Leaving Wilderness Behind

In Through New Eyes, James Jordan notes that the wilderness was Havilah, the place mentioned in Genesis 2 that was rich in raw materials. Israel stripped Egypt of her gold, then plundered the desolate places of hidden wealth. She came out of the desert with a High Priest clothed in gems, and a new generation of soldiers born of God’s threshing floor.

The manna began to fall just after the Hebrews’ victory over Pharaoh. As with Jacob, the Lord was faithful to provide for His chosen one. But perhaps, in covering the ground, there is also the idea of a firmament (this might sound strange to some readers, but I have found the concept is a frequent one). The wilderness is the place of the humble bread of priesthood, displayed in obedience to God. It was the next generation that would drink the wine of Canaan after obedience under Joshua.

A Memorial

The Lord commanded that some manna be put into the Ark as a memorial. Symbolising manna, the white stone is a memorial of faithful priesthood. Joshua’s crossing of the Jordan was memorialised by large, engraved, white stones.

And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. “You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the LORD God of your fathers promised you. Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of the LORD your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God. And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.” (Deut. 27:2-8)

Coming at the ‘Trumpets’ step of Israel’s journey from slavery to Sabbath, these white stones were a symbol of her corporate resurrection. Neither faithful Moses nor faithful Israel left a body to be found in the howling tomb. The dirty birds of the Covenant curse were empty-bellied.

From Gravestone to Topstone

The Hebrew bdl is the word used to describe God’s dividing at Creation. In post-exilic texts it is used to describe the division of the priesthood from the people, and sinners from the people. It is an act that brings about a new Creation. This is the word in the hand of Zerubbabel. It is not a plumbline. It is a metal stone symbolising a priestly division, a cutting in two that brings new life. What was the cutting in two? It was the future death of the Lamb that allowed Joshua to put on the Lord Jesus Christ in the heavenly court, under the very eyes of the very dirtiest bird, the Accuser.

Zerubbabel brought forth the engraved “altar” stone as a craftsman brings forth his chiselled work. As an altar stone, it was not cut by human hands, but engraved by the finger of God. Just as the prophets brought the stones of the Law down upon Israel under Nebuchadnezzar, so too this small white stone would be exalted. The two pillars of Solomon’s Temple (priest and king) were slain, but now replaced with a single element that was divided as priest and exalted as king. It was permanent bread from heaven that would never, ever be filled with worms, the very public face of the hidden manna in the lost Ark, and the Facebread hidden to all but the priests.

Flintstone-Faced

Ezekiel was promised a hard face so that he could face the hardened faces of God’s rebellious rulers. As a High Priest in exile, he was not given the golden forehead-plate with its seven holy eyes, but the real thing. The Bible speaks often of Adam’s face relating to priesthood. The ‘face of a man’ in Ezekiel 1 corresponds to the Table of Showbread in the north (always facing south). The account of Cain and Abel is structured according to the Creation/Tabernacle pattern, and at the Facebread step, the representative Man at the Altar, Cain’s face fell. He was no longer his brother’s keeper, his watchman. Ezekiel was made a new watchman because Israel’s priesthood had become like Cain.

Jesus also set His face like flint. As Facebread, it was covered in blood, first as the cursed brow-sweat, then with the cursed ground-thorns, Adam and Cain. He was set apart, cut asunder, as a bread fragrant with frankincense before God, then resurrected. An angel dressed in lightning-white sat on the stone to speak as a memorial. The howling waste of Sheol was empty, and so was the dirtiest bird, who like Herod and Haman and all those before, had anticipated a feast. He was a serpent exposed on a pole to disempower its fiery children, a man impaled by the emperor whose ungodly sons were also slain, a false god-voice devoured alive by death-eating worms on his stolen throne like overripe manna. There is no Sabbath without resurrection. All faces will be lifted to face God, and all faces will be covered – either in a bloody human firmament (Christ’s) or in a black hood, a veil. We are white stones, or whited sepulchres.

The Word is ‘Yes’

“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open” (Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157).

Both Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds record these strange events. After the crucifixion, it is written that

1. the most important lamp of the Temple menorah went out every night despite every precaution. Judah’s Lampstand would be removed, and not shine in her any more. It was given to the witnessing Firstfruits church (Rev. 11:4; 18:23; 22:5).
2. the crimson thread that reportedly turned white if the Day of Atonement had been successful no longer did so
3. the Temple doors kept swinging open of their own accord. The Jerusalem Talmud states:
   ”Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars’ ” (Zechariah 11:1)’ (Yoma 6:3).
4. the Day of Atonement ‘lot’ that chose the goat for Azal, a black stone and a white stone, came up black every year between AD30 and AD70.

The scapegoat was chosen by lot, the Urim and Thummim engraved stones in the ephod – a miniature Ark worn by the High Priest. The Last Supper, as I have mentioned before, follows the feasts pattern, and at Atonement, Judas is chosen by Christ as the scapegoat. His replacement is chosen by lot, and then the Holy Spirit is poured out, after which we never hear of the lot again. Faithful saints are given the white stone by the Spirit, the Law engraved on tablets of flesh.

Zerubbabel’s exaltation of the white stone was a resounding ‘Yes!’ from the Lord. Atonement was accepted. The Temple of God would be completed and Israel’s resurrection would again turn the howling waste into a true vine and figleaf Feast of Tabernacles.

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”  
2 Corinthians 1:20

If the Talmudic accounts above are true, and the black stone denotes that the atonement after the once-for-all death of Christ could never again be accepted, the white stone promised in Jesus’ letter to Pergamum takes on bloody connotations for the receiver. In context, it was written just before the biggest corporate massacre and resurrection of saints in history. They had received the Word-bread with thanksgiving. Now they themselves would be broken bread covering the ground in Herod’s howling waste. If the Herodian priesthood’s right hand would not be marked with the blood of the bdellium (divided) stone, it would be marked with the blood of the saints.

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Zechariah’s night visions move God’s furniture around. As we saw, the instructions for the Tabernacle furniture align it with the Creation Week. And the Creation Week corresponds with the seven Feasts. Zechariah’s visions follow the Creation and Feast patterns, but the Tabernacle furniture has been shifted around all over the place.

Now, you will probably ask how eight visions can align with seven days or seven feasts. The answer is that it takes the two visions in chapter 5 to reflect the Day of Atonement. Thus:

Sabbath – Day 1
The post-captivity church is seen as still being in the grave, the Abyss, literally, “the deep” (translated badly as glen or valley)

Passover – Day 2
 The horned incense altar is reconstructed, symbolising Israel’s new eldership and worship. Usually, the incense altar is at Day 5, but here, it is this altar’s renewal that re-establishes the nation as a mediator – a Holy Place firmament – between God and the nations. This aligns with Day 2.

Firstfruits – Day 3
This feast is the Ascension of Joseph, Moses, Daniel and Christ to the right hand of God to open the mystery scroll, the Law. A command is given to the people to flee the Babylon of their hearts, which lifts Jerusalem as a new “earth” (Land) out of the Gentile sea. This New Jerusalem would be too large to enclose with walls. Her influence would extend throughout the empire. The empire was the New Canaan, resurrected after the Babylonian “flood.”

Pentecost – Day 4
The serpent/Destroying Angel stands before the throne rightly accusing the disgraced priesthood of being unclean. In a re-enactment of Passover, Israel is covered. (Note that this vision is the Passover of the feast pattern that covers the entire book of Zechariah. But as the centre of the night visions, it is the crux, the thesis, the main point of transition at midnight that allows a new day to dawn.)

As in many previous patterns, the serpent is defeated at the central point of the visions. Step 4 is the wilderness at the centre of the New Creation Matrix. Which brings us to the white stone with seven eyes.

Trumpets – Day 5
The Lampstand is always at the central point, as the eyes of God’s Law watching over His Showbread tribes, both guarding and inspecting them. But in these visions, the Lampstand signifies the witness of God’s people. At Ascension the Tabernacle is built. It is tested by Law at Pentecost and most often torn apart.

At Step 5 it is a Lampstand reconstructed. It is the next generation in the wilderness, now trained as an army, or the Tabernacle of David after the Ark’s sojourn. The angel says, however, that the conquest will not be by military might in this New Israel, but by the Spirit. The Lampstand has been moved to accent its role as the symbol of this new Israel now that the Ark was gone. The head of the sacrifice had ascended to govern heaven (Ark – Adam-light) and the body would now “ascend” to govern the Land (Lampstand – Eve-lights).

It is important to notice that Revelation also places its two olive-tree witnesses at Trumpets — the apostles, filled with the Spirit, mustering an army of witnesses before Judah was finally cut in two on her last Day of Atonement.

Atonement – Day 6
Zechariah sees a flying Covenant scroll, the ascended Ark as the first goat, speaking curses upon Israel’s hidden sins. He sees the Ark’s evil twin exiled as the second goat to Shinar (Babylon) and set on a false throne.

Tabernacles – Day 7
With a New Covenant carried out in the Lord’s court – legally – the swift horses ride out between the bronze pillar/mountains into a New Land.

Now, all this was to be able to understand the significance of the stone in Zechariah 4. The stone has “holy to the Lord”, the seven eyes of the Law, written upon it at the Pentecost victory over the serpent (Zech. 3). The angel then says that Zerubbabel will bring forth the capstone to public acclamation. Not being High Priest, Zechariah could only see inside the Holy Place in his visions (unlike Ezekiel), but even the events concerning Joshua in the Holy Place were hidden from the eyes of this resurrected nation. So, we have seven-eyed stone, a capstone and the “set apart” stone (mistranslated as plumbline because it might be the metal we call tin). Are any of these three items related?

Meredith Kline seems to think so. (See Glory in Our Midst, p. 158-159).

But Mark Jauhiainen doesn’t think so. In his The Use of Zechariah in Revelation, on p. 83 he says basically that any connection is an assumption, and that the seven eyes in Zech. 4 refer to the Lampstand (seven spirits), not the stone. So the stone can’t be linked with the white stone in Revelation 2. (I have to say this gentlemen spends a lot of time telling us what things are not, but then cannot tell us what they are! I think literary structure helps us a lot to make links where he sees none.)

What he misses, I think, is that in Revelation 4, the “seven eyes” of the Lampstand are suddenly reflected in the seven eyes of the Lamb of God. And the Lamb of God is in place of the un-mentioned Table of Showbread (John describes everything but the Table). So, where Israel failed to reflect God’s Law as the perfect Adam, the Lamb succeeded. There are now seven eyes in both the south and north, the ruler and the ruled. The Lamb has the seven spirits of God (the eyes of the Law), and also the seven horns of authority, weapons to carry out His judgment so that He might be vindicated upon His unrepentant murderers.

So, to tie this all together, the white stone is the heavenly bread given at Ascension (Israel received manna directly after the Passover/Red Sea) and broken in the wilderness. Manna was the colour of bdellium, and the stone in Zerrubabel’s hands is bedil the root of which means to divide or separate. The stone is set apart, divided, and seeing as the word has a definite article (habbedil) it makes sense if it refers to the capstone 3 verses prior.

If all this does actually hang together, we have a piece of faithful wilderness bread that is now a sanctified, shiny stone engraved with seven eyes, brought out in public (through a split mountain) and lifted up as part of a new public witness to complete the new Temple.

Are you getting my drift?

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The white stone mentioned in Revelation 2:17 was always a mystery to me. There are plenty of commentators who make lame suggestions as to its meaning (they sound a bit like a student making up answers during an exam!), but James Jordan got me thinking about it along the lines of its subtle use in the Old Testament. I intend to cover this in a few posts, and consequently may ramble even a little more than usual, but everything is connected in the Bible’s symbol language. This is a bit of a journey, but I am sure we will find it rewarding. Oh, and you will need to switch off your modernistic mind and use your imagination. You know, that thing you only use when you read or watch fiction? You can use it to understand the Bible as well. I know, scholars most often don’t. To cover their inability to make much sense of texts such as the one we are about to inhale, they pretend the writings are a bit primitive. Why do we put one-eyed, colour-blind pencil pushers in charge of the kaleidoscope?

I’ll start with the structure of Zechariah 3, and you let the significance of the Tabernacle speeches (Ex. 25-31) and the annual feasts (Lev. 23) make more sense of what’s going on here as the Lord restores Israel with mere words (liturgy):

Sabbath – Genesis – Light (Ark)
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

Passover – Exodus – Waters (Laver & Veil)
And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you [Laver], and I will clothe you with rich robes [Veil].”

Firstfruits – Leviticus (new priesthood) – Land & Sea (Jew & Gentile divide)
And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the LORD stood by.

Pentecost – Numbers (law revealed) – Ruling Lights
Then the Angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘If you will walk in My ways, And if you will keep My command, Then you shall also judge My house, And likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk Among these who stand here.

Trumpets – Deuteronomy (next generation army) - Swarms of Birds and Fish
‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you, For they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.

Day of Atonement (“Covering”) – Joshua – Land Animals & Man
For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ Says the LORD of hosts, ‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

Tabernacles (“ingathering”) – Judges – A Wedding Feast at God’s Table
In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘Everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree.’ “

In his lectures on Zechariah, James Jordan explains that the Hebrew phrase “Holy to the Lord” is seven letters, seven engravings, and that the Hebrew for eye, opening and engraving are the same word. The stone has the same engravings as the ones on the High Priest’s golden forehead. But why?

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