Six then Seven

For years, I have been observing biblical patterns that occur over and over again, from Genesis to Revelation.  God's patterns are woven so deeply into the very tapestry of the scriptures that it would be impossible for the 40+ authors, writing over a period of 1500+ years, to have come up with them on their own. 

 I woke up this morning with an insight that is so obvious that I wonder how it never occurred to me before.  As the title of this post suggests, it has to do with the pattern of six and then seven, which is probably my favorite biblical pattern.

This pattern is established right off the bat in Genesis with the account of creation.  God did the work of creation in six days, and then He rested, instituting the Sabbath day.  Six then seven.

The observance of the Sabbath was written into the Sinai Covenant.  To this day, the Jewish people (and many non-Jews) work six days and then observe a day of rest.  Six then seven.

Biblically speaking, human history can be traced back just about six thousand years to Adam and Chava (Eve).  The bible also speaks of a coming millennium of rest (see Revelation 20:1-7).  Six then seven.

The Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for six days, and on the seventh day, they circled the wall seven times and then God took the walls down when they sounded the shofars.  Six then seven.

Six is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day.  Man is incomplete without God.

Seven is the number of perfection, or completeness.  The number seven points to Him.  God rested from His work on the seventh day.  I believe that God and man began to fully enjoy their relationship that day, before Adam's sin came along and messed everything up.

The thought that woke me up this morning was this:  Yeshua hung on the cross for six hours.  For six hours, He travailed in order to pay for our sin.  At the end of six hours, He said "It is finished," and took a final breath. As the seventh hour began, He rested from that incredible work that now reconciles us to Himself.  Just as God worked for six days in order to create fellowship with mankind, so too He worked for six hours to restore fellowship with mankind.

In Matthew 11, Yeshua declares, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The book of Hebrews elaborates on the idea of Yeshua being our ultimate rest. The context begins in chapter 3, speaking of the unbelief of the Israelites, and then chapter 4 says, For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.  So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

In Leviticus 23, YHVH entrusted the Israelites with His seven appointed times, all of which point to the work of the Messiah and tell the story of human redemption.  These seven appointed times culminate with the Feast of Tabernacles, when Yeshua will once again dwell on earth in peace with His people.

Six then seven.

The Cross: Love Embodied

We have just finished another season of Passover/Unleavened Bread/Firstfruits, remembering the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua our Messiah.  This post has been floating around in my head all week, so it's time to put it down on virtual paper.

The cross. What took place there is the crossroads (pun intended?) of human history.

All the scriptures point to this One Monumental Moment in time. The work of the Messiah on the cross - and His subsequent resurrection - is why the Berean Jews searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were true.

So what is the crux of the cross?

Love.

There is a lot of talk about love today. Love is love. Be kind to everyone. All kinds of love are equally valid.

It all sounds so lovely and good.  And indeed, what did Yeshua say were the two greatest commandments?

1. Love God. In fact, love Him with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other words, love Him with all ya got.

2. Love your neighbor as (much as you love) yourself. Scripture goes on to define your neighbor as those like you (friends, brethren) and those not like you (Samaritans, enemies).

Both of these commands sum up the essence of the entire Sinai Covenant, which points toward (and was fulfilled in) Yeshua.

When Yeshua was sacrificed, He gave us a visual picture of that love - the cross itself.

The vertical part, the trunk of the tree so to speak, is the part that points to the heavens. It points to the love of God. We love because He first loved us.

The horizontal part is the snapshot of love to the world. God Himself in human form stretched out His arms to love all of us. In the same way, it is a picture of the love we are to have for humanity.

Notice that the horizontal crossbar of the cross is firmly attached to the vertical bar. It is because of the love of God that we can love others. We love because He first loved us.

Without that vertical stake, there is nothing on which to hang/fix/attach/base that horizontal bar that represents our love for others.

We can try, for a time, to try and love others in our own power. But because of the sinful nature of people (we can all be jerks at times), eventually, without the firm foundation of God’s love, humanistic love will fall flat.

In fact, it is already happening.

I would like to ask those in favor of a godless, humanistic love for your fellow man: where exactly do you think this love comes from?

Are you being honest when you claim that we should just be kind to everyone? Are you kind to those who hold to a biblical faith? Or do you act like you are, but make fun of them being their backs?

Funny how I  don’t see love for the Bible believers showing up much in your claims. In claiming that those people are intolerant fundamentalists, haven’t you just created your own version of intolerant fundamentalism?

(Side rant:  when atheists use the term "freethinkers," what they really mean is people who think like they do.  Wrap your head around that.  All people possess free will, and are therefore free to come to their own conclusions based on the best evidence before them.)

There is nothing new under the sun.

As believers, this shouldn't really surprise us.  Note the words of Yeshua in John 15:18-19...  

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

They just don't like us/Him.

Two groups of people that I see coming up in humanistic love claims, over and over again, are the Muslims and the gays. Why these two groups, in particular?

Does your kindness to Muslims only include the moderate ones? Or are you also kind, loving, and accepting to the ones who fly planes into buildings and behead followers of Yahweh?

Does your kindness and acceptance toward gays include all of them,  including NAMBLA members and pedophiles?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t love all people, including our enemies. We should.  It is a clear command to us, the second most important one. Yeshua saw worth and value in every person, which is why He sacrificed Himself for every single person on the planet. He desires that NONE should perish but that ALL come to repentance and find life in Him.

Yeshua Himself made the claim, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If His claim is true, then eliminating His atoning death on the cross from the conversation is probably the most unkind, unloving thing a person can do.

However, not every person will accept His love offering that was given for them on the cross. 

They will say, "How intolerant of Him to only provide one way.  How dare He?"

As if that one way - the violent and painful murder of God Himself on an execution stake - was simply not good enough.

The Creator established the rules of the world that He created, and as Creator, He was entitled to do so. In Leviticus 17:11, we are clearly told that without the shedding of blood, there is no atonement. It was His innocent blood that provided that atonement - He paid the  penalty that we owe for sin - death.

I will end with a quote from the Master:  Greater love has no one than this, that he lays down His life for his friends.

He then proved it by laying down His life; not only for His friends, but for His enemies as well, as shown in Romans 5:6-8:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Messiah died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Messiah died for us.

Now that is LOVE!

Musings on the Crucifixion, Part 2

If you missed part one, you can click here to read it.

Tradition says that Yeshua was crucified at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was "discovered" by Constantine's mother Helen through a series of "visions" in the fourth century. It is a very, ahem, interesting place, and perhaps some day I will write a post on it.  Or not.  Suffice it to say that the location of the site had formerly housed a temple of Venus, and that seven different sects of Christianity spar with each other over the rights to the place.  Ironically, the key is held by a Muslim family.  It is located to the north and the west of Mount Moriah.

Another location that claims the site of the crucifixion is the Garden Tomb, located on the north side of the city, just outside the Damascus Gate. A beautiful and peaceful place, to be sure, and a great place to meditate on what Yeshua did for us.

However, there is really no scriptural pattern that would justify a site to the north or the west of the Temple Mount.

For a few years now, I have believed that the crucifixion took place on the Mount of Olives, east of the Temple Mount across the Kidron Valley.  Knowing some of the Jewish roots of our faith is very helpful here.

In scripture, the idea of movement toward the east signifies cursing, and movement toward the west indicates blessing.  This pattern is demonstrated over and over again.  The Garden of Eden was probably on Mount Moriah.

Every single translation that I can find of Genesis 2:8 says that God planted a garden Eastward, or toward the East.  However, this is incorrect.  The Hebrew word kedem (which means both east and from ancient times) is preceded by the Hebrew letter mem, means from.  God either planted a garden from the earliest times, or from the East (or both).  But not toward the east.

Here are just a few examples of God's pattern of eastward being the direction of cursing, and westward being the direction of blessing:

• Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, toward the east.  
• When the Jews were dispersed from Jerusalem to Babylon, they went east.  The regathering was toward the west.  
• When the glory of the Lord departed from the temple in Ezekiel 11, it went east.  
• In Yeshua, our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west.  (Side note:  If you head north long enough, eventually you will go south.  Not so with east and west).  
• The gospel began in Jerusalem and has made its way, for the most part, in a westward movement and is now heading back westward across the 10/40 Window where it will culminate in Jerusalem.  
• When Yeshua returns, He will descend onto the Mount of Olives and head west, into the city of Jerusalem.  
• Even the sun works its way across our sky in an east to west direction.

Abraham took his son Isaac to the land of Moriah, as directed by God.  God then showed him exactly the place where the eventually-averted sacrifice of Isaac was to take place.  Methinks God led them to the Mount of Olives, east of the location of the future temple, and probably the exact place were Yeshua was crucified.

Kidron Valley, Mount of Olives in the distance

When Yeshua took on the curse of sin, this established pattern from God indicates that the crucifixion would be to the east of the Temple Mount, which would put it across the Kidron Valley and on the Mount of Olives.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 tells us, If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.

That's not all.  There is biblical evidence that He was nailed to a living tree, and that the two robbers were on the same tree; one on each side of Him.  And it was likely an almond tree, and the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden was probably an almond tree.  (I know... this flies in the face of every depiction of the crucifixion we have ever seen).  The menorah in the temple was fashioned after an almond tree.  With Yeshua in the middle between the two criminals, all arms raised, they would have resembled a menorah.  The six branches of the menorah represent mankind with the seventh middle branch representing God.  If this is the case, what a stunning picture of Yeshua - Son of Man and Son of God - in the middle, featuring the head of God with human arms raised up.

There is yet another picture to consider in this scenario.  In the temple across the Kidron Valley, the Holy of Holies featured two cherubim on the Mercy Seat facing one another, covering the Ark of the Covenant (which housed the Ten Commandments, manna, and an almond rod).

The two criminals on the tree with Yeshua would have depicted just the opposite, facing away from Him.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Psalm 22:1

Even the very items contained in the Ark of the Coven:ant were highly symbolic.  The Almond Rod - a picture of the priesthood for Yeshua, our High Priest.  The manna, for Yeshua, our Bread of Life.  And the Ten Commandments, showing that Yeshua fulfilled every single precept of the Torah perfectly, thereby becoming our Living Torah when we put our faith and trust in Him.

Was the Messiah crucified on a Friday?

Here is a question that really challenged my traditional way of thinking.  I came across this scripture:  Matthew 12:40 - "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."  These are the words of Jesus. 

But Friday late in the day to Sunday morning doesn't come close to this.  I was perplexed.  One explanation I read was that the Hebrews believed that even a part of a day could be construed as a day and a night.  But that just didn't make any sense to me. 

Each of the four gospel accounts holds a clue to this puzzle.

Scripture says that the disciples wanted to remove the body of Jesus from the cross prior to the Sabbath.  The weekly Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday, so hence a Friday crucifixion seems to make sense, right?  The gospel of John helps to shed some light on this issue.  John 19:31 speaks of this being a high, or special Sabbath.  Verse 42 brings more clarification:  it was the Preparation Day.  The first day of Unleavened Bread (the day following the Passover) was a special Sabbath according to Leviticus 23:7.

But was it also a Friday?  Bear with me as we let scripture interpret scripture.  The key is in the women who brought spices to the tomb early on the first day of the week according to Luke 24:1.  

Where and when did they get these spices?  Luke 23:56 tells us that they prepared spices and THEN rested on the Sabbath.  Mark 16:1 tells us that they bought spices AFTER the Sabbath.  They would never have purchased spices ON a Sabbath day.  The answer is that there were two Sabbaths!  The high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, a day in between, and the regular weekly Sabbath.  This causes all the scriptures to fit together beautifully!

This means that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday, and was removed from the cross before the high Sabbath began at sundown.  Following the high Sabbath (the first day of Unleavened Bread, which was on Thursday), the women purchased and prepared their spices on Friday, before sundown.  Then they rested on the regular weekly Sabbath - Saturday - and went to the tomb Sunday morning.  But of course, Jesus had already risen... which I believe happened as the sun set after the weekly Sabbath, when the first day of the week was beginning. 

This gives Him three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, just as He said in Matthew 12:40.  And it matches the time that Jonah spent in the belly of the fish according to Jonah 1:17