“The Lord’s Table is for dangerous people.”

If you are going to baptize infants, it makes sense that you would also allow them to take Communion. Baptism brings one into the priesthood (through the Laver) to the court of God, and Communion is fellowship in the priestly kingdom. To unite the two is consistent—as consistent as the two pillars flanking the threshold of Solomon’s Temple.

The inclusion of children in Israel’s religious meals is used to support the practice. Some of those against it have asserted that these meals, even perhaps the Passover, did not include the children. James Jordan has a fascinating chapter entitled “Children and the Religious Meals of the Old Creation” in The Case for Covenant Communion. Where many Reformed writers (including some other authors in this book) get tied up in knots by the Reformers and their own traditions, Jordan’s perspective is always fresh because he looks first to the Bible, not for proof texts but for principles.

Jordan makes a clear case for the inclusion of children in the religious meals of the “old creation.” He lists a number of age specifications for various Israelite offices, and notes that there is no age specified for participation in the Passover meal. He concludes that if God had wanted to, he certainly could have specified a minimum age for participation.

So, children were included in Israel’s religious meals, most notably in the Passover. Since Israel was the Covenant people, then the children in the Christian Church should participate in Communion. Or should they?

The Circumcision of Israel

This sounds logical, of course, but it is the same logic by which one would expect a bruised, bloodied Jesus to wake up in the tomb, crawl out and stagger around with His burial clothes hanging off Him. Paedocommunion doesn’t speak of resurrection so much as resuscitation. And despite the truth concerning the meals of the Old Creation, dragging them into the New Creation, as I have said before, is akin to heaving the bloody Bronze Altar with its flesh and ashes inside the tent. Paedobaptism and paedocommunion are a call for God to accept the flesh.

Appealing to the Old Testament to interpret New Testament events is extremely helpful, but what if the New Testament event is itself a deliberate reinterpretation? Jesus did this all the time, and one of the most important is what He did at His last Passover, or more correctly, what He did to the last Passover.

What was Passover about? Circumcision and Passover were about redeeming Israel’s males from the barrenness of the womb, and the barrenness of the Land, curses upon the Covenant Head which can be traced back to Genesis 3.

What did Jesus do to Passover? He ended it. He ate the Passover with His disciples, and then the meal which spoke of cutting off history (leaven speaks of historical continuity), was itself cut off. There would be no more Passovers because it was only a shadow, and the day was about to dawn. In Jesus, all Israel had been redeemed and grown up. It was time for something new.

During the Passover, Jesus instituted a new meal. A symbolic meal, a “taste,” of risen bread and shared wine was taken out of the old meal. A new Israel was being established out of the corpse of the old one, not spiritually, not socially, not physically, but all three together. The combination of the priestly and kingly pillars in Solomon’s Temple invite the third pillar, the prophetic Shekinah, to indwell. The table of God is a place reserved for prophets.

Now, I could argue that since there were no children present, children cannot participate in Communion. But there were no women present either, and we know that women have always been allowed to take Communion. So there must be something deeper going on here.

Feed My Lambs?

“Jesus’ commission to Peter after His resurrection was not to dole out bread and wine to infants. It was to fatten those who had taken up their crosses, to prepare them for the slaughter to come…”

Tim Gallant, who also contributed to the book mentioned above, authored another book entitled Feed My Lambs: Why the Lord’s Table Should Be Restored to Covenant Children. While I appreciate the pastoral heart behind the desires of these faithful men to see children raised in the knowledge of God, it seems to me they have missed the point of the Last Supper.

Firstly, the title of Tim’s book refers to Jesus’ threefold command to Peter after Peter’s threefold betrayal (John 21:15-17). But what was Jesus actually saying when He gave that commission to Peter? He was, as usual, taking Old Testament architecture and fulfilling it in the flesh as a human Tabernacle. From God’s Kitchen:

In Peter, Jesus takes the people of Israel from outside the tent of Moses to sit inside as priests and elders.

Peter warmed himself at a fire outside the house of the High Priest. Architecturally, he stood at the Bronze Altar. The Covenant Ethics are three tests, symbolized in the blood, the fire and the smoke—or flesh, eyes and life. When tested, Peter refused to identify himself with the Lamb.

Luke records that Jesus “looked” at Peter. Whenever Jesus “looks intently” in the Gospels, He is the Lampstand, the Law, the eyes of God, the watchman lifted up over Israel as sun, moon and stars. The lunar feasts were fast fading as the sun of righteousness arose. And the rooster heralded the dawn.

John records the dawning of a better day. This time the fire is not on the Land but by the Sea. The focus has shifted from the center of Israel to her borders with the wild nations. The resurrected Jesus invites Peter not to offer himself to death but to dine with One who has conquered death on his behalf. Architecturally, Peter has passed through the Laver—from death to life—to join Christ as an elder at the Altar of Incense.

Again, Peter is tested three times. Instead of Altar; Fire; Altar, it is Feed; Tend; Feed. In this way, Jesus deals compassionately with past failure and calls Peter to a better future (as He does with us every week at the Lord’s Table). But in Peter’s recommission, and in ours, there is a call to sacrificial life. There is a transfixing redness to the New Covenant dawn.

The “official” death-and-resurrection of Peter would be repeated in the Firstfruits Church. When Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep, they both knew those sheep, like Peter, were being fattened for the altar.

Animal sacrifices were no longer acceptable now that Jesus had died and risen again.

But in Jesus, human ones were.

For whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and the gospel’s will save it. 
(Mark 8:35)

The reason there were only men at the Last Supper is because a new lamb was being selected for sacrifice: not only a head, but also a body. Following the Ascension Offering in Leviticus 1, the head would be offered first, and then the body would be washed and offered. Sharing in this feast with Jesus made these men members of the sacrificial lamb, that is, parts of its body. Jesus was the first human sacrifice which was acceptable to God. Because the Father accepted Him, as firstfruits, the full harvest, the body, was made acceptable also.

What I am saying here is that the disciples, through transformation into apostles, were human sacrifices. Just as Jesus’ death dealt with the serpent (the counterfeit head), their deaths dealt with the brood of vipers, the fiery serpents ruling Jerusalem (the counterfeit body). This is why there were not women and children present. Corporately speaking, the disciples were the “bones” of the Passover lamb which were not to be broken. They would form the structure of a new house, a new Tabernacle which was made entirely out of lambs. This was about the end of circumcision, which was not about children but about males.

After the resurrection, women are in the picture again, and in a big way. They are the first “witnesses” because the role of the Woman is the sacrifice of praise. After the serpent is felled, she sings and calls down the Covenant curses upon it. But once again, where are the children? Are they absent? No. But it is clear that the New Covenant is not about Jew and Gentile but about a new priesthood for all people. It is not about the cutting of flesh but about witness, about testimony, about telling what you have seen now that you have tasted death under the Law and your eyes have been opened. Having tasted death, as Jesus did for all men, innoculates one against death. It loses its sting. Baptism is for those who confess with their mouths that they are willing to lose their lives for Jesus’ sake and the Gospel’s. Baptism is an act of courage.

So Jesus’ commission to Peter after His resurrection was not to dole out bread and wine to infants. It was to fatten those who had taken up their crosses, to prepare them for the slaughter to come, through which they would bring down Jerusalem and then Rome—”every high thing which exalts itself against the knowledge of God.”

In the Law, a lamb does not speak of a young child but of a blameless son, like Jesus at His baptism. He was vindicated before His earthly father at age twelve and vindicated before His heavenly Father at age 30, ready for holy war. Baptism is not for babies or infants but for holy warriors, and there were no baby Nazirites (but there were women!). To make it so is to miss the point of union with Christ altogether, and make the New Covenant into something social, something carnal, a community according to the flesh. Paedobaptism is poison to the heart of the New Covenant.

To open baptism and Communion to infants is to take the Church back to the Old Covenant, the time of dark sayings and shadows. It is to say that Christ has not come in the flesh, and Christ is not risen from the dead, and this was exactly the motive behind the Herods’ years of glorious Passovers leading up to the destruction of their serpentine rulers, their women, and their children—the entire congregation was “circumcised.”

So, what about our children? We are holy members of the Lamb, bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh, but also Spirit of His Spirit. The Lord’s table is not for “feeding” infants the Gospel. Look at the picture above. It is a group of subversives planning to change the world by laying down their lives. The Lord’s Table is for dangerous people, and partaking in the Table is itself a public testimony. It is for living sacrifices, and our physical children, as with all those who hear and have not yet repented, feed upon us. We are the cut up, washed “members” of the lamb on the Altar. We mediate Jesus to them. Only the Gospel transforms the sons of men into the sons of God, and all the sons of God are sacrificial lambs who have willingly taken up the cross. The New Covenant body is a human sacrifice.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)

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]

____________________________________
[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.

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart…” (Psalm 24:3-4)

In Leviticus, an Israelite is to lay his hand on the sacrifice that covers his sin and allows him to draw near to God. It was the red hand of death and the whiteness of a pure sacrifice willing to take the “stroke” (plague).

“And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.”
Genesis 22:10

But the Lord Himself covered Moses with His hand as the consuming fire of His glory passed-over the mountain. It was the hand of life and the whiteness of imparted glory. As far as was possible, Moses saw the Lord as He was, because he was like Him.

We see this pattern of the chosen Head and the resurrected Body in Exodus 4:6-7:

Furthermore the LORD said to him,
…..“Now put your hand in your bosom.”
……….And he put his hand in his bosom,
……….and when he took it out,
…..behold, his hand was leprous, like snow.

And He said,
…..“Put your hand in your bosom again.”
……….So he put his hand in his bosom again,
……….and drew it out of his bosom,
…..and behold, it was restored like his flesh.

The flesh and blood are separated in death and reunited in life.

So, in the Sacrifice, Jesus, death begins to “work backwards.” He starts laying hands on Israelites who are plagued like Egyptians and destined for judgment. As the eyes of the destroyer pass-over, no one can pluck them out of His hand.

Then His ministers (His “cabinet”) do likewise. They are those who identify themselves with Him, willing to die His death to fill up His sufferings.

The Father laid His hand on the Son, with a knife. It was the five-fold hand of death. The Son lays hands on the Bride to rescue her, to wash her from her blood. It was the five-fold hand of life. These are the two Covenants, the dual approach of the High Priest (head and body), the whited sepulchre (Matt. 28:2-3) and the Warrior-Bride (Rev. 19:8; 14).

“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.” Revelation 1:17

If our ministry is sacrificial in intent, our “white death” under the Law transmits, credits, imputes, the Spirit of “resurrection.” We are advocates, like our Master.

“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.”
(Isaiah 1:18)

Why did Abraham exclude the birds from the division ministered to the other sacrifices? The dove/pigeon is the humble, pure, anointed Head. Although the Body might be divided, the Head is never crushed. (Gen. 3:15; Lev 5:7; 14:22; John 20:7) That judgment is reserved for the serpent and his ministers of accusation.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow…”
(Revelation 1:14)

“I am the Door.”

The second part of both the Covenant and matrix structures concerns the authority of the transcendent God being delegated to His servant. Very often, a book of prophecy begins with a vision of the Lord, which promptly knocks Adam onto his face as a dead man, and the destroyer passes over him in the darkness. He is “waters divided.” He is called to be separate from the world, and this sanctification begins with mortification. [1] So Psalm 112, as the second in this Covenant song-cycle, concerns the outcome in the world of the faithful use of God’s authority by His Adam.

Psalm 112

Garden – Most Holy Place
Praise the LORD! (Creation)
…..Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, (Division)
……….Who delights greatly in His commandments. (Ascension)
……………His descendants will be mighty on earth; (Testing)
……….The generation of the upright will be blessed. (Maturity)
…..Wealth and riches will be in his house, (Conquest)
And his righteousness endures forever. (Glorification)

This “Garden” cycle reflects what the result of Adam’s Testing should have been. It also supports my theory that Satan’s main aim was to hijack Adam’s offspring. [2] The mighty descendants here are the ruling lights, the sun, moon and stars, just as the mighty men were in Genesis 6. Except they failed to rule over sin, and these ones are not the offspring of compromise. They go into the ark as plunder, instead of receiving the plagues or perishing in the flood. The final line, as is often the case, concerns Covenant succession. There has been some discussion on the BH list concerning the meaning for the Hebrew word for “forever.” In every case its use depends on the context, but the main idea is that it will continue until God says otherwise. Usually this means until the end of the next cycle, (like farming!) when He tears the old Covenant apart and renews it with a better one.

Land – Holy Place
Unto the upright (Sabbath)
…..there arises light in the darkness; (Passover)
……….He is gracious, and full of compassion, (Firstfruits – Law given)
……………and righteous. (Pentecost – Law opened, in the flesh)
……….A good man deals graciously and lends; (Trumpets – Law received)
…..He will guide his affairs with discretion. (Atonement)
Surely he will never be shaken; (Booths)

The Holy Place is the court in which God’s “clean” Mediator governs. We see the progression from Light from God through the Man to those whom He governs as God’s vassal. He is a servant-king, a faithful steward, and not a tyrant. Just as the Man in verse 1 was “un-Adam”, the Man is verse 2 is “un-Cain.”

This last verse seems to be the application of the Covenant to the World. My first thought was Hezekiah’s reaction of the threatening letter from the Assyrians. He took the scroll and unrolled it before God, and God rolled the false “Covenant/firmament” up like a scroll. God’s faithful man is given the nations as His inheritance.

I tried it as two verses but it didn’t seem to fit the subject matter. It seems that it follows the five point model but points 2 (Hierarchy) and 4 (Sanctions) have their own chiastic structure. These points are the Covenant scroll given (the robe/veil), and the Covenant scroll assessed (the bloodied robe/veil). What is interesting is that it is now God’s Man, the faithful Mediator from verse 2, who has the attributes of God. Following the Garden/Land/World pattern, this would be a reversal of Genesis 6. I think we see this reflected in Solomon’s kingdom. (Samuel – Garden / David – Land / Solomon – World). There is also the mention of horn/ivory in the fourth section, which commonly refers to rulers.

Remember, the overall theme of this Psalm within the seven is Passover: the immovability of God’s faithful Man while the destroyer passes over. It is God’s man who becomes a human Covenant, a “firmament of flesh,” the blood on the door. Solomon’s throne had a circular “dome” above it. He was God’s vassal, sitting just below the crystal sea, enthroned above the kingdom of beasts as a new Adam.

The basic heptamerous matrix theme seems to be in there as well, with the mention of plunder/money at Maturity/Trumpets. and the wicked melting away at Conquest/Atonement. See what you think.

World – Gentile Courts
The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. (Transcendence)

…..He will not be afraid of evil tidings; (Heirarchy)
……….His heart is steadfast,
……………trusting in the LORD.
………His heart is established;
…..He will not be afraid,

……………Until he sees his desire upon his enemies. (Ethics)

…..He has dispersed abroad, (Sanctions)
……….He has given to the poor;
……………His righteousness endures forever;
………………..His horn will be exalted with honor.
……………The wicked will see [it] and be grieved;
……….He will gnash his teeth and melt away;

The desire of the wicked shall perish. (Succession)

Of course, when the kings who succeeded Solomon failed to remember they were only vassals under God, and became serpent-kings, they themselves eventually came under these Covenant curses.

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[1] Just as the first three days of Creation were forming and the next three were filling, the first three steps of the matrix are the death, resurrection and exaltation of the Covenant head, and the next three are the death (martyrdom), resurrection and exaltation of the Covenant body. They are united on a throne of rest on the final day.
[2] See Fighting Over The Children and Emancipation of Eve.

Art: King Solomon by Leon Gaspard.

or The New Jerusalem is Temporary

He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the Land. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them. The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dry-shod. There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11:12-16)

Everyone knows what “walking on water” means. You can do the impossible. Often it has a negative spin, as when it is applied to politicians with a Messiah-complex.

But what does it actually mean in the Bible? And why did Jesus do it?

The answer is a subtle thread that runs throughout the Bible, beginning in Genesis 1. God divided the waters and raised the Land to make a new “Holy Place” from which His mediator-Man would govern. As the Holy Place in heaven is the space between the throne and the crystal sea, so the Holy Place on earth is the space between the crystal sea and the waters below (the Abyss).

When God’s governors failed, the Holy Place below closed in on itself. The waters above and below were “un-divided,” just as they were at the flood, and again at the Red Sea when it closed in upon the Egyptian army. Later on in Biblical history, when Israel was the mediator-nation, it was the Gentile armies from a symbolic Abyss that flooded up over the Land, and the firmament above symbolically fell as hailstones. The Holy Place was submerged, washed clean, and resurfaced as a New Jerusalem.

The act of walking on water has less to do with “floating” than it does with “passing through.” Only those with “clean feet,” washed in the Laver, could minister in the Tabernacle. The priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant across the Jordan actually had to step into the overflowing water before it parted. Once they did this, and stood in the gap, the tribes crossing into the Land could “walk on water” as though it were dry land. We see this same symbol used in Isaiah 11, concerning a chastised Israel’s return to Canaan.

All this goes back to Genesis, where the dominion of Land beasts and Man is “filled” on Day 6, which corresponds to the Laver, where mediators, animal and human, were washed. The Garden was watered by a spring which came up from below and watered the Land (not a “mist,” as it is incorrectly translated). Like the ark of Noah, the Tabernacle (and the baskets on the baker’s head in Genesis 40!), God’s house has three levels [1] In the centre, as “sacrament,” Adam was quite literally “walking on water” (government) as if it were dry Land. He had clean feet until he sinned. He broke the link between Word and Government. He could no longer walk on the waters. This imagery is used in Revelation, where the Temple is pictured as “springs of waters” that have become bitter through the sin of the Herodian High Priesthood.

The list of clean animals includes those which are careful about where they put their feet. The phrase “hinds’ feet on high places” also symbolises this. Israel’s history from Abraham to AD70 follows the pattern of the Creation Week, and her “Day 6″ was the time of the Gentiles, the four empires pictured in Daniel 7 as Land beasts walking on the waters of the other nations. They are four guardians, cherubim followed by the enthroned Ancient of Days, the Man who took dominion over this animal kingdom in AD70, when the final kingdom, Rome, was decommissioned as a protective minister of God. (Peter’s step from the protection of the boat pictured this. [2]).

Jesus washed His disciples feet. He removed His robe — opening the veil. Like those priests in the Jordan, He stood in the gap while the disciples passed through. Then He replaced His robe again, all of which pictured His work as High Priest.

In the big Bible picture, this entire “1000 year” church age is the Day of Atonement, the Day of Covering. It is the Totus Christus, head and body, as High Priest, standing in the gap with clean feet (and one foot on the neck of the beast) while the whole world passes through the waters of baptism. It is Day 6. [3]

The transformation of this world into a Tabernacle is being completed, slowly but surely. Just as the first resurrection put the Old Covenant saints and the New Covenant martyrs into heavenly government, the second will see Man’s complete government over the earth. The knowledge of the Lord will cover it as the waters cover the Sea. Mankind will once again perfectly bridge the gap as Sacrament between Word (knowledge) and Government (Sea); holy bread upon the waters.

What’s really interesting is that the Laver, picturing the crystal sea, was round. Most everything else in God’s Temple is square or rectangular. But the New Jerusalem is a crystal city that is square. The Laver in heaven was made square in AD70. [4] As this pattern comes down from heaven — just as the pattern for the Tabernacle came down from the mountain — the saints are to make this “round” world symbolically “square,” like the Holy Place. Nature must be cut down and rebuilt, slain and resurrected as culture. The kingdoms of this world become glorious as the saints pass through and inherit them. [5]

Which means that the New Jerusalem is not future at all. In one sense, it is merely a temporary construct through which the nations must pass. Its walls of water will one day, finally, close on those who reject Christ. The saints walk on water but the rebels and their armies are always drowned. [6]

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[1] See Trinitarian Judgments.
[2] See James B. Jordan, Exile or Ark?
[3] See Under Your Feet.
[4] See Crystal Walls 1 and 2.
[5] See Pass-over and Pass-through.
[6] Their maggot-eaten leaven is cut off. See Is Jesus Leavened or Unleavened?

Image: Isac Goulart, 2002.

Now it came to pass on the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. (Genesis 40:20-23)

Joseph’s life has three “matrix” cycles: as a prophet betrayed by his brothers [1], a priest tempted to “harlotry”, and finally as a conquering king.

The final cycle begins with Joseph in gaol (yes, that’s how we “Redneck Brits” spell jail). At the “Passover” step, Joseph truly gets passed over for promotion. The scavenging birds that eat the baker’s nightmare bread echo the birds that Abraham chased away in his own “Passover.” But the baker is unable to scatter them. As with Haman and Morcedai later on, someone else gets lifted to Pharaoh’s right hand instead of God’s man. The difference is that Joseph, unlike Mordecai, was being obedient. This was totally unjust.

But we are given some interesting pictures.

Firstly, the “bread and wine” judgments happen on the “third day”, echoing the grain and fruit plantings on Day 3 of Creation. This step is always about Ascension, the Covenant head lifted up. The structure of the chapter puts Joseph as the true Firstfruits, interpreting the dreams. The Ascension step is always a promise of the final “Booths” feast (as with Deborah’s song fulfilled in Samson). Eventually both men have their heads “lifted up” and the “Atonement” is made. One goat is covered, and the other is uncovered.

But back to the larger structure. The entire passage appears at the “Passover” step in this final greater cycle. Faithful Joseph is behind the “covered door” of the prison while Pharaoh’s judgments are passed. The old tent of Jacob is decayed and ready to pass away. God is forming a new Covenant, a new house. The bread is broken so the wine can again be poured out.

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[1]  See Joseph As Torn Veil.

“Do not forgive them, Father. They know exactly what they are doing.”

THIS POST HAS BEEN REMIXED AND INCLUDED IN GOD’S KITCHEN: THEOLOGY YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK

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The New Covenant is not about salvation. It is about dominion. Before you call in the inquisitors, have a look at this diagram from my book:

If you are not familiar with Ray Sutton’s 5 point Covenant discovery, read this first. I have used slightly different terms above, but the 5 points are the same.

My initial premise here is that the Treaty, as word, has 5 points, but that as it plays out in history, it has seven points. This is because there is a death and resurrection at the centre of the pattern. The “Ethics/Terms” point is split into three. It becomes Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, or Law/Testing/Law. Israel is slain under the Law (except for Joshua and Caleb, Jew and converted Gentile) and resurrected. The Ethics are given again to a new generation.[1]

Genesis – God’s call through a Single Mediator (Sabbath)
…..Exodus – A people leaves the world for worship (Passover)
……….Leviticus – Draws near to God and is given ……….instructions (Firstfruits)
……………Numbers – Put to the test under the instructions,
……………put to death under the Law (Pentecost)
……….Deuteronomy –  A resurrected generation given
……….the instructions (Trumpets)
…..Joshua –  An army reenters the world for
…..government (Atonement)
Judges – Corporate Mediator (Israel rules the world) (Booths)

Now, we know Judges is about Israel’s fundamental failure to be a nation of wise judges, and the Lord’s calling of new “singular” mediators to bring deliverance. Each of the stories in Judges roughly follows this Covenant history pattern.[2]

My point is, step 2, Passover, is only the covering of the new vassal people. God calls them out and covers them for previous sin. Passover is merely a reparation for the failure in the previous cycle. It is a new beginning made possible by substitutionary sacrifice, and not an end in itself. It simply makes us acceptable before God for service. We are slaves bought with a price. We fall down dead at His feet, He lifts us up, and then gives us a job to do.

So, the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood is basically a new opportunity for the people of God to become a corporate mediator on a greater scale. Salvation is your ticket to boot camp.

Unlike Israel, the firstfruits church did not fail as a people who became an army. Revelation describes their battles in the Herodian wilderness, their conquest of Jerusalem as Jericho and their passing on of the baton to us as Succession in AD70.

The post-apostolic church also will not fail. Filled with the Spirit, this guaranteed corporate (not individual) success is the fundamental definition of the perseverance of the saints. The church will dominate the world. She will not blow this Covenant opportunity because we are more than slaves. Our carcasses will not fall in the wilderness because we are children of faith. We are Joshua and Caleb.

Any system of eschatology other than postmillennialism paralyzes Christians at Passover. We are covered, and that’s all it’s about. No wonder our churches are filled with frozen lambs. Lambs in limbo (or kids in kindy?), is the heart of gnosticism. It is a debilitating truncation of the definition of the New Covenant.

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[1] I know in Sutton’s pattern that the Pentateuch is the 5 point Covenant, but this must only be for Moses as head. For Moses, Leviticus is Ethics, but for Israel, Lev/Numbers/Deut is combined as Ethics. For Moses, Numbers is Sanctions and Deuteronomy is Succession. For Israel, Joshua is Sanctions and Judges is Succession. We see the same thing in Christ. His ascension is Succession as head, but for the first century church (in this initial pattern) it is the taking of the gospel to the Gentiles (as the “four horsemen”) which is Succession. The resurrection/ascension was Deuteronomic for the disciples. This could be confusing so feel free to email me.

[2] After Judges, a “new Covenant” opportunity begins with the loss of the Ark, the dismembering and rebuilding of the Tabernacle and ends with Solomon as “Judge”.

“And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb.”   Daniel 10:15

NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN REMIXED AND INCLUDED IN GOD’S KITCHEN.

The Dominion pattern always begins with a Word from God. The one He speaks to then goes through a symbolic “Passover” death-and-resurrection. The new prophet is then “raised” to his feet (Firstfruits) and given a task. Filled with God’s Word, he opens it to the intended audience (Pentecost).[1]

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[1] Notice this pattern in the structure of Revelation. The Firstfruits Lamb precedes the scroll; the scroll culminates in coals from the heavenly altar (Pentecost) which begins the Trumpets of warning: the witness of the apostles, men with fire coming from their mouths.

In order for a stranger to eat Passover, he had to circumcise himself and his household (Ex. 12:45-49). If he did so, he became “like a native of the land” (v. 48). We are so accustomed to connecting Passover with the Lord’s Supper that it seems strange to consider that perhaps Passover was only for the priestly people, but such was the case. Converted gentiles were not to eat of it unless they were circumcised, and thereby were incorporated into the seed line of Abraham. Did this exclude them from salvation? No, it only excluded them from priestly duties. Did it make them second class citizens? Only in the eyes of the Pharisees. Biblically speaking, their downstream cultural labors in Havilah were just as important as Israel’s sanctuary task. After all, if everyone had become an Israelite, then who would mine the gold of Havilah? Who would bring it to the sanctuary? Israel had its task, and the converted nations had theirs.

Passover was not a sign of salvation, but of coming salvation. Passover constituted Israel a “peculiar” people, particularly redeemed by God, and given a special priestly task. How were the gentiles related to Passover? By watching it, and putting faith in it. Someday, according to the promise of the covenant, they would be let in the House. For now, they were to stand at the doors and windows and look in. They watched the peculiar people eat the Passover, and they trusted that God would save them as well. They watched the peculiar priestly people circumcise their children, and they trusted that the benefits of that act were theirs as well.

From James Jordan’s The Sociology of the Church, p. 103 (Download PDF here.)