WE SAT ON a low stone wall encircling one of the school’s vineyards.
“In the Song of Solomon,” said the teacher, “the bride compares the love of her beloved to wine. Wine was a symbol of earthly pleasure. Yet when the bride speaks of her beloved, she says this: ‘Your love is better than wine.’”
“And the Song of Solomon is ultimately about God and us; the bride represents us and the beloved represents God.”
“That’s correct,” he said. “So what is it saying?”
“That the love of God is better than any earthly pleasure.”
“Yes, and something more than that. Behind the translation is a revelation one can only find in the original language. The Hebrew reads this way: Kee tovim dodekha me yayin. It is translated as ‘Your love is better than wine.’ But in the original language, the bride says, ‘Your dodekha is better than wine.”
“And what does dodekha mean?”
“Not ‘your love.’ Doekha means your loves. . . ‘Your loves are better than wine.’ What does that reveal?”
“The love of God is not just the love of God . . . but the loves of God.”
“Dodekha means that God loves you so much that it can’t even be described or contained without breaking out of the language. It means the word love cannot adequately express it. It means that God doesn’t just have love for you, but many loves. When you need His mercy, He loves you with a merciful love. When you need His strength, He loves you with an encouraging love. When you’ve been wounded, He loves you with a tender love. When you need the love of a friend, He loves you as a friend. When you need to be lifted up in His arms, He loves you with the compassion of a loving Father. His love for you is many. He loves you today, not with yesterday’s love, but with a love for today, a love that is new every morning. Therefore, you must seek not only to know the love of God, but to know the loves of God. You can never rest on knowing yesterday’s love or the love you have known before. You must seek each day to know the loves He has for you, the new love, the fresh love, the surprising love, the never-ending love. It is that love, His love, that is better, much better, than any earthly joy . . . for His loves are better than wine.”
The Mission: Seek this day to know not only the love but the loves of God—the always new and never-ending loves of your Beloved for you.
Psalm 63:3–6; Song of Solomon 1:2; Ephesians 3:18–19
The Dodekha Mystery
DAY 217
STARWOMAN
HE LED ME up a hill at night. At its summit was a tree.
“A myrtle,” said the teacher. “You can find it growing on mountains and hills. It prospers in high places. Now look up from the myrtle. What do you see?”
“Stars.”
“A myrtle grows under the heavens. A star exists as part of the heavens. A star is certainly much higher than a myrtle.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “There once was a woman who was lifted up from obscurity and set on a high place, like a myrtle. But she feared losing her high position . . . Look at the stars,” he said, as if forgetting the story. “They do what myrtles cannot do. They shine. And do you know how they shine? They burn, they expend themselves, as does a candle. They give up their essence . . . and, by that, they shine. So their shining is an act of self-sacrifice. They must sacrifice themselves to shine, to become stars.”
“The story,” I said, “the woman who was like a myrtle . . . ”
“Oh yes,” he replied, as if having forgotten his point, “the woman. It was not only that she was like a myrtle—that was her name. She was called Hadassah. Hadassah is Hebrew for myrtle. Hadassah, an orphan girl, was lifted up to the throne of Persia; she was a myrtle set on high places. But the day came when she had to make a choice, hold on to her high position . . . or risk it all, even her life, to do what is right, to save her people. She ended up choosing do what is right, saying, ‘If I perish, I perish.’ And it is that moment, when she offers up her life, that her life becomes one of greatness.”
“Like a star,” I said.
“Hadassah had another name,” said the teacher. “She was called Esther. Do you know what Esther means? It means Star. She was born for that moment. But it was only then, when she was willing to sacrifice her life to do what was right, to save others, that her life became a light and she became the star she was born and named to be. Learn from her,” said the teacher. “And learn from the stars. Live to keep your life, and you’ll dwell in darkness. But live to give your life, and your life will become one of greatness, a light that shines in the darkness . . . a star above the myrtles.”
The Mission: Live this day as a heavenly light. Live as a living sacrifice, a gift given for the purposes of God. And you’ll shine as the stars.
Esther 2:7; 4:16; Daniel 12:3; Matthew 10:39; Philippians 2:16
The Power of Perishing
DAY 218
THE PIDYON HA BEN
HE LED ME into the Chamber of Vessels where he retrieved a small cloth bag. It was filled with ancient coins. He emptied them onto the wooden table and began to explain.
“In the days of the Temple, these were used in a ceremony called the Pidyon Ha Ben.”
“What was it?”
“It means The Redemption of the Son. The firstfruits or firstborn of the womb were considered holy and belonging to the Lord. The firstborn lambs were offered as sacrifices. The firstborn sons of Israel were to belong to the Temple and the priesthood. They were to minister for God—unless they were redeemed back by the father paying a redemption price of silver coins to the priests of the Temple—the Pidyon Ha Ben. In practice, every firstborn son of Israel was redeemed back. Otherwise they would have belonged to the priests and to the Temple ministry . . . Two thousand years ago, as the Passover drew near, the priests of the Temple plotted Messiah’s death. They would get one of His disciples to turn Him over at the set time. How? By paying him thirty pieces of silver. Where did the silver pieces come from? From the Temple treasury, the treasury that for ages had received the silver coins for the Pidyon Ha Ben. Now, for the first and only time in history, the priesthood was giving the money back to purchase a human life. And Messiah was a firstborn son of Israel. The priests were, in effect, returning the ransom money of the Pidyon Ha Ben. They were taking back the firstborn son . . . and the Firstborn Son of God.”
“And so Messiah now becomes the possession of the priests.”
“Yes. And what else did the Pidyon Ha Ben do? It released the firstborn son from ministry. So if the priests return the silver pieces, it means that the son now assumes his ministry . . . So the Son of God now assumes His priesthood. Thus He now will offer up the final sacrifice.”
“And if the firstborn male is a lamb,” I said, “then there’s no redeeming. The lamb must be sacrificed. And Messiah is the Lamb. So the redemption money is returned and the Lamb of God is sacrificed.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “for the Pidyon, for the Redemption, of all who will be redeemed.”
The Mission: Messiah is your Pidyon Ha Ben, the redemption and ransom for your life. Live as one ransomed, redeemed, free, and indebted to love.
Numbers 3:44–48; Matthew 26:14–16
The Pidyon Mystery
DAY 219
FROM THE DAYS OF FOREVER
IT WAS DAWN. We had spent the night on top of a desert mountain. Though the sun was not yet visible, we could now see its red-orange glow in the distance.
“Do you ever wonder about God’s love,” asked the teacher, “if His love for you will endure . . . if it will outlast your sins, or if your sins will exhaust it? Have you ever wondered about His faithfulness to you, if it will always be there . . . if it will always keep you no matter what?”
“I guess I have,” I said.
“It is written in the Psalms: ‘The lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who reverence Him.’ The word translated as lovingkindness is the Hebrew word khesed. Khesed speaks not only of God’s merciful, tender love, but of His
faithful love, the love of God that doesn’t let go. But what it goes on to say about that love is amazing: ‘The faithful love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who reverence Him.’ Do you realize what it’s saying? His tender and faithful love for you is from everlasting. In other words, He doesn’t only love you now. He loved you before you were.”
“How?” I asked.
“He’s God. Did He not know you before you existed? A year before you existed? Ten years before you existed? He has always known you. For ages before you existed, He has known you. And if He loves you now, it could not have been any different then. God has loved you, tenderly, mercifully, and faithfully . . . from everlasting. How long has He loved you? For an eternity! He’s loved you from forever. His love for you has already lasted an eternity! It has already traveled an eternity to reach you.”
“But then how could it ever have reached me?”
“You can’t fathom eternity,” said the teacher, “nor can you fathom His love, except to know that His love for you is greater than eternity . . . and to know the answer to the question . . . Will God’s love for you ever cease or give up? The answer is no. God’s love for you has already spanned the length of eternity. It has already lasted forever. For the love of God is, to you who reverence Him . . . from everlasting to everlasting . . . from forever to forever.”
The Mission: Ponder the love that God has for you that has already endured for an eternity, and will not cease or fail you now. Live accordingly.
Psalm 103:17; Jeremiah 31:3; Micah 5:2
The From Forever Redemption
DAY 220
THE DAY OF THE MATTAN
HE TOOK ME into a room adorned with veil-like curtains that served as partitions to divide the space into several smaller chambers. On the floor were cushions and carpets covered in what appeared to be Middle Eastern designs. We sat down in one of the chambers in which was a small, metallic, and ornate chest. Opening the chest, he took out a necklace-like object of precious stones of a variety of colors, all joined together in a golden netting.
“In ancient times,” said the teacher, “in the days of betrothal, when a bride and groom dwelt in their separate homes, preparing for their wedding, the groom could send to the bride a gift. It was called the mattan.”
“And mattan means . . . ”
“The gift,” he said. “The mattan was a sign of the bridegroom’s love for the bride. It was to encourage her in their days of separation and to assure her of his pledge, a guarantee of his faithfulness, a promise of things to come. And in the case of a mattan consisting of jewelry, like this one, it was also to beautify her and prepare her for her wedding day.”
He handed me the mattan that I might examine it.
“Once a year on the biblical calendar, Israel celebrated the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. The Law was considered a gift from God to His people. The celebration was known as the Day of the Mattan, or the Day of the Gift. What was the Day of the Mattan? It was the Feast of Shavuot.”
“Pentecost!”
“Yes. Pentecost, the Day of the Mattan, the Day of the Giving of the Gift. And so it was on Shavuot, Pentecost, the Day of the Gift, that God gave the gift of the Spirit. And it wasn’t just the Day of the Gift, but in Hebrew, the Day of the Mattan. What does that mean?”
“It means the Spirit is the Mattan,” I said, “the gift that the Bridegroom gives to the bride.”
“Yes,” he said, “the Spirit is given as the sign of the Bridegroom’s love for the bride, to encourage us in the days of our betrothal and separation, to assure us of His pledge, to bless us, strengthen us, and beautify us . . . the guarantee of His faithfulness, and the promise of things to come. The Spirit is the Mattan of the Bridegroom’s love for the bride.”
The Mission: Today, practice living in the power of the Mattan, moving in the Spirit, becoming more beautiful, strong, and ready for your Wedding Day.
Genesis 34:12; Luke 11:13; Acts 2:1–4; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5
The Mattan Revelation
DAY 221
THE HOUSE OF THE DISPOSSESSED
WE WERE WATCHING the workers begin construction on one of the school’s new buildings, setting in place its foundation stones.
“The Jewish people,” said the teacher, “were called to build God’s house and kingdom. They are the builders of houses and kingdoms. Whether with God or without Him, they were anointed as the builders. And so they have played a central role in the building of the great houses and kingdoms of man. In the modern age, most of the world’s peoples have dwelt in two houses: the house of capitalism and the house of communism. The Jewish people were central in the building of each of the two houses. So too were they central in the building of the great houses and kingdoms of man, the houses of nations, economies, culture, and sciences, the house of the modern world itself. And yet over and over again, another mystery has manifested. The builders have been driven out from the very houses they built, dispossessed by others. They’ve been driven out of their places in the house of nations, out of their places in the house of capitalism and the house of communism, and in whatever house they’ve built.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Thousands of years ago the Book of Deuteronomy gave a warning and a prophecy of what would happen to the children of Israel if they turned away from God and His ways: ‘You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it.’”
“But then what house are they meant to dwell in?”
“There is one,” said the teacher. “They began building it two thousand years ago. But then they removed themselves from dwelling there. And ever since leaving that house, they’ve never found another.”
“What house?”
“The most universal and wide-spanning house in human history . . . the greatest house the Jewish people ever built . . . that which is called the church, the kehilah, the house that God built through them and into which people of all nations have come to dwell. When they return to that house, they will find themselves at home at last, and in a house from which they will never be dispossessed. And so it is for all of us. It is the only house in which we can dwell forever . . . and from which we will never be dispossessed.”
The Mission: Seek, today, to dwell all the more in God’s perfect will, that from which you cannot be dispossessed. And pray for the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 28:30; Luke 13:34–35; 2 Corinthians 5:1
The Anguish of the Jews
DAY 222
THE MYSTERY OF KHAVAH
IT WAS THE middle of the afternoon. The teacher and I were sitting inside one of the school’s gardens that possessed an especially wide variety of fruit trees.
“In Genesis, it is written that God said it was not good for man to be alone and that He would make a helper suitable for him. So He caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. While he was sleeping, God opened up his side and removed a rib. From the rib He created woman.”
“Eve,” I said.
“Yes, but her real name was Khavah. She was created to be Adam’s helpmate, to help him in the work of the garden and to be his companion. But Adam fell . . . and Messiah came to undo his fall, to bring redemption. To do so, He had to come in Adam’s likeness . . . as a second Adam. So a question: If Messiah is the second Adam, then where’s the second Eve? Where, in the redemption, is Khavah?”
“I don’t know of any Khavah in the New Testament account,” I said.
“God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam. In the Scriptures, sleep is a symbol of death. So God caused the second Adam to fall into a deep sleep as well . . . a sleep of death. And in the death of Messiah, in the sleep of the second Adam, one is born. Who is born in the sleep of the second Adam, the death of Messiah?”
“We are,” I said. “Through His death we are born again.”
“And how was Khavah born?”
“Through the opening of Adam’s side.”
“And so too in Messiah’s death, His side was opened, His heart was pierc
ed through His ribs . . . And so, as with Khavah, so too the church was born through His side. And what is the church? The bride of Messiah . . . His Khavah. And therein lies the mystery. You were born again to be Khavah, the helpmate of God, to assist Him in accomplishing His work and purposes on the earth.”
“And what does the name Khavah mean?”
“It comes from the Hebrew word for life. It means the life giver, the one who brings life. It was Khavah who bore Adam’s children, his life, into the world. So, it is to be through the second Khavah that God’s life, the love of God, the salvation of God, is now born into the world. It’s the mystery of us . . . For we are His Khavah.”
The Mission: Live today as Khavah, as the helpmate of God to accomplish His purposes on earth—and as the one who bears the life of God into the world.
Genesis 2:18–24; Ephesians 5:31–32
The Khavah Mystery of Existence
DAY 223
THE MOMENTUM KEY
WE WERE STANDING in the middle of a small plain when he gave me an unexpected directive.
“Jump,” said the teacher. “Not up and down, but forward. Jump forward as far as you can.”
So I did. It was nothing impressive, just a few feet. The teacher drew two lines, the first where I started, and the second where I landed.
“Now, go back as far as you want, run as fast as you’re able, and jump as far as you can.” So I did. The second jump was far more impressive than the first. “Why was your last jump so much farther than your first? One word: momentum. When an archer wants to shoot an arrow, he must first pull the arrow back on his bow. When an angry mob wants to force open a castle door with a battering ram, they must first back away from the door and then run into it. They all, in some way, move back in order to gain momentum. Without momentum the jumper won’t jump, the arrow won’t shoot, and the castle doors won’t open. And what is true in the physical realm is also true in the spiritual. If you are going to have breakthroughs in the physical realm, you need physical momentum. And if you are going to have breakthroughs in the spiritual realm, you need spiritual momentum.”
The Book of Mysteries Page 32
