“After the gods of the nations have been dethroned, who will take their place?”

by Chris Wooldridge

Most Reformed commentators have tended to take Matthew 24, up to verse 38, as depicting first century events such as the initial spread of the Gospel, the persecution of the apostles and the destruction of the second temple. From verse 39 and thereafter though, the tendency has been to view it as concerned with the final judgement, the “tribulation” being understood as something beginning in the first century and coming to an end at the final coming of Christ. In this post, I will be examining Matthew 24:29-31 with the aim of showing that it is also concerned with first century events.

Verse 29 begins with a quotation from Isaiah 13:10 depicting the dissolution of the heavenly bodies:

“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.”

The wider context of the Isaiah passage is Yahweh’s destruction of the Babylonian empire by the hand of the Medes. Verse 10 in particular though is concerned with the heavenly dimension to this conquest, which is the overthrow of the gods of Babylon. Jesus likely has a similar emphasis in Matthew 24, the overthrowing of the gods of the nations, with the saints being enthroned in their place.

Verse 30 shows us the earthly dimension to this heavenly conquest. The tribes of the land of Israel mourning over their dead in fulfilment of Zechariah 12:10. There are also allusions to Daniel 7:13-14 in this verse, which is a reference to the ascension of Christ. The Jews in Jerusalem perceive in part the enthronement and vindication of Christ in the unfolding events of judgement. The verse as a whole could be read as follows:

“Then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven,
and then all the tribes of the land shall mourn,
and they shall perceive the son of man’s coming
on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Verse 31 answers the problem of verse 29. After the gods of the nations have been dethroned, who will take their place? The answer is of course, the elect, the righteous in Christ who have died. They are gathered together by the angels into heaven to form a new heavenly council, to reign with Christ over the nations. All of which was fulfilled in the first century.

The Death of Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah

The heart of typology is representation, and representation is the heart of sacrifice.

A great deal of so-called theology seems to me to be a waste of time, breath and ink. Theologians and commentators insist on applying a “lens” to Scripture, or building a case from cherry-picked particulars or accumulations of fragmented data, when the answer to the debated question is staring right back at them. Literary structure should be the first recourse, not the last. When it comes to the Bible, literary structure is the label on the tin.

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Numbers 12:3 says that Moses was the meekest man “on the face of the ground [adamah].”

Psalm 37:11 says the meek will inherit the Land [eretz] and delight in abundant prosperity.

Isaiah 11:4 says that

with righteousness [God] shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the Land;
and he shall strike the Land with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips she shall kill the wicked.

Firstly, what is meekness? And secondly, why is it connected to “face of the ground” (Adam), or Land?

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

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One interesting facet of biblical symbols is their identification by “use” and “motion.” Objects that have no link in the natural order of things can be tied together through their use in a similar purpose in the work of the house of God. This is not entirely strange. Diverse things which have no relationship in the natural order are brought together by man for use in “housework.” For the Author of the Bible, nature is “plastic.” This factor is one reason why the Bible is strange to modern ears and minds.

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

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A guest post by Luke Welch.

I’ve been reading The Hobbit again, out loud, to our children, and this time through, one phrase in the first chapter caught my attention.

When Bilbo first encounters Gandalf as an adult, he exhales a list of memories of the greatness and fearful unpredictability of the old wizard:

Not the wandering wizard that gave Old Took a pair of magic diamond studs that fastened themselves and never came undone till ordered? Not the fellow who used to tell such wonderful tales at parties, about dragons and goblins and giants and the rescue of princesses and the unexpected luck of widows’ sons?  (The Hobbit, Chapter 1).

In the Bible, there are two widows who received their sons from the dead: the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17), and the widow of Nain (Luke 7). In both cases, a visit by a prophet results in the resurrection of the widow’s only son. In both cases, the miracle vindicates the prophet, resulting in a confession, a testimony, that the prophet is God’s man indeed.

A prophet
…..visits
……….the “displaced” widow
……….whose son dies or is dead;
……………The prophet performs a miracle
……….and raises the son to life;
……….which brings a testimony
…..of the vindication
of the prophet. [1]

The importance of the vindication of the prophet is often overlooked. Here are the announcements from both stories:

And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” (1 Kings 17:24)

And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” (Luke 7:15-16)

Resurrection is extraordinary, and therefore entirely unexpected. It is incredible except for those who have witnessed it first-hand. And when it does occur, it reveals that the prophet is under the power of the Spirit of God and confirms his God-given authority to speak for God to the people of God.

Of course, there is another historical resurrection which follows the same pattern.

Jesus was the “only Son” of a widow, Mary. It is likely that Joseph died before Jesus’ baptism. From the beginning of His ministry, at His first miracle (turning water into wine in John 4), Mary treats Jesus as the “man of the house.” While on the cross, Jesus delegates His Covenant responsibility to shelter Mary. He passes it to the next believing man of the family, His younger cousin John, son of Zebedee (John 19.26-27).

Then, her son, her only son, is killed by God (cf. 1 Kings 17:20, Isaiah 53:10).

And so Jesus is resurrected, and Mary receives back her dead.

That leaves us with a question. What does this say about the prophet? Elijah was known to be the Spirit’s mouth because of the resurrection he received through prayer. Jesus was known to be the Great Prophet rising up among the people, because he gave resurrection. But who resurrected Jesus?

It was the Holy Spirit himself (Romans 1:4). Of course, we hear from Paul later on that the resurrection of Jesus was a Trinitarian act (cf. Romans 8:11ff). But even there, the Power of the Holy Spirit is what is emphasized in this life-giving to dead sons.

So, in Mary’s receiving back her dead, we are justified in looking for a testimony, a vindication, of that Prophet. The next great prophetic voice was that of the Spirit in the testimony of Jesus. He was in the apostles, as eyewitnesses to the resurrection. They vindicated Jesus, and history continues to vindicate them. The Spirit is the jar of holy oil that never runs out.

_______________________________
[1] Mike Bull: I’ve expanded a little on Luke’s original outline here, to bring out the echo of the Ten Commandments: Word from God, alienation from the Land, mother and father, knife and fire, theft/gift and true witness, and finally, shelter and sheltered. Concerning the alienation from the Land, “The location of the miracle in Nain is also possibly an allusion to the raising of the Shunamite woman’s son by Elisha because Nain is only a couple of miles north of Shunem (cf. 2Ki 4:). So the event and location are both allusions to Elijah and Elisha.” [bible.org] The prophets ministered to those outside of Israel to provoke Israel to jealousy.

Another gem from Tim Nichols:

Consider Daniel 9, the prayer of the just man Daniel. Go ahead and read it; I’ll wait.

Did you notice that Daniel identifies fully with his people? “We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws,” he says — although Daniel himself did, in fact, keep them.  “We have not made our prayer before the Lord our God” — although Daniel did so daily, even at risk of his life.  “Neither have we heeded your servants the prophets,” he says — although he himself was a close student of the prophets, especially Jeremiah.

How can Daniel say these things?  He can say them because “we” is a real category to God.  If the corporate body of which you are a part is mired in sin, you cannot simply say, “But I had nothing to do with that.”  No one knew this better than Daniel and the other righteous exiles.

Habakkuk’s Judah was wicked and required harsh judgment, and that was Daniel’s native land; the men of Judah in Habakkuk’s day were Daniel’s people. God promised judgment, and Habakkuk passes on that promise. However, there were also just men living in Judah, just men who would suffer with the unjust when the judgment came. Habakkuk also passes on God’s promise to them: “The just shall live by faith.”  Daniel suffered this judgment, as did his three friends. They were ripped from their homes as young men, dragged into captivity, and destined to die in exile.  Yet they lived through peril after peril by their faith, as God had promised.

We are Christians. We are required to think of corporate and individual, and the relationship between the two, the way God thinks of them. As in Daniel’s case, Scripture shows us time after time that being part of a sinning corporate entity has consequences that a righteous individual cannot dodge, and the righteous thing to do is own the sins of one’s own people.  Simply saying “But I didn’t participate” – even if it’s true – doesn’t mean that “we” didn’t do it.  You can’t extract yourself so easily, which is to say that your people are yourpeople.

What really brought this home to me was several years of pastoral leadership. It’s one thing to be part of a group; even that is tougher to get out of than we think. But it’s another thing altogether to be responsible for that group’s spiritual well-being as the one who gives account for their souls. You can’t just leave because it turns out the sheep really need a shepherd — what are you there for, anyway?

*   *   *   *   *

Some commands can only be kept corporately.  If there’s a particular way to observe the Lord’s Table, for example, you can only keep it with other people – because the Lord’s Table is something we do together. A group can either keep those commands, or it can disobey them.

If you find yourself part of a group that is disobeying a corporate command, obeying the command individually is often not an option, and even if you can, you remain part of a group that is breaking it.  Like Daniel. What ought you to do?

Like Daniel, you should walk with God.  Like Daniel, you should fulfill God’s will in those things that are up to you. And like Daniel, you should pray, “We have sinned” without any riders, or addenda, or excuses.  These people are your people; their sins are your sins, and you can’t separate yourself from those sins simply by disapproving. You may, like Daniel, find yourself suffering the corporate lack of blessing – or even punishment – as a result of corporate disobedience. But like Daniel, you can trust God to watch out for you through the trial.

Maybe, if God is kind to your people, you’ll be given a chance to call them to repentance.  Maybe not.  Sometimes it’s not your job; God will raise up someone else. There were many in Israel who walked with God in the days of Jeremiah, but only one was called to, well, be Jeremiah. Other times, the season for repentance is past, and God is moving in a different fashion, as He was when He called Isaiah. Many times, there is nothing you can do but hunker down and wait, trusting in the faithfulness of God.

Regarding such times, I once heard an experienced pastor advise praying in this way: “Lord this is sin. It is wrong. Please bless it; the only alternatives available right now are far worse.”

Amen.

or Raising Up the Temple

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

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

1
…..2
……….3
……………4
……….5
…..6
7

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

Forming the spaces
1
…..2
……….3

Filling the spaces
4
…..5
……….6

Stanza 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(2 Kings 2:8-11)

(Creation – Day 1)
Hezekiah had asked Isaiah,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stanza 2

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

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

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

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

“And the times of this ignorance God winked at;
but now commandeth all men every where to repent…” Acts 17:30

Reading the Bible without an understanding of Creational and Covenant structures is like watching test cricket without knowing the rules. It’s not unusual for even the best commentators to be distracted by something as inconsequential as a lost seagull. But every moment is part of a bigger picture. Isaiah can seem tedious at times, but it’s a long game. Let’s look at Isaiah 4:2-6, which relates the purging of exiled Israel to the jealous inspection in Numbers 5. In this case, she comes up trumps.

Sabbath – Genesis
In that day the Branch of the LORD
shall be beautiful and glorious;

…..Passover – Exodus – Exodus
…..And the fruit of the [Land] shall be excellent and appealing
…..For those of Israel who have escaped.

……….Firstfruits – Leviticus
……….And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion
……….and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy –
……….everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.

……………Pentecost – Numbers
……………When the Lord
………………..has washed away the filth
…………………….of the daughters of Zion,
…………………………and purged the blood of Jerusalem
…………………….from her midst,
………………..by the spirit of judgment
……………and by the spirit of burning,

……….Trumpets – Deuteronomy
……….then the LORD will create above every dwelling
……….place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies,

…..Atonement (Day of Coverings) – Joshua
…..a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night.
…..For over all the glory there will be a covering.

Booths (Tabernacles) – Judges
And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat,
for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

Firstly, notice a few things about this passage that identification of the Feasts pattern brings out:

1. It begins with the Branch, grown from the stump of the old tree that was axed, and it ends with Israel as an entirely new tree, moving from Bridgegroom to Bride.
2. The Restoration era prefigured the New Covenant’s priesthood of all believers.
3. Notice that the names are recorded at firstfruits. In Revelation, that is when the firstfruits saints are sealed, or Numbered.
4. The jealous inspection occurs at the centre (remember what was observed regarding the Ten Words? [1])
5. Zion is mentioned three times, at Ascension (flesh), Testing (fire) and Maturity (smoke), all the action on the Altar. (These three points are combined as Ethics to make the process a five-point treaty). But here it is not Sinai but Zion; not death but resurrection.
6. The smoke by day and fire by night occur at the same point in the passage as the smoking firepot and blazing torch in Genesis 15: head and body. The Ark-Light holds up the water walls, opens the Veil, and allows the Incense-army through the Veil into the Heavenly Land. [2]

My focus is on the central point, Pentecost. The “Levitical” Covenant Head receives the Law as Firstfruits, and opens the Law to purify the Covenant body. Yes, this entire process of “Restoration” was repeated in the first century. When the bride is handed the cup, she becomes a blessing or a curse. She herself is “poured out” as rivers of offspring from the mountain of God at Tabernacles, beginning a new cycle. Being poured out enables Covenant succession.

The cross was Passover, which led to resurrection and Ascension. Christ was enthroned (Revelation 5) and Satan was expelled from his role in God’s courtroom as accuser, thrown down to the Land to make Judaism ripe for judgment. The blood went up and the Spirit came down. Testing. So the Holy Spirit was not the only spirit that fell like lightning. Saul received an evil spirit when David received the Holy Spirit. It was a jealous inspection. The succession was taken from the family of Saul and given to the family of David. In the first century, the kingdom, the future, was taken from the Herods and the Pharisees, the “kings of the earth” (rulers of the Land) and given to a new nation, a new bride.

After Pentecost, like Saul, Judaism became demonic, filled with a strong delusion, spiritual swine cast out and heading for a cliff. Pentecost flames were also prefigured in the battle of Midian. Gideon’s men exposed the flames and God sent the spirit of confusion amongst His enemies. They destroyed each other. In the first century, the Herods sleazed with Rome. Eventually, the Romans besieged Jerusalem and set it alight. Inside the city, even the Jewish zealots were slaying each other. Christians are not taught this history for some reason.

In some comments on Daniel 7, James Jordan speaks about the Word awakening the Monsters from the Id. The Jews were scattered as seed, and beastly empires arose. Plato read Moses and it changed the world. [3] The light comes and men are made conscious of their beastly nature. The gospel wakes the dead, but they are beasts, not men. Initially, it brings out the worst in us. We suddenly see ourselves as we are, and as Paul states, knowledge of the Law can actually cause us to sin more. The Spirit of God gives men the ability to judge, but there is still a choice. Men perceive the fragrance as life or death, and respond accordingly.

The Spirit enlightens (as the Lampstand, the governing lights on Day 4) and makes rulers, but enlightenment forces a decision, a “judgment” call. The choice itself brings either enlightenment or a greater love of darkness. King Saul turned into a monster, despite continual challenges. But when David was challenged by Nathan, the Law was a light to his path. The Lampstand showed Belshazzar the writing on the wall. [4]

Revelation shows the Day of Pentecost as coals from the Altar tipped out upon the Land. A coal was taken from the Altar to set ablaze enemy cities under the ban (devoted, or accursed). The coals purged the lips of the Apostles, as it did with Isaiah, and the fiery words they spoke put the entire city on the Altar. Pentecost put the Old Jerusalem under the ban. The Spirit was the fire that Jesus wished was kindled already (Luke 12:49).

“…thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,
and the LORD shall reward thee.” Proverbs 25:22

Our culture has seen itself in the light of the Gospel, but current generations have decided to defiantly remain “content” with beastliness, to “fill up” our sin in the face of God’s revelation. The greatest despots in history are always men who take Covenant wisdom and use it for evil, apostate sons of the Church. [5]

“And for this reason God will send them strong delusion,
that they should believe the lie…” 2 Thess 2:11

When the Gospel comes, God’s Lampstand can no longer “overlook,” watch over, our sin. The stars can no longer wink or twinkle. They come crashing down as burning coals on our heads. Once exposed, our sin is not a wandering astray, but high handed. This is what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is: the Word comes to you and you BACK-CHAT. Instead of being filled with the Seven Spirits of God, the watching “eyes” of the heavenly Lampstand, you are filled with seven devils, darkened eyes devoid of judgment. The sin of the rulers corrupted the entire first century generation, the Old Covenant “body.”

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good,
your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22

This blasphemy is unforgivable because it is a rejection of mercy. It is inherently Cainite. It is high-handed, sin with full knowledge of the Law. In Leviticus, the only atonement for high-handed sin was the blood of the person who committed it, hence the so-called problem verses in Hebrews, written to first century Jews who saw the Day approaching:

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. Hebrews 6:4-8

“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…” Hebrews 10:26

The sin of the Israelite who brazenly fornicated with a Moabite woman was a high-handed sin. Jesus returned in AD70, and like Phinehas, put a spear through the harlot and the beast, Herodian worship and the Roman state. As in Numbers, they were speared through the point of contact, the reproductive organs (“bellies” is a euphemism).

The Gospel is daylight. To Israel, it brought the end of the Old Testament shadows, and the false additions the Pharisees had burdened men with. [6] The age of angels and animals was over. Only by following this wake up call with obedience can we become true men. The gospel brings a sword to a sleeping but stagnant world and wakes the monsters. The Lord disturbs us from our moral slumber to purge us and then bring us true rest. It makes us better or worse. We choose enlightenment or delusion. We open like flowers or scuttle like cockroaches who call on the rocks and hills. Neutrality is impossible.

Interestingly, the early chapters of John follow a similar pattern to the early chapters of Daniel. Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath incited the unbelieving Jews. Like the captive Jews, Jesus ‘stirred the water’ and raised up a man — and monstrous Pharisees. [7]

We drink the strong drink, the goblet of fire, every week. It judges us to make us judges. It doesn’t make us perfect. God’s intent is to bring us wisdom. The Spirit opens our eyes and makes our sin apparent. Sometimes we feel we are going backwards. The continued application of the Law makes us exceedingly sinful in our own eyes. That can be discouraging. But is your sin becoming more detestable to you, more worthy of death (mortification) or more justifiable? That is the question. The mercy of God is a withholding of judgment, sins laid upon the Temple of Christ. It is an anointing for greater service or an opportunity to fill up our sin, a reason to draw nearer to God in humility or to pull away in pride. The cup is a sacramental dose of death, [8] shalom for the wise and strong delusion for the unwise, who drink it to the dregs.

This is why people continually exposed to the gospel without obedience to it become “immunised.” They have hardened their hearts, like Pharaoh, like the first century Jews. God eventually gives them up to the outer darkness they loved.

“…enlightenment wasn’t the diamond. Enlightenment was the choice.”

___________________________________
[1] See Warp and Weft.
[2] See Pass-over and Pass-through.
[3] See Did Plato Read Moses?
[4] See The Finger of God.
[5] See How to be Really Evil.
[6] See The End of Shadows.
[7] See Stirring the Waters.
[8] See Sacramental Doses of Death.

The Table on God’s Mountain

“Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat
falls into the ground
and dies,
it remains alone;
but if it dies,
it produces much grain.”
John 12:24

Israel was given a “firstfruits” taste of the Promised Land in Numbers 13. As with all Covenants, it was bittersweet. There were grapes, but there were giants. It was the same challenge as the one given to Adam. They were called to be judges who made their decisions based not on sight, but on faith in God’s Words.

(Creation)
And Moses
…..called
……….Hoshea
…..the son of Nun, (“son of fecundity“)
Joshua.

(Division)
Then Moses
…..sent them
……….to spy out
…..the land
of Canaan, (“lowlands”)

(Ascension – Altar-Land)
and said to them, (Sabbath)
…..“Go up this [way] into the South, (Passover)
……….and go up to the mountains, (Firstfruits)
……………“and see what the land is like: (Pentecost)
……….whether the people who dwell in it
……….[are] strong or weak, few or many; (Trumpets)
…..“whether the land they dwell in
…..[is] good or bad; (Atonement)
whether the cities they inhabit
[are] like camps or strongholds; (Tabernacles)

(Ascension – Table of the Facebread)
“whether the land [is] rich or poor;
…..and whether there are forests there or not.
……….Be of good courage.
…..And bring some of the fruit of the land.”
Now the time [was] the season of the first ripe grapes.

(Numbers 13:6-20. Testing is the 12 spies as “Lamp-eyes” in the Land for 40 days.)

The Promised Land was the shelter, the rest, for that generation, but in Israel’s history it was only Day 3. God put the nation on the Altar-Land as a kind of firstfruits (the Kings followed as Day 4). Day 5 is about fruit, about clouds and swarms, plunder and/or plagues. It is the bridal “Body” harvest that results from the sacrifice, death and burial of the Bridegroom “Head.” Day 5 in Israel’s history was plagues. It was two Trumpets, the armies of Assyria and the armies of Babylon. Because Israel was bad fruit, her grapes would be left to rot on the vine, filled with scavenging worms (Deuteronomy 28:39).

from Isaiah 5

Creation
Now let me sing
…..to my Well-beloved
……….A song
…..of my Beloved
regarding His vineyard:

Division
My Well-beloved
…..has a vineyard
……….On a very fruitful hill.
……………He dug it up
……….and cleared out its stones,
…..And planted it
with the choicest vine.

Ascension – Tabernacle
He built a tower in its midst, (Ark)
…..And also made a winepress in it; (Veil)
……….So He expected to bring forth grapes, (Altar)
……….But it brought forth wild grapes. (Table)

……………(Lampstand – the Watchmen of the Table
……………called to Judge as Governing Lights)
……………And now,
………………..O inhabitants of Jerusalem (Transcendence)
…………………….and men of Judah, (Hierarchy – Facebread/Praiseworthy)
…………………………Judge, (Ethics)
…………………….please,
………………..between Me (Sanctions)
……………and My vineyard. (Continuity)

……….(Incense – the Covenant Body)
……….What more (Creation)
……………could have been done (Division)
………………..to My vineyard (Ascension)
…………………….That I have not done in it? (Testing)
………………..Why then, when I expected [it] (No Maturity)
……….to bring forth [good] grapes, (No Conquest)
…..Did it bring forth wild grapes? (No Glorification Wine)

Ascension is the Altar and the Table. The Altar is the Land, in this case the vineyard, built by God. But the “firstfruits” of Israel were toxic. In the next stanza, Day of Atonement (Coverings), the vineyard is dis-covered, smashed up, and the Laver (rain) is taken away from both the just and the unjust.

Concerning the fruitful hill in verse 1, things get weird. Peter Leithart writes:

Most translations say that the Beloved planted his vineyard on a “fertile hill,” but Isaiah wrote that He planted it on “a horn, a son of oil” (Heb. beqeren ben-shamen). Phrase might refer to a fertile hill, but that’s not what the words mean.

The passage closest to Isaiah’s usage is in Zechariah 4, where the two olive trees are called “sons of oil” (v. 14). In Zechariah, the phrase refers to Zerubbabel and Joshua, the two anointed ones who lead the post-exilic community. Zechariah doesn’t use the word “horn,” but it fits the context, since the anointed ones are anointed from horns filled with oil, and become the horns of Israel, the victorious wild ox.

What would it mean to say that Yahweh had a vineyard on a “horn, a son of oil”? Verse 7 says that vineyard is “the house of Israel” and the men of Judah are the “delightful plant” within the vineyard.  That vineyard was planted “on” the anointed one, David and his descendants. The links are complex but fairly clear: David is anointed, hence a “son of oil”; Yahweh regularly raises David’s horn on high; David is also mountain “horn” on which Israel rests.

Maybe. But that doesn’t satisfy.

I like a challenge. Here’s my attempt.

Could the vineyard have been planted in the horn? Horns and anointing are Altar and Table, Land and Firstfruits: the Tabernacle, the “nearbringing” ascension offering. In the Revelation, this Firstfruits Lamb (Table) is the Lamb with seven eyes (Lampstand) and seven horns (Trumpets/Incense Altar). Through death, he becomes the Holy Place, good soil, and the Spirit fills it with bridal fruit.

As in marriage, the “living sacrifice” of the head is the life of the body: like the kingdom honey (Gentile swarm) comes from inside the Jewish lion king’s carcass. The emptied, bloodied horn is followed by the Spirit, and the buried head brings a harvest.

That’s also what we see in Zechariah. The cherubim that exiled Judah from the Garden-Land have hammered their flaming swords into flaming plowshares, and the result is a new, multiplied Lampstand with 49 lights. The Davidic Israel became a dead lion. The Restoration era was a spiritual Cornucopia, whatever the blind scholars may say, and when Jesus came to inspect it, it was ready for harvest.

And of course, taking one further step out, we see Totus Christus. Judah (the horn) died for the life of the world (plenty).

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Wikipedia on Cornucopia:

The cornucopia (Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as the food of worship and holiness, Horn of Amalthea, harvest cone, and horn of plenty.

In Greek mythology, Amalthea was a goat who raised Zeus on her breast milk, in a cave, on Mount Ida of Crete. Her horn was accidentally broken off by Zeus while playing together. The god Zeus, in remorse, gave her back her horn with supernatural powers, which would give whoever possessed it whatever they wished for. The original depictions were of the goat’s horn filled with fruits and flowers: deities, especially Fortuna, were depicted with the horn of plenty. The cornucopia was also a symbol for a woman’s fertility. The story is said [by whom?] to be a predecessor of the Unicorn and the Holy Grail stories.