“You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.” (Songs 6:4)

An online friend recently questioned the repetition found in Numbers 7. The offerings of each tribe are identical, yet each is listed in full. Surely, this was a waste of expensive parchment? Architecture is important to God, no less literary architecture, and it seems to me that the “fullness” of the Offertory in chapter 7 is the result—or the liturgical response, to the military “forming” of Israel in chapter 2.

At the centre of the five-fold Covenant pattern is the Covenant Ethics. As the Covenant is opened, this becomes three-fold (Law Given, Law Opened, Law Received), creating a Covenant Head (Ascension/Firstfruits), and a Covenant Body (Maturity/Trumpets) united by the Spirit, Covenant fire (Pentecost). This expansion of the three-fold Ethics is what gives us the seven-fold patterns: Creation week, Feasts and Dominion.

In Exodus, the instructions for the Tabernacle are given, and then Israel is tested. She sins concerning the golden calf and is forced to drink it. Then the actual construction of the Tabernacle is described. As a “legal unit,” we have the architectural plans given, opened, and received. The absence of Moses was a deliberate strategy to rid Israel of those unworthy of Levitical worship. And as it turned out over forty years, that was all Israel.

Ascension: Tabernacle plans (heaven)
Testing: Image of the beast – fire (Spirit – 3000 slain)
Maturity: Tabernacle constructed (earth)

In fact, Israel’s sin is also a perversion of the three-fold Covenant Ethics:

Ascension: Idolatry – strange altar
Testing: Adultery – strange fire
Maturity: Apostasy – strange worship [1]

These events correspond to:

Ascension: Leviticus – heavenly man
Testing: Numbers (In the Wilderness) – fiery serpents
Maturity: Deuteronomy – earthly bride

So the architectural “events” in Exodus take on flesh in the larger historical picture as the Mosaic Covenant is “opened.” (Exactly the same thing happens to Israel in the first century after Jesus opens the New Covenant scroll, hence the use of the phrase “image of the beast.” In that case, the image was the Herodian Temple. I recommend James Jordan’s Revelation lecture series for this and many other phenomenal observations. See Newspaper Exegesis.)

So, based on these similar structures, which all find their source in the Testing of Adam by the serpent, it seems to me that Numbers 1-9 describe the recapitulation of the Tabernacle in human flesh. Israel is arranged architecturally around the house of God (measuring out) in chapter 2. Then Israel, as a liturgical prefigurement of all nations, submits willingly to a “bringing in.” Both chapters describe all twelve tribes individually. Numbers 2 is delegation (office conferred), Numbers 7 is vindication (office honoured).

Now, what is really interesting is that we have the twelve tribes and the cleansing of the Levites at Step 6. In the Creation week, this is Land animals and Man. In the festal “week,” this is the Day of Coverings, with animals and the Man as Holy Mediators. In the Tabernacle, this was the Bronze Laver, later glorified “bridally” as the great Bronze Sea. The two-tiered combination of twelve tribes and Levites is the Priestly Man walking on the waters, the springs of the Garden of Eden, in dominion over priestly animals (oxen picture priestly submission). [4] None of this architectural significance is apparent without attention to the literary structure, which appears very strange to us if we don’t know what is going on.

In the Temple, twelve oxen carried the Sea “out of the house.” Here, the tribes are themselves a “horned altar,” twelve oxen carrying the plunder of the nations, including platters and basins, into the house as a tribute to their King. The Church of God leads the world (for good and sometimes ill) in generosity to God in worship.

The platters and basins are an initial “sea of nations.” The Laver and Sea pictured the firmament and the crystal sea, something “beaten out” by God as a place for his governors. Israel’s willingness to offer so much is what vindicates her representation of the house of God as a “temple of flesh.”

Furthermore, I’ll wager that this “architecture” is not only a microcosm of the entire process of Dominion (Egypt to Canaan), but it dictates the pattern for the rest of the book of Numbers. If this is the case, there will be a part two. [5]

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[1] We have seen exactly this process in our own culture, and yet it surprises us. See God Gave Them Up.
[2] See The Eighth Letter.
[3] For more on this, see Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key.
[4] See Walking on Water.
[5] Just as the first feast, the weekly Sabbath, set the pattern for the festal year, and Daniel 1 sets the pattern for Daniel 1-6: see Daniel’s Long Shadow.

“…and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand.” (Exodus 24:10-11)

Well, I’ve been blustering on about art and “intuition” in generalities for about a week now. Fluffy generalities are exactly the kind of thing that annoys me about many Biblical scholars, and I reckon it annoys God, too. They never seem to get down to specifics, and He is very specific. This shows in His architecture, and also in His literary architecture. So, here, in a section of Matthew 14, is a chance for me to get specific and show you what is possible with this “killer hermeneutic.” [1]

After a brief look at the structure of this passage the other day, I thought I’d spend some more time on it. A closer analysis has revealed an even greater beauty than I expected. (I have briefly referenced the order of words in the Greek to avoid any great missteps, so it may not be perfect, but it’s close.) Much learning hath indeed made me mad but I hope you’ll take a few minutes to see this passage through my eyes.

Creation – Initiation (Genesis)
Immediately Jesus
…..made His disciples
……….get into the boat
……………and go before Him
……….to the other side,
…..while He sent
the multitudes away.

This first stanza initiates the action. The story follows the story of the Father and His Son. The Son is sent on a mission, and then He returns, with brethren, “the Bride.” Father and Son are together at the beginning, and reunited at the end. But at the end, unlike Adam, the Son is vindicated in the presentation His spotless Bride.

However, here we have the next step in authority It is Jesus here who is the Transcendent One, not the Father. And the Covenant Hierarchy is the disciples. (Notice the same pattern at the beginning of the Revelation: a vision of Jesus, then the letters to His delegation, the pastors of the churches.) The boat appears here at Ascension. The command to “go” appears as the Ethics (Testing). Notice that the boat here is a kind of Day 3 “Land” and the other side is the Day 5 “transformed Land,” the heavenly country. Obedience to the Law of Christ takes them from the Bronze Altar (bloody Jewish Body of Moses) to the Golden Altar (fragrant Jew-Gentile Body of Christ), from the Loaves to the Fishes, from the Land of Israel to the Sea of the Nations, from the one-nation Priesthood of Aaron to the all-nations Priesthood of Melchizedek. Then, we have “He” as the Day 6 Mediator (Atonement), and finally the multitudes at Booths, the corporate glory of a commissioned people.

This practice God has of using repeated structures means that this even little stanza can retell, or comment on, every other part of the Bible, and indeed its source in the Trinity, in so few words. I find this totally mind blowing. There is nothing else like the Bible. This is usually the point where my eyes tear up and I fall on my face.

And that’s just the first stanza!

Division – Delegation (Exodus)
And when He (Creation)
…..had sent the multitudes away, (Division)
……….He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. (Ascension)
……………Now when evening came, (Testing)
……….He was alone there. (Maturity)
…..But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, (Conquest)
tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. (Glorification)

Just as the “seven” of the Sabbath-week set the pattern for the annual feasts, we begin to see that this first stanza sets the pattern for this entire story. This second stanza follows the same structure, yet every line also references events in Exodus. In many cases here, as is a frequent practice, our literary expectations are confounded. Matthew gives us the exact opposite of what is expected. At Division, God divides the waters, tears Adam open, to make an empty space, a Holy Place, for something new. Jesus is turning the Old Covenant on its head, tearing the Veil, to do something that is just like everything that has gone before and yet nothing like it.

Jesus is Moses, the Called, and the multitudes are now used by Matthew to divide the Head from the Body. Jesus is Moses ascending the mountain, away from the children of Israel, to intercede for them as “Firstfruits” of a greater harvest.

Instead of sun, moon and stars, or a reference to the Lampstand, or eyes and sight, at the centre, we have darkness. This is a firmament that is yet to be filled. This second stanza, although a complete “week,” is Day 2 of a new Creation.

Day 5 is about swarms, living clouds in the waters above and the waters below, the hosts of angels and the hosts of the nations. But here, Jesus is alone in the dark. Analysis of the literary structure is the only way to discern the purpose of many of the details included by the author.

At Day 6, we have the Laver, the crystal sea, the mediator between heaven and earth. Jesus’ “Body” is trapped in the Sea, unable to ascend with Him through the Veil into glory, held back by the nations and an evil spirit. Seeing as the entire first century history follows this exact pattern, the “contrary wind” is the demonic spirit sent by the Lord upon those who rejected the true Spirit at Pentecost, and the waves are the nations in tumult, Herod and Nero, working together against the firstfruits church as did Herod and Pilate: friends for a day.

After His Ascension, Jesus was alone in glory, but not for long. Nothing would stop the ascension of the body of the sacrifice. In fact, the entire Land would be torn apart, broken in two, to allow the smoke to ascend and the ashes to fall away. It would be Aaron and Korah all over again.

Ascension – Presentation (Leviticus – nearbringing)
Now in the fourth watch of the night
…..Jesus went to them,
……….walking on the sea.
……………And when the disciples saw Him
……….walking on the sea,
…..they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!”
And they cried out for fear.

The fourth watch might reference the four horns of the Bronze Altar, which is where we are up to in the architecture. Jesus is the High Priest entering the darkness of the Old Covenant Tabernacle. At line three of stanza three (Ascension within Ascension), He is already there, on the crystal sea, ruling over the nations. Line 4 is Testing, and the eyes here are the eyes of the disciples, which have been opened to judge rightly.

Now we have the waters above and below (at least in the literary structure) with the disciples as the Ruling Lights at the centre. Matthew is prefiguring Pentecost in stanza 3. In line 6, Atonement, the disciples are troubled. Israel was to mourn before the Day of Coverings. Jesus is “a ghost,” passing through the Veil, even though it appears to be a “closed door.” Later, Jesus passed through walls or a closed door to appear to His disciples who were fearfully hiding in a locked room (John 20:19). It is the Bridal Head coming to rescue the Bridal Body. The whole point is that He is NOT a ghost. He is FLESH that has been justified before God.

Testing – Purification (Numbers – Law opened)
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, (Initiation – Call)
…..“Be of good cheer! (Delegation – Un-Passover)
……….It is I; (Presentation – Firstfruits)
……………do not be afraid.” (Purification – un-OT Pentecost)
……….And Peter answered Him and said, (Transformation – Trumpets)
…..“Lord, if it is You, (Co-Mediators: Vindication of Head…)
…..command me to come to You on the water.” (Ascension of Body)
So He said, “Come.” (Restoration – Booths)

Here, Jesus speaks as Yahweh. But instead of the mourning of Passover, He says “be happy!” He presents Himself as Firstfruits, the first Adamic dust to bear good fruit. Instead of asking them to tremble at His Law, He tells them not to be afraid. He will deliver them from the evil, the Covenant Curse.

Peter responds as the New Bridal Body, the “witness.” Then we have the Head and Body together on the Sea as co-regents.

Maturity – Transformation (Deuteronomy – Law received)
And when Peter had come down out of the boat,
…..he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
……….But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,
……………he was afraid;
……….and beginning to sink he cried out,
…..saying, “Lord, save me!”

But, just as in the first century, things didn’t go according to plan. Many would lose their faith and fall away. Witnesses are martyrs. Following Jesus means following Him through death and resurrection, which is what all saints do to some degree.

As was noted online this week, it is odd that Peter saw the wind. Notice that Peter’s eyes are not at the centre of the Covenant chiasm. Fear is. Peter’s “Bridal” voice here is a cry for Atonement, for vengeance, echoing the cries of the saints in the Apocalypse. Notice that this stanza has no line 7, no rest, no heavenly country.

Conquest – Vindication (Joshua – Coverings)
And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand (Transcendence)
…..and caught him, and said to him, (Hierarchy)
……….“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Ethics – Walking by Sight)
…..And when they got into the boat, (Sanctions)
the wind ceased. (Succession)

This stanza might have seven lines, but keeping it as a five makes its Covenant shape more apparent.

Jesus is the Ark, and His hand is the arm of a golden measuring rod, an extension of the Law. Instead of being a serpent in Moses’ hand, it is the authority of the true Adam that brings life instead of death, reaching through the Veil.

“For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matthew 7:2 2)

He is the High Priest whose hand brings resurrection instead of death, blessing instead of cursing, as He touches the sacrificial goat.

Glorification – Restoration (Righteous Judges – Seers – Shekinah)
Then those who were in the boat
…..came and worshiped Him,
……….saying,

……………“Truly (Transcendence)
………………..You (Hierarchy – servant Moses [Veil])
…………………….are (Ethics – “I am”) [Lampstand - Fiery Bush]
………………..the Son (Sanctions – son Christ [Veil Torn])
……………of God.” (Succession)

The final stanza is only a three-and-a-half. But the half itself follows the Covenant pattern, and as such, these five words on their own echo the entire journey of the Son from heaven to earth and back again. Notice that it is now the disciples who are in the initiating position of authority. They are elohim, gods and judges, representatives of the Son.

But, this is only a three-and-a-half. Jesus’ life was only half a life, the “Adam” (singular, not plural) half of the Ten Words (1-3-5-7-9: see Bible Matrix II, p. 63 – oh OK, here it is! and also Half A Life.) The story is not over. The actual ascension of the Firstfruits Body would complete the Shekinah Glory of Israel, and allow the gospel to proceed in full force to the nations. Based on that observation, what does it mean that the entire passage follows the pattern, but that the final stanza is not complete? Here’s my guess: the final stanza is Booths and so far it is only Jews who are worshipping. Israel consistently failed to complete the mission of this feast.

I know many people are skeptical of this method of interpretation, but this passage is an easy one if we have a head full of Old Testament imagery, architecture, history and structure, as Jesus did, as the disciples did. The whole Bible really is all about Jesus, in a greater way than modern interpreters could imagine in their wildest dreams. If only they had ears to hear and eyes to see.

Now I think I will go and have another cry. Even the weight of the literary glory is too much for the tiny mind of a sinner.

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[1] Rich Bledsoe’s twinkle-eyed description of the Bible Matrix. Well, he thinks that I think it is.

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.
Would that you were either cold or hot!” (Revelation 3:15)

The world is a cosmic Tabernacle. The first domain of Mediatory Man was between the waters. The waters below (springs) were necessary for life but they were not “a place to live.” The waters above did likewise. However, these were temporary veils, boundaries to be crossed in an increasing advance-by-faith.

The crystal Sea was the Laver before the throne of God. In AD70 it was raised up by the breath of God as “watery walls”, a crystal city for the government of the saints of the old administration. This Sea was a blessing to the saints but a curse to sinners. It was a boundary they could not cross without a ministry of death. In Revelation 19, as final judgment upon the Old Covenant approached, this crystal Sea also became a Laver of bronze, a lake of fire, so the water above must be temporarily divided in some way. The New Jerusalem has a moat. This fiery aspect of the Sea remains until the final judgment, the destruction of the devil.

Genesis 1-10 follow the same “Tabernacle” structure as Genesis 1. The Edenic “mediatorial springs” on Day 6 become the flood waters in the greater pattern. The waters are a Day of Atonement, the sixth feast, a festival of death-and-resurrection.

Interestingly, Creation scientist Barry Setterfield believes that Noah’s flood (or its initial release) was scalding hot. There was most certainly volcanic activity involved in the event. Imagine magma-heated boiling water bursting from the deep.

We also read that it rained. Most people seem to ignore the fact that the springs burst forth and concentrate on the rain, presuming a vapor canopy which collapsed as being the major source of the waters. There may have been some kind of a vapor canopy over the early earth, but it would have been much higher than the clouds we see today if life on earth was to have survived. The majority of the rain which fell was from the waters which had burst forth, carrying with them massive amounts of pulverized debris from under the crust. They would have burst forth to a height greater than even our volcanoes of today. This would have produced a hot rain full of rocks and mud as well as remains of any vegetation and biological life which were in the vicinity of where the waters burst out. In other words, this was a rain that was like no other before, and there has been none other like it since. [1]

I disagree with his idea that the deluge was due to a natural process simmering away since the Creation and waiting to burst. That’s not how God ever works. The earth was blessed. The soil was blessed. The dust was not cursed until after Adam’s Fall. Now, the sea was cursed. Now, the entire globe was “out to get him.” The flood was a miraculous judgment, a transformation of blessed springs into a cursed flood upon Man. Even the mouth of God cannot be a spring of blessing and cursing upon the same Man. The bitter river of the generations of Adam had “filled up” the world. The rivers of blood–and the tyranny that was their source–had to be washed away.

In the Great Flood, both the Sea above and the Sea below became a firmament of burning bronze, closing in and closing forever as great doors on the primeval world, a scalding, hissing mist that brought death to “all flesh.”

Of course, it’s only speculation, based on “cross-eyed exegesis,” but God’s symbols are consistent.

ADDENDUM: Of course we see the same elements of fire and water in the Red Sea crossing. Plus, Psalm 77 tells us there was water above and below in the ministry of Moses and Aaron.

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[1] The Bible  and the Geologic Column.

Doug Wilson writes:

“It is of course true that real religion is concerned with the state of the heart, and not with whether a man has jumped through all the right ceremonial hoops. When a man believes the covenant promise he points away from himself . . . To look away from the heart to an objective Christ is not to neglect the heart; to look away in this fashion is the only way to be justified and put right with God” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 46).

This is an excellent statement. It’s perfect fruit for a pie but Pastor Wilson is sticking it in a casserole.

The thrust of Pastor Wilson’s argument here is:

“[Abraham] was the father of all who believe, whether circumcised or uncircumcised. Further, he was never the father of those who never believed, whether or not they had been physically circumcised. This means that the blessedness promised to Abraham came upon those circumcised in infancy, who later believed…” (TATG, p. 45)

Four-horned Altar, Four-cornered Land

Paul, in Galatians, is not saying that it was never about “flesh succession” and always about Spirit. The genealogies were important, but all they did was put the meat on the Altar, ready for the casserole. Circumcision marked a national boundary in blood, in the same way that Abraham planted trees (Garden) and Jacob set up Altar stones (Land). Israel itself was a living Sinai, with a bloody border. When Moses returned to this “mountain,” his sons had to be circumcised. When Israel approached Canaan, as meat for the earthen Altar, their wilderness-born sons had to be circumcised.

But that’s flesh, not Spirit. The blessing did not fall until they believed. The Law is only a blessing because it brings us to Christ. Only Caleb and Joshua had circumcised hearts, believing the promise from the beginning, and survived to enter into Canaan. Only the first century Jews who believed the gospel inherited the heavenly country.

Circumcision is the “spreading out of the heavens.” It is only the beginning of the creative (or restorative) process. It sets Israel apart under cover of darkness.  [1] It is a delegation of authority, the beginning of the mission. It begins with a circumcised exterior and ends with a circumcised interior; blood-to-blood, type to reality.

Paedobaptism is Bad Wiring

Baptism is not a parallel to this. It works as a serial connection, both historically in God’s people and individually in each person. It is water-to-water. It begins with the washing of one who now has internal law and ends with their actual resurrection, from type to reality.

So it is the Law bringing conviction by the Spirit until we repent, and the Spirit bringing salvation until we are resurrected. The water of baptism has not replaced the blood of circumcision. The rock has to be split before the waters can flow — in each believer. Yes, baptists can be dangerously individualistic, but paedobaptists can be dangerously corporate.

Circumcision was “delegation.” Baptism is “vindication.” Besides the washings, New Covenant baptism parallels not circumcision but the Israelite robe, with four blue wings, flowing as rivers to the four corners of the world. Instead of a border of death-by-spear, the sick touch the hem of our garments and are healed. We mediate the clean. Baptism is this robe. Under the New Covenant, every believer is a blood-covered, white-robed mediator ministering as a New Jerusalem. Every believer is a slain Lamb shining within a crystal city, a walking, talking marriage of heaven and earth.

That’s why the firstfruits church began with Jesus’s resurrection and ended with the first resurrection. And this gospel age began in earnest with the first resurrection and will end with the second resurrection: water-to-water, just as the Old Covenant was continually blood-to-blood.

All Nations, and Every Knee

Circumcision is the nakedness of Adam, the disobedient man who “veils his face” from the Law of God. Baptism clothes the Adam who has already crushed the serpent, and is now vindicated and may mediate that to others. Which brings up another point. Some good online friends have commented that if credobaptism is correct, should we let our children pray and sing? This highlights the wrong-headedness of the Paedobaptist practice. Paedobaptistic thinking is all about “who can come in?” It is the Old Covenant walls and bars and gates. Worse than than, it is the Mosaic Tabernacle, the silent tent, the death of Adam. The New Covenant is the open, all-inclusive Tabernacle of David.

Under the New Covenant, the boundary of flesh is now all nations. All nations are marked and under the Gospel law, commanded to repent. When Paul says the sins of the nations would no longer be “overlooked” (Acts 17:30), he means the seven Spirits of God, the Lampstand eyes of the Law, are now watching over the entire world as God’s Altar-Land. All are under conviction. God has moved the goalposts.

All nations are invited to come and sing and hear the Word. The worship is no longer hidden. The Holy Place is safe for all. So baptism has nothing to do with who can come in. It is for mediators. Baptism is for those who can go out as Temple water chariots, like the Ethiopian eunuch, and bring life to the world. Baptism is for those who can touch things and make them clean: individuals, families, cultures, music, the arts, lepers and even pork.

The Arm of Flesh

Which brings us back to the casserole. The “meat border” is now at the ends of the earth. And the water border (Laver) has expanded to include both men and women. What paedobaptists do is get these two borders mixed up, mostly because the water border is (kind of) where the blood border used to be.

Imagine a circle within a square. The square is the blood boundary, the Land (Altar), and the circle is the Water boundary, the priesthood (Laver). The blood boundary now encompasses the entire world. The water boundary now encompasses all believers, men and women.

History has moved on. The territory claimed by Christ has expanded. The main course is over and God is up to dessert, the sweet, bridal Incense Altar.

Victory unto Victory

All of which ties in perfectly and vindicates Doug Wilson’s postmillennial thinking. The blood border claims the Land for God. As the blood of Christ, it now claims all nations because the old national wall was broken down. Everyone is welcome to come in, and when they believe, and the Gospel is vindicated, we baptize them and send them out again. Baptism is not the beginning of one’s entrance, one’s conviction under the Law, but the beginning of one’s exit, a commission. Circumcision and baptism are not parallels. They are two parts of an historical process that works corporately and personally, and this is reflected in who is qualified for baptism.

So the objective/subjective argument seems to me to be irrelevant. As with any marriage, it is both. The Old Covenant highlighted the territorial claim with a knife — a plot of red Land, blood to blood. The New Covenant highlights the bridal response — the full-grown fruits of the Spirit.

Our physical birth begins the blood, and the cutting of our hearts ends it. Receiving Christ (corporately and personally) transcends all our blood ties and unites us together in Christ’s death. Blood to blood. Faith then leads us in obedience to the waters of baptism and the life of faith ends in the waters of resurrection. Water to water.

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[1] All the Tabernacle furniture, when carried, was hidden under “midnight-coloured” veils. But the Table of the Facebread was singled out with one extra element. On the Table, under the veil of midnight, there was also a scarlet-coloured cloth. The presentation of the firstfruits Lamb allowed God to send His Spirit and bless the harvest of Pentecost.

“And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying,
Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount,
or touch the border of it:
whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death.”
Exodus 19:12

The Bible beats blood and water into us over and over again. Blood is death. Water is resurrection. Blood is the Bridegroom and water is the Bride.

Blood is the split rock, the Adam ripped open. Water is the river of life, the Eve that flows from inside Him into the world to glorify it.

Blood is circumcision, the cutting of the flesh before it is put on the Bronze Altar below. Water is baptism, the washing of the flesh before it is offered to God as smoke on the Golden Altar above.

Blood is the husband willing to die in the desert. Water is the wife suddenly discovered by a well.

Blood is the Man or Beast speared through at the bottom of Sinai, the Old Jerusalem who is in bondage, tied up like Isaac. Water is the Laver tipped over on the top of Sinai, the New Jerusalem, the Mother of all the living, the Mother of us all.

So, blood was shed at the door to the mountain of God. The blood goes up in the Ascension of Christ and, like Moses, the Spirit descends as purifying fire upon the people. The mountain of death becomes a mountain of life.

The prohibition against touching the border of Sinai reminded me of the Israelite woman who touched the border of Jesus’ garment. (See Healing in His… Tassels?) Jesus’ form as an Adam robed in seamless white was a picture of His completed ministry, the bloodied Lamb at the centre of a purifying, bridal outflow.

Touching the border of Zion does not bring purifying Covenant death but purifying Covenant life. [1] However, it remains a process of purifying. The difference is the blood that went before us. The flaming mountain of death is swallowed up in the victory of the Crystal Sea (Revelation 8:8). As the gospel flows out, Jesus extends the borders of His robe, of His tent, His firmament, and all the nations are healed.

The cherubim and the Aaronic priests guarded the sanctuary with a sword. KEEP OUT. The Temple and the church are guarded, but there are water chariots. The message is different. It is COME IN and then GO OUT. And keep going out until there are no bounds, no bondage, and no borders, no seams.

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[1] The sharp rocks of the Law (cut out “without hands”) that execute the unfaithful Bride are now the five (bridal army) smooth stones from the brook that kill the false suitor.

Picture: Bridal Veil Falls by Ian Cameron.

Tabernacles was the final annual feast, a Godfest to be thrown by Jews as a ministry to Gentiles. At the Feast of Clouds [1], every household temporarily became a new house of God, a “local branch” of the Tabernacle, a “priesthood of all believers.” Of course, we see this fulfilled in the book of Acts. Just as we see Paul exhort the Ephesians (Gentiles!) to put on the mediatorial body-armour of the High Priest, [2] his final exhortation to the Roman Christians alludes to not only Israel’s feasts but Israel’s priesthood. Pretty much every church he established was a “booth” made of natural Jewish branches and ingrafted Gentile branches. [3] At Pentecost, the same cloud that received Jesus filled the house. [4] Now every household of faith was a Tabernacle, a glorious cloud with a government of human angel-elders. [5] In the Bible’s literary structure, a recurring motif at Tabernacles is good fruit, godly offspring. God wants more than just a covering of leaves. As in Eden, future generations hang upon wise government.

Creation/Ark… “Now I beseech you, brethren,

[The initiating word]

Division/Veil… mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

Church discipline is a ‘Passover’ darkness dividing true and false households. Note that Paul is exhorting them to divide from those who cause division! Discerning godly division from ungodly division takes wisdom and love. Splitting a church over eschatological details, or over whether women should wear open-toed shoes, is faithless sin.

Ascension/Altar & Table; Covenant… For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly

ie. they eat the sacrifice instead of being the sacrifice.

Testing/Lampstand-Law… For your obedience is come abroad unto all men.

Maturity/Incense Altar… I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

Obedience brings wisdom, no matter how crazy the command of God seems at the time. The Tabernacle of David is always at Maturity. It is a resurrected “bridal” tent with music, singing and Gentile worshippers—a new body. It is the fruitfulness of an Eve led by a faithful Adam, hence the barrenness of Saul’s daughter Michal. This is the step at which Adam failed. He became wise concerning evil, and his disobedience came “abroad” to all men, a kind of reverse-Pentecost, estrangement instead of military unity. The ground and the womb became barren.

Conquest/Laver; Open Veil… And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.

Reference to both Genesis 3 and Joshua’s men standing on the necks of the kings from the cave. Again, this is how the Lord should have found Adam, not hiding in the leaves like a creeping thing but standing, with his foot on the royal creep’s conspiratorial neck. Possibly also a reference to Solomon’s execution of David’s enemies, the old leaven, to usher in his kingdom of Shalom. The Conquering Mediator is a human Laver. He has clean feet and can stand on the crystal sea as God’s governor. [6]

Glorification/Shekinah… The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (Rom. 16:17-20).

Doug Wilson has some great thoughts on this exhortation here. I have some thoughts on the crushing of Satan here.

This also means that Rome’s later claim to being “the” Tabernacle on earth is false. One major reason for AD70′s end of Temple worship was the decentralisation of worship on earth so it was no longer corruptible at its heart, as the deluded Roman church later demonstrated. She forgot she wasn’t the tree but just the local branch. [7]

It also appears that this complete structure, as the second last cycle, concerns Conquest/Atonement. The overall subject is a godly, governmental division between the two “identical” goats. The difference between the altar of Baal and the Altar of God is not subtle. Both have a bloody division, but only one has the Pentecostal fire.

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[1] See A Place Called Clouds.
[2] See Armour of God.
[3] See Seven Thousand Who Have Not Bowed to Baal – 2.
[4] See Not Just Any Old Cloud.
[5] See Big Government.
[6] See Walking on Water.
[7] See Revived, Not Arrived.

There was a discussion of purgatory on the BH list. Someone summarised it as follows: [1]

“Or, perhaps, with Peter Kreeft, one might interpret purgatorial cleansing as a form of heightened and perfected awareness, effected by the light of God’s presence as an illuminating and purifying fire. Thus, in death, in coming face-to-face with God, we finally see ourselves as we truly are, the depths of our own sin and brokenness, and all the consequences and ruin wrought by our own sin and unfaithfulness in our own lives, the lives of others, and the ongoing life of our family, church, and world.

In this case, it seems to me, there would be no reason to see purgatory as something distinct from the moment of death itself, entering into the blessed presence of God, and the immediate perfecting of our souls. While such a perfecting awareness would be painful, in the light of the comprehensiveness of God’s promised salvation, it would also be most joyful.”

I think this definition is spot on. Death is one’s Day of Atonement “division”. The corrupt body of death is sent to Azal, and that is a blessing. [2]

Typologically, the Laver is the crystal sea, and the crystal sea is now standing up “as walls.” Purgatory is passing through the open gates [the place of judgment] into the ascended church. [3]

But that means purgatory is prefigured on earth by baptism, church membership and the table. We enter those gates to be washed every week in an ongoing process of sanctification by death and resurrection.

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[1] Neither can I remember who posted this nor locate it now. I have asked for permission to use here but received no reply, and it’s too interesting not to share. Happy to remove it if anyone protests.
[2] See Joints and Marrow.
[3] See Crystal Walls 1 and 2 .

Today we had our final “Scripture” class at the high school for this term. After a summary of the term’s lessons and a final gospel presentation, students were asked to fill out a form and tick some boxes. It was encouraging to see how many students ticked the “I made a decision for God today” box (or words to that effect). And which kids tick that box is always very surprising. God is at work.

Which left us to decide what to do next term. We can’t just do the basics again (and believe me, the lessons we are doing now are kindy stuff). I suggested we challenge those who made decisions to join a church and get baptized. Look of horror from the Anglican teacher.

But why not? It’s easy to tick a box. Submitting to baptism as a public testimony to one’s faith is an immediate tool God gave us to join faith with action. It deals with gnosticism right there and then. Perhaps this is why there is such an insistance from the FV people that the water does something to the baby. I agree. The water is efficacious, but only after faith. For goodness’ sake, have a baby dedication and use baptism the way the apostles quite evidently did. Only believers get baptized in the Bible. It is never involuntary. [1] How many confirmations are there in the New Testament?

Why should insisting on baptism as the next step be so shocking? It is the acid test that separates the men from the boys. Will you testify? [2]

This is the purpose of baptism in the New Testament, and it shows how far removed from the Scriptures our clever Covenant systems can get us when we are using them to prove something that is inherently extra-biblical. As I have written before, I agree with everything the FV says about baptism as long as it’s not applied to infants. This solves the paedocommunion debate with one fell swoop, too. If they are old enough to speak, they are old enough to testify and eat at the Lord’s table.[3]

For the faithful, baptism is the Jordan, the laver before the Promised Land. For those who just ticked a box, it is a lake of fire before the throne.[4]

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[1] If you want to push the “household” argument, there is a literary factor here. The passages, like all of Acts, follow the matrix pattern, and every mention of household appears at Tabernacles. Just like the mention of sailing under the sign of the Twins appears at Atonement (Laver, two goats, etc). Even Luke’s confusing reference that links faith and baptism to salvation only mentions baptism because the structure is at the “Laver” step. Totus Christus has a pretty full outline of the Book of Acts, so you can see it for yourself. I believe all this rings true, and if it does, the literary devices used by the apostles, whether consciously or unconsciously, have a great bearing on some doctrinal debates.
[2] Seems to me like baptist gnosticism comes from some other quarter than their actual baptism. They might have a truncated view of the Covenant, but it’s the paedos who are gettin’ around nekked. See Healing in His … Tassels?
[3] See Comparing Apples with Apples. To me, the paedocommunion debate is like a bunch of driving instructors who insist that toddlers be given driving licenses arguing over whether or not they should then actually be allowed behind the steering wheel.
[4] The “lake of fire” passages in Revelation follow the Bible matrix pattern and put the lake at the “laver” step. For the saints, fire is purification in preparation for government. For the sinners, it is incineration.

The Tabernacle was not only a “portable Sinai”, the mountain of God laid out across the ground, it was the cruciform Man. We see Jesus, with the Throne of God on His shoulders (the Ark – government), bread and wine in His left hand (the Table - servanthood), the ‘seven stars’ of the Lampstand in His right (dominion), and His feet on the crystal sea (the Laver – resurrection). And He is lifted up “in the air” between heaven and earth (the Altar-Land) as the Mediator Who unites God and man.

As the Ark (Moses), with arms outstretched (Bread – Aaron, and Ruling Lights – Hur), He is the prophet, priest and king Who defeated Greater Amalek at Sinai.