19. Class 19 – Visions of the Kingdom Age by James Dillingham 2014.

19. Class 19 – Visions of the Kingdom Age by James Dillingham 2014.

This will be the 19th class in the series entitled Visions of the Kingdom Age, presented for the Cranston RI adult Sunday School. These are continuing classes that build upon what has previously been presented. We are currently extending the primary lessons presented in the last two classes. First we have the pronouned Sabbath nature of the Millennial Kingdom which is our determined goal to inherit. This is when our Heavenly takes his rest in the 7th day, the 7th millennium, in those of the enlightened community who are contrite and have trembled at His word. We noted that although Paul declares we cannot be judged in Sabbath observance issues during the Ecclesial dispensation that the Sabbath is a shadow of things yet to come.

This will be the 19th class in the series entitled Visions of the Kingdom Age, presented for the Cranston RI adult Sunday School. These are continuing classes that build upon what has previously been presented. We are currently extending the primary lessons presented in the last two classes. First we have the pronouned Sabbath nature of the Millennial Kingdom which is our determined goal to inherit. This is when our Heavenly takes his rest in the 7th day, the 7th millennium, in those of the enlightened community who are contrite and have trembled at His word. We noted that although Paul declares we cannot be judged in Sabbath observance issues during the Ecclesial dispensation that the Sabbath is a shadow of things yet to come.

There is a prophetic nature to Sabbath observance
Therefore there is a prophetic nature to Sabbath observance. In our previous class we considered the divine creational testimony of shadows, recognizing there has to be substance if there is a shadow… that shadows are not inconsequential and cannot be dismissed as nothing but shadows. They always frame substance. We also noted the varying lengths of shadows extending from the same substance throughout the day… that despite all these different shadows they issue from the same substance. We also noted the dual nature of our daily shadows that begin extending from east to west and after noon the shadows from the same substance extend in the opposite direction… from west to east. These observations must apply to the endless scriptural shadows serving as the format for the invariable intentional complexity of all of our Creator’s communication patterns. These shadows have to be interpreted. If we permit our naturally deceitful hearts to lead that interpretation, we will always be wrong. We have to tremble at our Creator’s words, desperately fearing being wrong… because everything is about recognizing, choosing and demonstrating the righteousness, the right-ness of our heavenly Father.

Therefore we come to the consideration of the many Sabbath shadows throughout scripture that can reveal a great deal about the Sabbath Kingdom we’ve dedicated our lives to inheriting. There is a very long list of Sabbath shadows to consider. We will concentrate on 7 of them. I would think that would be rather appropriate.

• like the required doubling of the daily burnt offering on a Sabbath day to a total of 4 during the 1st Kingdom Age and doubled again to 8 in the restored Kingdom Age…. What does this shadow pattern tell us about the sustance of the Sabbath Kingdom
• Another would be the identification of High Sabbaths as opposed to 7th day sabbaths, like how the Day of Atonment was a Sabbath and how the first day of each of the harvest Feast weeks were a High Sabbath, and how the last day of the first and last feast weeks – The Feast of Unleavend Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles were also High Sabbaths… but not the last day of the Feast of Weeks
• The fact that God forbid a fire to be kindled on a Sabbath Day. It wasn’t that you couldn’t maintain a Sabbath fire. It was simply that one could not kindle or initiate a fire on a Sabbath day.. why? What substance does that Sabbath shadow frame?
• There is also the shadow of the Sabbath year when no sowing was allowed and the Jubilee extension of that where we see not only 7 sabbath years but an additional 8th Sabbath year in the 50th Jubillee year… with both the seven seventh being a jubilee year but the immediatly follwoing 8th…
• The challenging relationship between the law of the circumcision ritual and the law of the Sabbath ritual… and why it is that circumcision wins that challenge. What is it that makes the circumcision shadow greater than the Sabbath shadow?
• The 7th Day focus of Sabbath Law in its relation to the many rituals of 7… like the 7 days for cleansing from the defilement of death, the 7 days of the Harvest Feast Weeks, the 7 spatterings of blood on the veil for the sin offering, the 7 sets of clean animals on Noah’s ark, the first 7 days of a sacrificial animal’s life that disqualified it from being offered to God on the altar, etc.
• Our appropriately 7th and last consideration will be why the Sabbath rest covered not only the Israelites and their children, the Gentiles among them, and their servants… but also – their animals. Now you might say that if the workers can’t work then how could their animals work without them? But the point is God made the specific distinction. He is casting a shadow that has to frame substance. It is like why the animals were saved on the ark. God could have made new animals. He certainly made new varietal species from those surviving animals on the ark. The point is that these are shadows are framing substance and they are related… like components of a building that are secured together into a 3 dimensional structure that serves a great purpose. So… why did God include animals in the resting theme of Sabbath law?

Shadows issuing fo the same Sabbath substance
Each of these Sabbath distinctions are shadows issuing from the same Sabbath substance…. related to that original 7th creation day and therefore the Sabbath Kingdom we anticipate and that rest our Creator seeks in the contrite faithful who tremble at His word.
Why is the daily burnt offering is doubled on the Sabbath
Let’s start with how and why the daily burnt offering is doubled on the Sabbath and then doubled yet again in the Sabbath Kingdom on the Sabbath day. First we should understand the burnt offering was a highly significant altar offerring. This was the very first of the 6 altar offerings detailed in Leviticus. Those six altar offerings were the burnt offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the meal offering – being grain, flour or bread… and lastly the drink offering, being wine. There are four blood sacrifice catergories and then there is the bread and the wine sacrifice categories. Despite the fact that the wine offering is not offered independently like the other five offerings, we do not have the freedom – as some have suggested – to presume there were only 5 altar offerings. God calls it the wine offering. It is unwise to contradict the Creator of the universe. I will accept His authority and count the drink offering as the 6th altar offering in the fires of the Christ altar. There is actually a fascinating line of reasoning in how the wine altar offering under the laws of the first Kingdom Age is so minimal – as it is the only one of the six categories that is not a separate offering on its own… and yet that wine offering under the laws of the subsquent Ecclesial Age elevates it significance dramatically… but that is a consideration for another time. The burnt offering had the unique distinction of being the only altar offering that was always directly accepted by Yahweh by being consumed by fire from heaven. Usually it was a combination of the peace offering and the burnt offering but in the case of Elijah on Mt Carmel it was just the burnt offering. Every time an altar offering was directly accepted by fire from heaven, there was a burnt offering…. never a sin offering or a trespass offering. Additionally the burnt offering was always accompanied by the bread and wine offerings… which never were offered with the sin or trespass offerings.

The burnt offering highlights atonement
Another significance issue is that the burnt offering highlighted atonement. We read in Lev 1:4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. In fact when we read about when a woman had to go through a cleansing process for giving birth she had to offer both a sin offering and a burnt offering for her own atonement, as explained in Leviticus 12. This was also true of a healed leper and one healed from an unclean issue, as explained in Lev. chapters 14 and 15. The burnt offering was a separate atonement application in addition to the sin offering. This is one of the literally endless confirmations that atonement is about more than simply forgiveness… a distortion that is being inappropriately promoted in the enlightened community currently. That burnt and sin offering combination is exactly what Mary the mother of Jesus had to offer at the temple for her own atonement for giving birth to the son of God, as recorded in Luke 2.

If you would like a more in depth understanding of the burnt offering I would suggest you go to the spiritsword.net website, choose the menu title Vocational Training for an Immortal Priesthood and then review the PDF files listed under the 3rd and 4th years. But our current focus is simply why the burnt offering was doubled on the Sabbath and redoubled on the sabbath in the Sabbath Kingdom.

However, to answer that WHY question about why the daily burnt offering had to be doubled on the Sabbath and will re redoubled on the Sabbath in the Sabbath Kingdom we certainly need to confirm the divinely expected behavioral response to the burnt offering. This is spelled out perfectly clearly in Hosea 6:6, from a verse our Messiah quotes more than once for its educational value. God says through Hosea
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

The peace offering
Yahweh defines the intended behavioral response he expected from the two positive blood offerings of the peace offering and the burnt offering. The Hebrew word for sacrifice is zebach, exclusively representing the peace offering, from which God expects ‘chesed’ the Hebrew word indicating a mercy sprining from love. Love and mercy was the beahvioral lesson of the peace offering. God wanted the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. That is the specific focus of the daily burnt offering… pursuing the knowledge of God… in other words the terms of His right-ness, what Adam & Eve rejected in Eden and what our natural serpent inspired thought process instinctively opposes. The lesson of the burnt offering is not a generic dedication to God in any fashion we may choose to apply… as some have suggested. It is particularly dedicating ourselves to the knowledge of God.

This understanding of dedicating ourselves to the knowledge of God is foundational in understanding why that burnt offering had to be doubled on the Sabbath and will be doubled yet again on the Sabbath in the Sabbath Kingdom when our Creator takes His rest in the contrite faithful who trembled at His word.

Sabbath law – a rest from one’s commercial labours
Sabbath observance demanded a rest from one’s commercial labors, shifting one’s focus away from mortal sustainability and asset growth to divine considerations. The Sabbath rest was intended to be a weekly day of reflection on spiritual issues and not fleshly issues. As proof of this we can simply reference the antitypcial Sabbath application of the 7th day in the divine plan – the substance casting the Sabbath Shadow… that 7th millennium… the Sabbath Kingdom. This is when enlightenment will no longer be optional, when the divine perspective and the right-ness of our Creator will be taught with authority and discipline across the planet.

Dedication to the knowledge of God on the Sabbath day
Therefore the doubling of the burnt offering that was intended to promote one’s dedication to the knowledge of God on the Sabbath day is an absolutely perfect application of the same theme. Validating this understanding would be the redoubling of the burnt offering on the Sabbath Day in the Sabbath Kingdom. On Sunday through Friday the daily burnt offering was burnt twice per day… the first and last altar offering every day.
Num 28:4-7 The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even; 5 And a tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat offering, mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil. 6 It is a continual burnt offering. And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering.

In addition to the morning and evening daily burnt offerings we should note how the bread and wine offerings had to accompany the burnt offering – that flour and strong wine. It should be noted that the bread and wine never accompanied the negative sin and trespass offerings… only the positive burnt and peace offerings. This seems highly appropriate since the divinely intended behavioral response to the burnt offering was the pursuit of the knowledge of God.

The doubling of the burnt offering
On each Sabbath that burnt offering was doubled. Instead of 2 it became 4.
Numb 28:9-10 And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: 10 This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.

Emphasizing this doubled burnt offering on the Sabbath is the recognition that the burnt offering will be doubled yet again on the Sabbaths of the Sabbath Kingdom we anticipate.
Ezek 46:3-4 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons. 4 And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.

These 7 burnt offerings on the Sabbath during the Millennial Kingdom are offered by the Prince, meaning our Messiah. These are in addition to the daily burnt offering that will exclusively be offered in the morning and not in the evening during the Millennial Kingdom. We read this in that same chapter of Ezek 46:13-15
Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning. 14 And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord. 15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.
There will be no evening daily burnt offering during the restored Kingdom of God… only the 6 morning daily burnt offerings and then the 8 on the Sabbath. This too is very appropriate as the light represents knowledge and the altar offering shadowing the pursuit of the knowledge of our Creator will exclusively be offered in the morning during the age of enlightenment, the Sabbath Kingdom, when enlightenment will no longer to optional, when the darkness of ignorance will no longer be accommodated. The Millennial Kingdom exclusively morning daily burnt offering shadow perfectly frames the substance.

In the Sabbath kingdom
So in the Sabbath Kingdom we not only see the redoubled Sabbath burnt offering distinction, we see 6 days of single burnt offerings for a total of 6 but on the 7th day we see a total of 8 burnt offerings. This brings us right back to what should be a very familiar pattern in our continuing considerations… the 6-8 pattern in the context of salvation.

So first we have this 6-8 weekley pattern of daily burnt offerings in the restored Kingdom Age. But back in the first Kingdom Age there were 2 sets of 3 morning and evening rituals making a total of 6 each day for 6 continuous day… but on the Sabbath those 6 became 8… as there were two additional burnt offerings. Those 3 morning and 3 evening daily rituals were the golden lamp refueling, the incense burning and the daily burnt offering… interestingly 3 fire applications. But those 6 for 6 days become 8 on the Sabbath.
6 becomes 8…. just like in the name of Jesus that means savior, we should remember how the 6 alphanumeric Greek letters in the name of Jesus add up to 888, projecting the three immortalization events in Yahweh’s plan …
That 6 and 8 pattern is also evident in the heaven & earth covenant of Abraham where 2 whole birds were added to 6 cleaved animal carcases in two rows in that heaven and earth covenant between God and man in Genesis 15 … 6+2 to make 8. …… just like the construction of the ark of the covenant where we see 6 panels joined together at 8 corners with 3 of the panels meet —- to form a box, an ark. Just like a 600 year old Noah was defined by Peter as the 8th person on that other shadow ark of salvation, that 3 story gopher wood ark.
This 6-8 pattern is even demonstrated in the atomic structure of creation. Carbon is the element that scientifically defines every single form of life we can examine under the current curse of sin and death. All mortal life is defined as being carbon based life forms. The elemental number of carbon is appropriately – 6, as there are 6 protons in the carbon atom. Carbon is number 6 on the chart of the elements making up creation. However Jesus defines immortal life in the terms of being wind-like. He explains to Nicodemus that being born again to inherit the Kingdom is to become like the wind (John 3:8). The one component in wind and air that sustains life is oxygen. Very appropriately the atomic number of oxygen is 8 due to its 8 protons in its nucleus. 8 is the number of immortality and salvation, the number of our savior. Just as the man of sin, the antichrist, is identified by triple sixes, the man of righteousness – Christ – is identified by triple 8’s. This 6 to 8 pattern is a numerical snapshot of the promise of salvation… form 6 to 8, from mortality to immortality, realized only through our savior Jesus Christ…. just like the evening and morning rituals pattern and the daily burnt offering patterns through the 2 Kingdom ages. These are all shadows of the same substance. This is the glory that is only visible to the circumcized in heart within the enlightened community. This is the ‘more’ Jesus promised to those who already have that can be drawn from the invariably intentional complexity of our Creator’s communication patterns. … those 2 dimensional shadows framing the 3 dimensional substance.

The 7 Sabbath shadows
The first of our 7 Sabbath shadows we are considering has been the recognition that just as the daily burnt offering was doubled on the Sabbath to a total of four during the first Kingdom Age so it will be doubled again to 8 on each Sabbath in the Sabbth Kingdom of the 7th Millennium in our Creator’s plan. Since the divinely intended behavioral response of the burnt offering that was directly associated with atonement is expressed as pursuing the knowledge of God… then these shadows are testitfying to the extreme significance of the principle of truth. Correctly understanding the features of our Creator’s eternal truths and principles…. his right-ness, will afford a growing access to the hidden glory within the two primary avenues of our Creator’s testimony… scripture and creation, with scripture being the written word of God and creation being the result of the spoken word of God.

The 2nd Sabbath shadow testimony will address the application of HIgh Sabbaths, the days God identifies as Sabbaths that did not necessarily fall on a Saturday, being the 7th day of the week. High Sabbaths were determined by a certain day in a certain month…. such as the first day of the 7th month and of course the 10th day of the 7th month, which was the Day of Atonement. We’ve noted in classes 6 & 7 how there was a High Sabbath on the first day of each of the 3 harvest feast weeks, which are shadow projections of the 3 divine harvests of our Creator’s image and likeness that He has sown into the dust of mankind for the last 6,000 years. We also noted how there was a concluding High Sabbath at the end of the first and last feast weeks but not the Feast of Weeks. The Feast of Weeks particularly projects the 2nd immortalization/harvesting event in which we all desperately hope to participate. When we combine the five High Sabbaths with the 3 additional Saturday Sabbaths that would naturually occure during those 3 feast weeks we come up with a total of 8 total Sabbaths. As we have noted before on a number of these continuing classes the number 8 is the number of immortality and salvation. It is the number of our savior. He is the man of eights.

High Sabbaths
This issue of the High Sabbath that occures on other days of the week as opposed to the usual Saturday Sabbath is very significant in validating that Jesus was actually telling the truth when he said he would be in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights… which is utterly impossible if we don’t want to contradict the harlot church in their foolishness of suggesting Jesus pretended to die on a Friday afternoon and pretended to come back to life on Sunday morning.. offering only two nights and one day…. certainly not the 3 days and 3 nights Jesus claimed he would be dead. It is never a good idea -or even very safe – to contradict Jesus Christ. Back in class number 7 We noted the necessity for a High Sabbath on that first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately following Passover at sunset, That Thursday High Sabbath was the first day of our Messiah’s death… and then the Saturday Sabbath on the 3rd day which was the last day of our Messiah’s death… In exactly the same fashion that the first and last days of the first and last harvest feast weeks… projecting immortalization – began and ended with Sabbaths, being ‘high’ Sabbaths.

The John 19 account of our Messiah’s crucifixion notes the distinction of the day after the death of Jesus being a High Sabbath.
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

These High Sabbaths are related to the basic Sabbath Law of rest. Despite not actually being a Saturday, Sabbath Law was imposed on those15th day and 22nd days of the first month at the beginning and end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread… projecting the immortalization, the divine harvesting of Jesus Christ… being the Creator’s firstfruits from creation. The same Sabbath rules applied to a High Sabbath… anyone disprespecting that Sabbath rest would die. Therefore it is extremely important to understand the substance casting these High Sabbath shadows.

Since breaking Sabbath Law meant death… then observing Sabbath Law meant life… exactly the substance we see behind the Sabbath shadow…. life eternal, being those places of our Creator’s rest in that Sabbath Kingdom of the 7th Millennial day. It is like all the warnings to the priests of do this-lest you die… wash your hands & feet at the laver before entering the Tabernacle… lest you die, the High Priest had to generate that cloud of from the two handfuls of incense in the Most Holy Chamber on the Day of Atonement… lest he die. The substance projecting the shadows from that 1st day of atonement ritual shadows the immortalization, the atonement of our Messiah… the performance of that dust to cloud ritual saved the life of the High Priest… the substance of that shadow is the antitpical saving of the life of the antitypical High Priest. The substance casts the shadows. If there are shadows… there has to be substance.

Therefore, since there was a death sentence for disprespecting the Sabbath shadow… there is an eternal death sentence for disresprecting the substance casting that Sabbath shadow…. and therefore a blessing of extended life for respecting the shadow and the substance casting the Sabbath shadow. No, we are not tasked with observing Sabbath Law during the Ecclesial Age, but as Paul declares to the Collossians that is a shadow of things yet to come.

The 3rd Sabbath Law shadow we will consider that offers substance testimony concerning the Sabbath nature of the approaching Kingdom Age…. is the somewhat odd law that one cannot kindle a fire on a Sabbath Day.
Ex. 35: 1-3 These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. 2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. 3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.

This seems to be a very inconvenient requirement imposed by Yahweh. The Israelites would need fire for both warmth and for cooking. However, the requirement was not to ‘kindle’ a fire, meaning not to initiate a new fire. There was no divine objection to maintaining an already burning fire. It was the kindling on particularly a Sabbath Day that would qualify as suicidal, as there was a death sentence for disrespecting Sabbath
observance.

The maintaining of a Sabbath fire could not be divinely objectionable. We know this because Israel was commanded never to let the fire on the bronze altar or the 7 burning lamps in the Tabernacle holy chamber to ever be extinguised.
Lev 6:12-13 And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. 13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

Lev 24:1-4) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. 3 Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. 4 He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually.

Sabbath fires
There were 8 eternal fires in the Tabernacle structure. The 2 other fire applications were not continuous. The fiery pillar by night was a cloud by day. The incense altar did not have a continous fire. Our consideration for this Sabbath Shadow for not kindling a Sabbath fire has a very substantial relationship to our theme of visions of the Kingdom Age, as fire is used to scripturally define both forever life and forever death. Our Creator defines Himself as a consuming fire in Hebrews 12. He spoke to Israel from the burning mountain on the 3rd day. We also see a frequent fire component in the various visions of the glory of Christ and the immortalized saints. Ezekiels cherubim are framed in an infolding fire. Daniel and John’s witness the flaming eyes in the composite man who testifies he was dead but is now alive forever more.

However just as fire is used to represent a forever positive divine acceptance and eternal life… fire is also used scripturally to represent a forever negative divine rejection and eternal death.
2 Thess 2:7-9 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power
Rev 20:13-15 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So fire has an association with both the grace of eternal life and the judgment of eternal death. The terms of our Creator’s righteousness testified through creation validates this dual application as well, with a valuable qualifying distinction between those dual fire applications of life and death. Fire both saves life and destroys life. Our flaming sun provides light and heat to sustain life on our planet. We use fire to heat our homes, cook our food, light the darkness, temper metals, cauterize and sanitize. Without fire, we would all die. But fire also destroys and kills. The difference between the two is harnessing the fire. It is un-controlled fire that destroys and kills. It is a controlled fire that preserves and saves.

The corresponding heavenly testimony matching this earthly testimony is that we should expect fiery trials in our lives but control the destructive capacity of those fires with the control mechanism of faith and a determination fueled by making the love of our heavenly Father the greatest of our loves. This is what prevents a fiery trial from consuming us.

Let’s reference Peter and Paul’s advice in this context:

1 Pet 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1 Cor 3 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Kindling fire
This is the issue being highlighted in not kindling a fire on the Sabbath Day… not encouraging our heavenly Father’s fiery judgments beyond the borders of His grace. It should be understood that sin is an incendiary. Sin burns. We note this in relation to our Creator repeatedly defining Himself in both the Old and New Testament as a consuming fire.

Num 11:1-3 And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. 2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. 3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.

The anger of God was “kindled” due to the endless complaining of the enlightened community, so God appropriately imposed on them the creational result of that spiritual condition… They kindled His anger, so he send fire among them. It was the prayer of Moses that quenched that heavenly divine anger, therfore quenching the earthly fires.

Aaron & Miriam undermined their younger brother to the enlightened community concerning his wife. God reprimands them on the basis of the completely unique way He communicates without complexity to Moses… why weren’t they afraid? This complete absence for respecting Moses unique status of being the only man to whom God could speak without the usual intentional complexity of dark sayings, visions and dreams “kindled God’s anger:
Num 12:9-10 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed. 10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

This account highlights the divine advice to fear the fiery judgments of our heavenly Father. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and the beginning of wisdom and perfects holiness. But there are two aspects to the fear of God, just as there are two balancing aspects to all divine principles. There is great danger in being seduced by the fairly common expression in our Christadelphian community that we have nothing to be afraid of in reference to Yahweh, that the fear of God is nothing but reverence. That is a vicious lie, yet frequently promoted. Both of these balancing aspects of the fear of God are referenced by Paul in the context of this image of our Creator being a consuming fire.
Heb 12:28-29 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
We see this behavioral recommendation being reverence as well as godly fear. If the fear of God was nothing but reverence then the word ‘and’ is completely illegitimate. We need both respectful reverence as well as fearing the righteous judgments of our God for our ungodly behavior. The consuming fear description in this context of the fear of God emphasizes the full range of the fear of God motivation being more than simply a comfortable reverence, but also an uncomfortable but far more motivating fear of the comsuming nature of our Creator’s righteousness.

Another example would be the divinely imposed plague at Baal Peor.
Num 25:3 And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
We remember what happened. We read this every year. Zimri, the son of Salu a prince in house of Simeon took Cozbi the daughter of Zur, one of the Midianite kings into his tent. It is unclear if this was marrying out of the truth or blatant fornication, but we do read Israel was yoking themselves at Baal Peor, suggesting marriage. Phinehas, a grandson of the High Priest, grabs a javelin… follows them into Zimri’s tent and with one thrust kills them both. In our society Phinehas would have been placed on trial for murder and faced either life in prison or execution. Even in the Christadelphian community today Phinehas would undoubtedly have been disfellowshipped and branded as a man without love, without patience and without forgiveness. God exalted Phinehas as a hero of the community, that turned away the burning anger of God…. Phinehas extinguised the fire of God’s anger by sharing that anger at the extreme disrespect being demonstrated to God from within an enlightened community that was not afraid of God. Perhaps they too were being taught that the fear of God only means reverence. They were unafraid of kindling God’s anger.

This is why there was a divine injunction against kindling a fire on a Sabbath day, the day when the enlightened community was commanded to rest from their labors, a rest from the curse of hard labor righteously imposed in Eden due to the sin that contagiously corrupted a previously very good creative order. The command not to ignite a new fire on the day of God’s rest demonstrates the divine intention of blending heaven and earth. Earthly realities will have to perfectly project heavenly truths and principles. In the Sabbath Kingdom, when sin is chained and restrained in the bottomless pit, as John describes in Revelation 20, there is a corresponding rest from the effects of sin. mortal life is extended, as we are told a man dying at 100 years old will be considered only a child. The lame will walk and the blind will see. Carnivorous animals will be biologically changed into herbivores. Military educational centers will close. Military weapons will be reforged into agricultural tools. Agricultural production will flourish, as there will be a rest from the curse of earthly unproductivity righteously imposed after that sin in Eden. Newly enlightened Mankind in that Sabbath Kingdom will learn to fear to kindle the Creator’s anger… as the enlightened community in the 1st Kingdom Age was supposed to learn in that prophetic shadow lesson

The Shadow of the Sabbath ban on kindling a fire extends from heavenly substance and has applications all through the two avenues of our Creator’s testimony: the Bible and creation.

Our next class will address the substance in the Sabbath shadows of Jubilee Law and the fascinating consideration of which ritual was greater… Sabbath Observance or Circumcision… as one ritual would have to be broken to observe the other. What is the substance casting these shadows defining the righteousness of our Creator’s eternal truths and principles?

Transcription by James Dillingham 2017

There is a prophetic nature to Sabbath observance
Therefore there is a prophetic nature to Sabbath observance. In our previous class we considered the divine creational testimony of shadows, recognizing there has to be substance if there is a shadow… that shadows are not inconsequential and cannot be dismissed as nothing but shadows. They always frame substance. We also noted the varying lengths of shadows extending from the same substance throughout the day… that despite all these different shadows they issue from the same substance. We also noted the dual nature of our daily shadows that begin extending from east to west and after noon the shadows from the same substance extend in the opposite direction… from west to east. These observations must apply to the endless scriptural shadows serving as the format for the invariable intentional complexity of all of our Creator’s communication patterns. These shadows have to be interpreted. If we permit our naturally deceitful hearts to lead that interpretation, we will always be wrong. We have to tremble at our Creator’s words, desperately fearing being wrong… because everything is about recognizing, choosing and demonstrating the righteousness, the right-ness of our heavenly Father.

Therefore we come to the consideration of the many Sabbath shadows throughout scripture that can reveal a great deal about the Sabbath Kingdom we’ve dedicated our lives to inheriting. There is a very long list of Sabbath shadows to consider. We will concentrate on 7 of them. I would think that would be rather appropriate.

• like the required doubling of the daily burnt offering on a Sabbath day to a total of 4 during the 1st Kingdom Age and doubled again to 8 in the restored Kingdom Age…. What does this shadow pattern tell us about the sustance of the Sabbath Kingdom
• Another would be the identification of High Sabbaths as opposed to 7th day sabbaths, like how the Day of Atonment was a Sabbath and how the first day of each of the harvest Feast weeks were a High Sabbath, and how the last day of the first and last feast weeks – The Feast of Unleavend Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles were also High Sabbaths… but not the last day of the Feast of Weeks
• The fact that God forbid a fire to be kindled on a Sabbath Day. It wasn’t that you couldn’t maintain a Sabbath fire. It was simply that one could not kindle or initiate a fire on a Sabbath day.. why? What substance does that Sabbath shadow frame?
• There is also the shadow of the Sabbath year when no sowing was allowed and the Jubilee extension of that where we see not only 7 sabbath years but an additional 8th Sabbath year in the 50th Jubillee year… with both the seven seventh being a jubilee year but the immediatly follwoing 8th…
• The challenging relationship between the law of the circumcision ritual and the law of the Sabbath ritual… and why it is that circumcision wins that challenge. What is it that makes the circumcision shadow greater than the Sabbath shadow?
• The 7th Day focus of Sabbath Law in its relation to the many rituals of 7… like the 7 days for cleansing from the defilement of death, the 7 days of the Harvest Feast Weeks, the 7 spatterings of blood on the veil for the sin offering, the 7 sets of clean animals on Noah’s ark, the first 7 days of a sacrificial animal’s life that disqualified it from being offered to God on the altar, etc.
• Our appropriately 7th and last consideration will be why the Sabbath rest covered not only the Israelites and their children, the Gentiles among them, and their servants… but also – their animals. Now you might say that if the workers can’t work then how could their animals work without them? But the point is God made the specific distinction. He is casting a shadow that has to frame substance. It is like why the animals were saved on the ark. God could have made new animals. He certainly made new varietal species from those surviving animals on the ark. The point is that these are shadows are framing substance and they are related… like components of a building that are secured together into a 3 dimensional structure that serves a great purpose. So… why did God include animals in the resting theme of Sabbath law?

Shadows issuing fo the same Sabbath substance
Each of these Sabbath distinctions are shadows issuing from the same Sabbath substance…. related to that original 7th creation day and therefore the Sabbath Kingdom we anticipate and that rest our Creator seeks in the contrite faithful who tremble at His word.
Why is the daily burnt offering is doubled on the Sabbath
Let’s start with how and why the daily burnt offering is doubled on the Sabbath and then doubled yet again in the Sabbath Kingdom on the Sabbath day. First we should understand the burnt offering was a highly significant altar offerring. This was the very first of the 6 altar offerings detailed in Leviticus. Those six altar offerings were the burnt offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the meal offering – being grain, flour or bread… and lastly the drink offering, being wine. There are four blood sacrifice catergories and then there is the bread and the wine sacrifice categories. Despite the fact that the wine offering is not offered independently like the other five offerings, we do not have the freedom – as some have suggested – to presume there were only 5 altar offerings. God calls it the wine offering. It is unwise to contradict the Creator of the universe. I will accept His authority and count the drink offering as the 6th altar offering in the fires of the Christ altar. There is actually a fascinating line of reasoning in how the wine altar offering under the laws of the first Kingdom Age is so minimal – as it is the only one of the six categories that is not a separate offering on its own… and yet that wine offering under the laws of the subsquent Ecclesial Age elevates it significance dramatically… but that is a consideration for another time. The burnt offering had the unique distinction of being the only altar offering that was always directly accepted by Yahweh by being consumed by fire from heaven. Usually it was a combination of the peace offering and the burnt offering but in the case of Elijah on Mt Carmel it was just the burnt offering. Every time an altar offering was directly accepted by fire from heaven, there was a burnt offering…. never a sin offering or a trespass offering. Additionally the burnt offering was always accompanied by the bread and wine offerings… which never were offered with the sin or trespass offerings.

The burnt offering highlights atonement
Another significance issue is that the burnt offering highlighted atonement. We read in Lev 1:4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. In fact when we read about when a woman had to go through a cleansing process for giving birth she had to offer both a sin offering and a burnt offering for her own atonement, as explained in Leviticus 12. This was also true of a healed leper and one healed from an unclean issue, as explained in Lev. chapters 14 and 15. The burnt offering was a separate atonement application in addition to the sin offering. This is one of the literally endless confirmations that atonement is about more than simply forgiveness… a distortion that is being inappropriately promoted in the enlightened community currently. That burnt and sin offering combination is exactly what Mary the mother of Jesus had to offer at the temple for her own atonement for giving birth to the son of God, as recorded in Luke 2.

If you would like a more in depth understanding of the burnt offering I would suggest you go to the spiritsword.net website, choose the menu title Vocational Training for an Immortal Priesthood and then review the PDF files listed under the 3rd and 4th years. But our current focus is simply why the burnt offering was doubled on the Sabbath and redoubled on the sabbath in the Sabbath Kingdom.

However, to answer that WHY question about why the daily burnt offering had to be doubled on the Sabbath and will re redoubled on the Sabbath in the Sabbath Kingdom we certainly need to confirm the divinely expected behavioral response to the burnt offering. This is spelled out perfectly clearly in Hosea 6:6, from a verse our Messiah quotes more than once for its educational value. God says through Hosea
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

The peace offering
Yahweh defines the intended behavioral response he expected from the two positive blood offerings of the peace offering and the burnt offering. The Hebrew word for sacrifice is zebach, exclusively representing the peace offering, from which God expects ‘chesed’ the Hebrew word indicating a mercy sprining from love. Love and mercy was the beahvioral lesson of the peace offering. God wanted the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. That is the specific focus of the daily burnt offering… pursuing the knowledge of God… in other words the terms of His right-ness, what Adam & Eve rejected in Eden and what our natural serpent inspired thought process instinctively opposes. The lesson of the burnt offering is not a generic dedication to God in any fashion we may choose to apply… as some have suggested. It is particularly dedicating ourselves to the knowledge of God.

This understanding of dedicating ourselves to the knowledge of God is foundational in understanding why that burnt offering had to be doubled on the Sabbath and will be doubled yet again on the Sabbath in the Sabbath Kingdom when our Creator takes His rest in the contrite faithful who trembled at His word.

Sabbath law – a rest from one’s commercial labours
Sabbath observance demanded a rest from one’s commercial labors, shifting one’s focus away from mortal sustainability and asset growth to divine considerations. The Sabbath rest was intended to be a weekly day of reflection on spiritual issues and not fleshly issues. As proof of this we can simply reference the antitypcial Sabbath application of the 7th day in the divine plan – the substance casting the Sabbath Shadow… that 7th millennium… the Sabbath Kingdom. This is when enlightenment will no longer be optional, when the divine perspective and the right-ness of our Creator will be taught with authority and discipline across the planet.

Dedication to the knowledge of God on the Sabbath day
Therefore the doubling of the burnt offering that was intended to promote one’s dedication to the knowledge of God on the Sabbath day is an absolutely perfect application of the same theme. Validating this understanding would be the redoubling of the burnt offering on the Sabbath Day in the Sabbath Kingdom. On Sunday through Friday the daily burnt offering was burnt twice per day… the first and last altar offering every day.
Num 28:4-7 The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even; 5 And a tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat offering, mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil. 6 It is a continual burnt offering. And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering.

In addition to the morning and evening daily burnt offerings we should note how the bread and wine offerings had to accompany the burnt offering – that flour and strong wine. It should be noted that the bread and wine never accompanied the negative sin and trespass offerings… only the positive burnt and peace offerings. This seems highly appropriate since the divinely intended behavioral response to the burnt offering was the pursuit of the knowledge of God.

The doubling of the burnt offering
On each Sabbath that burnt offering was doubled. Instead of 2 it became 4.
Numb 28:9-10 And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: 10 This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.

Emphasizing this doubled burnt offering on the Sabbath is the recognition that the burnt offering will be doubled yet again on the Sabbaths of the Sabbath Kingdom we anticipate.
Ezek 46:3-4 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons. 4 And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.

These 7 burnt offerings on the Sabbath during the Millennial Kingdom are offered by the Prince, meaning our Messiah. These are in addition to the daily burnt offering that will exclusively be offered in the morning and not in the evening during the Millennial Kingdom. We read this in that same chapter of Ezek 46:13-15
Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning. 14 And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord. 15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.
There will be no evening daily burnt offering during the restored Kingdom of God… only the 6 morning daily burnt offerings and then the 8 on the Sabbath. This too is very appropriate as the light represents knowledge and the altar offering shadowing the pursuit of the knowledge of our Creator will exclusively be offered in the morning during the age of enlightenment, the Sabbath Kingdom, when enlightenment will no longer to optional, when the darkness of ignorance will no longer be accommodated. The Millennial Kingdom exclusively morning daily burnt offering shadow perfectly frames the substance.

In the Sabbath kingdom
So in the Sabbath Kingdom we not only see the redoubled Sabbath burnt offering distinction, we see 6 days of single burnt offerings for a total of 6 but on the 7th day we see a total of 8 burnt offerings. This brings us right back to what should be a very familiar pattern in our continuing considerations… the 6-8 pattern in the context of salvation.

So first we have this 6-8 weekley pattern of daily burnt offerings in the restored Kingdom Age. But back in the first Kingdom Age there were 2 sets of 3 morning and evening rituals making a total of 6 each day for 6 continuous day… but on the Sabbath those 6 became 8… as there were two additional burnt offerings. Those 3 morning and 3 evening daily rituals were the golden lamp refueling, the incense burning and the daily burnt offering… interestingly 3 fire applications. But those 6 for 6 days become 8 on the Sabbath.
6 becomes 8…. just like in the name of Jesus that means savior, we should remember how the 6 alphanumeric Greek letters in the name of Jesus add up to 888, projecting the three immortalization events in Yahweh’s plan …
That 6 and 8 pattern is also evident in the heaven & earth covenant of Abraham where 2 whole birds were added to 6 cleaved animal carcases in two rows in that heaven and earth covenant between God and man in Genesis 15 … 6+2 to make 8. …… just like the construction of the ark of the covenant where we see 6 panels joined together at 8 corners with 3 of the panels meet —- to form a box, an ark. Just like a 600 year old Noah was defined by Peter as the 8th person on that other shadow ark of salvation, that 3 story gopher wood ark.
This 6-8 pattern is even demonstrated in the atomic structure of creation. Carbon is the element that scientifically defines every single form of life we can examine under the current curse of sin and death. All mortal life is defined as being carbon based life forms. The elemental number of carbon is appropriately – 6, as there are 6 protons in the carbon atom. Carbon is number 6 on the chart of the elements making up creation. However Jesus defines immortal life in the terms of being wind-like. He explains to Nicodemus that being born again to inherit the Kingdom is to become like the wind (John 3:8). The one component in wind and air that sustains life is oxygen. Very appropriately the atomic number of oxygen is 8 due to its 8 protons in its nucleus. 8 is the number of immortality and salvation, the number of our savior. Just as the man of sin, the antichrist, is identified by triple sixes, the man of righteousness – Christ – is identified by triple 8’s. This 6 to 8 pattern is a numerical snapshot of the promise of salvation… form 6 to 8, from mortality to immortality, realized only through our savior Jesus Christ…. just like the evening and morning rituals pattern and the daily burnt offering patterns through the 2 Kingdom ages. These are all shadows of the same substance. This is the glory that is only visible to the circumcized in heart within the enlightened community. This is the ‘more’ Jesus promised to those who already have that can be drawn from the invariably intentional complexity of our Creator’s communication patterns. … those 2 dimensional shadows framing the 3 dimensional substance.

The 7 Sabbath shadows
The first of our 7 Sabbath shadows we are considering has been the recognition that just as the daily burnt offering was doubled on the Sabbath to a total of four during the first Kingdom Age so it will be doubled again to 8 on each Sabbath in the Sabbth Kingdom of the 7th Millennium in our Creator’s plan. Since the divinely intended behavioral response of the burnt offering that was directly associated with atonement is expressed as pursuing the knowledge of God… then these shadows are testitfying to the extreme significance of the principle of truth. Correctly understanding the features of our Creator’s eternal truths and principles…. his right-ness, will afford a growing access to the hidden glory within the two primary avenues of our Creator’s testimony… scripture and creation, with scripture being the written word of God and creation being the result of the spoken word of God.

The 2nd Sabbath shadow testimony will address the application of HIgh Sabbaths, the days God identifies as Sabbaths that did not necessarily fall on a Saturday, being the 7th day of the week. High Sabbaths were determined by a certain day in a certain month…. such as the first day of the 7th month and of course the 10th day of the 7th month, which was the Day of Atonement. We’ve noted in classes 6 & 7 how there was a High Sabbath on the first day of each of the 3 harvest feast weeks, which are shadow projections of the 3 divine harvests of our Creator’s image and likeness that He has sown into the dust of mankind for the last 6,000 years. We also noted how there was a concluding High Sabbath at the end of the first and last feast weeks but not the Feast of Weeks. The Feast of Weeks particularly projects the 2nd immortalization/harvesting event in which we all desperately hope to participate. When we combine the five High Sabbaths with the 3 additional Saturday Sabbaths that would naturually occure during those 3 feast weeks we come up with a total of 8 total Sabbaths. As we have noted before on a number of these continuing classes the number 8 is the number of immortality and salvation. It is the number of our savior. He is the man of eights.

High Sabbaths
This issue of the High Sabbath that occures on other days of the week as opposed to the usual Saturday Sabbath is very significant in validating that Jesus was actually telling the truth when he said he would be in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights… which is utterly impossible if we don’t want to contradict the harlot church in their foolishness of suggesting Jesus pretended to die on a Friday afternoon and pretended to come back to life on Sunday morning.. offering only two nights and one day…. certainly not the 3 days and 3 nights Jesus claimed he would be dead. It is never a good idea -or even very safe – to contradict Jesus Christ. Back in class number 7 We noted the necessity for a High Sabbath on that first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately following Passover at sunset, That Thursday High Sabbath was the first day of our Messiah’s death… and then the Saturday Sabbath on the 3rd day which was the last day of our Messiah’s death… In exactly the same fashion that the first and last days of the first and last harvest feast weeks… projecting immortalization – began and ended with Sabbaths, being ‘high’ Sabbaths.

The John 19 account of our Messiah’s crucifixion notes the distinction of the day after the death of Jesus being a High Sabbath.
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

These High Sabbaths are related to the basic Sabbath Law of rest. Despite not actually being a Saturday, Sabbath Law was imposed on those15th day and 22nd days of the first month at the beginning and end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread… projecting the immortalization, the divine harvesting of Jesus Christ… being the Creator’s firstfruits from creation. The same Sabbath rules applied to a High Sabbath… anyone disprespecting that Sabbath rest would die. Therefore it is extremely important to understand the substance casting these High Sabbath shadows.

Since breaking Sabbath Law meant death… then observing Sabbath Law meant life… exactly the substance we see behind the Sabbath shadow…. life eternal, being those places of our Creator’s rest in that Sabbath Kingdom of the 7th Millennial day. It is like all the warnings to the priests of do this-lest you die… wash your hands & feet at the laver before entering the Tabernacle… lest you die, the High Priest had to generate that cloud of from the two handfuls of incense in the Most Holy Chamber on the Day of Atonement… lest he die. The substance projecting the shadows from that 1st day of atonement ritual shadows the immortalization, the atonement of our Messiah… the performance of that dust to cloud ritual saved the life of the High Priest… the substance of that shadow is the antitpical saving of the life of the antitypical High Priest. The substance casts the shadows. If there are shadows… there has to be substance.

Therefore, since there was a death sentence for disprespecting the Sabbath shadow… there is an eternal death sentence for disresprecting the substance casting that Sabbath shadow…. and therefore a blessing of extended life for respecting the shadow and the substance casting the Sabbath shadow. No, we are not tasked with observing Sabbath Law during the Ecclesial Age, but as Paul declares to the Collossians that is a shadow of things yet to come.

The 3rd Sabbath Law shadow we will consider that offers substance testimony concerning the Sabbath nature of the approaching Kingdom Age…. is the somewhat odd law that one cannot kindle a fire on a Sabbath Day.
Ex. 35: 1-3 These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. 2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. 3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.

This seems to be a very inconvenient requirement imposed by Yahweh. The Israelites would need fire for both warmth and for cooking. However, the requirement was not to ‘kindle’ a fire, meaning not to initiate a new fire. There was no divine objection to maintaining an already burning fire. It was the kindling on particularly a Sabbath Day that would qualify as suicidal, as there was a death sentence for disrespecting Sabbath
observance.

The maintaining of a Sabbath fire could not be divinely objectionable. We know this because Israel was commanded never to let the fire on the bronze altar or the 7 burning lamps in the Tabernacle holy chamber to ever be extinguised.
Lev 6:12-13 And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. 13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

Lev 24:1-4) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. 3 Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. 4 He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually.

Sabbath fires
There were 8 eternal fires in the Tabernacle structure. The 2 other fire applications were not continuous. The fiery pillar by night was a cloud by day. The incense altar did not have a continous fire. Our consideration for this Sabbath Shadow for not kindling a Sabbath fire has a very substantial relationship to our theme of visions of the Kingdom Age, as fire is used to scripturally define both forever life and forever death. Our Creator defines Himself as a consuming fire in Hebrews 12. He spoke to Israel from the burning mountain on the 3rd day. We also see a frequent fire component in the various visions of the glory of Christ and the immortalized saints. Ezekiels cherubim are framed in an infolding fire. Daniel and John’s witness the flaming eyes in the composite man who testifies he was dead but is now alive forever more.

However just as fire is used to represent a forever positive divine acceptance and eternal life… fire is also used scripturally to represent a forever negative divine rejection and eternal death.
2 Thess 2:7-9 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power
Rev 20:13-15 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So fire has an association with both the grace of eternal life and the judgment of eternal death. The terms of our Creator’s righteousness testified through creation validates this dual application as well, with a valuable qualifying distinction between those dual fire applications of life and death. Fire both saves life and destroys life. Our flaming sun provides light and heat to sustain life on our planet. We use fire to heat our homes, cook our food, light the darkness, temper metals, cauterize and sanitize. Without fire, we would all die. But fire also destroys and kills. The difference between the two is harnessing the fire. It is un-controlled fire that destroys and kills. It is a controlled fire that preserves and saves.

The corresponding heavenly testimony matching this earthly testimony is that we should expect fiery trials in our lives but control the destructive capacity of those fires with the control mechanism of faith and a determination fueled by making the love of our heavenly Father the greatest of our loves. This is what prevents a fiery trial from consuming us.

Let’s reference Peter and Paul’s advice in this context:

1 Pet 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1 Cor 3 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Kindling fire
This is the issue being highlighted in not kindling a fire on the Sabbath Day… not encouraging our heavenly Father’s fiery judgments beyond the borders of His grace. It should be understood that sin is an incendiary. Sin burns. We note this in relation to our Creator repeatedly defining Himself in both the Old and New Testament as a consuming fire.

Num 11:1-3 And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. 2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. 3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.

The anger of God was “kindled” due to the endless complaining of the enlightened community, so God appropriately imposed on them the creational result of that spiritual condition… They kindled His anger, so he send fire among them. It was the prayer of Moses that quenched that heavenly divine anger, therfore quenching the earthly fires.

Aaron & Miriam undermined their younger brother to the enlightened community concerning his wife. God reprimands them on the basis of the completely unique way He communicates without complexity to Moses… why weren’t they afraid? This complete absence for respecting Moses unique status of being the only man to whom God could speak without the usual intentional complexity of dark sayings, visions and dreams “kindled God’s anger:
Num 12:9-10 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed. 10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

This account highlights the divine advice to fear the fiery judgments of our heavenly Father. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and the beginning of wisdom and perfects holiness. But there are two aspects to the fear of God, just as there are two balancing aspects to all divine principles. There is great danger in being seduced by the fairly common expression in our Christadelphian community that we have nothing to be afraid of in reference to Yahweh, that the fear of God is nothing but reverence. That is a vicious lie, yet frequently promoted. Both of these balancing aspects of the fear of God are referenced by Paul in the context of this image of our Creator being a consuming fire.
Heb 12:28-29 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
We see this behavioral recommendation being reverence as well as godly fear. If the fear of God was nothing but reverence then the word ‘and’ is completely illegitimate. We need both respectful reverence as well as fearing the righteous judgments of our God for our ungodly behavior. The consuming fear description in this context of the fear of God emphasizes the full range of the fear of God motivation being more than simply a comfortable reverence, but also an uncomfortable but far more motivating fear of the comsuming nature of our Creator’s righteousness.

Another example would be the divinely imposed plague at Baal Peor.
Num 25:3 And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
We remember what happened. We read this every year. Zimri, the son of Salu a prince in house of Simeon took Cozbi the daughter of Zur, one of the Midianite kings into his tent. It is unclear if this was marrying out of the truth or blatant fornication, but we do read Israel was yoking themselves at Baal Peor, suggesting marriage. Phinehas, a grandson of the High Priest, grabs a javelin… follows them into Zimri’s tent and with one thrust kills them both. In our society Phinehas would have been placed on trial for murder and faced either life in prison or execution. Even in the Christadelphian community today Phinehas would undoubtedly have been disfellowshipped and branded as a man without love, without patience and without forgiveness. God exalted Phinehas as a hero of the community, that turned away the burning anger of God…. Phinehas extinguised the fire of God’s anger by sharing that anger at the extreme disrespect being demonstrated to God from within an enlightened community that was not afraid of God. Perhaps they too were being taught that the fear of God only means reverence. They were unafraid of kindling God’s anger.

This is why there was a divine injunction against kindling a fire on a Sabbath day, the day when the enlightened community was commanded to rest from their labors, a rest from the curse of hard labor righteously imposed in Eden due to the sin that contagiously corrupted a previously very good creative order. The command not to ignite a new fire on the day of God’s rest demonstrates the divine intention of blending heaven and earth. Earthly realities will have to perfectly project heavenly truths and principles. In the Sabbath Kingdom, when sin is chained and restrained in the bottomless pit, as John describes in Revelation 20, there is a corresponding rest from the effects of sin. mortal life is extended, as we are told a man dying at 100 years old will be considered only a child. The lame will walk and the blind will see. Carnivorous animals will be biologically changed into herbivores. Military educational centers will close. Military weapons will be reforged into agricultural tools. Agricultural production will flourish, as there will be a rest from the curse of earthly unproductivity righteously imposed after that sin in Eden. Newly enlightened Mankind in that Sabbath Kingdom will learn to fear to kindle the Creator’s anger… as the enlightened community in the 1st Kingdom Age was supposed to learn in that prophetic shadow lesson

The Shadow of the Sabbath ban on kindling a fire extends from heavenly substance and has applications all through the two avenues of our Creator’s testimony: the Bible and creation.

Our next class will address the substance in the Sabbath shadows of Jubilee Law and the fascinating consideration of which ritual was greater… Sabbath Observance or Circumcision… as one ritual would have to be broken to observe the other. What is the substance casting these shadows defining the righteousness of our Creator’s eternal truths and principles?

Transcription by James Dillingham 2017
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