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.