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Questions I get asked: Divorce & remarriage 1 of 2

5/29/2021

Hi all,

Don't you hate it when your words are taken out of context? A person who takes your words out of context can firmly believe those words, though you know you didn't mean what they think you did. Getting them to give up believing in what they think you said, in favor of believing what you actually said, can be difficult.

When it comes to the Word of God, the words and culture which are taken out of context can be especially damaging. A person will fight you tooth and nail for what they believe to be the true and accurate Word of God, when in reality what was meant in scripture isn't what they believe. They took God out of context. Beliefs founded upon God's Word taken out of context often form strongholds not easily overcome by history and context.

To save ourselves that trouble on the subject of marriage and divorce, let us set the context of Jewish history and Old Testament Mosaic law the boy Jesus would have known and discussed when He was in the temple talking to the elders at age 12. Let's talk within the context of the schools of religious thought of His day when He started His ministry about age 30. Let's first understand what a 1st century Jew in Jerusalem would have known and believed.

God gives the Israeli divorce law, about 1300BC
Remember that God created marriage when the Lord God (Christ) brought Eve to Adam in the garden, thus making Him the center of their marriage. That they lived all their lives together reveals original intent: Marriage is intended to be until death.

But recognizing anything He creates or gives to man can be misused, damaged, or destroyed, and knowing fallen man, God also provided a way of escape in the event someone failed love. That each person might start anew if the original intent of their marriage was irretrievably lost, He gave Moses the law of divorce.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4, around 1300BC
"When a man has taken a wife and married her, and it comes to pass that that she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some uncleanness in her; then let him give her a bill of divorce and put it in her hand and send her out of his house. And when she is gone out of his house she may go and become another man's wife. And if the 2nd husband hates her and gives her a bill of divorce, or if he dies, the first husband cannot take her again to be his wife, for she has been another man's wife, it would be an abomination and cause the land to sin which the Lord God gave you as an inheritance."

Tom, Joe, and Betty...
That's it. That's all God gave Israel as a divorce law. Notice the divorced people are both free to remarry without guilt before God or man. This is how it was taught and practiced up to and including the time of Jesus. The one condition is that once married and divorced, they may remarry but cannot return to their first spouse.

Why? Because let us say you have Tom and Joe, and Betty is married first to Tom, then he divorces her, so she marries Joe. If God didn't forbid it, it would be possible for Betty to say, "I had it better with Tom than with Joe, so I'm going to have an affair with Tom and break up his new marriage to return to him."

To do that defeats the purpose of the law of divorce. Marriage was intended to be until death unless the marriage was beyond repair, which is why God provided the way out, the divorce law. To allow Israel to treat marriage so lightly, in effect swapping spouses at will according to one's lust, would introduce lust and adultery into society. So God said once divorced, you can't return to a former spouse. You may marry again, but not with a former spouse.

(God doesn't define what 'found some uncleanness in her' means, and that was the focus of debate from Moses down through history to the time of Jesus. We know the reason much of the law was vague was so that people would have to walk with God in order to know how He wanted His law applied to a given situation. But man being man, by the time of Jesus the Pharisees had added over 800 of their own laws to try to define every course of action for any possible situation. And it was those additional laws that Jesus continually taught against.)

Flash forward about four hundred years, about 900BC...
When Solomon died around 930BC his successor, Rehoboam, said he would make the taxes on the people much greater than Solomon. As a result 10 tribes broke away from Judah, Benjamin, the Levites and a remnant of other tribes who loved the Lord around Jerusalem, and moved north to Samaria. (Read of this in the whole of I Kings 12)

There, they established their own king, Jeroboam, their own priesthood of the lowest men of society, as a spite in the face of God and rejection of Him and His ways. Simply put: They didn't want to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. When Israel split with them, Judah became its own nation which included Benjamin and the Levites who continued to serve as priests in the temple in Jerusalem, and a remnant from the other tribes who were faithful to the Lord. But in the general sense we say there were 10 tribes that broke away from Judah and Benjamin.

This is why when you read the Old Testament you'll see references to the 'king of Israel' and the 'king of Judah'. They co-existed for about 200 years in an uneasy relationship; Judah having mostly good kings like Jehoshaphat and Josiah, and Israel having mostly ungodly kings like Ahab. God sent many prophets to Israel including Elijah, to try to bring them back to Him.

God divorces Israel: 722BC
Israel was continually unfaithful to the Lord, choosing to worship Baal and other gods. Finally, God had no choice but to leave them to face the consequences of their actions, and spiritually divorced them. Being left without His covering, Israel (the 10 northern tribes) was conquered by the Assyrians in 722BC, roughly 200 years after the death of Solomon and their rebellious break away from Judah and the Lord. Those 10 tribes of Israel are called the "Lost tribes of Israel".

This is covered in II Kings 17, including how Assyria moved many foreigners into Samaria so that over time the remaining Jewish population intermarried with the Gentile immigrants. These 'half-breed' Jews who worshipped a corrupted version of the God of Israel, became the hated Samaritans in the gospels. You will recall in John 4 it was a Samaritan woman Jesus asked for water, and told her in v22: "You don't know what you worship, but we know what we worship, for salvation comes from the Jews." Their history was common knowledge to them both.

God divorced Israel you say? Jeremiah in about 600BC
Jeremiah lived after the destruction of Israel, but just before and during the time Judah was destroyed for her unfaithfulness. The Lord is talking to Jeremiah about unfaithful Israel and how Judah is following in her footsteps. Jeremiah 3:1-8 records this history and the Lord's case against Israel's adultery and (spiritual) fornication with Baal:

"They say if a man divorces his wife and she becomes another man's wife, shall she return to him again? Won't the land be greatly polluted? You have played the harlot with many lovers, yet return to Me says the Lord....(v8)...and when I saw all the cases where backsliding Israel has committed adultery, I divorced her and gave her a bill of divorce. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it and wasn't afraid, and played the harlot also..."

Hosea
This event of God divorcing Israel leading to their destruction in 722BC was the topic of the book of Hosea, who lived in that time. The Lord tells Hosea to take a prostitute as his wife, and there is some debate about whether this was an allegory or factual. But we do know that in 2:2 the Lord quotes the Israeli divorce decree (to Israel) required to be stated before the elders of a city, along with the written bill of divorce: "...you are not (no longer) my wife, neither am I (any longer) your husband..."

In 2:8 of Hosea you can feel the Lord's pain at Israel's betrayal and His pain of divorcing her, for He says in v8: "For she did not know that it was I who provided her grain and wine and oil, and prospered her with gold and silver, for which she gave credit to Baal."

In verses 14-23 the Lord speaks of a future day, "I will allure (woo) her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her...and in that day she will call me Ishi (husband, a term of endearment) and no more Baali (master)."

He goes on to say in v19-20: "In that day I will betroth you to myself forever. I will betroth you to myself in righteousness, and justice, and also in loving kindnesses and mercy. And even in faithfulness, for you will know faithfulness to Me for you will know the Lord." (The word 'Lord' here is 'Yahweh', or YHWH, who we know as Jesus, which is the Greek transliteration of Yahweh, or Joshua, or more strictly speaking, YHWH). So the Lord, Christ, is telling Israel there will come a day when they will know Him - Christ Jesus.

Fast forward 300 years: God hates the misuse of His divorce law, about 400BC
By the time of Malachi in roughly 400BC the corrupt priests were using the vagueness of the divorce law to marry and divorce at will to such an extent God said 'I hate divorce'. That wasn't a doctrinal statement, for it was He who gave the law of divorce to begin with. So He doesn't hate His own law, He hates divorce as they used it.

He hates the misuse of His law of divorce, for the fact He gave the law of divorce means there are times divorce is His provision for an innocent spouse.

The priests of Malachi's time also offered in sacrifice only the worst of the animals, the worst of the grain, and didn't enforce the giving ordinances, which are largely designed to make sure no one suffered any lack in Israel. Many pastors have quoted Malachi 3 before receiving an offering, perhaps not realizing of the 6 tithes given over 7 years (no tithing in the 7th year) 4 of them went back to the people or never went to the priests at all. Most were returned to the giver of the tithe after the priests took out enough for the sacrifice and their own living.

And so we've laid the groundwork of history and Jewish culture to set the stage for the life of Jesus in the first century. Jesus never contradicted any of the Mosaic law, though He did contradict many of the 800 laws of the Pharisees which were added to the law. It was after all Christ who spoke to Moses from the burning bush - Jesus claims to be the One who spoke to Moses in John 8:56-59 when He identifies Himself as the "I AM".

So anything you think Jesus said about marriage and divorce must be placed within the context that He is the author of the Mosaic law and as the Son of Man, well educated in its meaning and original intent. And we will look at what Jesus said which was based on the Deuteronomy 24:1-4 divorce law next week. Until then, blessings!
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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Questions I get asked: "Is consensual sex ok?"

5/22/2021

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Hi all,
I receive many emails about many different topics, but there are some questions that seem to be more common than others. So I'm going to take a few commonly asked questions over the next few weeks and answer them here.

After I'm done we will create a new heading in our web site that will have these several questions/answers posted so those who visit our site can have easy access to read and/or share with others. Today the subject is:

"What is wrong with consensual sex between non-married adults?"

First some core truths found in scripture and ancient culture of the Bible. The most foundational purpose of a sexual relationship is reproduction. It doesn't matter what element of creation we look at, from plants to fish to land animals to humans, the primary reason of sex is reproduction. Therefore sex is male-female, not another combination. Because the most basic purpose is reproduction, everything that follows is based on that male-female relationship.

Built upon that truth is a higher purpose for mankind than the lower forms of life of the animal kingdom. Sexual union is the affirmation of a covenant with the other person. The Lord God brought the newly created Eve to Adam, demonstrating the pattern for mankind (highest and best case) of the Lord being the foundation of their marriage. Ever since the Lord did this, marriage has consisted of vows made between man and woman to each other, and to God.

Building upon that male-female relationship confirming the covenant with one another by coming together sexually, reproduction is from within that covenant. Within the bounds of each time that married couple come together sexually is great freedom, what we might call 'recreational sexual activity' ie not for reproduction, but just because they enjoy each other within that union. I use the term 'recreational' meaning not for the purpose of making a baby, but it remains true that every time a husband and wife come together sexually they are reaffirming their vows to one another. That is important to note - once married, sexual relations reaffirm their vows and covenant with each other and the Lord.

That is of course why an adulterous affair consummated with the other person is so devastating to the marriage: One of the spouses has broken covenant with their spouse in order to confirm a covenant through sexual union with another person. A covenant requires the free-will adherence to its conditions for it to exist. Once one of the persons breaks that covenant by establishing the act of covenant with another, it renders the previous null and void - though the offended spouse certainly may forgive and the couple may work through the breach.

Paul alludes to this in I Corinthians 7:3-5 where he advises regular sexual relations between married couples, setting it aside only briefly for a time of fasting and prayer, then coming together again 'lest Satan tempt you for your lack of control.'

These elements form the foundation, so let us explore in more detail; ancient covenants
Why is sexual union the physical confirmation and affirmation of vows and covenant made in the heart?

In ancient covenants and in parts of the world today, after the vows, covenants are sealed with blood, followed by a covenant meal.

In Exodus 24:7-11 we see 74 of the leaders of Israel sprinkled with blood, going up on the mountain to have the covenant meal with God to confirm His covenant with them, and them with Him. The text tells us they went up on the mountain and 'under His feet was a flooring....clear as the sky' and "...they saw God and He did not lay His hand upon them (to hurt them)' and they did eat and drink." That wast the covenant meal taken after the speaking of vows and shedding of blood.

In a wedding today that is why we have vows followed by a meal - a wedding reception - it goes back to ancient covenants and the covenant meal. There is nearly always a covenant meal. In ancient Jewish custom the 7 day wedding celebration meal continued while the bride and groom consummated their wedding on their wedding day - with guests outside.

But what if...her virtue was questioned?
In Deuteronomy 22:14-17 we have the example of what would happen if a groom accused his new wife of not being a virgin. The Mosaic law says the parents of the young woman would bring the marriage bed sheets and spread the sheets before the elders to show the blood from her hymen being broken and sexual fluids, to prove her virginity at marriage.

May I have the rings please?
In ancient covenants the covenant heads, the two who make covenant with one another, give each other their most precious possession. In Genesis 22:1-18 Abraham prepares to offer up his most precious 'possession' - his only son from he and Sarah: Isaac.

At the last second, as the Lord sees that Abraham would have gone through with it, He provides a substitute offering. But He says that as a result of his obedience, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. In covenant terms, because Abraham loosed on earth his only son, God as the covenant head in heaven, could then legally by terms of the covenant, loose His only Son to earth - which caused all to be blessed.

To this day we give rings to one another as part of our vows, symbols that all each possesses is now the others. Beside all possessions becoming one, usually the bride changes her name to his as well - they are now one.

Revisiting blood shed in covenant
"The life is in the blood...it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17:11) There is also nearly always, blood shed because of this understanding. If one is willing to shed blood to enter into covenant, it means it is a life-long covenant. The shedding of blood is saying with my life I honor this covenant, with my lifeblood I enter into this covenant, and will defend it with my life and being.

With Abraham it was circumcision, the act of sex being an act of covenant, and the derivative of that is the union between Christ and the church, often described as a groom and His bride, a Husband (the Lord) and His wife. So sex between a married couple is a type of the spiritual union between Christ and the church being one in Christ. Paul alluded to this in Ephesians 5:21-33 where he says, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

So Abraham was circumcised as a picture of union with God in a mystical and spiritual way of being one. As we are one in Christ today, He in us and us in Him, Christ in us the hope of glory - that is the fulfillment of the circumcision sign of the covenant with Abraham.

Sex between married man and woman is therefore the physical act of confirming, reaffirming, and renewing the covenants and vows made in the heart towards one another.

Adulteress - the unfaithful believer
Again, this is why for instance, James 4:1 says, "You adulteresses! Don't you know friendship with the world is enmity against God?" The Greek for 'friendship' is the word 'philia', which is used for best friends. The Greek for 'world' is kosmos; world's system. The Greek word for 'enmity' is 'echthra' and means 'hostility, enmity, alienation from'.

This is the very act of adultery, becoming 'best friends' with someone other than your spouse, adapting to them and their ways, which is alienation to the covenant one has with their spouse.

The King James Version incorrectly states 'adulterers and adulteresses', but the masculine is not in the Greek - only the feminine. Thus James is referring to the body of Christ being also as a wife married to her Husband, Christ and the church - and he accused them of adultery, unfaithfulness to Him by centering their attention and prayers on gaining material goods and selfish ambition.

It is why Jesus said in Mt 12:39, 16:4 that an adulterous generation looks for a sign - the accusation being an Israelite running after other gods instead of believing what is before their eyes and remaining faithful to the Lord.

I try to keep these rather brief, and this is an overview answering the question; What is wrong with consensual sex among adults? The short answer is the act of sex is the physical confirmation of a covenant made in the hearts between a man and woman, affirmed by vows before God and man, and consummated by their sexual union.

I hope this explanation has been a blessing and through provoking. Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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The book you skip over, Leviticus #4 of 4, sin & escape goat, assurance and peace

5/15/2021

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Hi all,
I shared last week about atonement, at-one-ment. Today why there was a goat of the sin offering while at the same time an escape goat was sent into the wilderness.

But first allow me to say this: There are many more things to glean from Leviticus than I'm sharing in this series. For instance, how the division of clean and unclean animals was more than for their health, but a picture that they, Israel, were clean and special to the Lord, uniquely set aside for Him, above all the other nations of the earth.

This is confirmed by Peter's vision of Acts 10:9-16 in which he sees clean and unclean animals on a giant sheet and was told 3x to kill and eat. Peter rejects that command saying he has never eaten anything unclean. The Lord then tells him the vision is not a dietary lesson, but showing him God has cleansed 'clean and unclean' people alike. He was told not call unclean what God has cleansed. While still thinking on it representatives from the Roman Centurion Cornelius were at the door. "Go with them nothing doubting, for I have sent them", he was told.

We could talk of the regulations of how salt was required on the meat of a burnt offering. Jesus said in Matthew 5:13 we are the salt of the earth, and every Jewish person listening would have understood He was talking about seasoning in life, sacrifice to God is a life seasoned with salt, that the earth can't 'go bad' or 'spoil' as long as we are in it and remain 'salty' to our world, and more.

They would have linked Numbers 18:19 record of a covenant of salt, and David referred to in this way in II Chronicles 13:5. Salt being preservative, flavor enhancer, and stands for community and family around the table of God with a view to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb where we are all gathered together as one big family.

There are many things that could be mentioned. How the priests were given the skins of the animals sacrificed in the burnt offering to wear as their covering (Leviticus 7:8). This covering for them provided by the offering for sin is a type of Adam and Eve covered by the Lord's sacrifice of an animal and clothed with their 'glory', skins, and how we are now covered with the Lord's glory, which came through His own 'burnt offering'.

But none is more moving than what is in the middle of Leviticus: The offerings for the Day of Atonement.
Leviticus 16:7 says Aaron shall bring two goats before the Lord and draw lots for them; One will be the goat of the sin offering, and the other will be the escape goat or 'live goat'. These two goats are a type of the dual nature of Messiah, for the blood of one will be sprinkled in the holy of holies before God Himself, and the escape goat will be led into the wilderness to die out of sight at the hand of God.

A lamb is not used here to make a point of how Jesus 'became sin for us': A goat is a type of sin, as when Jesus said in Matthew 25:32-33 that at His return He will separate the sheep nations from the goat nations.

In verse 12 the Lord tells Moses to instruct Aaron that before the two goats are offered to God, Aaron had to take burning incense 'that has been beaten small' into the holy place so the smoke covered the Ark of the Covenant and filled the holy place "that he die not".

The incense is a type of the prayers of the saints as seen in The Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-4, and in the larger sense here, is the intercession of Messiah for mankind, His offering, His coming before the Father in the Holy Place.

It is for this reason the incense was 'beaten small' or beaten into tiny pieces, which shows the torture Jesus endured in His offering for mankind 'that we not die' in the presence of God. Isaiah 52:14 says: "Many will be astonished at Him, for His appearance was marred more than any man." Being beaten into tiny pieces meant every bit of incense would be consumed by the fire, showing the complete work of Jesus on the cross.

The goat of the sin offering
In Leviticus 16:16-20 the Lord tells Moses the blood of the goat is sprinkled in the holy place to make at-one-ment for Israel, calling it in v20 'making reconciliation'. It was that moment they were one, no more sin between them and God, for He had reconciled them to Himself, making at-one-ment or united God and man 'at one that moment'.

This answers to II Corinthians 5:17-21 where Paul writes: "That is to say, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not charging their sins to them, and given to us the service of reconciliation. We then as Ambassadors for God beg you, be reconciled to God..."

It is also seen in Hebrews 9:22-26 where it says on the earth the temple was purified by earthly sacrifices, but heaven had to be purified by a higher and better sacrifice: "For Christ did not enter a temple made with hands to offer Himself, which is just a type of the True, but He went into heaven itself to appear before God..."

Jesus was in the midst of ascending to present Himself to the Father when Mary saw Him just after His resurrection. Ephesians 4:8 tells us He was leading Captivity to heaven (those in Captivity, also known as Paradise or Abraham's bosom, ie the righteous who had died but were awaiting their sins to be paid)

In John 20:16-19 Mary turns in awe when she hears Him speak her name: "Mary". He tells her, "Don't touch me for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go and tell my disciples I ascend to my Father and their Father, and to my God and your God." The text goes on to say, "Later that same day at evening...Jesus stood in their midst..." He was fulfilling the role of the goat of the sin offering in the Holy of Holies, then once done, He came later that day to appear to the others, and did so more often over the next 40 days. How kind of Him to assure Mary He was alive.

The Scapegoat
We just saw Jesus as the goat of the sin offering which was offered in the holy place, now let's also see His work as the scapegoat, dying in the wilderness at the hand of God. Leviticus 16:21 tells us Aaron was to lay hands on the goat's head and confess the sins of Israel before sending it away into the wilderness to die alone. Verse 22: "And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities in a land not inhabited..." The desolation, the loneliness, is not missed a point we should miss.

This explains why Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!" Notice for the first time Jesus did not use the word 'Father', but He spoke as the unsaved do, the general term 'God'. The sun darkened for the last 3 hours He hung on the cross, alone, suspended between heaven and earth, the scapegoat dying in the wilderness in a private action between God His Father and Himself.

Together, the goat of the sin offering and the scapegoat, reveal the dual nature of Messiah and how His sacrifice cleansed us and made the way for us to enter heaven. If He had not entered heaven to appear before the Father for us, to be declared the legal and final and perfect sacrifice for mankind, our salvation would not have been complete.

Hebrews 6:20 calls Him the forerunner who has entered behind the veil for us, that we may follow. The term 'forerunner' was used to describe a ship coming into port. A man with a rope around him would dive into the water and swim in the path the ship should go, in appearance towing the ship as he swam though it was maneuvered by oarsmen. Jesus is our forerunner this verse says, having 'swum ahead' to see us safely into port.

The scapegoat and the goat of the sin offering are combined in the person of the Lord Jesus. He cleansed us and was declared to be the final sacrifice by the Father God Almighty. That is why Paul would write that we go directly to heaven when we die, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" in II Corinthians 5:6 - Jesus made the way and is awaiting us there, the forerunner having prepared a place for us.

This concludes our study of Leviticus, though there is so much more. But I hope it has been a blessing, new subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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The book you skip over, Leviticus, #3 of 4, What atonement really means

5/8/2021

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Hi all,
Have you ever heard the question:'Is healing is in the atonement?' Or maybe, 'Do you believe every sin is covered in the atonement?' (Often asked because the person asking is struggling with something they have done)

We use the word 'atonement' not really understanding it from the perspective of Leviticus, which is a type of life in Christ.

The atonement
The word 'atonement' in Hebrew means to cover something, in ancient usage to cover wood with pitch - like a paint layer, like a waterproofing layer of tar over wood. But it is more than that, for the word carries the significance of meaning the two parts become one by the covering over of the pitch; the first covered by the other making them one.

The covering causes everything to stop, rest, be at peace, for it is the final act in that woodworking project. Once it was covered, the craftsman was done. There can be no further wood working once it is covered over. There is nothing more to do at all, the two have become one.

For that reason it is atonement, translated as 'at-one-ment'.

Consider those 3 parts:"At-one-ment". Atonement. It is the act of being 'at one' with Christ. It is the moment of becoming at-one. His covering has made us one with Him, and He with us. He is stuck to us and we to Him like pitch sticks to wood, and wood to pitch, becoming one unit.

"At-one-ment (At one moment or 'at that one moment') means all the questions that start with:"Do you think ____ is covered in the atonement", obsolete. The burnt offering and other offerings of Leviticus relate to and are all about making at-one-ment for Israel. EVERYTHING is covered. When a person offered a burnt offering for their atonement, they became at-one-at that moment; with God.

Being covered by God means there is wholeness in His presence. Not just healing, but wholeness. Not just physical and emotional and mental healing, but wholeness. Oneness. Completeness. Rest. No more to do for nothing can be done. Not just prosperity. Not just peace. We have experienced 'at-one-ment' with God.

In Christ
I've mentioned before that in the New Testament there are over 120 terms like 'in Him' and 'He (Christ) in us' describing us being one with the Lord through the blood of the cross. The offerings of Leviticus which atoned for Israel's sins were pictures off Jesus' cross to come. The burnt offerings were completely burned so that nothing was left of the sin. That made the worshipper experience an 'at-one-moment' with God. They became one because no sin stood between them and God any longer. And it was all God's doing.

That is the thoroughness of the work of the Lord. The accuser of the brethren would like us to forget that fact and brings up our memories - but the sin of those actions was long ago covered, sealed over, burned up completely so that nothing is left! We are truly "at-one" in a moment of time, with the Lord. At-one-ment.

Memories are left that we might learn from them and know from which we've been saved, or if done while in Christ, that we may know His continued grace and forgiveness and learn our lesson. But spiritually those sins no longer exist, thus Satan begins a mind-game with us. We must put those thoughts of accusation and condemnation away, bringing thoughts and feelings captive to Christ, for we have experienced at-one-ment with God. The burnt offerings are a type of the completeness accomplished by Jesus on the cross, and at-one-ment is the result. At one.

Running from God
The nature of sin causes man to move away from God; to do anything he can to avoid God. When Adam and Eve sinned they hid themselves from the Lord. When God spoke from the Mount Israel backed away from it, which led to them rejecting their whole-nation priesthood. In The Revelation 6:15-16 the unsaved try to hide themselves from the Lord in caves and crevices.

Sinners run from God sometimes because they know they are sinners, sometimes intuitively they avoid Him without knowing why. John 3:19-21 tells us that light came into the world but men love the darkness lest their lives be exposed. But those who love righteousness want the light.

When the Lord made the tabernacle He stopped talking to Israel from the Mountain, moving to the tabernacle, choosing to speak from the Mercy Seat in the depths of the Tabernacle. The move from mountain top to Tabernacle is found in Exodus 33:7-11 which says in part:

"...And as Moses entered the Tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended (from the mountain) and stood at the door of the Tabernacle. And the Lord talked to Moses...face to face as a man speaks to his friend..."

God created a system using the priesthood and system of sacrifices by which man, who was so afraid of the pure and almighty God, could be reconciled, and even approach God and know Him. He made a way that man and God could experience at-one-ment. God moved off the mountain into a tabernacle/temple, and then eventually from the building into human beings who would have Him. "Do you not know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?" (I Corinthians 6:19)

Rest
Jesus is our rest. Having Him in our lives causes us to experience by the Holy Spirit, at-one-ment with God. Unlike the Old Testament people who experienced at-one-ment in a way that had to be continually renewed with each sin and sacrifice, Christ now lives in our recreated spirit 24/7, having removed the barrier of sin in His burnt offering, giving us true at-one-ment for eternity with Him and our Heavenly Father by His Spirit. Amazing grace!

We'll close out the series next week, until then, blessings!
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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Leviticus, the book you skip, #2 of 4, Fire started by God

5/1/2021

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Hi all,
Today; supernatural Israel.

God started the fire
What makes ancient Judaism so supernatural is that God started the fire for the burnt offering, not man.

Man cannot come to God on any of his own efforts or formulas. In the Old Testament when a person was in the presence of God they had to remove their shoes because shoes are man-made. We can't come into His presence on anything we did. This is found in Exodus 3:5-6 when Moses talks to the Lord at the burning bush. "...Remove your shoes from your feet, for this is holy ground."

Also seen in Joshua 5:14-15 when Christ as the Captain of the Lord's armies told Joshua how to take Jericho and commands him to remove his shoes in His presence. (This was not an angel talking to Joshua, but Christ, noted by the fact 1, He received worship, 2, told Joshua to remove his shoes, and 3, in chapter 6 the narration continues by switching from natural view to the real perspective; 'the Lord said...' in their conversation. So toss out books that say this is an angel (Like Angels on Assignment) for there are a few out there which bring error to one's understanding.)

Man can't come to God through any effort of his own. It is the reason God commanded when they built an altar on which to make sacrifices, they could not chisel the rock or change it in any way - they had to use the rock as they found it on the ground, for to shape it would be to add man's effort to salvation. Exodus 20:25

Fire from the Lord
With that understanding, that coming to God is all Him and we bring nothing to the union, we look at the burnt offering which is the subject of the first chapters of Leviticus. The very first sacrifice we see is when the Lord God (Christ) killed an animal and made coats of skins for Adam and Eve, Genesis 3:21. This was an object lesson for them on how He would later become the final sacrifice that man may be clothed by Him. Genesis 4 records Cain rejected salvation by this grace and chose to come to God on his own efforts, from an offering of the vegetables he had worked so hard to produce. We can't come to God based on our work, our efforts, our formulas.

The Lord did not accept his offering because it was from his own efforts, while He did accept Abel's offering which was the innocent blood of an offering from the flock. This is why Cain is the father of all false religions and false efforts to come to God of one's own efforts. We can use as an example various religious rites from around the world which prescribe certain prayers, certain efforts to approach, impress, or move God.

Moses wrote Genesis, so it is understood by him and to us, that fire came from heaven to consume Abel's offering, and not Cain's. That is how he knew his offering had not been accepted. This established the pattern of God being the one who sent fire from heaven to start the fire of the burnt offering, that nothing of that offering remain.

This is repeated throughout Leviticus - let nothing of the burnt offering remain. It must be totally consumed. This is what the Lord told Israel on that first Passover in Exodus 12:10:"Let nothing of it remain until morning, and if some remains in the morning, burn it completely." This is of course a type of Jesus on the cross, that His 'burnt offering' for sin was complete, total, 100%.

Moses and Aaron - Leviticus 9:23-24 at the very first offerings from the new priesthood led by Aaron:"And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle and then came out and blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And there came fire out from before the Lord and consumed on the altar the sacrifice and even to the fat, and the people saw it and shouted and fell on their faces."

Gideon - In Judges 6:20-24, Gideon sees the angel of the Lord (Christ), who calls him to lead Israel against the Midianites and become the Judge of Israel. Gideon makes an offering of meat and unleavened bread and put it on a rock altar. The 'angel of the Lord' touched the rock with His staff and a fire started that consumed the offering and the 'angel of the Lord' departed. Gideon didn't start the fire, the 'angel of the Lord' did. Gideon, knowing his history and realizing he had seen the Lord face to face, cried out. The Lord then spoke to him and assured him that he would not die. Gideon called the Lord 'Jehovah Shalom', God of Peace, because of this encounter that he did not die.

Samson - About 50 years later, in Judges 13:16-20 the 'angel of the Lord' appears to a man named Manoah and his wife, telling them she will conceive and give birth to a Judge for Israel and he will be a Nazarite from conception. These parents of the future Samson make an offering to the Lord in thanks for this prophecy, and Manoah, not realizing Who he was talking to, asked Him His name.

Verse 18:"Why do you ask my name seeing it is Wonderful?" (Heb:Wonderful, incomprehensible, majestic), and then He ascended in the flame of the sacrifice to heaven and out of view. You'll recall Isaiah 9:6 says of Messiah:"Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name shall be called Wonderful..."

Manoah told his wife they had seen God face to face and will surely die. His wife, being smarter and with common sense, said in v23; "Would He have told us we are going to have a son if He was going to kill us? And He accepted our offering as well, so we aren't going to die."

Solomon - In II Chronicles 7:1-3 when Solomon dedicated his temple it says:"When Solomon had ended his speech the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the temple because the glory of the Lord had filled the place so strongly. And when all the people saw how the fire came down with the glory of the Lord they fell on their faces and worshipped, praising the Lord saying, 'For He is good; for his mercy endures forever.'"

Elijah - In I Kings 18:36-39 we have perhaps the most well known example of God's pattern of starting the fire for the burnt sacrifices - Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Unfortunately most pastors and Sunday school lessons neglect teaching the larger truth, thinking what Elijah did was an exception to the rule. As a result we may wonder why Elijah was so confident his plan would work, and many have mistakenly thought he just came up with the idea himself, or his great faith caused God to answer by fire. Faith is not independent of God, but rather our response to His revealed grace. Elijah was just following His Word from Leviticus, which had not been followed in Israel in years.

Elijah knew all this, which is why he was biding his time until the standard 3pm evening sacrifice, when he knew God would answer by fire to consume the burnt sacrifice. So he had fun with the prophets of Baal, accusing Baal of being on the toilet in once instance, away on a trip at another time. And as 3pm approached he confidently told the people to pour water on the sacrifice because he wanted to show them he was not going to do some magic trick, no sleight of hand to start the fire by trickery.

"And it came to pass at the time of the evening sacrifice Elijah the prophet drew near and said; 'Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and I have done all these things at your Word. (Instructions in Leviticus)'...Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and the water in the trench..."

From Abel to Moses, Gideon to Manoah, Solomon to Elijah, God's pattern was that fire from heaven would consume the burnt offering completely. It is a type of Jesus on the cross, fully taking away the sin of the world.

Christian - For the Christian struggling with their salvation, wondering if God might yet reject them though they believe in Jesus and love God, what we see established in Leviticus and the other passages gives us great peace. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, a transaction between Him and His Father, was a complete work. There is nothing left of our sin. As Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:17:"...old things are passed away, and behold! All things have become new."

There is not a 'Yes, but' to be expressed. There is no 'You don't know what I did' to be considered. The burnt offering was not just for the initial sin, but the whole of sin. Knowing that legally speaking our sin tomorrow or next month or next year has already been burned up in the sacrifice of Jesus, leads us on to greater holiness.

Knowing that our sin and sins yet future are burnt up in the sacrifice of Jesus, invites us to charge forward in every effort to know Him more and better and to draw close for there is nothing between us and God the Father. That knowledge erases fear between us and God - anything that once stood between us, even future sins yet to be committed by us, have already been provided for and forgiven - so move forward full speed ahead in Him!

More next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

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