or Marriage is a Glory Box, a Hope Chest

In 1 Peter 3:7, the apostle writes:

Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

The phrase “according to knowledge” (gnosis) is rendered “in an understanding way” in the NKJV and ESV. But is the exhortation for the husband to understand his wife, or to understand the source of his authority as her husband?

I believe the “Covenant literary” structure not only answers this question, but reveals the sentence to be an Edenic gem. [1] Firstly, it recapitulates the totus Christus pattern found throughout the Scriptures:

The references to the Red Sea and the Jordan allude to this pattern in Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan, but we can trace it right back to the first Man and Woman.

Of course, this is not what happened, but based upon countless later patterns, we can accurately reconstruct it. (I know some will be skeptical, but there are many hundreds of examples. Trust me.)

Genesis 2 is a recapitulation of Genesis 1, with Day 7 being the “future” of Adam’s race benefiting from his continuing mediation. That is about as far as we can speculate, but my point here is that Genesis 2 is also a forming and a filling. The first part concerns Adam as priestly “head” and the second concerns Eve as his (bone and flesh) “body.” Having a “people” in the mother of all living moves Adam from priesthood to kingdom (hence the true kingdom did not arrive until Pentecost).

The goal was for Adam to testify on God’s behalf before the serpent, receive the Spirit of God through his obedience, and share that Spirit with Eve, who would sing the kind of head-crushing song we hear from Bible women, songs that sound so strange to modern ears. This third stage is prophetic. Adam has spoken. Eve has sung in response. Now that they are of one mind, understanding the mind of God, His purpose in their testing, they are both wise as serpents and harmless as doves. They become God’s voice, mediating between heaven and earth.

Peter’s Literary Brilliance

We are now in a position to appreciate Peter’s brief statement. Because it echoes a pattern built into the rest of the Bible, these few words contain unfathomable depths. Not only is a marriage a “new Covenant,” it is a new Creation, a new Tabernacle within which God is pleased to dwell as long as its priesthood is faithful. If the husband’s priestly office is not fulfilled, he will not have true kingdom.

This sevenfold process is not only an architectural pattern, it also reveals why there are no “priestesses” under either the Old Covenant or the New. Any authority which Woman has is derived from the accountability of the Man. [3]

Viewed as a chain/process of Covenant authority, line 3 would mean “according to the doctrine/wisdom” given to Adam as mediator. Adam received the Law before the construction of Eve. He was to minister to her in the light of that Law, which is what he failed to do.

The architecture reveals the use of the word “vessel” to be priestly. “Weaker” can mean weakness either physically or morally. In relation to the Law, it may refer to the desire of women for male headship, that is, “leadership by example.” If Adam will not lead her, another spirit will lead her into harlotry. As Christ sends His Spirit to gather the Church, so the Adam’s self-sacrifice “constructs” or edifies Eve. The husband’s meekness towards God results in the wife’s meekness towards her husband, reversing the curse of tyranny in Genesis 3:16.

The earthen “vessel without strength” at 3 requires filling at 4, is fragrant at 5, and presented chaste to God at 6. Adam’s role, as mediator with a heavenly commission, is to take flesh, open its eyes and open its mouth. What God did for Adam physically, so Adam is to do for Eve legally. The woman begins as a possession but Adam, the regent, is to lead her to the role of co-regent. We see this in the difference between the Ten Words in Exodus and Deuteronomy, and in the process of Esther becoming more than simply another bride. [4] Of course, we see it in the difference between the Old Covenant and New Covenant brides, expressed in baptism (robe of office) being given to “both men and women,” women allowed into the Sanctuary, and the inclusion of women as Covenant witnesses, “prophetesses,” beginning after the resurrection. The true empowerment of Woman can only ever come through the submission of Man to God.

The Architecture of Sex

Human sexuality is an expression of the Trinity. It is an architecture also found in the Tabernacle. The Most Holy Place is the authority of the Father (the Ark), the Holy Place is the priestly submission (Table), kingly authority (Lampstand) and prophetic witness (Incense) of the Son. Finally, the courts of the nations are the gathering of the Bride by the Spirit (Eve is the multiplier). The pattern throughout the Bible is:

This is also the pattern of the entire Bible, as well as the deep structure of the book of Revelation. It is also hinted at in the search for a bride for Isaac, and in many other narratives.

Interestingly, we can also see the triune architecture in

Man and Woman (Genesis 1 – physical attributes)
Husband and Wife (Genesis 2 – social offices)
Father and Mother (Genesis 3 – historical continuity)

The evolutionary assumptions of modernism first deconstructed our understanding of man and woman as physical images of God (temples for His Spirit), mostly for the purpose of freedom from Moses (as some have testified). Without recognition of the authority of God, the purpose of “male and female” became arbitrary. Sex (gender) was reduced to the physiological, flesh without a divine commission. Western males and females were rendered naked, and bereft of hope.

This rejection of heavenly authority then led to the deconstruction of marriage, which had previously integrated Western culture, giving it a backbone and rendering it upright. “Husband and wife” as offices before God also became meaningless. Marriage ceased to be seen as sacrificial ministry, and the house was eventually left desolate. False gods were welcomed in, which led to adultery and then further perversion.

Our now spineless culture is at the stage where Father and Mother are also being deconstructed, through a man-made narcissistic version of marriage — love of the same rather than “the other.” Since male and female are no longer gifts from God, and husband and wife are no longer a means of exercising those gifts, Father and Mother are now also meaningless. We are left with Human, Partner and Parent. This is the social outcome of the rejection of the heaven-and-earth, head-and-body divide. There is no authority, no submission and thus no ministry.

According to Knowledge

I hope you noticed the allusions to the pattern of events in the New Testament. It is also the pattern of events in the apostate churches around us today. In both cases, the Word of God was well-known.

This tragic deconstruction is a threefold process of sin reaching its full maturity in our culture, with each step being the product (usually after a generation, around 40 years) of the previous sin. [5] God is tearing down the house in three stages, so He gets the glory.

Romans 1 outlines this process for us. Three times, God says He “gave them up” to what they desired, because they would not listen. The next step for our rebellious culture is a quick decline. We have sacrificed our historical continuity on the altar of unbridled desire. Atheists have taken the inheritance of 2000 years of Christianity and blown it all, like Hollywood brats, in a few decades. Say goodbye to Western Culture, with all its heavenly blessings.

Ideas have consequences, and the desire to be “in control” of nature, like gods, leads to nature being empowered by God to cut us off. Abortion, sterility, sexual perversion, social disintegration (and the mental illness that follows) and an epidemic of sexual diseases, are the outcomes of the dogma of Darwinism. It is highly ironic that Darwinism turned out to be an exercise of the right to extinction.

Empowered by the knowledge of God, the family is the spring of good culture. Rejection of that knowledge results in a poisoned spring, and God will put a stop to the bitterness. His judgment is entirely just. Our sin is not simply a “wandering astray.” It is high-handed rebellion from a culture with more knowledge of God than any before. Worse, those with a perverse desire relabel it as a “call” from God. The Spirit departs. The song is silenced. The Land and the womb are rendered barren.

The fact that many intelligent Christians fail to understand the importance of Genesis 1-3 quite amazes me. [6] It turns out that those early chapters are also the key to understanding the New Testament, as the pattern is replayed in individuals, families, churches and states.

It seems Peter, by the Spirit, was fully aware of the inescapable sacredness of marriage. As in Eden, marriage is itself a “glory box,” a hope chest filled with promises for the future. But today it is a marriage made in heaven, that between Christ and the Church, and Jesus will never forsake us to the serpent as Adam forsook Eve. He ministers to us “according to knowledge.”

Photo: Medieval Marriage Chest.

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[1] So much for Peter being an ignorant fisherman. See Uneducated Fishermen? Nuh-uh.
[2] Chart from Bible Matrix, p. 76.
[3] See The Throne of Eve.
[4] See Esther and the Ten Words.
[5] See God Gave Them Up.
[6] See When the Grid Goes Down.

Behold, when we come to the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window from which you let us down… Joshua 2:18

Each Israelite was to wear blue tassels on the four corners of his robe. The tassel was a blue cord that unraveled into threads, a “one” that became many. Using the “systematic typology” of the Bible Matrix, we can see that these four blue tassels correspond to the four rivers the flowed down from the spring under the Garden of Eden. [1]

So, what’s the deal with the “red cord” that Rahab was commanded to display in her window in Jericho? Firstly, the Hebrew word isn’t the same word as the “cord” in Numbers 15.

The Hebrew word tiqvah literally means “hope.” Skip Moen writes:

Line – Usually translated “cord” in this verse, the Hebrew word tiqvah has a different meaning in every one of its additional thirty-one occurrences.  The fact that it isn’t translated in the normal way in this verse isn’t an accident. It’s an intentional word-play; another example of the elaborate interconnections found in the Hebrew Scripture that are invisible to us in English. By now you must realize that the story of the Scripture just wasn’t written to you.  It was written to Hebrew readers because only Hebrew readers can read between the lines.

Tiqvah is usually translated “hope.”  Put this background into the story of Rahab and you will come away with a much deeper understanding of this event. The spies whom Rahab saves tell her to put a scarlet “cord” in her window. What does that cord mean? It means hope, the very same word.

Naomi uses it in Ruth 1:12. Moen again:

When Naomi uses this word, she doesn’t have the projection of future desires in mind.  She is thinking about the color scarlet.  What does scarlet have to do with hope? Frymer-Kensky points out that tiqvah is the Hebrew word meaning “thread” in the story of Rahab.  “The imagery in this idiom suggests that our life is spun out like a cord, and hope arises from the strength of that cord, representing the prospect of a viable future.” [2]  She goes on to show that hope in Hebrew thought is intimately connected with life here and now.  To have a future is to not be cut off. To have a future is to see the continuation of your name in the lives of your offspring.  Tiqvah hope has nothing to do with getting to heaven. It is all about having a legacy on earth. It’s about a scarlet cord that can’t be cut.

Firstly, we must deal with two kinds of cleansing, the “red” and the “blue.” Blood and water both cleansed from sin, but their roles correspond to the “forming and filling” process in Genesis 1. (Even within the “blood” division, there is both red and blue blood, a chiastic structure within the body.) Blood is a witness to the de-forming of the old order. Like circumcision, it cuts off the past. We can think of this as Jesus paying off our incalculable debt to God. “It is finished.” This is mercy. Water is a witness to the investiture of a new order, the “filling up” of the new order. Unlike the “red ink” of correction, water writes a check for us in “blue ink.” It begins a new era. This is grace.

Water and blood are both liquids required for life. One comes out of the body and one goes into the body. The Jews were the blood, the circumcision, the genealogy of Christ, the Land rising out of the water. The Gentiles were the water, the baptism, the office of Christ, brought into the household of faith in the first century to bring new life to the Old Covenant body. The body of Christ is one new man, made up of Jew and Gentile, blood and water. [3]

Red and blue also have to do with heads and bodies. Circumcision is red and baptism is blue. In the Bible Matrix, the crossing of the Red Sea corresponds to Passover (the killing of the firstborn “heads”), while the crossing of the Jordan River is baptism, and associated with the Day of Atonement. [4] Now, there is red and blue in both these events, but when viewed as a whole, the first cleansing is about the end of the old history (the old leaven) and the second is about a new history, a heavenly land. Thus, red has to do with “generations,” the setting apart of a genealogical line. It is about the flesh. This is the blood of the sacrificial system. And blue has to do with “regenerations,” the commission of members of that genealogical line. It is about the Spirit.

Now we can see the correspondence between the four heavenly blue wings on an Israelite’s robe, and the four earthly red horns on the Tabernacle Altars. The blood is male (generation – Head), but the Israelite robe was worn by males and females (regeneration – Body).

Interestingly, in the account of the woman with the “issue of blood,” it is Jesus who is “blue” and the woman “red.” This is the interface between the cleanliness of a regenerate, commissioned (baptized) Adam and a helpless “generate” (menstrual) Eve.

Jesus
RED -  Circumcision and circumcised heart
BLUE – Baptism and Spirit-filling

TOUCH

(Daughter) Israel
RED – Issue of blood
BLUE – Forgiveness and cleansing,
the resultant healing from His “wings.” [5]

If Adam was faithful in the Garden, his offspring would have been rivers of living water. The singular red thread of Adamic obedience results in a corporate holiness, a blue cord that multiplies into a tassel. Peter Leithart writes:

In his lecture at the Biblical Horizons Summer conference this morning, Jim Jordan pointed out that the rivers that flow out of Eden are connected with commerce and economy.  The rivers flow from the garden, where there are good things to eat, to the outer lands where there are minerals and gems.

This can serve as a further gloss on my discussion of Psalm 24 earlier today: Rivers are the “foundations” of the humanly organized world, and more particularly rivers are the cords that bind land to land with trade and commerce.  Rivers are not only the foundation of a single land or culture, but of a network of cultures. [6]

The “binding” of the red differs from the “binding” of the blue. It is more a process of “binding and loosing.” Adam, or Isaac, is bound with a red cord in hope. It is a sacrificial death on the altar. It is flesh. The blue tassels are the “loosing,” the freedom of unity of Spirit. [7] It is perhaps more fitting to say that people are bound by blood but united by water. The first is objective, the last is subjective. The first is legal. The last is love. Circumcision was one nation, a bloodied, closed, earthly door (on the ground). Baptism is all nations. It is the Messianic “cord of hope” within a four-cornered open (blue) window in the wall of a city. [8] Rahab became intertwined with the Messianic cord (Matthew 1) that would eventually lead to rivers of living water, tassels of Spirit flowing from the four horns of Israel to the four “wings” of the world.

All Israel was a “bridal” nation. The males were circumcised, but since the other commands concerning clothing cover all Israelites, we can assume both males and females wore the bridal robe, just as both males and females could take the Nazirite vow. This brings us to part 3, which concerns Israel’s Covenantal vow. This is where the sorry arguments for paedobaptism unravel.

There’s an interesting use of red and blue in this music video. Every time I watch it I see something new.

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[1] See Healing in His … Tassels? You will also find some interesting facts here.
[2] Tamara Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Ruth: The JPS Bible Commentary, p. 15.
[3] See The Water and the Blood.
[4] Steven Opp has some interesting thoughts on red and blue in his paper “Heads or Tails: A Colorful Commentary.”
[5] See Border Patrol.
[6] Peter Leithart, More On Rivers. Perhaps Dr. Leithart’s mention of water binding rather than uniting reflects his ideas on “objective” baptism. Genealogy is not a choice. But commerce is a choice. One is not bound by rivers but loosed.
[7] See Binding and Loosing.
[8] See Known in the Gates.

“Touching a bone made an Israelite unclean. Burning bones upon Jeroboam’s altars defiled them. This was not because bones were unholy but because they were already holy.”

Here’s a new chapter from God’s Kitchen (members only).

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
Genesis 2:23

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Blood on the doorpost of the al-Qiddissin Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt.

“This, like many things in the Torah, sounds pretty barbaric. But, like many of the weirdest things in the Torah, we see these laws, which are personal types, played out in corporate antitypes right to the end of the Bible.”

“But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.” (Deuteronomy 22:20-21)

In a recent debate about Greg Bahsen’s woeful review of Chilton’s The Days of Vengeance, an online friend took interpretive maximalism to task.

For instance, because doorposts could be likened to legs, Jordan claims that the passover blood smeared on doorposts corresponds to the blood of circumcision—which in turn is equivalent to the tokens of virginity from the wedding night (I am not kidding; cf. The Law of the Covenant, pp. 82-83, 252-258). [PDF]

Yes, this sounds weird, but it isn’t at all. Bahnsen didn’t have an imagination fully informed by the Bible.

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From Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key.

James Jordan observes that the tools required for Adam to produce bread and wine in the Land were “Knife and Fire.” In God’s kitchen, Knife is Division (guarding cherubim), and Fire is Testing (purifying seraphim). The ascension of the Head allows the holy fire to descend upon the nearbringing sacrifice and raise up a fragrant Body of smoke from the Altar.

Then we have Knife and Fire again at Conquest, or in the Covenant framework, applied Sanctions. Like the Tree of Wisdom, the kingdom wine is matured, alcoholic—“fully grown.” It is Knife-and-Fire-in-a-Cup, a two-edged sword that we swallow. The bittersweet wine cuts us to the heart, judging us from the inside out. Alcohol removes our inhibitions. It exposes the true “thoughts and intents” of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). The sword of Solomon reveals the identity of the true mother.

Just as the sword-Word sanctified the Head, so now it sanctifies the Body. The Covenant oath which Adam swore to keep is being required of him by God. With his wife as one flesh, he is being forced to eat his words. Sanctions is the Spirit looking for internal Law. The outflow “from his belly” (Succession), whether blessing or curse, bondage or freedom, will transform the world.

For Covenant “infants,” those still under external Law, the cup brings death. On the Day of Coverings, their legal nakedness is dis-covered. They are seen. They and their heirs are cursed.

For Covenant elders, those who have obtained the knowledge of good and evil lawfully (by Grace), it brings joy and rest and continued life. They not only carry the Succession (Covenant success) into the future as an inheritance, their wisdom is a blessing to the nations. They are covered, robed with righteousness. They are wise judges: seers.

The Covenant Ethics are the tools of dominion. Adam was supposed to inherit these tools—Knife-and-Fire—freely from the hand of God. But instead of the Covenantal “there and back again” of the Trinity living in him by the Spirit for the Conquest of the Land, Knife-and-Fire was an external flaming sword flashing to-and-fro.

Bow ties are cool. Fezzes are cool. But systematic typology is very cool. Try this on…

The Bible is a fractal, like … broccoli. Every bit you break off is a miniature of the whole. The entire Bible follows the matrix pattern (see Bible Matrix p. 215), but within that, the history of Israel follows the matrix (see p. 191).

Based on that, here’s an observation: Step 6 concerns the vindication of mediators, God’s representatives. In the Garden, it’s the Land animals and people. In the Tabernacle, it’s the Laver and Priests. In the World, it’s the nations and Israel.

In Israel’s pattern, the “Day 6″ era was the Restoration Covenant. It began with Joshua the High Priest and ended with Jeshua (Jesus) our Great High Priest. It was “man-to-Man” or “Covenant head” to “Covenant head,” type to reality, glory to glory — the complete (robed) Land-Mediator standing in the open Veil.

But then, what do we find in the corresponding places in the “whole Bible” pattern? It’s the New Covenant era, from AD70 to the final judgment. Instead of being bound by Covenant heads, it is bound by corporate “Covenant bodies.” Instead of being Joshua-to-Joshua (Captain) it is first resurrection to second resurrection. It is the army of God (Land then World, Jew then Gentile) crossing the sea, through the Veil, entering into God’s rest.

What’s even cooler is the way that the “Israel-Head” pattern is overlaid onto and interacts with the whole Bible “Nations-Body” pattern — and all without a hitch.

The Bible’s orbit is often “ec-centric” to us because it’s circling a different sun. The mind of God is cool.

If this process of interpretation isn’t clear, check out Cross-eyed Exegesis for an explanation.

“No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.” (Mark 3:27 27)

A lot of commentary on the Revelation seems oblivious to the allusions to the Pentateuch (although there are many that do take it into account and are enlightening at the most obvious points). Even the “binding” of Satan in Revelation has an Old Testament background.

This act by Jesus has a “sacrificial” element, and it is only half the process. The process we observe throughout the Bible is one of binding and loosing. The “head” is bound that the “body” might be loosed. A husband is bound to one wife that she might have freedom to shine in a safe domain. Adam was bound under a single Law that Eve might not be deceived. Abram was “bound” under the Law that Sarai’s womb might be “freed.” The bondwoman and her son were cast out that the son of the freewoman might be the heir. Isaac was quite literally bound that Israel’s tribal future might be freed. Joseph was bound that Israel’s national future might be freed. Animals were sacrificed so Israel could be redeemed. Israel was bound under Moses for the sake of the nations, but they “broke loose” with the golden calf.

Moving to the New Testament, Jesus was bound by soldiers so that the apostles might be freed. Then, the apostles were bound that the Gentiles might be freed. This willing submission of the apostles to being “bound” (for the hope of Israel, etc.) is what resulted in AD70, and the binding of Satan. That is what their faithful witness achieved.

“Most assuredly, I say to you,
…..when you were younger,
……….you girded yourself (Firstfruits)
……………and walked where you wished;
……….but when you are old,
…..you will stretch out your hands,
…..and another will gird you (Atonement)
and carry you where you do not wish.”
(John 21:18)

As followers of Christ, we are bound (in prayer and fasting) that others might be freed. The idea is that Satan is bound with us, we take him to the altar (or grave, or furnace) and leave him there, while we ourselves are freed, “resurrected” along with his captives.

At the Lord’s Table, the past is bound and broken in Jesus, and the future is released, poured out as new wine.

The application in Revelation might be complicated, but the process isn’t. AD70 was the Lord’s Table played out on an imperial scale. Satan was bound in AD70 that the nations might be freed. That was when the process was begun, but it is far from over. [2]

The Revelation, indeed all the New Testament, must be expounded with reference to the processes founded in the Torah. [3]

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[1] See also chapter 12, “Cutting Words,” in Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key and Three Strikes.
[2] The full preterist view that Satan was not only bound but also destroyed in the first century doesn’t fit with Jesus’ analogy at all.
[3] See Newspaper Exegesis.

Doing my first Bible Matrix presentation this Sunday morning (with Powerpoint) at a church in Sydney. Also have a question time at the church dinner on Saturday night. Please pray for me as I prepare. I can handle public high school kids okay, but this is a different kettle altogether!

Here’s my outline (subject to approval!). I’ve got 40 minutes:

I posted this cycle in response to a comment/suggestion by Steven Opp. It’s from Totus Christus. I’ve learnt since 2009 that the texts contain much more precise structures than I was aware of at the time, but do believe this one still holds water at a general level. And speaking of water, look where Paul’s baptism occurs in the passage.

As it was with Moses, Daniel, Jonah and many others, the very structure of Saul’s first cycle prefigured what God was going to do through him over the remainder of that Covenant age. It wasn’t only the Gentiles who would follow Saul’s example.

I was hoping to post the structure of 2 Thessalonians 2 today. The structure is done but the commentary is not, so will post tomorrow. There’s some excellent “revelations” to be had once the Covenant/Creation/Feast pattern is identified. So, I hope you’ll check back tomorrow.

Also, if you are a regular reader, please leave a comment and say hi. I’m getting around 10,000 hits a day, so an actual hi from someone new would be a great encouragement. Thanks!