Expectations have been high since the defeat of the 45th president in November 2020 that pardons would be in the works for his criminal supporters.  We are not surprised that his disciples are hoping for (a) the use of force to affirm the defiance of truth by unhinged politicians and the vote of the people, or (b) a court appears that does  not care about facts.  If either of these happens no partisan rejoicing will be heard, and Russian,  Arab and Chinese moneychangers will replace the gods of democracy and vanity.

The cream has gone sour

Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only hostility in the house of his God.

Hosea 9:8

God unwilling to forgive

3) Surely at the command of the Lord it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4) and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not forgive.

2 Kings 24:3-4

The pardons for known and loathsome criminals apart from the justice department’s clemency procedures tells us that the justice system, which also executes citizens,  is neither final nor absoiute.  We know that many Christians ive in fear of being lost after being saved, making a mockery of divine power, chading wealth and miracles. They have left the door wide open for criminals to extend their dastardly deeds into every house of nobility and decency.

Rebellion is political witchcraft

If you watch American television you will have seen the parade of medications by which terrorism gets a new face.

• The belief that divided entities can defy God’s design
• Election results by God to provide opportunity to smash the popular voice
• The pardons of a criminal head of state are like the Mosaic leprosy treatments

Good riddance to the unprincipled predator that the American people elected four years ago and who has stood up for all that is ugly and reprehensible in American history and the humsm psyche.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I have to say a picture is dirt cheap if you are illiterate.  Think again about watching videos without reference to the language being used and you will conclude that many things people come away with after hearing a speech or watching a video are likely to be off madly in all directions.  It is wasteful and delusional to think that wading through any material with repeating pockets of hot air is going to result in pictures on which we can rely.

Off madly in the wrong direction

I do not just happen to know when people who are quoting Scripture have not gotten the picture.   I can tell when people – rabbis,  pastors and prophets, legislators and friends – are just saying what they see on the page.  A few try to use logic such as the seed dying to propagate a tree to connect their vision with the Saviour’s agenda.  The resurrection of a man four days dead shakes every mindset. There is no logic here.

Others try to place the matter before them in the original setting by referring to Greek and Hebrew words.  That is like the alphabet learning stage of literacy.   What happens when the intention behind the writer’s clauses, sentences and word order has no bearing on the messenger’s main message is nothing short of hollow and shallow.

The past,  present and future singularity

Just nailing down whether a thing has happened,  will happen, is likely or unlikely to happen, is  likely or unlikely to have happened can be ascertained only by getting the picture from the original reading.   Translators of the Bible are notably lazy when it comes to letting the text and its context give the meaning.  It might come as a shock to you that in Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament) the same word can mean a) I will build and b) I built? There are only two tenses in Hebrew while we English speakers and philosophers in general claim to have three.  I cannot tell you how many times I have sat and listened as a presenter of God’s messsge darts down rabbit holes and wanders in dry places because he or she has no idea what the writer intended. It is a black hole. Go in and you do not come out. 

Beyond the meaning of English grammar biblical pictures deliver meaning with word concepts. A picture of a lamb in Revelation is not just young sheep: it is eternal, supreme, and atoning love for the human race. When words keep losing their biblical grounding- as SAVE and HEAL do – as as result of shoddy preparation, each listener must exercise diligence to see with one’s own eyes whether one has a sieve or a cup. “The Bible says” is a cheap substitute for “the writer means to say”. How God chooses to deliver meaning is up to Him and the diligence we bring to our quest for enlightenment and edifcation.

What does a discussion of priesthood have to do with Christmas? Nearly everything. At least, from taking Luke’s lead, we have to recognize that Christ had a messenger, who was from a priestly family. Luke begins his narrative with There was … a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife [was] of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth (Luke 1:5). Rushing past this narrative to visit the babe in the manger is too much reaching without the teaching.

A family of priests under scrutiny

The priesthood as Luke knew it was doing the things appointed (Lev. 8:35 and 2 Chronicles 8:14), but He tells of an incident that brings us into the heart of the priesthood where he says nothing about the temple and the priesthood. The incident opens the window on how Messiah’s arrival might affect everything.

And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, (Luke. 1:8), According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. (Luke. 1:9).

A special child in the desert not the temple

The slice of the priesthood we see was a normal life with normal problems. Elizabeth and Zacharias had no children. If you know anything about the priesthood you would know that only the children of a priest’ could serve as priests. Priests needed to have children for the priesthood to continue. The incident reveals that a special child would be born to be a servant of the Most High. The God of Israel chose Elizabeth and Zacharias to be the parents of a son who would be Yahweh’s voice in the desert (Luke 3:4, Isaiah 40:1-3).

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. (Luke. 1:13) And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, (Luke. 1:14) for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. (Luke. 1:15)

When priesthood was the engine of life

The angel predicted the success of this new arrival, that he was going to “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke. 1:16), and be the agent for bringing generations together and prepare people for the Lord (vs. 17)

Early priesthood

The priesthood began with Aaron, a man who led the people to worship a golden calf just as the journey from Egypt to Canaan was beginning. The people were at Sinai when they became impatient with Moses being up on the hill conversing with Yahweh. They wanted gods like the ones they knew during the Egyptian bondage, so they asked Aaron to make them gods.

With all the detailed instructions for the work they did for the the people year after year the people had every reason to support their priestly families. The priests had led the way crossing the Jordan (Joshua 3:6ff), capturing Jericho (Joshua 6:6ff), and hearing cases daily.

The priesthood and the monarchy

Moses wrote the law and entrusted it to the priests (Deu. 31:9), who in turn informed the people of their duties and evaluated such cases as were brought to them. So the priests were archivists, teachers, and judges (Deu. 31:9, Malachi 2:7, Deu. 19:17-18). The king was also part of this line of transmission, with the king writing his own copy of the law. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. (Deut. 17:18)

Then there are the disturbing practices during Eli’s priesthood (1 Samuel 2:12), the mass murder of priests by Saul (1 Samuel 22), and there came a time when the priesthood was so out of touch with reality that a prophet was authorized to post a recognition.

The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.

Jer . 2:8

That the priests were part of an assault on Jeremiah is not surprising, given that they knew they were the guardians of Yahweh’s daily interaction with the people. It was inevitable that God would recruit another of his prophets to examine the priesthood.

Priests under scrutiny

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, (Hag. 2:10) “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: Hag. 2:11

The answer to the questions seal the fate of the Levitical priesthood.

1. Does holiness transfer from the priest’s clothing to bread, soup, wine, oil, or meat?
   1. ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’”
   2. The priests answered and said, “No.” Hag. 2:12
2. Does uncleanness transfer from an unclean person to bread, soup, wine, oil, meat?
   1. Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?”
   2. The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” Hag. 2:13
3. Then Haggai answered and said,
   1. “So is it with this people,
   2. and with this nation before me, declares the LORD,
   3. and so with every work of their hands.
   4. And what they [the priests and people] offer there is unclean. Hag. 2:14

Typically, any kind of misbehaviour can end with the community balance restored through the ministry of the priest, but not in the case of shedding innocent blood. When lives are destroyed without a cause or because of the abuse of power no forgiveness was possible: the priest was helpless. How often this may have happened can be imagined when we realize that bribes and greed were part of the very human side of being the sole agents for God (Numbers 35:31-32).

and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon. 2 Kings. 24:4

The priesthood examination

Let it be sufficient to say the priesthood is not without convictions for bad behaviour, and as long as the temple still was the place for incense, animal blood, grain and liquid offerings people could feel that there was active benefit from the priesthood. Few people got to see the inner workings of the priesthood and few knew the corruption that the Babe of Bethlehem would grow up to see and denounce (John 2:13-16, Matthew 21:12-13), eventually announcing the desolation of the temple (Matt. 23:38).

A transformed and nourishing priesthood

One priest stands apart in the Bible story: Melchizedek. He was not a Levite and not even a descendant of Abraham. This priest was not going to have anything to do with the temple or the law. As far as we know he would, prefigure the work of David’s Lord, One to be invited to sit at God’s right hand, one who would do for those who got the victory over the devil what Melchizedek did for Abraham.

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)

Gen. 14:18

This action, coming centuries before the organization of the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood, is a picture of the demise of the ministry organized by Moses. There is an order of forever priests, whose office and work Yahweh is settled on, and a priest who does not die as all other priests have done.

​The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110:4

1. And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. Heb. 7:5
2. But this man [Melchizedek/Christ] who does not have his descent from them [the Levites] received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Heb. 7:6
3. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. Heb. 7:7
4. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives [is beyond death]. Heb. 7:8
5. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, Heb. 7:9 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. Heb. 7:10

This simple understanding takes us to Christ, the Son of God, our High Priest,

So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;

Heb. 5:5

So let us by all means hasten to the manger, and relive the joy the world felt, but let us also recognize that a babe in a manger does not save anyone from sin as the angel announced regarding the baby’s name. To prosper from the babe of Bethlehem one has to realise that he grows up to maturity, thirty years to be precise, of which 18 years are secret, and die so he can change the pattern of priest and levite accustomed to passing people by on the other side. Luke. 10:31-32). The Christ-child grows up to become the kind of priest God wants and authorizes by means of an oath (Hebrews 7:11, 28), a sympathetic priest (Hebrews 4:15, 5:2), priest who defeats death by dying (Hebrews 2:14, 9:16, 7:16, 23), approachable by all humans without distinction (Romans 3:22, 10:12).

All of the rules about approaching God seem to go out the window, because the first distinction between Levite and layman dissolves, and so does the distinction between Israelite and Gentile. A more striking contrast cannot be found between priesthood as it was known and priesthood as touched by the mature Word-made-flesh.

Consequently, he is able to save to the utmost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Heb. 7:25

Religious people have been taking over God’s agenda by insisting that all things continue just as God made them.  The very nature of life insists on progress: movement and development.  The audacity of leaders who wish to recapture past fortunes. is matched by their stupidity.  Change drives the Messianic mission.   The tombs of the great men and women of antiquity are witnesses to God’s appointment for reversing all the oopses, not in the hospitals, but in the graveyards. If the church is a hospital the doctor cannot be Yeshua, because there are far too many people leaving church with fatal illnesses and all the common ailments.

How many quacks will the world of the dead and dying people tolerate ?

Death stalks all of humanity!  The record of God’s interaction with humans in antiquity has death interrupting most things that look like progress.  Most notable are the priesthood, repeatedly performing the cleansing of the people and the tabernacle, 

Salvation is not a cure but life from the dead

If mankind was merely sick there would be no need to interpose the shedding of blood. The life of the Son of God is payment for sin; payment for us missing the mark, for acting in crooked ways, sand for doing The wilderness is a graveyard that testifies that God makes no mistake.  The tombs of the kings and prophets are not mistakes. No leper-cleansing in ancient Israel is not a mistake or injustice. The Lord will be glorified in the dead and the unclean.

The report card, issued by no less than the Rock who followed them, shows a massive failure.

“Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”

John 7:19

Would now not be a good time to show that God reverses all situations when we want him to? With covid-19 deaths breaking new ground every day hospitals and cemeteries are the places to be, if you believe that God orders up triumphs every day for everyone. If you believe that life has no limits, let us demonstrate it. Well people have been becoming sick, and sick people have been getting well since God created man. No-one dies who will not rise from the dead. We can skip the pep-talk, positiving thinking preaching of the evengelical juveniles and senile talking heads. There are no oopses that does not have a remedy in God’s Son, but you will not find them in the decaying matter of yesterday nor in the associated funeral services. In the light of Christ’s work as lifegiver the Church is not a hospital but a morgue, and all esle is funeral business.