Sex and Death
From the forthcoming Bible Matrix III: The House of God:
| ADAM Covenant Head |
COVENANT Past, present, future |
EVE Covenant People |
| 1 Word from God (1&2 combined) |
Transcendence (Genesis: The Fathers) |
2 Word to God (The Lord’s name) |
| 3 Adam’s Work (Sabbath) |
Hierarchy (Exodus: Slavery to Sabbath) |
4 Eve’s Offspring (Father & Mother, Land) |
| 5 No Murder (incarnate hatred) |
Ethics (Leviticus: sex and death) |
6 No Harlotry (incarnate lust) |
| 7 No Theft (false blessings) |
Sanctions (Numbers: tithes and Balaam) |
8 No false witness (false curses) |
| 9 Coveting House (10a) |
Succession (Deuteronomy: Preparation for Conquest) |
10 Coveting Household (10b) |
As we have seen, The Tabernacle was not only a model of heaven but a microcosm of a new earth, that is, a new Land. Its triune pattern would be measured out fractally in Levites serving god (Priestshood), Israelites worshiping God (Kinghood) and priests and people, left hand and right hand, as a witness to the nations (Prophethood).
Just as with Noah and his family, Israel would not simply be a new Man but a new Mankind, an entire culture, a “Church-State,” ready to be planted and multiplied. So, before this Ethical Garden could be planted in the Physical World, a new society had to be organized to mediate between the two.
Sex and Death
Leviticus is a book all about sex and death, and the nakedness inherent in our beginnings and endings. If we are reading the Bible “cumulatively,” this should make us think of the curses upon the naked Adam and Eve: Adam returning to the dust of the Land over which he sweats, and Eve’s manifold difficulties in producing offspring.
Leviticus takes these curses and expounds upon them in a manner intended to teach us about blamelessness. It is a “liturgical surgery” which deals with the flesh not through cutting and stitching, but through cutting and consumption by knife and fire, the flaming sword between God and men.
Since the spirit of Man was darkened, Levitical Law was Covenant Ethics incarnate in the Social and the Physical, much like the single Law in the Garden regarding the forbidden fruit (seed, flesh and skin). Levitical Law was a “dark saying” designed to bring light, to force men to meditate, and we are still chewing on it. The faithful wrestle and are nourished, and the unfaithful choke and die. Only with a submissive attitude can Adams and Eves discover the hidden intentions of God.
Levitical Law “measured out” the ministry of the Tabernacle in the flesh of Israelites. At various levels of holiness, it made every Israelite a Tabernacle. This means that none of Leviticus is obsolete for the Christian. In fact, it is even more beneficial for us than it was for the children of Israel. Unlike them, we all have the Spirit of God to illuminate these strange laws, which are heavenly truth engraved in earthly materials.
Perfect Skin
In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus stated that he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them. This was not completed until the destruction of the Temple, and with it, the offering of “blameless” animal substitutes.
The Law was fulfilled in Christ, and He is in heaven advocating for us as the Lamb. There’s no need for any atoning sacrifice on earth, nor is there any need for a Jewish priesthood with “blameless skin” or any other physical attributes. The “office” of Israel is now redundant, carried out entirely by Christ on our behalf.
Despite that fact that Leviticus is still useful for instruction and meditation, the Laws themselves have a “built-in obsolescence” as far as practice is concerned.
In Bible Matrix II, we spoke about every Covenant being a “tour of duty,” a commission which has a definite beginning and a definite end, like a harvest cycle. The Levitical Laws were for the Firstfruits, a commission which served to teach the nature of blameslessness until the Blameless Man fulfilled them. As the perfect and final “nearbringing,” His ascension would open heaven and allow God to pour out the blessing of a greater harvest. It should be no surprise that the Levitical Laws contained clues from the very beginning that they were a temporary arrangement.
The first seven chapters describe “private sacrifices,” following the fivefold Covenant pattern. They are a process of consecration, service, and deconsecration, a vow which has a beginning and an end.
Since they follow the Covenant pattern, they are also “cruciform”—a cross-shaped process around a cross-shaped house by a cross-shaped nation…
______________________________________
ART: Detail of Andy Warhol’s Gold Marilyn (1962) and Electric Chair (Red) (1964). As confused and immoral as he was, Warhol attended mass weekly during his entire life. These confronting works made icons out of sex and death. Like the Levitical Law, they say nothing and yet speak of everything.
