The Book of Mysteries
Page 26
The Mission: What is your prophecy name? Live by it today. Start with what the Word declares you to be: Beloved, Royal, Holy, and Victorious.
Genesis 1:3; 17:5; Matthew 6:18; Revelation 2:17
The Kayfah Principle & Your New Name
DAY 173
THE PERUSHIM
WE WERE SITTING in one of the gardens. He picked up a branch and drew my attention to it. It had leaves and was still somewhat green.
“It looks like the other branches,” said the teacher, “but with one difference; it’s no longer connected to the tree. It still has the appearance of life on the outside, but the inside is dry, and it will soon wither away.”
He laid down the branch in the same place where he had found it.
“There was once a people who sought to be holy. They wanted to separate from sin, worldliness, compromise, and impurity. So they separated themselves. And they called themselves the Perushim. Perushim means the Separated Ones. But as they focused on their own holiness, they grew self-righteous and proud. Their godliness became one of outward appearances, a substitute for what was no longer in their hearts.”
“So the Separated Ones ended up separating themselves from God,” I said, “as a branch, cut off from the life of the tree.”
“Exactly,” said the teacher. “They still had the outward form, the leaves, blossoms from the past, and the remnants of what had been when they were joined to God. But the inside was dead. And then the God whom they had once sought came to them. And what did they do?”
“I don’t know.”
“They killed Him.”
“Who were the Perushim?”
“Perushim is the original name of those we know as the Pharisees, the Separated Ones. Never forget the warning of the Perushim. It is easy to go from righteousness to self-righteousness, from the inner reality to outward appearance, and from godliness to godhood.”
“How do you guard against it?”
“Always dwell on the heart and not appearance. No matter how much you know, stay always childlike in spirit, as having nothing but having everything to receive. Never rest on what you have known or done, but come to Him newly, each day, as for the first time. And most of all, stay always close to God, heart to heart, connected, as a fruitful branch that always receives from the tree. And you will never be of the separated ones . . . but of the joined.”
The Mission: Come to Him this day as a little child, as knowing nothing, and having all to know, as having nothing, and having everything to receive.
Isaiah 57:15; Mathew 16:6; 23:2–3; Luke 7:37–48
Fasting for Nothing
DAY 174
THE GOSPEL-ACTS CONTINUUM
HE LED ME into a small room within the Chamber of Scrolls with just under thirty scrolls, mostly small. But one was larger, by far, than the rest. It was this one that he took down and unrolled on the wooden stand that stood by the shelves.
“What do you see?” asked the teacher.
“Two columns of writing,” I said. “And the column on the right has what looks like a title above it.”
“The column on the left is the closing of the Gospel of John and the end of the Gospels, the accounts of Messiah’s work of salvation. And the column on the right is the opening of the Book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles. Therein is the revelation.”
“The revelation? You didn’t even read anything out of it.”
“The revelation is the end of the Gospels and the beginning of Acts.”
“What does that mean?”
“The placement of the two,” he said. “That is the revelation. You see, the Gospel could have been the end. But it’s not. It’s the beginning. The Gospel leads to Acts. The Gospel must always lead to Acts. It’s not enough to hear the Gospel message. It must produce change. You must act on it. The good news leads to action. Every time you hear the good news, every time it enters your heart, you must let it turn into acts. Otherwise it’s not complete. The Gospel leads to Acts. That’s one side of the revelation.”
“And the other?”
“The Book of Acts begins with the Gospels. It can never exist on its own. Acts must always begin with the Gospel. You can never produce the acts of God or the acts of godliness on your own. Your acts must always begin with the good news. They must be birthed out of it as its natural outflowing. The Gospel of love must produce the acts of love. The Gospel brings forth Acts. That’s the order and the flow. And it will flow if you let it. The Gospel of mercy will produce acts of mercy. The Gospel of resurrection will produce the acts of resurrection. So let the Gospel produce its acts in your life and let the acts of your life be birthed in the Gospel . . . For the Gospel must always lead to Acts.”
The Mission: Today, let the Gospel produce the acts of God in your life. And let all your acts proceed from the good news. Get wholly into the Gospel and you will enter the Book of Acts.
Isaiah 61:1; John 21:25–Acts 2; James 2:17–26
The Sequel
DAY 175
THE MYSTERY OF SUMMER
THE DAY WAS hot and marked by the gusts of scorching desert wind. We were sitting on a hill overlooking a field that belonged to one of the agricultural settlements. It was now filled with laborers harvesting the grain.
“The age has unfolded,” said the teacher, “according to the mystery of the Hebrew calendar, with each prophetic event foreshadowed by a Hebrew holy day. But where in the age are we now?”
“Where did we leave off?” I asked.
“What was the last of the Hebrew holy days to have already been fulfilled?”
“Shavuot, the Feast of Pentecost.”
“So then, if we want to know where we are in the age, we have to look at what took place in the Hebrew year after Shavuot, Pentecost. At the end of Shavuot, the Hebrews went out from Jerusalem to their fields and vineyards to reap the long summer harvest. They would labor throughout the summer months until the return of the holy days in autumn. They would then finish the harvest and return again to gather together before the Lord in Jerusalem.”
“So if Pentecost, Shavuot, was the last holy day to be fulfilled, then . . . ”
“Then it is now the summer of the age, the time of the summer harvest,” he said. “Just as Shavuot was the time of going forth from Jerusalem out to the fields of harvest, so it was on Shavuot, on Pentecost, two thousand years ago, that the apostles went forth from Jerusalem to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. The field is the world, the season is the age, and the harvest is salvation, the gathering in of new life. What was it that Messiah said of the present age?”
“He said that now was the time of the harvest . . . the time to go out and reap.”
“And did you know that in Hebrew the word for harvest, kayitz, also means the summer? And so the mystery of where we are in this present age is hidden in Israel’s summer harvest. It means that your primary goal must be to reap eternal life, to spread the word of salvation, to go out into world and save the lost. Make that your aim. For the days of the harvest are numbered. And the time to reap new life and save the lost comes only once. Therefore, go out and reap all you can in the time you have . . . until we all appear in Jerusalem . . . at summer’s end.”
The Mission: It is the summer of the age. Make it your aim this day to reap the harvest all around you. Bring forth salvation and bring in eternal life.
Proverbs 10:5; John 4:35–36; Matthew 9:37–38
The Joy of the Harvest
DAY 176
HA MAKOM: THE PLACE
THERE IS ONE place on earth,” said the teacher, “that has borne the Name of God and a prophecy for almost four thousand years, long before most of the world’s great cities or nations bore any name at all.”
“What place?” I asked.
“At first it’s referred to as Ha Makom, The Place. But then it’s given a specific name: YHVH Yireh. YHVH is the sacred Name of God. And Yireh means to make appear, to make visible, to present, to provide, to reveal. So YHVH Yireh means the Lord
will make appear, make visible present, provide, and reveal. It was Abraham who gave that name to the place. And it was Moses who recorded its naming and added the words: ‘In the mount of the Lord it shall be revealed, or it will be provided, it will be presented, it will be made visible.’”
“What would be revealed and made visible?”
“The answer is found in what happened in that place. It was there that Abraham offered up Isaac as a sacrifice. And when Isaac asked his father, ‘Where is the lamb...?’ Abraham answered, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb... ’ But in Hebrew it says ‘God will yireh the lamb. Yireh is the same word by which the place would be named. So YHVH Yireh identifies the place where God will yireh the lamb, provide the lamb, present the lamb, reveal the lamb. The lamb will be made visible in that specific place. And The Place, YHVH Yireh, is Mount Moriah.”
“Does Mount Moriah have any connection to the revealing of a lamb?”
“I would say so,” he replied. “It was there on Mount Moriah that the central event of human history place—the crucifixion. It was there that Messiah was crucified as the Lamb.”
“So Messiah was revealed as the Lamb . . . in the place called ‘God will reveal the lamb’!
“Revealed,” he said, “presented, and made to become visible in the place of the revealing, the presenting, and the making visible.”
“And of the providing,” I said.
“Yes, in the place of God’s provision. That which appears on that mountain is God’s provision for the needs of all, for every need, every emptiness, and every longing of our hearts.”
“Messiah is the Lamb . . . and the Lamb is the provision . . . Messiah is the provision of all.”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “And in the mountain of the Lord it has been revealed.”
The Mission: Bring every unanswered question, every unmet need, and every unfulfilled longing to Calvary, Mount Moriah, the place of God’s providing.
Genesis 22:7–8, 14; Luke 23:33; John 1:29
The Moriah Miracle
DAY 177
THE ALPHA OMEGA MAN
WE WERE SITTING on the sandy plain just beyond the school grounds. Using a wooden stick, the teacher began drawing symbols in the sand. The first appeared to be the capital letter A. The second looked something like a horseshoe.
“In Isaiah 44,” he said, “it is written, ‘I am the First and the Last. Apart from me there is no God.’ God is the First of existence and the Last. And this,” he said, pointing to the first symbol, “is the Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet. And this,” he said, pointing to the second, “is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, the Omega. These are symbols of God. God is the Alpha, the Beginning of all things, and the Omega, the End of all things . . . the Alpha and the Omega, the source of all existence . . . and its object. So, in the very last chapter of the very last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, it is written, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.’”
“As in Isaiah,” I said.
“Yes, but in the Book of Revelation the words are about Messiah. He is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega.”
“I guess He’d have to be.”
“So what would happen if the Alpha and Omega came into the world?”
“He would become the Alpha and the Omega of the world?”
“He would become the Alpha and Omega of time and history. His presence would cause time to divide and history to split in two. He would become the End, the Omega, of one age, and the Beginning, the Alpha, of the other . . . BC and AD, the Omega of BC and the Alpha of AD. He becomes the Alpha and Omega of history . . . and not only that, but the Alpha and Omega of all who find Him. He divides our history into two ages as well . . . our old life, our BC to which He is the Omega and End, and our new life, our AD to which He is the Alpha, the Beginning, a new beginning . . . a new birth.”
The teacher then drew a line in the sand joining the Alpha and the Omega. “All time proceeds from the Alpha to the Omega. So the secret is to receive each moment of your life from Him the Alpha . . . and live each moment to Him the Omega. For He is the Alpha and Omega of existence . . . and the Alpha and the Omega of your life.”
The Mission: This day make Him your Alpha. Receive every moment from Him. And live every moment to Him as your Omega.
Isaiah 44:6; Revelation 22:13
The Alpha Stone
DAY 178
THE ALTAR OUTSIDE THE HOLY PLACE
AQUESTION,” SAID THE teacher. “Salvation is the reconciliation of God and man, heaven and earth. So why couldn’t it have taken place in heaven instead of on earth?”
“A good question,” I said. “But I have no idea.”
“The Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, represented that reconciliation in the realm of symbols. Its most sacred part was the holy of holies, inside of which rested the ark of the covenant and where the glory of God resided. Outside the tent was the court. In the midst of the court was the brazen altar. It was on that altar that the sacrifice was slain. So which part of the Tabernacle represents God’s dwelling, heaven?”
“The holy of holies.”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “The holy of holies represents God’s throne in heaven. And which part of the Tabernacle represents man’s dwelling, earth?”
“The court?”
“Yes. The court was the place farthest away from the holy of holies, just as earth is far removed from heaven. The court was the place where sin was dealt with . . . the place of blood and death . . . where the sacrifice would be led to the altar and slain. Sin could never exist in the holy of holies. It had to be dealt with outside the tent.”
“That’s the answer,” I said. “Salvation could never have taken place in heaven, because heaven is the holy place, the holy of holies—sin can never dwell there. And heaven is the place of eternal life, so death could never dwell there. So the sacrifice could only take place outside of heaven. Sin had to be dealt with outside heaven, in heaven’s outer court . . . earth. Earth is the place of sin and the place of death. And only in a place of sin and death could the sin be borne and the sacrifice be killed. That’s why the altar must be outside the holy of holies. That’s why the sacrifice must die outside. And that’s why He had to come into this world . . . because it was only here that He could bear our sins . . . and only here that He could die for them. The altar could only be set up on earth. So He came to the world to be slain on the altar of the outer court . . . outside the holy place and the gates of heaven . . . that we might leave the place of sin and death and enter in.”
The Mission: You dwell in heaven’s outer court, the place of sacrifice. Therefore, the life you live here must be one of sacrifice, a life of love. Begin today.
2 Chronicles 7:7; Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:10–13
The Lamb Mysteries I–VI
DAY 179
THE BAALIM
HE LED ME up a small mountain. When we reached its summit, we came across what looked like the remains of some sort of ancient gathering place. One could discern that by the arrangement of the stones, which had clearly not been produced by nature.
“When Israel turned away from God,” he said, “they turned to Baal. Baal was the god of their turning away, the god of their apostasy . . . or gods. You see, there wasn’t just one Baal, but many, many manifestations of the one. And the many were called the Baalim or the Baals. There was a Baal for everything, a Baal for every desire, every indulgence, and every sin. When you turn away from God, you end up worshipping the Baalim.”
“But who worships Baal anymore?” I asked.
“Whatever you give the highest place in your life to, whatever you live for, if it’s something other than God, that’s your Baal and you’re worshipping it. And whenever one turns away from God, one turns, in one form or another, to Baal. And there’s a mystery to Baal. It’s in his name. Do you know what Baal means?”
“I have no idea.”
He looked away from the gathering place and into the distant mountains.
“And do you know what else Baal means?” he asked.
“No.”
“Baal means owner. And what does that reveal?”
“You become owned by the Baal you worship.”
“Yes, possessed by your possession, by the idol you serve.”
“How different from God,” I said.
“Yes,” he said. “God is the true Master, the true Owner . . . and yet the One who gives Himself to you to become your possession, so that by giving yourself freely to Him you will no longer be mastered or owned by anything but His love.”
The Mission: Identify your Baal, that which has mastered you. Submit to the will of the Master and you’ll have the power to break free from that Baal.
Judges 2:11–13; 1 Kings 18:20–39; Hosea 2:16–23; 1 John 5:21
The Mask of the Gods
DAY 180
THE MYSTERY BREAD
WE WENT FOR a walk through the wilderness. He shared as we walked.
“Imagine what it was like,” said the teacher, “wandering through the wilderness and having your food come down from the sky.”