who hate God and His people, beginning, as always, in the Garden, God’s lawcourt.

“Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23:28

Once we realise that the Lawless Man Paul refers to is none other than the reigning Herod, a great deal of information falls into place. [1] The word lawless/ness is used around twenty times in the New Testament. If we immediately think of delinquents and rioters, we have got it all wrong. That is not the heart of what Paul and the apostles were dealing with. They were dealing with leaders who made a show of being team-spirited but whose track record evinced a long history of throwing not just enemies but friends under the bus. [2] God began history by tearing things in two. He moves history forward by tearing things in two, usually His prophets. But the lawless sacrifice others instead, sometimes on the political right but mostly on the political left.

Outwardly, the Herods were not at all the marauders we would associate with the phrase “lawless,” but well-whited tombs. These lawless men were actually lovers of the law. It was their favourite tool to achieve ungodly ends.

“Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death…” Acts 2:23

Herod the Great decreed the death of the innocents. In the book of Esther, Haman used legislation in his attempt to murder every Jew from India to Ethiopia. Both Jesus and the apostles knew what it was to be victims of stacked courtrooms. Jesus and Paul targeted the leaders because they were to be held to stricter judgment. Their sins were high-handed and murderous, and misled many, but publicly they bowed to pragmatism and declared that moral decisions were above their paygrade. They refuse to take costly stands, like the Lamb.

This misuse of legislation began in Eden. God allowed it to occur to qualify Adam. Adam was to rule over the serpent and stand at God’s right hand. Satan usurped that role using attractive legislation to mask his murderous intent. He was a murderer from the very beginning, and throughout Biblical history we see right-hand men who are good and those who are evil.

So, lawlessness is a serpentine sin—it is subtle. It is the outrageous hubris of a man who would stand boldly in God’s courtroom and declare that his own voice is the voice of God. He will change the times and seasons, decree the shedding of innocent blood, and slowly but surely silence the witness of the true Adam by binding the Church of God with lawless laws.

As it was in the first century, and during the Reformation, today many of these lawless leaders are within the church, calling for tolerance and then bringing their ridiculously unbiblical grievances before unbelieving courts to silence believers who dispute against them. This is public, proud hypocrisy. But they have another judge:

“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:23

Satanic legislation against the people of God always backfires. God allows such persecution to force His people to witness when they become too comfortable. This was exactly the response God desired from Adam—lawful witness to Eve. Reminded of the true law, Eve was to identify herself with Adam, the law-bearer. Persecution in Jerusalem scattered saints out into the empire as witnesses. In Esther, the queen identified herself and then so did all the Jews across the empire. And we know what happened to the Herods and to Haman. The lawless men were destroyed with one little word (2 Thess. 2:8). As Luther wrote, the same fate awaits the evil one.

Attempting to criminalise the Kingdom of Heaven is always futile, and always allowed by God to bring His church to maturity. So don’t fear; just continue to witness. There’s only so much cotton the children of men can string around Gulliver before He awakes.

“Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication, To my cause, my God and my Lord.” Psalms 35:23

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[1] Doug Wilson, Wide Phylactery Warehouse.
[2] Here’s a crash course on Herod the Great.
[2] See The Man of Sin.

Some more thoughts on New Covenant Virility.

The minute details of the Bible matter. What was the Ethiopian eunuch, keeper of the queen’s treasure, reading, and why? In sacred history there are no accidents.

Isaiah 53 is about the barrenness and woundedness of God’s Man. He is circumcision epitomised. Like a eunuch, He is judged by men as unfit for Tabernacle service, judged in the gates (kingdom doors shut) and sent outside the city. He is “stricken,” or afflicted with stroke, God’s “lash” of plague, as unacceptable-for-priesthood as a leper.

“…and who will declare His generation?” Here is an important detail. What does this mean?

“So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.” Matthew 1: 17.

Is this where His generation ends? No. It’s where the barrenness of Abraham and Sarah ends. The bloodline of Abraham, as far as Israel was concerned, was a single cord that joined Abraham to Christ. That blood was presented to God at His ascension, seen by John in vision in Revelation 5. The blood no longer matters. It mattered to the Jews who rejected Christ, but all their genealogies were destroyed in AD70. [1]

At Pentecost, the Messianic line became Spirit. As mentioned in the comments after the other post, the New Covenant is not about a “bloodline” succession that can be cut by Athaliah, Haman, or the Satan hiding behind them all. In fact, any time Satan tries to stamp out this new Messianic line, it simply grows, because of the testimony of those who suffer. This “multiplication by Spirit” is Satan’s worst nightmare. It miraculously raises living sons out of dead stones.

“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” Matthew 3:8-9

This is exactly what we see in Isaiah 53. This gelding-for-us, the one Whom circumcision pictured over the centuries, the cut-off One, the One Who, like the prophets Jeremiah and possibly Paul, never married or had children, would yet see offspring:

When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.

Imagine that. Perhaps this is why the eunuch, who would have known the requirements for priesthood, wondered what this all meant. Who was this Royal Slave who would end up with, not only all the treasure, but also a throne and offspring?!

And then, after Philip’s rapture, he probably continued reading from where he left off (as one does with scrolls). If so, he would have come across this passage, the structure of which reinforces my comments on Acts 8. We see faithful Jews (the Adams), faithful “cut” ones, and faithful foreigners all brought into the house. No, they are the house. What follows is terrifying. The unfaithful Israelites who were squatting in God’s house are at Testing. The old house, the corrupted Temple, became a Garden given over to the serpent, ie. a wilderness. (From Isaiah 56-57)

CREATION: (Garden)

Thus says the LORD: ”Keep justice, and do righteousness,
…..For My salvation is about to come,
…..And My righteousness to be revealed.
……….Blessed is the man who does this,
……….and the son of man who lays hold on it;
……………Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
……………and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
……….Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has
……….joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying,
…..“The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.”

DIVISION: (Land)

For thus says the LORD:
…..“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
…..and choose what pleases Me,
……….and hold fast My covenant,
……………Even to them I will give in My house
……….and within My walls a place and a name
…..better than that of sons and daughters; [2]
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.

ASCENSION: (World)

“Also the sons of the foreigner who
join themselves to the LORD,
…..to serve Him,
………and to love
………….the name
………of the LORD,
…..to be His servants –
……….Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
……….and holds fast My covenant –
……………Even them I will bring to My holy mountain,
……….And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
…..Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
…..will be accepted on My altar;
For My house shall be called
a house of prayer for all nations.”

TESTING: Assessment of worship that has compromised with the serpent. All the unclean beasts (Gentile armies) are invited to dine on the abandoned House. This refers in context to Solomon’s Temple, but typologically to Herod’s Temple. They are presented as those who have defiled God’s feasts. They will be eaten. Jesus uses the same language in Matthew 24. [3] It is the Tabernacle, and Tabernacles, turned upside-down.

The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, (Ark)
…..“Yet I will gather to him others
…..besides those who are gathered to him.” (Veil)
……….All you beasts of the field, come to devour,
……….All you beasts in the forest. (Altar/Table)
……………His watchmen are blind,
……………They are all ignorant; (Lampstand)
……….They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; (Incense)
…..Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. (Adam)
Yes, greedy dogs which never have enough. (Rest)

Beasts are unclean Gentiles, scavenging outside the city. Dogs are unclean (scavenging) Jews, false prophets, inside the city, hence Paul’s reference to Judaisers as dogs. Here, instead of being the Body responding to, repeating the Law, they are dumb.

MATURITY: (Plagues and plunder, multitudes and fullness. Here it is sins that are filled up, full-grown.)

And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; (Light)
…..They all look to their own way, (Waters divided)
……….Every one for his own gain, From his own territory. (Land, fruits)
……………“Come, I will bring wine, (Lights/Government)
……….And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; (Swarms, fullness)
…..Tomorrow will be as today, (Mediators, Day of Covering)
And much more abundant.” (Rest, Shekinah, Offspring [very ironic!])

CONQUEST: (False atonement: The sinners cover their sin with the blood of the innocent. Same structure as the events in Revelation.)

The righteous perishes and no man takes it to heart;
…..Merciful men are taken away,
……….while no one considers that the righteous
……………is taken away from evil.
……….He shall enter into peace;
…..They shall rest in their beds,
each walking in his uprightness.

GLORIFICATION: (Tabernacles feast, marriage, children, rest)

Wow. This last bit really rubs in the kind of offspring (fruit) Israel gave God. It is the seventh stanza of this section, yet in itself it has seven stanzas. Each section submits itself to the common themes in Glorification, yet each section reiterates one step the sevenfold pattern. [3] Tabernacles was the big feast, so in this final ascerbic prophecy, the prophet turns the annual Feasts into curses. What sublime poetry is Isaiah.

It’s long enough to warrant a post of its own, so I’ll publish that separately tomorrow. It will blow you away.

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[1] See Pedigree Papers.
[2] This possibly corresponds to the many times in the Old Testament when a son or daughter died as “Atonement.” I think of David’s first son by Bathsheba, and Jeroboam’s son. The ascension of Jephthah’s daughter also occurred at this point in that passage. It is Adam and Eve before God as a corporate mediator. The curse concerns barrenness, with Adam as head (sweat of his brow) and Eve as body (pain in childbirth). They become spiritual eunuchs.
[3] Isaiah loves to do this, and the poetic “Covenantal” subtleties of his poetic vision are mind-boggling. See Wizards the Peep and Mutter and Bad Tabernacle in Isaiah 66 and the “Mandelbrot” Feasts chart in 50 Failed Predictions #8. I’ll just bet another step out would find that these greater structures also form a heptamerous pattern.

Most commentators, including N. T. Wright, get the Restoration era all wrong. Our history as God’s people is cruciform, which is reflected in the four faces of the cherubim. The Mosaic “bull face” (the Bronze Altar) was replaced with the Davidic “lion face” (the Ark). The Ark was taken by God, and the era of the prophets began, the “eagle face” (the all-seeing Lampstand). Resurrected Israel was to be wise men to Gentile kings, leaven within the kingdoms shown to Nebuchadnezzar. They would not have a Jewish king until the fourth face, the Man, arrived (the Table of Showbread).

So the Restoration era was actually a promotion. Israel’s priestly territory was enlarged, particularly under Persian rule. But once again, they failed to witness, which brings us to the theme of the book of Esther. James Jordan entitles his Esther lectures, “Witness or Perish.”

Commentators also get both the identity (they don’t trust the Bible’s chronology!) and the character of Ahasuerus wrong. Jordan writes:

The king in Esther is a model ruler whose behaviour and whose symbolic associations link him with Yahweh, king of Israel. Since this is pretty much the opposite of what is usually assumed, let us consider the matter a bit.

Commentators vary in how bad they think the king in Esther is, but here is a pretty typical list of his failings:

1. He’s a drunkard
2. He’s a sexpot
3. He’s a weakling
4. He’s cruel.

This is all utter rubbish.

First, Ahasuerus is a king who invites all his people to his feast when he has defeated his enemies and rests on his throne. All are invited, rich and poor alike. No one is required to drink anything he or she does not want to. Esther 1:5-8.

Second, when the king is happy with wine, he asks his wife to appear with him before the people, and she refuses. Contrary to mythology, she is not asked to appear naked. Contrary to the imaginations of expositors, she is not asked to appear at a drunken feast. Contrary to many commentators, her refusal to appear makes her an undermining serpent in the king’s garden, an enemy who appears after he thought all his enemies had been subdued.

Third, the king was angry and his wrath burned (1:12), but he did not act upon his anger. Instead he consulted his wise men. Believe it or not, many commentators see this as a sign of weakness rather than a picture of self-control and wisdom!

Along these same lines, when the king finds out that Haman has struch at Esther and her people, he walks out of the room to get himself under control, and listens to the advice of those around him rather than totally trusting his own judgment (7:7-10).

Fourth, it is not the case that soldiers went through the empire and forced virgins into the harem for a night with the king. Nothing like that is hinted at in Esther 2. If Esther went to the palace, it was under the advice of Mordecai.

Fifth, yes, this king collects lots of wives. But so did Solomon, and as we shall eventually see, this king is set forth as a new Solomon (Esther 10:1)…

Jordan goes on (in the next newsletter) to describe how the Jews found it unacceptable that Mordecai was actually the faithless troublemaker at the beginning of the story, and thus invented the apocryphal account of the Lord appearing to him and asking him to carry out the deeds in the inspired account. It seems that for most of this period, the Jews bucked against the God-given protection of the Gentile king, and also their new role of faithful service as advisors. Esther begins with Mordecai’s failure to witness, his possible attempt at seizing power instead of receiving it from God (using Esther as a pawn), and his bad advice to his niece. So Haman was exalted instead, but we know God used it to bring matters to a head. Just like He does with Democrat presidents.

To read the complete article, (including point six!) subscribe to Biblical Horizons newsletter at www.biblicalhorizons.com. Jordan’s lectures are available from www.wordmp3.com

“…if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.” (Numbers 16:29-30)

Daughter Jerusalem kept up an outward show of respectability, but under her Temple veils and military skirts her legs were open for anyone. [1] In a vision, Ezekiel dug a hole through this wall of “whitewash” as a legal witness to her crimes against the Covenant.

Ezekiel also prefigured King Zedekiah’s escape attempt by digging a hole in the wall of his own house in captivity, and climbing through it with luggage. He would be taken in the Lord’s snare, carried captive to a land he would never see and die there, wrapped in darkness.

If this follows the symbolism of the previous “hole in the wall”, Zedekiah, as the final king of Israel, prefigured the Herods. He was an anti-Christ, a hybrid child of the false gods—a Land beast with a man’s eyes and mouth. As soon as he was “born” from the wall he was swallowed by the Babylonian dragon, the reverse of the ascension of Christ in Revelation 12:2-5.

Like Christ, Zedekiah “ascended” before the emperor, not as the right hand of the power, but in chains like King Manasseh. Unlike Joseph and Daniel, he did not open “the mystery.” Like Haman, his judgment (sight) and rule were taken away.[2]

When Israel’s kings were faithful, they devoured Pharaoh’s “dragons”. However, when they behaved like dragons and devoured the innocent, Pharaoh’s dragon swallowed them and they sank into the deep. Compromise, “intermarriage” on Gentile terms, always brings a flood.

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[1] See Gate Rape 1, 2 and 3.
[2] Both Zedekiah and Haman lost their sons – a failed “Covenant succession.” See Haman Hamstrung.

Daniel was taken to Babylon before the destruction of Jerusalem. As the ruler over the king’s advisors, it is highly likely he was involved in the razing of Jerusalem.

The Lord sent Joseph into Egypt as a forerunner, established his house and integrated the old house of Jacob into it. Pharaoh was converted under the ministry of Joseph, humbled himself before Jacob and requested a blessing.

The Lord did the same thing with Daniel. A new house was being established in Babylon before the final demolition of the old Temple. Daniel ascended as “firstfruits”. He stood on the mountain of God as Abraham, as Moses. At the right hand of the power he would bring the curses of the Law raining down upon the Covenant breakers. As Abraham bargained with God, perhaps the mercy shown to Judah’s poor was the work of Daniel.

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But the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”  Joshua 11:6

‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Are [you] he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?  Ezekiel 38:17

James Jordan’s correlation of Ezekiel 38-39 with the book of Esther makes a great deal of sense.[1] I have found it plays out in many ways, including the structure of the book of Ezekiel. None of the books of the Bible are thrown together haphazardly. They all follow strict literary conventions. The validity of this Esther interpretation is supported by the structure of the book of Ezekiel.

Genesis – the prophet is ordained as a new Adam, the son of man (Sabbath)

Exodus – the seven angels do a ‘Passover‘ slaying the wicked without mercy after the faithful are marked (sealed)

Leviticus – the Laws are applied to Solomon’s temple and it is deconstructed (this section follows the pattern of the Creation week, very ironically) (Firstfruits)

Numbers – the “mighty men” in the wilderness, the Canaanite nations made strong by their alliances with Israel, are judged (Pentecost)

Deuteronomy – Ezekiel 37 sees the nation resurrected, the next generation who will take vengeance on the Gentile empire (Trumpets)

Joshua – the battle of Gog and Magog sees the reconquest of the Promised Land. Ezekiel 38-39 are full of Atonement symbols

Judges – Sabbath comes with Ezekiel’s vision of a restored glorified Temple (Tabernacles), only this time, as in Revelation, it is a building made of people. The Jews established synagogues throughout the empire, which explains the many God-fearing Gentiles that come out of the woodwork in Acts. This is the white field Jesus sent the apostles to harvest.

But then, is Ezekiel 38:17 a problem? Is Gog/Haman one whom the previous prophets had spoken about? Nathan Bierma [2] writes:

Daniel Block, in a seminar at the Preaching Apocalyptic Texts Conference, noted that the recently released TNIV renders the rhetorical question in Ezekiel 38:17 (“Are you the one I spoke of…?”) as a statement (“You are the one…”).

While it is often legitimate to render a RQ in Hebrew with a statement, it is not in this case, Block said. That’s because the rhetorical question actually implies a negative answer here, not a positive one. Gog was NOT the power that prophets foresaw as conquering Israel; Babylon was. Babylon was an instrument of God’s purposes by overtaking Israel; Gog would not be. So God is actually invalidating Gog’s ambition in this verse, rather than validating it.

I checked up on this and, assuming Block is correct, the NIV had it wrong, too, by adding the word “not” (Are you not the one…”), and then turning the relative clause modfying “prophets” (“who in those days prophesied…”) into a separate statement (“At that time they prophesied…”)

The Message also blew it:

Years ago when I spoke through my servants, the prophets of Israel, wasn’t it you I was talking about? Year after year they prophesied that I would bring you against them.

And look what the CEV does to it!

The LORD said to Gog: Long ago, I had my prophets warn the people of Israel that someday I would send an enemy to attack them. You, Gog, are that enemy, and that day is coming.

Haman was not a new Nebuchadnezzar. For the people of God, the tables of history had turned. Haman was a new Zedekiah, and his dynasty ended with the public execution of his sons.

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[1] See Saul and Agag.
[2] Botched Rhetorical Question and Relative Clause in Ezekiel 38 Translation. Block and Bierma totally overlook the events in Esther as a fulfilment of the the prophecy, however.

Leaving Wilderness Behind

In Through New Eyes, James Jordan notes that the wilderness was Havilah, the place mentioned in Genesis 2 that was rich in raw materials. Israel stripped Egypt of her gold, then plundered the desolate places of hidden wealth. She came out of the desert with a High Priest clothed in gems, and a new generation of soldiers born of God’s threshing floor.

The manna began to fall just after the Hebrews’ victory over Pharaoh. As with Jacob, the Lord was faithful to provide for His chosen one. But perhaps, in covering the ground, there is also the idea of a firmament (this might sound strange to some readers, but I have found the concept is a frequent one). The wilderness is the place of the humble bread of priesthood, displayed in obedience to God. It was the next generation that would drink the wine of Canaan after obedience under Joshua.

A Memorial

The Lord commanded that some manna be put into the Ark as a memorial. Symbolising manna, the white stone is a memorial of faithful priesthood. Joshua’s crossing of the Jordan was memorialised by large, engraved, white stones.

And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. “You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the LORD God of your fathers promised you. Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of the LORD your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God. And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.” (Deut. 27:2-8)

Coming at the ‘Trumpets’ step of Israel’s journey from slavery to Sabbath, these white stones were a symbol of her corporate resurrection. Neither faithful Moses nor faithful Israel left a body to be found in the howling tomb. The dirty birds of the Covenant curse were empty-bellied.

From Gravestone to Topstone

The Hebrew bdl is the word used to describe God’s dividing at Creation. In post-exilic texts it is used to describe the division of the priesthood from the people, and sinners from the people. It is an act that brings about a new Creation. This is the word in the hand of Zerubbabel. It is not a plumbline. It is a metal stone symbolising a priestly division, a cutting in two that brings new life. What was the cutting in two? It was the future death of the Lamb that allowed Joshua to put on the Lord Jesus Christ in the heavenly court, under the very eyes of the very dirtiest bird, the Accuser.

Zerubbabel brought forth the engraved “altar” stone as a craftsman brings forth his chiselled work. As an altar stone, it was not cut by human hands, but engraved by the finger of God. Just as the prophets brought the stones of the Law down upon Israel under Nebuchadnezzar, so too this small white stone would be exalted. The two pillars of Solomon’s Temple (priest and king) were slain, but now replaced with a single element that was divided as priest and exalted as king. It was permanent bread from heaven that would never, ever be filled with worms, the very public face of the hidden manna in the lost Ark, and the Facebread hidden to all but the priests.

Flintstone-Faced

Ezekiel was promised a hard face so that he could face the hardened faces of God’s rebellious rulers. As a High Priest in exile, he was not given the golden forehead-plate with its seven holy eyes, but the real thing. The Bible speaks often of Adam’s face relating to priesthood. The ‘face of a man’ in Ezekiel 1 corresponds to the Table of Showbread in the north (always facing south). The account of Cain and Abel is structured according to the Creation/Tabernacle pattern, and at the Facebread step, the representative Man at the Altar, Cain’s face fell. He was no longer his brother’s keeper, his watchman. Ezekiel was made a new watchman because Israel’s priesthood had become like Cain.

Jesus also set His face like flint. As Facebread, it was covered in blood, first as the cursed brow-sweat, then with the cursed ground-thorns, Adam and Cain. He was set apart, cut asunder, as a bread fragrant with frankincense before God, then resurrected. An angel dressed in lightning-white sat on the stone to speak as a memorial. The howling waste of Sheol was empty, and so was the dirtiest bird, who like Herod and Haman and all those before, had anticipated a feast. He was a serpent exposed on a pole to disempower its fiery children, a man impaled by the emperor whose ungodly sons were also slain, a false god-voice devoured alive by death-eating worms on his stolen throne like overripe manna. There is no Sabbath without resurrection. All faces will be lifted to face God, and all faces will be covered – either in a bloody human firmament (Christ’s) or in a black hood, a veil. We are white stones, or whited sepulchres.

The Word is ‘Yes’

“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open” (Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157).

Both Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds record these strange events. After the crucifixion, it is written that

1. the most important lamp of the Temple menorah went out every night despite every precaution. Judah’s Lampstand would be removed, and not shine in her any more. It was given to the witnessing Firstfruits church (Rev. 11:4; 18:23; 22:5).
2. the crimson thread that reportedly turned white if the Day of Atonement had been successful no longer did so
3. the Temple doors kept swinging open of their own accord. The Jerusalem Talmud states:
   ”Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars’ ” (Zechariah 11:1)’ (Yoma 6:3).
4. the Day of Atonement ‘lot’ that chose the goat for Azal, a black stone and a white stone, came up black every year between AD30 and AD70.

The scapegoat was chosen by lot, the Urim and Thummim engraved stones in the ephod – a miniature Ark worn by the High Priest. The Last Supper, as I have mentioned before, follows the feasts pattern, and at Atonement, Judas is chosen by Christ as the scapegoat. His replacement is chosen by lot, and then the Holy Spirit is poured out, after which we never hear of the lot again. Faithful saints are given the white stone by the Spirit, the Law engraved on tablets of flesh.

Zerubbabel’s exaltation of the white stone was a resounding ‘Yes!’ from the Lord. Atonement was accepted. The Temple of God would be completed and Israel’s resurrection would again turn the howling waste into a true vine and figleaf Feast of Tabernacles.

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”  
2 Corinthians 1:20

If the Talmudic accounts above are true, and the black stone denotes that the atonement after the once-for-all death of Christ could never again be accepted, the white stone promised in Jesus’ letter to Pergamum takes on bloody connotations for the receiver. In context, it was written just before the biggest corporate massacre and resurrection of saints in history. They had received the Word-bread with thanksgiving. Now they themselves would be broken bread covering the ground in Herod’s howling waste. If the Herodian priesthood’s right hand would not be marked with the blood of the bdellium (divided) stone, it would be marked with the blood of the saints.

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