“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have gazed upon and our hands handled concerning the word of life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and announce to you the life, the eternal one, which was toward the Father and was manifested to us—what we have seen and heard, we announce also to you…”

IF I BELIEVE that the first resurrection occurred around AD70 [1], and that the New Covenant administration consists of saints living and reigning with Christ in heaven [2], these “joint-heirs” become co-mediators in some fashion. Does this open the door to the Roman Catholic practice of praying to glorified saints, or to the Eastern Orthodox love for beautiful icons?

Working my way through Peter Leithart’s commentary on the epistles of John, I found the answer, and it is thoroughly iconoclastic.

From John’s emphasis on the visibility and tangibility of the Word, Eastern Orthodox Christians have concluded that we are no longer forbidden, as Israel was, to communicate with God through images… This is not, however, the direction John goes…

Life is available to us in the Word of Life, now manifested in human flesh, but there is an order to this manifestation. The apostles had direct access to the visible and tangible Word. We do not. Living twenty centuries from the ascension, we have not heard, seen, beheld, or handled Him. Instead, we rely on the testimony of the “we.” Through fellowship or communion with them, we have fellowship with the Father and the Son (I John 1:3), and we have fellowship with them by believing their written testimony concerning the Word of Life (v. 4) and by abiding in the community of which they are the foundation stones (c. Eph. 2:20).

John moves from telling us that he and the apostles have seen and touched life to telling us that he announces this discovery to us. If we want to have life, we have to receive the announcement, the gospel proclamation. What they have seen and touched, we access by hearing. John emphasizes as strongly as possible the visibility of the Word, but then falls back to the old Hebraic emphasis on the ear. The movement is from their eyes and hands to our ears. We have not seen the Word, and we do not need to. We have the law, the prophets, and now the apostles. That is more than enough…

Despite appearances, we are even more intimate with Jesus than the disciples were prior to His ascension and Pentecost. They heard Him speak, but often misunderstood what He said. Though we also get things wrong, we have the Spirit to lead us into truth…

This intimacy is what John is getting at when he talks about the communion of the church with apostles, the Father, and Jesus. There is a necessary order here. We have no communion with the Father without communion with the Son; no communion with the Son without communion with the apostles; and no communion with the apostles without receiving their written testimony in the communion of the church. [3]

What this means is that those saints living in heaven are tablets of flesh that still speak. We hear their voices from heaven as we read their eyewitness testimony. This is how they govern, and of course it is exactly how God governs. He speaks through the testimony of the saints to us, cutting our hearts, and we speak to the world. But what about fellowship in the other direction? Icons don’t speak to us, but should we pray to the saints? [4]

There is no exhortation to do any such thing in the New Testament, and no record of the practice in the early church. To do so would be to contravene the very witness of the apostles through which we have communion. Any church that sets itself up as an authority over the Scriptures (as Rome does) is thus limiting the communion possible with the Son and the Father. Conformity with the apostolic testimony gives us direct communion not with the apostles, but with the Son and the Father. We have direct access to His table, to His body and His blood, as they did. In the New Covenant church, there are no fences around the sanctuary.

Leithart goes on to show that this communion, this unity and intimacy of life, is not common ideas but a person. Why then does the written Word often seem the opposite of what we desire? What the apostles left us, of all things, is a book! We desire the “tangibility” of Spirit-filled life, but instead the Word feels like bitter death.

So much of our Christian life seems to be mere words; dead words. The Christian book industry must have devoured many virgin forests. But this does not mean words are to be disparaged to make way for power. The Word is living, and it brings Life, but via death. The apostles who testify and the Christ to whom they testify are all living. But their hard Words are to be obeyed.

Conformity to the written Word—which is common ideas—is a living sword that cuts the sacrifice. Obeying feels like death. Becoming united very often feels like death (especially for opinionated men). It is costly to us. But the resurrection Life—the access that follows—is direct. It is a consuming Pentecostal fire on the Altar. As always, simple obedience to God is the key to unimaginable power. The church which will not submit to this death-by-eyewitness-testimony is denied The Life.

John writes to a divided church, a church in crisis. How is such a church to be unified?… The church is unified by a radically divisive adherence to the witness of the apostles, committed to writing in the New Testament. [5]

So, if we can’t pray to the saints, why a first resurrection? Why not just leave us the apostolic words (as most Christians believe God did) and leave the apostles (and Old Covenant saints) in their graves? Why bother preparing a place for the disciples and then taking them there so soon?

This was the necessary climax of the Old Covenant, the “heavenly country” for which Abraham looked. The Old Covenant martyrs and the New Covenant apostles are all JEWS. [6] The first resurrection was the end of Judaism. The goal of God was never merely the salvation of the faithful, but their inclusion in His government. We see this signified many times throughout the Old Testament, most notably when Moses and the elders feasted with the Lord on the mountain and, somehow, He didn’t lay a finger on them.

The apostolic witness was completed before the destruction of Temple worship. They spoke like trumpets, and all the old walls came down. No more fences. No more darts and spears. Full access to the mountain of God for all. The Holy Place on earth was destroyed by the testimony of those who now governed as redeemed men (Adams) in the Holy Place in heaven. The Temple finally became a reality.

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.” Ephesians 2:14

The firstfruits church founded a new building which is a body. Yes, there is mediation, as there is in any body. But the Old Covenant was a dead body, a dead sacrifice. The New is a living body, a resurrected sacrifice, and as with the members of any living body, all access to the life is direct. The blood flows to every corner of the Altar. Our communion is not with a fence of Jesus’ minders in heaven. We don’t have to make an appointment. As we obey their testimony, the testimony of Jesus, their communion with Him is our communion with Him. He is an open door.

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6)

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[1] See The First Resurrection and The End is Not Yet.
[2] See Jesus’ New Broom and Big Government.
[3] Peter J. Leithart, From Behind the Veil, pp. 39-42.
[4] On the danger of icons, see People Are Good.
[5] [3] Peter J. Leithart, From Behind the Veil, p. 44.
[6] By Jews, here, I mean the “sons of God,” the various forms of priesthood as it developed throughout the Old Testament beginning with Abel. But referring to them as Jews makes my point sharper to your ears.

or Receiving the Implanted Word

Mary’s song, like most songs in the Bible, seemed to me to contain mostly extraneous material. My modern mind couldn’t relate her words to the version of Christianity I was familiar with. I guess that’s because it was a version bereft of much understanding of the Old Testament.

Mary’s song seems to follow the matrix pattern. As such, it is a new Creation, and a new Tabernacle, (John 1:14, “dwelt” is literally “tabernacled”). It is the liturgical response of the bride to the promise of Covenant succession – the Covenant succession. This new generation was also regeneration.

And Mary said: 
“My soul glorifies the Lord 
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 

The first step concerns a call to service (Genesis). Mary received that from Gabriel and this statement begins her response.

for he has been mindful 
of the humble state of his servant. 

The second concerns the humbling of the new servant (Exodus). The prophets fall on their faces before God and are then exalted and given a new job to do, a new word. In Mary’s case, it was the Word incarnate.

From now on all generations will call me blessed, 
for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 

The third step is the exaltation of the servant, and their “Levitical” instructions. Step 3 is Moses receiving the Law on Sinai. It is the spies returning with a huge haul of grapes from the Promised Land – a promise of a future inheritance. It is Christ ascending out of the waters of the Jordan to be blessed by the Father. It is Christ ascending and opening the New Covenant scroll. Here, it is his conception. It is the mystery of all those Old Testament miraculous conceptions finally opened. Like Moses, Mary “receive[d] with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.” As Israel, Mary submitted to the word and became an engraved tablet of flesh, now crying out in song as a living stone. [1]

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; 
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 
He has brought down rulers from their thrones 
but has lifted up the humble. 

Step 4, Day 4, is about rulers, governing lights in the firmament (Pentecost). As “Numbers” it is also the testing of God’s people. The stars of Judah were about to fall (Matthew 24:29) and be replaced with a Covenant people who would truly “shine like stars” (Daniel 12:3) and rule from the true Holy Place. [2] The carcasses of the unfaithful Jews would fall in the wilderness, like those of their ancestors (Hebrews 3:17).

He has filled the hungry with good things 
but has sent the rich away empty. 

Step 5 concerns abundance and plunder, and a new army called from the Valley of Dry Bones (Trumpets/Deuteronomy). Those in Judah who were hungry for righteousness would be filled (Matthew 5:6; Revelation 7:16) but the rich would weep and howl (James 5:1). [3]

He has helped his servant Israel, 
remembering to be merciful 

We are up to the Day of Covering (Atonement). It is Adam anointed as mediator for the race on Day 6. It is the High Priest representing Israel before God. Remember, this always involves two goats under Adam’s faithful judgment. There is always a true bride and a harlot. The sins are always expelled to Azal. Just as a sword would pierce Mary’s soul, the Word-sword that Jesus would bring would cut the Old Covenant people in two to make something new (Luke 2:35; Matthew 10:34; Revelation 1:16).

to Abraham and his descendants forever, 
even as he said to our fathers.”

The final step concerns Covenant succession. This one speaks for itself. The betrothal promise of Day 3 is consummated on Day 7. [4] The grapes are finally wine. The blood of circumcision is fulfilled at last and presented to the Father (Revelation 5). The Messianic line ceases to be blood and becomes Spirit. [5]

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[1] See Crying Stones.
[2] See Big Government, Jesus’ New Broom and In the Air.
[3] See Fools’ Gold. 
[4] See Marriage as a Promise of Wine.
[5] Dispensationalists just don’t get this. To coin Jordan’s phrase once again, “The blood goes up and the Spirit comes down.” See Esau’s Ladder.

One of the best things you get from James Jordan is a big handle on the Tabernacle.[1] It was a miniature of the creation. It was also a further development of the Garden of Eden, being more glorious than the Garden itself (the trees were now worked timber, and the wood was covered in precious metal).

Jordan’s theory that Satan was to be a tutor to Adam and Eve, but fell in the moment he deceived them, finds support in the Tabernacle layout. (Angels tutor God’s people throughout the Old Testament.) Satan was the secondary lightbearer, the Lampstand, facing north.

Adam was to be broken bread and poured out wine, the Face of the Man, facing south, the Table of Showbread (the facebread).

Between them, Eve, the mother of all living, was the Altar of Incense. As element 5, Day 5, she is a “multitude” in one body. She is awesome as an army with banners. Women possess all their ova from birth.[2]

So, we have Eve between the serpent and the Man in a tug-o’-war where Adam doesn’t even pick up the rope. It is victory by default for the serpent.

What is even more interesting is that the pillars the Lord told David to build at the Temple entry correspond to the Table and the Lampstand. Priests were anointed by Jachin, the northern pillar. Kings were anointed by Boaz, the southern pillar. Jordan points out that over time these bronze pillars would have weathered and become a shade of green. Here are the two great trees at the centre of the garden. Adam was given access to the Tree of Life (Jachin, priestly bread), and Satan offered access to the kingly Tree of Judicial Knowledge (Boaz, a king’s “decree” cup of wine). [3]

What was at stake was the future of humanity. Nazis, Communists and the radical left understand that education is the future. The future is stolen when children are removed from their believing parents (as happened recently in Sweden, I believe) to indoctrinate them.

Children are the future. Satan understood this. Through Adam’s failure as Covenant Head to judge Satan, the future was filled with widows and orphans. And in Adam’s place, Satan became the corrupt tutor of all living, the father of lies.

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[1] Jordan’s Garden of God lectures available here.
[2] The High Priest reflected this structure as well, with the 12 gemstones (tribes) on his chest. As a “better” Adam, he carried the children before God—on his bosom— as an advocate. For more on the High Priest as Tabernacle, see Gold, Onyx and Bdellium. For Greater Eve as a “Trumpets” army see Ish and Isha.
[3] The laver symbolised the “springs of water” under the garden, and the bronze altar the outlying land. At a more complex level, the Tabernacle layout also symbolised heaven and earth. See the diagram from Totus Christus in Trinitarian Judgments.

or Filling Up That Which is Lacking

After reading about the Bible’s use of robes as symbols of office (see The Dominion Trap by James B. Jordan), Tim Mitchell commented:

In Bible study we’ve been looking at John, so a few weeks ago was John 13. My Bible translated v.4-5 as “So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feel, drying them with the towel he had around him.”

So that recalled for me the couple of pages on robe imagery, and it seems to foreshadow what Jesus will do later on very well: He is willing to take off his authority and righteousness, and take on the dirt of our sin.

But then I got a bit unsure, since Jesus then goes on to say “you ought to wash each others’ feet” in v.14 and “Do as I have done to you” in v.15. So if the symbolism applies, how are we also supposed to take other peoples’ sin on us as Jesus did?

Firstly, what a great question. Many New Testament passages become so familiar that we often lose the ability to really think about their ramifications.

The structure of the Last Supper puts this action of Jesus at Atonement, the Laver (Day 6). Jesus is liturgically pre-enacting His role as High Priest. The Adam removed his glorious robes and wore linen for the Day of Covering. Jesus left this in the tomb with our sin on it. But that is not all the High Priest did. He approached the Most Holy twice.

The High Priest entered with blood for Himself and the priests. Then he entered again with blood for the people. The suffering of those bold first century saints, including Peter, as this second entry, completed the foundation of a New Jerusalem, and brought down God’s vengeance and an end to the rebels continuing the Old Covenant rites. Christians are never taught this history, so a great deal of the New Testament is read out of context. [1]

“As living Eve sacrifices, they were to
‘fill up that which was lacking’ in
the hidden Adam Temple sacrifices”

The age of the eagle, the four empires from Babylon to Rome, is referred to as the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24). After its restoration, all Israel was supposed to be a suffering servant like Joseph or Daniel, a priesthood working to fill the empire-Tabernacle with “bread”. Although animals were again sacrificed for the nations in Jerusalem, the outward sign of this was the servanthood of the Jews scattered throughout the nations. As living Eve sacrifices, they were to “fill up that which was lacking” in the hidden Adam Temple sacrifices (Romans 12:1; Colossians 1:24). Blood is always presented in the dark, in secret, and the Lord always rewards openly.

To bring that age to an end, the disciples would “fill up that which was lacking” by passing through the same rejection and death as Jesus. His blood would be shed, but so would the blood of these disciples. In this gospel age, the Totus Christus, Jesus and church, is a corporate High Priest. [2]

The Land is always purified with blood. The kingdom is always bought with blood. I think that is what the writer of Hebrews meant when he said the first century Jews should enter the Holy Place boldly. It was certainly an expression of free access to the Throne of Grace, but such access is always mediatorial, governmental. That is the nature of both the Lord and His Creation. We are Esther standing before Ahasuerus. This is the nature of leadership according to the Bible.

The Ark and its two seraphic angels were the tomb of Jesus. The promised rest of Canaan is always entered over blood, by death, no less now that it is a heavenly country. We are to enter the Tomb boldly with our own blood for the next generation, not atoning, but demonstrating. We do this liturgically as we pass the cup to each other. [3]

We enter into death together, hidden from the world in the Holy Place, and leave church each week as resurrected saints rising out of open graves to conquer the world as living sacrifices. As broken bread and poured out wine, we feed and wash the destitute world as Jesus did, with discipleship and baptism, until all humanity is a priesthood standing with feet washed on the crystal sea.

As usual, there is also a negative side to this. The saints demonstrate the gospel of Christ by forgiving those who sin against us. But there is a final Day of Atonement coming when all the sin registered upon us will be avenged upon those who hardened their hearts as it was in AD70. [4]

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[1]  See How to Read the New Testament.
[2]  See Under Your Feet and Twelve Thrones.
[3]   See Places in the Heart.
[4]  See Right as Rain and No More Sacrifice for Sins.

Reflections on a class discussion earlier today about place, our connection to the ground, and gnosticism.

1. Blood and soil are “powers” that can and have dominated human life, and caused lots of human misery.
2. Jesus overcomes those powers.  We are identified by water and feast, not by blood or color or place.
3. YET (here’s where my thought is undeveloped): Jesus doesn’t just overcome and send the powers packing.  He pacifies and reconciles powers; He turns them to the purposes of His kingdom (Col 1-2).

The dilemma: How to express the reconciliation of blood and soil without falling back into the old creation, and without going fascist? How to express Jesus’ pacification of “blood” without letting it usurp the place of the water, and how to express Jesus’ pacification of “soil” without letting it usurp the place of the feast?

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A thought from a student exam: In Mark’s gospel, as soon as the veil of the temple is torn, the centurion confesses Jesus as Son of God. It’s a crucial scene because it’s the first time any human recognizes Jesus as Son.

And the sequence of veil and confession is crucial. The temple existed to keep people away from the presence of Yahweh. Jews were called to be nearer, and Gentiles further. If the temple is open, it doesn’t fulfill this function anymore. There’s a way into the holy place, and at the very moment a way is made into the holy place the division of Jew and Gentile becomes irrelevant.

Peter Leithart, www.leithart.com

Brilliant observation. It reminded me that the firmament of Day 2 (and the 2nd Tabernacle speech, which concerns the veil) correspond to the Confession in the liturgical pattern set by the Creation week.

“…the political task of Christians is to be the church rather than to transform the world”–Stanley Hauerwas, Resident Aliens.

This presents a false dichotomy. When Gideon and David were faithful, God went ahead of them and defeated their enemies. Would it be fair to assume that Hauerwas is just saying that political activism is getting the cart before the horse? If so, then I agree with him. When the church is faithful, the blessings of God transform the world around her.

In his lectures on worship, James Jordan notes that the religions of the world offer life, knowledge and glory. For Israel, these three were locked away in the Ark as the hidden manna, the Law and Aaron’s rod that budded. These three are from God manward.

Then, the Holy Place responds to the Most Holy with the Showbread (life), the Incense (prayer in response to God’s words), and the glory of the blossoming almond tree, the Lampstand. These are from man Godward.

With the coming of Christ, the Ark was opened to the church. In our worship we receive these three as Word, Sacrament and Government. As we live these out through the week, the very culture around us is transformed. The church’s “culture of the Book” has resulted in unprecedented literacy. Her self-sacrifice has built hospitals, orphanages, and given western culture a conscience that extends to foreign aid. Her government has been the foundation for welfare, social justice and government accountability. The faithful church measures out heaven’s government on earth and the world is transformed.

All this was basic stuff for the Reformers. How far have we fallen that we need theologians like Hauerwas to spell out the basics for us again in such simple terms? We are like Ezekiel’s house of Israel, trying to maintain an abused and worn out authority while God is starting from scratch, sending us prophets in Adam’s animal skins. WEPOW

“How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes… Then they came to the valley of Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men. (from Numbers 13)

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20)

The Tabernacle is an architectural model of the world. Each of the seven speeches of the Lord (Exodus 25-31) is introduced with a variant of the phrase “Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.” The seven speeches follow the pattern of the seven days of the Creation week, and also the seven feasts in Leviticus 23.

The Table of Showbread corresponds to both the grain and fruit created on Day 3, the Feast of Firstfruits and to the Asension of Moses.

This pattern began in the garden, when after Adam’s “Red Sea” death and resurrection, he was united to his bride by Covenant. He “ascended” as covenant head of a new family, with God’s one Law.

On the table in the Holy Place were twelve loaves of bread and jugs of beer (from grain), and later, wine. Like the manna and the grapes of Eshcol, these were a promise of rest and rule with God on a future Sabbath as priest and king. Here is the last supper. As with Adam and Moses, this initial promise of wine was followed by exposure to the serpent for testing under the Law – Pentecost.

Just as the marriage covenant of Adam and Eve at Firstfruits is really a betrothal of their united marriage to God on Day 7, so this Table of Israel was a promise of future glory to the whole world at the final Sabbath feast, Tabernacles.

To use Doug Wilson’s phrase, human marriage is “manifest glory.” It is a Day 3 picture of the Day 7 rest to come at the union of heaven and earth.