Bible-4, Pentateuch 4, Lev-Deut: Part 1

LESSON 4

PENTATEUCH 4

LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY

Part One:

By Pastor G. Evan Newmyer 

INTRODUCTION TO LESSON 4

This will be the fourth lesson on the Pentateuch covering the Books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Book of Exodus covered the first year in the wilderness, with the beginning of the Law of Moses. Exodus also gave instructions to the Judges, but what about instructions for the priests? Leviticus is the Jewish priest manual regarding their duties in the Law of Moses. Our priesthood is different, our Order is found in the Book of Hebrews, yet we will also find some very interesting elements in the shadowed priesthood. The priest under the Law of Moses was suppose to “minister unto the Lord”, but we know only the high priest could enter the holy of holies, then only once a year, how then could they “minister unto the Lord”? By ministering unto the Lord’s people.

The Book of Numbers is more than a bunch of family lists, we will seek out the treasures found therein, seeing correlations to some of the teachings of Paul. We will also take a look at Balaam, who obtained a mention or two in the New Testament.

The Tabernacle is our example of how there is more than one holiness, explaining why the angels say, “Holy, holy, holy”. There is the holiness of Judgment, a holiness of the Mercy, there is also the true holiness of God obtained in the New Birth. These people didn’t act holy, but God said they were, how can He? Anytime God separates someone to deal with them as children they are holy. It doesn’t matter if they know it, or act like it, thus it’s based on God’s dealing, not their awareness.

The name Deuteronomy means Second Law, but why a Second Law, or is it really a Second reading? When Jesus entered His wilderness to face the devil, He used verses from Deuteronomy to defeat the temptations; therefore, there has to be some treasures therein for us as well; let’s get started.

LESSON 4

PENTATEUCH 4

LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY

In Exodus we found God cut a Covenant with the children of Israel, as well as gave instructions to the Judges; Leviticus will give instructions to the priests. If this is the Old,  yet we are the New, why even read this? We are called to be priests unto God, but what is our duty? Could we find mysteries in the Old helping us in our Season of the Day? Most certainly, we will find information to enhance our knowledge of God, giving us more foundation for our belief. Exodus ended with the Tabernacle, but it also ended in the second year, on the first day of the month, which gives us about one year for the Book of Exodus (Ex 40:17), but until the Tabernacle was raised there was no need for an active, or daily ministering priesthood Order, thus we move from the Tabernacle to Leviticus.

LEVITICUS

We know they had priests before the Tabernacle was built, but the priests lacked an Order. The Law of Moses was granted to a people God set apart from the rest of the world, it would bless the doer until the death of the doer. Then it would change course by  convicting the doer as a sinner. When someone did the Law they acknowledged their awareness of being a sinner; however, the Cross grants us freedom from conviction and condemnation. The Life of Jesus is greater than the Law of Moses, thus we complete the purpose of the Law of Moses my accepting the death of Jesus in our place, we then live by the Life of Christ in us. Therefore, Paul cautioned us against returning to a Law signifying one was yet to die. The Law and the Ten Commandments are nailed to the Cross, as Jesus made an open show of them (Col 2:14-16). If we run back to the Law of Moses to gain favor from God, we are saying the Cross was insufficient. Nonetheless we find the Law of Moses was Pointing to the Cross, it was the preview of what God was about to do. The Proceeding Word of God is Progressive, the religious order in the days of the earthly ministry failed to see it , they did what God told them to do, but they did it too long causing them to miss what God was doing.

The progression shows how the Plan knew they would be in the wilderness many more days than forty, the sabbath day is connected to the Manna, yet the Manna came about on the second month, fifteenth day (Ex 16:1). The Ten Commandments came in the third month, after the judges were installed (Ex 19:1). Now comes the Priestly Manual of Leviticus point to the tribe of Levi, it’s their book pertaining their priestly duties and Order. The title Leviticus is a transliteration of the title from the Septuagint; in the Hebrew the title for Leviticus would translate as “and He called”, meaning God has called. This is important for us, since God’s Progressive Word has called us to become Priests and Kings unto God (Rev 1:6, Rom 8:30 & Heb 10:38-39).

Leviticus has more types of sacrifices than most of us have shoes, yet the One Sacrifice of Jesus was greater than the total of all Sacrifices. If we put all the sacrifices together, including all Solomon did, they wouldn’t come close to what Jesus gave us. The animals were types of the innocent paying the price for the guilty, but none of the sacrifices gave up their lives by choice, Jesus being the ultimate Sacrifice gave Himself for us, because He loves us (Gal 2:10).

The Priestly guidebook for the New Testament priest is Hebrews, but there are parallels to be found here. The Tabernacle is one we know of, it has been said if we don’t understand the Tabernacle we will have a very difficult time understanding the Gospel. Whether that’s correct or not is up to the scholars, but knowing about the Tabernacle makes understanding the Cross easier. We will look at various aspects of the Tabernacle as well as the differences between it and the Temple.

If the priests were to be holy and minister, what provision did God give them to keep them holy. The Law of Moses doesn’t make one holy, rather it shows how we are not holy by pointing out sin. We know they gained a holiness because God separated them in order to deal with them, but how could He separate the priests from the separated? A covering? Something which worked like the Unction, without being the Unction (I Jn 2:20). The priests garments became the covering regarding the Office they were appointed to. The garment itself was a shadow of something to come; on the Mount of Transfiguration the Face of Jesus did shine as the sun, but His garment was white as Light (Matt 17:2). The face and body coupled with the Greater Light, really the Head and Body is more like it, the Head of the Body is Jesus, but the Body is the Body of Christ. The Body has a Unction, or a covering to protect each and every member regardless of who they are. The priests garment protected the priest, unless the priest defiled the garment, as two of the sons of Aaron will. Therefore, the garment not the person made the priest holy. We also know through history how the high priests would wear bells on the bottom of their robes, the one time each year on the Day of Atonement when they entered the holiest of all, they did so with a rope around their ankle. If the bells stopped sounding, they just pulled him out, and elected another one. Therefore there was a type of unction in the priestly garments, but not a blanket covering to allow them to go outside of the calling.

The Offices in the New Testament have an anointing of their own, the Gift of the office is know by the Greek word Doma (Eph 4:11), meaning the gift is a present, the last Doma gift Jesus gave were the offices, thus we term them the Doma (Eph 4:11). The offices are not appointed by men, rather the Holy Ghost on behalf Jesus appoints the person to the Office (Acts 13:1-3). The five fold ministry is made up of the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. There is a mantel for the office, specific in nature designed to; 1) perfect the saints, 2) for the work of the ministry, and 3) for the edifying of the Body of Christ (Eph 4:12). The Office anointing is not the same as Grace (Charis), Grace is designed to save our souls, the Doma is designed to assist the Body in the Process. Charis has its Charisma, or the workings of Grace, but we should ever confuse the Office anointing with Charis (Grace). When the Office anointing is active we can make the mistake of thinking it proves the holder’s Grace relationship with Jesus, it doesn’t, it proves the Office is functioning. The Offices fall under the title of Governments, the other part of the working order for the Church would be Helps (I Cor 12:28).

Helps has two positions, the Bishops who are the overseers, the Deacons who do the services needed. No human appoints the Offices, but leadership does appoint Helps (Acts 6:3-4). Paul sent Titus to appoint Helps and Elders, he did not send him to appoint any of the Offices. Timothy was not told to appoint Pastors or Apostles, man confirms the offices, he doesn’t appoint people to them. An Elder can come from either Governments or Helps; they hold the evidence of God’s Wisdom allowing them to give Advice or Suggestions, the only “ruling” they do is by example.

We have said this to remove those areas from what we are about to get into. Why? We have the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher, Elder, Bishop and Deacon, but we also have Jesus who “made us kings and priests” (Rev 1:6). Here the priests came only from one tribe, it would be illegal for any priest to be king, or a king to be a priest. Each person in the Body is called to be both king and priest, thus no one in the Body can hold to the Law of Moses, yet claim to be of Christ. Even if they came from the tribe of Levi it would illegal for them to be of the Body, yet claim the Law of Moses. God provided a check and balance, if we say we are of the Body, then we are kings and priests, but being both would be a violation under the Law of Moses. The division is such one cannot mix the Old into the New, or the New into the Old without violating one or the other, or both.

We have the Unction over us protecting us as it teaches us how love (I Jn 2:20 & I Cor 11:1-2), we have the anointing of the Office (Eph 4:11), the anointing of the New Man (Eph 4:24 & I Jn 4:1-4), and the anointing of the Body (Luke 4:18). Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me” (Luke 4:18). This was after the Wilderness, yet still the Beginning of the earthly Ministry for the Son of man. Jesus did not say, “The Spirit of the Lord is in Me”, neither did He say, “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, and I will be anointed”. The Process gives us the beginnings found in the Name of Jesus, from whom all anointings come. This is an answer to seeing the Dove descend on Jesus as the “Spirit”, yet we also see Jesus filled with the “Holy Ghost”. The Spirit was the acceptance of the Sacrifice, the Holy Ghost the beginning of the ministry, thus the Anointing came by the Holy Ghost, then He could say the Spirit of the Lord was on Him, because He was anointed. This in no way means Jesus became the Son of God by the baptism, that would be heresy; rather we find He was patient, waiting for the ministry of the Son of man to open. The Holy Ghost filled Him for a purpose, the Spirit is a sign of the acceptance of the sacrifice coupled with the Peace of God. Jesus was Declared the Son of God through the Resurrection by the Spirit of Holiness, we are declared sons of God by the Holy Spirit in us (Rom 1:3-4). Therefore, Jesus as the Son of God could speak on matters pertaining to the Kingdom of God before the Cross, but until the disciples were Born Again, they could not. We find when it pertained to the Cross and Resurrection the disciples were not allowed to mention Jesus as the Christ of the Cross and Resurrection, but they could preach Jesus as the Christ of Mercy (Son of man). Same Jesus, different positions. We enter as sons of men by the Mercy of God, we are declared sons of God by the having the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus was the Son of God before the resurrection, yet the resurrection Declared Him the Son of God (got it?).

Some of us like to read Isaiah 10:27 as, “the yoke is destroyed by the anointing”, but it’s not what it says, rather we find, “the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing”. It’s not By, but Because, a big difference. The Yoke was destroyed to make room for the Anointing, thus Jesus said the Spirit was upon Him, Because He was anointed, not the other way around. The Process happens for us when we enter the Body, the Yoke is destroyed so the Lord can anoint us, granting us the Unction, which is the Spirit over us. The New Birth places the Spirit in us, joining the Authority to the Power from on High. The disciples preached the kingdom at hand, healed the sick, baptized people in water, yet Jesus told them to Tarry for the Power from on high. As the Son of man Jesus said He had Power to forgive sins on earth, there was yet the heavenly connection, which the Cross, Resurrection and Sacrifice completed. The Resurrection is the central point of the ministry, without the Resurrection, Christianity becomes another worldly religion. As great as the Law of Moses was, it was not enough to get the doer into heaven. They could reach Abraham’s Bosom if they walked in Faith, but there was no “Bosom of Moses”. The conclusion one has to draw is, if we have the Spirit, the yoke is destroyed, we must be anointed.

Jesus baptized us with the Holy Ghost based on our desire to have the Spirit, the Holy Ghost over shadowed us giving us the Gift of Grace, then the process of Seed growing began until we were Born Again. Water Baptism is important, so much so Peter found it extremely necessary to water baptize Cornelius after Cornelius received the Gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 10:47). These priests had none of that, but they did have offices, an anointing and duties in reference to their office. The Law of Moses had provisions for healings, but no where did it allow anyone to cast out devils. It was limited by design, It could not grant Life beyond death, it did not allow anyone to impute the old nature dead, it could not grant the Spirit, it did not provide for the New Birth, but it did have many types and shadows.

The Law of Moses is a Power and a Principality, thus it is a place in a nation, as the nation revolves around it. It is a type of “god” being appointed by God to watch over a people who were appointed to the Law, but nonetheless belonged to God. There is a Power established in the Ten Commandments as well, they can condemn a person to death for the failure to do them. This is not strange, man places power in the laws of man.

The priests were appointed by men, but the requirement was still based on family order. Therefore, no one could legitimately hold the position of priest and king. Samuel was a priest and a prophet, David was a king and a prophet, but neither were priest and king. We are the only ones God has made both priest and king. David was anointed as a king, Samuel anointed as a priest, each anointing limited to the office.

There had to be something God would give the priest as proof of the office, which would allow God to impute holiness on the position, without having to look upon the person. The priest stood for the people, but if the priest couldn’t present the sacrifice, then it was all for nothing, thus the priest had to have the appearance of holiness. Today we hear how we are to be Holy, but how? Works of the flesh? It didn’t help the Pharisees. Aaron was a human, a man who was subject to the fall nature, yet his position had to be holy. There had to be some type of covering, one which would satisfy the requirement, yet also project a symbol to the future when the Christ Anointing would be granted to the Body of Christ. The Garment, of course; God saw something in the Garment, thus He gave strict orders on the making of the garments. Aaron’s garment became his badge of office, as well as his protection, Ours is two fold, if we are Born Again we have the New Man, but there is also the Unction over the Body, a symbol found in the garment of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Included in the Garment were all the symbols of God’s plan of redemption, thus reminding God how the man in the uniform wasn’t the issue, the plan of redemption was. Of course it was also to remind the man in the uniform of their duties, thus when the high priest worn the garment of the office there was a protection from certain destruction, even if they challenged Moses, yet it wouldn’t protect them if they defiled the office. The Garment would be the “covering”, but it didn’t change the nature of the person, it didn’t save them, it was not internal, it was external, thus whether the person was holy or not didn’t matter, whether they remained hidden in the Garment did. The proof is always Bible based, Judas is a perfect example of being covered by his position, yet when he defiled his position, he lost what little he thought he had. This is not the same as the Christ nature in us, Greater is He in you, than the he in the world, but there is also a covering (I Jn 2:20 & 4:1-4). We put on the New Man, yet the New Man is in us. Go figure.

In the last lesson we skipped over many of the items found on the Garment, saving them for here. There is a connection between the Garment of the high priest and the New Man, we have the Greater He in us, but the protection comes when we “put on” the New Man. Paul tells us to put on the Armor of God, most of us view the Armor in the context of a Roman soldier, but didn’t Paul equate the things of God to God? Why would Paul tell us to be separated from the world, yet use the world to equate something of God? Could it be the Garment of the high priest is a type of the Armor of God? We saw the “Breastplate of Judgment”, Paul tells us about the Breastplate of Righteousness (Eph 6:14). Paul tells us to be girt about with Truth, the Garment for the Priest had a Girdle as well, but the Roman soldier didn’t (Ex 28:4). The context of Paul’s equation fits better with the Garment of the priest, it’s the old man who wants to be some great, fierce warrior, cutting the enemies to pieces, the New Man knows humbleness, mercy, love, faith, grace spoken by the Spirit are points of victory. This is more evident when we find the Sword of the Spirit is not some great sword, but more like a knife used for sacrifices, it’s the Rhema, which allows us to speak proceeding words centered in Life which edify, as we minister Grace to the hearer (Eph 4:29 & 6:17). The example? Jesus, “the words I speak they are Life and Spirit” (Jn 6:63).

The armor is not to be used out of order, it’s the anointing for our prayer life (Eph 6:18). Any dog can bark at the moon, it takes a real Christ centered person to speak to God as a “son”. Prayers by the saint must be in line with the will of the Spirit, it’s not to say we don’t ask for things, it means we are willing to accept the answer. Jude tells us to pray by the Holy Ghost, but the reference is in relation to dealing with the masses, as Jude points out (Jude 20-23). Some of us pray as if we our faith is the master over God, if God doesn’t meet our expectations we get mad. If we pray for an item, yet God gives one of the same class, but lesser in value we are disappointed. We prayed from a lust, not a need, God did grant us an answer, but it was also a test to expose. Discern the answer, or lack thereof, determine our motivation and intent by the Word in us, thus discovering why we have the Armor.

In viewing Paul’s description of the Armor we find the Girdle, Breastplate, Preparation for our Feet , the Shield, Helmet and Sword, then we find something very strange. The high priest didn’t wear any sandals, or covering for their feet, rather their feet were bare. Moses was told to take off his shoes, for he was standing on holy ground. A type of nakedness based on being open and honest before God. The Roman soldier had a type of foot covering which contained many spikes on the bottom, the purpose was to gain a firm grip on rocks, as well as inflict pain and suffering on their enemies. It has to be clue, we are not to inflict pain and suffering, we are to be examples of God’s love. So, what is the connection? Naked and open before God. Our feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace (Eph 6:15 & Heb 4:12-13). The Gospel isn’t covering our feet, it’s the Preparation, thus we heard the truth, we believed, we are open like a little child coming unto the Lord, knowing wherever the saint steps is holy ground. We deal with people by being pure, no masks, no attempts to dominate or manipulate as we are made void of committing deception.

Why did Paul use the word Helmet, rather than Crown? Don’t we have the Crown of Life? If we have a Crown and a Helmet it would seem we have one too many hats, or one too many heads. The priest didn’t wear a crown, yet the distinction Paul is making brings us to the priest. Isaiah 59:17 talks about the helmet of Salvation, but we also find Saul attempted to put the helmet of brass on David (I Sam 17:38). We cannot wear another’s Armor, we have to have God in us, to wear the Armor of God. There is more than one type of helmet, brass being a metaphor for judgment shows we can’t have a judgment mind, then claim salvation. In Isaiah we find there was no man to wear the Armor, so the Lord put on the Armor, thus it’s called God’s Armor. When Paul says we can put on the Armor, he also shows we have God in us by the Spirit. The Armor of God only fits God, it’s why it’s called the Armor is of God, thus we put on the New Man, in so doing we are being covered with the Armor. What is the purpose of the Armor? To stand in the evil day against the Wiles of the devil, thus the real enemy is the Wiles of the devil, it’s not flesh and blood, or personalities.

In all this we find our position as a “priest unto God” has requirements, they are not hard, but they are restrictive in nature. We cannot mix fables into Doctrine, then expect to remain covered, we cannot slander, then expect to hide in the folds of our covering. The helmet protects our minds from fables and cunningly devised tales. Even Traditions can hamper our walk, the traditions of men still make the Word to no effect in our lives.

Paul tells us strongholds are imaginations, fables, or reasonings based on a natural or carnal thought processes, thus they are in the mind of the holder (II Cor 10:4-6). One such fable is the assumption the Armor of God makes us some warrior who can yell at people, or vent our uncontrolled anger in any direction. Not so, it’s based in the Peace of God, since the Gospel is the Gospel of Peace, which is our Preparation. The job of the high priest was to enter the holy of holies, making Peace with God on behalf of the people. The Armor is to stand in the evil day as a  saint, then stand for the people of God.

These people sinned against the Commandments and each other, Leviticus was a guideline for the priest to make the offering so they could atone to the Commandment, but not to God. The Law reconciled them back to the Commandments, thus the Law was connected to the Commandments by the sabbath day, the day was set aside so they could  reflect on their ways. The interesting thing about the sabbath day is how it was weekly, once Saturday was over, a new sabbath faced them, miss one, you have missed them all.

Repentance for these people was in the offering, they did repent when faced with pending danger, but their repentance under the Law was still in the offering. As the Son of man Jesus forgave the sins of the people on earth, in many cases He told them to go and make their offering. Why? Wasn’t His Mercy sufficient? Yes, but the people were still under the Law of Moses, Grace would not be granted until the Spirit was given on Pentecost. Jesus as the Son of man was walking in the manifestation of the Mercy of God, thus Jesus could stand in the place of the Law, removing the condemnation, while applying Mercy. No one said, “Son of David, have Grace on me”, but they did say, “Have Mercy on me”.

The Pharisees rightfully said, “who can forgive sins but God alone”; they knew the Law balanced sin with the blood of the sacrifice, but in truth it didn’t remove sin. Jesus was granting Pardon, something even the priests couldn’t do. The call of the priest was, “your sacrifice has been presented”, Jesus said, “you are forgiven”. Completely different, yet the evidence showed He was able to do what He did.

The prophets were termed “sons of men”, because they spoke for God, but Jesus not only spoke for the Father, He carried the Father’s Mercy within Him. When someone touched Him, He felt the Power of Mercy leave. When someone touched the Torah, they gained knowledge, not power. Jesus as the Son of man held a position higher than the position of the high priest under the Levitical order, only the Lord of glory could.

They priests knew better than to say, “your sins are forgiven”, but whenever someone receives the forgiveness of their sins we tell them their sins are forgiven. How can we? The arrogance of these Christians; nay, the authority granted these Christians allows them the right to tell people they are forgiven. The Body of Christ is the only group granted heavenly authority to baptize people in water as the token of God’s Mercy applied.

There is a sin toward God, it’s summed up in “Whosoever has sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book” (Ex 32:33). Not much chance there, it doesn’t say, “but”, or “maybe” it’s simply blotted out, but is God speaking of these people, or a people to come? Ahh, in the Book of Revelation we find Jesus saying to Sardis, “He who overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life” (Rev 3:5). Then we read, “After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb clothed with white robes”, this group cries, “Salvation to our God” (Rev 7:9-10). They received white robes, but who are these people? John asked the same question, he was told, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14). These people are in heaven, defined as from every tongue, nation and kindred, which means they were Jew and Gentile, who became neither Jew or Gentile. These people are seen in heaven when the 144,000 are marked on earth, giving us the change from the Day to the Night (Rev 7:1-14).

Exodus shows there was no Pardon for the sin against God, which means it was unpardonable. There is a “blasphemy against the Holy Ghost”, but the tenses show this is a continual sin, one a person works at. It’s not something one does in the world, since they lack the knowledge and position, rather it’s something found in the minds and hearts of the Wicked. The title “antichrist” is not anti-God, or anti-Jesus, or even anti-Spirit, it’s against the Anointing in others, the same Anointing the Holy Ghost brings. Jesus said the workers of Iniquity did things, yet failed to do other things they were suppose to (Matt 7:21-23). This unpardonable sin is a spoken sin, one beginning with an iniquity, leading to the trespass. The failure to show Mercy to the brethren, develops into a slanderous attitude, the person begins to seek error to feel superior, or think they are the only ones doing the work of the Lord. They set themselves against members of the Body, making their attacks personal in nature. They never consider what they are doing, or what they failed to do as wrong, thus they never ask forgiveness. They may ask God, “God forgive me of my sins and iniquities”, yet they go right back to doing the same slanderous things over again as part of their unchanged nature. They not only hold a natural slanderous nature, they love it, use it, enjoy the feeling they get from it, while they work to keep it. It’s a far cry form someone who is fighting to be free of the old nature, yet makes a mistake. However, for those who are fighting to be free of the old nature, they find Greater is He in us, than he of the world (I Jn 3:9 & 4:1-4). We have the overcoming ability within, the living conscience of God, the Greater He as Christ in us, the hope of Glory. However, this is not to be confused with someone mandated to rebuke us, or correct us. In most cases when someone has to correct us, they really don’t like it, but do they must.

God gave the children His glory, but the Glory of God without God still misses something. Some of us run around the world looking for the Glory of God, but the True Glory of God is within us by the New Birth (Rom 8:18). Sometimes it’s better to look in, than around.

None of these people were spiritual, but they understood the anointing, as long as they didn’t misuse it, they were protected. Two examples prove this, first we will see Aaron and Miriam confront Moses, yet only Miriam pays the price for the attack at the moment. Aaron was protected, but later when the protection is removed, he dies. Two of Aaron’s sons toss strange fire into the Tabernacle, both died on the spot, so where was their protection? They misused the anointing, but Aaron made a bad judgment call, but he still didn’t misuse the anointing. Today we wonder how some obvious violators of Mercy can get away with misusing the Name of Jesus, but the Authority of Jesus is a great Unction over all in the Body. When the Unction is taken in the Rapture, then the price will be paid, but until then we are told to judge the Ways of a person, not their Acts; more important we are told to judge ourselves. The same Unction protecting them, protects us, we know we have made some mistakes on this path.

Several things to keep in mind, under the Law one did something to be blessed, under Grace we are blessed to be a blessing. The Garment of the Priest is not the exactness of the Armor of God by pure definition, the Garment of Aaron had the Breastplate of Judgment, which should be a clue showing the Law of Moses is Judgment based. From this we find the Shadow has opposites, thus we discover the mystery by viewing some of the things in the shadow as opposites. The light shines on our face, the shadow is behind us, yet is the shadow our face? Or the back of our head? It’s a shadow, although it points to an exactness, it is not the exactness. A Shadow means the light is behind the Image, thus a darkness is cast to give us the outline, but not the details; therefore, the time before Jesus came as the Word made flesh was a time of darkness.

A shadow of a dog tells us it’s a dog, but it doesn’t tell us the color, attitude, or other things only the dog can tell us by his actions. Here we find the Shadow, not the Image, the Image is Jesus, nonetheless we see the “outline”. These people were not the shadow, they were in it. For Aaron it was the breastplate of Judgment, we have the Breastplate of Righteousness, yet Paul also called it the Breastplate of faith (I Thess 5:8). The only two references we have to the Breastplate (sing.) in the New Testament relate to the Righteousness connecting to The Faith. It has to be a blessing, when we define the Righteousness is connected to the Faith of Jesus, we find the Righteousness of Jesus is the Scepter of the Kingdom, yet it’s part of the New Man (Heb 1:8 & Eph 4:24).

The priest had to give a sacrifice for their own short comings; we find we must be able to minister to ourselves, before we can minister to others. Jesus didn’t have any shortcomings, so His Sacrifice is pure. We give ourselves a Living Sacrifice, which is our reasonable (logical) service (Rom 12:1). In order to be a Living Sacrifice, one needs Life, thus after we gain our Life from Christ, we are able to honestly present ourselves as a living sacrifice.

Some Parenthetical Phrases define the metaphor, some are the metaphor being defined. Such is the case in II Corinthians 10:4, where we find a Parenthetical Phrase reading, “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)”. This phrase either explains the premise, or opens it: if it opens it, the next phrase will define it; therefore, we then read, “casting down imaginations and every thing exalting itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ: having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled” (II Cor 10:5-6). This phrase defines the word Stronghold, to take it beyond the premise would be forming a Stronghold regarding Strongholds.

We also find the word Revenge, but what are we going to Revenge? And how? We gain our revenge over any formed Imagination, which is a matter of disobedience, by bringing every thought into the Obedience of Christ. The Helmet of Salvation keeps us from running off with childish traditions, or chasing every wind of doctrine.

If we remove the Parenthetical Phrase we end with, “casting down imaginations and every high thing (prideful) exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (I Cor 10:5-6). It’s the premise of the teaching, things of natural reasoning attack the knowledge of God. When we teach tradition as doctrine, we are forming strongholds in others, while enforcing our own stronghold. Scripture to Scripture must be one of the keys, where is the Scripture? In the case of the Armor of God we can’t find which Armor Paul is referring to, but we do have the attributes of the Armor, from there we can make the determinations. The priest doesn’t have a shield, or does he? The shield of the priest is the incense he carries as a type of the prayers for the people. Paul said the purpose of the Armor was for us to pray (Eph 6:18-19). The Armor of God is our covering, the New Man, the ability to pray in accordance with the Will of God.

If we put on the Armor of God we must also have a Godly purpose, especially since the Armor is God’s; it’s not the “armor of the saint”, it’s on loan. The list Paul gives us in Ephesians is limited to six items, but then he uses other items in other letters. The Armor has a specific purpose, it protects us from rulers of darkness, committing spiritual iniquity, showing us things hidden set to trap us. These children are the prime example of being set free of the dominating realm, yet retaining the nature of the old realm. The garments of the priests have correlating elements to the Armor (see chart below).

Helmet of Salvation	The Miter (Hat)
Sword of the Spirit	Signet on the Miter (Hat)
Renewed Mind	Blue band holding Signet
Shield of Faith	The Girdle
Breastplate of Righteousness	Breastplate of Judgment
Truth	Urim & Thummim
Praise & Worship	Pomegranates & Bells
Prayers	Censer
Gospel of Peace	Standing on Holy Ground
Power	Apron

Along with the six items, Paul included prayer as the purpose for putting on the Armor as well as other attributes of the Armor in other letters, we placed them all together to show the completeness and function of the Armor. It does little good to put on the Armor then bark at the darkness; it does little good to put on the Armor then attempt to use it in a carnal manner. The Armor of God is for one purpose, Prayer, so we may Stand, so we may Stand for others. In first part of the Book of Ephesians Paul tells the Ephesians his prayer for them, then he tells us about the Armor for prayer, do you think they correlate? Yes, the manner in which we use the Armor is given to us in the prayer of Paul for the Ephesians.

Wait, back to the priest, what about the twelve stones? To the priest under the Old Covenant they represented the tribes, but we see them as the foundational elements of the apostle positions, which John confirms in the Book of Revelation. The twelve stones were on the Breastplate of Judgment, but we’re not of Judgment, we’re of Salvation, thus we put on the Breastplate of the Righteousness of Jesus, our “stones” are seen as the foundation for the wall of New Jerusalem for the Bride of Christ (Rev 21:19-20 & 21:1-2).

We have said all this, to show how the requirements for the priests and high priest in Leviticus are types and shadows of the New, but they are not the exact same. We don’t kill innocent animals, but we do destroy the works of the devil. We also impute the old man dead, deny the self, then pick up our cross, things the high priest under the Law of Moses never considered.

We talked about our feet being shod, in Ephesians 6:15 we find the word Shod is the Greek Hupodepo meaning To bind under, as one would Bind sandals, this connects to “binding and loosing” as they connect to Mercy. Wait, aren’t we suppose to “walk by faith”? Well, here it says we are Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace, what is it ? The word Preparation is the Greek Hetoimasia meaning Foundation, so what is the Foundation of the Gospel of Peace? Belief, yet it also includes Mercy, we forgive as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us. Coupled with We must Believe we are forgiven, in order to forgive. Our Belief is a now confidence based on information and knowledge of things which have happened, or things we’ve been told: our Faith is a now confidence based on things hoped for in the future, even if the future is ten seconds away. If we lack knowledge, where then is our faith? In the natural, thus knowledge gives us confidence to know we are forgiven by the Mercy of God, the evidence is when we forgive others, then the Mercy becomes a product of our nature.

If we think the Armor will allow us to pray against our pastor, we are wrong. If we think the Armor is for us to pray for our pastor to speak the Word boldly, then we’re right. If we think the Armor is for us to boast in, we’re wrong. If we think it’s for us to come boldly to the throne of Grace to obtain Mercy and find Grace, we’re right. It just stands to reason, if we war against the Wiles of the enemy, then the Armor of God contains the Ways of God.

The injunction of wording Paul uses gives us clues, the designing function, or manner of operation for the Armor points to the priest’s garments, but the words used to describe it, seem to point to the Roman solider. The Roman solider never considered his armor anything than what it was, he would never consider using it outside its intended purpose. The high priest had a higher degree of protection than the Roman solider. The Roman solider had protection against all but those equal to him, or greater in number, in either of those cases he would be defeated. The high priest was one person, who stood alone in the holy of holies, thus the high priest had a protection the Roman solider would never consider.

We have access by the Faith of Jesus through the Spirit (Eph 3:12 & 2:18), but we don’t come to God as a mass army, or hidden in the folds of a mass army, Grace involves us as individuals. The Armor protects us from the outside, while allowing us to come to God on a one to one basis. Something the Roman solider never had; the Roman solider put his armor on because he knew he was useless without it, the high priest put his garments on because his office called for it, knowing he would die without them. Putting all it together we find it’s our duty to put on the armor, but it’s still up to us to do it, and use it accordingly.

There are some basic requirements for the Christ centered priest, some are warnings; “Let us labor therefore to enter into the rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (Heb 4:12). What example? The children in the wilderness, for while it is yet To-Day if we hear His voice, and harden not our hearts, as did the children in the wilderness (Heb 4:1-7). Again, “Harden not your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness” (Heb 3:8). Right back to Belief, we hear a lot about faith, but we seem to brush off Belief, yet Mark 16:16 tells us if we are baptized (identified with the death and resurrection of Jesus) we must Believe (continual belief) in order to fit Shall be saved. It’s not faith, although faith is important, but the sin which so easily besets us is unbelief. Of course Mark 16 also has the back side of the coin, we can believe all we want, but unless we’re in the Body the phrase “shall be saved” does not apply. We can be in the Body, but unless we continue to believe the phrase, “shall be saved” does not apply. Belief remembers what Jesus did for us, as well as what He told us. If we allow our belief to slip, our faith has no foundation.

Hebrews also tells us, “therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto Perfection; not laying again the Foundation of repentance from dead works” (Heb 6:1). The phrase Not laying again, doesn’t mean to Forget it, it means the foundation should be firm, so firm we are able to teach it, rather than being taught over and over again. Since it’s something of the past, then it stands it couples with Belief. This goes with, “for when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need for one to teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God” (Heb 5:12). The six basic elements of the Doctrine of Christ are the principles of the Oracles of God, they are foundational to all the other aspects of Doctrine of the Christ.

It begins for us when we Put on the New Man, thus the making of the Priest’s Garment had to be specific in nature, God had a plan in the Shadow to give us some insight to the Image. Going back to Exodus we read, “Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, so he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office” (Ex 28:3). If this is the case, then the Armor allows us war against evil elements, as we minister to God, meaning we are priests unto God. Much of our priestly order is to minister unto the Lord by being Christ like when we deal with events, or people. Perhaps Paul is showing if we Put on the New Man, we are putting on the Armor to become a Christ witness. Therefore, we are ministering unto the Lord, by representing Him in a proper manner. The Armor keeps us from lying in wait to deceive, it  keeps us from being deceptive, it keeps anger from ruling over us, it keeps strife from being our motive, by bringing us into the spiritual nature.

The Garment had to be first, then the oil, then came the Consecration, the word Consecrate is the Hebrew Qadhash meaning To be clean, To make clean, or Pronounce clean, for Aaron it was the latter of the three. Aaron was not clean, the garment was, thus the garment hid the man. What did this Garment give him the right to do? He could enter the holy of holies, thus it gave him the right to Stand. The same is true with the Armor of God, when we have done all to Stand, we Stand therefore for others. What gives us the ability to Stand? The Armor, for some reason we think we give the Armor the ability to stand, not so it’s the other way around. What does standing represent? Right standing, thus the Armor as the New Man gives us boldness and access by the Faith of Jesus. The garment of Aaron gave him right standing in the Tabernacle.

Since we Stand, we should know some of the qualities of Standing. Of course, we will find more as we move along in the Lessons, but for here we find Standing includes, but is not limited to Maintaining a set position: To have a good attitude: To be consistent: In agreement: To have direction: To watch: To tolerate things: To be based or rooted in something, as we refuse to consent to something not in accordance with what we Stand for. Tolerate does not mean compromise, don’t confuse the two, tolerate means we can put up with it, while retaining the witness we’re suppose to. Compromise means we give up something to appease someone else.

The wording, “Take Unto” in the phrase, “take unto you the whole Armor of God” is the compound Greek word Analambano, the Greek word Lambano will become of great importance when we reach the letters in the New Testament, but for here we find Analambano means To take up with the attitude of bearing something, or taking with the attitude of using what we took in the manner it was intended to be used. It stands if we take up “part of the Armor” we have failed to fit the qualifications. We might not like the “Rhema“, so we won’t use the Sword, but unless we take it all, we have taken nothing.

The wording, “Put on” in the phrase “Put on the New Man” is the Greek Enduo meaning To go in under, or Submit to, or Enter into through the act of Submission as the high priest would Enter into the holy of holies. This gives us the attitude of being humble, the high priest was humble before the mercy seat, if not they would drag him out then elect another.

If the high priest used his Garment in a manner not prescribed by God, he in fact defiled it, thus we are given the Armor of God for a specific purpose, we don’t abuse it, or defile it. Jesus said all the works of the enemy are under our feet, yet everything is under His feet, thus there is something between us and the enemy, it’s Holy Ground, the enemy can’t stand to look upon holy ground, much less touch it. However, we don’t fight the enemy, we fight his wiles; we may be surprised where some of those are found.

Before we can get to the holy of holies we have to pass through the holy place. We looked at the Tabernacle before, but in reference to Standing we can see when we enter we face three items. Straight ahead is the Golden Altar, to our left is the Menorah, to our right is the Table of Shewbread with the Shewbread thereon. We have to partake of the Bread (Body), care for the Light (Mercy), and the Golden Altar (Thanksgiving and Praise). These three items are all products of Mercy, all have to do is maintain the anointing (unction), which keeps us from iniquity.

The curtains were also important, the curtain going into the holy place had a large eye on it, this eye presented the Eye of God searching out the heart of man. The curtain for the entrance into the holy of holies from the holy place had three angels on it, yet we know there were only two over the Mercy Seat. The number “three” points to the Trinity, but we also see how each angel stands for the three items in the holy place. All of which had to be attended to before one could enter the Holiest of All. The reminder was on the curtain, “seeing” nothing was left undone, then the high priest could enter.

The Tabernacle is a shadow of Salvation, the Temple represents Judgment, thus in the Book of Revelation we find the Temple being opened in the last days, but we also find God will tabernacle with the tabernacles in heaven. In Revelation 15:5 we see the “temple” of the “tabernacle”, but the Greek word for Temple refers to the holy place with the holy of holies, showing the courtyard is left out.

Another clue is how the Tabernacle was, and was not, yet the Temple was destroyed more than once. The Tabernacle came at the Commandment of God, the Temple at the request of David. The Tabernacle came to Moses while on the Mount, the Temple to the prophet during the night. The Tabernacle was portable, the Temple stationary. One day the Tabernacle was not, one day in 70 AD the Temple was destroyed by a drunken Roman solider of Titus. Two structures, both relating to God, yet with completely different purposes.

Before the priest could function in the office, there had to be several things placed in Order. Order is always a key to success in the ministry, we can have a great idea, but use the wrong means to bring it to pass, making us out of order. We can have an idea, yet attempt to bring it to pass in the wrong time, thus being out of order. In Exodus God gave a list of the items for the Priest’s Garment beginning with the 1) Breastplate, 2) the ephod, 3) robe, 4) embroidered coat, 5) the miter, 6) the girdle (Ex 28:4). Ephesians gives us six basic elements to the Armor of God, thus we do have a correlation to the premise. Things in order must be in order. However, as we said, the Breastplate for Aaron was one of Judgment, not Salvation or Righteousness, being out of order for Aaron would be thinking his breastplate was for salvation, being out of order for us would be thinking our armor is for judgment. The Tabernacle may have pointed to salvation, the priests at the time didn’t.

The Garment had the Ephod, yet we find another mystery. What is an Ephod? Where did the word come from anyway? The first time we find the word is in Exodus 25:7, we can guess at the mind of Moses going “E what?”. The word Ephod means A putting on, or A binding, God gave orders for this Binding, but for us we want to find the Loosing as well. God called this Ephod the “curious girdle” of “cunning work” (Ex 28:6-8). The word Cunning in the English means deception, or craftiness, one could form an imagination here, but the Hebrew word is Chashav meaning among other things To invent, Think about, thus it isn’t deception, but something to Ponder. Some say the Ephod had two stones, one with six names of the tribes, the other with the other six names of the tribes (Ex 28:10). Others say there were twelve stones, but the twelve stones pertained to the breastplate, not the Ephod.

When we get to Deuteronomy we will find Moses will command for the tribes to be spilt, putting six on one mount and six on the other, one group calling out the cursing, the other the blessing, thus the Ephod here is a division between cursing and blessing, with the cursing in first place. Godly Judgment is a division between the Precious and the Vile. For us the Armor is all Precious, neither is the Armor divided, thus by having Christ in us we are made a blessing, void of cursing.

The Faith of Jesus is coupled with the Unity of the Spirit, the Armor of God points to Unity as well (Eph 4:3 & 4:13). The only place we find the word Unity in the New Testament is in Ephesians, the only time we will find Unity among the brethren is when we are United in the Faith by the Spirit. The Scripture says, “it’s in Whom (Jesus) you also trust, after you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13). This not only points to the Truth as the basis for the Gospel of Salvation, which is the Gospel of Peace, but how we are not Divided, rather the Armor is designed for Unity, it’s the fables coupled with the gates of hell dividing what God has joined. One element we find in both the Old and New is putting our Trust in God, rather than in people. We trust people to do what they should, but we never put our trust in people. If we trust someone to deliver us, secure us, save us, we have put our trust in them, very dangerous.

The Helmet of Salvation is like unto the Miter; the Miter was not made of metal, it was woven, on it was written, “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” (Ex 28:36-37). In our case we find the New Man is created after God’s True Holiness, thus our Holiness is within, making our Armor the New Man (Eph 4:24 & 6:10-18). Aaron wore the Breastplate as a sign of the “judgment of the children of Israel”, we put on the Armor as a sign of the “Salvation of the Lord”, two different aspects, yet the same God brought both.

The Urim and Thummim were to be on “Aaron’s heart”. How so, did Moses cut the man open? No, in Aaron’s case it was a symbol showing the purpose was protection. The Urim and Thummim represent Light and Perfection, in our case they point to the New Man as God’s True Holiness (Perfection) and Righteousness (Light). The Urim and Thummim are a mystery, they are not made of materials, nor constructed by the hand of man, thus they are something regarding the purpose of the garments, as well as the attitude of the priest.

The first verse in Leviticus defines location, the Lord called Moses, speaking to him out of the tabernacle of the congregation (Lev 1:1). The “tabernacle of the congregation” is the tent itself, the place where the holy place and holy of holies were located, it was not the entire area containing the courtyard. This is the same context for the word “temple” found in many of the New Testament letters. The use was not to confuse us, it was a common phrase to define the holy place and holy of holies (Greek Naos). This is important since we can be in the Courtyard having an association with God, but no relationship or fellowship with Him. Our relationship comes in the holy place, the fellowship in the holiest of all. The holy place had many priests all working on various aspects of duties, but the holiest of all was one person and God.

We know this Tabernacle relates to Jesus, as the Way, the Truth and the Life; therefore, we find the various entrances are also termed the Way, Truth and Life. The three angels on the curtain going into the holy of holies give us Hope, Faith and Love, it all relates.

Then we find the “offering”, this would be one year after they left Egypt, but wait, is this offering a tenth? No, an offering is not limited to percentage, the Tithe under the Law is. By the way, where did they get the cattle? They brought them out of Egypt, but didn’t they murmur because they were hungry? So, why not eat the cattle? These people were not red meat eaters, they were among the Egyptians who wouldn’t eat red meat; don’t forget the shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptian. This shows why the Passover meal was an issue of Faith and Obedience. It would be no different than putting a piece of pork before a Jew today and saying, “God has said eat”. Which we know was something  Peter experienced in his vision (Acts 10:9-17). Do we think they will say, “oh yeah, sure, okay”? Hardly, yet we know there is a proceeding word, at times the Word may say, “What God has cleansed let not you call common” (Acts 10:13-14).

When it came to the Law of Moses many things changed, if we know the background of this group we can see when God makes a change it can be a big change, or a little one, yet we must be open for both. They didn’t have any problem in giving a sacrifice, but eat it? This was a point of separation for the priests as well, they were given permission to eat some of the sacrifices, but they had to be told to. Moses says, “so saith the Lord”, yet the people had to fight their Egypt background in order to move with the Word of God. We do the same when God begins a move, we have to cast off the religious garment of imperfection, to join the “so saith the Lord”, or we miss out. When the anointing comes, we must seize the moment. When the people were healed in the Gospel Accounts they seized the moment, they were ready and looking for something to happen. We don’t want to be the one who hears, “there goes Jesus”, we want to be the one to say, “Here comes Jesus”.

The first offering was a voluntary act consisting of a “male of the first year” (Lev 1:3). Why a male of the first year? Perhaps pointing to Jesus? Or perhaps pointing to the Consecration of the Firstborn (Ex 13:1-22)? For these people it was connected to the death of the firstborn in Egypt, which was something God did not like doing, but do it He must. They were to remember they were delivered by the Mercy of God, as the Blood of the Passover spared them. It wasn’t for their goodness, their faith, or their praise, it was because of God. The same is true with us, as priests we administer the Communion to our selves and others, yet we must remember as members of the Body we were delivered by the Mercy of God, now we are being cleaned by the Blood of Jesus as well as the washing of the Water by the Word.

Then in Leviticus 1:4 we find the beginning of the Doctrine of the Laying on of Hands. We saw the power of the Anointing Oil, as it was made once, as a type of Christ going to the Cross once, but we are commanded to lay hands on the sick, the elders are commanded to anoint us with oil when we call on them. Do the elders in the Body have some secret formula for anointing oil? No, it’s olive oil as a sign of the Oil of Mercy, connecting to the Mount of Olives with the Least Commandments. They could use a tanker of oil, but if they don’t have the Oil (mercy anointing) within all we’re going to do slip around in circles, not getting anywhere.

The phrase “it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him” is the key to this Doctrine (Lev 1:4). The concept of the “laying on of hands” is basic to the Doctrine of Christ, but we have to go back to Exodus to place it in order. In Exodus 29:10 we read, “And you shall cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock”. This is the first place in the Bible where the concept of the “laying on of hands” is seen. The concept of the Laying on of hands runs hand in hand with the “Doctrine of Baptisms” (plural), the foundation is seen in the Shadow (Ex 29:4-7 & Heb 6:2). Accordingly, in Exodus and in Leviticus we find the laying on of hands in reference to the sins of the people being placed on some animal, then the animal would carry the sins of the person. The Shadow shows a Presentation for Acceptance, connecting to how we lay hands on someone as an act of Presentation unto the Lord to remove sin. However, if we use the shadow as an exactness then we must say we lay hands on someone to impart our sins on them, not so. Instead of putting sins on some animal we seek the doing away of sin in the presentation of the person to the Lord (James 5:15).

As priests under the New Covenant we have an Order, the Order entails the laying on of hands. It doesn’t mean we as people outside the authority of Jesus can forgive sins, but it does mean Jesus has given us the Authority as “sons of men” to forgive sins done unto us. If it wasn’t the case, then all of us have made great errors in telling others, “Your sins are forgiven”, or any number of sayings suggesting, or telling a person their sins are forgiven, including “welcome to the family of God”. When we welcome someone into the family of God we are telling them their prayer of repentance worked. What right do we have to even suggest it ? The authority Jesus granted us in His Name.

Under the Old Testament the sins of the person against the Commandment were not really forgiven, they were transferred to some innocent animal, the animal died on behalf of the person, but in our case we have the Forgiveness of Sin (singular, sin against God), as well as the Forgiveness of Sins (plural, as sins against man), the Cleaning of Unrighteousness (By the Blood of Jesus), with the Remission of Sins through the Blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of Iniquity by the Mercy and Grace of God; all of which are found in our process of Justification unto Salvation.

Like the anointing, there are various areas for the “laying on of hands”; there is laying on of hands regarding the sick, regarding the calling into an office or ministry, or presentation for Baptism with the Holy Ghost. There are counterfeits, such as the laying on of the hands by the wicked to laid hold of the righteous (Matt 26:50), just as there is the laying on of hands to do Good (Mark 6:2 & 16:18). In Mark 6:2 we find Jesus laid hands on people; in Mark 16:18 we are told to lay hands on the sick, thus Mark 16:18 is merely telling us to do what Jesus did. Paul laid hands on Timothy for ordination, then warned Timothy not to lay hands suddenly on any man in reference to ordination (II Tim 1:6 and I Tim 5:22). Of course the Jews laid hands on the apostles by casting them into prison.

Here in the case of Aaron and his sons we find God telling Moses to have them lay hands on the bullock, but didn’t two of these sons turn bad? Yes, and God knew it, thus when we lay hands on someone we better have ears to hear, if they decide to be among the wicked God knew it, thus God ordained it. It is just as much an act of rebellion to refuse to lay hands on someone when God tells us to, as it is to lay hands on someone when God hasn’t told us to. The same is true when someone says they believe, but they really don’t. Do we refuse to water baptize them? No, Simon of Samaria proves the point (Acts 8:9-13). Of course water baptism is acceptance into the Body, when it came time for the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Simon was refused (Acts 8:20-23). Jude tells us on some have compassion making a difference, and others save (Sozo) with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 22-23). The Good Fish have compassion on, but know there will be Bad Fish as well, both are in the same net. Jude also used the Greek Sozo when he said, “I will therefore put you in remembrance, although you once knew this, how the Lord having saved (Sozo) the people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed them who believed not” (Jude 5). What people? These people, again it was their unbelief producing their own destruction. Belief is a decision, the evidence is placed before us, as it was for these people, thus we make the choice to believe, or not to.

We have the words of Paul; plus the Book of Acts giving us many examples regarding the concept of the laying on of hands. This always brings us a question, “if the disciples laid hands on people, so the people could receive the Holy Ghost, who laid hands on them at Pentecost?”. Did they lay hands on each other? Did some mystery man lay hands on them? It’s way we have the verses regarding Cornelius, Peter wasn’t going to lay hands on Cornelius, all he had to do was preach Jesus to the man. However, while preaching about the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost came on Cornelius granting the Gift (Acts 10:45). When Peter knew the Lord had accepted Cornelius, he immediately baptized him in water. No one laid hands on Cornelius, but we still have the doctrine to be used when applicable.

In our role as priests unto God, one of the functions is to present Sacrifices unto the Lord. Among the Sacrifices we present are people, who are giving themselves as “living sacrifices”, as their reasonable service. Acts 5:12 shows there were many Signs and Wonders done by the Hands of the apostles, thus our Hands are like unto the Hand of Moses, we don’t turn the water into blood, or bring frogs, or the such, rather it’s the opposite, instead of bringing frogs, we cast out evil spirits; instead of flies, we sent Beelzebub on his way, instead of water into blood, we present the Water (Mercy) and Blood (Grace).

In Acts 5:18 we find the concept of the hands of the wicked, showing how evil hands lay hold of the righteous to bind them. In Acts 6:6 the apostles laid hands on the Deacons to ordain them into the office of helps. In Acts 8:17-19 it was the laying on of hands to receive the Holy Ghost, we recall how Simon of Samaria wanted to buy the power as he said, “Give me also this power, so on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost” (Acts 8:19). The request sounds good, after all, we are the ones sent to lay hands on others; however, Simon of Samaria wanted the power for personal gain, he was rejected. He also felt the power came from the apostles, rather than the apostles presenting the person as the power came from on High. The point being, did Simon of Samaria get this Power? No, not from the Apostles, not from Jesus. The history of the Body shows Simon was known as the “father of all heretics”. If water baptism saves, then the Bible regarding Simon is in error, he believed the signs, was baptized in water, but failed to continue with his belief, it cost him dearly.

In Acts 11:30 we find the Message goes in the hands of the disciples, as well as the Blessing. In Acts 13:2-3 we find several saints laying hands on Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for confirmation into the Office of Apostle, showing how the filling of the Office didn’t stop with the eleven. It’s also evident the Holy Ghost appointed on behalf of Jesus, the men only confirmed the call (Acts 13:1-3). In Acts 4:30-33 we find the Power of Signs and Wonders was not restricted to the eleven, but continued to those who Believed, of course it stops with those who don’t Believe. Acts 4:30-33 is another one of those areas supporting Mark 16:16-18, the disciples were able to Take up, or convert the serpents, Paul being the chief evidence. In Luke Jesus said we will tread on serpents (malicious people), meaning they have no power or authority over us, but in Mark it was “take up” meaning to raise to a higher position, thus Mark relates to “saving them from the fire”, the same as Jude told us.

When studying the priesthood under Aaron, we must keep in mind we have a different Order, one under Jesus as our High Priest; rather than Levi, according to the Book of Hebrews we cannot hold the Order of Aaron and the New Testament order, it would be illegal. On the same note none of us are “High Priests”, Jesus is the only High Priest in our Order, yet we are forever called priests. Our Order has tithes, but we as priests pay and receive tithes, we don’t take Tithes. Every priesthood has a Order, a manner in which a priest is to function in the office. If we don’t know our Order, how then are we going to know what to do? We tend to look at the man Melchizedek, but he is not the issue, the issue is the Order of Melchizedek (Ps 110:4, Heb 5:6, 5:10, 6:20, 7:11-21). The Order is defined as Blessing, Giving, Ministering, Receiving (Gen 14:18-19), we minister not by soulish or carnal endeavors, but through the Spirit, we bless and curse not, we give God the glory. The Levitical priesthood took tithe by commandment, there is no commandment under the New regarding tithing, but there is the attribute of giving in found in those of Grace (Rom 12:6-8), thus under the Old they took, under the New we receive, much different, as we found out. No one can do both Orders, one is carnal, the other spiritual, one is centered on Judgment, the other on Salvation, one is cursing and blessing, the other blessing only, one is faulty because it’s administered by carnal priests, the other without fault since it’s High Priest is without fault, as the priests in the Order are spiritual.

From here we go to the Atonement under the Law, which takes us back to Exodus 30:16, where it was termed the, “atonement for his soul”, but this is not the same as the Saving of the Soul (Heb 10:38-39, James 1:21 & Pet 1:9). The word Atonement means To transfer something to something else, or To balance, but it doesn’t remove the sin, thus they had to transfer their sin to something else innocent in order to balance the sin. The sin was not “done away with”, it was still around, only on some animal. The act of transferring their sin to some animal was based on the absence of them being able to obtain Pardon for their sins. When Jesus said, “your sins are forgiven”, He didn’t grab some goat and rub the person all over it. Jesus was the first ever to stand for man as He Pardoned sin. A Pardon is a legal term, it means there may be evidence against us, but it is not sufficient enough to warrant punishment. When Jesus Pardoned sin It was such a shock the entire Pharisee community staggered and murmured for days; they retorted with, Only God can Pardon sin, they were right. Atonement takes another object in the person’s place. We find three areas, Atonement which we find here, Pardon would be what Jesus did as the Son of man, or as the Father did when He forgave us by the application of God’s direct Mercy; however the Blood of Jesus administers Remission. Jesus also said the New Covenant was based in His Blood, thus when we are saved from the world we enter Pardon, based on God’s Mercy, then we travel through the grave to find Grace to enter the Process of Remission. We know it’s a Process since it’s the washing of the water by the Word, as well as the cleaning of the Blood, as our minds and souls are renewed to a different manner of thinking. The Blood of Jesus removes sin, the source of sin, the knowledge of sin, bringing to pass that Born (generated) of the Spirit is Spirit.

Anyone who was a Hebrew among the tribes could gain entry into the Courtyard, if their sacrifice passed the test, thus the “holiness” and “anointing” was open to all who had an acceptable sacrifice. The same is true for us, anyone who believes and receives the Sacrifice of Jesus can make entry into the Body, then they are a type of holiness under the Unction. Does it  mean the person is holy? No, it means God viewed them as if they were, showing more than one type of holiness. Let’s face it, God called these people “holy”, but we’ve seen telephone poles which held more holiness than some of them. When God called us to the Cross, we were viewed as holy simply because God separated us, then He began to deal with us as children. The True Holiness of God doesn’t come until we were Born Again. A like symbol is true here, these people are “holy” by association, not by acts, our association is with the New Man until the two (soul and New Man) become one.

In talking about Communion Paul told us to Judge or Examine ourselves (I Cor 11:31). The word Judge used in I Corinthians 11:31 means to examine as a doctor would, but it also means to examine as these Inspectors did. By the Spirit we become a sacrifice compared to the Sacrifice as the judge of our own sacrifice. In their case the blemish was cause for rejection, in ours, it’s cause for Communion. We bring the blemish to the Lord, we don’t reject ourselves because of it. Being “unworthy” of the Table of the Lord is when we refuse to apply the table in its intended purpose. The sin of “defiling the table of the Lord” is when we use the table to exalt ourselves, rather than remember all Jesus did for us. Communion is source of Belief, we Remember, in the remembering we have to judge ourselves in reference to the Body, the purpose of the Body as it relates to the Mercy of God. Then the Blood in our relationship with Jesus, remembering why Jesus gave Himself.

At the entrance to the Tabernacle Courtyard there were Inspectors, who were usually judges, they would Examine the offered sacrifice for any blemishes, but the examination would be subject to the viewpoint of examiner. Later during the earthly ministry the Pharisees used this premise to sell their doves, causing Jesus to clean the temple, saying to the Dove Sellers, “Make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise” (Jn 2:16). They twisted the premise used here to fleece the sheep. We are to receive tithes, but we can twist the premise as well, making it appear as if we are the only storehouse. It’s so easy to use the merchandising ways of the world, then put the name “Jesus” on them in order to sell the products of the ministry with the same attitude the Pharisees had. We can’t say, “it’s okay, it helps the ministry”, using the ways of the world is still unacceptable at the Table of the Lord, we can’t take the cup of devils, then call it holy because it made money for the ministry.

In Leviticus we find many types of Sacrifices, we know about our “sacrifice of praise”, which includes our prayers, thus we will find different types of prayers in these sacrifices as well. A Sacrifice is not some “woe is me” endeavor, it’s a joy, honor and a pleasure. Cain found it out the sacrifice is based on attitude, do we praise because we think we have to? Or because we want to?

The first sacrifice we make is the Offering of our souls unto the Lord as a Voluntary act of our will (Lev 1:3). What do we think it means when we say, “not my will, but Your will be done”? Do we think it means God will enhance our agendas? Or does it mean we cast aside our desires and personal agendas, to receive the desire and agenda of God? The latter of course. It doesn’t mean we’ll suffer greatly, rather it means we know God’s plan has our best interests at heart. Really the only suffering we will do is in combat with the flesh, yet Greater is He in us, the flesh or the he in the world.

We move from the entrance to the preparation, the priests would cut the sacrifice into many parts, just as we allow the Spirit to divide us into the many parts, the good being saved, the bad being discarded (Lev 1:7-8). In our case we find we have a choice in the matter, whereas these sacrifices didn’t. Not one lamb said, “Hold it, what do you think you’re doing?”. They submitted to the process, something we should be willing to do.

The Law dictated how to prepare the animals, if the person presented turtledoves or young pigeons, the priest had to “wring off” the head of the bird (Lev 1:15). Since the word “head” refers to Authority, we see this is a type of being “headless” for Jesus, which has nothing to do with going around with our head in basket. It has to do with putting away the authority we gained from the world by receiving the authority of Jesus.

The priest had to pluck the head in a precise manner using his thumb to pluck off the head, then Cleave the bird, but he was not to “divide it asunder” (Lev 1:17). Divide Asunder? Sounds like Hebrews 4:12, the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword dividing asunder. No, wait, in Hebrews it was To divide asunder, here it’s not, but do they relate? Again we find the choice of words by the Holy Ghost is important, in Leviticus the Hebrew wording “divide it asunder” means to open it into two parts without separating the parts completely, thus the bird would still be joined at the backbone, but the inner parts would be exposed. In the Book of Hebrews the wording “divide asunder” is the Greek Merismos meaning to divide for clarity, but not to divide into separate pieces. The Greek Diamerismos would be to divide apart, thus Merismos does associate to the act we find here in Leviticus. The Word (Logos) in us brings transparency to various items by separating them for clarity (Heb 4:12).

The purpose for the Order of Levi was to unite the person to the Commandments, in our case it’s to save our souls (James 1:21, Heb 10:38-39 & I Pet 1:8-10). However, for some of us our soul desires salvation on one hand, yet fears it on the other. The cleaning of God does entail times of exposure, some of us really don’t want to know what God knows about us. Attitude in the process is paramount, we have to believe God is for us, He is not going to beat us up, this is the Day of Salvation: God is in the business of saving us. God is never going to open us up, then yell “Yikes, My God what is that?”. He already knows, His exposure is by process unto perfection for us to know.

In Leviticus 1:16 we find the Crop and Feathers of the fowl were to be cast aside. We can see how the Feathers would be the natural covering, the mask or facade, but what about the Crop? The Crop of the fowl is the place of the gullet, or voice box, it does relate to us. The feathers were the old natural covering we used in the world, but the Crop is the place where we formed words. Mark says we will speak with New tongues, which is different from unknown tongues. New Tongues relate to the new nature, a different way of speaking from a different source.

The “heart” was the main concern, without a Heart there was no sacrifice. The same is true with us, without a heart for God as well as from God we’re a useless sacrifice. The priests were given certain portions of the sacrifice to eat as part of their calling. If they failed to partake of the sacrifice, they were hindering the atonement process. This is a shadow of Communion, we as priests partake of the symbols of the Sacrifice. It doesn’t mean the bread makes some mystical change into the actual flesh of Jesus; it means we have a symbol, after all we are the bread (I Cor 10:17).

When one reads the Bible they get the idea God is a God of semantics, He is picky about words used as well as the placement of words. Therefore, we find God never says anything without meaning; such is the case in the phrase “meat offerings”, which is really a Meal Offering, but why call it “Meat”? To these people meal was meat, but it goes further. The Body of Christ has Babes who partake of the Milk, but there is the Meat as well.

Twice in Exodus (Ex 23:19 & 34:26) and once in Deuteronomy (Deut 14:21), we find the commandment, “you shall not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk”, but why? What’s the big deal? The first time we find the word Seethe is in Exodus 16:23, but there it was to seethe the Manna on the day before the Sabbath, thus it had nothing to do with a “kid”. A Kid is a babe, metaphorically pointing to the attempt to force a Babe to boil in the Milk to become a Meat eater. It’s one thing to present Meat to a Babe, another to boil them in the milk.

There is a difference between a Heave Offering and a Wave Offering: a Heave Offering doesn’t mean the priest is sick to his stomach, rather the Heave Offering was moved up and down, but a Wave Offering was moved from side to side, both give us a type of the Cross, one as the upright piece, the other as the cross piece.

The Meat or Meal Offering was the “most holy” of the offerings, yet to be “most holy” indicates degrees of holiness. The “most holy place” was the holy of holies, here this Meal Offering was Most Holy, but why would it be? Why not the Lamb as the Most holy? Could it be this offering is a type of the Body of Christ? Yes, we are the bread, the real treasure in this (I Cor 10:17).

As we said, the Law of Moses was presented as a means for one who violates the Commandments to be restored, but we will find a “sin against the Lord” in the Law pertains to people sinning against people. Not just any people, these people are the people of the Lord, thus fighting with one another would bring division, which God views as a sin against Him.

The word Oblation is the Hebrew Qurban meaning What is brought near the altar. However, it’s the use of Salt drawing our attention. Jesus said, “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another” (Mark 9:50). Does it  mean if we eat table salt we can have peace? Hardly, Jesus pointed back to this area, bringing clarity to the Shadow. Salt is a metaphor for Mercy, one can’t hold Mercy without desiring Peace, thus we find the word “Peace” leading us to the Peace Offering. Here is the heart of Matthew 7:21-23, the Acts of Power happen, but applying Mercy is an individual choice takes a dedication to comply to the Will of the Father. The ability is granted when we ask God to forgive us, thus Paul as an apostle commanded us to forgive as God for Christ’s sake forgave us (Eph 4:32). When we bind unforgiveness in us, we have bound God’s Mercy in heaven, but when we Loose unforgiveness through acts of Mercy, we Loose God’s Mercy on us

What does the Peace Offering have to do with this? The two kidneys, the fat is on them, with the caul above the liver, both shall be taken away (Lev 3:4). Why? Without at least one kidney the physical body will die, we know, yet by the time they take the two kidneys from the animal it’s already dead. The Hebrew word for kidneys is Kilyah, it’s always used in the plural, but metaphorically the Jew knew the Hebrew word Kilyah referred to the desires and affections (Jere 11:20). Those self-desires and affections seeking self-pleasure have two aspects, both have to be removed. When we use anger, hate, intellect, affection, manipulation, control, deception, or any emotion to get our way, we are self-based.

The Fat is also removed around the kidney, this points to the excess of the emotions. In the saving of the soul we will find the saving of the emotions as well. Emotions are not evil, but if they control us, they become evil. Emotions used in the proper sense are tools, used in the wrong sense they become rulers of darkness. The liver wasn’t removed, it was the Caul above the liver, the Caul in this instance points to excess, metaphorically it shows Covetousness, or the motivation of the spirit lusting to envy.

One of our base Scriptures is Hebrews 10:38-39, yet the wording “saving of” in the phrase “saving of the soul”, is not the Greek Sozo or even Soteria as one would image, but the Greek Peripoiesis meaning to preserve a purchased possession, thus when we accepted the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, we were purchased with a Price, the Blood of Jesus, thus Salvation is the redemption of something Jesus already paid for. Our faith knows the process is for the purpose, thus the Law of Moses was not of faith, since it really didn’t hold a future hope, rather the person had to give their sacrifices continually, whereas we remember the One Sacrifice of Jesus.

These priests operated by formulas, their Manual was specific, even to the point of how to present a sacrifice. Our reasonable (logical) service is to present ourselves a living sacrifice, but how? There is no formula to show if we present ourselves feet first, faith first, hands first, voice first, or belief first. What if we get the order wrong? Would our sacrifice be rejected? No, our order is by faith, not a faith centered on the group, it’s based on the individual. What is a performance for one, may not be for another.

The Law of Moses was a blanket formula, each priest followed the last in order. Their instructions were precise, ours are not. We know the goal is the saving of our souls, how we reach the final position is going to vary from person to person. Always faith, always belief, always obedience, always denying the self, and always picking up our cross, but the details vary. Following a “formula of faith” is not faith, rather we know the result before we begin, even if someone obtained by faith, if we attempt to copy them thinking we’re of faith, we’re not. We missed the point, the person obtained by faith, we attempt to copy their acts, but forgot the “faith” part. Faith is from an unseen source, thus if we use a source we can see, it’s not faith.

Next are the Sin Offerings, if a soul shall sin through ignorance, as did the Corinthians, there was a recourse. For the Corinthians it was the Table of the Lord, but do we find an example here? Perhaps; here we find it was against the Commandments of the Lord (Lev 4:2); however, in order to find if it was of Ignorance, we should define the word. The word Ignorance is the Hebrew Sheghaghah meaning A mistake, or Unwitting fault, but there are two sides to this word. First is the meaning here, which means an act where the intent is not known to the conscious mind, the other side is what the Corinthians were doing, which is disregarding something. Paul said he would not have them be ignorant, then he defined spiritual matters to remove their ignorance. Therefore, ignorance is the often a result of lack of knowledge, but one can purposely avoid knowledge, making it deliberate ignorance, which is not the case here.

Even if the “anointed priest” makes a mistake, there was room for restoration. If the Law of Moses has room, surely we have More (Lev 4:3 & Gal 6:1). The metaphor “horn” as in the “horn of the altar” refers to Power, but there are various types of Power. We are Born Again from Power on high, but the Beast of the Sea also has power. Power is always defined by the authority, in our case it’s Power unto salvation, in the case of the Beast of the Sea it’s unto destruction.

When the priest was atoning they placed the blood of the sacrifice on the horns of the altar, yet it wasn’t a clue for the people to say, “look, I knew it, they were in sin”, rather it was a sign of atonement being made, the matter settled, the priest was back in proper position.

Leviticus 4:14 is the key to the foundation of the Law of Moses, as we read: “when the sin, which they have sinned against it”; against it? Yes, if they sinned against God, then the context would be “against Me”, not “it”, thus we find the foundation for the Law of Moses was predicated on the knowledge of God, saying, “the Commandments are holy and right, but you won’t keep them, so here is a Law for your many weaknesses, the Law is an It”. At the same time the Law separated the people from God in more than one way. There is the Veil of separation, but there was the Veil over the face of Moses, a Veil over the Ark of the Covenant, a the hanging at the Door to the holy place, plus the enclosure around the courtyard, thus, there was more than one separation, there were many. On the other hand we are told, “come boldly to the Throne of Grace”, showing we have no Separations. How difficult is it to come boldly if we keep placing Veils between us and God?

The sabbath connection between the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses shows the two are interconnected. The only two documents God has put forth telling anyone to keep the sabbath are the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses. The Law of the Spirit came through Life, the Law of Moses because of unbelief. The Law of the Spirit doesn’t replace the Law of Moses, neither is it an extension, it’s not even an “upgrade”. It’s for a different people who are Born Again, placing them in a different realm.

The anointed priest who sinned through ignorance, would bring “a kid of the goats, a male without blemish” (Lev 4:23), but when any of the common people sinned through ignorance they would bring a “kid of the goats, a female without blemish” (Lev 4:28). This type and shadow goes directly to using the metaphors “husbands and wives” in reference to the Leaders and Congregation, as Paul did in First Corinthians, thus Paul isn’t female bashing, he is making reference to the Law of Moses, since the Corinthians were carnal, in need of Ordinances for the carnal minded.

Then comes the Trespass Offering, the Trespass would seem strange by reading Leviticus 5:1; it holds something void of ignorance, but points to iniquity. The iniquity is a failure to do something we have the power to do, in reading Leviticus 5:1 it  becomes clear. If a soul sin and hear the voice of swearing as they witness it, whether he has seen or known of it: if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. It’s not the sin, but knowing of it, yet doing nothing. The same could hold true if one hears the call of the Lord, yet does nothing, they have failed to do what they should do, which is iniquity. The premise goes back to the golden calf, when Moses told the people, “Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother: so He may bestow upon you a blessing this day” (Ex 32:29). A blessing for making the golden calf? The blessing was to survive, those who failed to enter the public call were killed by the priests (Ex 32:27-28). This shows it wasn’t the priests committing murder, but carrying out the premise of a man holding his own iniquity. They made the golden calf, it was a sin, the iniquity was the failure to repent. They also set aside the feast day, thus it wasn’t “doing nothing” it was the failure to do what they knew to do.

The next premise is a “soul” touching any unclean beast, but how can your soul touch anything? Oh, the word Soul means a person, but doesn’t the word Soul also mean our mind, will and emotions? Yes, we have a mystery pointing to the New Testament. The soul is the person, the flesh is not. The natural mind turns it completely around, someone thinks if they are beautiful in body it’s who they really are? It’s not, the real person is found in the soul, the flesh will cease, the soul goes on forever. Even those who sleep in Jesus wake up at the Judgment.

God created the beast and the creeping things, then called them Good, here He calls them “unclean”. This also points to touching the uncleanness of man, showing when we are separated from the world, the prince of the power of the air will attempt to call us back. How? The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, or the lusts for other things. The most dangerous element on this earth is the person who mixes their religion into their politics, God separated them for a reason. Religion failing to separate itself from the world uses the things of the world as religious tools (James 1:27).

The question still remains, if God made these animals saying they were Good, now then did they become unclean? Or did they? Were they unclean to these people under the Law, but the premise was to gain obedience. Therefore, God used the animals as tools to get the children to obey, the animal was only unclean to them. In our case if we don’t like it, don’t eat it.

Leviticus 5:1 was in reference to iniquity, but verses 2 and 3 are not about Iniquity, rather they show “doing” something, or trespassing, thus we find the word “guilty”. This gives us the separation helping us define the concept. However, if one is seduced into those unclean areas, they must Confess the sin, then bring a “female” from the flock (Lev 5:5-6). Why a female? In our case it shows we have sinned against the Body of Christ, placing our position in jeopardy. What sin is this for us? He who says he walks in the Light, yet hates (slanders) his brother is in darkness even until now.

The term Unpardonable sin would seem strange since God will forgive any confessed sin, ahh confessed, it’s the key. Confessed is not merely saying, it’s the attitude of rejecting whatever caused the sin. When a person is to deceived they think their pride, ego and self-motivated slanderous ways are not sin, they won’t ask God for forgiveness. Even if they use the blanket term, “forgive me of all my iniquities and sins”, if they continue to slander the Body, they show they don’t consider their slanderous attitude a sin. The context in Matthew 12 refers to those who attack the other members of the Body, yet think they are doing God a service. The Corinthians felt they were more holy than Paul, they attempted to prove it by taking him to task, but in the process they used the wrong source, proving  they were a thorn in the flesh.

We know this goes further than food, but it also includes food. If God says no, then it’s no, whether it’s on the list in the Law or not, but it doesn’t mean it’s No for everyone. God created things to be received with thanksgiving, but only for those who believe and know the truth (I Tim 4:3). A certain food product could kill those under the power of the devil, but not those in the Faith. It’s important to know it’s not the food, but the fear giving the food the power to harm. Of course if we infuse a hot dog with poison we are tempting God, we may meet our maker early. Simply, if we can receive it with thanksgiving, then we can eat it, if not, don’t eat it. God will tell Jeremiah He never told these people to sacrifice, rather God was looking for obedience (Jere 7:21-23). The food was food, it was the obedience God was seeking, the food was merely a tool to get there.

Also we have to consider these people were vegetarians, red meat or the other white meat (pork) was something they were not used to. God set limits on their consumption, we also have to take into consideration when these rules were being written, they were “manna eaters”. If someone in the Body wants to refrain from certain foods, fine, keep it between them and God. Which means they don’t impose the restriction on others, they don’t consider their refraining as some point of special holiness, they don’t make a doctrine out of the refraining. This premise is true with the sabbath, if one wants to keep one day above another, fine, the same applies, they keep it between them and the Lord, with the same premise of not assuming it makes them holier than others, nor do they impose it on others, nor do they make it doctrine.

Going back to the time when Moses stood before Pharaoh, when Moses said the people needed to go to make a “sacrifice” unto God, we can see how any Egyptian would fly into a rage over these eating rules, much less the blood. These were really marks of freedom, God saying some animals were clean was a revelation.

The blood in this case is sprinkled on “the side of the altar”, rather than on the Horns, or in the holy place, thus this sin prevents one from entering the presence of God. When the blood was sprinkled on the horns, it meant a restoration into a called power, the sprinkling in the holy place means one is restored to the Commandments. When we are sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus it’s restoration unto the God. The blood of the innocent was how the Law would view the person, in our case the Blood of Jesus is how God views us.

In the trespass offering, we find a Trespass against the people of God, is a trespass against the Lord (Lev 5:19). This will be seen again, thus to sin against the Commandment is one thing, to sin against the people of God another. This is made clear when we read, “If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbor in what was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or has deceived his neighbor; or have found what was lost, and lies concerning it, and swears falsely; in any or all these a man does, sinning therein: then it shall be, because he has sinned and is guilty, he shall restore what he took violently away, or the thing which he has deceitfully gotten, or what was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found” (Lev 6:2-4). Clearly this is “against a neighbor”, yet it covers several Commandments, but it’s also against the Lord, thus the Lord considers a sin against His people a sin against Him.

Another clue to the Law of Moses being a Witness in the End Times as it’s in company with the Prophets, found in the Judgment of the Law and in the Offerings. The Fire of the Offering shall burn “all night unto the morning” (Lev 6:9). We know they did sacrifices during the daylight hours, but why keep the fire going “all night”? This is a clue to the Night Season, thus the Spirit will be taken in the Rapture, leaving the Law of Moses and words of the Prophets. Would the Father accept a sacrifice of an animal in place of Jesus? Hardly, thus we find the Remnant keeping the Commandments of God. They will have a “little strength”, but we have the Strength of Christ. What gives? Division between Day and Night, “even if” one can’t reach to the concept of One Author of the Bible being the Holy Ghost, they can at least see the same John who wrote First John, wrote the Book of Revelation. We find in First John, “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the Victory overcoming the world, even our faith” (I Jn 5:4). Yet, we read in the Book of Revelation, “and he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads” (Rev 13:16). Then we read how people are overcome by the thousands, it simply does not compute, if we fail to Rightly Divide the Word. If we Rightly Divide the Word between the Day and Night, it all makes sense as it builds our faith, rather than cause us run around like chicken little yelling, “The mark is coming, the mark is coming”. It’s also clear the “head” refers to the person’s authority, the hand refers to what they put their might to, the mark refers to money (buy and sell), the love of money is still the root of all evil; doing business as the world is the same as carrying our the will of the Beast of the Sea.

Then comes the Offering of the Meat or Grain, here we find it’s Unleavened, or free of being puffed up, anyone who touches this Offering is Holy (Lev 6:17-18). The woman with the issue of blood understood this, in a few chapters we will see the dilemma she was in. However, she knew to Touch the Offering of God would bring her into a holy condition, if she was in a holy condition, she would be healed. Some of us attempt all sorts of ways to gain our breakthrough, formulas, group sessions, or whatever, but we need to Touch Jesus. How can it be done? Not by formula, but by our prayer of faith as we make ourselves open before Him.

The dove presented was divided, but not asunder. We discussed this prior as it relates to Hebrews 4:12. This symbol of the dove pointed to Peace, in this case it was peace with the Law, but with Jesus it became time for man to have Peace with God.

When we say these various sacrifices are akin to our prayer life, it’s not saying these people didn’t pray, on the contrary, they did; however, they prayed in accordance with the Covenant given them, we pray In the Name of Jesus.

Consuming blood for these people was highly prohibited, but in our case, the taking of the Blood of Jesus is crucial to our Salvation. These people were not strangers to blood, rather the blood of the animals was sprinkled on the book, the people and the Tabernacle, but they were not allowed to drink it; although we don’t drink the actual Blood of Jesus, the symbol was enough to send any Jew into the street yelling, “The curse, the curse”.

The Sin Offerings also hold a type and shadow for us, the priest who presents the offering shall eat of it (Lev 6:26). This is clearly a type and shadow of we as priests partaking of the Sacrifice of Jesus.

It would sound strange if we consider the offering was made to balance sin, but once the offering was given it was not unclean. This was not a faith issue, but one where the priest trusted in the office and Law. If the priest refused to eat of the sacrifice, it would show they really didn’t trust in God, or trust in the regulations of their office. When the Trespass Offering was eaten by the priests, it was eaten in the holy place, in the very presence of the Shewbread and Menorah (Lev 7:6). The Body of Christ is found as the type and shadow of the Shewbread. Jesus said He was not the manna, rather the fathers ate the manna and died, but Jesus came to bring us Life (Jn 6:58). The Shewbread was made of flour purchased from the outlining countries around the wilderness, representing Nations as many, not nation as one, pointing to “neither Jew or Gentile in Christ”.

In Leviticus 7:18 we find another opposite, the priest was not to eat of the offering if it was on the Third Day. Then we read, “it shall be an abomination, and the soul who eats of it shall bear his iniquity”. How could this be an iniquity? Failure to leave it alone, thus the iniquity would lead to sin. However, for us, we partake of the Body based on Jesus being Resurrected on the Third Day. Ahh, another mystery, an opposite to consider. The Shadow says it’s an abomination, but the Image says if we don’t partake, we are in iniquity.

We see the phrase, “the soul shall be cut off from his people” in many areas, it’s interesting we don’t see the phrase, “the spirit shall be cut off”. Adam was a living soul, not a living spirit, thus the context points to the soul of man, rather than the flesh. Who are the people? Those subject to the Covenant, the phrase would be a removal of the person from the Covenant. What about us, who partake of the Body and Blood? We are found in Revelation 7:9 before the Throne of God when the Night begins, thus the saving of the soul keeps us from being Cut Off.

The phrase Cut Off becomes one of importance, it’s the Hebrew Katath meaning To cut off a part of the body. This points to the Broken Body of Jesus, thus showing the Rapture is seen in the Shadow. Paul didn’t sit around one day and say, “Hey, Luke, how does this sound, The catching away? Do you think it would make a good sermon?”, then Luke would say, “hey catchy, I like it”. The Holy Ghost took Paul on a trip through the Scriptures, opening the many mysteries, the Rapture, or Catching Away is one of them. Paul didn’t make these things up, neither did John. John uses the same Greek word Paul did for “catching away” to show Jesus being Caught up, after the First Resurrection. We are partakers of the First Resurrection by the Spirit, so it stands John was correct in using the same word, giving us two witnesses, the fact is affirmed (Rev 12:5). The Rapture is not a separate Resurrection, nor is it the Last, it’s completes the First Resurrection, which Resurrection was the Resurrection of Jesus; the same Spirit who raised Him, will raise us.

The Body of Jesus was beaten before the Cross, the Cross was before the Resurrection, thus the Breaking will be before the First Resurrection is complete. There are two Greek words for the word Resurrection, one meaning An energy or power from within, the other meaning an energy or power from without (Ph’l 3:10-11). The energy from within points to the First Resurrection, showing a Life before the fact, this Resurrection has three elements, one part taken, another sleep through the Night, the third go into Night. The last resurrection is produced from an energy from without, or a standing up, it has two elements, one Unto life, showing they didn’t have life prior, the other unto damnation, showing they rejected Mercy. Therefore, it’s not the resurrection, but Life making the difference. In our case it’s having Life before the fact, on the last day it’s Unto Life (Jn 5:29)

There are some areas in the Law of Moses which seem strange, for instance, why the “right shoulder”? (Lev 7:32). Why not both? Or why not one, or the other, rather than the right? Why even the shoulder? The metaphor Shoulder (singular) points to Government, as the Government of the Kingdom is at the Shoulder (singular) of Jesus. It’s not the Head, not the Neck, not the foot, it’s the Shoulder as one (Isa 9:6). Doesn’t Jesus have Two Shoulders? Yes, James and John found the error in wanting to be on both sides of Jesus (Mark 10:35-38).The Corinthians placed a Yoke on the neck by introducing a carnal system where spiritually should be, so much so, the congregation had to remain silent in the meeting, while they had to learn at home. Jesus is on the right hand side of Majesty, making the government on His right side.

The priest order for the Law of Moses must remain, “throughout their generations”, pointing to more than one generation, but still limited to the specific group, “their”, rather than “Mine”, or “All” (Lev 7:36). The Law of Moses is for the earth, the Law of the Spirit from heaven for the heavenly Born Again believers. We have One Generation, the Law of Moses has two, one before the Cross, then one for the Night.

It’s no secret God is still working with the nation Israel, the evidence is the little country surrounded by more enemies than most of us have shoes, yet they remain. If God wasn’t involved with them, they would never be able to remain this long. However, it doesn’t mean God has left us, or switched fields. None of us would assume for one minute God has left the Body to fend for itself, thus God is working two areas at the same time.  The Book of Revelation tells us an angel (two wings as a great eagle) is watching of the nation (Rev 12:14). On one hand He is working with us regarding the Day, on the other He is preserving the Lesser Light in the wilderness so it can rule the Night unto Judgment.

Next comes the Ordination of Aaron and his sons, which will include the Garment, the Anointing Oil, Water, with a Sacrifice. Sounds like something we go through? It’s the shadow, but nonetheless a clue. In the case of Aaron and his sons the Garment is what made them holy, but we can wear all sorts of fancy garments, yet not be holy, thus for us it’s the New Man created (or formed) with God’s True Holiness as our sign of holiness. For the Office it’s the anointing of the Office covering the person appointed to the Office.

The Anointing Oil is the same found in Exodus, it was made Once and only Once, showing we are seeing an extension of the first anointing done in the tabernacle back in Exodus. On the same note, anyone who copies this oil is cut off from their people, thus we use Olive Oil, which is a type of the Mercy Anointing, based on the sermon on the Mount of Olives.

The Water is a type of mercy, the first thing Aaron and his sons did was to wash in the Water (Lev 8:6). This doesn’t mean they were baptized, they were washed. There are two water baptisms, one is John’s unto repentance, saying the people should believe on Jesus, which ended with John, then ours saying we do believe on Jesus. Ours is of course under the Name (Authority) of Jesus. “Ah gee, I was baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost”. Yeah, so, it’s still “the Name”, all authority was given to Jesus, He sent us, thus The “Name” of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is still the “Name” of Jesus. It’s not a matter of semantics, but position. Only those in the Body of Christ have the God given lawful right to baptize others, thus they are in the Name (Authority) of Jesus by being in the Body.

Moses placed the garment on Aaron, then Moses “put in” the breastplate the Urim and Thummim (Lev 8:8). Who made these things? They weren’t among the constructed items in Exodus. Why in the Breastplate, why not in the man? We know they refer to Light and Perfection, thus Moses placed them into the Breastplate of Judgment by the laying on of hands, a shadow connecting to the Doctrine of the Laying on of hands found in the Doctrine of Christ.

Didn’t Moses do all this before? No, Moses was Commanded to do it in Exodus, when the Lord came to Moses on the first day of the first month in the second year, which begins Leviticus, thus we have an extension of events fitting into the commands given in Exodus. The correlation is seen in our baptisms, Water as our Token of acceptance of God’s Mercy, the Holy Ghost to receive the Spirit as the Lord’s Token of Grace.

After Moses anointed the tabernacle, he anointed Aaron, but wasn’t Aaron standing there with the Garments on? This type points to our Process of Salvation, first we are given all it takes to complete the task, then God anoints us as His Tabernacle, then the New Man becomes the Anointing within us. This all leads to the phrase “to make reconciliation upon it” (Lev 8:15). The Brazen Altar was the place of reconciliation for these people, ours is the Throne of Grace.

Moses then places the blood of the sacrifice on the right ear of Aaron, on Aaron’s right thumb, then Aaron’s right great (big) toe (Lev 8:23). Sounds more like some lodge meeting, but we also recall the shoulder pertains to government. If the Law of Moses was on the side of the priest, then the right hand side of the priest was toward the people. If Jesus is on the right hand side of Majesty on High, then our right side is to the people as well. The right ear was for Hearing, the right thumb was used to spread the blood, the right great toe was the first thing to enter the holy place. All this was a sign pointing to the people, thus the Ministry unto the Lord was service toward the people of the Lord.

Jesus spent three days in the grave, was among His disciples for forty days, giving us 43 days, but it’s fifty days between Passover and Pentecost, leaving seven days.  Mary was not allowed to touch Jesus, but eight days later Jesus told Thomas to touch Him (20:17 & 20:26-27). What changed? The Sacrifice is holy before it’s presented, no one can touch it and live. It wasn’t because Mary was a female, or Thomas a male, it was the eight days between (Lev 8:33-35). We also read in Matthew, “they came and held Him by the feet” (Matt 28:9). Matthew used a word meaning restraining, or taking power over, but John used a word meaning to touch connecting to the concept we find here. So, is Matthew wrong? Not at all, he shows they were holding Jesus to the earth, not really touching Him, rather it’s the same context as Mark, their unbelief was binding Him. Yeah, but they worshipped Him! Yes, but they lacked the Spirit and Truth, thus one can worship the Lord, yet still hold unbelief.

The shadow gives us a big clue to the Season of the Day, in the Book of Hebrews we find the Father telling the Son, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Heb 1:8). The phrase “forever and ever” might seem redundant, but we find the word “forever” refers to the end of One Season, then the added “ever” means without end, usually referring to another Season, and so on, and so on. There is really no word for “eternity” in the Greek, thus we find phrases like “beginning and end”, or “alpha and omega”, or “without end”, or “never ceases”, all pointing to eternity. The word “eternity” is only found in one place in the entire Bible (Isa 57:15), as the Hebrew Ad meaning everlasting. Eternity is a place without the confines of time, it is always Now without end. If one has Joy for the second, in eternity they have it without end.

Then it came to pass “on the eighth day” Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, as they presented a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, along with a bullock and a ram (Lev 9:1-4). These four types are seen as One in Jesus, the calf, lamb, ram and bullock give us types, not the actual. When Jesus gave Himself, the premise, “Now is come Salvation” was in hand (Rev 12:10). With Salvation came Strength, the Kingdom of our God and the Power of His Christ, all four areas are related, yet separated (Rev 12:10). This is not “a little strength”, but The Strength coming from the Greater Light for us to Rule the Day, of course the world is still in darkness, thus we don’t rule the world, we rule the Day.

Aaron had to make atonement for himself, Jesus didn’t, thus the offering of Jesus is far better than Aaron’s. Jesus being “self-less” didn’t have to offer a thing for Himself, but Aaron being self-based did, thus anyone who attempts to gain entry into the Kingdom by their self-efforts is a thief and a robber, even if they use the Law of Moses as a basis. Why? The Law of Moses is not able to grant anyone the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom suffered violence (self-righteousness) until it was presented in Jesus, then the Violent (energy from an outside source) take it by force (energy of the Spirit). Any other attempt makes one a thief.

After Aaron did all he was commanded, he was promised the “Glory of the Lord shall appear” to him, but in our case the Glory of the Lord is in us (Lev 9:6 & Rom 8:18). We find the “flesh and hide” of the sacrifice was taken and burnt without the camp (Lev 9:11). Does it mean Jesus was cremated? Hardly, it means our Baptism with Fire is to burn away the flesh and carnal mind.

Moses then placed “the head” of the Sacrifice on the Brazen Altar, does it mean we are going to be “beheaded”? In a metaphoric sense yes, but it’s understanding the term refers to Authority; when John the Baptist was beheaded the Greek word used for Beheaded was Apokephalizo meaning to take one’s head from off their body, which would be the actual beheading as we know it. However, in Revelation 20:4 in reference to those “beheaded” for Jesus it’s the Greek word Pelekizo meaning To chop off with something sharp, it would appear it’s one and the same, but it’s not. In order for one to be “beheaded” for Jesus they must submit to a Head not their own, while denying the use of their own. The “cutting” refers to circumcision, for us it’s the cutting away of the old heart, so the New Man can be our New Head (Authority). The cutting instrument used? The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder (Heb 4:12).

After all this was done the Fire of the Lord came and consumed the burnt offering on the Altar (Lev 9:24). This type is again looking at our Baptism of Fire, none of us can become “self-sacrifices”, we present ourselves as living sacrifices, we don’t consume ourselves. The various sacrifices never sacrificed themselves, they were the sacrifices, thus we give ourselves by allowing the Anointing (Christ) to crucify us.

Now the work for the priests was set, they had their manual, garments, order, and the anointing. Of course the first thing we’re going to read about is how faithful they were, right? Wrong, we will now find out what happens when we move to fast forgetting the most important ingredient.

Aaron had four sons, two of them were Nadab and Abihu, the name Nadab means Liberal, or Freely offered, the name Abihu means Worshiper of Him, but we will find they didn’t live up to their name’s. Nadab and Abihu will venture into a place they should not go, which is a transgression, but they will also fail to carry out the duties of their office, which makes them unequal or in iniquity. They wanted to do something the high priest was assigned to do, but lacked the authority, as well as the proper equipment and position. This is termed Usurping Authority, or using the authority of another without permission.

Nadab and Abihu took their own censors, put fire therein, then put incense thereon, then offered “strange fire” before the Lord and died (Lev 10:1-2). They presented one type of fire, but with the wrong vessel causing the Lord to “devoured them”. Not only did they use the wrong vessel, but they were missing a vital ingredient. God’s Integrity was the issue, the Order of the priests was specific. Didn’t all the priests have Censors? Yes, even Korah had a censer, Aaron will be told to take his censer and fill it with coals, just as these two sons of Aaron did (Lev 16:12). Aaron was also told to take incense, just as these two sons did (Lev 16:12). Wait, Aaron is told to put the sweet incense beaten small in his hands, then when he moves past the Veil, he is to place it upon the fire (Lev 16:12-13). The word for Strange in the phrase Strange Fire is the Hebrew Zuwr (zoor) meaning to become estranged, or a stranger, or something foreign to the purpose. The position of the two sons was not as the high priest, the warning is we are priests, Jesus is our High Priest, there are duties in our office, but we do not have the authority to act as High Priest.

In this case the two sons usurped the authority of the high priest, yet one would think the anointing of the office would protect them, as it did Aaron, but Aaron didn’t misuse his office, the two sons did. The wicked sit in the temple of God, saying they are God, thus they also think they can enact laws, regulations, appoint to the Offices, yet they are usurping the authority of the Holy Ghost, in essence they are tossing Strange Fire into the Kingdom.

These two sons of Aaron missed something in the process, we can’t assume they were drunk based on Leviticus giving the warning regarding drinking before going into the tabernacle (Lev 10:9); they were drunk with power, they misused their position, by using the wrong vessel. This same context is used by Paul when he speaks of the Wicked as the drunken who go into the Night (I Thess 5:7).

Then we move to the dietary law, to a Jew the swine is the ultimate of the Unclean, thus there is no “Kosher Ham”. The swine played a role in the New Testament when certain Jews used a mad man to guard their black market pigs. When Jesus came on the scene, He put the black market pig business into bankruptcy, when He freed the mad man. The pigs were used to clean the garbage bins, or keep areas clean, but in the process they had to consume the waste and death. This isn’t to say pigs are filthy or unclean to us, rather it shows how mixing into death (the world) makes us unclean.

Generally many of the animals were scavengers, as they fed off of dead, or discarded foods, as a sign to these people. They knew they were separated from the rest of the world, thus to them Clean pointed to their nation, the unclean to the Gentile. So, did God create the pig as a garbage eater? No, there was no death or garbage when the animals were formed or created. The animals had to be forced to leave their natural calling, to enter a calling which gave them life from eating death. The Jew under the Law was to remember how death was the result of sin, not a reward for good service. Today we find pigs being raised for food,  by feeding the meal, thus, Paul says if we can give thanksgiving we can eat it (I Tim 4:3-4). We know God used the animals as tools to gain obedience from the people. Of course if we can’t receive it with thanksgiving, don’t eat it.

They could eat locusts, thus John the Baptist came eating locusts, but he kept getting the little legs caught in his teeth (humor, not fact). The locusts come to devour, but only once in awhile, thus they are representative of a religious spirit, or religious conceit. The Pharisees were metaphorically Locusts, they came attempting to eat the Wheat before it had a chance to grow. Jesus called the Pharisees of their father the devil, the deeds of their father they would do. Whenever someone was healed, they sought the fault, really all they did was seek fault. Surely they felt they were being “led” of God, yet we find they traveled great distances just to find fault (Mark 7:2 & 7:15). Locusts lay in wait for a time, but when they come, they do so to devour. The Pharisees were in the Temple doing their duties, until John the Baptist came on the scene, then they began to devour.

For years man assumed the Bible was in error since science said the rabbit lacked a cud, yet the Bible says a rabbit has one (Lev 11:6). Poor Moses, but wait, then came the discovery, “you know, we found the rabbit does chew a cud”, it only took them about 5,000 years to catch up with the Bible, but nonetheless over the process of time they confirmed the Bible.

Then comes the real clue, “of all which move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you” (Lev 11:10). The phrase “living thing” is the same Hebrew wording found in the phrase “living soul”. What? Yes, it’s the very same Hebrew words, these “living souls” were Good in the beginning; however, the clue comes from the words Waters and Seas, which are different. The word Seas is the Hebrew Yam, but the word Waters is the Hebrew Mayim. The Hebrew Yam was used for the words Sea and Lake, it was also connected to the idea of the “foaming of the sea”, which is the clue here. Jude tells us the Wicked are as raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame (Jude 13). Prophets tend to use many metaphors, Jude being an apostle and prophet gives us a book full of metaphors. If one was to take his comments as written we would end assuming the Wicked are bunch of wells, waves, spots, or trees without fruit, hardly the case, the metaphors speak of a type, just as we find the Shadow speaking of a type. This is made clearer by the use of the Hebrew Mayim which speaks of bad water, such as Urine, or Wasting water, thus this is a reference to “bitter water”, which is a metaphor for one who lacks mercy. These things are Unclean to us, since their garments are spotted, from such turn away (II Tim 3:5). Nonetheless the actual “living soul” in the sea would be the whale, thus they were not allowed to eat the whale, since the whale lacks scales.

Okay, okay, but what about the scales? Scales are a metaphor for something, guess what. The Armor? Right, scales represent a form of Armor, thus the scales protect the fish, but they are external; however, the Armor of God begins as internal by the New Man, then we submit by putting on the New Man, as we allow the New Man on the inside, to manifest on the outside then we have the Armor of God.

Of course here under the Law we find some fish have scales, some have a skin  lacking scales. We know a “catfish” has a skin but no scales, thus the “fish with the skin” is unclean. What do you think it  would mean to us? Flesh? Yes the “good fish” lack Flesh, but the “bad fish” still walk in the Skin (Flesh).

The creatures who crawl along on their “belly” are truly unclean, to the Jew and us,  referring to the serpent and his band (Lev 11:42). Jesus made sure we have authority over all the power of the enemy, yet we don’t take pride in our power, since it was granted by Jesus, rather we rejoice over our names being written in heaven.

The Purification of Women, helps us understand some of the events around the Birth of Jesus. Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to be circumcised when Jesus was eight days old, there Mary gave a sacrifice of a dove. Some seem to think Joseph and Mary were poor, thus all they could afford were doves. It’s not the case at all, the sacrifice called for two doves. After two weeks if the child is a female, or seven weeks if the child is a male another sacrifice would be made, but it would be separated from the eight day sacrifice. Then she shall bring a lamb of the first year for the child (Lev 12:1-8). The sacrifice for Mary was a dove, not a lamb, since it was for her, not the child (Lev 12:6 & Luke 2:24). For the child a dove would not do, it says a Lamb, yet Jesus as the Lamb of God was sacrificed for the children of God. Mary gave her sacrifice for the issue of blood, at the same time they had Jesus circumcised (Luke 2:21-24).

The incorporation of circumcision on the Eighth Day is found in the Abrahamic Covenant, in the Law of Moses it’s found in Leviticus 12:3, but Leviticus isn’t the first time these people heard the word Circumcision. Back in Exodus 12:48 part of the requirement for the Passover taken by a stranger was for the stranger be circumcised, all the males who came out of Egypt were circumcised, but the generation who followed were not (Joshua 5:3-5). No wonder Paul said circumcision avails nothing, they were circumcised, yet died in the wilderness. What about Moses? When Moses was looking at the burning bush was he circumcised or not? We know he wasn’t at the time, yet  became circumcised after the call, but before going to Pharaoh. What about Abraham? Was he circumcised to obtain the Covenant? No, after, as the uncircumcised Abraham obtained a Covenant for the circumcised. Really we are in a like position, only we find we are circumcised not by hands, as we gain a New Heart by the New Birth.

Will the Law of Moses or the Ten Commandments get one into the Kingdom? No, when Jesus was in the Temple a scribe asked him, “which is the first commandment of all?”, of course we know the question was a trap. There are those who lie in wait, they form questions with traps hidden in them, the trap in this question was determining if one is talking about the Law of Moses, or simply the Ten Commandments, or one of the 613 Commandments? Jesus answered it this way, “The first of all Commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the First Commandment. And the second is like, namely this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31). Where is it? The Commandments don’t specifically say those words; Jesus summed up the purpose of the Commandments giving a lesson in a lesson. How does it begin? Hear, have ears to Hear, if we Hear we are ready to obey. When the scribe agreed, Jesus told him, “you are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34). The word Far means at a distance, but why? It was not time, the Kingdom was “at hand” not “in hand”, but the scribe was close based on his admission. In the Book of Revelation the phrases “first love” and “second love” point to our Love for the Lord, then our Love for the people, there is no “third love”. Paul makes the same point, we can have Acts, even moving mountains so fast one can’t count them, but without Love it profits us nothing. There are many who say they keep the Ten Commandments, but without Love as their foundation, they keep nothing.

Leviticus 12:8 explains Luke 2:24, confirming Joseph and Mary were not poor people, neither were they rich, they were middle class, or as we know it, “just common folk”. There are no verses to show they were either poor or rich, for some reason some of us want to make them poor to ignore God’s prosperity, others want to make them so rich they owned half of Israel. Luke 2:24 tells us the sacrifice given was in accordance with the requirement, not according to their income or lack thereof.

The ministry of Jesus proved the prosperity of God when He said, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me” (Luke 4:18). The Spirit of the Lord is the prosperity of God, we prosper as our souls prosper (III Jn 1:2). We can have all the money in the world, but if our soul is not prospering, we’re not prospering.

Joseph and Mary traveled a distance, they had no idea the Child would be born. Even the most uncaring of fathers would have made some arrangement if he knew his wife was going to give birth, thus Joseph figured to pay the tax, go home, have the baby, but God had another plan. After Jesus was born they took the child to Jerusalem where Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day as the Law dictated, then Mary gave her sacrifice as the Law requires. They were a distance from home, they never figured on having to take care of these deeds away from home. They were near Jerusalem, what was Joseph to do? Jump in the car and run home to get a lamb? Perhaps he could buy one, come on, he couldn’t even find a room, much less a lamb of the first year (Lev 12:6). However, the Law gave them a choice, they took the choice (Lev 12:8). Perhaps they could have used the gifts from the Magi? No, Matthew shows the Magi found Jesus at the “house”, not the stable, meaning they appeared later, nearly two years later (Matt 2:9-11).

Here in the Law the next area is the law of leprosy, but why? Why put these laws right after the requirements of the birth? Does it mean children are prone to leprosy? Not at all, this is the area of “cleaning”, just as there were provisions in the Law for healing, there were provisions for cleaning. The plague of leprosy metaphorically had outward signs to show an inward condition, but the actual disease is the point here. Often we attempt to cure the bad fruit, without replacing the tree. The same fruit comes back time and again. When Jesus healed the Lepers it was total, from the inside out, for us it’s a Tree (Heart) change to bring a different fruit.

This aspect of the Law pertained to those within the Law, thus it pertained to the Called of God. Any of us can have “spots” of leprosy on our soul, making us in need a healing, and a cleaning. Leviticus 13:13 says, “it is all turned white: he is clean”, thus we entered the Kingdom we had Spots of unrighteousness (leprosy), but the Blood of Jesus cleans us from all unrighteousness so we can obtain our White Robe of the Resurrection.

There is leprosy, and there is the “fretting leprosy” (Lev 13:51), the word Fretting means Bitterness, with the thought of bitterness bringing the leprosy. We can enter a state of Bitterness, wherein we use anger, hate, slander, deception or other outward products of a leprous heart, but it need not be so. For these people the cure was found in the hands of the priest, in our case it’s found in the Blood of the Lamb of God.

The healings of Jesus before the Cross were based in Mercy, Grace was not a factor until Pentecost. Nonetheless we find Mercy is very powerful element in our walk. Jesus said the Traditions of man make the Word to none effect, or better, the traditions of men cause the Word to lose its effectiveness for us. Jesus healed the sick, cleaned the leapers, but if there is provision in the Law of Moses, why didn’t the priests heal them? The Word became ineffective for the priests, there isn’t one recorded case where we find the priests saying, “we do that!”, rather they allowed the Letter of the Law to bind them, thus the traditions of men cause divisions, divisions produce strife, strife causes a massive reduction in power. This is evident in the Gospel account, Jesus healed a leper, then told the man, “show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them” (Matt 8:4). This was not a testimony for the leper, or for Jesus, it was against the priests, for not doing what they should do.

Here in Leviticus we find the “gift”, it begins with two clean live birds, then Cedar Wood, Scarlet, and Hyssop. The Cedar, Scarlet and Hyssop are types of the Cross of Jesus. One of the birds has to die, one must be killed in an “earthen vessel over running water” (Lev 14:5). The water relates to Mercy, but the death relates to the Cross, as we impute the old nature (flesh) dead, in order to gain the New. The word Running is the same Hebrew word translated as Living in the phrase “living soul”, thus the vessel is over the Water washing away the unclean to bring the Clean. Living Water is different than a living soul, Adam was a living soul, but he was not privy to Living Water. Water being a metaphor for Mercy, the Living in our case points to the Spirit of Life in us, not as a living soul, but as Life by the Spirit, giving us Mercy with Life coming from within (Jn 7:37-38). The Washing of the Water (Mercy) by the Word (Spirit in us) is a cleaning action, thus Mercy has many qualities, especially when we combine it with Grace.

We’re not told in the Gospel if the man with leprosy did as he was told, or not, but we find the reason is for the priest to make the sacrifice proclaiming the healing (Lev 14:7). If it’s the case, then the priests knew Jesus healed, their actions confirmed it. We find the high priest really didn’t mind Jesus healing, the issue was Jesus healing on the sabbath. The high priest and the Pharisees would say, “the Law doesn’t say you can”, but Jesus would respond with, “where does it say I can’t?”. It seems to be the dividing point between someone who wants to, and those who want to stop what’s going on. Until the Law of Moses was nailed to the Cross it was still in full force and effect for the people, thus we find to some Jesus told them to comply to the Law. The Mercy of God endures forever, His Grace is but for a Season.

The fact remains the Law of Moses had provisions for healings, but did we notice something missing in Leviticus 14:1-32? The sacrifices are “unto the Lord”, but where is Prayer? How about Praise? How about a simple Thank You Lord? The Law stood before them, the sacrifice was presented to the Lord through the Law. The person was a non-entity, only the deed counted. Each deed was like another, the Law recognized the deed for the moment. Self-righteousness is only good by the deed for the moment, once done, the effort must begin again. It was not keeping one sabbath day to complete the Law, it was to keep them all. In our case we are covered by the One True Sacrifice given Once for all time.

Then comes the “running issue”, here the Shadow points to something from a sore on a person’s body, but in our case it’s the rubbish coming out of our mouths. If one has an issue then “spits upon him who is clean; then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even” (Lev 15:8). My, my, my, ever have someone with a running issue from their mouth spit on you? We all have, Paul called them “darts”, but he also told us “Be you angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Eph 4:26). We’re going to get angry, but the anger causes us to act, speak, or becomes our motivation, we have sinned. Any emotion ruling over us, is a ruler of darkness making us a slave to the emotion. Saved emotions are tools of service, unsaved are weapons of darkness against Mercy.

Next the Law covers a “woman with an issue of blood”, from this we can find the Faith the woman with the issue of blood had when she touched Jesus (Mark 5:25-34). The Law spoke of the condition, but her faith was not in the Law healing her. The healing of the woman with the issue of blood holds many things for us. She never went to the priests, rather she spent her money on doctors (Luke 8:43). We also find Jesus wasn’t on His way to heal her, yet she was on her way to be healed. It seems Jesus healed in one of three circumstances: when someone asked for their self, when someone asked for another, and when no one asked. There are times when Jesus said, “your faith has made you whole”, other times when He didn’t, but two things we know, He never said, “your faith has made you sick”, nor did He ever say, “No way, you’re unclean, heal you, never. I won’t even touch you”. We do find one place where Jesus didn’t heal someone, but He nonetheless raised the person from the dead (Jn 11:1-57).

Under the Law of Moses a woman with an issue of blood was unclean, whosoever touched her was also unclean (Lev 15:19). Interesting isn’t it? One could argue the woman touched Jesus, He didn’t touch her, it doesn’t matter under the Law, if she touched, or was touched both she and the person touched would be unclean. However, we find the power of Mercy, not only was she made clean, but Jesus was not made unclean. The complete opposite of the Law happened, because of faith, mercy, and virtue (power). This also shows when we walk in Mercy by the Spirit we need not fear of some “uncleanness” being transferred to us when we lay hands on the sick.

Under the Law a woman with an issue of blood had to be healed before she could give her sacrifice (Lev 15:28), but this poor woman couldn’t get healed in order to give her sacrifice, she remained unclean for twelve years. Her faith in Jesus knew if she touched the hem of His garment she would be healed, why the Hem? The Hem was representative of the Veil, she was reaching through the veil to touch the Mercy of the Lord. Her faith was important, but why her faith? It was still future tense, perhaps moments away, but still future, thus she Believed Jesus could heal her, coupled to her faith, she gained the result.

Jairus was a “ruler of the synagogue”, his was a test of belief. Prior he told Jesus, “come lay hands on my daughter, and she shall live”. The “shall live” part was the premise for his belief. Therefore, for the woman it was her faith, for Jairus it was, “only believe”. According to the Law, the second the woman touched Jesus, both she and Jesus would be unclean, if Jesus is unclean, how could He heal the daughter of Jairus? We then find those coming from the house of Jairus with the “news of death”, thus the belief of Jairus was really on the line, yet Jesus said, “be not afraid, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Jarius was raised in the Law, he put his traditions and training to one side, yet his belief was based in what he said, he asked Jesus to come, lay hands on his daughter so she would live, Jesus was walking to the house, so she would live, only believe.

This now takes us to the “Day of Atonement”, and the famed Scapegoat, the one sent into the Wilderness with the sins of the people (Lev 16:20-22). The Scapegoat becomes a factor only after the Reconciling in the holy place has taken place, thus there is no Scapegoat until there is first a Reconciling (Lev 16:20). This has to be a shadow, since these people could not be reconciled unto God as long as the Law stood between them and God, but we can, the goat is representative of the old nature. The saying You shall sow what you reap in our case is taken care of when we send the old man away.

The Lord told Moses to tell Aaron the high priest could not pass the veil and enter the holy of holies where the Mercy Seat and Ark were located (Lev 16:2). There was an entire array of things Aaron had to do before he could enter the holiest of all (Lev 16:3-7), including the scapegoat (Lev 16:8). The atonement is strange at best, the goat picked is picked by lot, not prayer, or by blemish, or lack thereof. Instead of sacrificing it first, it must be presented (Lev 16:10). It was also important for a “cloud” to be raised in the holiest of all to cover the mercy seat, as a “cloud of witness” (metaphorically). The cloud also verified how there was a separation between God and the people. While this goat was still being used we find a bullock was killed, then it’s blood sprinkled on the mercy seat (Lev 16:15). Then Aaron was to go back into the holy place to make the atonement (Lev 16:16). It’s much more than saying, “Lord forgive me, I have sinned”: our Covenant is better.

The Day of Atonement was once a year, as the only day wherein the high priest was allowed to enter the holy of holies. The other days of the year, even on the other feast days the priest would operate in the Courtyard or holy place, but not in the holy of holies. The Shadow shows the weaknesses of man, even if they were a high priest, yet Jesus didn’t give a Sacrifice for Himself to enter the Most Holy in heaven, but gave the ultimate self-less Sacrifice of all time so we could enter. From what Jesus has done we have boldness and access by His Faith through the Spirit to come to the throne of Grace to obtain Mercy and Find Grace in the time of need (Eph 3:18, 4:12 & Heb 4:16).

The Day of Atonement is called “Yom Kippur” by the Jew, although today there is no temple in which the high priest can enter, they nonetheless call it “the most solemn day”. Yom Kippur follows Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), not only is it a day of rest, but the taking of food and drink are also strictly forbidden, making it a day of fasting as well. The day of Yom Kippur begins just prior to sunset with public evening services, commencing with the traditional prayer of Kol Nidre. The all day services of Yom Kippur conclude with the Neilah with a blast of the Shofar (trumpet). Today rather than sacrifices they offer prayers centered in a reconciliation with the Commandments, making peace with their fellow man, the same purpose as we find here; however, the reconciliation was still unto the Ten Commandments by the Law, rather than reconciling to God directly. Paul said the ministry of Grace is, “all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ” (II Cor 5:18-19). The only method of reconciliation between man and God is through Jesus, thus the reconciliation by the Law of Moses was between man and the Commandments.

The Shofar is a Hebrew term applied to the horn of the ram known to us as the “Last Trump”, or the second of the two. The Shofar was used in Bible times for many events, signals of alarm, proclaiming important national events, as well as announcing or ushering in the Sabbath or festivals days. The Jewish New Year being connected to Yom Kippur shows why the Holy Ghost prompted Paul to use the term “Last Trump” in reference to the Catching Away, rather than Great or First (I Cor 15:52). According to Jewish tradition they feel one special New Year will come when God will lock up the devil, then open the Promise known as the “Time of Comfort”, to us it’s the 1,000 years of the Night. The basis of their belief is the Hebrews have never possessed the entire land promised to Abraham. In Joel we find the phrase “sound the alarm” (Joel 2:1), but here it refers to the Great Trump, which will announce the downfall of Jerusalem as the opening the Day of Judgment (Isa 27:13).

The Last Trump is not the Last Trump blown, rather it’s the Last of two Trumps from the Ram. The Ram only has two horns, the First Trump was sounded when God wanted to be among his people described in Exodus, yet the noise of the First Trump didn’t stop until Jesus came. We find three Trumps, the First, the Last of the Two, then the Great. The Last Trump marks the Rapture, with the opening of the House of David; the Great Trump sounds the Great Judgment: we will see many areas regarding these trumps along the way (I Cor 15:52, I Thess 4:16, Rev 4:1, 8:13, 9:14 & Isa 27:13) .

The Scapegoat being used here is important as we consider the Field and Broken Body of Jesus. This type begins with Two Rams, one will be given to God, the other will bear the sins. These are rams, not sheep, yet the false prophet comes as a lamb, but with two horns, one larger than the other, as he speaks as a dragon (Rev 13:11). However, here we find something a little different, metaphorically the ram kept represents the wicked in our Season, they have the opportunity to repent, right up to the Rapture; however, in the next Season they will bear their sins being found in the Lake of Fire at the Judgment (Rev 20:10).

The priests cast lots regarding the rams, one of the rams is “for the Lord”, the other “for the scapegoat” (Lev 16:8). The scapegoat is presented alive before the Lord, afterward the scapegoat is taken into the wilderness, never to return. The Shadow had to use two, one was banished, the other presented to the Lord. During the Season of the Day we find the Tares, or Wicked are still presented to the Lord, they are still in the Body, thus as long as the Body is not broken there is time. On the other hand there are the Sheep, those who are not rams, goats, or tares, they are the ones who seek the saving of their souls.

The high priest must make atonement for himself first, then he takes the censer full of burning coals from the brazen altar, with his other hand full of sweet incense beaten into small portions into the holy of holies. While in the holy of holies he shall put the incense upon the fire in his censer before the Lord (Lev 16:12-13). Wait, isn’t it what the two sons of Aaron did, yet they died? Yes they did die, No, they didn’t do the same thing. They mixed the fire and incense in the holy place, not in the holy of holies, God never authorized the priests to conduct the service at anytime whether in the holy place or holy of holies, rather it was to be done by the high priest, then only once a year.

The regulations for the Day of Atonement, like the Law, are “forever”, but one must define the word Forever before they assume it means Forever and Ever. Jesus said, “Think, you I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt 5:17-18). First He said He came to Fulfill, then defined the term Forever as “till heaven and earth pass away”, thus this Forever has an end (Rev 20:12). He didn’t say heaven and earth shall never pass away, rather in Matthew 24:35 He said heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will not. The Law has a time when it will cease when the Judgment is complete. Even if one does pass the “books”, they still have to find their name in the Book of Life (Rev 20:13-15). The Law of Moses will be the “books” used to judge those who use deeds from the Law to gain favor. It’s so much better to be in the Blood of Jesus (Dan 7:10 & Rev 20:12).

It’s also interesting we find two different Greek words used for the word Fulfill in Matthew 5:17 then Fulfilled in Matthew 5:18. In Matthew 5:17 it’s the Greek Pleroo meaning To make full, as one would fill a vessel to the brim, but in Matthew 5:18 it’s the Greek Ginomai meaning To have come into existence, or simply To be, thus the Law has a purpose beyond our Season, it becomes a Witness with the Prophets during the Night. The Two Witnesses of the Law and Prophets stood on the mount with Jesus, but the Father said, “hear ye Him”, not “hear ye them” (Matt 17:5).

The End Times is divided into two seasons, if we just keep it the two parts of Day and Night we will save ourselves many theological headaches. The first Season is the Day, it runs from the opening of the Day with Jesus as our Morning Star came, becoming effective for us on Pentecost in Acts 2, ending at the Rapture. The second Season is the Night, it runs from the Rapture until the Judgment. We find “it’s appointed unto all men once to die, then comes the judgment” (Heb 9:27), but as for us, we are caught up in a twinkling of an eye.

The Jewish nation has two calendars, one is the civil, the other the sacred. The sacred begins with the month Nisan, or as it’s known here Abib, but the civil begins with Tishri, the month wherein the Day of Atonement takes place. We find the sacred opens with the month of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, but the civil calendar opens with the month for the Day of Atonement. We then find the first month of the civil is the seventh month of the sacred, yet the first month of the sacred is the seventh month of the civil, both indicate there will be a completeness in the end.

Leviticus 16:29 shows the Day of Atonement was to be in the Seventh Month on the Tenth Day, the number Ten is the number of testing. Then they shall “afflict” their souls, this explains the purpose of the Sabbath Day again, correlating to the verses found in Matthew (Matt 5:17-18). Jesus told us to take His Yoke, then we will find Rest for our souls, here it’s take the yoke of the Law to afflict your soul, two completely different premises. The word Afflict is the Hebrew Anab meaning To afflict, depress or oppress, it holds the thought of Submitting to be oppressed. In Isaiah 58:4-6 God says the reason for fasting is to Afflict the soul, to Loosen the bands of the wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke (Isa 58:6). We just found fasting was connected to this High Sabbath. However, wasn’t the Yoke destroyed to bring the anointing? The fast for these people began when Adam left the Garden, until Jesus came.

There are two types of sabbaths, the weekly sabbath day of Saturday which is according to the Commandment (Luke 23:56), regardless of the date. Then the High Sabbaths which were attached to the feast days, which fell on Dates regardless of the day. The Passover was not a High Sabbath, since the lamb was slain, but the day after is a High Sabbath called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Jew does not keep a day from midnight to midnight, rather it’s from sunset to sunset. Accordingly when Jesus took the last Passover (or first Communion) it was night, thus the night and day of the Cross were the same day, known as Passover. The next day was a High Sabbath, then came the weekly preparation day, then the women rested on the sabbath according to the Commandment (Luke 23:56). If we mix sabbaths we end with just the weekly sabbath, making the Cross on a Friday, which in turn makes Jesus a false prophet. Jesus said He would be in the grave for three days and three nights (Matt 12:40, 27:63, Mark 8:31 et al). Since He said it before the fact, it becomes prophetic; He didn’t say, “God willing I will be”, or “maybe I will be”, it was a profound prophetic message, declaring something yet to come. If the Cross was on a Friday, that night would be one night, then Saturday the first day, that night the second night, on Sunday He was discovered raised, which is far short of the time prophesied. Also if Jesus said He would be raised on the third day, we find even Saturday night can’t be counted, since He was not in the grave when the women came on Sunday while it was yet dark (Jn 20:1). However, if we keep the sabbaths in order, we find the Cross was on a Wednesday, that night began the High Sabbath for the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a Thursday, making it the first night, with Thursday the first day. Then Friday the preparation day for the weekly sabbath as the second day, that night as the third night. It was also the day the women prepared the spices, yet Mark shows the women were at the Cross at sunset on the Passover (Mark 15:4), thus they could not fix spices on the High Sabbath, since they had to cook them. Saturday as the weekly sabbath according to the Fifth Commandment as the third day, meaning He was raised on the Third Day like He said, making Sunday the Day of discovery, giving us the prophetic message intact.

Leviticus 17:4 gives us a shadow connecting to the phrase “let His blood be on us”. Jesus was crucified outside the city by the Romans, at the direction of the Jewish priests. For good reason, the priests didn’t what to get involved physically since they had their Passover to keep. However, in order for Jesus to be the Passover the priests had to kill the Lamb, yet the Gentiles had to have some involvement, thus the Romans placed Jesus on the Cross, the plan involved Gentiles. This very complex issue was simple for God, the priests demanded the death of the Lamb of God, but they had the Romans do it.

If we fail to bring the Blood to the “Door of the Tabernacle” (Lev 17:4) we are to be “cut off ” from among “his people” (Lev 17:4). The word for Door is the Hebrew Pethach meaning entrance or doorway. What door? Was there a back door for God we don’t know about? No, this is again something we find in the Shadow speaking about our time. There were no doors or windows in the Tabernacle, the Temple wasn’t even an issue at this time. Jesus told us the End Times were the “Time of the Doors” (plural), thus in the Book of Revelation we find several doors. John was taken through the Door by the Spirit (Rev 4:1), indicating the method of leaving. Then there is the door to David, which no man can open or close, it’s only opened by Jesus when the Door John went through is opened for us (Rev 3:7). There is another Door, the one of interest here, if no one can Open the Door of David, why does Jesus say, “Behold, I stand at the Door, and Knock, if any man hear My Voice, and Open the Door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me” (Rev 3:20)? It’s only 14 verses away from the Door of David, 3 verses away from the Door opened for John; do you think they correlate? John didn’t open his door, “behold a door was opened in heaven”, this isn’t the Door of David, since the door of David is on earth. However, the Door Jesus is knocking at does relate, it’s the Door to our heart, by letting Jesus in, we find the Seed is planted in us, giving us a New Heart, providing us a new nature. We have to let Him in, before the Spirit can take us out of the Door. The Door Jesus is knocking on is the Passover Door, also known as the Cross, the place where the Blood and Water are found in three places. The Door then is a change in Heart, Jesus enters which is the Seed Planted, then the Seed grows, as the Word forms our souls into a Spiritual nature, the further into the Spiritual we grow the further from the flesh. The wording “will sup” means to have supper, it was used in reference to the feast days, especially noted on Passover (Luke 17:18).

The blood in Leviticus is not the Blood of Jesus, but the shadow is there. Especially when we see words like “imputed” (Lev 17:4), and “door”. Once we open the door, Jesus enters bringing us a New Heart, as we are circumcised of heart, which changes our nature, then we will no more “offer sacrifices unto devils”, something Paul made mention of to the Corinthians (Lev 17:7 & I Cor 10:20-21).

Then we go from the Blood to forbidden sexual practices, but why? The order is important, since we find the falling away from the Faith is based on mental adultery. Also we find the Woman in the Book of Revelation is called “the mother of all harlots”, she is also known as a “whore”, and “Babylon”, she is spiritually known as Sodom and Egypt. All these are reflective, thus the Law will be a Witness against the people in the latter days.

The phrases used in these verses show possession, thus the “nakedness” of the father, doesn’t mean the father is naked, it refers to his wife being naked. The same is true in the other references as well, thus uncovering the nakedness of Jesus would be someone slandering, molesting (by corrupt theology), or causing fornication (leading astray) any member of the Bride of Christ. This points to the Wicked who go about with Jesus on their lips, but Satan in their hearts.

There are many areas covered in the carnal sense which are still in effect, since the Law continues in its principality until all is fulfilled. This doesn’t mean one can claim they are “spiritual” in order to have sex with animals, that’s stupid. If one is spiritual the premise is not a consideration, they have a New Nature, but if one is carnal, or flesh minded, they need written instructions regarding the flesh. However, if one has imputed the flesh dead they Mind the things of the Spirit, then the flesh is not at issue. Wow since we imputed the flesh dead, does it mean it won’t fight back? Hardly, it means we have authority over it, rather than it having authority over us. We have to enter warfare when the flesh speaks, thus the Life in us considers the flesh dead, dead and dead some more.

The sin of homosexuality is defined, as well as the punishment (Lev 18:22). In the world the practice is accepted, but it’s the world, they still under the authority, power and seat of the dragon. What the world does, it does, whatever it does shouldn’t cause us to enter fear, or cause us to run around attempting to make the world the “Kingdom of God”, nor should we act like the world to win the world. Being overcome by the cares of this world is the very premise the devil uses to choke the Word out of us.

Paul’s reference in Romans appears to relate, but he is talking about changing the Natural nature God established, which would be changing “man and woman” to something other than God intended, yet we can’t reject his concern is a Born Again believer knows better than to Judge people in order for us to feel superior over them, making it contrary to the Nature God has given us.

We can see why the laws of Holiness and Justice follow the laws of forbidden sex, and why forbidden sex is placed between Respect for the Blood and Holiness. Having Respect for the Blood of Christ is one thing, being in it another. Being in the Body is the first step, but the New Testament is found in the Blood of Jesus.

The Courtyard of the Tabernacle was holy, the holy place was holy, the holy of holies was holy, but none of them were the True Holiness of God, they couldn’t be, since they came as a result of the children holding unbelief. The holiness in the Law of Moses was based on God dealing with the people, their righteousness was based in their self abilities to do the deeds of the Law for their self-benefit. Of course it was all man had until the Righteousness of Jesus was granted. Our Holiness and Righteousness are based on being Born Again, as we walk with the New Man (Eph 4:24).

Holiness is also found in how we treat the people of God. How many of us have to be told, “don’t curse the deaf”, or “don’t put a stumbling block in front of the blind”? One tends to “curse the deaf” when they talk about people behind their back. One puts stumbling blocks before the blind, when they implant fear in the Babes in Christ.

The concept of “be angry and sin not” is also found in the Law of Moses: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart: you shall in any wise rebuke your neighbor and not suffer sin upon him” (Lev 19:17). Correction by rebuke is void of anger, but when anger controls our words, actions and reactions, it rules over us. We yell at someone, then say, “God wanted them to know”, or tell someone, “I forgive you because God has commanded me to”. No where are we told to tell someone we forgive them, we forgive them whether they know it or not, but on the same note we are told to ask for their forgiveness. Telling someone we forgive them based our assumed holiness is a product of the unsaved soul, it determines they are wrong, we are right, while letting them know we are holier than they. We determined they are judged, found guilty, yet we are holy. When we do these things, we are in sin by using pride as the means. We do not “avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people” (Lev 19:18). This is the premise for “love your neighbor”, but for these people the premise was limited in scope to a Jew. Later during the earthly ministry we find the same premise when the Lawyer talks to Jesus, as the lawyer considered other lawyers his neighbor, just as the Pharisees considered other Pharisees their neighbor, but when a certain lawyer was confronted with the Truth he said, “he who shows mercy on him” is a man’s neighbor (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus then said to the lawyer, “go, and do you likewise” (Luke 10:37), the premise behind Love is Mercy, the premise behind Mercy is Love. When Jesus said, “go, and do likewise” it indicated two things, first the lawyer wasn’t doing it, second Jesus was his neighbor, yet he came to tempt Jesus, hardly “love thy neighbor”. How do we reach the point? One prayer? One step? One Holy Ghost meeting? The Law shows a Tree and the fruit thereof, it takes time to reach the desired place of praise. The Fruit of any Tree is accounted as uncircumcised for three years (Lev 19:23). Metaphorically this points to the planting of the Seed, the Root and the Sprout (very first point breaking the ground). Then comes the Forth year, which is akin to the Blade (Born Again), or the time when the fruit is Holy for Praise; it still relates to a Process (Lev 19:24).

The “mixed garment” is also a metaphor (Lev 19:19), to the Jew this refers to their everyday clothes; when is the last time you saw a Jew in Polyester, when is the last time you saw a Polyester suit? Oh well, the context shows a mixture of the soft linen with the roughness of wool, indicating a mixture of Salvation and Judgment. The point being, we know sinners are on a one way road to hell, we all were, it’s not the issue, the issue is, there is a way of escape? Telling someone they’re sinner isn’t going to set them free, bringing the Truth in Love by the Holy Ghost confirms the Truth will set them free.

We read the warning regarding familiar spirits, or wizards, but what is a familiar spirit? (Lev 19:31). The wording familiar spirits is the Hebrew Ov, meaning a spirit or demon familiar to the person as the person is familiar to the evil spirit. This is not the spirit lusting to envy, this is a demon. The word Familiar means well acquainted with, thus the witch of Endor knew Saul through his disguise when the image came up; a situation we will spend time with later. The word Wizard is the Hebrew Yiddeoni meaning Magician, or Diviner, relating to the magicians of Pharaoh, thus showing why the warning is found here. These people were aware of the events between Moses and the magicians of Pharaoh, they knew God was unlimited, but the magicians were. Fortune tellers use tricks, telling us what we did, in order to tell us what we will do is merely a mental suggestion attempting to take over our thoughts. Some use devils to tell them what we’ve been doing, then in turn tell us what the devil told them as they attempt to gain ones confidence, then they make projections about the future, but is it really the future? No, it’s a soul tie gained from talking about the prior experiences the person had, in order to form the future around their sayings. It’s a far cry from the method God uses. Others hear devils, think they are hearing the dead, but the dead speak not to the living. The spirit of man knows the things of man, including the lusts of man, but is completely ignorant of the things of God. The devils relate their findings to a person who has ears to hear them, they make it appear as if they are talking to the dead, but in truth they are hearing a familiar spirit.

Leviticus 20:2 talks about “giving any of his seed unto Molech”, this refers to the sacrifice of children to idols. Molech was an idol of the Ammonites, it will gain entry into the Hebrew culture after the children enter the Promised Land (II Kings 23:10); however, the practice was active in some of the surrounding nations while the children were in the wilderness. According to the historians and rabbis, the statue was brass, with the trunk of the body in human form, the head like unto an ox, with out-stretched arms, the stomach, or if a larger image the area near the feet was hollowed out. The hollow place was used to place burning coals heating the brass to a near white-hot, then they would toss their live children into the arms, or at the feet of the idol. This same type of image was described by Diodorus reporting on the idol Saturn of the Carhaginians, both the idol Saturn and Molech represented the planet Saturn, which was regarded by the Phoenicio-Shemitic nations as a destroying god who could only be appeased by human sacrifices.

Now we see the “nature” the Law was designed for, we may think, “oh my it was a long time ago”, but man doesn’t need idols made of stone, or brass, man’s social lusts can also be an idol, as well as the self. Man will make ungodly laws to appease the lustful self, yet since they have a Law, they call it a Right, but it’s still ungodly.

We then read, “there shall be no wickedness among you”, which relates to evil things hidden. In Hebrews we find all things are naked and open, a connection? (Lev 20:14 & Heb 4:13). Perhaps, here it points to hiding things from God, in Hebrews it’s allowing the Word in us to bring us to a complete openness before God (Heb 4:12). This shows the only method to really be open before God is to have the Word in us.

The “holiness” under the Law of Moses was based in obedience, which was based in God dealing with them, more important it would be based in them treating the people of God correctly, which included their own mate; however, one had the ability to define the term. In our case Jesus defined it for us, “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12).

Then there is the holiness of the priests (Lev 21:1-2); God gave the priests Garments, but one can jump out of the boat seeking things not afforded to them. The priests were not to cause a baldness upon their head (Lev 21:5), ahh, a mystery opened. Some assume Paul was just sitting around one day and devised these allegories on his own. Perhaps they assumed Paul said, “Hey, Luke, guess what I just came up with?”. Not so, Paul had a very good knowledge of the Old, the Holy Ghost brought clarity from the Old to present it in the New as intended. Such is the case in First Corinthians, one can twist the metaphors or allegories into gender, thereby ending doing just the opposite of the teaching, thus they will oppress, rather than set free, or receive the teaching as intended to be free. The metaphor bald doesn’t relate to a lack of hair, it relates to a lack of anointing. Just like the metaphor Head relates to Authority, thus Paul tells the Corinthians how the woman’s Head should have long flowing Hair, but her Head is the husband (leaders). It’s the same premise here, this doesn’t mean if a priest is bald they can’t serve, although they applied it in like manner, rather it means to “cause” baldness, or to remove the anointing of the office, indicating how the priests in Egypt shaved their heads, showing they had no anointing; thus this isn’t the natural loss of hair, this is making oneself shaven (I Cor 11:6).

If we presume Paul was referring to gender in I Corinthians chapter 11, we will miss the importance of the message. Paul was talking to carnal people, who were of the Body, who had many problems, most of which were found in their leadership (I Cor 3:1-3 & 12:1-15:58). First Corinthians 14:34 is a direct correlation to First Corinthians 11:5, if we don’t understand these warnings, we will end with mile long hair, yet still not able to obtain the reward of the teaching. There are called of God anointed women who run from the call based on the misinterpretation of Scripture. The metaphors make more sense when we see the “head of the woman” is to have long hair, yet the “head” is her “husband”. If the woman is to remain silent, where then is her mouth? On her face, so where is her face? Her head, but her head is her husband. Paul is only referring to married women, thus the widow and single woman would be exempt; or he is using metaphors to explain a deeper problem. The problem is the lack of proper Authority, causing the leadership to place a carnal yoke on neck of Christ restricting the anointing. The metaphor husband relates to leadership, the metaphor wife to the congregation. If the “wife” is to learn at home, what then is she gaining in the gathering? Nothing. The authority of the leader is Christ, the authority of the congregation is the leadership, but if the leadership has placed a carnal hindrance between them and Christ, they have separated themselves from the Authority, thus the congregation cannot pray or prophesy, for they shame their leaders. Hair being a metaphor for the Anointing tells us the Anointing is connected to Authority.

We then find the correlation, the priests were never to allow anything to separate them from the anointing of their office, thus Paul says, “for if the woman (congregation) be not covered, let her also be shorn (made to be bald), but if it be a shame for a woman (congregation) to be shorn or shaven (void of the anointing and authority), let her be covered” with, “if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her” (I Cor 11:6 & 11:15). If someone shaves their head, what do they remove? Hair? Good, it’s metaphoric in context, not gender. If it was gender, surely God is a respecter of persons, so much so He respects the single women over the married, not so, metaphors and allegories.

Back in Leviticus we find the requirements for the priest, the priests shall not take a wife who is a whore, or profane, the word Profane is the Hebrew Chalal meaning Pierced to death, pointing to Bitterness (Lev 21:7). Jumping ahead to Hosea we find it’s exactly what happened, they permitted the practice of idolatry and committed “harlotry” against the Lord (Hosea 1:2, II Kings 15:35, et al). Hosea was told by the Lord to take a harlot as his wife (Hosea 1:2), although Hosea was not a priest, he was a prophet.

The Commandments were the opposite of the nature of man, the acts of man prove it, thus we need a pure Nature, one based in the Spirit of Christ, yet the only way to obtain such a Nature is to be Born Again.

We take a “wife in her virginity” (Lev 21:13), but does this refer to us or the Lord taking us? The Bride makes herself ready, she retains her virginity (nothing to do with the physical), she doesn’t she mix with idols. Not like the City who is not only found in adultery, thus called a Whore and Babylon. The Woman is not the “whore of Babylon”, she is classed as a whore and Babylon, the city of idol worship.

The Holiness of the Offerings runs hand in hand with the Holiness of the Priest, we then find, “they profane not My Holy Name in those things which they hallow unto Me” (Lev 22:2). How can one profane God’s Name by an offering? Do they fail to mention the Name of Jehovah over the offering? Not at all, it’s presented to God in respect to the meaning of His Name, which for these people was Mercy. The Offering must be applied by Mercy, thus it was not to punish the people, it was to apply God’s Mercy so punishment by the Law would not fall on them, thus Jesus asked the Pharisees who were attempting to punish Him, “find what this means, I would have Mercy not sacrifice”.

God takes us, blesses us, breaks us, makes us Clean of soul by the Spirit. This is seen in the phrase, “I am the Lord which hallow you” (Lev 22:32), yet it’s clear from all we have read thus far, the person had to be holy according to the requirements in order to come to the Lord. The Shadow gives us a promise pointing to the process of the New. The Seed of God is granted us in the New Birth, making the New Man is our holiness and righteousness, thus we come boldly to the throne by the Faith of Jesus through the Spirit.

Time for a Festival, there are really four festivals, but two of them are connected together, for good reason. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread become one festival, the first day of Unleavened Bread is the high sabbath for the Passover, which is the day after Passover (Mark 14:12 & 15:42). The Passover was on the 14th of Abib, the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th, or the day following Passover, thus it’s connected to Passover. The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a “holy convocation” or High Sabbath (Lev 23:6), this would be the Sabbath day referred to in the Gospel accounts following the day of the Cross.

The next feast is called the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Firstfruits, the date is made clearer in Deuteronomy 16:9, showing we count 50 days from Passover, or seven sevens from the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We know the Feast of Firstfruits as Pentecost, which became the Birth of the Church as the Day the Spirit was given by the Holy Ghost, thus no one was Born Again until then, the evidence is of course no one spoke in unknown tongues prior to that date.

Counting the days from Passover to Pentecost is easy, find a calendar with the Jewish Passover noted, count fifty days from the Passover date, then you’ll find Pentecost. If one was to take the same calendar and count the three days and nights, then the seven days, subtracting the figure from the fifty, they would have forty days left, which are accounted for in Acts 1:3. The disciples in the upper room didn’t wait for days to receive, they received within hours of the Ascension. After Jesus Ascended the disciples made a “sabbath’s day journey” from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, they prayed in the manner Jesus outlined in John 20:23, then the Holy Ghost brought the Spirit (Jn 7:39 & Acts 2). Some of us have been told we have to wait, or travail to get the Spirit, but all we need do is ask, believing we receive; but how do we believe? By completing the requirements, forgive as God for Christ sake has forgiven you, or at least desire to. Perhaps it’s the prayer, let’s see what they prayed? John 20:21-23, they were remitting sins done unto them by others; they were completing the commandment, forgive so your Father in heaven can forgive you, Mercy is a door opener.

From this Feast to the next one, if we counted the feasts noted thus far, we would think we have all three in the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost; however, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were considered one feast, thus Pentecost would be the second, now we move forward to the third. The “memorial of blowing of trumpets” marks the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:24-27). This Memorial is important since as it relates to the Last Trump Paul talked about (I Cor 15:52).

Connected to the Day of Atonement was Tabernacles or Booths, which to the Jew is known as Sukkot. Accordingly the Jewish religion breaks feast days up into three types. The High Holy Days, the Three Pilgrimage Festivals and the Minor Holidays. The High Holy Days or Yamim Noraim or Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The first ten days of the Jewish New Year are days of solemnity and known as Ten Days Of Penitence or Aseret Yeme Teshuvah.

The second category is termed Shalosh Regalim which includes the three pilgrimage festivals, so called since it becomes the duty of every Jew to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to bring an offering to be placed in The Storehouse (The Temple). The pilgrimage festivals are the Passover (Pesah), Festival of Firstfruits (Suvuot or Pentecost), and Tabernacles (Sukkot). According to Jewish tradition the Passover is associated with the Exodus from Egypt, which it is; the Festival of Firstfruits to them is associated with the “Revelation at Mount Sinai” where Moses obtained the Law, which it isn’t; then Tabernacles relating to the wandering of the children in the wilderness, which it is, and isn’t.

The Passover to the Jew is also termed Hag ha-Matzot, connected to The Festival of Unleavened Bread, thereby placing the Passover with the Feast of Unleavened Bread as the same Feast, which shows one cannot partake of the Cross, without partaking of the Body (Bread) as well. To take the Cross, then deny the Body, is rejection of the Cross. Our water baptism is based on our belief in the Cross (death) and Resurrection of Jesus so we can enter the Body. Once we enter the Body, we are of the Rock, then Jesus can build us into the Church by the Spirit.

The lesser feasts include Purim (Feast of Lots from the Book of Ruth), Hanukkah (Dedication of the Temple from the Maccabees period), Israel Labor Day which is also known as Tu Bi-Shevat, tradition calls it Rosh Hashanah Leilnot (New Year of the Trees). Another minor holiday we see today is the Israel Independence Day (Yom Ha-Atzmaut), based on the nation Israel being founded in 1948. Rosh Hodesh celebrates the first day of each month, it’s also termed a minor holiday. Many of the days we see celebrated today were not in the Law, but we also find Jesus going to Jerusalem on the Feast of the Dedication (Jn 10:22). One might say “so what?”, but it shows the Feast of the Dedication wasn’t in the Law either, rather it was less than two hundred years old when Jesus celebrated it, yet some of us get real paranoid over holidays, some to the point of rejecting holidays. It’s not the keeping or rejecting, but why one keeps the day, or why one rejects it. If by faith, then they heard from God, if by fear, they heard from the prince of the power of the air, if for religious pride, they are following the spirit lusting to envy.

The entire point being, they began with one day, Passover, then the other days were added, but three call for a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, yet at this time they were yet to cross the Jordan, much less enter the Land. The placement of these Pilgrimage days should have been a sign to the children, God was looking ahead, all they had to do was join His vision by faith. Of course we know this first wilderness generation didn’t, but the second did, thus the Vision was there, but they lacked the faith to enter it. Faith doesn’t attempt to complete the prophecy or vision, it fits into it.

The next area is the Tending of the Lamp; Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was a priest in charge of the Lamp (Luke 1:7-9). It would be in the process of his service of taking care of the Lamp when the angel would appear to him, announcing John would be born (Luke 1:11-12). Of course we know John was not the Light, rather he was sent to bear witness of the Light, the Light being the Life and Light of man, the Word made flesh, Who is Jesus (Jn 1:1-14). Isn’t it interesting how Zacharias was tending the menorah when he was told his son would bear witness to the Light of God?

When one entered the Door into the holy place the Menorah (candlestick) would be on their left, the Shewbread Table on their right, but it would be our perspective, not God’s. Since God looks from the Mercy Seat the lay out would be somewhat different. From the viewpoint of the Mercy Seat the candlestick would be on the Right, the Shewbread on the Left. This shows the seven churches in the Book of Revelation are on the Right hand side of Jesus.

The Oil is not just any oil, it was “beaten” olive oil, it was not the Anointing Oil. Since it was Olive Oil we find a connection to the New, Jesus gave the sermon on the Mount of Olives relating to Mercy (Lev 24:1-4 & Matt 5:2-7:27). Olive Oil is also a connection to the Mercy of God, the Mercy of God a connection to Grace. Making the Olive Tree connected to the New Testament (Rom 11:17-24 et al), the Fig Tree to the Jewish religious order (Hosea 9:10 et al); however, the oil for the menorah was made from olive oil. When we see Jesus in the Book of Revelation in the midst of the golden candlestick, He is not the candlestick, but He is the Light keeping the lights burning. Each of the seven bowls of the candlestick are seen as one of the seven churches (Rev 1:20); therefore, the menorah was in the Tabernacle, but it pointed to the time of the churches. God was instilling faith markers back then, the purpose is for us to see the Plan being carried out. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world in the Record, Witnessed on earth nearly 2,000 years ago, but in order to understand it we need the Witness in us (I Jn 5:7-8).

The contrast between the Fig and Olive tree is interesting, the first fruit of the fig tree is not eatable, the second fruit grows over the first, making the second eatable. Jesus saw a Fig Tree in it’s first fruit stage, since it was not yet time for the fruit, but what He saw was corrupt fruit, a sign of the activity of the religious rulers in the temple. The Fig Tree will not produce a second fruit, but it will have leaves. The Olive Tree is another story, one can pull the fruit from the Fig Tree and eat it, but they can’t with an olive. The olive has to soak in lye in order to make it eatable. In order to gain the oil one has to beat the olives time and time again, it still takes eight days to make an olive oil to burn. One can take a Fig Tree and transplant it, meaning it will grow and bear fruit, but if one transplants an Olive Tree it will cease to produce fruit. Olive Trees cannot be transplanted back into the world, we must remain in the Kingdom.

The beating of the olives to produce the Oil is a type of Gethsemane to bring forth the anointing, not saying God will beat us, rather it’s the removal of the outward flesh, to bring forth the inward Life. On the same note, it’s one thing to suffer for our own wrongs, another to suffer when we have done nothing. First Peter 2:20 says, “for what glory is it, if, when you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently? but if, when you do well, and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God”. Not only does this say to “take it”, but to do so “patiently”, or in Peace with a conviction to reach the end in a lawful manner. The word Buffeted is the Greek Kolaphizo meaning To be struck, or To be mistreated. Patience is not remaining the same, since one can be angry all time, hardly patient. Patience is maintaining the course, not to move from side to side, not to stop and make displays of walking on the water, when the command is to get to the other side.

Next is the Shewbread, which was not made from the Manna, rather it was made  from pure fine flour purchased from other areas around the wilderness. There were two rows of six cakes, making twelve (Lev 24:5-9). The making alone shows the Manna and Shewbread were different, they are not to be confused. To the Jew these twelve loaves of Shewbread stood for the twelve tribes, but we can see the twelve apostolic positions, not the apostles themselves, since it would include Judas, but the positional order, or office.

From the Menorah and Shewbread to the punishment for Blasphemy, what gives? How do these relate? The Shadow shows us we can receive the Beaten Oil, partake of the Table, yet enter a state of Blasphemy, but what is this Blasphemy? There was a son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was Egyptian, ahh, a mystery, one showing a mixture, part called, part holding to Egypt (world – Lev 24:10). This son of the Israelitish woman strove with a “man of Israel”, thus the Blasphemy came as a result of envy, strife and division. The son of the Israelitish woman blasphemed the name of the Lord and “cursed”, but is the cursing part of the Blasphemy? Going back to Leviticus 6:1-3 we find the Trespass against the Lord is coming against the people of the Lord, it doesn’t matter if we are among the people of the Lord, if we come against a child of the Lord we have trespassed against the Name of the Lord. The punishment for this son of the Israelitish woman was to be “stoned to death” (Lev 24:14). They laid hands on him, then killed him, not the same for us, we lay hands on the sick,, we don’t use the stones of theological abuse.

Next we enter “an eye for an eye”, this doesn’t give us the right to cut someone’s heart out because they bruised our pride. Rather it shows a balance of justice, if our neighbor takes five dollars, we’re only entitled five dollars in return, thus it’s an eye for an eye, not eyes, ears and nose for an eye. These laws came after the Blasphemy, but relate to it. For some reason we limit the term Blasphemy to words of cussing, but here we find to Blaspheme means to come against a child of God, or speak evil of them, or rob them. This is clear when we know the Greek word Blaspheemeo is translated as Blaspheme in Matthew 9:3 and other places, but it’s also seen as the word Evil as in Speaking evil (Rom 3:8, 14:16, I Cor 10:30, Titus 3:2, I Pet 4:4, 4:14, II Pet 2:2, 2:10, 2:12, Jude 8 & 10). To Blaspheme the Name of the Lord is to talk evil about those who are in the Name. What other example do we have of this? When the people murmured against Moses, it was Moses who said, “what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord” (Ex 16:8).

Then comes the Sabbath years, with the Year of Jubilee, the land was the issue in delivering the children, thus they were given rules regarding the Land, just as we, as kings, are given rules regarding the Kingdom. The Jubilee is a matter of the Law, pertaining to ownership in the physical land. It also has more than “getting back what is mine”, it has “giving back what isn’t yours”. Not something to claim unless you are willing to give back everything you purchased from others.

The Field was plowed, planted and used for six years, then in the seventh it would receive its Sabbath. There are times in church history where we see the Field at rest allowing the Seed to grow roots, there is also the Seeding Times we call “Revival”.

The failure to give the land its rest will be part of the reasoning for the captivity of the children under the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. When Peter was attempting to find just how many times we have to forgive, Jesus told him “seventy times seven” which relates to the 70 years of captivity for 490 years they violated the seven year sabbath for the land. God warned them time and again for 490 years, thus the children owed the land 70 years of sabbaths, they went into captivity for 70 years.

The Jubilee year came every fifty years, Five is the number of Grace, but Ten the number of Testing, thus the Jubilee related to the testing of Grace. Jubilee was a time of Restoration when people and things were restored. The Jubilee had it’s Trumpet as well (Lev 25:9), which was known as “the Great Trump”, in the end times the Great Trump announces the Judgment, what gives? Jubilee, Judgment, they don’t seem to go together, but they do. The Great Jubilee comes when it’s Done, a time when all things are completed, a time when God has received all belonging to Him.

The Jubilee was also known as “Liberty” (Lev 25:10); Jesus came to Proclaim Liberty to the Captives, thus the Jubilee begins and ends with Jesus. We don’t  have to wait every fifty years, rather we are Reconciled to God day by day (II Cor 5:17-20) In the Liberty we find “you shall not rule over him with rigor; but shall fear your God” (Lev 25:43). If we are in the “Law of Liberty”, we have Liberty, but we are not to use our Liberty as a Cloak of Maliciousness, but as Servants of the Lord (I Pet 2:16). There are the Wicked who promise Liberty, but they themselves are servants of corruption, as they are still in captivity to the flesh (II Pet 2:19). We look into the Perfect Law of Liberty to determine if we have set the captives free, or if we are making more captives (James 2:12). For God shall have Judgment on those who are without Mercy, but Mercy rejoices against Judgment, thus Mercy is the key to holding the Perfect Law of Liberty (James 2:11-13).

The word Rigor in Leviticus 25:43 is the Hebrew Perek meaning Oppression or Tyranny, relating to the word Constraint in I Peter 5:2-3, which reads, “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by Constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock”. The wording “filthy lucre” doesn’t mean money alone, nor is it restricted to money, it means a benefit gained without regard from where it came, or not caring about the strings attached. This all connects when we read, “For unto Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Lev 25:55). One can work assuming they are doing God a favor, they can work assuming they have to, or they can rest in their labors by holding appreciation for the deliverance.

Having gone through these matters, do we have Jubilee? Of course we know Jesus is our Jubilee, since it’s known as “the acceptable time of the Lord”, Paul told us the Day of the acceptable time of the Lord is the Day of Salvation (II Cor 6:1-2).

God goes back to the warnings, but then shows there is a blessing in Obedience. For some the incentive is blessing, for others it’s fear of punishment, yet for others their incentive is based in their Love for the Lord, the latter is far better.

The Law of Moses has blessings for the doer, but being blessed of the Law, and being a blessing to God are much different. One can be blessed under the Law of Moses, yet not be a blessing to God. In order to Please God one must Come to God believing He Is, plus our faith toward God being a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6). We should have a handle on the “God Is” mindset.

Each of us must know what an idol is, as well as defining a Stronghold, which is nonetheless an idol, not made of stone, but formed from an imagination (Lev 26:1). Strongholds come against the knowledge of God, producing fables. A stronghold is an imagination assuming something suggested through an opinion, but not clearly evidenced by Scripture, Paul called it winds of doctrine, it’s based on doctrine, but focuses on the fringe aspects, which have little to do with the doctrine itself. Chasing the glory would be a wind of doctrine, simply because the Glory is in us (Rom 8:18).

God tells these people to keep His sabbaths, for us we find our Rest in Jesus, where we find Rest for our souls (Lev 26:2 & Matt 11:28-30). The blessing includes “none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land” (Lev 26:6). What does this mean to us? The promise is simple, if we stand in the New there is nothing to make us afraid, we have not been given the spirit of fear, thus we don’t use it either.

God will “set His Tabernacle” Among us, the word Among is the Hebrew Tawech meaning In the midst, pointing to something Planted, yet we know the Tabernacle was portable. The Tabernacle is a type of the Seed of God, it’s placed in us by the Holy Ghost separating us from the darkness, so we can be the Light of Day. Although the Tabernacle in us is stationary, we are portable. To these people it related to having the Tabernacle surrounded by the tribes at all times.

A promise given to these people showed five could Chase a hundred, a hundred could put ten thousand to flight (Lev 26:8). We use the verse, rightly so, since God promised these people, surely our promise is better. However, what is the real issue? Standing in Unity, making division a gate of hell separating members of the Body to keep them from entering the area where 2 million can put all darkness to flight.

The Law of Moses also had Punishments for Disobedience, in the New Testament the word Obedience refers to Belief, the word Disobedience to unbelief, but here in the Shadow it points to the doing, or the refusal to do something written herein. The violation is against the Commandments, we find “if your soul abhors My judgments” (Lev 26:15). Have we been in a situation we didn’t like, and started to complain? Not you? Oh, some of us have, it’s a violation of Faith. Whatever the event, whether God put us there or not, it’s sure He can deliver us out of it. “Well you don’t understand, I entered an evil temptation, it was something not common, something too big for me”. We do understand, Paul said, “There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape” (I Cor 10:13). With the temptation? Yes, God didn’t bring it, but He can use it so we gain the victory over it. Don’t complain about the event, find God in it.

We find disobedience will bring a Terror on us, including “sorrow of heart” (Lev 26:16). The word Sorrow is the Hebrew Duwb meaning To pine away, or as we know it “to enter self-pity”, which was rebuked by Jesus; when Peter heard how Jesus was going to Jerusalem to suffer, be killed and be raised again, he rebuked Jesus (Matt 16:21-22). Rebuked Jesus? Was the man mad? No, just unsaved at the point in time, Peter said, “Be it far from You, Lord; this shall not be unto You” (Matt 16:22). It sounds okay, but it holds two traditional sayings, the first appears as, “Be it far from you”, meaning, “Have pity on yourself”. The second appears as, “this shall not be unto You”, which is an old Jewish saying meaning, “make God stop it”. In response Jesus said, “Get you behind Me, Satan: you are an offense unto Me: for you savor not the things of God, but those of men” (Matt 16:23). Wow, did Peter have a devil? Perhaps Jesus wasn’t talking to Peter, not so, the verse says, “But He turned, and said unto Peter” (Matt 16:23). Was Peter Satan? No, but his words pointed to self-pity which made them Satan based, being the point, self-pity either in us, or us telling someone to have pity on their self becomes Satan based words.

Jesus then said in order to follow Him we must deny the self, and pick up our cross, so what did Peter tell Jesus? Deny yourself? No, it was have pity on yourself. What next? Pick up your Cross? No, it was avoid the Cross by having God stop it. Of course at the time Peter was not Born Again, he didn’t have a clue about spiritual matters. However, the event does show Peter threw a dart, he didn’t know it at the time, what he said felt right to him, it even sounded right in his own mind, but it was a dart. Jesus discerned the source, rebuked it, then taught the Truth, the Truth will set us free.

Some of us use the Chastening of the Lord as some badge of honor, yet it shows He cares enough to correct us, but in Leviticus 26:28 we find the Chastening will increase if we reject the purpose for it. Hebrews tells us the Purpose for the chastening of the Lord is for us to bring forth the “fruit of righteousness” so we can Follow Peace (Heb 12:11-14). If this is the case, the chastening shows we’re not bastards, but continual chastening shows we are stubborn. Our problems come form our confusion regarding the chastening, if our earthly daddy spanked us to keep us from making errors, then our Heavenly Father will spank our souls to keep us from error. The chastening proves one thing more than any other, we are in the family of God (Heb 12:9). No chastening, whether from our earthly daddy, or our Heavenly Daddy seems joyous at the time, rather it can be grievous (Heb 12:11). The purpose nonetheless is so we can be in Peace, able to bring the fruit of Righteousness.

There are many wonderful things about God, but if anyone has any knowledge of the Old Testament at all, they are in wonderment over God’s Longsuffering and Tolerance. When the children do get to the Promised Land there will be good fish and bad, they will be taken into captivity as part of God’s chastening, but perhaps the longest and hardest of all the captivities was under the hand of Babylon. The nation Babylon will be a symbol of the Woman in the end times, showing how the Woman takes many captive, but in God’s case we find He warned them by sending prophet after prophet until the seventy times seventy reached an end. Not only did God send prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and many others, but here in Leviticus He warned them of exactly what He would do if they failed to give the land its sabbath (Lev 26:30-39).

In the Book of Daniel we will see how Daniel entered intercession confessing the iniquities of his fathers. Daniel also knew the captivity was based on many things, with the main issue being the failure of the people to give the land its sabbath for 490 years, but he knew God’s desire was to forgive and restore; this promise is also found in Leviticus 26:40-42. It is conditioned on humbleness, accepting the punishment as just, confessing the iniquity to be restored, the three elements or repentance.

The promise for the Remnant is also found here, no matter what the fathers do, God has seen the 144,000 keeping the Commandments of God, thus He will not break the Covenant with them (Lev 26:44).

The Price of Estimation gives us a clue to the thirty pieces of silver Judas took, then gave back to the Temple leaders. The price of the redemption of a female is thirty pieces of silver, although Judas had no idea what he was doing, he nonetheless tossed those silver pieces into the temple paying the price for the Woman in the Book of Revelation, thus her redemption is paid for, what she does is between her and God. In truth we know the Blood of Jesus paid the price for us, but the Woman is a city, not a person, thus she is earth bound under the Law of Moses, not the Law of the Spirit (Lev 27:4). This is just one of those small areas God took care of, nothing is undone, God does nothing without purpose.

The Book of Exodus extended to the first month in the second year, covering the first year in the wilderness. Leviticus only covers the duties of the priests, thus Numbers will cover many years in the wilderness. It’s interesting how the Plan was for a short trip into the Wilderness, but God had all these documents made so we won’t have to spend years in our wilderness experience. So, let’s move on to Numbers.

By Rev. G. E. Newmyer – s.b.i.les4rev10/© 2003