Since my last post was about Purim, we missed Trumah Torah Portion. Therefore, I’ll comment on two Torah portions today – Trumah and Tetzaveh. It is not difficult to combine them, since both portions contain God’s instructions to Moses concerning the Tabernacle which was to be erected, the priesthood, which was to serve in it, and the services, which were to be held in this tabernacle.
The Tabernacle: earthly or heavenly?
“And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them. 9 In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it” [1] these are the instructions to Moses that we find in this portion. The tabernacle was to be a sanctuary for the Lord to meet with his people and to dwell among them. There is an abundance of details regarding this building project, and sometimes we wonder why it was necessary for Scripture to provide all these details. The creation of the world is described in only two chapters; why would the building of the temporary sanctuary occupy twelve chapters of this Book?
These chapters are seen as prophetic by the New Testament writers. From a NT perspective, the tabernacle in Exodus pointed forward to future spiritual realities. The instructions we find in Exodus, especially the recurring words: “according to the pattern … shown you on the mountain,” are used in the New Testament (in particular, in the Epistle to the Hebrews) to establish the theological statement that there is a heavenly tabernacle. The earthly one was “…the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[2] According to the writer of Hebrews, this heavenly tabernacle is the real permanent heavenly dwelling place of God – unlike the earthly tabernacle, which was merely a temporary copy of the true one. “For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”[3]
Moreover, even though this heavenly tabernacle is interpreted prophetically and eschatologically in the New Testament, it is still seen as a symbol of the future reality to come. The New Testament writers looked forward to God’s final redemption, when “the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them”. The vision of the new creation in Rev.21:1 and the vision of the New Jerusalem in Rev.21:2, are summed up by this announcement: “the tabernacle of God is with men.” Thus, the final expectation of New Testament faith—the expectation of the new, redeemed, transformed world where God dwells with His people—is expressed here through this beautiful image of the heavenly tabernacle: “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God”[4].
Not with the Hands
For the New Testament writers, everything in the description of this earthly tabernacle had a spiritual and typological meaning: the ark, the lampstand, the priesthood – all pointed forward to the future spiritual reality in Jesus. Let us see some examples.
- THE ARK
The tabernacle, with its inner sanctuary, and especially the mercy seat, was the point of contact between heaven and earth. There God promised to meet with His people. “You shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the covenant that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat… I will deliver to you all my commands for the Israelites”. [5] According to the New Testament, just as God once encountered His people and spoke “from above the mercy seat,” now God encounters His people in Jesus. In Romans 3:25, Paul calls Jesus “God’s hilastērion”. Even though most translations render this word as “sacrifice of atonement” or “place of atonement,” in fact, this is exactly the same Greek word that the Septuagint uses for the “mercy seat” in the tabernacle: “the redemption … in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement (mercy seat) by his blood, effective through faith.”[6] Using this term, Paul, in fact, redefines the “mercy seat”. “In declaring Jesus to be God’s mercy seat,’ Paul announces that … the saving encounter with God is possible only through the means that God himself provides”[7] – and that from now on, God has provided this means only in Jesus Christ.
- THE LAMPSTAND
We read in Exodus: “You shall make the seven lamps for it; and the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it. 38 Its snuffers and trays shall be of pure gold”[8]. In the Book of Revelation, we find an interesting allusion to this text: “And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.”[9] Here we see both continuity between the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, and discontinuity. Once again, the historical material from the Hebrew Scriptures is considered prophetic in the New Testament. Yet there is an obvious “upgrade” here: while Ex. 25 speaks of the seven-branched menorah, lampstand, which stood outside the second curtain in the Tabernacle, in Revelation we see the Son of Man “in the midst of the seven lampstands”. The message is clear: the Son of Man transcends any earthly High Priest, just as the seven heavenly lampstands transcend the earthly one.
- THE HIGH PRIEST
In the Torah portion Tetzaveh, we find a detailed description of the priesthood and its ordination. Once again, we find that the New Testament sees these things in the Hebrew Scriptures as types and shadows of the realities to come. We have to be aware that “understanding of the high priest in Hebrews is predicated on the high priest’s distinctive role in Jewish tradition. Ex. 29:1-35 and Lev. 8-9 recount the establishment of the priesthood, where Moses ordains Aaron as the first high priest.”[10] The priesthood, culminating in the High priest, was appointed by God; the priests were the means through which God was approached. Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus serves as High Priest in the true heavenly tabernacle: His entrance into this tabernacle also means his entrance into the very presence of God in the heavenly realm.
However, as always, we find here not only continuity but also a novelty. Hebrews is very clear in contrasting Jesus as the perfect High Priest, with imperfect human priests of the old-covenant era. The old-covenant priests were “subject to weakness” and “were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office”[11]. Christ, on the other hand, filled out completely God’s ultimate plan for the High Priest: He is perfect, blameless, without sin, He doesn’t need to make atonement for himself, and He “holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever”[12] – therefore, as the High Priest, He is evidently superior to the mortal priests who were imperfect and temporary.
[1] Ex.25:8.9
[2] Heb.8:5
[3] Heb. 9:24
[4] Rev.21:3
[5] Ex.25:21,22
[6] Rom.3:25
[7] G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (p. 619). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
[8] Ex.25:37
[9] Rev.1:12
[10] The Jewish Annotated New Testament (p. 412). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
[11] Heb. 7:24
[12] Heb.7:3
If these articles whet your appetite for studying in-depth Parashat Shavua, along with New Testament insights, I would be happy to provide more information (and also a teacher’s discount for new students) regarding eTeacher courses (juliab@eteachergroup.com). Also, if you like the articles on this blog, you might enjoy also my books, you can get them here .
Genesis 14
19And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Aḇram of the Most High Ěl, Possessor of the heavens and earth.
Yahuwah- posessor of heavens and earth
Hebrews 11
10for he was looking for the city having foundations, whose builder and maker is Elohim.
1 corinthians 6
15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Messiah? …
17And he who is joined to the Master is one spirit.
19Or do you not know that your body is the Dwelling Place of the Set-apart Spirit who is in you, which you have from Elohim, and you are not your own?
20For you were bought with a price, therefore esteem Elohim in your body and in your spirit, which are of Elohim. ( Yahuwah the posessor of me. He is my Tabernacle and I am His)
Ephesians 5
30Because we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
31“For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”( echad)
32This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Messiah and the assembly
Revelation 7:15
For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His Temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.
Revelation 21
3And I heard a loud voice from the heaven saying, “See, the Booth of Elohim is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and Elohim Himself shall be with them and be their Elohim.
4“And Elohim shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor mourning, nor crying. And there shall be no more pain, for the former matters have passed away.”
5And He who was sitting on the throne said, “See, I make all matters new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and trustworthy.”
6And He said to me, “It is done! I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I shall give of the fountain of the water of life without payment.
1 Corinthians 15 mentions resurrection life – body sown in weakness – raised in power; sown a natural body – raised spiritual body. Body nonetheless. We are His Tabernacle, and He is ours – for as apostle paul mentioned : in Him we live and move and have our existence- acts 17:28.
Now we know in part
1 corinthians 13
Berean study Bible
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. 12Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
The Tabernacle of Elohim will be with His people, in Him we live, move and have our existence- we will see face to face and know as we are known.
There is no discontinuity- there is the revealing of the hidden mystery.
–‐———
—Nothing goes to Elohim except that which came from Him. Set apartness to Yahuwah–
John 3:13
No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Adam. ( 1 John 5:11) ( John 5:30.psalm 27:8) (John 3:10. John 3:14-15)
Leviticus 9:24
There came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed the sacrifice. consuming the sacrifice signified God’s acceptance of it, as an atonement for the sinner. This also was a figure of good things to come. The Spirit descended upon the apostles in fire. And the descent of this holy fire into our souls, to kindle in them pious and devout affections toward God, and such a holy zeal as burns up lusts of fallen nature (flesh, sarx) and purifying the soul, is a certain token of God’s gracious acceptance of our persons and performances. Nothing goes to God, but what comes from Him. We must have grace, that holy fire, from the God of grace, else we cannot serve Him acceptably, Heb 12:28. Hebrews 11:4. The people were affected with this discovery of God’s glory and grace. They received it with the highest joy; triumphing in the assurance given them that they had God nigh unto them. And with the lowest reverence; humbly adoring the majesty of that God, who vouchsafed thus to manifest Himself to them. That is a sinful fear of God, which drives us from Him; a gracious fear makes us bow before Him.And there came a fire out from before the Lord. The sacrifices were already smouldering on the altar, a ram, a calf, and a lamb, besides the internal fat of a young bull, a kid, a bullock, and a ram, and a handful of flour. They would have continued smouldering all the day and the night, but a miraculous fire issued from the manifestation of God and consumed the whole in the sight of the people. The Rabbins believe that this divine fire was miraculously sustained upon the altar until the building of Solomon’s temple, at the dedication of which it fell from heaven afresh, and then continued until the restoration of the temple-worship under Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:16) and the majority of them maintain still further, that it continued side by side with the ordinary altar-fire, which was kindled by the priests (Leviticus 1:7), and, according to Leviticus 6:6, kept constantly burning by them.”
— and then Set Apart Fire returned on Shavuot and is with His people ever since .
———-
—Set Apartness to Yahuwah. —
Standing in Melchizedek:
Hebrews 7:25 Yeshua our High Priest
-wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost those drawing near to God through Him, always living for to intercede for them.
Standing in Aaron.
The high priest was the official representative of the nation. He stood before God as the embodied and personified Israel. For the purposes of worship Israel was the high priest, and the high priest was Israel. And so, on his forehead, not to distinguish him from the rest of the people, but to include all the people in his consecration, shone a golden plate with the motto, ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ ( Set Apart to YHWH). The root-meaning is ‘separated,’ ‘set apart,’ and the word expresses primarily, not moral character, but relation to God. That makes all the difference; and it incalculably deepens the conception, as well as puts us on the right track for understanding the only possible means by which there can ever be realised that moral perfection and excellence which has unfortunately monopolised the meaning of the word in most people’s minds. The first thought is ‘set apart to God.’ That is holiness, in its root and germ.And how can we be set apart for God? You may devote inanimate thing for certain uses easily enough. How can a man be separated and laid aside?Well, there is only one way, brethren, and that is by self-surrender. ‘Yield yourselves to God’ is but the other side, or, rather, the practical shape, of the Old and the New Testament doctrine of holiness. A man becomes God’s when he says, ‘Lord, take me and mould me, and fill me and cleanse me, and do with me what Thou wilt.’ In that self-surrender, which is the tap-root of all holiness, the first and foremost thing to be offered is that most obstinate of all, the will that is in us. And when we yield our wills in submission both to commandments and providences, both to gifts and to withdrawals, both to gains and to losses, both to joys and to sorrows, then we begin to write upon our foreheads ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ And when we go on to yield our hearts to Him, by enshrining Him sole and sovereign in their innermost chamber, and turning to Him the whole current of our lives and desires, and hopes and confidences, which we are so apt to allow to run to waste and be sucked up in the desert sands of the world, then we write more of that inscription. And when we fill our minds with joyful submission to His truth, and occupy our thoughts with His mighty Name and His great revelation, and carry Him with us in the hidden corners of our consciousness, even whilst we are busy about daily work, then we add further letters to it. And when the submissive will, and the devoted heart, and the occupied thoughts are fully expressed in daily life and its various external duties, then the writing is complete. ‘Holiness to the Lord’ is self-surrender of will and heart and mind and everything. And that surrender is of the very essence of Christianity. the New Testament writers never hesitate to speak even of such very imperfect Christians as were found in abundance in churches like Corinth and Galatia as being all ‘saints,’ every man of them. That is not because the writers were minimising their defects, or idealising their persons, but because, if they are Christians at all, they are saints; seeing that no man is a Christian who has not been drawn by Christ’s great sacrifice for him to yield himself a sacrifice for Christ.Of course that intrusive idea which has, in popular apprehension, so swallowed up the notion of holiness-viz. that of perfection of moral character or conduct-is included in this other, or rather is developed from it. For the true way to conquer self is to surrender self; and the more entire our giving up of ourselves, the more certainly shall we receive ourselves back again from His hands. ‘By the mercies of God, I beseech you, yield yourselves living sacrifices.’ (MacLarens)
1 Thessalonians 5 :11- 22 summed up as self surrender.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
23And the Elohim of peace Himself set you completely apart, and your entire spirit, and being, and body – be preserved blameless at the coming of our Master יהושע Messiah!
24He who calls you is trustworthy, who also shall do it.( 1 John 3:1-2)
Set Apart to YHWH. Sanctified. When word saint was used, it means sanctified one. Called out one – separated to Yeshua.
Exodus 28:36
And you shall make a plate of clean gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet: SET-APARTNESS TO יהוה.
Galatians 3:27 ( set apartness to YHWH)
27For as many of you as were immersed into Messiah have put on Messiah.
1 peter 3
21which figure now also saves us: immersion – not a putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward Elohim – through the resurrection of יהושע ( Yeshua) Messiah,
22who, having gone into heaven, is at the right hand of Elohim, messengers and authorities and powers having been subjected to Him.
—
From Bible commentary:
“Exodus 28:36 Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: SET-APARTNESS TO יהוה
Exodus 28:38 Aaron must wear it on his forehead so he may take on himself any guilt of the people of Israel when they consecrate their sacred offerings. He must always wear it on his forehead so יהוה will accept the people.
Leviticus 10:17 “…eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area it is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before יהוה
High priest ought to eat sin offering while wearing priestly garment and SET-APARTNESS TO יהוה plate which empowered him to take away sin of the congregation ceremonially. Some view passage to mean that the priest, by eating or incorporating the victim on which the offerer had laid his guilt, actually took away the sin, or neutralised it in a mysterious way, by virtue of the sanctifying power belonging to the sacerdotal office. Others, again, who also take the phrase to mean that the priest literally takes the sin upon himself, do not explain it, but simply say, that by eating the sin-laden victim the sins of the offerer were, in some sort, laid upon the priest to be taken away by him, thus prefiguring Christ, who should be both priest and sacrifice.”
—
Not Jehovah. ( there is no J in Hebrew) Yahuwah.
His Name is Yahuwah.
AhaYah asher AhaYah is in perfect tense and Ehyeh asher Ehyeh is in the imperfect tense. It is translated as I Am that I Am, or I exist that I exist , conveying idea of self existence , it means He exists, it means all the past, all the present and all the future, He is self perpetuating, relying on Himself alone while creation depends only on Him. ” And Elohim said to Moses thus you are to say to children of Israel , יהוה (Yahuwah) Elohim of your fathers Elohim of Aḇraham, Elohim of Yitsḥaq, and Elohim of Ya‛aqoḇ, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever and My remembrance to all generations ” – Shemoth 3:15 (exodus)
His Name is Yahuwah. Creator of everything, of visible things and invisible , the only Elohim, no others , self existing from eternity to eternity , Elyon vehemently in righteousness, loyalty, veracity. Exceedingly powerful. Elohei . Absolute Sovereign. Over everything.
Yeshua- salvation of Yah.
If you have seen Me- you have seen the Father. ( John 14:9, John 8:19) I and the Father are one ( echad) john 10:30. )No one comes to the Father except through Me.( John 14:6).
(garden of Eden- Adam and eve.
God covered Adam and eve with animal skins – YHWH provided the return. Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews 7:8-12″ animal skins “. Hebrews 7:15-19 and Hebrews 8:13 Light. 2 corinthians 5:21- in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Ephesians1:19-20 His resurrection power is working in you. “Animal skins” cannot do that to you. The Light, the Covering , the Covenant – Yeshua – His work on the cross, the highestTehillah, Elyon the most vehemently)
Yeshua, the brightness of Yahuwah’s glory:
Hebrews 1
1Elohim, having of old spoken in many portions and many ways to the fathers by the prophets,
2has in these last days spoken to us by the Son, whom He has appointed heir of all, through whom also He made the ages,
3who being the brightness of His ( Father’s) glory and the exact representation of His substance, and sustaining all by the word of His power, having made a cleansing of our sins through Himself, sat down at the right hand of of the Greatness on High .
—–
—Nothing goes to Elohim except that which came from Him. Set apartness to Yahuwah–
John 3:13
No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Adam. ( 1 John 5:11And this is the witness: that Elohim has given us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son.see following verses) ( John 5:30 Of Myself I am unable to do any matter. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own desire, but the desire of the Father who sent Me.psalm 27:8
To my heart You have said, “Seek My face.” Your face, יהוה, I seek.)
(John 3:10יהושע answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Yisra’ĕl, and do not know this?
John 3:13And no one has gone up into the heaven except He who came down from the heaven – the Son of Aḏam.14“And as Mosheh lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Aḏam has to be lifted up,15so that whoever is believing in Him should not perish but possess everlasting life.)
Leviticus 9:24
There came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed the sacrifice. consuming the sacrifice signified God’s acceptance of it, as an atonement for the sinner. This also was a figure of good things to come. The Spirit descended upon the apostles in fire. And the descent of this holy fire into our souls, to kindle in them pious and devout affections toward God, and such a holy zeal as burns up lusts of fallen nature (flesh, sarx) and purifying the soul, is a certain token of God’s gracious acceptance of our persons and performances. Nothing goes to God, but what comes from Him. We must have grace, that holy fire, from the God of grace, else we cannot serve Him acceptably, Heb 12:28. Hebrews 11:4. The people were affected with this discovery of God’s glory and grace. They received it with the highest joy; triumphing in the assurance given them that they had God nigh unto them. And with the lowest reverence; humbly adoring the majesty of that God, who vouchsafed thus to manifest Himself to them. That is a sinful fear of God, which drives us from Him; a gracious fear makes us bow before Him.And there came a fire out from before the Lord. The sacrifices were already smouldering on the altar, a ram, a calf, and a lamb, besides the internal fat of a young bull, a kid, a bullock, and a ram, and a handful of flour. They would have continued smouldering all the day and the night, but a miraculous fire issued from the manifestation of God and consumed the whole in the sight of the people. The Rabbins believe that this divine fire was miraculously sustained upon the altar until the building of Solomon’s temple, at the dedication of which it fell from heaven afresh, and then continued until the restoration of the temple-worship under Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:16) and the majority of them maintain still further, that it continued side by side with the ordinary altar-fire, which was kindled by the priests (Leviticus 1:7), and, according to Leviticus 6:6, kept constantly burning by them.”
— and then Set Apart Fire returned on Shavuot and is with His people ever since .
—–
Love glows and burns in the heart like flame.
“He gave us from His fire of fires, and bade
Remember whence it sprang, nor be afraid
While that burns on, though all the rest grow dark.”
—–
–Set me as a seal —
Songs of Solomon 8
6Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as unyielding as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, a flame of Yah!
7Many waters are unable to extinguish love, And floods do not wash it away. If one would give all the wealth of his house for love, It would be utterly scorned.
Seal- A symbol of something especially dear and precious.Jealousy is Strong passion, from a word meaning to be red with flame, in a good sense, as the parallelism shows: “Strong as death is love, A most vehement flame.—Literally, a flame of Yah, the only place where a sacred name occurs in the book, and here adverbially, to express something superlatively great and strong. Southey’s lines are a faint echo of this:—“But love is indestructible,
Its holy flame for ever burneth,
From heaven it came, to heaven returneth.”For love — My love to thee, whence this desire proceeds, is strong as death — Which conquers every living thing, and cannot be resisted or vanquished. Jealousy — Or, zeal: my ardent love to thee, Hebrew, קשׁה, ( not cruel but hard) is hard, grievous, and terrible, and sometimes ready to overwhelm me, and swallow me up; therefore do not leave me. The coals thereof are coals of fire. It burns and melts my heart like fire. Many waters cannot quench love — My love to thee cannot be taken off, either by terrors and afflictions, which are commonly signified in Scripture by waters and floods, or by temptations and allurements. Therefore, give me thyself.Jealousy” is here another term for “love,” expressing the inexorable force and ardor of this affection, which can neither yield nor share possession of its object, and is identified in the mind of the sacred writer with divine life.
He goes on to describe it as an all-pervading Fire, kindled by the Eternal One, and partaking of His essence:
“Its brands are brands of fire,
A lightning-flash from Yah ( YHWH)
To Leviticus 6:6 I need to add leviticus 6:12-13
I cannot edit previous post.
There is no discontinuity.
There is hidden mystery that is revealed, but it is not discontinuity.
John 10:35-36
Scripture cannot be broken.
Colossians 1
26the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His set-apart ones,
27to whom Elohim desired to make known what are the riches of the esteem of this secret among the gentiles: which is Messiah in you, the expectancy of esteem,( Christ in you the hope of glory).
This was purpoused from eternity past, so it is not “discontinuity “, just something that was hidden and now revealed . One pastor said that God is like the gardener- in reference to “growing us “.
John 5
47 if you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me. 47But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
Same is applicable in reference to earthly and heavenly Tabernacle.
Hebrews 3
1Therefore, set-apart brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, closely consider the Emissary and High Priest of our confession, Messiah יהושע,
2who was trustworthy to Him who appointed Him, as also Mosheh in all His house.
3For this One has been deemed worthy of more esteem than Mosheh, as much as He who built the house enjoys more respect than the house.
4For every house is built by someone, but He who built all is Elohim.
5And Mosheh indeed was trustworthy in all His house as a servant, for a witness of what would be spoken later,
6but Messiah as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the boldness and the boasting of the expectation firm to the end.
1 Peter 2
4Drawing near to Him, a living Stone – rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Elohim and precious –
5you also, as living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house, a set-apart priesthood, to offer up spiritual slaughter offerings acceptable to Elohim through יהושע Messiah.
6Because it is contained in the Scripture, “See, I lay in Tsiyon a chief corner-stone, chosen, precious, and he who believes on Him shall by no means be put to shame.”
Thank you for your comments, Yulia. I didn’t mean discontinuity in the sense that you refer to, I think I didn’t even use this word. I wrote: “we find here not only continuity but also a novelty”. When we read the New Testament, we find a lot of new interpretations of the Hebrew Scriptures – it’s what I meant.
So, once we have a picture of our High Priest and “mercy seat” validating our connection with G-d, in the manner portrayed in Exodus: Do we stop there and worship the High Priest/Mediator, or is that only the beginning step?
Thanks, Nick
It’s very good, although very simple question, Nick, and I understand why you ask it. Of course, you know the answer as well as I do – we don’t worship either High Priest or “mercy seat”, we worship God alone, and these are just His instruments.
Notation: “according to the pattern … shown you on the mountain,” This was important as it presented this foundation pattern as part of all of God’s Foundation of the Kingdom. Making all things rock solid. Details of the pattern often referred to man’s creation schematic. “in our image” preparing for “Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven” I have spent some fifty years of study/research on this very subject. Looking at “on the mountain” As a “high place” much like the rebellious angels that made a pact to disrupt the “The Kingdom” often referred to the mountain and pact as “The Gates of Hell”. And Jesus who transcended on a Mountain Top as a statement. (The statement/ battle cry “The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail.”) …Where he met with Moses and Elijah.,” A before and after the Law example” The Flame of the Alter as purification and Light of the lamps “In the beginning God created Light” as a foundation Root. In the Upper Room “The Flame upon their heads” as they saw upon the Alter and the Lamps and the thunderous wings as a mighty wind and the use of 50 (50 days) in the Tabernacle design. I have used two values of creation design and the formulas Einstein is known in matter and energy…the result two numbers depicting years in both the Hebrew and Gregorian Calendars. Ironically, they are actually the “same year” a span as prophecy is seeming to declare in this day and age for the imminent Return ….and not that far into the future.
Thank you for your comment, Harold, it’s very interesting, a lot of food for thought. For me, this connection between “according to the pattern shown on the mountain” and creating man “in our image” is especially remarkable: in my next post (it should be published tomorrow), I am writing about Bezalel and the Hebrew meaning of his name – and the connection with a man being created “in the image of God”. I don’t want this comment to be a spoiler for my post, so I am not writing more – but stay tuned, it might be of interest to you!