Seven Footsteps to the Throne
Part 2
In the last newsletter, we looked at some of the different kinds of gold in Scripture. This is important for at least a couple of reasons:
- The different kinds of gold were used in the Mishkan and Mikdash (Tabernacle and Temple)
- The Footsteps of Messiah are prophesied in the Song of Songs, which particularly describes the movement of Israel as "the daughters of Jerusalem" and "the daughters of Zion" associated with the Mishkan coming up from their wilderness of exile
The gold "work" is beautified by Israel:
- “A canopy has King Solomon made for Him from the wood of Lebanon. He made its posts of silver, its back of gold and its seat of purple fabric, with its interior lovingly inlaid by the daughters of Jerusalem.” (So 3:9-10)
The Mishkan is the portable prototype of the permanent Temple. In that sense, we are in the wilderness of exile, yet fully functioning as traveling abodes for the Presence of Adonai.
Why was purple fabric so important for the Presence of Adonai to abide with human beings? Of course, there are many answers, including the symbolism of Messiah Yeshua, who was 100% blue of heaven and 100% red of earth, which makes up the color purple. Oddly, purple is 100% both blue and red!
Another reason might be embedded in the very physical structure of human beings. The human body as a “Temple of the Ruach HaKodesh” may be more literal than we’ve ever thought. How often have we urged little ones to remember that Yeshua lives in the heart? In the graphic above, the working human heart coordinates the work of the "Temple" in red, blue, and purple.
Let’s go back in time to the Creation. It is thought that when Adam was formed, he was formed from the earth of what is today the Temple Mount, one reason the altar was to be filled with earth. The Temple Mount’s earth was the very substance of Adam’s body, and therefore, EVERY human body. Everybody understands some pull, no matter how slight, that tugs him or her toward Jerusalem, our ancient birthplace. There is a foundation stone on the Temple Mount, which drew the patriarchs. It is there to this day. The foundation rock is part of the centrality of Jerusalem in drawing Avraham to offer Isaac, to Isaac to offer himself, and Jacob to anoint the stone of “Beit-El,” or the “House of God.”
It is a protrusion of uncut stone on the Temple Mount called the Even Shetiyah, or Foundation Stone.
It sounds mystical, but the rationale for creating a physical world was because it accomplished things differently than can be accomplished in the spiritual world alone. This something was so important that it was worth the risk/certainty that man would sin. Believers are pointed to the faith of Abraham and Sarah, who represent the faith in returning to the Stone, faith in the resurrection from the dead to return to the Garden as originally planned by Elohim.
Isaiah 51 establishes the importance of the "stone" and "quarry," the faith of Abraham and Sarah, which is an inspiration to all who seek the righteousness of Yeshua and the Father:
Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness,
Who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were cut,
And to the quarry from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he was only one I called him,
Then I blessed him and multiplied him.
Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her ruins.
And He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the LORD. (Is 51:1-3)
By the First Century, Jewish thought concerning the Avot’s (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) faith connection to the resurrection of the righteous is hinted to in Yeshua’s teaching:
- “And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven...” (Mt 8:11)
- “‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Mt 22:32)
- “But regarding the fact that the dead rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’?” (Mk 12:26)
Jewish tradition handed down through the Pharisees was that when a righteous person crosses into the Garden after death, he is first greeted by Adam “with great joy.” Subsequently, he or she sits down at a banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There the righteous soul is comforted in “Abraham’s bosom” until the resurrection of the dead when the soul will be reunited with the body. Rabbi Kaplan explains the importance of the foundation stone on the Temple Mount, and therefore why Abraham and Sarah are such inspirations to those who seek the righteousness necessary for Garden living:
- “The most important single object in Jerusalem was the Ark, containing the Tablets and the Original Torah. This stood in the Holy of Holies on an outcrop of bedrock known as the Even Shetiyah, literally, the Foundation Stone. The Talmud states that it is called the ‘Foundation Stone’ because it was the foundation of the universe...it was the very first point at which God began the act of creation.” (Kaplan, p. 78)
From this holy point, it is said the Torah will go forth in the Messianic Age (Is 2:3). It is also said that all prayers of the nations are collected here, then raised to Heaven on its altars. This is why Sukkot (70 bulls) and the Temple altar services, especially the incense altar, were so important.
The Divine spiritual influence increases in the world when the altars are functional. In spite of a revival of return to the Word, the decreasing influence of righteousness throughout the world is a result of the multitude “falling away” from the faith. When there is no Temple altar on the Temple Mount, and when the little temples fail to maintain lives of obedient sacrifice, then the flow of the Heavenly blessings decreases. The Footsteps of Messiah are a bit scary, not because Yeshua himself is scary, but because of the massive flood of wickedness he comes to destroy in that generation.
A final redemption will be accomplished on the stone where all physical creation began. In preparation, the place required three important steps (Kaplan). They were accomplished in divided prophetic steps by the patriarchs, then purposefully by David and Shlomo:
- Revealed by a Prophet
- Pursuit of and purchase by a Divinely selected king (Dt 17:14-15; 2 Sa 24:15-25)
- Anointing/Dedication
In this place, the spiritual realm can be attached to the physical, much as a soul can be bound to a human body. When the Rock is fully functional, the spiritual Word can be sent and attached to all creation, restoring and maintaining life. The letter to the Hebrews (7:27; 9:12; 10:10) mentions Yeshua’s dedication of the stone.
The human heart, with all its red, blue, and purple, must seek after its Creator to do the work of "Good Gold" in restoring the service of the Temple to the Holy of Holies:
- “For this is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans [הַמַּחֲשָׁבֹת] that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for prosperity [מַחְשְׁבוֹת שָׁלוֹם] and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will let Myself be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’ (Je 29:10-14)
The “plans of peace,” or those of the King of Peace, Melekh Shlomo, above, is to bring His People back to Jerusalem from the nations [70 represents the nations] from which he’s scattered them. This gives ”the daughters of Jerusalem” added significance as part of the encampments of the Twelve Tribes around the Mishkan, being “steered and driven” by the Divine Presence within. A commentary in the Be’er Mayim Chaim explains that the Shetiyah stone is “the center of the world in the sense of being its heart from which blood is pumped to the entire body. It is the spot to which God sends all His blessings and from which they then radiate out to the rest of the world.”
The woven curtain colors of red, blue, and purple are reflected in the living, natural heart.
Because the Daughters of Jerusalem would need the Ruach Adonai of the Presence in their wilderness exile and sojourning, Yeshua reiterated this command:
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Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “So it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are *clothed with power from on high.” And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God. (Luk 24:44-52)
*invested for a specific purpose, such as Joseph’s coat and Aaron’s garments
With the power of the Ruach HaKodesh, the disciples of Yeshua were to take the Torah from the Temple to the nations, for the Temple services would soon end in 70 AD.
Yeshua’s disciples are to be the living human hearts, doing the work of the Temple in the nations of their exile and sojourning. Blue. Red. Purple. Moving. Supplying the blessings of Heaven on earth.
With the Ruach Adonai driving and steering His “chariots” among the nations, those little temples pump the lifeblood of Yeshua’s salvation and blessing to those who will receive it. They direct the eyes of Israel to Jerusalem, their Heavenly source and the place where all will ultimately gather with the patriarchs and matriarchs of our faith.
To this day, men and women from all nations press their heads into the natural stones of the Temple Mount’s retaining wall, longing to hear the beating heart of the Holy One for His People, decking His Sanctuary with love, fulfilling the Shema, “And you shall love...
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Shabbat Shalom!
We plan to do a livestream at 4:00 pm Eastern, which will be an overview of the seven days of Creation as prophecy. We will return to the Footsteps livestreams the following week, b'azrat HaShem.
