The frequency of Nazarene dustups with the deadly triad should leave no doubt that the barrel was over the “falls”. John was polite about it and called the situation “axe about to chop the tree”: timber time. The Nazarene too kept his evaluation of the powerbrokers of the times until the third year of his ministry. Does a “house desolate” and “chickens rejecting the safety of the hen’s wings” sound like the rubberstamping of the patriarchal tradition or the covenant that underpinned the action at the centre of life in New Testament times in Judea?

We can tell that he became the target of envious elders, paranoid priests, wannabe rulers like the Herods and shallow and corrupt experts in the Law of Moses as predicted in exquisite detail. They saw the end arrive and an empty future beckoning.

Was there really a god in Israel? Did we not hear from Yahweh that the effect of his personally accompanying the Israelites on the journey to Canaan would be destruction? We have to believe that the Lord himself was not present until the second temple. The third temple, sometimes associated with Ezekiel’s vision, is yet future, and is problematic because, for one reason among many, its services include an offering for the prince’s sins (Ezekiel 45:22). The prince in a third temple cannot be a sinner, especially not after the divine presence in the second temple.

Second temple glory

The temple of the restoration period was not much to see when compared to Solomon’s construction project. The older individuals made the comparison and saw the second temple as “not much”.

Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

Haggai 2:3

It was this house/temple (bayit בית) that God promised to fill with glory.

And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.

Haggai 2:7

Malachi reports this same progress, identifying the house and the One with the glory.

1. John the Baptist, my messenger
2. Yahweh, the one sought, the covenant messenger
3. His house, Yahweh’s
4. behold, (=”mark it”)

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 3:1

The Present God with Benefits

There is a saying in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians that teaches us that character change occurs by observing. The saying takes the lie with dog rise with fleas proverb to a realistic level by registering intelligent thought and not just presence. It is a special kind of self-reflected viewing with Christ as the essential window, mirror or eyepiece. Without Christ people can not expect to acquire holiness.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

We might also recall that in ancient Israel, lepers and widows, representing the depths of anguish and poverty, did not get the privilege of a visitation by either God or a messenger.

Remember too the cloud and fiery pillar and the intermittent conversations with Moses in a particular place can hardly called residence. It is a long held position that there are sacred spaces in every land, and people are warned about the sacredness of churches and other buildings for religious purposes.

And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.

1 Kings 18:27

No change no God

Thousands of years hanging with Yahweh ends in failure to show he was not there. America’s spacious skies are polluted with idolatry, and the amber waves of grain are weeds planted by the enemy.

There is no God in any human institution but he certainly lives in the hearts of those who have come to God by faith in Christ. This is the ultimate configuration of God living with humans, and is confirmed as permanent by the very gift of the Holy Spirit.

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:14 (compare 2 Cor. 1:22, 5:5)

The fertility of a land is not proof of divine presence. Let’s remember that even the desert is beautiful for what it contains and what it goes through. Dates from the Republic of Iran, mangoes from Mexico and pomegranates from Israel are produced by the same natural processes and for the same purpose. God is no more present in the Middle East than he is in Glasgow. God has blessed the earth and seas and feeds humanity from their bounty. There is no need for an elitist land – ultimately because true worship has no fixation on any location. The earth is still beautiful everywhere. Ask the people on every continent.

Quit while you are ahead is good advice especially for people stirring the word command into their positive thinking recipe. More precisely covenant is so far removed from what God wants it is amazing that people still think of Christ’s mission as being a covenant into which we enter with him: him and us having our assignments. We do this even after we say we have considered the history and success of covenants, especially the Sinai (Old or First) Covenant. The Lord has seen fit to establish the Messianic Grace Covenant apart from the terms and processes of Sinai. Sinai contains nine prohibitions and one injunction – honour your parents. The source for positive thinking is neither Moses, nor Solomon so be prepaed to defend the ragged, rugged rage of self-righteousness.

The Ten Commandments are not Positive

Instead of riches from God’s eternal treasury we find ourselevs trying to reinvent the joy of salvation, the success of the covenant, and the guarantee of promised inheritance. It is all rags. The Book of Proverbs has 46 negative commands (AL +VERB). That amounts for 1.48 commands per chapter, (148%), more of the same type than Exodus (8 hits, 20%) or Leviticus (7 hits, 25%).

Try as we might, every day has evil that touches us – unless we are cloistered behind walls of seld-denial and sectarian indoctrination. We cannot think away the events and conditions that God has designated to bring us to stabler lives and maturity. We should not be surprised that Solomon conducted his life opposite his voluminous warnings and commands. The Law of Moses served a Covenant – not God’s will. God’s will demanded a body, a spotless body, and ending one or many behaviours does not make any human a candidate for doing God’s will. There is no need to be angry with God, sinners, or yourself. God has forgiven you everything.

Remember Mary of Magdala, how she was denonized repeatedly, but kept coming to the Anointed, who honoured her with making her the first to see him glorified and made her the first bearer of resureection good news to the disciples.

We have long asked why democracies have prided themselves on having opposition benches.   Tell me why Canadians have not deserved a coming together of all elected MPs to work for the projects that have our consensus by majority. 

On hearing the Hon. Andrew Scheer slander the PM at the outset of the debates in the last election my conviction that a house divided falls was renewed.  Canadians know an American-wannabe when they see a party that in this day and age puts the 1% and their agenda above the needs of Canadians and especially our First Nations, even when the party has a plank touting the needs of Canadian “families”.  The Canadian and US political systems are based on Britain’s.  They have a misguided view that they can imitate God, who allows the devil to run around and stir up trouble.

He ain’t heavy when not constructive

People who take their function as political opposition seriously have no idea what they are going to choke on.  They can become utterly useless when the nation’s progress is forced into a back seat and the fortunes of a party that failed at the polls can make points about how poorly the government is doing.  Let’s remember the huge interpersonal and international (there were nations in this land when Èuropeans arrived) blunders made by the founders of our country, the decades of failing to see people as people, and bring to the front the community we know we have to be to survive the onslaught of imperialism, colonialism, and corporate and personal greed.

Let’s remember to speak and act with kindness, and be ready to forgive. Strangely though, in the spiritual universe Satan gets no forgiveness. He spent so much time seeking to unseat his monarch if the universe that we can try to understand why he gets his just desserts. Slander is the middle name of anyone taking the opposition role seriously. Diabolic fits the opposition’s modus operand. Even when false and demeaning the opposition’s missiles hide behind parliamentary tradition so Scheer can lobby for the question period circus and get air time to show how slanderous and corrupt his party has become, offering alternate data and spoiling for a fight, all the while professing to be on Team Canada. If Scheer or any of our leaders said openly he is testing the potus45 playbook Canadians will never forgive him. For everything else he is not heavy.

Power to think does not mean safe choices. When martial law says I must die or submit to decree that designates where my loyalty and allegiance must lie the choice is between God and creature. Not many are equipped to wrestle with the options presented.

If there is going to be government enforcement of an allegiance test in my lifetime I want to be found in the likeness of Caleb and Joshua, saying no to a generation that refused to believe. I belong to a generation that woke up to British colonialism five decades ago and since then the wide lanes of the road to ruin have not seemed less attractive than they do today. My hat is on a high peg because my ancestors have been pioneers of greatness and integrity. I want to take my cues from two sources when martial law says I must die or submit to decree that designates where my loyalty and allegiance must lie. As long as protest and civil disobedience are possible I will let the daughters of Joseph and the three Hebrew boys light my way.

Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 9) he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 10)

Rev 14

Life, not merely livelihood, is at stake.  Eternal life is not at risk. If we know where Caesars exercise authority we are safe. Since we know the prince of the kings of the earth let us stand as God’s house.

15) And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16) And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,

Rev 13

The irreverent are afraid. The leaders of the commercial world are terrified at the prospect of executions producing heroes and the chaotic speculation about what the worship, image and mark of the beast are continues to deepen.

Many of us believe that Jesus was a sinner even though we stake our own salvation on his sinlessness. Crazy? We shall see. How about the blind Jesus – unable to see government oppression and under orders to say only good things about Caesar? Is our Jesus the head of a xenophobic cult, excluding people who are different? People have found justification for their words and deeds in Jesus, no matter how ungodly or selfish. Do we recognize the Jesus who is ready to call down fire on people who reject an interview with us? It is amazing how often we deny our dabbling in the two. I suppose there is a little bit of the Zebedee boys in each of us: we want to hear approval from the Master and expect promotion. Christ is first and exclusively Saviour – forgiver-of sins.

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Mark. 10:35 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” Mark. 10:36 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Mark. 10:37 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Mark. 10:38 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, Mark. 10:39

What claims have we made since those days when the Son of Man was earthbound? I do not care to catalogue the movements of the Way, leaving the number of churches in my neighbourhood who look suspiciously at the neighbouring churches to witness to the scores of traditions (again, I will not make a list) that have shot off or risen up from the Way. Many of us will be surprised to hear that there is a Way and only one Church and it is not our way nor does our group decide what is church. We have not moved past cliques and vengeance.

48. And said to them, Whoever shall receive this child in my name receives me: and whoever shall receive me receives him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great. 49. And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in your name; and we forbade him, because he follows not with us. 50. And Jesus said to him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.

Luke 9:48-50

54. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, will you that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55. But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, You know not what manner of spirit you are of. 56. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

Luke 9:54-56

Tradition killed the lioness: she was not sufficiently curious. When John the Baptist told his audiences that Moses and prophets were finished guess who bought it? It was the taxcollectors and prostitutes. “Scandalous”, we say, “Look who is following the Baptist”.

No curiosity, no hunger

Since we have no documented tradition of divine revelation when compared to Messiah’s contemporaries (who did not accept the Baptist’s proposition) how can we claim to be disciples of the One greater than the Baptist? A cross dilemma confronts everyone who listens to the Nazarene and tries to come to his view of life. Something in us has to die. We can think that all they had to do was read the Scriptures to see all the prophecies and recognize Mary’s boy as God. That was not going to happen. Even the chosen companions were still slow of heart and foolish at the end of three years up close with His Majesty.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

Matt. 21:32

No one in any age can have the encounter with Christ and continue with their tradition – of any spiritual value – as if it mattered more than the saving grace.

Struck out in the first inning

They were not going to believe even when someone rose from the dead who told them he was going to do so. Nowadays people want you to believe something other than Messiah’s death and resurrection. They think that giving up sin (which is mere baptism talk, promise, pledge or vow) saves them or makes them children of God. You can see how that pushes the Saviour out of the way!

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Luke. 24:25 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Luke. 24:26 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke. 24:27

They were not in need of a good translation or a vision or dream to be arrested by the message Yeshua brought. They spoke his language: we do not. If the Spirit who inspired the Scriptures does not inspire us to interpret the sayings we find impressive then our recitation of the ancient language and our understanding of the customs of antiquity will drop us off in a dark alley where we say what Scripture says or what is traditional.

They needed a certain kind of faith; a faith that was rare in Palestine. Faith in Moses was rare (and bewildering!) because Moses himself predicted the end of Mosaic tradition. The arrival of the prophet to whom everyone should give full attention, upon whom their lives depended. (Acts 3:22-24) is still the turning point for people turning to God. If you can’t hear Moses and John saying “It ain’t me” you need new ears.

You can see that we have no excuse – we have no prophets, or patriarchal tradition – to block out the view of the Son of man as the only hope. So we create versions of Jesus to impress our audience that we know Him. The saddest version is the one that has Yeshua as a follower of Moses. To use the popular term, we say he was born subject to the law and kept the law because that obedience made him qualified to be God’s lamb. That is so off the wall it is amazing that anyone believed it.

(1) Christ does not need the Law to be qualified to die for the human race: He was born certified as king and saviour. Forget that and a dark room closes in on you.

(2) No one should imagine that Yeshua needed to hear “behave yourself”. Any such exhortation, especially using the words of the Sinai Covenant would mean that Yeshua was not a just man but one of the following

• lawless
• disobedient
• ungodly and sinners
• the unholy and profane,
• those who strike their fathers and mothers,
• murderers, (1Tim. 1:9)
• the sexually immoral
• men who practice homosexuality
• enslavers
• liars
• perjurers (vs 10)

Priestly Jesus

Then there is the Yeshua who does everything the Levitical priests do. How mad can teaching get? Christ has a priesthood and it takes no cues from the law governing the tabernacle or temple services or the festivals. There is no laver, altar of burnt offering, no lampstand or Presence-Bread Table, no Ark and Mercy Seat. Christ moves those models (toys) out of the way to be priest, sacrifice and mercy seat. He is the way to God, He is the God we seek, He is the Life we cannot be without. The maturity of ancient Israel did not come through the operations of the priesthood. The only likeness of Christ’s saving act to the procedures of the Tabernacle is the shedding of blood, displayed in the decree for the laying down his life and taking it back. Immediately the tabernacle is left in the dust with its certain death, no effective treatment of sins and its guilt, and its repeated bloodletting.

New priesthood and new law

11. Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? 12. For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

Hebrews 7:11-12

Since we cannot allege from the Scriptures that Yeshua is a second Moses or a priest like Aaron we try to make the law a permanent feature of salvation (even though it had no part to play in the Exodus or the journey to Canaan). The law was violated from the moment God/Moses wrote it. So we exploit the king identity. We ask people to accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord (Lord = king).

Perfect and unchanging law

If Jesus cannot say “We are done with this, let us move to that”, He and any other anointed Ruler is in reality just a figurehead trapped in the talking points of any group. The idea that once God has said something he cannot change it might seem like security but that quality is what makes an unthinking robot reliable. The laws of the Medes and Persians says that laws cannot be changed – a convenient tool for installing good or bad practice, and for making a response to a development permanent. The priesthood needs one because the one in Exodus and persisting all the way into New Testament times has nothing to say to Christ as priest (saviour-sacrifice-priest).

Since we alo have God saying, “I will not accompany you to Canaan” and “I will not drive out the Canaanites” we know that Medo-Persian permanence is not a priority. We can forget the talk and recognize that Jesus was not interested in cleansing a leper using the lengthy and detailed prescription. Do we support his opposition to stoning people whose guilt is established?

Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

Exod. 23:30

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

Exod. 33:3

And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Exod. 33:14

King Jesus

Everybody needs a saviour to see God’s face and be acceptable to him. His salvation makes kings – family members – of all who come to him. Yeshua is more Lord of the waves of the sea than he is Lord of any disciple or group of disciples. The fig tree, waves and demons provide us with ample evidence that claiming to be surrendered to Christ by calling him “king” is a lot like being up the creek with no paddle. The precedent for receiving Jesus as king reeked of hypocrisy and malice. It was not covenant people who came to worship the Christ child, and there was no interest in Israel in a Davidide king beyond a political desire to resist the Romans.

In fact, we suspect that the “Saviour and Lord” or “Saviour and King” labels lend themselves to abuse by people who want to put salvation as secondary after other considerations such as distinctive beliefs and practices. We teach our children that doing what God told the ancient Israelite to do is the end of the matter (between God and humankind) then we try to cover that error with a baptism that is clearly an enrollment as keepers of the covenant.

There is no promise by the new covenant people. It would be no different from the old covenant since humans, saved or lost, forget and fail. “All that the Lord says we will do” is repeated often without context and the outcome is the same: (1) no covenant, (2) wandering and (3) death.

If people want to take infection (leprosy or other uncleanness) to the “priest” or wait for merits of Christ’s atoning death, let them go right ahead. If they want to spurn God’s gift and turn it into a revocable loan, let them. Since one sin violates the whole law we can understand the perpetual chaos and anxiety that people are in for when the law is boss in place of Christ.

Stuck in Kindergarten

There is no glory streaming from the operations or “vessels” of the levitical priesthood; there is no truth to be discovered from its furnishings or operations. All of it is role play and models, pure kindergarten. That is not debatable like what some people call theology or truth. Real truth, all of it, is the person and work of the man Christ Jesus.  The more extreme the Jesus the more false the witness.