The abandonment of the Son by the Father is made palpable not in the crucifixion of His body, since He willingly laid down His life, but in the darkness which covered the Land for three hours. But perhaps this darkness was a sign of the Father’s nearness rather than His distance.

Matthew, Mark and Luke document the darkness which covered the Land during the last three hours of Jesus’ life, and so do three extra biblical historians, Thallus, Phlegon and Africanus. But what was its purpose? It is wise to look for typological precedents for events in the Gospels, since Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. Concerning darkness we have the primeval world before the creation of light (Genesis 1:2), and the darkness which covered Egypt as the ninth plague (Exodus 10:21-23).

The details of this plague are interesting, since this was “a darkness to be felt” and “nor did anyone rise from his place for three days.” Only the land of Goshen where the Israelites dwelt was given light. Thus, the three hours of darkness at noonday were a sign of the coming three days in which Christ would be covered by the darkness of the tomb. But there is another instance of darkness and light as a judgment in Exodus, and that occurred at the Red Sea crossing (Exodus 13:19-20). The pillar of cloud gave light to the Israelites but the Egyptians were left in the dark. Thus the two were kept separate throughout the night.

My assertion here is that the darkness in each case was a visit from the glory cloud, the “mobile tabernacle” which served as God’s chariot until the Day of Pentecost. It was presumably this cloud which is described in Genesis 3:8, which would be better translated as “And they heard the sound/voice of the Lord God coming to the garden in the breath/spirit of the day and they hid themselves…” It is likely that this visitation was similar to the cloud which descended upon Sinai and upon the mount of transfiguration. It is also likely the same cloud which, when opened, provided a glimpse into heaven at the baptism of Jesus (with its allusion to Genesis 1, the Spirit hovering over the deep), at His ascension, and again at the martyrdom of Stephen. The Lord always comes “with” or “in” clouds, and when He does, He comes to judge.

Of course, judgment does not necessarily mean punishment. The Lord came down to judge Babel, Egypt and Sodom, and it each case the result was cursing. In the case of Ezekiel, it seems the prophet was actually taken up in or by the chariot in Spirit that he might witness the sins of Jerusalem, God and a “son of man” serving as two legal witnesses, explaining the phrase “Come, let us go down…” in Genesis 11:7, when God brought confusion. The pillar of cloud also brought confusion upon Pharaoh’s armies, and it was likely present when the armies of Midian were confused under the watch of Gideon. But when the cloud came upon the Tabernacle and Temple, upon the Son, and upon His saints on the Day of Pentecost, as a mighty, rushing wind, the Lord was happy to bless. The arrival of the chariot of God, unlike the chariot of Pharaoh, is a chariot which brings not only vengeance but also redemption. It is the chariot of the almighty ga’al, the one who bears a two-edged sword to slay the wicked and cut the bonds of the righteous.

So, is it beyond possibility that the chariot of God was the cause of the three hours of darkness, recorded across the oikoumene, while Christ was on the cross? After all, the final chapters of Ezekiel present this Jew-Gentile social construct as a temple, with the Land of Israel as its holy altar. The Lord was coming to His temple to inspect it for “leprosy.” According to the Law, the leprosy had to be cut out, but if it returned, the house would be destroyed. Jesus was crucified “outside the camp,” like a leper (see Leviticus 14, and The Leprous House). He was the one being “cut out” that the house might be spared. But as Jesus predicted, the cleaned house would be filled with even worse demons (see Seven Spirits More Wicked), and its response to being cleansed would be a return to corruption in an even greater way. The Veil of the Temple was torn, but when the Lord later returned “in the clouds” the Temple was torn down. Not one stone was left upon another.

And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place (Leviticus 14:45)

This means that the entire Land was under judgment, and Jesus was at the center of the court. He had been condemned by the High Priesthood (Garden), by Herod (Land) and by Pilate (World), the entirety of the oikoumene “Tabernacle.” Now He was being judged by heaven, and for the will of heaven be done on earth required the “bowing of the heavens,” that is, a visit from the heavenly court via the glory cloud, a symbolic reunion of the waters above and below in a prefiguring of final judgment (see “Bowing the Heavens” in my book Inquiétude for more discussion.) God was visiting the Garden, and Adam was exposed in His court. The events that transpired recapitulate those of Psalm 18 – including the earthquake –with one major difference: the Father did not hear, and did not deliver, the Man who cried out to Him.

The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.

He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.

He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.

What does this mean for the significance of the three hours of darkness? That the Christ who “became sin for us” was trodden underfoot like an enemy, or a serpent, the blood upon the kapporet, the footstool of God (see Peter Leithart, The Footstool of His Feet.) To conquer sin, He became sin. To make His enemies His footstool (Psalm 110:1; Luke 20:43; Hebrews 10:13), He would first be trampled underfoot, and it would please the Lord to bruise Him (Isaiah 53:10). The holy presence which overshadowed Mary at Jesus’ conception (Luke 1:35) now overshadowed the entire nation at His death.

This abandonment of the Son by the Father was not “spatial” but legal. The Father presided over the Son in the seat of Moses, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. This courtroom “betrayal,” a perjury in the sense that He changed His previous testimonies concerning the blamelessness and authority of the Son, was as close-to-home as the kiss of Judas. In this final act, the Father crossed the floor and stood with Judas, with Ananias, with those who beat, spat upon and ridiculed Jesus, with Pilate, with the crowd, and with the thief who cursed Him on the cross.

The word “sacrifice” connotes the idea of “near bringing” (see James B. Jordan, Leviticus 1:2). It was this reversal of judgment, through substitutionary atonement, that the angels “standing at the four corners of the Land,” those who stood prepared to vindicate the Son by immediately destroying the city and the Land (as predicted in Daniel 9:25-26), were told: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God” (Revelation 7:1-3).

At the Day of Pentecost, the brightness of the cloud was visited upon those who believed, and the darkness of strong delusion upon those who refused to believe. In the Gospel, this dividing “sword” was extended right across the empire. This “visitation” by the Spirit, whose indwelling turned every believer into a chariot (epitomised and signified in the miraculous travel of Philip in Acts 8:38-39), explains the inspiration and perseverance of the Jew-Gentile saints and the strong delusion which confused and confounded their Jew-Gentile enemies, who turned on each other, eventuating in their destruction at the coming of Christ with all His martyred sons, including Abel (Matthew 23:35), on white horses as a cloud of “witnesses” (martyrs) against the first century “Babylon.” These saints were God’s chariot.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Covenant Structure in Zechariah 11

“The meek will eventually inherit the earth but the wicked will always have to buy it.”

Reading the book of Zechariah, like most Bible prophecies, is like tuning in to Season 3 of any good TV series without watching Seasons 1 and 2. Our problem today is not that we haven’t actually read the books of Moses (well, I hope we have) but that we haven’t been taught to read them into the prophets and the New Testament. We treat them like we’ve now switched channels, or shows, and the authors are starting with a blank canvas! However, the canvas isn’t blank. The prophets were God’s repo men, and their messages were all framed in the context of the Covenant contract. What amazes me is how inventive the prophets are (or the Spirit is) in coming up with something new and surprising using the patterns laid down in Moses.

Another strange habit we have is tracing Old Testament quotations in the Gospels and sticking a “Messianic prophecy” label on them without much attempt to understand what those verses meant in their original context. It used to bother me that nobody seemed interested in what they meant and why on earth a particular verse would come to the author’s mind in the first place in support of his case for Jesus. The answer is that God does not work in “snapshots” but in stories, through processes, and within architectures.

One of the more complex references is the mention of “the potter” in Zechariah 11 and Matthew 27:7. Not only is the reference intriguing but the original passage is just as confusing. Zechariah 11 is just plain weird to us, because we think like the viewer who has only just tuned in. If we take the structure into account, it may answer some burning questions.

Firstly, it seems to me that the ‘cycle’ in Zechariah 11 actually starts in v. 4, so vv. 1-3 belong to the previous section. Why do I say this? It concerns the destruction of the “cedars” of the Temple, as an ironic cloudy Tabernacles! (The other name for the feast is Booths, which is more literally “clouds.”) So those verses are the end of the previous cycle.

TRANSCENDENCE – Creation (Genesis)

So verses 4-5 begin the cycle. It begins with a new Initiation. The Lord asks Zechariah to “lead” the flock of God. He condemns the kings who have exalted themselves against the Law. So we have the Call, and also a reference to Divine Authority (the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant).

HIERARCHY – Division (Exodus)

After Initiation comes Delegation, or in sacrificial terms, the cutting of the sacrifice. In verse 6, the Lord pronounces a “Passover,” but one from which no one will escape. The “king” has become a king like Pharaoh, murdering God’s “firstborn”, Israel, so the Lord Himself will not intervene. However, He has commissioned Zechariah for an ironic “tour of duty”: he would lead the flock, not to green pastures, but to slaughter.

ETHICS 1 – Ascension (Leviticus/Priesthood) – Law given

In 7-9, Zechariah becomes the blameless “firstfruits” with two staffs, Favor (Church) and Union (State). Staffs are an extension of a man’s reach, and are “legal” tools. The left and right “hands” of the Tabernacle are the Table and the Lampstand, priesthood and kingdom. Once united in a Man they lead to prophecy, true legal witness.

Zechariah tends the sheep. He destroys the “three shepherds” in “one month”, which is possibly a reference to Numbers 18:15-16:

Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

The subject is the redemption of the firstborn, and if we notice that the price was specified in sanctuary silver, it will help us with what comes later on in the passage.

The word “destroyed” is the word used in Exodus 9:15, in the words Moses is to speak to Pharaoh before the seventh plague, because he has exalted himself:

For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.

The theme is “Levitical,” the tithe. Festally-speaking, it is the Feast of Firstfruits, pointing to the Ascension of Christ. But who are the three shepherds? When Jesus appears as the ‘firstfruits lamb” in Revelation 5, He is a union of priest (lamb – forming), king (seven eyes – filling) and prophet (seven horns – future), or in architectural terms, a combination of the three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place. So it would seem the “triune office” is in Zechariah’s cross hairs. Many commentators believe these shepherds are those rulers upon whom Christ pronounced Covenantal “woes.” Instead of being advocates for the people, they were legal accusers, just like their true father, Satan. They had exalted themselves as kings and they would be thrown down. The difference was that Satan knew he only had a short time. From Barnes’ notes:

And I cut off three shepherds in one month – Jerome: “I have read in some one’s commentary, that the shepherds, cut off in the indignation of the Lord, are to be understood of priests and false prophets and kings of the Jews, who, after the passion of Christ, were all cut off in one time, of whom Jeremiah speaketh, “The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things which do not profit” Jeremiah 2:8, and again, “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests and their prophets” Jeremiah 2:26; and “they said, Come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet” Jeremiah 18:18.

Based on what follows in the text, this “disempowerment” refers to Jesus’ ministry to the Jews. In each case He was the “firstborn” son who received the Father’s blessing: 1) circumcised as a Priestly Lamb and baptized as a Priest; 2) anointed as a Shepherd King after His baptism and received as the Son of David in Jerusalem; 3) commissioned as Divine Prophet at His transfiguration (just prior to the triumphal entry, which explains the “Hear ye Him” in Matthew 17:5) and authorized to speak the Father’s words to the rulers of the city. At each stage, His qualification disqualified the leaders of Israel, just as David’s anointing disqualified Saul.

However, the three stages of qualification would be “fractally” replicated in Israel. The process of destruction here is Ethical, Social, Physical, a reverse of Genesis 1-3.

ETHICS 2 – Testing (Numbers/Kingdom) – Law Opened

At the centre of the cycle (vv. 10-11), Israel’s Covenantal Favor is broken. The kingdom comes and her priesthood is no longer effectual. The priesthood and kingdom (forming and filling), are like the two bronze pillars of Solomon’s Temple.: they will be broken up. We saw the same action when Moses broke the first set of stone tablets. What is interesting is that these are not Mosaic tablets but Davidic staffs. The Word of the Lord is vindicated among the “peoples,” in this case, the tribes of Israel. The feast here is Pentecost, when many Jews believed. Revelation presents them as saints “sealed and numbered” (only Jews are numbered, and one of the themes here is the book of Numbers). The Covenant has been de-formed, but Israel would be given a chance to “fill up” her sins or her sufferings before the future age arrived..

ETHICS 3 – Maturity (Deuteronomy/Prophethood) – Law Received

This next stage corresponds to the feast of Trumpets, where Israel’s warriors are mustered and “redeemed.” Trumpets are silver. They summon Israel and they warn God’s enemies. It was at this point in Genesis 23 that Abraham purchased a cave and field from Ephron with “bridal” silver, and also at this point in Joshua 7 where Achan revealed his plunder, including silver, was hidden “in the earth” under his tent. Again, something to take note of for later.

The redemption price comes from Exodus 21:32. It is the price for a murdered bull or slave, which actually ties Zechariah’s service to the Bronze Altar (binding) rather than the prophetic Incense Altar (loosing). Remember, these two altars correspond chiastically in the pattern, one being the earthly country (bloody Adam) and the other the heavenly country (fragrant Eve). Silver has to do with loosing, with redemption. It is bridal, and military. It is also the plunder for Covenant obedience, and the legal witness (as fragrant, silvery smoke) that the Law has been satisfied.

The money is thrown into the Lord’s House, however, it is designated “to the potter.” Rather than ascending to heaven, it will be returned to the earth, hidden in the clay under Achan’s “Tabernacle.” The JFB commentary mentions that the Temple employed its own potter, and any “unclean” money went to pay him. It was a “talent” hidden in the ground. The idea is that the Covenant Head is not multiplied as a Body, bearing fruit, as desired by God. The potter worked in the Valley of Hinnom, where Jeremiah threatened the rulers of Judah by shattering pots (Jeremiah 19). This valley was where child sacrifices took place, and God judged Israel for this crime by filling it with their bodies. We see the same thing in the first century, beginning with Herod the Great’s slaughter of the innocents and ending with the Roman siege. The valley of the potter came to be known as Gehenna, a rubbish tip filled with fire and maggots.

The house of God and “clay” are both Ascension symbols concerning the firstfruits. Adam is lifted from the miry clay and made to stand upright. So perhaps the idea is that the “ascended” bridal Land is to be covered in sacrificial blood. The prophet himself has been redeemed and he has purchased a burial cave for the Bride. She will rest in the bosom of Abraham until his heavenly country is a place “prepared” by Jesus.

This section ends with a familiar “Trumpets” symbol of the brothers. Judah (the head) and Israel (the body) are divided. The reference is to the “new Covenant” made with these two houses, as predicted in Jeremiah 31 (known by some as the “Restoration Covenant”). It takes us from the beginning of Zechariah to the first century. Here they are not united but separated. There would be no real outcome in history in the first century. The point is that this “tribal” unity would be replaced by a greater unity, the one between Jew and Gentile, as Hebrews 8 explains.

“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13)

This brings us to the end of the triune “Ethics” section of the prophecy. At Ascension, the prophet united priesthood and kingdom, enabling him to speak as a prophet (Adam was to be the third tree in the Garden, whose fruit was righteousness, representing God as His Word). At Testing (Pentecost), the face of God stopped shining upon Israel-according-to-the-flesh. Maturity is about a “many” which are united with one mind. Here, the old Feast of Trumpets was annulled forever through the legal witness of the apostles, the testimony of Jesus, who like Joseph was sold by his brothers to the Gentiles. The Trumpets warned of the old walls coming down.

SANCTIONS – Conquest (Joshua/The Triune Man)

Now we come to the Day of Coverings, when the High Priest approached God for the Priesthood and the People, the head and the body. Atonement is about healing the Land, but God was raising up a shepherd who would not heal but devour. At this point in Jesus’ pattern, the High Priest exalted himself against the Son of God, the veil was torn, and a Roman soldier testified to Him. In the larger apostolic cycle, the Temple was completed (in defiance of Jesus’ words) and then destroyed only a few years later by armies of Roman soldiers. But it seems that the prophet is still speaking hear of the ministry of Jesus.

SUCCESSION – Glorification (Judges: Israel serves the Gentiles)

The cycle has covered de-forming and de-filling (Days 1-6) and now moves to de-future! The worthless king will be cut off. The right side of the Adam/Tabernacle is the kingly side. The sword-arm and the eye of judgment will be taken away. Israel will no longer have her own king sitting at court. Because she would not be a priest to the nations, she will serve a Gentile Solomon, the emperor (an ironic Booths). The initial fulfillment of this was the death of Herod on his throne, sitting in the Temple of God. The Lord turned him into a human Gehenna, filled with worms.

Jesus or Judas?

This brings us to an interesting aspect of the prophecy. Is the prophet predicting the actions of Jesus or Judas? Zechariah was from the tribe of Judah, and Judah would be divided like the two goats on the Day of Atonement. Judas (Judah) was himself a sign of what was coming upon all Judah. The Last Supper follows the order of Israel’s annual festal calendar, with Judas being expelled as the second goat, filled with the devil and carrying the sins of the nation to destruction. [1] Jesus and Judas are the positive and negative coordinates of the prophet’s “formula.”

Whose purchase?

Matthew 27 says that the chief priests and elders bought the potter’s field with Judas’ silver, as a place to bury Gentiles, the unclean.  Acts 1 implies that it was Judas’ purchase, but the theme that unites these two statements is Covenantal. Abraham purchased a parcel of the Land but his children would later inherit it as a gift. The meek eventually inherit the earth but the wicked will always have to buy it. [2]

The Valley of Hinnom

The Jews were no longer merely murdering their sons in a horrific reenactment of Passover, they were once again giving them to foreign armies in a horrific reenactment of the fall of Jericho. After Pentecost, the children they were killing were the children of God, that is, the regenerate. [3] The idea is that they were not honoring the firstfruits and redeeming the firstborn at all but slaughtering them and keeping the money, just like our own culture is today. God would cut them off for their theft of a tongue of gold (the false prophet, Adam) [4], a robe from Babylon (the deceived harlot, Eve), and the redemption silver (the beast, the offspring of the shining Serpent), them and their children, like the family of Achan.

Why Silver?

Besides the obvious references, silver is an Old Testament type. It is bridal. Under Solomon, the great bridegroom, Jerusalem was filled not only with gold but silver.

“And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone…” (1 Kings 10:27)

The silver of Abraham was a downpayment on a heavenly country, the silvery smoke on the Incense Altar of resurrection. The silver of Achan and Judas fell like ashes through the grate in the Bronze Altar, into the earth like the sons of Korah, the false priests whose incense was rejected. Like Adam, like Judas, like Judah, an earthly altar without Pentecostal fire will only ever be a place of death, a field of blood. It always splits open in the end and returns to the dust (1 Kings 13:1-5). [5]

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[1] See One Taken, One Left Behind and Fool’s Gold.
[2] James Jordan sees the fulfillment of the Jubilee in the conquest of the world by the Gospel. All the Land is returning to its original owner, and His brothers.
[3] See Provoking the Dragon.
[4] See A Tongue of Gold.
[5] See Bridal Men for how Esau and Jacob correspond to the two altars.

“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” (1 Cor. 11:28-30)

Some more detailed thoughts on what God is doing in the Lord’s Table. Part 1 here.

Covenant Renewal Worship follows the Bible Matrix. This means that our Christian worship recapitulates the Creation Week, the Feasts of Israel, and the journey from slavery to Sabbath (servants to sons), and the process of maturity, from childhood to adulthood. [1]

Covenant Renewal Worship gets ridiculed by some, but there is plenty of Biblical and historical background for it. We are not under the Old Covenant, so there is certainly an amount of freedom in how we worship. But the kinds of “freedom” we prize as spiritual adolescents today have only been around for about the last two per cent of Church history. It’s time to wind back the clock.

The process is simple:

Call

…..Confession

……….Ascension to Worship

……………Teaching of the Word

……….Offertory

…..Communion

Commission

Most churches follow something close to this order by spiritual instinct. Although the church bells aren’t heard too often (the Call), the real pity is that many have dropped a Corporate Confession.

We won’t get into steps 3, 4 and 5. My target here is Communion.

If we subscribe to the idea of Covenant Renewal worship, there are implications for those who are practicing paedocommunion. They’re right in linking baptism and Table. But, despite all protests to the contrary, their baptism is hereditary. It is generational instead of “re-generational”, so now their Table is hereditary. The kids who are able to eat solid food are welcome to join in as part of the Covenant community. They have been declared “Christian” in their baptism, and in some mystical way the Table feeds them.

Well, the emphasis on Covenant Community is great. But the typology behind the Table, and its institution by Jesus, make it plain that this is, if not an abuse, a terrible misunderstanding of what the Table is about.

So, just what is God doing in the Lord’s Supper?

Among other things, Communion is a “jealous inspection.” (See Bible Matrix II, chapter 18, “Goblet of Fire,” for more on this.) Communion isn’t a disconnected, freestanding element of worship. Some pastors like to move the order of service around so people don’t get bored. But Communion is part of a process of worship, and it should be celebrated every time we worship, if possible. God is doing something very real in the entire process, so moving the order around is as sensible as drying your clothes before you wash them.

God calls us into His presence (Creation) and separates us from the world (Division). Under the New Covenant, unlike the Old, the world is welcome to come with us as witnesses to the glory! This includes our children. We sing the sacrifice of praise (Ascension).

We are taught the Word (external Law – Pentecost – Testing), [2] then examine and present ourselves (internal Law – Trumpets – Maturity). This brings us to the “Atonement” part of the service. But unlike Israel’s Atonement Day, we do not mourn but celebrate. We did our mourning at Confession (Division).

However, notice that Confession and Communion mirror each other in the “there-and-back-again” process. There is a link between the mourning and the celebration. We examined ourselves and confessed our sin. But God has done something new in the teaching of the Word, while the minister imaged Christ to us in heavenly places. Now the Spirit judges the thoughts and intents of our hearts. We judged ourselves that we might not be judged. In most cases, if not all, He finds internal Law. The Word has not returned empty.

So, the actual feeding isn’t Communion, it’s the Word. In some real sense, in this rite, the Word is eating us — from the inside. Will Jesus spit us out?

If we examine ourselves according to the Word, we don’t drink to the dregs (Atonement). The sword that “passed over” at Confession now passes through, but Communion is a sacramental “dose” of death. This is because we are already clean. We are washed. Like our High Priest, we “taste death for every man.” Firstfruits (Ascension of the Head) was a “taste” of Pentecost (Garden > Land). Atonement (Ascension of the Body) is a “taste” of Booths (Land > World). We taste the cup before handing it to the nations as prophets.

What this inoculation does is turn us into food. At this restricted Table we become an unrestricted Table, a Love Feast for all those “looking in” (Booths). [3] If Communion is about nourishment at all, it’s not about our nourishment. It’s about the Vindication of the Word in us as nourishment for the nations. So, worship begins with the Called and ends with the Sent.

This Table is not for the nourishment of the flesh. It is Covenant renewal, but it is not the renewal of Jesus’ side of things. Jesus renews us so we can be recommissioned to go out and renew the world.

This involves the renewal of our own vows on pain of judgment. This might sound stern, but “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins.” That’s why we celebrate. If we are struggling with sin, we lay our burdens upon Him and receive new grace. The New Covenant cup only becomes a curse if we have a controversy with God about our sin, not if we are faithfully fighting it and mortifying it. Otherwise it would be a curse to every Christian. The Supper is only a curse to those whose vow is a pretense, like Judas.

Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. (1 Cor. 11:27)

In context, it is likely Paul had Judaizers in mind when he wrote this. And it explains much of the book of Hebrews, where all unbelieving Judah, post-Pentecost, gave Judas a new “body”:

“…since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame…” (Hebrews 6:6).

So, if your intentions are not those of Judas, or the Judaizers, or anything like them, come! Be renewed!

The bread and wine are consumed separately, but reunited in our own bodies. The saints are the resurrection body of Jesus. The food the children need is the gospel, mediated by hands and hearts made clean by the power of His resurrection.

It should be clear that the Table is not the place for infants or toddlers. It is a grave place, a place for those who carry the world on their shoulders. The Lord’s Table is for royal advisors, legal mediators, loyal knights, chosen ambassadors, Covenant delegates. It is only “for” the children in the sense that they shelter under this ministry until they, too, can take the vow of the martyroi.

Next post, I’ll cover how I suspect this is all echoed in the architecture of Exodus 24.

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[1] See Bible Matrix p. 217 for a basic chart, and Jeff Meyers’ The Lord’s Service for more historical and ecclesiastical background detail than I could ever hope to get my head around.
[2] James Jordan says that this should be primarily teaching, not preaching, at least not the kind of preaching that is aimed at non-Christians. Many churches continually preach at the saints as though they are not saved.
[3] See Eat Local and Die.

“…falling headlong, he burst open in the middle…”

Todd Robinson commented:

“I’ve enjoyed your particular brand of orthodox preterism. Working through Acts recently, I began to wonder what Michael Bull’s take on Acts 1:11 and 3:19-21 would be… Thanks for any insight.”

On Acts 1:11:

Luke works through the matrix, forming the Covenant Head in the first part, a New Covenant Body in the second part, with the death of Judas at the centre being the reason for the apostolic “Day of Atonement” goat drawn by lot, a makeshift Urim and Thummim:

Commandments (Ark – Transcendence)
…..Delegation to Israel (wait for power)
…..(Veiled promise concerning Israel – Hierarchy)
……….Ascension of Christ (Altar) HEAD – flaming torch
……….Ascension of Disciples – upper room (Table)
……………Judgment of Judas–head and body–under the
……………Old Covenant Law as a picture of AD70
……………(Lampstand – Ethics) [1]
……….Witness of Apostles (Incense) BODY – smoking firepot
…..Selection of Matthias for the “first” death (Mediators – Sanctions)
Apostolic Succession granted (Shekinah)

On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest made two approaches, one for the Covenant Head, the priesthood, with the blood of a bull; another for the Covenant Body, Israel, with the blood of a goat, the “first death.” (The second death was the Azal goat, carrying the curses. [2])

Jesus was taken into the glory cloud as Great High Priest, the Covenant Head, not with the blood of a bull but with His own blood.

“Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12)

He would return from “behind the Veil” for the second approach. “So that where I am, you may be also.” He would receive them to Himself to complete the sacrificial ascension of Israel, Head and Body, Adam and Eve, and celebrate the marriage supper, the “rest” for the Old Covenant faithful. [3] This structure is laid out in the ascension offering in Leviticus 1. Notice that we see this predicted in Daniel 7. Jesus is already on His throne, and “one like the Son of God” ascends to be with Him. This interpreted later in the chapter to be the saints inheriting the kingdom. They see Him because they are like Him. [4]

On Acts 3:19-21:

I think verse 25 is the key, the “blessing of all nations” promised to Abraham. The Restoration was prefigured by Israel’s restoration from Babylon. But then, this first century restoration, at the end of the Old Covenant, was the end of that social divide. The end of the New Covenant will be the end of the Creational divide, an even greater restoration. History is chiastic. The judgments are: Physical / Social / Personal / Social / Physical. [6]

But I think, judging by Peter Leithart’s excellent exposition of 2 Peter, that Peter had AD70 in mind. [7] The prophets always preached for the purpose of a moral response in light of a coming judgment, i.e. be the good (repentant) goat, not the bad one.

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[1] See Fool’s Gold. It’s interesting that Judas is lifted up in the gospels and “deposed” around Pentecost, just like Satan, and just like the Herods. Notice that Abraham’s sacrifice had the holy birds as undivided head, and animals as divided (Jew-Gentile) body. (See Pass-over and Pass-through). Jesus’ and Judas’ bodies were both divided and emptied, but filth came out of Judas (like Eglon) and living water came out of Jesus. Jesus left the burial linen arranged in the same manner, head and body. The Covenant Head was not crushed.
[2] See The Second Death.
[3] See The End Is Not Yet.
[4] See High As the Horses’ Bridles.
[5] See James Jordan’s exposition of this in his Daniel commentary. The structure of Daniel 7 follows the same pattern as the Levitical Atonement rite, with the fragrant saints caught up in “clouds” prefigured by the incense.
[6] See A New Heavens and a New Earth.
[7] See How To Read the New Testament.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)

The structure of God’s work in the world finds its origin in His trinity: Word, Sacrament, Government (Discipline). Often in the prophets, the man of God is given a sign which is a type of a greater event to come. The prophet is the sacrament that mediates the Word of discipline to the People.

A few Old Testament examples stand out in my memory: the slavery of Joseph and the slavery of the Hebrews; the kingly upbringing, rejection, exodus and exaltation of Moses as Head, as qualification to take the “Body of Moses” through the same process; the promise of a son to the prophetess in Isaiah 7, whose childhood food would be the food of a nation ravaged by its lack of discernment; Ezekiel’s crazy antics that would be fulfilled in tragic history; and James Jordan’s very interesting applications of Daniel’s prophecies to Daniel’s own life in microcosm, as a sign of the future of his people. [1]

The examples of this process in the New Testament are most interesting, and mostly overlooked. There is, of course, Judas, who is exiled from the supper as the “second goat,” and whose fate is a sign for all Judah. [2] And the death and resurrection of Jesus as head, and the subsequent death of Israel and her resurrection as the completed Jew-Gentile Christian church.

The fate of Ananias and Sapphira is a sign that looks both backward and forward. The passage has two cycles, one for the Head (Ananias) and one for the Body (Sapphira). Between them, there is an ominous space of three hours.

We can see that the sin of this couple echoes that of Ahab’s and Jezebel’s murder of Naboth for his land. But this New Testament couple didn’t murder anyone. The sin against Naboth is what the sin in Acts 4 grows into if left unchecked, which is exactly what we see in the previously mentioned case of Judas and Judah. Garden sins grow into Land sins and then into World sins, at which point God brings a flood. [3]

No, their sin was deception of the church, those gathered by the Holy Ghost. Peter states clearly that Ananias had the power of judgment over his own money (and the structure of Peter’s speech puts the man at the centre as a “governing light”). Ananias’ death is the application of a New Covenant sanction. For him there was no Covenant succession. And, of course, the testing of Sapphira follows the same pattern. This couple was chosen, like Judas, to be an example for all those who would smuggle the leaven of a corrupted Old Covenant into Jesus’ New House.

So, two cycles, then the passage as a whole follows the Totus Christus head-and-body structure. The fact that they are delineated as separate events—husband and wife—suggests to me that this story is the “Day of Atonement” step of a larger pattern (see Totus Christus p. 387). Why?

We see the same thing in the life of Abraham, in his third “cycle.” He entered the Promised Land twice, briefly: once to offer Isaac and again to bury Sarah. He made the same two approaches as the High Priest on the Day of Atonement: once to cover the Head (the priesthood: bull’s blood) and once to cover the Body (the people: goat’s blood). This might seem arbitrary, but the structure makes it plain.

We see the same thing, of course, in Adam and Eve. Except that we don’t. The lack of capital punishment as a Covenant Sanction is a handy foil for those who believe that the death promised was only “spiritual death” (so they can cram their evolutionary Creation-by-death fantasies into Genesis). Adam and Eve were spared. Substitutionary animals were slain to cover their sin.

So, what’s the deal with the Adam, Eve, and serpent conspiracy in Acts 5? This was a New Creation, and such sins were going to be cut off at the source. Abraham entered the Land twice, and, as a kind of High Priest, survived in the Most Holy. Ananias and Sapphira sinned concerning the true Land, the heavenly country.

In his Revelation lectures, Jordan observes that all the sins which Jesus judges in the letters to the seven pastors are then shown to be full-grown in Herodian state worship. The “Balaamites” are false prophets and “Jezebel” is the church’s spiritual harlot. He calls the pastors, like Peter, to nip the sins in the bud. [4] As mentioned earlier, the conspiracy of Judas was amplified in the Jewish polity until the Man of Sin (as Ananias) and the Harlot (as Sapphira) were institutional sins that had reached an ugly maturity. The seven bowls in Revelation are the Day of Atonement. [5]

How are we doing reading the signs—both positive and negative—in our own lives, in the lives of the Christians we disciple (including our children), and the churches we pastor? The wisest of us read them in the Word (and in other people’s lives) and obey early, then develop holy lives (Sacrament), and live to become godly elders (Government). Many of us, however, wait until our disobedience begins to take on a life of its own (flesh: anti-Sacrament) before we act. And apostates keep at it until God brings a sword (Government) and they drop dead.

Ananias and Sapphira were a sign for those Jews who had tasted the Word of God and become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and would yet fall away. [6] They were also a sign to those who would take communion unworthily, which is an act of lying to the people of God and the Holy Spirit, concerning unconfessed sin, ie. “I have judged myself wisely, and need not to be judged.”

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[1] See James B. Jordan, The Handwriting on the Wall.
[2] See Fool’s Gold.
[3] See Trinitarian Judgments.
[4] See The Eighth Letter.
[5] See Seven Bowls of Wrath.
[6] Please note that, unlike many, I do not believe these people lost their salvation (if they were truly saved). The destruction referred to was the Jewish war, which is the context of the warnings in the Book of Hebrews.

PS: I’m taking a week off from blogging, so catch you on the 26th.

The Lord’s plan from the beginning has been to take each man through three stages of development before transfiguration. The first is to give him access to the Tree of Life (bread) and test his obedience as a priest. Adam failed this test. The second is to give him access to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (wine) and test his wisdom as a king. Solomon failed this test. The third is to give him access to and membership of God’s council of elders as a decision maker, one whose words in and of themselves change history. This is testing as a Prophet, one who has been willing to be broken bread and poured out wine, and whose final years are spent giving wise words to the next generation.[1] The Old Covenant prophets passed this test.

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The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the [Land] came to the help of the woman, and the [Land] opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. (Revelation 12:15-17)

Satan mimicked the expanding gospel dominion with counterfeits at every step. Here, not only did he forge the water chariots of the true Temple (a false baptism), he would bring Noahic “rest” to the Land by destroying God’s mighty men. He would bring about his own twisted “new earth” by deluging the church with bogus teaching.

His plan backfired. “The Land” swallowed the false worship, alluding to Korah’s rebellion. These Jews had heard the gospel but would not obey it. They could not stomach an undefiled religion that stood against oppression (James 1:27). Israel was specifically accountable before God in a way that other nations were not: for her treatment of the poor (Exodus 22:21-24). This was the major charge Amos had brought against a previous Israel, and the reason for the death of that nation. 

Like the saints, the unbelievers had drunk the pure water of Christ (2 Peter 1:4), but in their lusts their faith was choked by thorns and thistles. The true woman passed the jealous inspection by eating the scroll and becoming fruitful. However, to the false woman the riches of Christ became a cup of destruction (Numbers 5). Instead of living waters flowing from her belly (John 7:38), she vomited up the kingdom and her subsequent barrenness exposed her adultery.

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.  (Hebrews 6:4-8)

The rich desired a different cup—a glory they could see. Like Esau, they gobbled down fool’s gold—false glory—and sold their eternal inheritance—resurrection “mansions”—for houses and lands. They “ascended” to receive Satan’s Oral Law scroll from Herod’s throne for a religion they could stomach, and sent out Wormwood chariots (Jeremiah 23:15). But they would not be able to keep down this false gospel, the gold and silver for which they sold the Son of God. Like Judas, their bowels would be torn open for buying land with the rewards of iniquity (Acts 1:18). In AD70, Jews—dead or alive—were cut open and searched by Syrians and Romans scavenging for the gold that many had swallowed before attempting to escape the siege.1

…Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him. He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him. He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment. For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.  (Job 20:12-19)

This was a charge from Zophar, who accused Job of being a self-exalting hypocrite, one who in his head arrogantly ascended “to the clouds” in defiance of death, but who would perish like his own dung (Job 20:1-11). Like the boys from Bethel, these Jews ridiculed the ascension of Christ and scoffed at God’s prophets, the men who reminded them of Jesus’ words concerning the real flood that was coming to bring a real new Land with true peace (Daniel 9:26; Luke 17:26-27).

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

Like Adam, they lost both the flowing “honey and curds” kingdom and the riches they had sold Him for.

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See Josephus, The Jewish War, 5:13:4. Available for download from www.ccel.org