Life&Death

     "It's a matter of life and death!" This is a well-known expression meaning that something is of extreme urgency. This expression came to mind as I read the Sabbath reading portion.

     This is the second week of the Sabbath reading portion titled Acharei-Mot, which means "after the death". This reading portion began on the Sabbath following Passover, which we discussed in the previous blog entry "Tabernacles&Passover" and continued through the Feast of First Fruits (Lev. 23:9-12), which occurs on the day after the Sabbath following the Passover, which would be on a Sunday. This is the Feast which was fulfilled by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:20-23), who was slain on Passover, and three days later rose from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits (Mt. 28:1, Mk. 16:`1-2, Lk. 24:1-3, Jn. 19:42-20:1). 

     As mentioned last week, this Acharei-Mot Sabbath reading starts in Lev. 16 after the deaths of two of Aaron's sons, who had offered strange (zur - a stranger, an enemy, a foreigner, loathsome, profane, commit adultery) fire before the LORD (Lev. 16:1). By offering strange incense, Aaron's sons did not regard the LORD as holy, and did not glorify Him before the people. For this, fire went out from the LORD and devoured them. (Lev. 10:1-3). If we consider the fact that the tabernacle given to Moses by the LORD was patterned after the heavenly things, we know that the incense that is to come before God in His heavenly temple is made up of the powerful, Spirit-filled prayers of the saints, which prayers are cherished by God (Rev. 5:8). To come before God with a tainted version of this would be unacceptable. These deaths may seem harsh to many who read of them. However, by disregarding the holiness and glory of the LORD, and the profound purpose that exists within that holiness and glory and coming before Him in the same manner as strangers or enemies, His people were removing that part of the LORD's character that is powerful to save from death and the grave and to deliver any and all who call upon Him. Why would anyone call on God if His own people treat Him no differently than a useless idol, or a powerless figurehead? It is this holiness of the LORD  that called us to His salvation: "...God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed...who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel..." (2 Tim. 1:8-9). Isaiah wrote of the LORD's declaration over us: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you., For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...Fear not for I am with you...I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!' Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth - Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him." (Isa. 43:2-7). The LORD also said that when He redeemed us, we became His. (Isa. 43:1). We became enfolded into His holiness and glory through His Son, sent as a sacrificial Lamb to atone for us, and to pay the redemption price for us on behalf of His Father in heaven. Not only does the LORD save and deliver through His holiness, but He calls us into His own holiness as He also glorifies us in His own glory (Rom. 8:30, Jn. 17:22-24, 1 Thess. 4:7-8, Eph. 1:3-6). Only the holy and glorious God can do this, and it is His purpose to offer this salvation to all who will call upon Him as the God who saves (Joel 2:32).

     In this week's Sabbath reading portion the LORD calls upon His people through Moses, saying: "Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy." (Lev. 19:1-2). We read last week that the uncleanness of God's people causes His house, or tabernacle/temple, to become defiled and unclean as it sits in the midst of them (Lev. 16:15-16). We will see more about the house/tabernacle/temple of the LORD later. In Lev. 18, the LORD gave a command to Moses to speak to the children of Israel, saying: "I am the LORD you God. According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) My judgments, and keep (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) My ordinances, to walk in them [which if a man does, he shall live (hayay - remain alive, have life, continue in life, to revive from sickness or death, preserve alive, restore to life, save life) by them]: I am the LORD your God. (Lev. 18:1-5). The ways of Egypt and Canaan were wrapped up in the worship of terrible gods and idols that glory in the death of men, but the ways of the LORD God are wrapped up in life, even the restoring of life from the dead, and salvation life, as we see in the Hebrew meaning of hayay, life above. The LORD couldn't make it plainer to His people. In another place, Moses tells the people: "See (ra'a - see, perceive, prophetic sight or revelation, have vision, discern, be visible), I have set before you today (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes and His judgments, that you may live (hayay - same as above) and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess." (Deut. 30:15-16, see also Josh. 24:14-15).

     In another reading from this week's Sabbath portion, the prophet Jeremiah received the Word of the LORD for Judah and Jerusalem. The LORD said to Jeremiah: "A conspiracy (qeser/qasar - conspiracy, treason, unlawful alliance/to bind, to tie, to bind together, to bind oneself) has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have...gone after other gods to serve them...have broken (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) My covenant which I made with (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) their fathers. Therefore...I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them...(they) will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense but they will not save them at all in the time of trouble...you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Ba'al (Phoenician/Canaanite god)...What has My beloved to do in My house, having done lewd deeds with many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice." (Jer. 11:9-15). In using the word "conspiracy" above, the LORD is saying that His people have tied themselves to an unlawful alliance with the gods whom they have chosen to serve. These gods of depravity and death become spiritually bound to the individual. The LORD sees the body of death to which His people have tied themselves.

     It is interesting that the LORD gave prohibitions regarding contact with a dead body (Num. 19:11-22). In these prohibitions, if the man who is unclean from touching the dead "does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD."  Again we see that the uncleanness of the people of God also defiles the house of God. As Paul saw the destructive power of sin in our/his flesh, our spiritual temple, he cried out, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom. 7:24-25). The house of the LORD is the house of life which breaks out against death.

     In another reading portion from this Sabbath, the prophet Amos prophesied against the northern kingdom of Israel when the nation was divided into two kingdoms. Amos prophesied of a great calamity that would come upon Israel because of its injustices and corruption, because it did not heed the voice of the LORD and His commandments: "The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore. And the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day, says the LORD God - Many dead bodies everywhere, they shall be thrown out in silence." (Amos 8:2-3). The LORD showed Amos another vision of the temple: "I saw (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the LORD standing by the altar, and He said, 'Smite (naka - slay, beat, wounded, stripes, give wounds, to be stricken or smitten, scourge, chastise, send judgment upon) the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them..." (Amos 9:1). The LORD promised that wherever the people chose to hide from those shaking doorposts and thresholds of His temple, they would not be able to escape..." All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, who say, 'The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.' (v. 1-4, 10). The very doorposts and lintels or the house/temple that were to shield the Israelites from death by the blood of the Passover Lamb (Ex. 12:3-7), were now to be struck, slain, beaten, wounded, scourged, stricken and smitten, chastised in judgment for the sins of God's people (see Isa. 53). In disregarding the blood of the Lamb which was provided for deliverance, and choosing instead the gods of this world, all things become death. The gods and systems of this world do not serve life. They serve money.

     The apostle John wrote of the revelation given to him. In that revelation, he saw the Lamb, Jesus, in the temple of heaven, opening the seals of the scrolls that would lead to the wrath of God that was to be poured out upon the earth. (Rev. 15:5-8). The temple of life breaks out against the powers of death, and against all of those who "tie" themselves to those things. Elsewhere in scripture, the LORD commands His people: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God. and they shall be My people...Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you...I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty." (2 Cor. 6:16-18, see also Isa. 52:10-11).

     This prophecy of Amos, above, is certainly a matter of life and death, but then the LORD gives Amos this prophecy: "On that day, I will raise up (qum - rise up, raise, establish, preserve alive) (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the tabernacle (sukah - tabernacle, booth, pavilion, entwined boughs, covering) of David (meaning "beloved"), which has fallen (napal - fall down, lie down, violent death, perish) down, and repair its (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) damages; I will raise up (qum - same as above) its ruins, and rebuild (bana - build, repair, have children, obtain children) it as in the days of old (olam/alam - everlasting, ancient, evermore, perpetual, continuous existence, eternity, a hidden time/to conceal, hide, secret); That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,' says the LORD who does this thing...I will bring back (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the captives of My people Israel..." (v. 11-12, 14). The LORD promised that they would drink the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) wine (yayin - effervescent, banqueting wine, ripened grape cluster, vineyard) and the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) fruits (peri - first fruits, fruit, boughs, reward).

     As the prophecy of Amos tells us, according to the meanings of the Hebrew words used, the LORD is going to raise up from death the tabernacle of David, meaning the Messiah/Christ. This tabernacle did not originate from the time of David but was concealed within eternity. This is the same thing that Paul wrote above about salvation, which is God's purpose and grace through Messiah/Christ, which was from before time began, and what was previously hidden in that eternity is now revealed (see 2 Tim. 1:8-9). The tabernacle of which Amos wrote prophetically is the original tabernacle of life. It is not referred to as an ohel tabernacle, but as a sukkah tabernacle, an intimate chamber or booth made of boughs of living matter, of the type constructed for the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a tabernacle that is meant to welcome many children, even those who were once enemies and heathen, but are now called by the name of the LORD. Those who were taken as spiritual and physical captives are brought home to enter the time of banqueting and fruitfulness with Him. It is the sukkah of eternal life for those who belong to "the Beloved", the Son of David, the Son of God (Mt. 17:1-9, Mt. 3:16-17).

     In this chapter of Amos, we see that the LORD's judgment and salvation, death and eternal life, are offered side by side to His people. It's a matter of life and death - choose life.

     If you would like to learn more about holiness and glory to save life, you can join with me in prayer: "Heavenly Father, I choose life today. I choose the Word and Way of the LORD. I gratefully receive Your salvation, provided to me by the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus. By Your Holy Spirit, lead me in the ways of life. Cleanse me of all unrighteousness by Your grace extended to me. Show me how to turn away from the paths of death and walk instead in the path of life. Let me dwell all my days in Your tabernacle, in Your holiness and glory. I ask this in the name of Jesus, My Savior. AMEN."

 *NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.

Tabernacles&Passover

      This week's Sabbath reading portion will cover two weeks and is titled Acharei-Mot in Hebrew, which means "After the death". It covers Chapters 16 through 19 in Leviticus. This Sabbath is also the Sabbath after Passover, and it also occurs during the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. This special timing is important to keep in mind as we seek to learn the Word of the LORD for us this week. As I read the Torah and haftorah portions, I thought that much of this reading dealt with the tabernacle and, later in history, the temple of God. The title, "After the death" comes from Lev. 16:1: "Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the LORD and died;" (see also Lev. 10:1-3). The bottom line of that severe lesson involving Aaron's two sons is that we cannot come before the holy God any way that we deem to be good and right. The LORD said that when we do that, we are not acknowledging His holiness, nor glorifying Him before the heathen. 

     In this Sabbath portion, the LORD commanded Moses to tell Aaron following the death of two of his sons not to come into the Holy Place inside the veil just any time, "lest he die". He was to come with his (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) flesh washed, putting on the holy linen tunic and trousers on his body and coming with the blood of sacrifice (Lev. 16:3-4). The LORD then described the practice that must be followed for the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Not only was Aaron to make atonement for himself and his household, and for the people, but for the Holy Place and tabernacle as well because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel. (v. 16). The LORD added: "There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. (v. 17). Aaron even had to make atonement with the blood sacrifice for the altar to cleanse it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. (v. 18-19). The uncleanness of God's people defiles not only us but the tabernacle of God as well.

     This Sabbath reading portion also follows Passover this year, so we should consider this as we study this Sabbath lesson. Not only were the Egyptians plagued with the death of their first born that first Passover night, but the LORD judged the gods of Egypt as well (Ex. 12:12). What a dire calamity from which His people were separated out and spared by that blood on their doorposts! This is what Passover (pesah) means in Hebrew: "the feast of Passover or the sacrifice; a sparing immunity from penalty and calamity; the paschal lamb as the sacrifice of sparing [passing over]." You cannot separate the meaning of the day from the sacrifice that defines that day. Considering that the Lord Almighty is about to judge the gods and the nations of this world (Ps. 118:10-14), how should we, the spiritual tabernacle/tent/dwelling or temple of God (see 1 Cor. 6:19-20, Eph. 2:19-22), be thinking of that separating/sanctifying/saving Blood of our Passover Lamb, Jesus (see Jn. 1:29-30, 1 Pet. 1:18-21)? We will see another connection to Passover later in this Sabbath's reading portion.

     What is the spiritual meaning of a tabernacle? Tabernacle is the Hebrew word and root ohel/ahal, meaning "tabernacle, tent, dwelling, covering, home, sacred tent of Jehovah (YHWH, LORD), moveable, portable tent/to be clear, shine, to be bright, so called for a shining vibrating appearance". A tabernacle is also a personal dwelling place, where we dwell with God, and God dwells with and in us (see Ps. 23:6, Rev. 21:3). That dwelling place is supposed to be special, shimmering and vibrating with the brightness of God according to its meaning above. Paul wrote that we, the believers in Christ, are the temples of the Holy Spirit, a spiritual house of God (1 Cor. 6:17-20). Just as the blood of the Passover lamb set apart the Israelites' dwellings and identified those dwellings as belonging to the LORD, or "the sacred tents of Jehovah", we also have been covered with the Blood of the Passover Lamb, Jesus, and have become holy dwelling places or tabernacles of God. In being so, Paul warned us not to defile ourselves, the holy tabernacles of God, as we have become one with Him. Applying what we learned above from Leviticus, we do not want to disparage God's holiness nor profane God's name before the heathen. Let's see when, on another occasion, the uncleanness of God's people also caused His house to be unclean. 

     In another reading from this Acharei-Mot Sabbath portion, King Josiah brought Judah back to a covenant relationship with the LORD after hearing the words of the newly found Book of the Law, which had been discovered in the temple. This Book of the Word of God, now thought to have been the Book of Deuteronomy, had been so long neglected, that it had been forgotten until it was found again. When the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) king heard the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) words of the book, he rent his (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) clothes. (2 Kings 22:8-11). The king called all of the people of Jerusalem and Judah, both small and great, to come to him at the house of the LORD, and he read to them all the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) words of the book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD. The king made a (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) covenant to follow and perform the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) words of the LORD with all his heart, and all his soul: "And all the people took a stand for the covenant." (2 Kings 23:1-3). This was a blessed day for the king and Judah. However, by order of the king, all of the defiling idolatrous vessels that had been placed in the house of the LORD that were used to worship demon gods and idols had to be removed and burned. These things included articles that had been made to worship Ba'al (male divinity of the Canaanites and Philistines), Asherah (meaning groves of idol worship; a Babylonian/Canaanite goddess of fortune and happiness and supposed consort of Ba'al, associated with the planet Venus), and the articles used for worshipping all the hosts (saba - war, army, battle, wage war, angels) of heaven. He had the idolatrous priests removed that had been ordained to serve in the house of the LORD by previous kings. He tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were set up in the house of the LORD. What kind of booths have we set up in the spiritual house of the LORD?

     In turn, the king had the high places defiled with the burned bones of dead men, so idolatry could no longer be practiced there. He had Topheth (topet/tapap - "place of fire" near Jerusalem, place of human sacrifice, to strike, spit upon, smite, kill) defiled in the same manner. It was the place where the people brought their children to pass them through the fire of the god Molech ("king"; chief deity of Ammonites and Phoenicians that required the sacrifice of infants). How many millions of born and unborn infants have been destroyed on our watch? There were even strange altars and chambers on the roof of the house of God that previous kings had used, which King Josiah now demolished. What kind of spiritual chambers have we set above the house of the LORD? The king also defiled the high places that King Solomon had built "for Ashtoreth ("star"; Phoenician female deity of war and fertility) the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh ("subduer"; deity of Moabites and Ammonites) the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom ("great king"; also known as Molech; god of the Ammonites and Phoenicians; demanded infant sacrifice) the abomination of the people of Ammon, as well as various other pillars and wooden images. What kind of idols have we brought into the spiritual house of the LORD with us? There had also been an idolatrous altar built at Bethel, which means "House of God", which the king had to break down, burn and crush into powder. What an abomination the worship in Israel and the house of God had become! These demonic gods and spiritual rulers of wickedness still desire to inhabit and pollute the holy places of God, the tabernacles of God, which we are also. Not only did the king set fire to Judah, but he took the spiritual battle to the high places of Samaria. These abominations are what had become of the house of the LORD and the people of God.

     After King Josiah had performed all of these things, the king commanded (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) all of the people saying: "Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant. Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the LORD in Jerusalem." (2 Kings 23:21-23). Do we keep the Passover as it is written in the Book of the Covenant?

      What we learn from this is that Passover is a time of battle and warfare, including spiritual warfare, whether against a physical Pharaoh and his house as in the first Passover, or against the false gods that try to hold God's people in spiritual bondage. Scripture says that spring, which is also the time of Passover, is the time when kings go off to battle. That time came for King David, but while he sent his army into battle, he remained in Jerusalem attaining another man's wife for himself instead. It led to the murder of the husband (2 Sam. 11). It cost David the death of his first child from that union, and David would be brought to deep repentance, asking the LORD that he be cleansed of the defiling sin (Ps. 51). We are also called to be kings and priests before God and in service to Him, as Jesus served His Father in heaven faithfully. Have we disregarded the Passover and spring call to spiritual battle in order to follow our own ways? 

     As the first Passover approached, the servants of the LORD, Moses and Aaron, went in to Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler of the greatest kingdom on earth, and threw down the spiritual battle gauntlet before him. They didn't go in their own strength but armed with the Rod and the Word, both of which are associated with the Messiah/Christ, Jesus. They didn't go in with their own words either, but with the Word of the LORD which was: "Let My people go that they may serve Me." The battle is the LORD's but He uses His servants to hear and obey His voice, to run with His vision.

     Most of the church doesn't observe Passover, and we who do, observe it amongst the pleasantness of the family and according to tradition but perhaps not as a day of great spiritual warfare in the present. Perhaps we need to change our thinking regarding this day. It was not a day of pleasantness for Jesus the Messiah/Christ. It was a day when He battled the rulers of this world, a battle that they would not win (1 Cor. 2:7-9). It was a day in which He was betrayed by a disciple. He battled spiritual rulers in the Garden of Gethsemane (meaning "oil press" or "wine press") where that battle almost did Him in. An angel had to come in order to revive and strengthen Him, while His disciples slept (Lk. 22:39-44). He battled through beatings, humiliation, mocking, scourging, and the piercing of the nails of the cross (LORD/YHWH: yod, hey, vav, hey- "behold the hand, behold the nail"). Do we think it was not a battle for Him to descend into hell after His death, leading those who were held captive in death to freedom (Ps. 68:18-20), and wresting away the keys of death, hell and the grave (Rev. 1:17-18)? 

     At the Passover Seder, from which we were given our beloved Communion, Jesus told His disciples that He fulfilled the elements of Passover. They were to take and eat the bread broken as meaning His body broken for them. They were to drink the cup after supper as meaning His blood poured out for them in a new covenant, and we were to remember His death in this way until He comes again (1 Cor. 11:23-26, Mt. 26:26-29, Mk. 14:22-25, Lk. 22:13-20). Paul wrote that we were to examine ourselves when partaking of this powerful Passover bread and cup so to assure that we are not doing it in an unworthy manner but in the discerning of the Lord's body (1 Cor. 11:27-32). Yes, there was a glorious, victorious day of resurrection and rejoicing, but it wasn't on Passover. It came three days later on the day after the Sabbath, which is a Sunday, the first day of the week, on the Feast of First Fruits as it is appointed in the Law of Moses (Lev. 23:9-12) and fulfilled by the Messiah/Christ, Jesus. This appointed date is not the same as "Easter" (what booth have we set up in the house of the LORD?) on which the church has chosen to mark the event. If we are to memorialize the resurrection of Jesus as First Fruits of the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20-26) according to the Words of the Book of the Covenant, then we should be observing it this Sunday, the day following the Sabbath after Passover (more on this next week). The victory of resurrection was achieved for us, but the spiritual battle in the name of Jesus is ongoing as Paul and the other apostles wrote. Look inward and look outward and see if there still are not overcoming battles to fight for the souls of our nations, for those who are still caught and held prisoners in spiritual darkness, and even for ourselves as we work out our salvation. Look and see if we, the spiritual tabernacles of God, are defiled with idolatry. 

     As we come to the Passover battle, we don't come before Pharaoh, or the other gods ruling our lands and people, or even our own flesh with its sin, in our own strength but with the Word of the LORD saying, as Moses said: "Let My people go that they may serve Me." Thank God that we are not called to fight these battles on our own, but in the name above all names, Jesus (Grk. form of the Hebrew word, Yeshua, meaning "God is salvation"), to which all creation, even the demons and false gods, must bow their knees (Phil. 2:5-11). It is the only name under heaven that has been given by which we must be saved (Acts 4:11-12).

      The LORD gave us the pattern of His tabernacle/temple and the fulfilment of that prophetic pattern, which tells the miraculous journey of our salvation and unification with the LORD through the sacrifice of the Son, and the living tabernacle which we are through Christ and the Holy Spirit within us, and the glorious tabernacle which the LORD will bring down from heaven to dwell among His people (Rev. 21:1-4). This is a three-in-one pattern. The LORD also gave us the pattern of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb in Exodus, the pattern of the spiritual warfare connected to it between Pharaoh/gods of Egypt and Moses who delivered the Word God, the judgment and the deliverance, again, a three-in-one pattern. Through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus, the Lamb of God, we see the fulfilment of the Passover with the warfare of His suffering, of His death and descent into hell, and of the judgment against death and the deliverance/ascent. We need to see the pattern and its fulfilment in order to walk in it as His servants for the sake of those who are held in any kind of spiritual or physical bondage, and of those, there are many in this world. 

     Next week we will look at part two of this two-week Sabbath reading portion, Acharei-Mot.

     If you would like to learn more about these things, you can join me in my prayer: "Heavenly Father, the LORD's Passover, and Your holy tabernacle are precious in Your sight. Both of these were accomplished through the sacrifice of Your beloved Son, Jesus, as the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world. Help me to understand the depths of Passover, which still affects with power the present and the future, and the glory of Your dwelling place, the tabernacle of the LORD, in and with us, which also still impacts the present and the future. Let me follow You according to Your Word of the Covenant, both the concealed and revealed. Cleanse me and purge me of all ungodliness and fill me with Your Holy Spirit to teach me Your Word and ways so I can walk in Your life-changing truth. I ask this in the name of Jesus. AMEN."

 *NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.

     

     

Cleansed

      The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is M'tzora, meaning "Infected one". This year this particular reading portion, which comes from Leviticus chapters 14 and 15, occurs on the Sabbath called Ha-Gadol, the Great Sabbath, which is the Sabbath before Passover, which occurs next week. Keeping that in mind, we will see how this M'tzora reading portion will help to prepare us for the coming Passover. The first verse of Lev. 14 says: "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'This shall be the law of the leper (sara- to be diseased of the skin [flesh], stricken with leprosy, to scourge, to strike down, one stricken or smitten [see Isa. 53:4], scabbed) for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest."

     Leprosy is a condition of the flesh. For those who are called to walk in the Spirit of God, we understand that we are not to walk in the flesh or its cravings which lead to death. Paul wrote that in his flesh, nothing good dwells, but in his own strength, he is unable to change this (Rom. 7:18-20). However, as Paul continued to write about the sin in his flesh, or spiritual leprosy, he also asked the question: "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" His answer to his own question is Jesus Christ (Rom. 7:22-25). We see that within the Hebrew meaning of the word "leper", is "to scourge", "one stricken or smitten". The Roman scourge marks that covered Jesus' body, front and back, were for the healing of the spiritual leprosy of our flesh. Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah, the Servant of God: "Surely He has borne (nasa- bear, lift up, take away, carry, forgive, endure, be swept away) our griefs (holi/halal - sickness, calamity, disease, grief, an evil/profane, pollute, stain, defile, wounded, desecrate, pollute oneself, to violate a covenant, to wound, bore through or pierce) and carried (sabal - to bear a load, drag oneself along, to carry a heavy burden) our sorrows (makob/ka'ab - pain, sorrow, anguish, affliction, pain of soul/hurt, mar, feel pain, a sorrowing soul, afflict); Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." (Isa. 53:4-5). Jesus was scourged, stricken and smitten with our spiritual leprosy in order to carry it away from us and heal us.

     The Gospels tell us that Jesus had the authority to cleanse lepers: "...behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.' Then He put out His hand and touched (aptomai/apto - to attach oneself to, to adhere to, cling to, to fasten fire to a thing/to fasten to, set on fire, light, kindle) him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' Immediately the leprosy left him. And He charged him to tell no one, 'But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded." (Lk. 5:12-13, see also Lk. 17:11-19). The disciples of Jesus were also sent out with His commands, including the command to "cleanse the lepers". (Mt. 10:5-8). Jesus could have just spoken the Word and the leper would have been healed, but He touched the leper. As we see above in the Greek meaning of the word, this wasn't a simple touch, but Jesus adhered Himself to the leper, and cleansed him with spiritual fire. Are we, His disciples, ministering to the spiritual lepers in this same manner? We will see more about this cleansing fire later.

     Jesus also healed a woman who was afflicted with the same affliction, a continual bloody discharge, as is mentioned in this Sabbath's reading portion from Lev. 15:25-28. The woman who encountered Jesus had the discharge for twelve years and was therefore considered to be "unclean" according to the Law of Moses. She had not found healing anywhere else although she had spent all of her money to do so. She was healed by touching (aptomai, same as above) the hem/fringe/specially knotted tassels (tzitzit) of His garment (tallit - prayer shawl) (see Lk. 8:40-48). Jesus felt the healing power flow out of Him to her.

     Our starting verse in Lev. 14:1 above talked about the day of the leper's cleansing. The word "cleansing" in Hebrew, tahora/tohar/tasher, means much more than we would think. It means: "purifying, cleansing, blood of purification, purity of heart/purifying, clearness, glory, luster, brightness, splendor, majesty/to be clean, pure, purge, purifier, to be bright, shine, uncontaminated, morally innocent, holy, wash oneself with water, perfect, miraculously freed from leprosy, to become clean and pure as opposed to the filth of leprosy." The cleansing associated with leprosy is also associated with the bright, shining, splendor, majesty, holiness and perfection of the glory of God, according to the Hebrew root word meanings above. This glory is the root or source of the cleansing, as well as its result. The cleansing that cleanses the leper is by the power of God. Sometimes, I find that often we view this kind of cleansing as something determined and accomplished by ourselves. We want to decide what needs to be cleansed, and how and when it will be cleansed. In an opposite manner, David's prayer to the LORD was: "Purge me...Wash me...Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Ps. 51:7, 10). David put his cleansing into the hands of the LORD.

     Even the disciples had difficulty understanding the difference between the sovereign work of God in cleansing and ineffective "self-help" religious ideas. Just before the day of the Passover feast, Jesus, our Passover Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29-36), had a meal with His disciples. Judas had already decided to betray Jesus, and Jesus knew that He was about to leave this world and go the Father. Jesus got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing and wrapped Himself in a towel (lention - linen cloth [see info Shroud of Turin], towel or apron). He poured water in a basin and began to wash (nipto - to cleanse) His disciples' feet and wipe (ekmasso - wipe off, wipe away, to handle or squeeze away) them with the towel. When Jesus got to Simon Peter, Peter was reluctant to be washed by His Master, saying, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" Jesus answered him: "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." Peter said to Jesus: "You shall never wash my feet!' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Peter then agreed to be washed whole-heartedly. (Jn. 13:1-9). Again, Jesus physically touched and cleansed them, and wiped the filth away.

     We see this kind of sovereign cleansing again in the reading portion of this Sabbath that is directly related to Shabbat Ha-Gadol, the Great Sabbath that precedes Passover. This reading is from Malachi 3: "But who can endure the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega, see note below) day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire (es - fire, burning, fiery, flaming, heat, altar-fire, splendor, brightness) and like launderers' (kabas - to wash by treading with feet, also in the sense to purge from sin) soap (borit/bor/barar - alkali used in washing, something having a cleansing property/cleanness of hands, purity/chosen, clean, manifest, bright, purge out, make shining). He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega, see note below) sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness." (v. 2-3). This prophecy is directed towards the (Messianic, see note below) priesthood of God, which will be cleansed and refined, purified and purged by the LORD Himself.

     It is interesting that included in the tradition of the Passover Seder, or meal, hands are washed twice under flowing water during the course of the meal. As we can see by the reading selections for this Sabbath before Passover, the theme of the LORD is "cleansing". Passover is not only observed by the Jewish people, but because of its relationship with the blood of the Lamb many Christians also observe Passover. The blood of the Passover Lamb painted on the door frames caused the angel of death to pass over the houses of the Israelites leaving them untouched, while at the same time, the plague of the death struck all of the first born of the Egyptians. Because of this final plague of the LORD, the Israelites were set free from slavery in Egypt. see (Ex. 12:5-14, 29-33). Our Communion, or Lord's Supper, came to us as Jesus revealed the meaning of Passover's Lamb (Himself), bread and wine to His disciples (Mt. 26:26-29, 1 Cor. 11:23-26).

     Passover is often viewed and observed in a tradition-based manner as a memorial of a past miraculous deliverance by God's Might, rather than of His continuing present-day power. We are assured by God's Word that He is not a relic confined to the past, but He also inhabits and miraculously works in our present and our future. From this Sabbath reading portion for the Great Sabbath before Passover, the LORD said: "For I am the LORD, I do not change...Return to Me and I will return to you." (Mal. 3:6-7, see also Heb. 13:8). Passover was also a prophecy of the Lamb of God to come, the Messiah/Christ Jesus (see Jn. 1:29-36), whose blood would deliver us from sin and death and, as we can see from our study above, Passover is still full of the deliverance power of God. Who else but God can cleanse us of the vanity and death of our mortal flesh?  This could be why God wanted Passover to be remembered throughout all future generations. Passover is still working on our behalf. As Passover is observed this year, whether by Jews or Christians, we must understand the meaning of that doorway painted with the blood of the Lamb and approach it reverently with head bowed. It is a doorway of power as well as past, present-day and future faith (Jn. 10:7-10). Through the blood-stained doorway is Spirit and life. Outside the doorway is flesh and death. It is a doorway that, as we enter through it, we enter by the life and the blood that was shed for our deliverance. Let us take this opportunity to ask and allow the Lord to do a Passover work in us - to purge us, wash us, and create in us a clean heart and a steadfast spirit, as David prayed. Let us return to the LORD, and He will return to us. 

     *NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.

     If you would like to learn more about the cleansing of God, you can join me in my prayer: "Father God and LORD of all, You have commanded Your people to remember Your Passover. You still deliver Your people by Your mighty right arm. You sent Your Passover Lamb, Your own Son, Jesus, to deliver us from the death of our own sins and flesh. By Your Holy Spirit, which You sent to lead me into all truth, teach me to walk in the knowledge of Your Passover and to teach future generations that You still deliver. As I pass through the blood-stained Doorway that You provided for me, into Your covenant of Spirit and eternal life, let me put all other things aside, and seek Your cleansing. Forgive me, Lord, when I have limited Your Passover to the past and tradition, and not recognized the eternal power of Your Passover. I ask this in the name of Jesus, my Passover Lamb. AMEN."

     

     

Zion

      This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled T'azria, which means "She bears seed". We can already see a special significance of this title as God prophesied to Satan from the beginning that the woman would bear a seed that would crush Satan's head (see Gen. 3:15). The reading portion includes Leviticus Chapter 12. The title of the Sabbath portion comes from Lev. 12:2: "If a woman have conceived seed..." (KJV). The word for seed here is the Hebrew word zara, which means "sow, conceive, yielding or producing seed, expanding, scatter seed, to disseminate, become pregnant, to be made fruitful." We are reminded here of the parable that Jesus taught about the sower who sows seed, which is the Word of God, and the great fruitfulness of it, or the lack of resulting fruitfulness (Mt. 13:3-9, 18-23).

      This chapter of Leviticus deals with the laws of Motherhood and Childbirth. The LORD is very protective over the mother and the child, providing a period of cleansing, forty to eighty days, and an atoning sacrifice for the new mother in the law of Moses. If the mother was not able to provide a lamb for the atoning sacrifice, the LORD accepted a more humble sacrifice instead. 

     A male child born was to be circumcised (mul - to destroy or purge the unclean and profane from minds, heart, and body; consecrate self; cut to harvest grains) on the eighth (semini - above the perfection of seven; plenteous, abundance, rich, fat, robust man, shine, to cover, plumpness; octave:lowest and gravest note sung by men's voices) day of life. We can see that circumcision has a much richer meaning than we might have thought, and we can see why God made circumcision a sign of His covenant with Abraham, and the miraculous promises that were connected to that covenant. As is included in the meaning of the word circumcision in Hebrew, Paul wrote that although physical circumcision profits in every way, God is looking for the inward circumcision of the heart (see Rom. 2:28-29, Rom. 3:1-2). The circumcision of the eighth day is not to benefit God, but to bless and benefit the new child, who will be entrusted with the oracles of God (see Rom. 3:1-2 above). While many view childbirth as just a physical and biological process of reproduction, solely within the control and choice of the parents, God views childbirth as a powerful spiritual event of precious and defining significance, and as such He made the spiritual provision for it in the Law of Moses.

     What is extremely interesting in this week's assigned Sabbath reading portions is the connection made between the rituals of birth from Leviticus, above, to a prophetic Word from Isaiah. This connection will add to our understanding of a great mystery in scripture: the mystery of Zion. Zion is viewed as being a synonym for Israel and for Jerusalem, and we will see that connection, but we will also see more.  We will try to search more deeply into Zion.

     How is Zion connected to birth? Isaiah wrote in the very last of his recorded prophecies about the fact that the sacrifices made by God's people have become empty in His sight, saying: "...Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, so will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered, When I spoke they did not hear; But they did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight." (Isa. 66:3-4). They worshipped the LORD with offerings, but not out of love and regard for Him. These are not the people that the LORD will look upon, but He will regard those who are poor and of a contrite spirit, and who tremble at His word (v. 2). The LORD then begins to speak to those who do tremble at His word, to those who were hated and cast out by those who thought they should be ashamed: "Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation (goy/geva/gev/ga'a/gab - nation, people, Gentiles, heathen, of Israel, of non-Hebrews, of descendants of Abraham, body, corpus/the back, behind, body/back, midst, body, belly/rise up, be exalted in triumph, be lifted up, be risen, raised up, to increase, magnificent, of God/back - see Ps. 129:3: "The plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows long.") be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?" says the LORD. "Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?" says your God. Rejoice with (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; That you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory." (v. 7-11). Attached to this reading portion from Isaiah, there is also a reference to "the new heavens and the new earth" (v. 22) which we also see in the New Testament. 

     We usually associate the Hebrew word goy, which is translated above as the word, "nation", as meaning Gentiles or non-Hebrew people, but Strong's Concordance does not limit the meaning of goy to that, as we see above.  Many feel that the "nation" being born in a day, as in the above verse, refers to the re-birth of the nation of Israel by U.N. proclamation in 1948. It can also mean, as we look deeper into the Hebrew meanings, that there was a day when a people would be established, both of the Hebrews and of the Gentiles. This type of people would be established from a body, or corpus. These people were to be born out of something or someone who was raised up and exalted in triumph. Zion brought forth *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega (*see explanation at the end of this blog entry) children, and Jerusalem would become not only a physical place, but an *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega place of supernatural consolation and abundance. Are we able to see how "Zion" might mean more in the eyes of some than the surface understanding of the location of natural place only? One meaning doesn't replace or negate the other but is incorporated into it as one. 

     We will also see the very important association of Zion with King David. Whenever I see David doing something in scripture, I look for a prophetic revelation of Messiah/Christ because it is from David's house that the Messiah would come. We know that David had this special prophetic and revelatory gift regarding the Messiah/Christ (example - Ps. 22). Let's look a little further into "Zion" with this in mind.

     "Zion" is first mentioned in 2 Sam. 5:7 and 9: "Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David)....Then David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the City of David. And David built (bana - establish, build up, repair, have children, obtain children, beget children) all around from the Millo (Millo/mala - rampart, mound/filled, overflowing, abundance, consecrate) and inward (bayit/bana - dwelling, within, home as containing a family, descendants as an organized body/see bana above)). So David went on and became great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him". As we can see, many of the meanings connected with this conquest of Zion has to do with having or begetting children, or a dwelling containing children.

      The Jebusites (yebusi/yebus/bus -"threshing place"/tread down, reject, trample down as a thing despised, loath, be polluted), a tribe of Canaanites, who possessed Zion had said that King David and his army would never be able to come into their fortified stronghold. They claimed that even the blind and the lame of the stronghold would be able to repel David. David conquered the stronghold anyway and renamed it the "City of David". A threshing floor, part of the meaning of "Jebusite", is where the wheat or grain and the chaff are separated by beating it, and the edible part of the wheat is gathered into the barn and the useless chaff/tare is gathered and burned. It represents the judgment place of the Messiah/Christ (Mt. 13:24-30). The blind and the lame mentioned here spiritually represent "men who walk in the darkness of ignorance" and those who are "scornfully awkward like the leaping priests of Ba'al", whom Elijah destroyed. The spiritual "chaff" meant for judgment thought that they could escape it if they controlled the threshing place. As with the Jebusites and David, Hell, full of the spiritually blind and lame (see above meanings, also related to the root word of the Greek Hades), could not stop the invasion of Messiah/Christ after His death (Rev. 1:17-18).

     We also learn important information about the concept of "Zion" from its meaning in Hebrew. We will see that Zion represents a transformation. From the Hebrew word siyon and the root, siya, we have the meanings "parched place" and "dryness, drought, desert, barren, solitary place, to parch". However, from the Hebrew root siyun we have the meaning "signpost, monumental and guiding pillar, waymark, a pillar being erected whether for sepulchral purposes or to show the way." Going from a parched, solitary place, Zion became a signpost to show the way. In our faith, an empty dry sepulchre or tomb became the signpost, the monumental and guiding pillar to the resurrection of Jesus, the son of David, the Messiah/Christ for both Hebrew and Gentile people (see Rom. 1:16).  The prophet Ezekiel wrote of a similar transformation in a valley of very dry bones, which became alive again by the Word of the LORD (Ezek. 37:1-10). 

     From our Sabbath reading portion, Isaiah wrote: "And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,' says the LORD." (Isa. 66:23). The meaning of "flesh" as used in the above verse is very significant. It is the Hebrew word basar, which means: "flesh, mankind, all living things (creatures), the living body, the whole body, organs of regeneration and reproduction." Basar also means: "bear tidings, publish, preach, show forth, gladden with good news, to announce salvation as good news, to receive good news, glad tidings, made more fair and beautiful by joy and cheerfulness." We have the manifestation of the awesome meaning of basar in scripture at the birth of Messiah/Christ as an angel of God declared to the shepherds near Bethlehem: "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ (Messiah) the Lord. And this will be the sign (note that the meaning of Zion is also as a signpost or way marker) to you: you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men." (Lk. 2:10-14).

     We have come full circle to the laws of childbirth with which we started in Lev. 12, above. Mary, the mother of Jesus, fulfilled the requirements of the law of Moses for both mother and male child according to the Gospel (see Lk. 2:21-24). Jesus had been circumcised on the eighth day and Mary completed the days of purification and offered the more humble sacrifice allowed of "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." at the Temple in Jerusalem. (v. 24). However, while many would believe that she brought the more humble offering allowed by law to the Temple, she had really brought the preferred offering according to Lev. 12 for her purification: she indeed brought the Lamb to the Temple, who was her newborn son, Jesus. (see Jn. 1:29-36).

     As Isaiah promised, Zion brought forth a spiritual people and nation (goy, see above) in a day. Apostle Peter (Simon), who was a Jew, wrote of this basar transformation of Zion: "Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, 'Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame...you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." (1 Pet. 2:6, 9-10). 

     The Word of God is awesome in its richness and hidden depths! We are invited by scripture to search out those depths (see Prov. 25:2, Acts 17:10-12).

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which is the name of Jesus Christ in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.

     If you would like to learn more about being part of Zion and spiritual birth, you can pray with me:   "Father, You have made a special people, both of Jews and Gentiles, who were born in a day through the precious cornerstone of Zion, Jesus. As part of Zion, You transformed me from a dry, isolated and parched place, into a pillar that is meant to show the way to Christ and life. New spiritual life is birthed out of Zion for me and for all flesh. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit who will teach me Your Word and lead me into this special place of Zion built upon Jesus Christ. I ask this in the name of Jesus. AMEN.".

AbovePerfection

      This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Sh'mini, which means "8th Day". The reading portion includes Lev. 9 through Lev. 11. The title comes from Lev. 9:1: "It came to pass (haya/hava/ava - exist, become (like), be established, to be finished/existence, shall be, become, breathe, the breath of living creatures, to live/ negatively, the root ava mentioned above includes the meaning: lust, greatly desire, covet, be greedy, crave, long for, turn aside) on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel." There is a positive and a negative meaning associated with the phrase "It came to pass", as we can see. Breathing life is created, existence is established, or the opposite of life - the darkness of heart that leads to sin and death is established.

     We see here in the meaning of the Hebrew of this verse that something became alive and breathing, came into existence on the eighth day. "Eighth" in Hebrew is semini. It is an ordinal number, showing a progression in order like sixth, seventh, eighth, and so on. The root words connected to semini: semone and samen, refer to "a surplus above the perfect seven" and "fatness, plenteousness". There is also a root word, saman, which can mean to shine from fat or oil, or, in a negative sense, to be covered in the grossness of fat, and to cover the heart with fat to render it callous so as not to heed the words of the prophet (see Isa. 6:10). Again, we can have a positive or negative result when going "above the perfect seven". The abundance above the seven can work two different ways depending upon the heart of the person. In another reading portion from this Sabbath, Solomon wrote of a man having great plenty in every way, "but his soul be not filled with good (tob - goodness, beauty, favor, gladness, joy, delight, merry, agreeable, to do rightly)". It would have been better, Solomon wrote, if that man had been a stillborn child rather than to not to see this goodness. He calls it vanity and an evil affliction (Eccl. 6:1-6). Good and goodness are part of the character and name of God (see Ex. 34:5-7, Ps. 23:5-6). Psalm 23 is an "eighth day Psalm" to me, incorporating the eighth day blessings of abundance, which are those blessings that result from exceeding above the perfection of "seven". We will read about those blessings and where they come from later.

     However, we see a problem today. We have a very prosperous society, but there is sickness of heart and mind, an evil affliction as Solomon wrote, because we consume the bounty, the fatness, but we as a society have systematically and deliberately removed the knowledge of the goodness of God. Without being able to incorporate that goodness, having all of earth's riches sickens the soul rather than gladdens it. Without the goodness that is rooted in God, Solomon wrote that man has no hope or future regardless of how much wealth he has or how long his days are (v. 10-12). Rather than the eighth day blessing, we are living the eighth day curse. Let's now see what happened on the eighth day in Lev. 9.

     The eighth day in Lev. 9 marks the beginning of the priests' ministry, after Aaron and his sons spent seven days of consecration, being set apart as holy. So in numeral order, the eighth day is above or beyond the perfection of the seven of consecration. This priestly ministry started with peace offerings, sin offerings and burnt offerings made to the LORD to make atonement for the priests and the people. This eighth day would be a special day: "...for today the LORD will appear to you...and the glory of the LORD will appear to you." (v. 4, 6). From the sacrifices, Aaron's sons "presented (masa - find, attain, suffice, deliver, secure, to meet, to encounter, to detect, to discover, to come to, obtain knowledge of, be in possession of) to him the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) blood, which he sprinkled all around on the altar (mizbeah/zabah - altar/to slaughter, kill, sacrifice, to slaughter in divine judgment)." (v. 18).  After the offerings were completed, the LORD kept His promise: "Then Aaron lifted (nasa - lift up, bear up, carry, forgive, be exalted, take up) his (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down (yarad - descend, sink down, go down alive into Hades [see Ps. 55:15-16], those who go down to the grave) from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) people. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces." (v. 22-24). This was an awesome eighth day event. The glory and fire of the LORD answered their offerings.

     The Hebrew word for blessing used above as Aaron blessed the people, also contains the meaning "to curse": (barak - bless, salute, kneel down, cause to kneel, be blessed, be adored, also to break down, to curse, to imprecate some evil on one by calling upon God, blaspheme, impious words against God, to wish ill). As we have seen above, the eighth day can have a dual meaning. What made the eighth day above such a wondrous event? 

     We can see the hint of the presence of Jesus Christ in this eighth day event. He is in the offering. He is in the knowledge of the blood. He is in the descent of Aaron from the brazen altar of sacrifice, just as Jesus descended into the realm of death and the grave after offering Himself as a sacrifice for us. There He led captivity captive, took the keys of authority over death, hell and the grave, and "ascended far above all the heavens". (see Ps. 68:18-19, Eph. 4:7-10, 1 Pet. 3:18-19, Jn. 20:16-18, Rev. 1:17-18). The eighth day to us must be all that is contained in the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ into the realm far above the highest realms: the realm of all glory, which He has delivered to us (Jn. 17:22-24). It is from this realm of glory above the highest realms that He blesses us with all of the riches and abundance, particularly spiritual riches, of that glory realm (Phil. 4:18-29). The word "above" in Hebrew is al, meaning, "over, in addition to, above, excess, pre-eminence, state of rest, on high, the Highest". The root word, ala, of "above" gives us a deeper understanding of this highest region: "offer up, bring, come, cause to ascend, go up, light, increase, raised, arose, to be taken up into, go up over, exalted".  The al "above" is the place of God (Gen. 28:12-13). We have the scripture also from Paul: "...to know the love of Christ which passes (hyperballo - beyond anything, surpass, exceed, excel) knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fulness (pleroma - fulness, abundance, copiousness) of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above (hyper - beyond, more than, above, very chiefest) all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Eph. 3:19-21). What a wonderful eighth day calling to which we have been called! Paul tells us to "walk worthy of the calling to which you were called...". (Eph. 4:1).

     We have seen the duality in meaning of the eighth day, which can be either abundant blessing, or abundantly empty and hopeless life, a curse. The dividing line between the two, as we saw in the Hebrew meanings of Lev. 9 above, is the new and abundant life of glory in Jesus Messiah/Christ (see Jn. 10:7-11), or the vanity and evil of a life without Him and the work of salvation which He completed (Eph. 2:12-13). 

     We see this duality again immediately after the glory was experienced on the eighth day. This is what occurred: "Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane (zur - estranged, gone away, turn aside, depart, stranger, foreigner, enemy, loathsome, alienated, prostitute, adulterer, falsehood, lie) fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. And Moses said to Aaron, 'This is what the LORD spoke, saying: 'By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all people I must be glorified." (Lev. 10:1-3). These two priests, who had experienced the eighth day blood and glory, approached the LORD in a manner that did not respect His holiness and glory. By doing so, the LORD did not recognize them as priests, but as strangers, and destroyed them. Jesus mentioned the same thing about some of those who will claim to know Him and serve him doing spiritual works in His name. To them He will say: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." (see Mt. 7:21-23). Jesus will not accept "strange fire" from us, a fire mixed with something loathsome and foreign to the Lord. Are we coming before the Lord with strange fire?

     Moses had two kinsmen of the dead priests to carry their dead (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) brethren from the front of the sanctuary, and out of the camp (v. 4-5). However, to Aaron and his two remaining sons who were still serving in the tabernacle, Moses gave a serious warning not to defile their holy priestly robes with signs of mourning for the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) burning which the LORD had kindled, or to come out of the tabernacle "...lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you.' And they did according to the word of Moses." (v. 6-7). We want the anointing of the Lord, the priceless Holy Spirit, but do we understand the standards by which the Lord commands that we wear His anointing? Paul wrote: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." (1 Cor. 3:16-17, see also 1 Cor. 6:19-20).

     As those who are part of the eighth day new and abundant life in Messiah/Christ, which is above the perfection of seven, we also have been made priests by God (1 Pet. 2:9-10). We are purposed to be blessed, as we offer our pure worship to God. We are here to bring God's eighth day glory among His *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega people. Our golden bowls of incense are not filled with strange fire, but prayers, declaring the new song: "You (the Lamb, Jesus) are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth." (Rev. 5:9-10).

     Let's learn to walk worthy of this exceeding abundance from above that has been given to us from God through the death, burial (descent), resurrection and ascension of His Son.

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which is the name of Jesus Christ in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.

     If you would like to know more about the eighth day and its calling and blessings, you can pray with me: "Dearest Father, You have called me into Your eighth day abundance through our Savior, Your Son, Jesus. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit to lead me into the new life of glory and priestly ministry before You. You said that You have filled me with all fulness of God. Through Christ, I have been joined to You in the highest realm, the realm of glory and exceeding abundance. This is the substance of Your Kingdom, and this is the calling and purpose to which I have been called. Help my understanding so that my offerings to You in holiness will bring forth Your glory in the earth. I ask this in the name of Jesus. AMEN."

     

Commands

       This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Tzav which means "Command" and includes Leviticus Chapters 6 through 8. In Lev. 6:8-9, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Command (sava - command, appoint, order, ordain, send a messenger, set up, cause to exist, to commission) (aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת/Alpha and Omega in Greek as Α Ω , referring to Jesus Christ: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13)-Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the burnt offering...". The Hebrew letters of sava shown above for the word "command" are tsadhe, vaw and heh, which have the combined meanings of "Behold the nail that joins to righteousness."  We believers in Christ can't help but see Him and the nails of His crucifixion in this meaning. We also see Messiah/Christ in the meaning of the word sava/command because in another Sabbath reading from Malachi Chapter 3, the LORD promises to "send My messenger...even the Messenger of the covenant" who will purify the Levites like a refining fire in order to restore righteousness to an offering that will be pleasant to the LORD (Mal. 3:1-4). The attitude of the priests towards the offerings to the LORD had become mixed with a natural or worldly attitude which caused the offerings to become unacceptable, and the priests were not even aware that this had happened. The priests had lost the significance and holy value of the offering. This Messenger (malak - messenger, representative, angel, deputy, priest, prophet, teacher, ambassador, king) of the covenant is described as "the LORD, whom you seek...Behold He is coming".

     Before the Book of Leviticus, there were no offerings specified by God for sin, trespass or peace (for the purpose of thanksgiving). Before the Book of Leviticus, the Law of Moses only mentioned offerings and sacrifices in connection to the Feasts of the LORD (Ex. 23:14-19) including Passover, and for the tabernacle, and for the sanctification of the tabernacle along with Aaron and his sons. At the beginning of Leviticus, the LORD called (cried out) to Moses and began to give him instruction on the various offerings that would be required for sin, trespass and peace.  Why had this sudden development become necessary? The prophet Jeremiah gives us understanding below.

     In another reading portion from this Sabbath, the Word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah gives this revelation regarding these offerings: "For I did not speak to your (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-fathers, or command (see sava, above) them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-thing (dabar - speech, word, things, commandment, purpose, promise, oracle, commune, setting or hanging in order, to lead flocks to pasture, involving leading and following) is what I commanded (sava) them, saying, 'Obey My voice (qol - voice, speech, sound, thunderings, call aloud), and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded (sava) you, that it may be well with you.' Yet they did not obey or incline (nata - stretch out, extend) their (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-ear (ozen/azan - ear, hearing, receiver of divine revelation/to hear, listen, perceive by the ear, hear and obey), but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward (ahor/ahira/ra/ra'a - back parts, behind, backside, on the back/"brother or kindred of evil, wickedness, mischief, hurt, sore, affliction, grieved, injury, malignant, distress/evildoer, afflict, hurt, be broken in pieces) and not forward (panim/pana - face, presence, turn towards/to face, to turn back)." (Jer. 7:22-24). Jeremiah is referring to the original command that God had intended for and promised to His people as He told Moses: ",,,tell the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel...Then all the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do'...And the LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever." (Ex. 19:3-9). However, when the time came, the people with the aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega-ears refused to hear for themselves (Ex. 20:18-19). They did not go forward (turning to face the LORD), but turned backward, as Jeremiah said.

     Jesus repeatedly exhorted the people who came to Him to hear Him: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Mt. 13:9, 43, Mk. 4:9, 23, Lk. 14:35, 8:18, 9:44). Jesus also gave this same command to the seven churches of Revelation who needed to hear by the Holy Spirit either the Lord's correction or encouragement (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17. 29, 3:6, 13, 23). Jesus also spoke of the aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega kind of ears when He said during one of His Sabbath teachings: "My sheep hear My voice (phone/phaino/phos/phao - sound of uttered words/shed light, bring forth into the light, cause to shine, be resplendent, become evident/light, heavenly light, having an extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality, of truth and knowledge together with the spiritual purity associated with it/to shine, make manifest), and I know them, and they follow (see dabar, above) Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand...I and My Father are one." (Jn. 10:27-28, 30). There were also those who "stopped their ears" in order to refuse hearing Stephen as he related God's plan of salvation, and then they stoned him to death (Acts 7:54-60). The Greek language gives us a beautiful picture of the nature of the LORD's spoken voice (see above phone/phaino/phos/phao). This is the same voice that spoke, and the creation was brought into the light and manifested, including the life in men (see Gen. 1:1-28, Jn. 1:1-5, 14). 

     The prophet Isaiah wrote about hearing the voice of the LORD: "Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live (haya - save, quicken, revive, recover, be restored to life, revive from death); And I will make an everlasting covenant with you - The sure mercies of David." (Isa. 55:2-3). Here, the LORD was not just talking about physical life as a result of hearing, but the life of the soul, even revival from death, according to the meaning of the Hebrew above. In another part of scripture, God told the prophet Ezekiel to speak the prophetic Word of the LORD over the valley of dry bones. Those very dry bones, although they didn't have physical ears, "heard" the Word of the LORD and began to manifest flesh, and draw breath, "...and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army." (Ezek. 37:1-10). No wonder the LORD told His people to hear His voice and obey His commands and live! (Deut. 4:1).

     Ezekiel told us that there can even be the resurrection of the dead by hearing. Jesus raised Lazarus after four days of death by commanding in a loud voice: "Lazarus come forth!", and he did (Jn. 11:43-44). Jesus also said: "Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears My word (logos/lego - a word uttered by a living voice, of speech, anything reported in speech, thing spoken of/to say, to speak) and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live...Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (Jn. 5:24-29 excerpt, see also Dan. 12:1-3). Our resurrection from the dead is manifested by our having aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega-ears that hear the voice command of the Son of God.

     This Tzav Sabbath is the Sabbath that comes right before Resurrection Sunday this year. Jesus, the righteous offering before God, was crucified on Passover, and raised three days later on the Feast of First Fruits. Because of this, scripture calls Him our Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7-8), and the First Fruits (Lev. 23:9-14) of the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-23). The apostle Peter wrote that Jesus had received (lambano - to take with the hand, lay hold of, to take upon one's self) from God the honor and glory "when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And we heard this voice when we were with Him on the holy mountain (meaning the Mount of Transfiguration)." (2 Peter 1:17-18). This Resurrection Sunday is a time of thanks, triumph and celebration in the resurrection of Jesus, and therefore the promise of our own resurrection. It is also a perfect time to confirm our commitment and understanding that we will hear the resurrection voice of the Son of God with our aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega-ears in all that He tells us and obey it.

     If you would like to learn more about hearing the voice of God, you can pray with me:  "Dearest Father, You have called me to have ears to hear and a heart to obey Your Words. Forgive me when I have "stopped my ears", refused to hear You, and turned backward instead of turning forward towards Your face. The wondrous resurrection of Your Son, Jesus, was accomplished so I could follow Him as He commands and calls me by His voice into everlasting life. All creation responds and manifests to the commands of Your voice and, by Your Holy Spirit, so do I. In Jesus' name, I pray and give You thanks. AMEN."