Transformed for Worship and Communion

I’ve been leading an early Tuesday morning theology reading group for several months now. We’ve been thinking through L. Michael Morales’ excellent Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? In this post I’d like to summarize his teaching on the offering of Leviticus 1, then take that idea further for application to our experience as worshipers and disciples of Christ here and into eternity’s fulfillment of God’s ultimate purpose for our lives.

The Whole Burnt Offering Is An Ascension Offering (Leviticus 1:3-17)

·         As we’ve been reading Morales, he has repeatedly told us that the most foundational offering of the Old Testament worship system is not, as it is translated in our English texts, a “whole burnt offering.” It’s true that the offering is totally consumed on the altar, but a pile of ash is not the final state of the offering. The rising smoke is the goal of the offering.

·         All three sections describing this offering end with the same refrain: “…a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord” (1:9,13,17).

·         In this offering, the worshiper would select the animal, bring it to the Tabernacle, press his hands on it (identifying with it), kill it, dismember it, and give the pieces to the priest, who would burn it all on the altar. Since the sacrifice represents the worshiper, it pictures the complete dedication of the worshiper to God. The animal (a representative substitute for the worshiper) is transformed from flesh into a different state which is imitative of God’s symbolic presence (the cloud): the worshiper is able to rise up to God through this offering.

The Imagery Behind the Burnt Offering

·         The Hebrew word for “burnt offering” is העֹלָ, from the verb העָלָ (“ascend”). In fact, the same word translated “burnt offering” can even be translated “going up” steps (Ezekiel 40:26). The emphasis of the word is not on the burning, but on climbing up to the altar to put the sacrifice on it and the rising up of the smoke heavenward.

·         In 1 Kings 10:5, the queen of Sheba admires Solomon’s kingly court, his wisdom, but also a curious phrase translated several different ways:

o    “…his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord” (English Standard Version, Holman Christian Standard Bible).

o    “…his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord” (King James Version).

o    Eugene Peterson (b. 1932), in his paraphrase of the Bible, brings all the ideas behind this word together: “…the elaborate worship extravagant with Whole-Burnt-Offerings at the steps leading up to The Temple of God” (the Message).

o    “…his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord” (New American Standard Bible).

o    “…the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord” (New International Version).

o    “She saw the steps by which he went up to the house of the Lord” (New Life Version).

o    “…the burnt offerings Solomon made at the Temple of the Lord” (New Living Translation).

o    “…the beautiful stairway that led up to the Eternal’s temple” (the Voice).

·         The burnt offering in Genesis comes in two places:

o    Noah’s sacrifice to the Lord on top of Mount Ararat after the Flood (Genesis 8:20).

o    Abram’s sacrifice to the Lord on top of Mount Moriah (Genesis 22).

o    The two precedents to this offering are on mountaintops. We have to keep this in mind when we see the offering instituted in the liturgy of Israel. The altar is a bridge between earth (the worshiper) and heaven (the domain of God).

·         The section of the Psalter with the Songs of Ascents (מַעֲלָה) also enforces this idea (Psalms 120-134). The pilgrims would have sung these songs on the ascent to the Temple to offer ascension (burnt) offerings (עֹלָה) to the LORD. Again, it’s all about going to where God is.

·         There is a connection between the ascension (burnt) offering and prayer: “Even those I will bring to My holy mountain
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;
For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples” (Isaiah 56:7).

·         The burnt offering is a symbolic ascent to where God is – the worshiper ascends to God through the sacrifice.

The LORD has appeared in a cloud, representing His glory (Exodus 16:10; 40:35) and the manifestation of His Word (Exodus 19:9; 33:9).

The animal is transformed from flesh to smoke (Leviticus 1:9,13,15,17) on the altar, and the smoke of the offering would rise up, mingling with the pillar of cloud above the dwelling tent/tent of meeting, symbolizing the transformation of the worshiper into that which God is, fit for His presence and communion/union with Him.

This is summary of what we’ve read throughout these first 140 pages of Morales. I want to take this idea and imagery further now. Or rather, I’ll let the apostle Paul do it.

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written [in Genesis 2:7], ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:42-53).

The transformation of the sacrificial animal (a substitute for the worshiper) from flesh into smoke, which rises up to the cloud that represents God’s presence, is a foreshadowing of the reality for all believers in Jesus Christ at the resurrection. We will be changed into that which is fit for the presence of God, something eternally compatible with His nature. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;  I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:22-24).

This Spirit-transformation is a process seen in this life, as well:

·         “Jesus said to her, ‘…an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth’” (John 4:21,24). Worshipers were not to seek out a physical place (Jerusalem or Mount Gerazim in Samaria), but were to become as God is – Spirit-indwelt beings to worship a God Who is Spirit. Transformation unto communion. Notice, too, the Trinitarian nature of this passage (the Son speaks of the Father seeking those who will worship Him through the Spirit).

·         “…if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him…God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:13-17,28-30). The parallel between these two paragraphs is informative to our transformation. In the first, the Spirit leads us to mortify our earthiness unto being heirs of the Father along with the Son; our inheritance is God’s glory in Christ. In the second paragraph, God is using all things providentially to accomplish His purpose for us, which is conformity with that which the Son is, the very glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:4,6; Hebrews 1:3).

·         “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17,18).

·         “…beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh…many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:2,3,18-21).

·         This is also the understanding of the apostle Peter: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4). This conformity with God unto communion with God is not just a function of worship in the Bible; it is reflected in the ethics of the Bible for the covenant people. Peter himself quotes this principle from the Old Testament: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One Who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written [in Leviticus 19:2], ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:13-16).

·         And the apostle John: “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:1-3).

The representative transformation of the worshiper into that which is able to mingle with God in Leviticus’ foundational sacrifice is the eternal goal of our salvation in Christ Jesus.[1] It is a process that has started for believers in Jesus Christ in this life, as seen in our worship and our ethics. We are becoming as Christ, the image of the glory of God, is, so that we may communion with the Father in the Son by the Spirit. “This union is closer than what joins a man to himself.”[2]

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For [as it says in Isaiah 40:13] who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or [as it says in Job 41:11] who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 11:33-12:2).

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[1] “Although the price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ till after His incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit thereof were communicated to the elect in all ages, successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein He was revealed, and signified to be the seed which should bruise the serpent’s head; and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, being the same yesterday, and today and forever” (1689 Baptist Confession, 8.6). Those worshipers of Leviticus 1 who offered the ascension offering by faith received “the virtue, efficacy, and benefit” not of the offering of the animal, but of what they imaged: the work of Christ. By faith the worshiper who offered the ascension offering was being transformed in Christ (represented by the sacrificial animal the worshiper presented and put his hands on) by the Spirit (the transformation into smoke on the altar) for communion with the Father (the mingling of the smoke and pillar of cloud).

[2] Robert Letham, Union with Christ (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2011), 99.

The Birth of a Girl and the Great Story

I saw a meme slandering the “religion” of the Bible yesterday, justifying the rejection because of this citation (I give it exactly as it appeared): A woman who bears a female child is twice as filthy as one who gives birth to a male. Leviticus 12:1-5

First, there is no verse that says this (notice the citation is for 5 verses). Second, no English translation of Leviticus 12:1-5 uses the word “filthy.”

The passage hinted at and twisted actually says this: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: “When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days” (Leviticus 12:1-5).[1]

You can reject the Bible because of a single idea (not accurately quoted) that seems offensive in our culture and time (so much for tolerance, understanding, and pluralism, eh?). Or, you can step back and see this verse as reaching back to the first and greatest low point in human history where a promise of incredible saving grace was given…then see that this verse bridges between that bright promise on a dark day and a future day when the promise was fulfilled in the greatest gift the world has ever (or will ever) see.

Let me tell you a story. Leviticus 12:1-5 is an element of that story.

In the beginning, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule’” (Genesis 1:27,28). There’s no category of “unclean” at this point. God’s creation “was very good” (1:31). The “unclean” part comes in later.

God created a unique place of joyful communion with Him – “a garden…in Eden” (2:8). All that human beings could need was there. They could “from any tree of the garden…eat freely” (2:16). Except one tree, which was the test of faithful obedience to the Creator Who had supplied their needs and made them to be in blessed relationship with Him, the Source of Life and Goodness. The one commandment was given to them: “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Genesis 2:15-17).

Then something happened.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”’ The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate…” (Genesis 3:1-6).[2]

Every verse after Genesis 3:6, and every moment of human existence (including yours and mine) afterwards, is grace. That could have been the end. But God, from before the foundation of the world, knew what would transpire and had a plan. The ending would be better than the beginning. It’s a story played out over a very long time, though. As the twisting and criticism of Leviticus 12:1-5 shows, we don’t often have the patience for a long story, no matter how beautiful.

Serpent, woman, and man are summoned to God’s tribunal for this rebellion. The serpent is cursed by God. In the curse, God makes a promise. The Promise. “I will put enmity [warfare] between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (3:15). Immediately after this, the woman’s punishment is announced: “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth” (3:16). The woman tastes death – the punishment for rebellion – in giving birth, even shedding blood (life, as we’ll see). Every birth is a reminder of the sentence of death, a reminder that the saving serpent-Crusher promised by God is desperately needed.

A long time later, God organizes His people into a nation, giving them moral laws, civil laws, and ceremonial laws. The ceremonial laws reminded them that they were a people who lived by a different standard than all the other peoples of the world, who were alienated from Him and living however they desired (the autonomy espoused by the serpent that fateful first day of the Fall of humanity). Among those ceremonial laws was Leviticus 12:1-5. The shedding of blood was significant from a symbolic standpoint, for “…the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). Bloodshed was to be a reminder that rebellion against God forfeited the life of the rebel, and that sin had separated us from God. The blood and the ritual inconvenience was to be a reminder. Those laws under that old covenant (we call it the Old Testament) applied to all of life for God’s people – there was no aspect of life that didn’t point them to the Great Story. Including childbirth, in which (as a result of Eve’s rebellion) there is the shedding of blood, a picture of sin-caused death (alienation from God) even in the entry of life into the world. We need the serpent-Crushing Savior.

Why, though, was the ritual time of “uncleanness” longer with the birth of a girl? It’s not because God or the Bible consider girls bad. In fact, did you know that, among all the ancient religious texts, the Bible is the only one that tells us about the creation of women (Genesis 2:18-25)?[3] The Bible is filled with women who were great heroes, from the judges of Israel to prophetesses to incredible key parts of the Great Story! No, Leviticus 12:5 isn’t there because girls are worse than boys. It’s there to keep reminding us of the roots of the Great Story and The Promise. The apostle Paul later says, “the woman [Eve] being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14). The birth of a girl, daughter of Eve, reminds us that through the woman Eve’s actions, sin entered humanity. Before you get angry at how unfair this seems, remember: God is not holding a grudge against the female gender because of Eve. He is reminding every generation in which a girl was born that through the “seed” of the woman the serpent-Crusher was going to enter the world. The birth of a girl brought a longer meditation on this Promise and the need for that Promise’s fulfillment than the birth of a boy.

Instead of the female of humanity being a stigma forever reminding of one woman’s sin, the female of humanity was, by the gracious plan and Promise of God, the means by which the solution to humanity’s problem was to be solved. Bloodshed and “uncleanness” were reminders that we all are under sentence of death for our rebellion against God, but through the woman a serpent-Crusher was going to come. This was worth a two weeks’ reminder with every birth of a girl among the ancient people of God.

Let’s fast-forward. The Bible tells us that, “when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law” (Galatians 4:4), including the “Law” contained in Leviticus 12:1-5. The serpent-Crusher didn’t come through the “seed” of a man. This is why Mary’s conceiving of Christ as a virgin is theologically important – it fulfills the promise of the first pages of the Bible! The messenger-angel said this to Mary upon bringing her the news: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The same messenger-angel assured Mary’s fiancé Joseph with this revelation: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child Who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20,21).

The regulation of Leviticus 12:1-5 isn’t there to stigmatize women and infant girls. It’s there as a reminder that humanity’s greatest problem, brought into the world by the first woman’s sin, will be incredibly and gloriously solved by God through a woman. The beginning was tragic, but it is infinitely out-shined by the ending. Like any good story, the tension was maintained and built throughout the telling, and Leviticus 12:1-5 was part of that.

It’d be a shame to miss out on the whole Story.

Genesis 3:15 has been fulfilled by God when He sent His Son into the world through a woman - not just one famous woman (Mary), but through women who were providentially brought into the Christ-story even though their backgrounds should have excluded them. Ruth was from Moab, not Israel…she wasn’t part of the nation God was using to bring His Son into the world, but by His incredible gracious plan to “purchase for God with [Christ’s blood]…from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9), she was included. Her name is in Jesus Christ’s genealogy (Matthew 1:5). Rahab was a harlot in Jericho…the same Jericho filled with idol-worshipers consigned to destruction (Joshua 6:1-27). But by God’s providential plan and grace, Rahab and her family were saved out of the destruction. And she became part of the Old Testament people of God, Israel. Her name is in Jesus Christ’s genealogy (Matthew 1:5).

The ceremonial regulation of Leviticus 12:1-5 doesn’t apply to new covenant (New Testament) believers anymore, because it was fulfilled in Christ, the serpent-Crushing seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15. Now “you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:26-29, New Living Translation). Men and women are equal in the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ (the same equality by which both are described as the image of God back in Genesis 1:27). In Christ, a woman is to be honored “as a fellow heir of the grace of life.” God doesn’t even hear the prayers of anyone who treats her less than this (1 Peter 3:7)!

Let me finish up the story by taking us to the words of the apostle Paul: “I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness - with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she [Eve] will be saved through childbearing [her “Seed,” Jesus Christ] - if they [female Christians] continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Timothy 2:8-15, English Standard Version). The mandate that women not be pastor-teachers in the Church isn’t a punishment. It is, like Leviticus 12:1-5, a telling of the Gospel story in the role women play in the Church. Women still speak the truth of God’s Word by the power of the Holy Spirit, what the Bible calls “prophecy” (Acts 2:17; 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:5). But they don’t take the leading teaching role in the Church, as a telling of the story of Eve and the eventual salvation that came through her “Seed,” Jesus Christ. Children of Eve, tell this story by continuing in “faith” in her “Seed,” Jesus Christ, in “love and holiness, with self-control.”

I’ve heard for decades now that the attention span of the average American is continually shrinking. I wonder if we’re capable of reading beyond a meme or bumper sticker anymore. Please don’t reject the Grand Story of God’s Love because of a single tiny falsehood that popped up on your screen appealing to your innate desire to rebel against everything.

“‘She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [in Isaiah 7:14]: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:21-23).

Believe in Jesus Christ, this “Seed” of the woman, the great serpent-Crusher, the Defeater of the sin-penalty of eternal death, the Savior of all – men and women equally – who call on His name, the Reconcilion to our Creator, and the Demonstration of the love of God.

Yes, the love of God. “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world [as the “Seed” of the woman] so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [as the “Seed” of the woman] to be the propitiation [punishment-taker] for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10).

Believe.

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[1] New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.

[2] What’s sad about this is that the serpent hasn’t had to change his strategy in the least since that moment. The meme slandering the “religion” of the Bible is a modern expression of that “serpent of old” (Revelation 12:9): twist the Word of God, then outright deny the Word of God. It worked then, and still works today. The Bible says these continuing followers of the serpent’s way are in “the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). God grant them freedom to the truth of the Bible!

[3] Some will chafe at the creation of the woman – wife to the first man – as a “helper” (Genesis 2:18). “The term ‘helper,’ which is also used by God to identify Himself (Exod. 18:4; Deut. 33:7), describes the woman God created to become a partner with the man in the overwhelming task of exercising dominion over the world and extending the generations (Gen. 1:28; 2:18). When you call upon God to be your ‘Helper,’ you are not suggesting that He divest Himself of His deity and supernatural powers. Rather you ask Him to come to your aid with the powers of His divine person. There is no hint of inferiority in the term. It describes function (what she does) rather than worth (who she is).” Dorothy Kelley Patterson, “The Family,” in Baptist Faith & Message 2000: Critical Issues in America’s Largest Protestant Denomination, ed. Douglas K. Blount and Joseph D. Wooddell (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 188.

The Need to Play Tree-Fort

“I wish I could go all the way with you to Rivendell, Mr. Frodo, and see Mr. Bilbo,” said Sam. “And yet the only place I really want to be is here. I am that torn in two.”

“Poor Sam! It will feel like that, I am afraid,” said Frodo. “But you will be healed. You were meant to be solid and whole, and you will be.”

* * * * * * *

As Paul walked in the Lord’s ministry for his life, he frequently felt a desire to be with the Church as it gathered in far places (Romans 1:11; 15:23; 2 Corinthians 9:14; Philippians 1:8; 2:26; 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:17; 3:6,9,10). My heart has resonated with this idea the last few months. I’ve been thinking about brothers and sisters overseas and longed to see them. The Lord is full of comfort, though. Last week, as I stood at the Lord’s Supper Table looking at the congregation, their communion in the “sharing in the body of Christ” in the “one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:16,17) was a easing salve to this pilgrim’s soul.

I am unashamed to confess that I need your coming “together as the Church” (1 Corinthians 11:18). It is that picture of the Home to which we are all wandering. Whether in open-air buildings surrounded by crowing roosters in the jungle or in the comfortable, HVAC’d confines of the gathering in the cities of the U.S.A., it’s all booths...the momentary congregating of a people eternally unified by a Savior-God, adopted by the Father-God, and indwelt with the Presence-God...all three Persons one God...all people in all congregations everywhere one Body...

I need the Gathering more and more and more as I go along.

“Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, “On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. These are the appointed times of the LORD which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the LORD - burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day’s matter on its own day - besides those of the sabbaths of the LORD, and besides your gifts and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD. On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God”’” (Leviticus 23:33-43).

One day the sojourning Church will be Home, and the wandering pilgrims will enter the City of their citizenship, and the memory of the days of travel will be like the child-like fun of building a fort from sticks in the back yard on a lazy summer afternoon...and we shall rejoice before the Lord our God forever.

Jeremiah's Turning #2: Love without Holiness

Following the word “turn” (שוב) through Jeremiah’s prophecy.

“In vain I have struck your sons; they accepted no chastening. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. O generation, heed the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; We will no longer come to You’? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore even the wicked women you have taught your ways. Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor; you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things, yet you said, ‘I am innocent; surely His anger is turned [שוב] away from me.’ Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ Why do you go around so much changing your way? Also, you will be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria. From this place also you will go out with your hands on your head; for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper with them” (Jeremiah 2:30-37).

“Surely.” In 2:35 the people assume that God’s mercy and love trump His holiness and justice. The fiery serpents (seraphs) around the throne of God don’t eternally, unceasingly cry, “love, love, love,” or “mercy, mercy, mercy.” They cry, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). I would get in trouble from classic systematic theologians for saying this, but it is from His holiness that all other divine attributes flow. We cannot understand His love apart from His holiness. It is His consistent command to His people: be holy as I am holy (Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:14-16). Have mercy on us, Lord, for assuming that the incarnation and closeness of the God-with-us Immanuel means that You are no longer holy. Forgive us, Lord, for blaspheming You in our understanding and worship by thinking the King of kings, the eternal Son of God, is anything less than absolute holiness.

Jesus, the risen and glorified King over all, is holy. He has anger and hatred over sin.

“But of the Son He says, ‘YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM. YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS’” (Hebrews 1:8,9; quoting from Psalm 45:6,7).

“Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place - unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Revelation 2:5,6).

The people of God should never assume that His gracious love in Christ is a license to live however we “feel led” to live (read Romans 6!!). The Lord Jesus, through Whom the love of God comes to the Church, is also the “Holy One” (Mark 1:24; Luke 1:35; 4:34; John 6:69; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 4:27,30; 13:35; Hebrews 7:26; Revelation 3:7). The Spirit Who is the very love of God in Christ poured out freely upon is Himself the “Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22).

May we become careful students and practitioners of the holiness of the Trinity, not daring to wash away His holiness in an attempt to make Him more like us, but instead grasping fearfully and hungrily for His holiness that it may be the power of our lives for His glory. And, through His holiness, we will begin to truly understand His love.

His goal and purpose for His Bride, the Church, is holiness (Ephesians 1:4; 5:26,27). This is the Bridegroom's love.

"Seraph," in the Matrix Trilogy

The Calling of Difference and Discernment

“...this is an ordinance forever throughout your generations, that ye may put difference between the holy and the unholy, and between the clean and the unclean, and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath commanded them by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 10:9-11, Geneva Bible).

“For when as concerning the time ye ought to be teachers, yet have ye need again that we teach you what are the first principles of the Word of God: and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk, is inexpert in the Word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of age, which through long custom have their wits exercised, to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).

Live your calling, Church, as “a royal Priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9), learning and teaching how the Word divides “holy and unholy,” “clean and unclean,” and “good and evil,” for while the world rejects or reverses these categories, they have not changed in the Unchangeable One’s Word. Your calling remains the same.