Newsletter 13

This weeks Reading/Parashas is “Tetzaveh” or “You Shall Command”. It deals mostly with the Priesthood. It is a beautiful and tremendous teaching. It encompasses many things that reveal much.

As I wrote last year, it gets into the Urim and Tumin, the oracle placed upon the chest of the High Priest, a worthwhile study of its own if you take the time to research it.

It deals with the vestments and decorations of the Priests and The High Priest. The detail and beauty that surround the vestments is awesome. The colors of the garments themselves contain many Messianic messages. The vestments also give you a glimpse of how ‘Holy’ or ‘Separated’ the High Priest had to be.

When you look at the time and detail that went into the clothing, it shows you how important it is to God, not only that we do come before Him, but also, ‘how’ we come before Him.  It also shows you what an incredible work it was that our Messiah Yeshua accomplished for us.

I guess what I would like to get into this week is the relationship between the High Priest and Priests of the Temple, and how they relate to us and Yeshua.

The Temple, as I have said before, is a ‘Shadow’ and ‘Pattern’ of the Temple in Heaven. In Acts 7:44 it says…“Our fathers had  the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it  according to the pattern which he had seen.” So therefore the Temple, the Duties and the Priests are a ‘Shadow’ and ‘Pattern’ of what lies in Heaven.

This is important for us to realize because there is a difference. A lot of Christians will tell you that the Temple and the Sacrifices and all that they contain are done away with. I personally and Biblically do not believe that. There is a role to be fulfilled there. It is like God is showing us a mirror image, not exact, but a symbolically correct picture of actions in Heaven. And these images are necessary and fill a command of God for a purpose. They will remain in effect until the Day that The New Jerusalem is present upon a New Earth. And friends, read your Bible, there WILL BE A TEMPLE there! It will not be a ‘Shadow’ but the real thing. Revelations tells us that The Lord God Almighty and The Lamb WILL BE THE TEMPLE!

The Bible also tells us that there will be three Temples. These are Temples as in ‘Shadow’ Temples. There are people today, waiting and training to sanctify the Temple Mount and to be ready to start performing the Daily Sacrifices as soon as access is available and the site is purified.

This is serious stuff!

These are serious People!

We will get to see the splendor once again! We will get to see these vestments! We will also get to see the Sons of Aaron perform these duties!

God tells us in Exodus 27:21 that “Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout their generations for the sons of Israel.”

Now, to me, when God says that this is a perpetual statute, I believe Him. I do not believe that these things have all been done away with because that is not what The Word of God says. You either believe The Word of God, or you don’t. I will never accept that you can take part of His Holy Word and leave other parts. It is either His Word, or it is not. I will leave that judgment to you.

Now, on to what I really wanted to talk about this time. All the things that you see in this teaching, as I said, are ‘Shadows’. The real thing is happening in Heaven.

You might ask, “How is this so?”

Let me tell you.

Yeshua, Our High Priest, is performing these acts in Heaven for our benefit. You cannot look at The Glory and Splendor of this teaching without realizing that our Messiah, our High Priest, is acting on our benefit in Heaven, in ways that makes the splendor of the earthly High Priests seem as they are, a mere shadow of the reality! If you think that the pomp and circumstance of this weeks teaching looks beautiful, just think how incredibly beautiful and wondrous it must TRULY BE IN HEAVEN! With our beautiful Savior acting on our behalf, with the same Love and Sacrifice that He gave us here on earth!

In Hebrews 4, it tells us

“14  Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has  passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our  confession.

15     For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been  tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

16     Therefore let us draw near with  confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Just think, we have a Greater High Priest! We have One that can sympathize with our weaknesses, One without sin, One that allows us to draw near!

So when the Temple is resurrected, and I truly believe it will be, and we see the Sacrifices being performed, we see the Lamb on The Alter, we see with our own eyes all the ceremony being performed, remember that it represents the Sacrifice that was Truly done by Our Lamb, Yeshua.

God has a purpose for everything. And these pictures that we will see will be invaluable. You might wonder why God would have these things happen here, when the True Sacrifice was done over 2000 years ago. What would be the purpose for the ‘Shadow’ anymore? Well, just as a personal belief, I think that there are a lot of people that still don’t see the True Sacrifice of Jesus. They still don’t understand. Perhaps with the pictures in front of them, before their very eyes, they will finally and truly SEE.

Let me leave you with this……

Hebrews 5

’The Perfect High Priest’

1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;

2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness;

3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.

4 And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,  “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”;

6 just as He says also in another passage, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

 

Love and Blessings in the Name of Our High Priest,

 

Tony and Robin