Bully’s Blog

Understanding the Two Tables

Another thought on Jesus’ “joke” in Matthew 24. In Menu for the the Dirty Birds, I wrote:

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

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

As a holy priesthood, we are to be eaten by the world. But there are two Tables and we often confuse them.

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Ending the False Dichotomy of Blood and Spirit

The Old Testament is a bloody book. Beginning with Adam’s “dissection” to build Eve and the animals the Lord made into tunics, it culminates in Revelation with the massacre of saints under Herod/Nero (Revelation 14) and then the massacre of Jews under Vespasian and Titus.

The Land is always bought with blood. Sitting around John Piper’s eschatology round table recently, the premillennialist (Jim Hamilton) and the amillennialist (Sam Storms) had problems understanding that postmillennialism is not about a sudden Utopia on earth. It is about buying the world with blood—this world. Yes, there is martyrdom, but then there is Christian culture. Following the example of Christ, it is being willing to die because you have one eye on the glory that can be bought for God. Like Wycliffe’s prayer from the stake that God would open the King of England’s eyes, it is Visionary Suffering. (See also Postmillennial Suffering.)

But blood is only ever a foundation. Spirit follows. The Law kills but the Spirit gives life. The slaughter of saints actually disarms the old worship, and Christianity fills the void. The atrocities of communism in China and Mongolia cast the ancient demons out of the house and the Holy Spirit finds it swept and garnished. He fills the vacuum like a mighty, rushing wind.

So, the Reformers didn’t need to keep dying. The firstfruits church didn’t keep dying. The “last days” are only ever the last days of the old order. A New Jerusalem is formed on the blood of the apostles and prophets—but then it is also filled! My friend Matthew recently posted:

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“…that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”  Phil. 2:15

Acacias, not Mulberries

So, acacia wood is at the heart of the Holy furniture. The Tabernacle is a wilderness world glorified by Spirit-filled men and brought into the tent of God,[1] under the wing of Boaz, under the friendly firmament of a new Covenant, under the great tree that grows to shelter the nations.

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“It is most remarkable that not only in Revelation do we find large patterns of evidences befitting the AD 60s era, but also even many smaller details. It it surely no accidental similarity that allows us to find not only particular personages (Nero), cultural structures (the Jewish Temple), and historical events (the Neronic persecution and the Jewish War) that harmonise well with the Neronic era, but even time-frames for these that fill out the picture of the era of which John wrote. It can be no other than in the mid- to late AD 60s.”

Kenneth Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, p. 255-256