“The Lord’s Table is for dangerous people.”
If you are going to baptize infants, it makes sense that you would also allow them to take Communion. Baptism brings one into the priesthood (through the Laver) to the court of God, and Communion is fellowship in the priestly kingdom. To unite the two is consistent—as consistent as the two pillars flanking the threshold of Solomon’s Temple.
“The meek will eventually inherit the earth but the wicked will always have to buy it.”
Reading the book of Zechariah, like most Bible prophecies, is like tuning in to Season 3 of any good TV series without watching Seasons 1 and 2. Our problem today is not that we haven’t actually read the books of Moses (well, I hope we have) but that we haven’t been taught to read them into the prophets and the New Testament. We treat them like we’ve now switched channels, or shows, and the authors are starting with a blank canvas! However, the canvas isn’t blank. The prophets were God’s repo men, and their messages were all framed in the context of the Covenant contract. What amazes me is how inventive the prophets are (or the Spirit is) in coming up with something new and surprising using the patterns laid down in Moses.
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart…” (Psalm 24:3-4)
In Leviticus, an Israelite is to lay his hand on the sacrifice that covers his sin and allows him to draw near to God. It was the red hand of death and the whiteness of a pure sacrifice willing to take the “stroke” (plague).
“And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.”
Genesis 22:10
But the Lord Himself covered Moses with His hand as the consuming fire of His glory passed-over the mountain. It was the hand of life and the whiteness of imparted glory. As far as was possible, Moses saw the Lord as He was, because he was like Him.
“I am the Door.”
The second part of both the Covenant and matrix structures concerns the authority of the transcendent God being delegated to His servant. Very often, a book of prophecy begins with a vision of the Lord, which promptly knocks Adam onto his face as a dead man, and the destroyer passes over him in the darkness. He is “waters divided.” He is called to be separate from the world, and this sanctification begins with mortification. [1] So Psalm 112, as the second in this Covenant song-cycle, concerns the outcome in the world of the faithful use of God’s authority by His Adam.
He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the Land. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them. The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dry-shod. There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11:12-16)
Everyone knows what “walking on water” means. You can do the impossible. Often it has a negative spin, as when it is applied to politicians with a Messiah-complex.
But what does it actually mean in the Bible? And why did Jesus do it?
Now it came to pass on the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. (Genesis 40:20-23)
Joseph’s life has three “matrix” cycles: as a prophet betrayed by his brothers [1], a priest tempted to “harlotry”, and finally as a conquering king.
“Do not forgive them, Father. They know exactly what they are doing.”
THIS POST HAS BEEN REMIXED AND INCLUDED IN GOD’S KITCHEN: THEOLOGY YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK
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Throughout the Bible there are two doors, or more correctly, a door and a window.
Both of them involve blood. The first takes us out of the world. The second puts us in government. The first is the Passover door, the second is a window in Jericho. One mirrors the other chiastically in the journey from slavery to Sabbath.
The New Covenant is not about salvation. It is about dominion. Before you call in the inquisitors, have a look at this diagram from my book:
NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN REMIXED AND INCLUDED IN GOD’S KITCHEN.
The Dominion pattern always begins with a Word from God. The one He speaks to then goes through a symbolic “Passover” death-and-resurrection. The new prophet is then “raised” to his feet (Firstfruits) and given a task. Filled with God’s Word, he opens it to the intended audience (Pentecost).[1]
In order for a stranger to eat Passover, he had to circumcise himself and his household (Ex. 12:45-49). If he did so, he became “like a native of the land” (v. 48). We are so accustomed to connecting Passover with the Lord’s Supper that it seems strange to consider that perhaps Passover was only for the priestly people, but such was the case. Converted gentiles were not to eat of it unless they were circumcised, and thereby were incorporated into the seed line of Abraham. Did this exclude them from salvation? No, it only excluded them from priestly duties. Did it make them second class citizens? Only in the eyes of the Pharisees. Biblically speaking, their downstream cultural labors in Havilah were just as important as Israel’s sanctuary task. After all, if everyone had become an Israelite, then who would mine the gold of Havilah? Who would bring it to the sanctuary? Israel had its task, and the converted nations had theirs.
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