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Meeting Place or Meating Place?
Vayikra and Tzav "And called" + "Command"
Leviticus 1:1-8:8
An excerpt from
50,000 Degrees and Cloudy: A Better Resurrection
What follows is a small excerpt from the manuscript 50,000 Degrees and Cloudy: A Better Resurrection. It is a BEKY book to be released in early summer 2018. The book replaces popular "rapture" fiction with concrete passages from Genesis to Revelation. The work is rooted firmly in Scripture, especially the Torah, and where Jewish tradition intersects or corroborates Scripture, it is included for reference.
The chapters describe the gathering of the righteous and the exiles at the first resurrection, the second resurrection, post-mortem experiences for humans such as Sheol, the Lower Garden of Eden (Paradise), the Upper Garden, and points of interest such as the mikveh in the Burning River and the Bird's Nest, or Palace of Messiah.
The goal is to give comfort to those who have deceased loved ones in Messiah, for it is fruitless to seek the living among the dead. As Yeshua's job is to teach the dead in Messiah to prepare for the first resurrection, so our challenge is to live in a state of preparation to meet those loved ones in the first resurrection. Just as Moses taught the Children of Israel the Song of Moses that the righteous will sing in the Messianic reign, so Isaiah assures Israel that their children will be taught of YHVH (Dt 31:22; Re 15:3 & Is 54:13). The Lower Garden is that teaching place, and so Mary addresses Yeshua as "Rabboni," "My Teacher" in the Garden.
This week's newsletter is Part 1 of a small section of the manuscript charting the first two chapters of Leviticus (Vayikra) that extensively describe the living death of the righteous, a nation of priests, post-mortem experience of the righteous, and resurrection of the righteous. Part 2 will follow in next week's newsletter.
All-Meat Offering or All-Meet Offering?
With all the interrelated themes of the resurrection and a general understanding of the process of death, post-mortem experience, first resurrection, the reign of Messiah, and the second resurrection now behind us, other passages of Scripture shed light upon the ancient sacrificial altar, Isaac, and resurrection.
One resurrection-rich book is Leviticus, or Vayikra, which describes the various offerings that were to be brought to the Tent of Meeting. Vayikra means "And called..."
The Strong's root karah is H7121, and some of its meanings are:
to call, cry, utter a loud sound
to call unto, cry (for help), call (with name of God)
to proclaim
to summon, invite, call and commission, appoint, call and endow
to call oneself
to be called, be proclaimed, be read aloud, be summoned, be named
- (Pual) to be called, be named, be called out, be chosen
To be called in the first Biblical sense of the word is to be called to study the priestly manual of Israel. This is not so unusual since Israel was first called to be a kingdom of priests: "...and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Ex 19:6).
[1]
The New Testament, or HaBrit HaChadasha, uses the "calling" of the saints extensively.
The Strong's (G2821) definition is
- a calling, calling to
- a call, invitation
- to a feast
- of the divine invitation to embrace salvation of God
There is no real difference between one who is invited and called to the priestly instructions in the Torah and one who is called in the New Testament. Both are invited to a Meeting Place where the resurrection of the dead is practiced daily.
Here are a few vocabulary words that will enrich the connections:
mizbeach - altar
Kohen-priest
olah-whole burnt offering
shlamim, from same root as shalom, meaning wholeness-peace offering
Leviticus painstakingly instructs Israel in the rituals of sacrifice. Leviticus 6:8-13 (6:1-6 in the Hebrew Bible), is an example of how the seed prophecies of the Torah teach the resurrection:
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Command Aaron and his sons, saying, "'This is the law for the burnt offering: the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it. The priest is to put on his linen robe, and he shall put on undergarments next to his flesh; and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire reduces the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar. Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out. (Le 6:8-13)
To more easily unpack the prophecies of Leviticus, it is necessary to know that Abraham was instructed to offer Isaac as an olah-offering, which is translated as "whole burnt offering." Isaac is the type of Messiah, a resurrection prophecy within the Torah:
He said, 'Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering (olah) on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.' (Ge 22:2)
Go back through the Leviticus passage above, and try substituting the word "resurrection" each time you see "burnt offering." Does this give some context of the principles of resurrection? The Tent of Meeting drew together one's "people" Israel for worship. One of the worst punishments in the Torah was to be "cut off from his people." Since The Holy One designated the Meeting Place as the Meating Place, resurrection was taught from the beginning as a gathering of like kind and like mind. The meat of the olah, a type of resurrection, ascended wholly consumed on the altar.
The chart that follows is a line-by-line study from a translation that preserves the transliteration of the olah offering, the altar (Mizbe'ach), and the priest (Kohen). The following English translation is taken from the 2015 Sapirstein edition of Rashi's (p. 60-63) commentary on Leviticus:
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Olah-offering
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Commentary and Revelation Correlation
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HASHEM spoke to Moses, saying: Command Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the law of the olah-offering:
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Aaron is noted in Judaism for his attribute of lovingkindness and willingness to intercede on behalf of the Israelites when they sinned. The service of the resurrection offering is given to a priesthood who are heirs of Yeshua, one known for mercy: "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." (Re 5:10)
The consecration "ha-mishchah" of the priests in Leviticus 8:8 is via his anointing, "yimshach."[2] The Hebrew root mashach is the root of Mashiach, or Messiah, Christ. The priests of the olah offering are a type of messiah, who also commands his children to offer themselves a living sacrifice.[3]
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It is the olah-offering [that stays] on the flame, on the Mizbe'ach, all night until the morning, and the fire of the Mizbe'ach shall be kept aflame on it.
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The resurrection offering endures or "stays" in the flame of the Holy Spirit on the bronze altar. The first altar fire was lit by fire from Heaven. As evening marks a new day, the evening olah remains until the morning olah. Those who have a part in the first resurrection abide in the holy flame until the second.
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The Kohen shall don his fitted linen tunic, and he shall don linen Michnasaim on his flesh;
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The priest puts on linen garments to tend the fire of the resurrection. John describes such a person:
"I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished[4] bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace...
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." (Re 1:13-15; 17-18)
The Son of Man identifies himself as resurrected, and his appearance makes John "like a dead man." This is the righteous taking up his own execution stake daily, like the perpetual olah offering.
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he shall raise the ashes which the fire will consume of the olah-offering on the Mizbe'ach, and place it next to the Mizbe'ach.
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The "ashes" are the souls of the righteous that are stirred by the Kohen on the altar to consume the "beast" of the olah offering. Those ashes are "raised" and placed at the base of the altar, and then removed to a pure place, the Garden. Those who are in the center of the altar are more completely consumed by the heat and fire.
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He shall remove his garments and he shall wear other garments,
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The analogy is that while a servant prepares the Master's meal, he dirties his garments. When he is prepared to enter the Master's Presence to serve the meal, he changes into his best garment. Yeshua took on the earthy garment of human flesh, but he put back on the glory that was his from the beginning at the resurrection.
"I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And there was given to each of them a white robe;[5] and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also." (Re 6:9-11)
Those who await the rest of the righteous to be added for the first resurrection are given robes of burnished light while they wait.
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and he shall remove the ashes to the outside of the camp, to a pure place.
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Once the righteous die, their "ashes," symbolizing the purified soul, are removed to the Lower Garden, a pure place to await resurrection.
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The fire on the Mizbe'ach shall remain aflame on it, it shall not be extinguished; and the Kohen shall kindle wood upon it every morning;
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The purification of the saints is an ongoing, daily process. The wood is kindled every morning with a chance to offer one's self as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, like Yeshua's on the tree. Because the Kohen Yeshua is a merciful high priest, his mercies are new every morning.
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he shall arrange the olah-offering on it and shall cause the fats of the peace-offering to go up in smoke up it.
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The continual burnt offering of the morning sacrifice is followed by the evening sacrifice. There is a first and second resurrection: "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection." (Re 20:5)
Along with the resurrection offering, a peace-offering, or shlamim goes up with it. This is not only a peace offering, but a perfection or completion offering. The resurrection brings spirit, soul, and body back together to complete them.
Significantly, a shlamim (peace) offering must be completely eaten within three days. One who eats on the third day is offensive, and the one who keeps eating is considered guilty![6] The penalty is to be "cut off from his kin."[7]
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A fire, continually, shall remain aflame on the Mizbe'ach; you shall not extinguish it.
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"Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years." (Re 20:6)
Those who enter into the first resurrection are eternally aflame like the One who has eyes like a "flame of fire," for he was the resurrection offering, and the righteous have followed him by offering themselves for the Kingdom as well.
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[2]
The verse numbers are slightly different in the Hebrew Bible: "Then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him, to consecrate him. Next Moses had Aaron's sons come near and clothed them with tunics, and girded them with sashes and bound caps on them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses." (Le 8:12-13)
[4]
In Etz Chaim (p. 598), the commentator points out that although the Hebrew word kipper (as in Yom Kippur) means "to cover over, conceal," the root has an Akkadian cognate kuppuru, which means "to wipe off, burnish, cleanse." To the ancient Near Eastern cultures, washing a guest's feet may have had ritual symbolism, not just an obligation of hospitality. Rabbinic tradition says that obeying the commandments "burnishes" the individual and brings forth a glow of light.
[5]
Raphael quotes: "When the time comes for the spirit to leave this world...it cannot do so until the Angel of Death has taken off the garment of this body. When that has been done he again puts on that other garment in Gan Eden of which he had to divest himself when he entered this world. And the whole joy of the spirit is in that celestial body." (p. 297)
[7]
The Hebrew word translated as "kin" is "people." The resurrection will include all one's "people," or those within the Body of Messiah.
Next week: Part 2 of the Resurrection offering and the Tribulation.
It's Leviticus Time!
If you are reading on the traditional Torah cycle, then you know Vayikra will be here soon. CG Workbook Five Volume 3 (Vayikra, Leviticus) continues weaving the threads from the foundational lesson in Bereishit so that the Four Rivers of Eden and the Good Gold and precious stones encompassed by the Rivers stay in view in the garments of the priesthood, the structure of the Mishkan, and the instructions for holy living. The prophecies of the colors of leprosy relative to the horses of Revelation and many others connect the dots between the Torah and the New Testament.
The lessons include lots of play-on words to aid the memory and embed the important principles of loving one's neighbor, which is the heart of the Torah, Vayikra. Table of Contents: That's Offal Close! - Vayikra The Priest's Drors and Those Crumby Levites - Tzav What's the Pig Deal? - Shmini Heavenly Girls and Bearded Ladies - Tazria Prison Break - Metzorah This Goofy Body - Acharei Mot Tattoos and Tattletales - Kedoshim Dry Sticks and Lunatics - Emor Sit Down, Shut Up, Buckle Up, and Hang On - Behar CrosSwords, No Puzzle - Bechukotai.
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LaMalah Children's Centre
Orphanage Update
Thank you to all who contributed to the purchase of a car for the orphanage. The picture above is the car that was purchased, along with insurance.
Special thanks to our regular donors and our new donors. You keep the food in the pantry, the staff paid, the clothes on their backs, and school fees paid.
Click on
http://www.thecreationgospel.com/orphanage/ if you are new to our orphanage effort and want more info.
If you have children's clothes or children's books (in English) to send, you can mail them to:
Peter W Ndungu
P.O.Box 724
Limuru 00217
Kenya
East Africa
If you can help toward this goal, as always, we welcome your assistance. For those of you who send monthly support to the orphanage, we can't thank you enough for fulfilling Messiah's commission.
Another way to help...
Want to help The Creation Gospel every time you purchase something on Amazon? Our ministry is part of our local congregation, The Olive Branch, in East Bernstadt, Kentucky. If you reset your amazon home page to
https://smile.amazon.com
and select The Olive Branch Messianic Congregation Inc. as your charity, Amazon donates a small percentage of each sale. Every penny helps, and our congregation is a great help in meeting special needs at the orphanage and other outreaches.
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