The Final Step to the Coffin
Got anything to stop this coughin'? There's a nasty virus going around, so there won't be a livestream this Shabbat, but we are on the mend and hoping to see you the following Shabbat. In the meantime, I'll be sipping my special teas and appreciating the simple things...you know, like breathing my nose. We're also giving you access to the edited version of last week's private livestream on the Angels of the Four Winds and who has the right to rule.
So let's wrap up our study of another kind of coffin...the one we go in when we die. Or do we really die? As Scripture explains, there's dying, and then there's dying. The righteous never really die, or as Paul says, we shall not all "sleep," even though we will fall asleep. Dead but not dead. Asleep but not asleep. That sounds like a good way to stop this coughin'...eh, coffin. Lemon ginger honey tea so far has kept me out of the coffin and helped the coughin'.
Last week, we saw how the (shesh) alabaster pavement forms the thin veil between heaven and earth. It is the footstool for Adonai's feet where the King’s Kingdom on earth “touches” the Heavenly Throne. Natural and spiritual meet on the Temple Mount, in the Temple courtyard, where priests minister to the two realms.
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"In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple." (Is 6:1)
Adonai's feet rest on the Temple Mount, and the hem of His garment rests there. In washing Yeshua’s feet, the women with the alabaster vials acknowledged that the King is at the table. He is the Lamb. Yeshua is fully human, yet the image of the Father. He is the only way that we will “touch” the Father in His Kingdom below.
The shesh, or alabaster, also means fine linen and literally the number six. These things do have a connection.
- “When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” (Ge 49:33)
- “But ‘dying’ is not said of him. Our rabbis of blessed memory said that this implies that our father Jacob did not die.” – Rashi to Ge 49:33
Okay, that’s easy enough. The Brit Chadasha (New Testament) tells us as much. What more should we know?
The rabbis go on to explain that for the righteous, being “gathered to your people” is no more difficult than just pulling your feet into the bed like Jacob. Jacob had just finished blessing his sons with the blessings of their prophetic future, and he was finished. All that was left to do was pull his feet in.
The righteous live lives of increasing holiness, transforming from glory to glory in their salvation. Having dedicated their mortal lives to the Kingdom of Heaven, they’ve already lived there. Yeshua kept reminding the disciples that the Kingdom is within us. It’s not far away, but right here, right now, every time we communicate with the Father and obey Him. Although we may not realize it, we’re already there. Surrendering the earthly body is simply a matter of pulling in the feet, the last place we touch this natural earth. If we are hidden with Messiah in the heavenlies, it is just our feet left to roam this earth, carrying the Good News of resurrection.
Make no mistake…Yeshua warned us our feet will get dirty, and we must wash one another’s feet! The rest of us is clean. The feet, however, must be resurrected, which symbolizes the mortal body.
As an example, the fifth abomination is feet running quickly to evil. On the other hand, Workbook One students know that the fifth [holy] spirit of the Seven Spirits listed in Isaiah is gvurah, or power, including the power of resurrection, identified with the greater resurrection. The fifth feast is Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets at which the righteous will resurrect and receive a perfect body, one capable of passing between spiritual and natural realms.
The sixth abomination is a false witness breathing out lies. The sixth (holy) spirit is da’at, knowledge of the Holy One, experiential, intimate. The sixth feast is Yom HaKippurim. With one’s feet, one runs to da’at, the atoning priestly robes of shesh at Yom HaKippurim, a true “breathing” witness of Salvation from Elohim through intimacy with His Kingdom. When Jacob pulled in his feet, it was because his time of witnessing to the truth of YHVH was complete. He was a true witness, and with his last exhale was truth to his sons. All that remains is a day which is all Shabbat.
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Shabbat Shalom!
