Leviticus Podcasts

I have spent the last week recording audio messages going through the book of Leviticus available for download here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/setdtm4l4rk3u5h/AAA4toqOaVvpOJpDVnfeV1SKa?dl=0

OR

Watch on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3zdMKwnvH8GGQa0qiX62pwF5xgZC0L3r

Feel free to download and listen. Be edified, dear brethren. =)

Sin and Death

            Toward the end of 1 Corinthians, we find a verse that helps us to explain the connection between sin and death. Interestingly, the two words are not used as we commonly use them today. The reference is, of course, 1 Corinthians 15:56: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” Notice here that death is not necessarily the thing that happens at the end of life, for we simply don’t know if there is or is not a sting in that death. Instead, death seems to be something that we all know exactly what is being spoken of. It is a daily thing, suffering the normal aspects of life. Because the sting of death is sin, we see that sin is something that has us in its grips. Death is defined as a moment-by-moment decision to continue in the bounds of sin, or to step out through the cross of Christ Jesus to choose life. We are given the choice, and if we choose death, then we shall face death ultimately (reference Revelation 20:14).

            What shall we say of sin? If death is moment by moment because of sin, then we must ask what we mean by sin. For many, sin is the action that offends God. It is the disobedience to the law of Christ. However, we’ll see later in this section why exactly that cannot be. Sin is a power. It is a condition. We cannot relieve ourselves from the grips of sin. It takes a supernatural work to break the chains of sin. It is at work in our members so that when we were once under the law of sin and death, we found that no matter how greatly we desired to obey the law, we did the very things we did not want to do. We strove to obey God’s commands, but there is something at work within us to prevent us. This prevention is actually not some sort of human nature, but rather a sin nature. It is a secondary nature that has been put upon us.

            The actions called sins are not to be understood as the “end all be all”. Instead, we should understand that the actions are a result of something deeper. There is an inward working of death in our mortal bodies. We are increasingly being moved further and further away from God and toward death. Sin reigns in our bodies, and therefore we are stuck in the grips of death – to be absent from God. It is our sin that separates us from God, but sin of what kind? Certainly it is not the petty shortcomings that we all face, for when we are in Christ there is no condemnation. No, this sin being expressed by Isaiah the prophet is an inward reality of death having its way in our members. It is a condition, a disposition, and that without remedy.

            Now, what is meant by Paul when he says that the power of sin is the law? In Romans 7, he establishes the fact that the law is not unholy, nor evil. On the contrary, the Law is the mechanism that God used to express His heart to us. It is holy, holy, holy. When Paul uses the term “law”, it needs to be understood in the context of two kingdoms. There is a wisdom of the kingdom of darkness that says we can do on our own strength. To walk according to the law is to say that God has given us His ‘manual’ and we only need to live in accordance to it. After all, we do read the B-I-B-L-E – the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. To view the Scripture in this manner is to take the holy things of God in a carnal manner – walking out our faith by our own strength and power – and thus utilizing the wisdom of demons to achieve a preconceived notion of righteousness. Thus, we are not simply talking about the law in content, but the law in practice. It is not just the law, but the law manipulated through the wisdom of this age.

            It is all about self-preservation. Because we know what God commands, we can perform these regulations in order to attain unto righteousness. However, righteousness comes through faith and faith alone. To trust in the works of the law is to trust in sin and death, for through the law sin came. In the ever-nagging question of whether we’re supposed to obey the Torah, we want to answer question number two without asking question number one. The first thing to answer is whether we have indeed established our righteousness upon faith, or whether we in fact do have some sort of religious system and tradition to uphold a preconceived notion of righteousness. Once that has been established, we can then seek to understand the Law according to faith. For they who desire to observe a Sabbath day, do it unto Christ through faith. For they who say that every day is a Sabbath, do so unto Christ through faith.

            We do not observe the letter of the Law as was once taught. Instead, we see that the Passover is fulfilled in Christ, and so when we keep the Passover, it is through Christ and not of fleshly obligation. We see in the kosher diet as ascribed in Leviticus 11 that Christ is our clean food – the bread of truth and sincerity without leaven, and our meat in due season – thus anything clean points us to Christ, and anything unclean reveals to us what Christ was not. In all things, whether eating or drinking, we do it unto Christ. The question of whether we’re free to live apart from the law is answered as follows: Love your neighbor as yourself, for in this the whole of the law is summed up. You who are not circumcised, remain as you are. You who have not kept the kosher diet, think heavily before taking up that kosher diet. Do all things unto Christ through faith, for the power of sin is the law. Now that you have been given freedom, do not exchange that freedom for bondage. You’ve been set free for freedom’s sake.

            This is the power of the kingdom of darkness: Death being at work in us through sin, and sin being at work in us through our own attempts at being righteous. To be free from this is to be free indeed. That kind of freedom comes with a price. The author of Hebrews warned his readers, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” It takes the Gethsemane experience of every believer to break past the bounds of sin and death and into the realm of eternal glory. It is that resurrection glory that we seek, not just at the end of the age, but to be alive within our members even now. We are of a different kingdom, and therefore we are of a different wisdom. We are not bound by sin and death – the power of the kingdom of darkness – but instead we are bound to Christ. Now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve the new way of the Spirit, and now in the old way of the written code. We are set free, not to avoid the Torah, but to find the deeper expression of it through life lived unto Christ through faith.

Prudent Speech

Do you see a man hasty in his words?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Proverbs 29:20


There are a select few that are sagacious with their words. Many of us pour out of our mouths streams of words. Many people have the gift of gab - the ability to speak on any subject. Once you start a conversation with them, they can carry it for days. Some don't have this gift, but still practice lingual negligence. We speak when we need to shut up. We don't speak when we need to scream. We put forth a plethora of words, many times without even thinking before about what is coming out of our mouths. How many of us are guilty of this?

Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Christ Jesus was one that never minced words. In fact, by His own lips He said that His words are life because they are Spirit. He actually claimed that He says nothing out of His own mind, but everything comes from the Spirit of God. Then, at another time, Jesus said that we would be judged by every idle word that comes out of our mouths. Have you ever doted upon that? Mete on it for a moment. Every idle word... What about the words that are not idle? What about the words that are premeditated? I think the point is being made: every word, whether we think about what we're saying or not.

If Jesus was one that would not speak a single word without its inception being from the Spirit of God, what then shall we say of ourselves? Paul said that he desired to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. What shall we say of ourselves, who are not the Son of God nor apostles? We don't have such a caliber of character as they, and yet we find even they are making statements about a choosing of their words and understanding. If Paul desired to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified, what then must his words have been enriched in?

The art of prudence is lost to our generation. We often don't think about the future, let alone act according to that thought. Of the famous music on the radio currently, we hear song after song about not thinking about what happens next. Let's worry about that when it comes, for now we want to party all night and sex it up until our bodies explode from erotic bacchanal. If our actions are so unpremeditated and without intuition, how many of our words are the same?

Jesus had said that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. That, of course, supposes that our hearts are overflowing. But what is it overflowing with? We simply need to check out our words to know the answer to that. Think back on the past conversations that you've had. Think back upon the arguments or the reactions that you've had. What comes out from your mouth - whether in the good or the bad moments? How much was simply verbiage to fill the air, or make your point, or show how the person that you're speaking with is wrong? How much was the weighty overflow of the Spirit of God that brings a glory out of your lips?

Out of the overflow of your heart, your mouth speaks. I'm becoming acutely aware of the need to speak less, yet in those fewer words speak much more. There are a few that I know that when they speak, it is some of the most precious words that you've ever heart. And when they listen to you speaking, they actually listen. There isn't the hope of listening so they can respond. There isn't the hope of listening so that they can then tell you their opinion. They actually listen. Why?

They listen to you because they themselves are more accustomed to not speaking unless they have something to say. When you have others around you that are in like manner, then when someone speaks up, why wouldn't you listen? This is the very heart and soul of the person. To listen to the words of what a man or woman speaks is to listen to the very heart of that person. When their heart is given over to vanity, their words will reflect it. But there is a glory that comes when we "desire to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified."

I'm striving for the latter. Many times I find myself listening to sermons, watching movies, talking to people, and I just want them to get to the point. They spend an hour talking, and yet there is barely anything said. The void isn't filled simply because we've spoken. I know some that can speak for five minutes and say more than those that get up on Sunday morning and speak for an hour. The biggest need in our day is not to teach people more information about the Bible and the Gospel. The people aren't 'over-gospeled.' They are actually under-gospeled. Our words aren't weighty enough because we haven't spent enough time listening to the Spirit and not speaking until that word is birthed in our heart out of the waiting.

What is Divine Inspiration?

I've been challenged to provide a definition of inspiration. Words have meaning. Therefore, it behooves us to come to terms seeking to understand what that term means. To place upon a word our own interpretation of that word is both disservice and dangerous. The most extreme case to point to would be Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. Both Hitler and Stalin redefined what it meant to be a person. Because they redefined what it means to be a person anyone who does not add up to that definition is then less than human - subhuman. Subhumanity is dispensable, so can we truly say that the annihilation of 6,000,000 Jewish people is really that terrible? You get my point.

When we come to the idea of inspiration, we use phrases that are very fuzzy. I've heard that Divine inspiration means that the Bible says the words that God had intended the Bible to say. Well, who gets to determine what exactly that means? Or the classic example of what I've heard Divine inspiration would mean would be to say that the words are "God breathed." Yet, once again, we don't have a very specific idea as to what that means. These are general definitions, but I'm afraid that our definitions are intentionally fuzzy so that we are not required to take a stand.

Then there are the King James only-ers. These are people that aren't necessarily wrong in criticizing English translations of the Bible - many times quite accurately. Yet, the problem that I have is that they use unequal weights and measures. For example, the Hebrew is poetic. Words are not simply translated because "ruach" means spirit. Ruach has three "translations": spirit, breath, and wind. Which of those three translations do we choose? Oh, well you choose whichever fits the best. But the problem really lies in that Hebrew paints pictures with its words. Ruach is the Divine energy that stirs up the creation. So, if we're going to translate it as wind, we would be correct. In fact, it is equally as correct as breath and spirit. So how do we translate it? That's the difficulty.

I'm not going to say that any one translation is better than another. I think that all English translations have their shortcomings, and the different manuscripts that we have of both Hebrew and Greek show slight variations. They are very slight, but they exist. So, if we're going to say that Divine inspiration means that God had literally breathed this version of the Bible, and every other version must line up to this plumb line, we're left with a difficulty. Which one do we pick? If we say that the King James Version is the ultimate, then what about the later versions that had better technique and understanding in how to translate the biblical Greek?

But then this also goes with all the other versions. If we say that the New International Version of the Bible is the absolute authority, then we end up having to ask about those pesky verses that are omitted from the Bible. But what if we're actually going about this all wrong? I believe in the inspiration of Scripture, and therefore I believe in a literal creation of the world exactly as it is stated in Genesis 1-11 (or so). I believe that when the prophet spoke, they spoke the very words of God.

So how would I define inspiration if not by saying that these are the very words of God in textual form? In order to answer that, we only need to ask why it is important to have an inspired text? What is the point of Divine inspiration?

When I engage, or I hear of others engaging, in dialogue about the Bible, the most common criticism is that the manuscripts aren't exactly the same, and we really can't be sure that they were written when we say they were written, and how do we know that this wasn't added years later? The attack isn't so much about what is said, but instead on when it is said. The attack isn't so much on whether what was said is true or not, but instead on whether it was ever said, or if we just made the whole thing up. Why? It is easier to attack the manuscripts and say that we can't be certain of their validity than it is to disprove the statements. If the texts that make the statements can be proven fallacious, then the whole of the text is fallacious.

So Divine inspiration is really getting at the heart of, "Yea, hast God said?" This isn't an issue of whether the Bible is correct when it uses this word rather than that, but instead an issue of the revelation of God. So when we're trying to define what Divine inspiration is, we need to stand it up against the understanding that this reveals God as He is. Divine inspiration, then, is not found in the original texts, nor in the modern English versions. It is found solely in the person of Jesus Christ. From that revelation, we come to a further questioning of the texts. Does what is written here in my English version align with the person of Christ Jesus and who He has revealed God to be?

The debate is not over textual analysis and whether we translated the words correctly. The debate is over whether this reveals the heart of God, or whether it instead reveals something contrary to God. So debates on whether this or that passage/verse is supposed to be in here, should we go with the Texas Receptus, or the Latin Vulgate, or the Massoretic, or the Septuagint, etc are really only a little higher than nonissue. What is first and foremost to be presented is Christ and the character of God. Once we have that established, lets then go into the texts and decide as to which one seems to fit the best. Slight copyist errors and other minor variations in the original manuscripts can be trifled about later. First and foremost, we need to ask whether this is truly revealing God, or if it is a perversion.

Divine inspiration is the idea that God has breathed the whole of Scripture to reveal Himself. That is slightly different than saying that this or that version is the word of God. It is taking up the whole counsel and then wrestling from that revelation of Christ with the smaller details. Lets first and foremost get the foundation laid. When we're debating with atheists or Muslims or our Jewish brethren over whether the New Testament documents are valid, the best thing to do is not to quarrel over various texts and we believe the King James, but instead to display the glory of Christ and how the whole of the Bible displays the progressive revelation of God.

I don't believe the Bible is the word of God because I read "All Scripture is inspired..." I believe the Bible is the word of God because God has revealed Himself to me through the eternal Spirit giving illumination. God took out my heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh. Now when I read the Bible, whether I'm reading the NIV, NASB, NKJV, KJV, or the Message, I have something greater than the words on the page to line up to. Sometimes things just aren't worded correctly, and when we go back to original language we ask, "Why did they translate it like that?" Sometimes we need to read a cumulative and broad range of English versions to understand the point being made. But the reason I read the Bible the first place was because of the Spirit bearing witness in me. It was not until later, after I had learned a bit more about the whole of the Bible, that I started even asking such questions.

Ultimately, I think that when we simplify too much we lose a lot of doctrinal reality. God is Triune, therefore I believe that He has and does communicate with Himself. He has also communicated and revealed Himself to His creation through speaking. Because He has communicated Himself, I have every reason to believe that He has given us an inspired Word that reveals Him perfectly - not because such and such text is 100% accurately speaking the very inclinations and thoughts of God, but rather because God has given a revelation of Himself through those texts.

There are sometimes where I would say, yes, God is speaking directly through this text the very words out of His mouth. There are other times, like in the book of Job, where there is a revelation of God being expressed. God was upset with Job's friends because they did not accurately depict Him. That is the beauty of inspiration. It shows us God as He in fact is, so that when we read His word we can better understand His heart through the revelation that He continues to express through the Spirit. We don't read it as undiscerning nincompoops. We have been given every tool necessary to discern the text for what it is truly saying. That is the Divine inspiration: the Spirit bearing witness.

Do we need blood to be atoned for?

I've been listening to some Dr. Michael Brown lectures on "answering Jewish objections." The first couple were fabulous, but then we hit this point where it seems like the main point for every message is to talk about how repentance is not enough and we need blood sacrifices or there is no remission of sin. Of course, Dr. Brown is saying that we rely on the blood of Jesus, but it has gotten me thinking. Do we need the blood? If so, why do we need the blood?

A simple reading of the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) that sacrifices and offerings are necessary to "draw near to God." The first chapter of Leviticus is about the burnt offering. Out of everything that could be spoken of, this is the first one. Why? Because it is the blood that takes away sin, for "the life is in the blood." In order for the priests to be consecrated (Leviticus 8), there needed to be blood sacrifices. In order to consecrate the things of the tabernacle, and even the tabernacle itself, there needed to be sacrifices (Exodus 40:29).

Obviously blood atonement is a huge factor of the Old Testament. The High Priest needed to offer a sacrifice for himself and for the congregation of Israel on the Day of Atonement. What Dr. Brown was attempting to do was show that in exile, there is no way to have remission of sins. Prayer isn't good enough: you're under judgment. It is upon the restoration of Israel from exile that they start to rebuild the Temple and offer sacrifices again. Why? If prayer was enough, then why did the generation of Nehemiah and Ezra need to start offering sacrifices again?

But what got me thinking wasn't so much the necessity of blood atonement. What caught me was that in the many statements being made, the point being argued was that God looked forward to an ultimate sacrifice. We presently look back to Jesus the Messiah, but they previously looked forward to the Messiah. I'm not sure that I truly agree with this. It's nice; it's cliched; it's glib. Ultimately, what I have a problem with is not so much about the blood atonement. What I have a problem with is that God had established this covenant with them. If you walk in the ways that He has ordained in the Law, then you were righteous. That's it. There wasn't anything outside of that that was necessary. That was the covenant that God had set up.

So to argue the Jewish people about whether they need blood sacrifices in order to be blameless is pretty well missing the point. The question is not whether prayer suffices. Lets say it does! The question to ask is when God changed His covenant. As soon as you start talking about a change in the 'eternal covenant,' you are coming to a place where it gets very sticky very quickly. What exactly is the eternal covenant? Has that covenant ever been changed?

It says in Galatians 3:8 that Abraham believed in the Gospel. But Jesus hadn't died! Does this mean that Abraham believed that God would send a man named Jesus that would die upon a cross to take away his sin and pave the path for him to enter heaven? Certainly not. For Abraham to believe the Gospel is explained in the rest of the verse. He believed God when He said, "In you shall all nations be blessed." That was the Gospel. Where is it mentioned about blood, or the Messiah, or a cross, or repentance? The point isn't about any of that stuff. There is an eternal covenant that the animal sacrifices and the Levitical Law was only a shadow of.

The cross wasn't necessarily part of that eternal covenant either. What I'm trying to get at is that Jesus fulfilled all of the sacrifices. He didn't just fulfill the blood sacrifices, but even the meal offering, the offering of firstfruits, the peace offering (which is also a blood sacrifice), and even the sin and trespass offerings. Jesus is the fulfillment of them all, or the fulfillment of none. He is the eternal covenant because it is in Him, not just His blood (although it is extremely important), that we find all of these sacrifices and offerings fulfilled.

He is our High Priest. He is our offering. He is our sacrifice. He is our Passover Lamb. He is our Firstfruit (the feast). He is our Unleavened Bread - the Word of Truth. It was upon Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) that the Spirit was poured out. Guess who's Spirit that was! It is upon the Last Trump that Jesus will return (Feast of Trumpets). He is going to judge the nations as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:32; Day of Atonement). He will then tabernacle with us for 1000 years (Feast of Tabernacles).

In fact, it is mentioned in Zechariah 14:16 that any nation that does not come up to the Feast of Tabernacles to celebrate when Jesus returns will have no rain. There is a judgment given to those nations that will not come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

Are you starting to see my point? Yes, blood is necessary. Yes, without the blood there is no remission of sins. But if we solely base Jesus on a blood atonement, then we lose the holism. We lose the extravagance. Why is it that we can pray and not need to offer sacrifices anymore? Why is it that God sees repentance as enough? Because Jesus has taken upon Himself the fulfillment of that eternal covenant. The covenant was not made with us that we have to do something. Even salvation itself is a work of the Spirit!

Back in Genesis 15, God establishes a covenant with Abram. Abram offers these sacrifices to God, he lays them in halves opposite one another to make a pathway in which you must walk through the sacrifices. The context is that if you wanted to covenant with someone, you would do this and one person would stand on one side, the other person would stand on the other side, and then you would both walk to the middle in order to make the pact. You are essentially making the statement, "Let it be unto me like these sacrifices if I break my covenant." But when you read Genesis 15, God walks through the sacrifices while Abram is just waking up. God walks through the whole thing. It is saying, "Abram, you offered these sacrifices, but it won't be about you. I will do this because I have established my covenant. Let it be unto me like these sacrifices if I don't fulfill my covenant with you. You aren't held responsible by any means."

God has taken upon Himself the eternal covenant. It isn't about us. It is about Him. It is about His faithfulness.

In Revelation 6:6, the claim is made that there will be famine in the last days. But an angel calls out, "Do not hurt the oil and the wine..." Why? These are representations of the Spirit and the Covenant. The wine is the wine of the Covenant, which is to say Christ. The oil is the anointing of the Spirit, which is to say the Holy Spirit. Many believe that the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the earth during the time of the Tribulation. This cannot be so. God says do not take these out. He desires that there be some who are saved. How can they be saved if there is no Spirit? How can they be saved if He removes the covenant?

It is eternal - stems from the foundations of the world to the consummation of the age. The covenant is not that Jesus must die upon a cross, but that God will provide the Lamb (Genesis 22:8). Though during the time before Jesus' death and resurrection the sacrifices were ordained of God for the remission of sins, now God has ordained a different covenant. You aren't considered righteous because of what you perform, but instead because of what you are. Because God has now written the Law upon your heart, and has transformed you in the very deeps of who you are (put truth in the inner parts - Psalm 51:6).

Why does David say in Psalm 51:16 that God does not desire sacrifice or burnt offering? The answer is found in the next verse: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." The point is not that the sacrifices have been abolished, but instead that God wants to make our lives a sacrifice. He wants to do such a work in us that we are a priesthood. We are the sacrifice and the altar. Jesus alone is the one to fulfill that, but it is through Him that we are now made like Him. We are now transformed to being the sacrifice and altar - true priestliness.

In being the sacrifice and altar ourselves (Romans 12:1-2), we are no longer obligated to offer sacrifices. We have the blood poured out once and for all by our great High Priest. He is the ultimate fulfillment of all oblations and sacrifices. Now we go and do the same by pouring ourselves out like drink offerings to anyone and everyone that we know are in need. This is the eternal covenant. This is why we no longer need to offer sacrifices.

If we're witnessing to the Jews, and this comes up, how do we respond? How should we tell them that their prayer is not enough? How do we know that our prayer is enough? It is solely based upon the resurrection reality. Because we have been raised from the dead - something that you will know whether indeed it has or has not happened to you - we know that our prayers are answered. Resurrection does not mean that we are somehow now holier than thou, but in contrast would indicate a life of meekness.

Our righteous deeds are not something manifest to us. We live and move and have our being in simply doing good works. You don't need to ask me in order for me to do something for you. Typically, it seems like I end up buying groceries, sending money, encouraging and edifying, promoting and glorying in, and providing for any and every need that I am able without being asked. We know that so and so doesn't have much money, so we provide them food. We know that so and so is a single mom with 3 kids, so we buy school supplies, or pay the bills, or donate a gas card. We know so and so is entering into a new phase of life, so we encourage them however the Spirit leads.

Why do we need the blood of Messiah? We need the blood of Messiah because we need His Spirit poured out as a drink offering. We need the blood of Messiah because we need His Unleavened Bread - the Word of Truth - as a living reality within us (Psalm 51:6). We need the blood of Messiah because we need the incense, the sin offering, the burnt offering, the peace offering, the drink offering, the meal offering, and even the priestly functions that I haven't mentioned. We need the blood of Messiah because we need Him to fulfill all of the Law and Prophets. We cannot do this on our own, and so we look to Him to do it in us, through us, for us, and by us.

The blood is as important as every other aspect of the Law. For, "To sin in one aspect is to transgress the whole Law," James 2:10. We aren't under the Law in the sense that we are obligated to offer sacrifices. We are under a new Law. We are under the Law of Grace, which is in all aspects more difficult to follow than the written Law. God expects much more of us. These Jews that live more devoutly than we have even considered possible - it is in regard to them that Jesus says, "Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

A Warning of Israel

I know that this is a strange title. I want to communicate 2 things. First, I want to express that we need to have a mental acceptance of what is coming. We need to get deeply immersed in God and in His Holy Spirit in order to wade through the hell that is coming upon the earth. Second, I want to address the verse in Romans 11, “They are the enemies of the Gospel for your sake.”

So lets deal with our first topic. When touching on the end times and what it will take in order to make it through to the end, I am almost always found speaking of the need for wisdom. This somewhat makes sense. But in a lot of ways, it doesn’t make sense. Why would wisdom be what is absolutely necessary? Wouldn’t it make more sense that what we need is a game plan or some formula? There is never a formula.

How can we define wisdom? I would like to suggest that our current understanding of wisdom is inadequate. For most, wisdom is what we gain with knowledge. It is an understanding or common sense of sorts. But there is an ultimate wisdom. There is a wisdom that is attributed to being with God from the very foundations of the earth (Proverbs 8). This wisdom cries out in the streets. It declares the ways of God. It makes known His paths. It speaks to the righteous, but rebukes the fools. This wisdom that is found over and over again in the Book of Proverbs (specifically chapters 1-10) cannot be our conventional wisdom. It cannot be something that comes with knowledge.

Even knowledge is not rightly understood. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, then what shall we say of the atheists? There are some very intelligent atheist and agnostics. Are they without knowledge? This knowledge surpasses words. This wisdom goes beyond having smarts or experience or common sense judgment. These are two concepts that the Bible speaks heavily upon, but few believers comprehend. It is not beyond anyone to grasp these concepts. In fact, it is quite the opposite. But these words need to be apprehended (which usually comes from being apprehended by them).

So when we speak of wisdom, what are we indicating? First and foremost, the Book of Proverbs gives personality to wisdom. This personality seems to line up very closely with the personality of the Holy Spirit. The same is true for the characteristics given to wisdom. It is for this reason, that I think that wisdom and the Spirit are synonymous. That does not mean, however, that if we have the Spirit that we are filled with wisdom.

We must nurture the Spirit within us. We must learn to listen and hear what the Spirit says. We must seek understanding. The kind of wisdom that will get us through the end times is this: a wisdom that expresses the ultimate path and choice of God when all other experience up to this point has never given us any bases to look back upon. What do I mean by that? When we live a life that is very safe, we can learn how to survive. Even when we move to a new environment where we aren’t sure how to adapt, we eventually get into the swing of things. This kind of wisdom is not necessary for that.

Imagine a scenario where everything you have ever learned up to this point cannot tell you one iota or shred of wisdom of how to respond. Here is an example: your son runs up to you and cries, “My head! My head!” and then falls to the ground. What do you do? Most would say to take him to the doctor. What if you’re living in the middle of the “wilderness” (lets say central Montana where the nearest doctor is 30 miles away)? What do you do?

Even in this example, there are bits that can inform you of what to do. Past experience can play a role in deciding what to do next. For most of us who don’t live in these places where we are 30 minutes away from the nearest town, we can’t fathom what the options are. Lets take this a bit further.

Lets say God is speaking to your heart to take in the Jews in the last days. You need to provide a place of refuge for them. It doesn’t matter if you live in the city or in the country. When it happens, how do you let them know they can run to your place? How will they know they have a safe haven there? How will you stand up for them? What will you do? Where will you hide them? What if you’re found out and you need to send them onward? How will you know when and where to send them?

These are the kinds of questions that nothing can prepare you for. You can study the Underground Railroad. You can look into the history of World War 2. Just because you learn a couple techniques of what others did does not constitute that you will know what you should do. It takes a very specific kind of wisdom. It takes knowing what the Lord has to say. That is the only thing that will get you through to the end. And if He decides that you get found out and are killed, that is up to Him and not you.

But on the note of “how will they know to come to you,” you obviously can’t put up a sign on the door. It is at this that there are a couple ways to look. The first is one that says we need to get in contact with the Jewish community. We need to let them know we're friends and not foes. Then the will feel comfortable to flee to us when they need it. But even this seems manipulative and as though it doesn't fully trust in God. The other option is equally as difficult. It is to do nothing but trust that God will provide those people and speak to your heart when the are coming and when they come. In a sense, this is exactly what seems like the legitimate option. But in another sense, it seems to be totally opposed by reason. I am all for communicating with the Jewish society around us. How can we say that we stand with Israel and then ignore the Israel within our own towns or cities? But I don't think that our ultimate reason for communicating with them ought to be "to build relationships" so they know that we're safe. That is still promoting a lie and a deception. Our reasons must be pure.

This kind of struggle is ultimate. It will find you out in every way. If there is anything within you that will say, “I’m not willing,” it will be brought to the surface. God is not playing games. If you have an addiction or are in sin, God will be ruthless with you to pluck it out. You will undergo chastisement and suffering before they do. In order to be a priestly people to Israel, we will need to undergo similar suffering. We will need to understand where they are coming from so that we can minister to them.

It takes a certain kind of character that does not come about in a day. This will take years to harbor. It will all be the work of the Holy Spirit. In the end, we will not be able to take any kind of credit for our character or wisdom or love. Which, to bring up wisdom again, we will be required to give answer to the Jewish people for their suffering. If you think that playing nice because they’re going through a hard time is the correct way to speak with them, then you are sadly mistaken.

If God gives you a sharp reply, then you speak sharply. If God gives you a gentle answer, then you speak gently. If God would give you a personal revelation of such and such circumstance to speak a prophetic word, then you speak in faith. If God tells you to say to them that they are under judgment and to continuously push that button that they are out of the will of God and under chastisement, then you do it. If you are called upon to say nothing, then you give no answer. If you are told to give a layout of the whole end times, then you give an overview of the end times.

It all comes down to what God says, and not what we say. If we speak or act out of flesh, then we have forfeited all. This is part of what it means to be priestly. The priest would walk up the altar by a ramp. This was so that the robe would not lift up and expose any flesh (even a foot). The priest was to wear a certain thing, act a certain way, pray a certain way, and minister a certain way. Everything was to be conformed to what God called priestly, and not to what other nations called priestly. The priest taught the ways of God. So when we read of the Pharisees in the New Testament, one of the first questions should be, “Where are the priests?” If you read the Old Testament, it doesn’t take long to realize: like priest, like people.

If we are faulty in any way, then we will bring a faulty foundation to the redemption of Israel. This is a calling for ultimate sanctification and purity. We won’t be able to buy, sell, or trade. Why, then, would we expect to have medical, grocery, mail, internet, or any other convenience that we have in modern times? It will take wisdom to make it through this. It will take God speaking to us as a prophetic Body. Community is not an option. Community is the only way we can survive.

Sunday morning church isn’t enough. As much benefit as it might bring, there is an ultimate calling to daily fellowship. We must learn to go from house to house daily. We must learn to have all things common. If our brother needs a coat and we have 2, we give them one. How else will they survive if we store up for self and lock self away? This is life and death. The very teachings of Jesus and Deuteronomy will determine whether we live or die. If we aren’t one with each other, then we cannot be to Israel what we must. We will continue to give only a religion, but will not have the life necessary to breath into them (1 Kings 17:19-24).

The second thing I want to communicate is that it will not be easy to house the Jews. Paul tells us they are the enemies of the Gospel for our sake. Why would he say it is for our good? There is something in witnessing to the Jew that is more difficult than witnessing to anyone else. They are not only stubborn, but have an ingrained disdain for the name Jesus. They have “suffered by that name for 2000 years.”

I would recommend doing some research into their history. You will find that even under the name of Jesus Christ they have been persecuted. During the time of the bubonic plague, Jews weren’t getting sick. So they were blamed for the plague and genocide commenced. The reason they weren’t sick is because they kept to the Kosher diet as prescribed in Leviticus 11. During the middle ages, the Catholic Church spread the rumor that certain Jews were using Gentile blood while making their motzah. They were killed. During the inquisition, Jews were herded like cattle into their synagogues, where the buildings were then burnt to the ground. Hitler publicized himself as a Christian. The Nazi soldiers had crosses and their uniform had their own German version of “in God we trust.”

This enmity runs deep. There is something intrinsic within Jewish nature to reject and abhor the name of Jesus. If you think you are going to take them in and they will respect you and treat you kindly, you are wrong. They will be in panic mode, and the things they might say will be completely other than kind. They might bring up their tragic history and blame you. They might search out for any false motives and hold that over your head. They might degrade you. They might even be the reason why you are handed over to the authorities and murdered.

It will not be an easy thing to take in the Israeli. They that are Israel have seen their God at Sinai. They are able to scrutinize and see through any falsity. When we have our little religious prayers that are self indulgent, when we have our religious festivities on Sunday morning, when we have our midweek Bible Study, when we have our “corporate worship,” do any of these things bring an authenticity? Is there anything contained within it that is more than religion? I ask this as an honest question for honest assessment.

Many places that meet on Sunday morning are shallow. They don’t have the authentic reality to display to Israel and drive them to jealousy. Everything that we offer on Sunday morning is what the Jew can receive in their synagogue. Nothing will suffice less than the awe inspiring reality and presence of God that would cause for them to fall upon their faces once more and cry out, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” Do you live in that kind of reality? Are your friends and family stupefied?

I’m telling you that it takes more righteousness than what the Pharisees obtained. We like to read our New Testaments and see Jesus call them out in their sins. But what if the tables were turned? What if it was our religious functions and religious leaders that are being examined? How would they hold up? Are their lives governed and constituted by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit alone? Do they speak from their own minds, or has God sent them (Jeremiah had a lot of words to say about those folks)?

I’m not here to challenge anyone’s salvation. I am going to challenge the faith, as we know it in western society. I started with saying that the Kingdom of God is essentially Jewish. If that is true, then we ought to have some sort of Jewish perspective. I like the word Hebrew. It is more than Judah. The people of God stem back to before Abraham. There is a Hebraic root. Our mindsets and attitudes need to be changed and brought into a Hebraic understanding. There are a lot of ways that I can show how this applies. That, however, is for another time.

I only make the point that when we come at the faith from a Gentile or Greek or Western perspective, we will find that our contention with the Jews will shake us to the core. It is one thing to have a sentiment for Israel because it is “God’s people.” It is completely different to have the attitude of Paul that would say, “I could wish myself accursed for their sake,” Romans 9:3. What kind of burden must he have had that would cause him to say such a thing? He rightly apprehended the faith. Not only that, but also rightly apprehended the end times.

Because Paul was able to see the ultimate purposes for Israel, the Church, and the nations, he was able to make such a statement that would start with wishing himself accursed and end with ecstatic praise (Romans 11:33-36). This kind of view will change everything. It is apocalyptic, but it is also glorious. To rightly apprehend (which is to say, be apprehended by) this point of view will shatter any previous conception of the faith. Anything that is found wanting or shallow is either cast aside or dug into further. I can’t simply speak clichés. I can’t simply pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Because I know the coming judgment of God, when I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, I am praying for that judgment that will bring redemption and an ultimate peace that unless the judgment come, we would never have seen or comprehended that peace.

My religion can’t be trite. I cannot allow myself the privilege of simple sentiment. There are ultimate purposes that are going to take place. If I am not mature to be used of God in that time, then I will either be put aside or fall away. This is crucial. Triviality will sustain us for this time, but when the sun sets and all is not well, how then will we make it? When persecution breaks forth, and the Antichrist is creating hell for God’s people (Jew and Christian alike), how will we bear it? It takes something bigger than the view we currently have.

It takes the glory of God. This will strip everything from you. Anything that is not conformed to His image will come to the surface. Even in my speaking of these things and the harshness that we will be called upon to endure, things are rising to the surface. If you have any kind of contention that would rage against Israel and their purposes (for whatever reason), then you have already shown that you are against God and His purposes. It isn’t that you are too zealous for the Church or whatever other reason you want to bring. This will find you out. There is a scandal in specificity. I don’t know precisely what it is, but to get specific brings about rebellion. We don’t want God to choose this over that. We don’t want God to be specific.

In God being specific, we find that our knowledge and understanding does not suffice. We thought we understood and knew full well the plans and intentions of God. We thought we understood and comprehended His character. But when He chooses something that is other than what we had supposed, it suddenly challenges to the core. It isn’t about Israel. It is about us. The reason we kick against this is because we wanted their calling. We wanted to be the hot shots.

God has put it together so that in even considering this perspective will test and try our hearts. This is why they are enemies of the Gospel for our sakes. To even consider that we ought to go to the Jew first, and then to the Greek challenges our intentions. To even consider that they will suffer with us challenges us. I thought we were the people of God. I thought the Antichrist overcomes the saints. They aren’t saints! They are the people that have continually rejected their God since they came out of Egypt! They crucified their own Messiah! Why should they have anything to do with God’s Kingdom?

And in the very questions – if they are going through your mind – you display your own rebellion against God. This is deep stuff. Everything is stacked against us and is stacked against God. It is made to look as though this is impossible. We’ll see how many truly do believe “With God all things are possible.” This is my warning. Take heed to it. It will not be easy, and in taking up this kind of mindset and motive will bring against you all of the forces of darkness that have up to this point been able to yawn and say, “Jesus we know and Paul we know, but who are you?”

The realities that are all around us at every moment that we haven’t up to now been able to perceive and recognize will become tangible. It is for this reason that I want to next speak about the cosmic and eternal perspective, which is dealing with the principalities and powers of the air.