The Message

The God of this world is Greed and he rules from the West.  A cell is forming at the CG (Common Ground) comprised of those that tire of doing nothing while Avarice runs wild. 

Did you read of the horrific burning of a church in Kiambaa
Kenya the day before last?  35 frightened women, children and elderly tribes people were hiding from a blood thirsty mob of rival tribe members.  I had intended to continue with the Notes on Hebrews with this first entry of 2008 but the report of this unholy massacre has prompted me to place self aggrandizement aside. 

Truthfully speaking, every single one of us that blogs does so selfishly, in order that we might chronicle a life experience we consider supremely important, namely our own.  I cannot continue with this self absorbed life style.  For the past two years I have been writing a fictional story of the building of the Common Ground.  The Common Ground is that spiritual place marked not by doctrines and interpretations but by the faith of little children. I did this in response to a challenge set forth by the British author of metaphysics and former Catholic Nun, Karen Armstrong, who wrote the following in the final paragraph of her elegant and brief book, A Short History of Myth:  “If professional religious leaders cannot instruct us in mythical lore, our artists and creative writers can perhaps step in to this priestly role and bring fresh insight to our lost and damaged world.”

 If you care enough about the plight of the world and the devastation that Satan, Sin and Death are causing, then I invite you to read my pages.  I will upload a few at a time and I welcome anyone’s comments on them.  I don’t pretend to know where this is going but I am ready to march, “for we do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age.” 

The principal theme in this chapter continues to be the call to steadfastness in the midst of tribulation.  Luke continues to quote the Old Testament with regard to the superiority of Jesus as mediator of a better covenant, and of his eternal sacrifice offered for the remission of sins for those being sanctified.  Luke also warns (threatens) his readership of the fiery judgment that falling away from the knowledge of the truth will trigger since returning to the religion of works righteousness for their perfection, is tantamount to trampling the Son of God underfoot, and insulting the Spirit of Grace.

Keep in mind dear reader that the Jewish Christian church was being persecuted by the Orthodox Jewish leadership and by the Jewish and Roman citizenry, some to the point of martyrdom.  There was strong justification to return to Orthodoxy since as the Chinese proverb states, “It is the protruding nail that gets the hammer blows”.  Luke then is set on reminding them that their tribulations will be noted and their sacrifices rewarded, and conversely, their falling away will be dealt with as well.   

It is a difficult task to call a people to a different path in any generation.  It is especially difficult to do so in the face of family and countrymen caught in the paradigm.  In our current generation, something as obvious and fundamental as the care of our planet is met by jeers, ridicules, suspicions and false accusations by the watchdogs of the status quo.    Why then would anyone dare to try and shift the paradigm against such odds in the 1^st century or the 21st?  That is simple.  It is because we are compelled by a higher authority.  Every Christian leader of any age understands that the work set before them is undertaken in obedience to Christ just as He did all in obedience to the Father. 

The fact that the common man is spiritually freed from the yoke of sin is a byproduct of obedience.  Do you agree with this statement?  If you do then you have the power to change the paradigm. The Orthodox Protestants believe that obedience to the scriptures will usher one in to the Kingdom of
God (John 5:39).  Orthodox Catholics believe the answer is Tradition.  Mormon Orthodoxy believes in Hierarchy.  If you are able to see that none of these will grant you the kingdom then you and I have something in common, but that will not change the paradigm.  Do not look to change the Scriptural, Traditional, and Hierarchical for they will continue to hold sway in their fiefdoms just like the Orthodox Jews of the 1^st century did.  The paradigm shift will occur when men and women, boys and girls walk out from among the fiefdoms, to meet others on the Common Ground of faith in the Kingdom of
God.  The Common Ground is comprised of anyone whose faith is seeking its source (Mathew 12:50).  Let us encourage each other to boldness for we do not walk away from the Lord but on the contrary, it is the Lord himself who goes before us as a flame of fire lighting the way to Life. 

In this chapter, Luke contrasts the sanctuaries and ceremonial sacrifices of the Old and New testaments.  The Old Testament sanctuary and sacrificial ceremony was a copy of “the heavenly things” and was a precursor of a better sanctuary, a once and for all actual sacrifice, and an eternal priest.

One day out of the year on Yom Kippur or “the day of atonement”, the Jewish High Priest would take a calf and ceremonially sacrifice it, letting its blood run on the holy altar.  He would then be given 2 goats, one to be sacrificed and the other to be set free in to the wilderness.  Contrary to our modern definition, the “scapegoat” is the one that gets away and is given a 2^nd chance at life.  Only the sacrificial goat is put to death for its own sins, and the sins of the people represented by the scapegoat.  The High Priest would then sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the sanctuary, on himself, and on the people for it is the blood that covers their sins (done in ignorance) for the entire year.

Why does our God require blood sacrifice?  The scriptures say, “For it (blood) is the life of all flesh.  Its blood sustains its life” (Leviticus 17:14) and also,” but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17).  God’s judgment is made congruent with his mercy when blood (life) is shed on the altar.  Life for Life, there is no other way.

Consider Jesus, who came as the perfect lamb of God and when the perfect one was presented to the inhabitants of Jerusalem along with Barabbas, the insurrectionist and murderer, the people chose to set free Barabbas.  I am Barabbas and you dear reader are Barabbas and not because I am an insurrectionist and you a murderer.  Bar (Hebrew for son) Abbas (Hebrew for father).  Just as the scapegoat represented the carrier of all the sins of the children of Israel, so to did the “son of the father” (Barabbas) represent every man and woman born from the seed of a man. 

Barabbas (you and I) has been set free.  It is not because we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior that we are set free, for that would mean that the free will sacrifice of Jesus would be conditional (based upon our acceptance) and the Love of God is unconditional towards the world (1^st part of John 3:16).  He has set Barabbas free so that if Barabbas, in looking at the open space before him as a free man, decides to turn away from it, and goes back to the Holy city of Zion and offers his life for the salvation of another, then he has become the sacrificial goat and he has earned the right to be called the Son of God (2^nd part of John 3:16)   

It is the sons of God that will inherit the Kingdom of their Father.  The rest will go in to the wilderness where they will die in due time. 

Life for Life, there is no other way (Mathew 16:25).

The over arching theme of chapter 8 is the contrast between the Old Covenant of law keeping between God and Israel, and the New Covenant of grace giving between God and the true Israel (the faithful remnant among Jews and Gentiles).  Jesus is a better mediator for he ushered in and established the New Covenant.

There are 2 major points in this chapter that are pertinent to the Christian walk.  Firstly, many of you might not be aware of the fact that the word Covenant and the word Testament are the same word in the original biblical language.  When you read the Old Testament, you are reading about how God operated according to the Old Covenant.  Conversely, in reading the New Testament, you are seeing God operating under the New Covenant. According to Luke, The New Testament makes the Old Testament obsolete (verse 13).  How so?  Jesus answers that when he says, “I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” (Mathew 5:17).  If a Testament (contract or will) is fulfilled then it is obsolete.

The other point is found in verses 8-12.  Luke quotes Jeremiah 31:31 where God speaks of making a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Luke in essence is telling his messianic Jewish readership that this is it.  God has followed up on his promise of a New Covenant and that Covenant is ratified through Jesus. 

The reason for my emphasis on these two points is that often times I get the very real sense that Churchianity (the substitute for Christianity in the west) is confused about the passing away of the Old Covenant and about the significance of progressive revelation as seen in the promise of a New Covenant with the house of Israel and Judah.  Take for example the case for war.  Churchianity will always quote the Old Testament when justifying war yet the Old Testament that allowed an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is obsolete (Exodus 21:24).  The New Testament tells us to love our enemy and pray for our persecutor.  Even if we don’t know how to do this, we are called to it and not to quote the Testament that no longer applies!  With regards to Progressive Revelation we are told by the watchdogs of Orthodoxy that divine revelation ended with the closing of the cannon.  But doesn’t God’s promise of a New Covenant state, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No more shall every man teach his neighbor saying, ‘know the Lord’ for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest”?

This is where I get the fuel for my fire.  If I rail against Orthodoxy it is because they presume to teach me what I already know!  What do I know?  I know that the faithful remnant is not comprised of Christians only.  Where do I get such heresy?  From the same God that said he would make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and Judah yet graciously included the Goyim (gentiles) in the New Covenant.  Remember Jesus himself said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mathew 15:24) yet the majority of us who call on his name are not Jews! 

If a man seeks righteousness, denying himself and putting others first, then I will call him my brother, whether he shares my religion, another, or none at all.  We will practice our righteousness side by side and I will tell him not to fear the Orthodox and their hell threats for their doctrines do not decide our fate.  I will walk before my brother in the presence of my God and I will claim his life as my own and his debt as mine and then we will see if God is in deed the Gracious God that I know, or the legalistic Deity that Churchianity teaches of (Mathew 15:9).  To this I swear.             

Chapter 7 begins with Luke recounting the story of Abraham and Melchizedek found in Genesis 14.  Abraham, the great Jewish patriarch from whom the Jewish nation was brought forth, is greeted by the mysterious Melchizedek with bread and wine after Abraham’s great rescue of his nephew
Lot.  Luke recounts how Abraham gave a tithe from his spoils to Melchizedek and by that very act established Melchizedek as the greater of the two.  Luke continues the point that all of the descendants of Abraham, acknowledge the superiority of the Priest King Melchizedek, for his lineage is eternal where as the line of priests that come from Abraham (Levites) are not.  Jesus is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek and as a result ushers in a better covenant than any established by the imperfect and mortal Jewish priesthood.

Abraham is the great patriarch of not only the Jewish nation but is also the father of the nations of Islam and Christianity.  If Luke is to be believed (and I do) then the three major religions are all subordinate to Melchizedek through the offering of the tithe from Abraham.  Who is this mysterious figure that demands so much respect?

  Melchizedek’s name means “King of Righteousness” according to Luke.  He was also the King of the Canaanite city of Salem (peace) so his title is King of Peace.  The Genesis story mentions him as the Priest of El Elyon (God most High) the deity of the city of Salem (modern Jerusalem).  King of Righteousness, King of Peace.  Priest of God Most High having no beginning and no end who brought bread and wine to Abraham the father of the Jews, the similarities to Jesus are more than coincidence for Luke.  Some Christian scholars say that Melchizedek and Jesus are the same but I disagree.  The scriptures mention that Jesus came according to the order of Melchizedek, not as Melchizedek. What is certain is that the order of Melchizedek is higher than the priestly line of Aaron. 

Imagine for a moment what these words meant to the Jewish Orthodoxy.  Luke is telling his Jewish Christian brothers that they no longer have to abide by the religious authority of the Levites that could be seen and whose rituals could be participated in.  Greater mediation is being made for them by the eternal priesthood of Melchizedek revealed in Jesus the priest who cannot be seen, only believed in. The Jewish Orthodoxy certainly knew the story of Melchizedek so it must have been sheer blasphemy to them for anyone to claim that Jesus a non Levite was a greater priest because he came from the priestly line of Melchizedek a non Hebrew!

Orthodoxy (Jewish, Christian, Mormon, Muslim etc…) will always deny that there is any chance that God will accomplish his holy work through the unorthodox.  They are right in so far as that God cannot accomplish his work in their lives or in the church that they control (the example here is that Christianity never took root among the Jews).  They are dead wrong in the sense that God will not begin a new work apart from their inflexibility.  I am a harbinger of the new work.  

The Kingdom of God is promised to the humble, the meek, to those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, to the merciful, to the pure in heart, to the peacemakers, and to the persecuted (Mathew 5:3).  The Orthodox are too busy battering each other with their doctrines to fit this description.  Welcome to the new work.  We are the builders of the Common Ground.   

Luke begins Chapter 6 by delineating the points of elementary doctrines that the Hebrew Christians should be mindful of.  He then states in no uncertain terms that if any of them were to fall back into the former religion (the Jewish faith) of works, then they could not be allowed back in to the fold of Christ.  Luke is not allowing them to remain in the limbo between their former lives as Jews and their new lives in Christ.

Be diligent is Luke’s exhortation.  Move on with your life in Christ and do not allow yourself to be pulled back in by the Jewish Orthodoxy.  The transition is made all the more difficult by your vacillations.  Keep in mind that it is God who has promised you rest taking an oath unto himself and God cannot lie.

If you have spent any time reading this blog of mine, you will have gathered that I am a critic of Orthodoxy.  For what it’s worth, I want to go on the record as stating that I do not consider myself an enemy of the Orthodox as some individuals relish the title.   I am merely the younger brother who sees the elder’s works and desires only some of it.  Nevertheless, if you are Orthodox and you do consider me an enemy, then might I remind you that Jesus has instructed you to love me.

To the 1^st century Jewish synagogue, the Messianic Jews that Luke writes to in the Book of Hebrews, were heretics.  Paul, Peter, James, John and all of the other Messianic Jews were heretics.  If you’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking with a contemporary Messianic Jew, you will discover that they do not consider themselves anything but Jewish.  In fact, Messianic Jews consider that, since they recognize that the Messiah has come in the person of Jesus, they not Orthodox Jews are the true harbingers of Judaism!  This is precisely Luke’s point in Chapter 6 of Hebrews.  If you have concluded that Jesus is Messiah, how then can you go back to being an unfulfilled Jew performing meaningless rituals under men  whose Orthodoxy is their banner!

At the outset of the 21^st century there are more and more Christians willing to part company with Orthodoxy for the sake of Christ.  I am one of those.  The leaders of Orthodoxy will condemn us and claim that we have lost our way in not heeding the scriptures.  The scriptures are not my banner.  Jesus is my banner (yeshua nissi).  It is through Jesus that I understand the scriptures and He has taught me to read them differently than what you have taught me. I like His way better.  He teaches me that I somehow have to love my enemies, while you teach me it is proper to wage war against the Muslims.  He teaches me not judge lest I be judged, yet you teach me to call brothers heretics.  I can go on and on but I think the point is made.  The Orthodox church will continue but if you understand the scriptures at all, you will see that the Kingdom ofGod is more than just the Church proper.

Luke begins this chapter with a description of the purpose and commission of the High Priest. His purpose, to represent the people before God almighty and his commission is given to him by no man but God. Luke then makes allusion to the fact that there are 2 holy lines of priests, those that follow after Aaron (Moses’ brother) and those that are of the line of Melchizedek. God commissioned Jesus as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

When properly understood, there can be no mistaking how revolutionary Christianity was at the outset. In the first 4 chapters, Luke tipped the sacred cow of Jewish nationalism represented by Moses and the house of Israel. Now he assigns Jesus the role of High Priest, not in accordance to Aaron and the Levites (the Jews), but according to the ancient line of Melchizedek the priest of El Elyon (a Canaanite). El Elyon (God Most High) was the name for the Almighty before Moses introduced the unmentionable name that came to be Yahweh. Luke will go in to detail about what this means in chapter 7. For now it suffices to say that he was throwing haymakers at Jewish orthodoxy. Luke wishes he could explain more on this but he admits they wouldn’t understand! His messianic Jewish audience has failed to grow in the knowledge of Christ, through the exercise of their senses, preferring to mimic the faith of their Jewish fathers.

The revolution that Jesus began and that Luke exhorted his followers to complete has been made impotent in the 21st century. There can be no denying it. Please don’t assume that I am referring to the circus clowns and ringmasters of religious television. They are fools and they will receive a fool’s recompense. I am referring to our Christianity, yours and mine. The proof is on display every Sunday as entire congregations line up to suckle milk from their pastor’s tit. I do not blame those that are new in the Lord for they are babes, and infants cannot but feed on milk. I am not referring to those servants in the pulpit that model Christ by feeding the poor and caring for the widows. I am talking about those bullies in the pulpits and radio waves, and their adherents that form the phalanx of Orthodoxy. These are they that refuse to call other Son’s of God, “brother’s” for fear of losing their place in line. Fools! God does not honor your line. “He who wishes to be first let him be a servant to the least”. Is it not true that the pride of any religion is found in its Orthodoxy? Yet we know most certainly that, “Pride goes before the fall”.

And what of you dear reader? What if I dare say that Jesus is not on our side against the terrorists? (Joshua 5:13) What if I tell you that the Bible will not grant you eternal life? (John 5:39) What if I tell you that there will be some in the Kingdom of God who do not know Jesus personally? (Mathew 25:31)

What trouble will I cause for Aaron by pledging my allegiance to Melchizedek?

Note: Permit if you will these additional comments on the previous chapter. I am trying to remain concise in these notes and as a consequence closed chapter 3 prematurely. I now find these comments crucial to properly introduce the notes for chapter 4.

In the preceding chapter, Luke the physician reminds his Hebrew Christian audience that the penalty for unbelief was exacted on the wilderness generation of the Children of Israel. They are those Jews that died between Egypt and the Promised Land. Behind the Hebrews of Moses stood Egypt, despised for its lash, but nonetheless yearned for its familiarity, over the uncertainty and fear that lay ahead in the Promised Land of Canaan. Yes, Yahweh promised this land to them, but of the twelve scouts sent out to survey the un-entered Promised Land, only two said that it could be had (read Numbers 13 & 14). The others could only see the giants that lived there and the insurmountable odds against them. Would they trust a God they could not see for protection in the midst of the Nephilim (giants of the land) that were all too real? They did not. The entire generation that left Egypt victoriously, died in the wilderness short of the land of milk and honey.
Luke reminds his audience (and you the reader) that they now face a similar situation. Press on ahead relying on the promises of God through Jesus Christ despite the evils that may befall you (personified by their own country men), or go back and wander in the divide between what you once were and what you were meant to be. What do you say?

If Chapter 3 lays down the gauntlet then Chapter 4 shows the reward. The theme of this chapter is the invitation to enter His rest. Luke explains that rest for the Hebrew Christians does not mean inactivity from action. On the contrary, the opposition that they would face would challenge them at every level. If you have a hard time relating to how difficult it was for young Jewish Christians of the 1st century to come home to traditional parents and confess that they are convinced that Jesus (a crucified blasphemer) is the long awaited Messiah, then let me give you a different example. Consider the abolitionists in the days of slavery. An entire way of life pitted against the unified conscience of a few. The heads of state and the barons of business, (the Nephilim) have the money and the power to grant relative comfort and future prosperity to the masses in exchange for the silence of the collective conscience. Yet the personal consciences of a few are hard to control and their BELIEFS could infect others. The religious leaders (the Magi) are needed for the task of keeping the masses occupied. They recommend holiness for the avoidance of Hell and assurances that in Heaven all would be made right.

Still, the consciences of some could not be bought with present worldly comforts or future threats of damnation. This is the story of the non-conformist. From the Hebrew Christians of the 1st century, to the abolitionists of the slave trade, to the Christians of the 21st century, the challenge is the same. Will you enter His rest believing in the promises of an unseen God or will you believe your eyes and say that the giants are too strong, the odds too great and that life (at least for you) isn’t all that bad.

Dear Reader, do not confuse the wilderness for the Promised Land just because it is not Egypt. The Kingdom of God is within you.

Be faithful to his calling is the exhortation made by Luke to his Hebrew Christian audience. Our apostle and high priest Jesus is worthy of more glory than even Moses the lawgiver, and architect, of the house of Israel.

As stated in the notes for chapter 2, 1st century Jerusalem was under Roman control. The Jewish faith was being tested not only by the polytheistic Romans and their pagan practices but also by the young Christian church and its martyred leader Jesus Christ. Both their national autonomy and their faith were under attack so what Luke the gentile (non Jew) Christian was asking of his Messianic Jewish brothers was nothing short of a paradigm shift! Be faithful to Jesus and the Kingdom of God over and above your allegiance to father Moses and the national faith!

It is my belief that contemporary Christians throughout the free world face a similar set of circumstances. In place of the Roman armies we fight terrorist armies that are insistent about our demise and stir in us a mixture of fear and hate. Our national faith is not Judaism but a form of Christianity that is just as nationalistic. When we read the book of Hebrews we are reading a dissertation by an inspired messenger of God on how Jesus is higher than our religion and our national loyalties. Jesus the Messiah is higher than Evangelicalism, Reformed theology, Catholicism, Mormonism and every other denomination in Christendom. Jesus is higher than America, Canada, Mexico, and the rest of the kingdoms of men. I may sound radical to you when I say these things but I am only repeating what Luke was saying to the Hebrew Christians.

Luke understood (as I do) that this is a proposition not easily accepted for one’s church and love of country is the very marrow of our national identity. Am I wrong when I say that America is the greatest of the kingdoms of men but pales in comparison to the Kingdom of God? Christians, I tell you that Jesus said, “He who loves his life will lose it. Be careful what you cling to in this life for “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” On to chapter 4