After the end of the row of tents, you see a bright white rectangular structure. This must be the tabernacle in the wilderness. It is actually in the middle of the cross-shaped camp that you saw from the air. The reflection of the sun is very strong. Don’t tell me, you left your sunglasses in the DeLorean, didn’t you?
There is a column of smoke (or is it fire?) rising from inside the tabernacle. At the top of the column of smoke looks like a protective circular cloud; like a giant Nike golf umbrella, protecting the structure underneath.
Do you know what time it is? Eleazar asks.
You reach for your phone, but then remember what time period you are in. No, you reply, What time is it?
It is the time of the evening sacrifice.
Shouldn’t be the time for the evening sacrifice?
Come and see.
As you approach the tabernacle, you realize that the white curtain is just tall enough that you cannot see over it. Eleazar walks you around to the east side where you see the one and only entrance.
The tabernacle has only one entrance, Eleazar explains. Jehovah is dwelling inside; He is manifested in that cloud-column. There is only one way to Jehovah. How many ways to you have in your system of worship? How many ways can you come to Jehovah?
One, is your reply as you remember that verse that you memorized so long ago, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way… no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Abba Father
Look! A fire! Just outside the camp you spot a fire that is burning wildly with flames leaping into the air. As you approach the smoke….what is that smell? It is awful! It smells like a combination of burning carcasses and burning animal dung. An odor you won’t easily forget.
Before the smell dissipates and before you actually get to the camp, you decide to land and hide the DeLorean. After all, you don't want it to be seen. You land the craft and hide it behind some rocks. You walk away from the vehicle and gaze toward the long line of tents. You observe people going about their business. Kids playing. Men tending to animals. So many tents. You cannot help but stare. As you walk along the line of tents, you spot someone walking toward you. A young man, neatly trimmed beard dressed in a blue and white costume. He was not dressed like anyone else.
He introduces himself as Eleazar, oldest surviving son of the High Priest, Aaron. Eleazar is a priest of the Most High God. Aaron and his four sons were hand-selected by Jehovah to serve Him as priests. He explains that since the death of his older brothers, Nadab and Abihu, he is next in line to be High Priest so that makes him High Priest in Training, or H-PIT for short. He has one younger brother that also serves as a priest.
Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, Eleazar exclaims. How many gods are in your system of worship? He asks.
One, you reply.
Is it Jehovah? Is He your God also?
Yes, He is my God also, you reply. And Jesus answered him, [The] first commandment of all [is], Hear, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; (Mar 12:29)
What is your system of worship like?
What do you mean, what is it like?
Well, our system of worship has been dictated by Jehovah to my uncle, Moses. Uncle Moses went up on the mountain for something like 40 days. While he was there, Jehovah gave him all kinds of details, details about how we are to worship Him. Uncle was given a pattern, a pattern of a specified place of worship, the tabernacle. The tabernacle is where Jehovah dwells among us. Does Jehovah dwell with you?
You ponder without speaking… Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are. 1Cr 3:16-17
Just as you finish, you hear someone call Eleazar’s name. Yes, Abba, Father, Eleazar replies. Abba, Father…that’s the term that Jesus used when talking to His father in the garden when He prayed Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: take away this cup from me; but not what *I* will, but what *thou* [wilt].Mark 14:36. Abba Father… Doesn’t that have something to do with our relationship with God, the Father? For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye have received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Rom. 8:15. And …But because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Gal. 4:6.
Before the smell dissipates and before you actually get to the camp, you decide to land and hide the DeLorean. After all, you don't want it to be seen. You land the craft and hide it behind some rocks. You walk away from the vehicle and gaze toward the long line of tents. You observe people going about their business. Kids playing. Men tending to animals. So many tents. You cannot help but stare. As you walk along the line of tents, you spot someone walking toward you. A young man, neatly trimmed beard dressed in a blue and white costume. He was not dressed like anyone else.
He introduces himself as Eleazar, oldest surviving son of the High Priest, Aaron. Eleazar is a priest of the Most High God. Aaron and his four sons were hand-selected by Jehovah to serve Him as priests. He explains that since the death of his older brothers, Nadab and Abihu, he is next in line to be High Priest so that makes him High Priest in Training, or H-PIT for short. He has one younger brother that also serves as a priest.
Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, Eleazar exclaims. How many gods are in your system of worship? He asks.
One, you reply.
Is it Jehovah? Is He your God also?
Yes, He is my God also, you reply. And Jesus answered him, [The] first commandment of all [is], Hear, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; (Mar 12:29)
What is your system of worship like?
What do you mean, what is it like?
Well, our system of worship has been dictated by Jehovah to my uncle, Moses. Uncle Moses went up on the mountain for something like 40 days. While he was there, Jehovah gave him all kinds of details, details about how we are to worship Him. Uncle was given a pattern, a pattern of a specified place of worship, the tabernacle. The tabernacle is where Jehovah dwells among us. Does Jehovah dwell with you?
You ponder without speaking… Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are. 1Cr 3:16-17
Just as you finish, you hear someone call Eleazar’s name. Yes, Abba, Father, Eleazar replies. Abba, Father…that’s the term that Jesus used when talking to His father in the garden when He prayed Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: take away this cup from me; but not what *I* will, but what *thou* [wilt].Mark 14:36. Abba Father… Doesn’t that have something to do with our relationship with God, the Father? For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye have received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Rom. 8:15. And …But because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Gal. 4:6.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Women Without Mirrors
The laver was the second piece of furniture in the court (the first being the altar of the burnt offering). The laver had a foot (or a stand), was filled with water and was used by the priest to wash their hands and their feet while they were in Jehovah's service (Ex. 30:19, 21, 40:31). No dimensions, shape, or details were provided for it.
We do know that the laver was metal. Depending on the version of the Bible and/or commentator, it was either brass, bronze or copper. The commentators I admire most call it copper, so will I. The copper came from mirrors. And he made the laver of copper, and its stand of copper, of the mirrors of the crowds of women who crowded before the entrance of the tent of meeting.—Ex. 38:8
A number of commentators say that priest saw their reflection, saw the dirt, and washed. But I don't get it. I just don't get it. When was the last time you washed your hands? or your feet? When was the last time you used a mirror to see how dirty your hands or feet were?
Mirrors back then were not the silver coated glass that reflects a perfect image, but flat pieces of polished metal (Copper). The flat mirrors were beaten or some how molded into some kind of basin to hold water. No longer flat, no longer casting a good reflection. Besides, the laver, and the water in it, was always dirty. Several time each day the priest had to wash the dust off their feet and the blood off their hands.
These commentators miss the point. It is not that the priest somehow sawtheir reflection, but that the women couldn't. The women were without mirrors.
Mirrors are used everyday by everyday people (not just women), to see their imperfections and to make the necessary adjustments so that others won't see them. When is a miror used? First thing in the morning (before anyone sees us) or before we leave the (house, restroom, car -- fill in the blank). We look at the image of ourselves. We wash our face, adjust our hair, shave, put on makeup, etc. We see ourselves in the mirror before anyone sees us. Then we walk away forgetting what we look like.
... like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror: for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like. But *he* that fixes his view on [the] perfect law, that of liberty, and abides in [it], being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of [the] work, *he* shall be blessed in his doing.
There will be a time when we won't need mirrors – when we are perfect (or complete) we will not need to see how we look, will not need to adjust our hair or put on make up before others see us. We will not have imperfections.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part: but when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away. -- 1 Cor. 13:9-10
We do know that the laver was metal. Depending on the version of the Bible and/or commentator, it was either brass, bronze or copper. The commentators I admire most call it copper, so will I. The copper came from mirrors. And he made the laver of copper, and its stand of copper, of the mirrors of the crowds of women who crowded before the entrance of the tent of meeting.—Ex. 38:8
A number of commentators say that priest saw their reflection, saw the dirt, and washed. But I don't get it. I just don't get it. When was the last time you washed your hands? or your feet? When was the last time you used a mirror to see how dirty your hands or feet were?
Mirrors back then were not the silver coated glass that reflects a perfect image, but flat pieces of polished metal (Copper). The flat mirrors were beaten or some how molded into some kind of basin to hold water. No longer flat, no longer casting a good reflection. Besides, the laver, and the water in it, was always dirty. Several time each day the priest had to wash the dust off their feet and the blood off their hands.
These commentators miss the point. It is not that the priest somehow sawtheir reflection, but that the women couldn't. The women were without mirrors.
Mirrors are used everyday by everyday people (not just women), to see their imperfections and to make the necessary adjustments so that others won't see them. When is a miror used? First thing in the morning (before anyone sees us) or before we leave the (house, restroom, car -- fill in the blank). We look at the image of ourselves. We wash our face, adjust our hair, shave, put on makeup, etc. We see ourselves in the mirror before anyone sees us. Then we walk away forgetting what we look like.
... like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror: for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like. But *he* that fixes his view on [the] perfect law, that of liberty, and abides in [it], being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of [the] work, *he* shall be blessed in his doing.
There will be a time when we won't need mirrors – when we are perfect (or complete) we will not need to see how we look, will not need to adjust our hair or put on make up before others see us. We will not have imperfections.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part: but when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away. -- 1 Cor. 13:9-10
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