Bully's Blog

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave the pattern for a new Tabernacle. The sermon follows the pattern of the Tabernacle furniture, which in turn follows the pattern of the Creation week.1 At ‘Day 3′, Altar and Table, are His commands concerning Covenants (divorce and oaths), and the Lord’s prayer.

“Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:24

Interestingly, these blessings are mirrored by the curses upon the saints’ evil twins in Matthew 23, the Jews who sat in Moses’ seat of judgment.2 The “woes” follow exactly the same pattern, and climax with Christ’s prophecy of the destruction of the Old Covenant Temple. And what do we find in this passage at Day 3?

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And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. He opened the shaft of the Abyss, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Revelation 9:1-2

The fifth trumpet aligns with both the Feast of Trumpets, and Deuteronomy. It is the summoning of armies on Day 5, swarms of birds and fish filling sky and sea as glorious clouds. The Altar of the Abyss, in this case, is now an evil twin of the Altar of Incense, a demonic response to the ascension of Christ and His new government. Continue reading

“And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the Land, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the Land and gathered the grape harvest of the Land and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.” Revelation 14:18-20

Like Pharaoh, the “plagues” Trumpet warnings only hardened the hearts of the Jewish leaders. Like Pharaoh, he had raised up the Herods only to demonstrate His power in their destruction (Romans 9:17). Continue reading

High Priest in the Unholy Place

The Lampstand, Table and Incense Altar are Word, Sacrament and Government. Christ was tempted with unholy Word (bread), unholy sacrament (disobedience 1) and unholy government (a counterfeit kingdom). Couple this with the facts that He was in the wilderness for 40 days, and that Eve was tempted in the same way, and you have a definitive triune breakdown of the golden calf. It was a false Tabernacle, a metal beast instead of a metal man.

As Greater Eve, the first century church was tempted in exactly the same way, but by this point the golden calf was actually speaking. Herod’s temple was the image of the beast, the Tabernacle of the Abyss. We see its antidote in Revelation 1: a glorified metal man, come to judge a corrupted Eve (the harlot) and the beast she believed in.

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1 In this case it is a false death and resurrection. TAOTA

Revelation 20-21:21 as a new Tabernacle

This passage seems to follow the Tabernacle furniture (and the Feasts, but more subtly). It concerns the inauguration of the new heavens and new land, the gospel age as a new creation, beginning with the closing of the heavy lid of the false ark.

Day 1 Throne The Ark of the Abyss – Satan thrown into the pit (cf Zechariah 5)

Day 2 Firmament The Laver of the Abyss – Satan’s final rebellion ends in the lake of fire

Day 3 Altar (Land & Sea) The Altar of the Abyss – Land and Sea give up their dead to be judged

Day 4 Lampstand The Lampstand of Heaven – the Holy City (Eve lights) is ready for her Adam light

Day 5 Altar (Incense) The Altar of Heaven – True and false Eve armies are separated

Day 6 Firmament The Laver of Heaven – the Old Covenant crystal sea is replaced with a crystal city

Day 7 Throne The Ark of Heaven – the bridal city is described as pure gold, the Shekinah

Greater Eve, the virgin bride, is enthroned over the nations, a human government in heaven.

This pattern reflects the testing of Adam in the garden. Jesus deals here with Adam’s usurper and rescues Eve from the serpent by filling her with the light of the Law. She becomes a “fulfilled Ark” as the pattern is measured out across the world.

The remainder of Revelation begins a new pattern, but it ends halfway through at the same test Adam faced – the Tree of Life.

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The image above is from Elizabeth – the Golden Age, which contains some truly awesome ‘warrior bride’ iconography. TAOTA