The Simple Answers… To Life’s Most Important Questions.
Bible Study Course Lesson 7 – 11
The scripture cannot be broken. You’re about to see a glimpse of just what that really means. In this series you’ve read some things which surely opened your eyes to “…be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” (Ephesians 3:18).
We’ve gone through each of the two trees, the river, and the three trees of Judges 9, one at a time in the last lessons. But now I want to tie all of those dimensions together into one of the root metaphors of the Bible: the Garden of God.
I’ve said the Garden pictured a human body; and it does, and yet, that’s far from the whole story. By now, you’re no doubt thinking “nothing is ever the whole story with you, it seems”. And that’s fair; the thing is, God had a lot of time on His hands to think up cool things for us to uncover. And in truth, we’ve only just begun.
The three objects in the midst of the Garden surely represent the fractions. And yet the question is… whose fractions? Ours, to be sure; we can see our own authority to judge in that tree, as we take up our almond staff daily (Luke 9:23).
In the day we eat of it, we surely die; by denying our flesh what it wants in favor of what it should have. Thus, when we choose what we should do, we “win souls” (Proverbs 11:30). Because our own spirit becomes the tree of life (Proverbs 15:4).
And out of our own belly, out of our own heart, should flow a river of living water (John 7:37-39). The law written there should burst out of the walls of our body, be carried forth through the power of our spirit’s words, and heal all nations (1 Peter 3:15, Ezekiel 47:8-9).
And yet… yes, that’s not the whole story. The Garden does represent our bodies, and it does represent our fractions… insofar as we ourselves picture someone else! Genesis 1:27. We are made in God’s image; therefore, anything that pictures us automatically pictures the Father as well! (And vice versa.)
THE TEMPLE OF GOD
We are composed of three things dwelling in a house of flesh; a tabernacle of flesh, to be more precise (2 Corinthians 5:1). Our future body will be a temple; an imperishable building of stone. This shell of flesh is just a tent, a temporary structure for the protection of our soul while it journeys to a far country (2 Samuel 7:5-6).
I’ve said many times that the temple represents the human body; this is true, but not the whole story. For anything that pictures our bodies automatically pictures the Father as well, because we were made in His image!
Which is why Jesus said the temple in His day was “my Father’s house”. Because if we are the house of God, and the temple pictures us, then the temple also pictures Him! Which is why inside the midst of that temple, we find three more things; the tablets, the manna, and the almond staff.
These things which you’ve already seen correspond to the three things in the Garden. And which, therefore, correspond to our fractions; and by extension, the fractions of God. But is that really how it is? Is the temple a symbol of us, and therefore of God… or is it a symbol of God, and therefore of us?
These are clearly “types” of one another. Yet one must have been the original, the archetype. And so, while all of these meanings for the temple and the Garden are true from some point of view… in the strictest sense, is the tree of the knowledge of good an evil a symbol of our soul… or of God’s? Is God the archetype of the pattern, or is it truly meant to represent us?
Consider the Garden of Eden as a whole. It certainly pictured a body; but not a human body, for it had human bodies inside of it. And what do human bodies dwell inside of? Acts 17:28. Thus the Garden itself pictured the body of the Father, just as the temple was Jesus’ Father’s house – His body (John 2:16, 2 Corinthians 5:1-4).
DWELLING IN HIM
Now according to Paul, all of us live in the Father, within His body, for “in Him we live and move and have our being”. This means when Adam and Eve were inside the Garden, they were within the Father – walking among His fractions, dwelling in the Father’s body. Which makes a lot more sense of verses like 1 John 4:12-13.
Adam and Eve had been allowed to eat of Jesus; they ate freely of the tree of life until their sin. So they had Jesus in them, but not the Father! Their only access to the Father was through the tree of life! (Matthew 11:27, John 14:6-11).
In the beginning, before the fall, man dwelt in God; in God’s house, in God’s body. Just as he will in the distant future (Revelation 21:3). But God has never dwelt in man! Because man was not allowed to eat His fruit, not being worthy!
Adam and Eve were holy enough to dwell in God; but not yet holy enough for God to dwell in them. Which, again, makes verses like John 17:21-24 far less confusing. But the disciples had done things our first parents had not yet done; John 17:5-7.
Unlike Adam and Eve, they had been willing to let Christ lead them, until the time was right for them to choose for themselves. Which is why Jesus prayed to the other tree to give them life, even as He had been given life ( John 17:9-11). And, of course, because He had been given life (John 17:9-11).
And in John 17:8, it was time for them to eat the other fruit. The disciples had just drunk the wine of the tree of life – literally (Luke 22:17-18). More importantly, they had spent four years with Him, drinking in His words (John 6:63). And this, Jesus said, revealed the Father to them (John 14:9).
So they had been prepared by Him to eat of that other tree; they were now holy enough to have the Father in them; they knew enough, Jesus said, to begin choosing their own way (John 14:4-5). And He would have done the same thing for Adam and Eve, had they been willing to wait until the right time.
But they didn’t have sufficient soul-strength to wait, and found themselves cast out of the body of God; delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. But not the destruction of their soul; for it, there may still be hope (1 Corinthians 5:5, Matthew 10:28).
THE FRACTIONS OF GOD
In the Garden, there was the river of life, the almond tree, and the grape vine – three things, picturing the Father’s heart, the Father’s soul, and the Father’s spirit.
Likewise, in the ark of the covenant, we find the tablets, the almond staff, and the bowl of manna; again, the Father’s heart, the Father’s soul, and the Father’s spirit.
So these two parallel symbols, the Garden and the temple, when we compare them back and forth to each other, present a very complete picture of the Father’s body.
And yet the fractions themselves are only God’s higher self; they are in the midst of the Garden, the most holy place. But they are not the whole body. A heart, spirit, and soul does not include kidneys or toenails, back hair, or tendons.
The Garden was full of every kind of tree and animal (Genesis 2:9, 19)… but only had the three most important things in the midst of it. Just as the temple complex had layer upon layer of courts, hundreds of rooms, tons of gates and windows and so on. But only one most holy place.
All of these other creatures and creations pictured part of God’s extended self… because everything that lives is, in some way, part of His larger body – with its more and less comely parts – 1 Corinthians 12:14-26.
All of us find ourselves pictured, in some way or another, among the trees in the Garden (Ezekiel 31:2-14). Even the less holy trees, like the king of Egypt, are there in some way. And yet these trees are not in the midst of the Garden; there, we find only the most holy things, the fractions of God.
The rest of these trees live because the river of life leaves the midst of the Garden and flows outward, through the Garden, to all nations (verse 14, Ezekiel 47:9, Isaiah 2:3).
FRACTIONS WITHIN FRACTIONS
Thus the Garden was just a stylized person, with the fractions of God exposed for all to see. Adam and Eve dwelt among them, free to see the truth without smoke to fog it up. And while we don’t have an actual picture of the Garden, what we do have is just as realistic, and just as helpful, as what they saw.
These symbols were perfect representations of God’s fractions, in every conceivable sense. You can’t think about the details of them too closely, for every leaf, every DNA strand of those trees, was specifically crafted to reveal the nature of His Godhead (Romans 1:20).
While that verse applies on many levels, it is most specifically talking about the creation of the world – the Garden of Eden! Because the things in the Garden of Eden were, with incredible precision, crafted to reveal His eternal power and divine nature (a better translation than “godhead”). The nature of His fractions!
Which means when you zoom in on any one of these fractions, you will see more detail; thus, when you “zoom in” on the river, you are magnifying the law, and you’ll see it pictures the Father’s heart, as Proverbs 21:1 says.
You’ll see that it divides the Garden into four sections, like the ten commandments did, in every sense of the word – four tablet sides, internal/external/positive/negative, etc. Thus, it is pictures the archetype and origin of the 1-2-10 law (1 John 4:16, Romans 13:8-10), which gives life to all (Galatians 3:12)… if they keep it. But death in the same river, being put under the law, if they don’t.
And if you think about it more, you’ll see that water is the source of all life; the Earth itself is 70% water, 30% land, with some air above it (spirit). More or less the same proportions as the human body, with roughly 70% water, 30% flesh, and some air in it.
And if you think about that human body, of which, indirectly, the Garden is a symbol, you’ll see that in the midst of our own Garden/body/heart there are four rivers of life, four arteries carrying blood into and out of the heart, without which the body could not function.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SPIRITS
Inside the Father’s actual self, there are three actual fractions; and His actual internal spirit is distinct from Jesus; and yet, since Jesus is such a holy spirit, diligently obeying the Father in every way, Jesus is effectively a copy of that spirit, and thus a type of it!
Which is why the tree of life, as has been shown, pictures Jesus. And yet in the most perfect sense, it pictures the Father’s own spirit; of which Jesus is such a perfect copy, that the symbols are nearly interchangeable.
Because both the Father’s own broken spirit and Jesus’ own broken and contrite spirit perform the same function: to relay the Father’s words to the beast. Both have been broken under the Father’s soul, as your own spirit should be broken under your soul, to seek not their own will but yours (John 6:38).
Thus, since both were broken by the same soul, and both perform the exact same job – one internally, and one externally – then of course they are very much alike. That’s why Jesus performs the external role as the holy spirit of God, even though the Father has His own internal spirit.
But Jesus is not just a spirit, Jesus is a complete Being, with three fractions of His own; this is why, if you “zoom in” on the vine, it is composed of three distinct parts: the leaves, the fruits, and the vine itself. Three distinct fractions.
If you fully understood a grapevine, you would fully understand the spirit of God. Because the things which were made, were made specifically to teach us about His divine nature! (Job 12:7-10). The leaves, representing His body, broken for the healing of the nations; the wine, shed for the remission of their sins; and the vine, His perfect soul, whose love of righteousness made all this possible (Hebrews 1:9).
Likewise, when you zoom in on the manna in the ark, you see that Jesus was that manna. And yet the manna itself, Jesus Himself, is just a type of the true, higher, archetype of the internal spirit of the Father. We’re splitting hairs a bit, and yet, there is a distinction here. Jesus and the manna are both symbols of the spirit of the Father.
And the manna, as a symbol of Jesus, was a complete person; which is why that manna had three fractions, according to John 6:51-53; “Son of Man”, “His flesh” and “His blood”, are all different things. The soul, flesh, and spirit of that manna.
Which, it should be noted in passing, was made by the olive tree (Numbers 11:6-8). Because an olive tree (the primordial Jesus) bore His olive fruit and became the manna, His soul; and that manna, in turn, created the bread of life (Matthew 26:26). But let’s not get sidetracked on bread!
FRACTIONS OF FRACTIONS OF FRACTIONS
The tree of life and the manna are symbols of Jesus’ whole self. But that self had fruits, which pictured people (Revelation 22:2 clearly refers to the twelve disciples in Luke 22:30). These people had fractions of their own; and so when you zoom in on the grapes themselves, you see the skin, the sweet juicy flesh, and the seeds.
When you zoom in on the trunk, you’ll see that like all trees, it has wood, bark, and sap layers. When you look at the leaves, you’ll see they have a midrib, veins, and lamina. I don’t presume to know what all this means; I’m just showing that it’s there to know.
Now the leaves of the grape, as has been shown, were like the fig leaves. Whereas the fruit was more like the olives in appearance. Thus, the fruit of the vine and the leaves of the vine pointed us to their principle metaphors.
The leaf of His spirit self pointing us to His human self, and the fruit of His spirit self pointing towards His divine self. Sort of like a “grape leaf; for more details, see fig tree” entry in an encyclopedia. And no matter how deep you dig like this, you can find more details…
Only to start the story all over again in a new layer of metaphors; Jesus’ leaves make loaves, like bread; and Jesus is like bread, exactly like bread. So everything about the creation of bread, from the grass, to the cows which eat the grass, to the cutting, drying, threshing, winnowing, storing, and measuring of the grain…
To the grinding of the flour and the kneading of the dough, the fermentation process of leavening (literally, adding spirit to the grain), the baking and eating… often dipped in meat stew or broth (John 13:26). Because the broth was made of meat in water, and Jesus was also the lamb; and thus, is just like a lamb.
From the time of year when they’re born, to their hairstyle (Revelation 1:14), to their attitude, to cutting their hair off, making them naked to cover our nakedness, to their two horns, everything about them teaches us something about Jesus.
And He is the sun, and He is therefore just like the sun. And just like the rock, the cloud, light, gold, water, Abel, Isaac, Aaron, David, both Joshuas, Jotham, and so on. Every one of these layers, and dozens if not hundreds more, reveals more details which merge with the others to reveal an ever broader, ever higher resolution picture of the nature of God, and the plan of God for us.
TWO GODS
It’s hard to remember sometimes, because we’re so used to confusing God and Jesus into one unholy trinity; but there are two of them. Both actively involved in our salvation. And so in verses like 2 Samuel 23:3, we tend to gloss over the quite plain fact that this refers to both of them. God the Father AND the Rock which was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).
There is one God, and one Lord, and they are not the same (1 Corinthians 8:6). So in verses like Psalms 116:5 we miss a lot of the meaning; specifically, that grace came from the Lord, but mercy came from God. (See also Psalms 35:23, Psalms 47:5, Isaiah 40:27, etc.)
Even places that seem to contradict this, saying that the Lord was God like Leviticus 19:10-12, subtly tell us that their God was the Lord. Their God was not the Father, who was HIS God; for their Lord was Jesus, who had His own, higher, Lord (Psalms 110:1).
I say all this just to remind you to listen to every word God says, and not to skim over apparently meaningless repetitions of similar things. Speaking of apparently meaningless repetitions, take the temple. Inside the ark, we see the almond staff, the ten commandments, and the manna.
Outside, in the holy place, we see three more things; the golden censer, the loaves of bread (like manna), and the menorah, crafted specifically to look like an almond tree, and thus a tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Exodus 25:33-34).
The fact that we have two sets of three such similar things leads us to assume that they are basically the same. And, they are. And yet, that’s only because the Beings whom these symbols picture are so alike! (John 14:9, Hebrews 1:3, John 10:30, etc.).
The temple of God represented the human body, according to 1 Corinthians 3:17. And inside of that temple, we see not one God, but two (John 14:20, 23). Which is why, inside the temple, we see two complete SETS of divine fractions! One for God, and one for the Lord! And the only way to get to God is through the Lord!
Within the temple, in the most holy place, we see the fractions of the most high God, the Father; just as we saw in the Garden. Outside, in the slightly-less holy place, we see the fractions of Jesus; we already saw the manna (Jesus) in the ark; but outside, we have a zoomed-in picture showing the complete Jesus, up close.
This detailed metaphor shows us that within Jesus there are twelve loaves of showbread, twelve bodies which are presented before the face of God for a week at a time before being consumed by the priesthood (compare to Revelation 22:2, which connects this back to the leaves of the tree in the Garden).
And we have the golden censer, upon which is burned sweet-smelling incense, creating such a cloud of smoke that the high priest cannot see God (and vice versa) appearing inside the most holy place (Leviticus 16:2, 13). And we have the seven-branched lampstand.
THE LAMPSTAND
Now given that the lamp is overtly an almond tree, we would expect it to represent a soul; and it does, but not the soul of Jesus. Rather, they represent Jesus’ soul! Which is to say, Jesus submits Himself to the will of the Father; the Father is His soul, His judge (1 Corinthians 15:28).
Thus, as Jesus’ spirit (the manna) is in the Father, so the Father’s spirit is in Jesus (the almond tree). Compare to John 17:21, which now takes on another layer of meaning – now that we know the true archetype of it.
And yet that’s only one layer, albeit the highest one; for in another sense, these are specifically the seven spirits of God in Jesus’ hand (Revelation 1:20), the seven flames of fire atop these candlesticks (Revelation 4:5), the seven eyes of God (Revelation 5:6) which are put in the stone that is Jesus. Zechariah 3:9.
Remember: God is not Jesus. These are seven spirits from the Father. Seven angels doing the almond tree’s job of judging the Earth, however poorly. Psalms 82 was written to them, warning them of their fate if they don’t do a better job.
Note that He threatens that they will die like men, because they are not men – they are angels. We know them better as archangels. And their job, as the Father’s spirits but as Jesus’ eyes, is to bring light to the world; a job which they have done with mixed success (Luke 11:33-36).
That verse is specifically a reference to the candle within our bodies, which in turn references the candle inside of the temple of God, which in turn pictures these angels. Not all of those candles burn brightly, and not all of those angels bring unmixed light.
But back to the main point of the symbol; is the candlestick, as we would expect, a symbol of Jesus’ soul? Or are they, as Revelation says, spirits? They can’t be both His spirits and His souls, can they? Of course not. But they can be His spirits… and souls over us!
If you appoint a foreman, he is your employee, your right hand. But to the average worker, he is the boss. So in any chain of command, one man’s soul is another man’s beast or spirit. That’s why God took of the spirit upon Moses, and made from his spirit elders to JUDGE Israel! Numbers 11:14-17.
Moses’ spirit became the seventy souls who judged over Israel! Incidentally, there were seventy candles in Solomon’s temple (2 Chronicles 4:7). Because the number of judges changes as there are more qualified candidates and a greater need for them (Matthew 9:37-38). But it always keeps a relationship to the number 7 (Acts 6:1-4).
So the golden candlestick pictures Jesus’ spirit; and by extension, the Father in Him, whose seven archangels are presently judging over the world and deciding our fates, at least to some extent (Daniel 4:13, 17).
Which adds to the irony, that while these angels have been judges over us, one day we shall be judges over them (1 Corinthians 6:3). After all, who better to judge them than those who lived in a world ruled by them and experienced the fruits of their mistakes firsthand?
I could go on about this all day – and will, one of these days, devote an entire series to this topic. Because there is nothing hidden which is not made plain if you just “take heed to how you hear” –specifically in the context of this candlestick (Luke 8:16-18).
TWELVE LOAVES
But for now, let’s turn to the shewbread. These are twelve loaves, corresponding to many, many things; but for now, let’s focus on the twelve tribes. The job of leading those tribes has been promised to the twelve apostles (Matthew 19:28).
Thus, these also seem like souls; and they are… to the twelve tribes of Israel. But to Jesus, they are bread… His “flesh”. His heart. For these twelve were the first heads of the church, the foundation of His body! (Ephesians 2:20). His body, which is symbolized as bread!
We are the body of Christ, and we who are saved will form a crumb of this bread. And like the shewbread, we are displayed, collectively, before the Father for one week (1 Chronicles 9:32). The word “shewbread” literally means “bread of the face”, because it was displayed before God’s face…
Before His eyes to be judged… placed across from the candlestick! And if the bread can last a week before God’s face without molding it will be consumed by the family of the high priesthood. A week, meaning 70 years, or 7,000 years, depending on whether you’re speaking of us as individuals or as a group.
And what does eating symbolize? Making something a PART of you! Your body chooses the good parts, the nutrition, and purges the rest in the toilet (Mark 7:18-19). So if you are eaten by the high priest, you become a part of Him!
Which is why David, as a type of Christ, was allowed to eat this bread (1 Samuel 21:4-6). Because he, and those with him, had kept themselves from evil women (Proverbs 2:16-19), just like those who follow the Lamb (Revelation 14:4). And that is how they, collectively, become the chaste virgin who marries Christ at His return (2 Corinthians 11:2).
These twelves loaves are the fruit of this plan, the reason Jesus gave His life (Ephesians 5:25-32). Note verse 27: so He could display it in His temple without moldy spots! Jesus’ soul died, and Jesus’ spirit died, and then His body died, so that this new body, us, could be created! (Acts 2:31).
TEACHING NOT KILLING
Our job has never been to rule the nations, but to teach them. Since the beginning, true Christians have rarely if ever been in positions of true power; instead, like a mother, we have attempted to teach the children to rule themselves.
Everyone else, we let God judge, through the seven angels! (1 Corinthians 5:12-13, 5). Our job is to feed the nations; which, when you think about it, is exactly what bread is for! Bread feeds people, and so if God wanted the nations fed with judgment, He needs bread! (Ezekiel 34:13-23).
Our job is not to judge the nations, which, as you recently learned, is what LIGHT does! (Ephesians 5:13, John 3:19-20). It is God’s eyes looking at the nations which judge them; which cause them to die young.
That’s not the ekklesia’s job, at least not primarily. We testify that their works are evil, to be sure (John 7:7, Isaiah 58:1, etc.). The world calls this judgment (“how dare you judge me!”), but judgment is what you see in Deuteronomy 25:1-3. Our job is not to enforce judgment and execute sinners.
Our job is to feed them judgment so they will be strong enough to survive the judgment of God! Not to pass judgment upon them, but to feed them judgment. Remember: you are what you eat (John 6:57). So if you eat judgment, judgment becomes a part of you and you can judge for yourself!
And if you judge yourself, no one else will have to, and you will never fall asleep! (1 Corinthians 11:28-32). So rather than taking vengeance on God’s enemies, the church tries to convert them into God’s friends, as a mother would – rather than a father (2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Matthew 23:37).
Because these loaves pictured Jesus’ heart, which was in the body of the woman, which had compassion on the people, and realized they had no shepherd – their souls were asleep, they knew not what they did. (Mark 6:34, 8:2-9).
KINGS AND PRIESTS
And yet, we are to be ready for different roles in the kingdom (2 Corinthians 10:6). We shouldn’t do this, because our own obedience is not yet full. But we should be mentally prepared to do so, when we are resurrected!
The job of judging will not always be left to angels; and the job of teaching will still need to be done. Which is why there will be kings and priests (Revelation 5:10). Some of us will be better at one job than another.
Some to be lights, and some to be bread; because man cannot live by bread alone… but by every WORD, or SPIRIT, of God! (Matthew 4:4). Both the bread AND the light are necessary, the mother AND the father, the teaching AND the judging!
Jesus did say we are both (Matthew 5:14, Mark 8:14-21, 1 Corinthians 5:6-7). But not necessarily to be both right now. This explains Luke 9:52-56. Jesus didn’t come to Earth to be a judge over us (Luke 12:14). He came to teach us.
So He didn’t come in the spirit of Moses, He came to be like Aaron (Hebrews 9:11). And the Apostles didn’t know what sort of spirit they were OF! They didn’t realize that, as branches of HIS vine, they were of HIS spirit… and not meant to be kings, but priests!
Because JOHN had come in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). But Jesus was on a different mission from John. He was there to teach them, as a priest or a mother would (John 3:17). He wasn’t there to rebuke the nations as John had (Luke 3:15-20), nor to punish sinners as Elijah had done (1 Kings 18:40), the jobs of a judge or a king or a father.
As I said above, we skim over so many things, thinking that God is just being repetitive again; take Acts 2:36; notice the words, plainly stated that Jesus is, after His resurrection, “BOTH Lord AND Christ”. “Both”, because these are two DIFFERENT things!
Again, read Revelation 19:16. These are two different titles: King of kings is not the same as Lord of lords! King of kings means king of the seven judges and their underlings. Lord of lords means lord over the twelve princes and their tribes (Numbers 1:4-16).
We are all called to different roles; as Jesus pointed out, Elijah had a different “spirit” than He did. And that’s why Zechariah 3:10 says we will be called under the vine, or under the fig tree; called to be under the twelve, or called to be under the seven.
Called into the government of God under Jesus’ heart, or called under Jesus’ spirit. I confess I don’t fully understand yet how the determination will be made; will all the people who are soul-led be kings, while spirit-led people are priests?
Will men be kings, and women be priests? Will saved angels be kings, and saved men be priests? Or vise versa? Saints from the OC time vs. the NC time? Israelites vs. Gentiles? I don’t know. And for now, I don’t need to know.
But whatever future God has planned for us, for now, as part of the NC body of Christ, we are commanded not to take vengeance, not even for God (Romans 12:19-21, John 18:36). Thus, even though we may one day roost atop the candlestick as a flame of fire, for now we’re part of Jesus’ body.
THE CENSER
The fractions of the Father are hidden from the world not only by the ark, but by smoke, and a veil, and the temple door itself, and the walls of the successively larger courtyards around the temple, all designed to keep the less-holy separate from the wilting gaze of God (Exodus 19:21, Exodus 33:20, 1 Samuel 6:19, etc.).
No Being in the universe is quite that holy; quite that absolute about right and wrong. Quite that perfect at calling the end from the beginning, and the things that are not as though they are. Quite that OCD when it comes to the details. After all, God is in the details, as we all know.
Yet that perfection, as any liberal church goer will tell you, comes at a price: “if you demand perfection from your brethren, you’ll wind up alone”. Yes, exactly – that is the price the Father pays for having standards. A price He expects you to be willing to pay, as well.
And so the Father needs an intermediary; a spirit, someone to insulate Him – and us – from each other’s gaze. There needs to be a cloud to hang over the throne of God, “that we die not” (Leviticus 16:13). And this cloud comes from the golden censer (Exodus 30:1-10).
Because there is just such a spirit who “ever liveth to make intercession for us” (Hebrews 7:25), who offers up the prayers of the saints before the Father (Revelation 8:3-4). Notice that the “smoke of the incense” ascended to heaven with the prayers of the saints!
The smoke is not the prayers, the smoke is the carrier of the prayers! Because the smoke of the incense is Jesus’ soul! And His job, even now, is to go before the Father and make intercession for us (1 John 2:1).
We have seen that the candlestick represented Jesus’ spirit; and the loaves of bread represented His heart; each of these had numerous fractions within them, 7 and 12 to be precise. Only the censer stands alone, because it represents the unique thing in the room… Jesus’ soul, the trunk of the tree of life.
He has many lords under Him, and many kings under Him, but only one Him. And He is a spirit; and the sweet-smelling smoke from this censer is, by definition, air – a spirit. And the angel in Revelation 8:3-4, like the high priest of Leviticus 16:12, takes this incense inside the veil.
Carries the soul of Jesus inside the veil, as Jesus predicted in John 20:17. Taking with Him our prayers. Taking them inside the veil, to the most holy place, where none of us are permitted! So that we can, through Him, go boldly before the throne of grace! (Hebrews 4:14-16).
And it is this “new and living way” that Jesus created, a way to take us THROUGH the veil, by His flesh! (Hebrews 10:19-20). The veil is not the way; the veil stood in the way! The flesh is the way through the veil.
Remember: there are three fractions mentioned here; His flesh, His blood, and HIM. Thus, the censer is literally the way that we go to appear before God. Do I need to cite John 14:6 again? Jesus was the way, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.
And if you look in the holy place, that’s exactly what you see; the way (the censer), the truth (the light, John 17:17 plus Psalms 119:105), and the life (the bread, John 6:58). Jesus’ soul, spirit, and flesh. All summed up inside the ark in the symbol of the manna.
MAGNIFY THE TEMPLE
So the twelve loaves picture the twelve apostles, who represent in turn the twelve tribes they’ll be judging in the resurrection. But the scripture cannot be broken, no matter how closely you peer, God thought it through.
So… think it through, and each new layer you peel back will point to another deeper truth. Peer closer at these twelve loaves, and you’ll realize they are also made of three fractions; flour, water, and salt. For each of these apostles was a person, with a heart, spirit, and soul – respectively.
Peer even closer at any of these symbols, and you’ll see even more detail. Take salt; Jesus said that we – which is to say, our souls – are the salt of the Earth (Matthew 5:13). And where does all salt in the world come from? The ocean – whether a modern or ancient one. What does an ocean symbolize? Revelation 17:1, 15. And how do we gather salt from the ocean? Evaporation!
And what, exactly, is evaporation? It’s when the sun shines his light on the water and BURNS it away! And what’s left behind is salt… which is plainly declared and made visible BY THE DAYLIGHT! (1 Corinthians 3:13).
Thus, the light of God tests the nations of the world, and those who are worthy withstand the test… and are made manifest! (1 Corinthians 11:19). And the light comes from the seven angels, and the many echelon of lesser angels under them, pictured by the flames atop the candlestick.
And yet if you zoom in closer there, each of these angels has their own three fractions; as every flame is composed of three ingredients: carbon, oxygen, and heat/light. And the source of this flame is the olive oil, that flows from the two ancient olive trees; Zechariah 4:1-5, 11-14.
The olives are souls. The source of the souls of all flesh is these two Gods (Job 12:10), who said “let us make man in our image”. Thus these flames burn because of the wisdom of these original two Elohim, who crafted this plan which is too perfect to put into words, in order to create new souls like Themselves out of the water in the ocean.
Or look at the water in the ocean, the source of these saved souls; composed of oxygen, hydrogen, and salt; the heart, spirit, and soul; peer inside the veil once more, and inside the atom there are protons, neutrons, and electrons; the heart, spirit, and soul, respectively.
It just keeps going, to the limits of our scientific knowledge and beyond… because inside the proton, there are three quarks. A total of six quarks make up all matter – two sets of three fractions, the six things in the temple: Two Elohim!
“By whom are all things” (Jesus) and “of whom are all things” (God)! (1 Corinthians 8:6).
ONLY THE BEGINNING
There is a LOT in the Bible. And all of it is simple, and as obvious as seeing a fig in the grape seed, or a grape hanging on an almond tree to take away the sting of death from it. Or a serpent coiled around it in imitation of one of the grape’s own branches. There is just so much of it.
The Earth itself has three main fractions – water, land, and air. Human blood has white and red parts – wine, which pictures blood, comes in two colors, white and red. And so it goes. These are only a few of the things I can see, and I am seeing through a glass, darkly! (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Everywhere you look, from a galaxy to the tiniest quark, you see the same patterns. From DNA to the genitals, from the cedar tree to the fish in the sea, the salt in that sea or the dunghill it enriches (Luke 14:35). From the plow which plants its seed in the Earth to the grass which grows out of it.
No matter where you look, you’ll find more evidence of just how well God thought this creation through, and just how many clues He left us, making us inexcusable for not seeing them long ago (Romans 1:20-25).
These are not things I am proud of knowing; these are things I’m ashamed that I never saw before. And humbled, at the prospect of how shockingly much there is left to learn (1 Corinthians 8:2). Because there are so many patterns, and so many connections between them, that a dozen lifetimes wouldn’t be enough to chart them all.
Fortunately, that isn’t the point. It doesn’t matter that you know everything; all that matters is that you can solve every problem. You don’t need to have every symbol in the Bible memorized; all that matters is that when a question comes up, you have the tools you need to answer it.
You don’t need to know what every verse means; as long as you have the ability to understand any verse you read. The spirit wants to organize and sort all knowledge; which is good, but not possible. The heart wants to boast of knowing everything; which would be nice, but is dangerous (1 Corinthians 8:1).
What really matters is that your soul is capable of seeing anything it looks at. And that your spirit is capable of hearing what it says, and storing the information your soul actually uses. And that your heart is strong and willing and eager to obey (Matthew 26:41).
THE ABBREVIATED BIBLE
So we don’t need to chart every one of these symbols, and know all of the layers. Because every one of them tells us the same story, again and again; and all you have to do is truly understand any ONE of them, to know all you need to know about the plan of God.
By merging and harmonizing, and rightly dividing, the Bible, you’ve seen that all the concepts collapse into simpler and simpler ones; boiling down 1200 chapters into a few short sentences. In fact, the Bible is really only about three verses long, perhaps four.
Because if you really understood, in this order, Matthew 7:12, Genesis 1:26, John 14:6, and Daniel 7:22, there is nothing left to tell you. And really, we could do without the last verse, since it’s implied by Genesis 1:26. What father doesn’t give his sons his kingdom when they’re grown?
John 14:6 gives us the fractions, and everything we need to know about them. Matthew 7:12 gives us all the doctrines, from the laws to faith to the resurrections, because it’s all done the way you would want done to you, or the way you would do to your own children. And Genesis 1:26 tells us the plan, beginning to end.
All that you’ve learned is just the beginning. I can’t stress that enough. The dozens of lessons you’ve read so far and the thousands of verses you’ve read is just the gateway to the truth. The Bible itself is just a brief summary of the Truth.
Because there is SO MUCH MORE than you can imagine in the Bible and outside of it which reveals the handiwork of God. Every stone you turn over is a path to a lifetime’s worth of knowledge. All you have to do is listen. And open your eyes and see.
And yet, because we are blind and deaf and lame, we do need things spelled out for us; at least at first. God gave us 1200 chapters, and I’ve added a thousand pages of my own in this course; and sometimes, I wonder if these lessons don’t need someone to explain them.
But God knew that about us; and so He left us a system of kings and priests, apostles and prophets, mothers and fathers, to help us see the things we can’t see on our own (Proverbs 19:12-14). Things you are just about ready to learn about… in the next series. That’s when it will really get fun.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
No matter where you look or how closely you peer into the microscope or telescope, the nature of God and His plan is plainly seen (Psalms 19:1-3), being understood by the things that are made (Romans 1:20). By everything that He made.
In many, many senses – far more than I can guess – we are in him. And in equally many senses, He is in us. The heavens cannot hold Him; for in a sense, He is the universe (Acts 17:28). Adam and Eve dwelt in Him, in the Garden – symbolizing His body.
The Pharisees argued and bickered in Him; for Jesus said they were in His Father’s house, and what is a body, but a house for a soul? Which means Jesus wasn’t being as poetic and abstract as we thought in the one verse for this lesson:
John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Jesus was in the Father, by being the bowl in the ark; and the Father was in Jesus, by being the almond tree in Jesus’ holy place. And both of them are in all true Christians (Romans 8:10-11). They are in us; but we are also in Them.
Loaves on Their table of bread, flames on Their candlestick, branches and leaves in Their trees (John 15:5, Romans 11:21-24). In many, many different ways we abide in Them. And abiding in Jesus means being part of His family; being a part of His house.
Sitting with Him in His throne, heirs together with Him in the Father’s inheritance. Stones in His walls (1 Peter 2:5), gates in His city (Revelation 21:12), stars in His heaven (Daniel 12:3). In every way you can imagine, and in new ways that reveal themselves every day, the saints will be in Them, and They in Us.
The question is… are you ready to become a You?