The Book of Mysteries

by Jonathan Cahn

  “And to rest in His resting.”

  “To remain in His remaining.”

  “To dwell in His dwelling.”

  “And to inhabit His habitation. To know what prayer truly is, you must go deeper . . . you must enter the mishkan.”

  The Mission: Today, seek to practice the secret of shakan, to dwell in His dwelling, to remain in His remaining, and to abide in His inhabitation.

  Exodus 33:9–10; Psalms 16:11; 61:4

  Into the Tent of Glory

  DAY 238

  THE PASSOVER DIP

  WE WERE IN one of the chambers in the building where meals were served for the students. He had me sit down by a wooden table on which was a small bowl. Inside the bowl was some sort of mixture I had never seen before.

  “This,” said the teacher, “is called kharoset. It’s one of the foods unique to the Passover Seder. On the night of Passover, the Jewish people eat the kharoset with bitter herbs as they commemorate their deliverance from Egypt.”

  He paused to take out a piece of matzah, the unleavened bread, then continued.

  “On the night before He died, Messiah partook in the Last Supper. The Last Supper was a Passover Seder. In the middle of the meal He began to speak of His death. ‘One of you will betray Me,’ He said. Then He gave them a sign. ‘He who dips his hand with Me into the dish will betray Me.’ It was then that the disciple named Yehudah or Judas dipped his hand in the dish. Why do you think that Messiah gave that particular act as the sign of His betrayal to death?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “On Passover, the Jewish people dip a piece of matzah into the kharoset. Undoubtedly it was into a cup such as this that Messiah and Judas dipped their bread that night.”

  “Why is that significant?”

  “The kharoset and bitter herbs represent bondage and suffering. And what was the betrayal? It was the delivering of Messiah over to bondage and suffering. So the sign revealed that it would be Judas who would deliver Him to His suffering. And yet Messiah also dipped into the cup. So the sign also revealed that it would be Messiah who freely gave Himself over to suffering and death. And why dipping? The word in Greek is linked to the word baptism, which means to submerge or to overwhelm. So Messiah’s life would be submerged in suffering, in our suffering, submerged in the cup of our judgment. And in the process, He would be overwhelmed. So He submerged Himself in the cup of our judgment, in the cup of suffering and bitterness, so that our judgment, our tears, and our hell would be taken away.”

  The teacher then dipped the matzah into the cup.

  “He bore our hell,” said the teacher, “so that we would never have to.”

  The Mission: Ponder the love that takes all your sorrows, sufferings, and judgment upon Himself. Live, accordingly, a life worthy of that love.

  Exodus 12:8; Matthew 26:20–25; Isaiah 53:4

  Passover Seder

  DAY 239

  THE PROPHECY BOY

  ISAT IN FRONT of the teacher’s desk as he thumbed through an old book. I could tell by the pictures that it was a book of history. He stared, for a time, at an old photograph of what appeared to be a military man.

  “Which is more powerful,” he said, “an empire or the prayers of a little boy?”

  I didn’t know how to answer.

  “There was once a little English boy who ended his prayers every night with the words, ‘Lord, we would not forget Your ancient people, Israel. Hasten the day when Israel shall again be Your people and shall be restored to Your favor and to their land.’ At the time of his prayers, the Jewish people had been living in exile from their homeland for nearly eighteen centuries. The land of Israel was in the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, an Islamic power that had occupied it for nearly four centuries and had no intention of giving it back to its original owners. But the Scriptures contained a clear promise and prophecy that God would one day bring His ancient people back to their homeland. So that’s what the little boy prayed for.”

  “And what happened?”

  “The First World War happened, and the Ottoman Empire began to collapse. The British army under General Edmund Allenby gained the land of Israel and the Holy City of Jerusalem. The British Empire decreed that the land should again become a homeland for the Jewish people.”

  “The little boy’s prayer was answered,” I said. “And what became of the boy?”

  “He grew up and ended up in the British army. He was ultimately elevated to the rank of general—General Edmund Allenby, the man who defeated the Ottoman Empire and won the land of Israel. God fulfilled the little boy’s prayer and His ancient promise through the little boy himself. What does that reveal?”

  “Sometimes God will answer your prayer by using you to answer it.”

  “Yes,” said the teacher. “And as to the question of the prayers of little boys and empires . . . ”

  “In God’s hand, the prayers of little boys are stronger than empires.”

  “And the power of prayer,” said the teacher, “is greater than kingdoms. It not only changes lives, but history itself. The story of man is filled with such accounts . . . nations turning on a single prayer. And the one who prays in the will of God can end up the chosen vessel of long-waiting ancient prophecies . . . and the changer of world history.”

  The Mission: What do you need to lift up to God? Lift it up—even if it’s impossible. Lift up even the course of nations and history.

  Daniel 9:1–25; James 5:16; 1 John 5:14

  The Resurrection of Zion

  DAY 240

  THE DIVINE LAW OF ADJECTIVES

  THE TEACHER HELD up a pomegranate.

  “In English,” he said, “and in many other languages, you would call this a ‘red fruit.’ The adjective comes first, and then the noun. But in other languages it would be described as a ‘fruit, red.’ The noun comes first, and then the adjective. In Hebrew, the language used for most of Scripture, and in the tongue of Messiah, it’s not a ‘red fruit,’ only a ‘fruit, red.’”

  “I’m not getting it.”

  “In the sacred tongue there’s no such thing as an evil man . . . only a ‘man, evil.’ Rather there exists a man. The man is a creation of God. Evil is the state he’s in. So too in the sacred tongue, there’s no such thing as a sinful woman. Rather there exists a woman, a creation of God, who happens to be sinful. Messiah spoke in this way and knew God’s Word this way, with the noun first and the adjective second, and thus with no evil men and no sinful women. He saw men, in Hebrew, in the image of God, and who were now in a fallen state. He saw the adulterous woman not as an adulterous woman but as a woman caught in the state of adultery. And thus she could be saved out of it. He saw the possessed man as a man who happened to be possessed and thus who could be set free. He saw the sick not as sick people but as people who happened to be sick or oppressed and so who could be healed. He saw through the evil, through imperfection, and through the fall, to the perfect that God created and to the perfect to be redeemed. He died to separate adjectives from nouns, people from their evil, their sinfulness, and their fallenness.”

  “By joining their adjectives, their sins, to another noun, Himself.”

  “Yes. And to join His adjective, His holiness, to us. Learn the secret of the sacred tongue. When you see the sinful, the fallen, the crippled, the defiled, the broken, the hateful, the perverse, the ravaged, don’t see first the adjective. See first the noun, the one whom God made in His image, the one God made them to be, and the one God redeemed them to become. And that includes you. When you look at yourself, your sinfulness, your fallenness, don’t see the adjective first, but the noun. Bring the adjectives to the cross. And see yourself first as the one God made you to be and live your life as the person He redeemed you to become.

  “That we,” I said, “might become a people . . . holy.”

  The Mission: Today, apply the divine law of adjectives to others and to yourself, see first the noun God created, then give to Him the adjective.

 
; Luke 13:11–16; Acts 9:11–15; 1 Corinthians 6:11

  The Hebrew Mysteries I–IV

  DAY 241

  THE REBEGOTTEN

  A QUESTION,” SAID THE teacher. “Who was the first person to be born again?”

  “The disciples?” I said.

  “No,” said the teacher.

  “Then who?”

  “Messiah.”

  “That doesn’t sound right,” I replied.

  “But it is,” said the teacher. “Who was He before the incarnation?”

  “The Son of God.”

  “And how could He be the Son of God if He wasn’t born? What did God give to the world? His only begotten Son. Begotten means born. So when He was born in Bethlehem, was that His first birth?”

  “I guess it wasn’t,” I said. “It was His second.”

  “It was His second birth. He was already begotten, born, before Bethlehem. The incarnation was His second birth. The nativity was His new birth. In Bethlehem He was born again.”

  “So then the new birth is connected to incarnation?”

  “He who was born of spirit was born again of the flesh so that we who were born of the flesh could be born again of the Spirit. He who was born of heaven was born again of earth so that we who were born of earth could be born again of heaven. And He who was born of God was born again of man so that we who were born of man could be born again of God.”

  “He was born again,” I said, “to partake of our life, that we could be born again to partake of His life.”

  “Yes,” said the teacher. “He who was rebegotten in Bethlehem had to learn how to live in His new birth, His new life, and His new nature, that of flesh and blood. He had to learn how to walk on the earth, how to see with physical eyes, and how to touch with physical hands. For the rebegotten are born into a life they had not previously known, and in which they must now learn to live. So you who are rebegotten of God must now learn how to live in your new birth, in your new life, and your new nature, that of the Spirit. Learn how to see in the Spirit, live in the Spirit, and walk in heavenly places. That is the journey and the mystery of the rebegotten.”

  The Mission: As God took on your nature and life, so today, take on His nature, live His life, and walk in the footsteps of the heavenly.

  1 Corinthians 15:48–49; Colossians 3:9–10; 1 Peter 1:23

  The Rebegotten

  DAY 242

  ALTARS ON THE HIGH PLACES

  WE WERE STANDING on top of what was less than a mountain and more than a hill, and not quite either. The teacher led me over a stone platform or, rather, to the remains of what had once been a stone platform.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “It’s the ruins of an altar,” he said. “It was one of the many altars erected on the high places.”

  “Altars to . . . ”

  “Baal, Molech, Ashtoreth, Zeus, and a multitude of other gods and idols.”

  “Altars for . . . ”

  “Sacrifices. You see, they not only set up idols on the high places—but altars. Every god had an altar and every altar required a sacrifice.”

  “How does this relate?” I asked. “The altars are gone or they lie in ruins.”

  “No,” he said. “The altars are very much here, just as are the gods and idols. Remember what we spoke of. Whether or not people call the gods they worship ‘gods’ or the idols they serve ‘idols’ doesn’t change the fact that they’re worshipping gods and serving idols. Whatever you put first, above everything else, that’s your god. Whatever you serve, whatever you live for, whatever it is that drives you, that’s your idol . . . whether your idol is money or pleasure, success, beauty, comfort, power, possessions, a career, an object, a goal, or your own self . . . whatever you put first and serve, that’s your god and idol. But here’s what you must always remember—every god and idol has an altar.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “There is always a cost to serving them, there’s a price to the idols and gods. There’s always an altar. And the altar will always require a sacrifice. Some will require the sacrifice of your peace; others will require the sacrifice of your health, your marriage, your time, your family, your integrity, your well-being . . . And the more you serve them, the more you must sacrifice.”

  “But doesn’t God also have an altar and require a sacrifice?”

  “Yes,” said the teacher, “God does have an altar, but not like any other. You see, on all the other altars of this world, man sacrifices for his gods. But on God’s altar, it is God who sacrifices Himself for man. It is God Himself who is the sacrifice. Therefore, you must no longer sacrifice and give yourself to any of the gods . . . except for One, the one and only God who gave Himself as a sacrifice for you.”

  The Mission: Are there any idols or gods in your life, anything you’re following above God? Smash the altars of those gods. And live free, wholly to Him who gave Himself wholly to you.

  Jeremiah 32:35; Romans 12:1; Ephesians 5:2

  Altars on the High Places

  DAY 243

  HEAVEN’S LOOM

  THE TEACHER TOOK me inside one of the tent camps of the desert dwellers. No one seemed to mind. We sat down beside a woman who was working on a loom made of sticks and strings. Into the loom she wove threads of red, black, purple, and yellow into a pattern that appeared both ancient and elaborate.

  “Notice how carefully she goes about her weaving,” he said, “how meticulously she works . . . how intricate the pattern.”

  We continued to watch as more and more of the pattern emerged.

  “When judgment came on Israel in 586 BC, it seemed as if the plans God had for the Jewish people were finished. The Promised Land was in ruins and God’s people in exile. It was then that God gave this word to His fallen and broken people: ‘I know the plans I have for you, plans of shalom and not of calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’”

  “A beautiful word,” I said. “After everything, after all their failures and sins, and after all their calamities, it must have been a beautiful thing for them to hear.”

  “Yes,” said the teacher. “Even though He should have been finished with them, He was not finished. His love was greater.”

  “Is there a reason,” I asked, “that you’re telling me this as we watch the woman weave?”

  “There is,” he said. “You wouldn’t see it in the translation, but in the original language is a Hebrew word that appears in one form or another no less than three times in that promise. The word is makhashabah. It’s translated as plan. But it means much more than plan. Makhashabah speaks of the careful, skillful, intricate weaving of a fabric. Thus it could be translated as, ‘I know the meticulously woven purposes that I am skillfully, carefully, and intricately weaving together for your future.’ You see, God is the Master Weaver, not only of the cosmos but of the lives of His children. And the plans He has for your life are not only good and beautiful, but intricately woven plans, already worked out. And He will take every thread of your life . . . every joy, every mistake, every failing, every victory, every defeat, every gain, every loss, every regret, every wound, and every question—every thread—and will knit them all together carefully, skillfully, and meticulously to become a perfect tapestry of woven love.”

  The Mission: Consider how God has woven the threads of your life together for good. Take confidence that with the present threads, He will do the same.

  Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9

  I Know the Plans

  DAY 244

  THE MYSTERY OF THE GOEL

  ONE OF THE most unique commandments God gave Israel,” said the teacher, “concerned what was called the ‘goel.’ When a woman was left a widow and with no children, the law of the goel decreed that if a nearby relative could redeem her house by marrying her, providing for her, and giving her children, he would be called the goel. The Bible records the fulfillment of this law more than once. These fulfillments or redemptions are all focused on one specific tribe, t
he tribe of Judah, and one specific line, the line of David. The man Judah became the goel of the widow Tamar and fathered her child. From that child and line was born the man Boaz. Boaz, in turn, became the goel of the widow Ruth and fathered her child Obed. From Obed came King David.”

  “So King David only existed because of the law of the goel.”

  “Yes. He was born of a genealogy that saw the goel’s intervention, a substitute fathering—not once, but twice. And it would be his line that would see one more intervention, one more substitute fathering . . . and one more goel. And it would happen in the same place where Boaz redeemed Ruth . . . Bethlehem.”

  “The nativity?”

  “Yes,” said the teacher. “It was at the nativity that God Himself became the Goel. It was now God Himself intervening in that same line, God Himself becoming the substitute father . . . the virgin birth.

  “But Mary wasn’t a widow,” I said.

  “No,” said the teacher, “the widow was Israel, humanity, and the creation itself. The creation was barren, cut off from the Creator and unable to bear the fruit it was meant to bear. So God Himself became the Goel. For only the intervention of God in this world could cause the barren to bear its fruit and be redeemed. Listen to these words from Isaiah: ‘For your Creator is your Husband. The Lord of hosts is His Name. And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.’ But in Hebrew, it doesn’t say ‘your Redeemer.’ It says ‘the Holy One of Israel is your Goel.’ So the mystery is this . . . We’ve all become barren, unable to bear the fruit that our lives were called to bear, unable to become what we were created to become. So God intervenes . . . into our lives. And if you will receive it, God will become . . . your Goel.”