Restoration Of The Governor In A Season Of Wisdom!!!!! Part 2

Jeremiah 31

We are walking in today:  Restoration Of The Governor In A Season Of Wisdom!!!!! Part 2

Witness covenant throughout the Bible:  H1285 bĕriyth--covenant, alliance, pledge; between men; constitution, ordinance (monarch to subjects); covenant (divine ordinance with signs or pledges)

Genesis 6:18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; H1285 and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

The Torah testifies...............
  Deuteronomy 4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, H1285 which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

The prophets proclaim..................
  Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. H1285

The writings bear witness...........................
 2 Kings 17:38 And the covenant H1285 that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
 
Psalm 103:18 To such as keep his covenant, H1285 and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

The Tribes of Israel
Abraham had his miracle child, Isaac. Isaac had twin sons, Esau and Jacob, and Jacob was chosen as the one to carry on the lineage. Jacob’s name was later changed to Israel, which means “Prince with the Most High.” He was the heir of the promise of the coming Offspring. Jacob had twelve sons, and each son’s family grew and became a large tribe; this was the origin of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Creator-King chose Jacob’s son Judah as the one through whom the special lineage would be carried on, even though all the tribes were destined to play a part in the unfolding drama.
The Israelites:  A Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation
Eventually, the twelve tribes moved to Egypt because of a famine in their homeland. They were preserved through the heavenly government’s intervention in the life of another son of Jacob’s, named Joseph, who became the Egyptian pharaoh’s second-in-command. But the tribes eventually become slaves of Egypt under a different pharaoh. After several hundred years, the Creator-King called a man named Moses, of the tribe of Levi, to free the Israelites as part of his plan to preserve a lineage for the birth of the Offspring. All the events we read about in the life of Moses show the manifestation of kingdom influence on earth through Moses’ submission to the purposes of the kingdom government. For example, Moses’ ability to bring the plagues of locusts and flies was an example of a human being exercising dominion over “all the creatures that move along the ground” through the power of the King’s Spirit. The same is true for the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea that allowed the Israelites to cross over on foot and escape the pursuing Egyptians. Moses was the heavenly government’s instrument to bring about many manifestations of kingdom influence on earth during his life-time.
I want to reemphasize that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the Israelite nation were not preserved in order to create a religion. The nation of Israel was an instrument in the hand of the King’s unfolding purposes to reconcile the whole world to himself and to restore the Governor—it was not an end in itself. The Israelites were called and set apart as a special nation so they could rediscover the King and his ways for the purpose of becoming a nation with a holy (dedicated) purpose. As we will shortly see, they were to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” to help fulfill the King’s plan of restoration for the world.
The Hebrew word for “kingdom” in this context is mamlakah, which means “dominion” or “rule.” Here we return to the theme of earthly dominion. Kingdom indicates governing responsibility, while the role of the priest was to help people become realigned with the heavenly government. In essence, priestly work involves lining up with true authority, and kingdom work has to do with executing rulership under that authority. The Creator-King wanted a kingdom or nation of priests on earth. He wanted the entire nation of Israel to be properly aligned with him, all the time, the way Adam and Eve had been when they still had the Spirit of the Creator living within them. Every human being was meant to be a priest—personally aligned with the Creator-King—and a ruler—having dominion over the earth. The Most High had told the Israelites when they came out of Egypt that, if they continued to believe and obey him, he would make them the greatest nation in the world. He gave them instructions for living, called the law. This was a comprehensive picture of how they were supposed to think and act as a kingdom of priests and rulers living in integrity. If they did so, he would provide for them and protect them; they would have everything they needed, and they would never be defeated by their enemies. The nation as a whole was to be a prototype of what the King would do for all who were submitted to his Governor and were ruling their homes, communities, and nations under his guidance. Sadly, the nation of Israel didn’t live up to its high purpose. The people rejected the laws of the King, just as Adam and Eve had. They were no longer in alignment with him. Consequently, they failed to be an example to other nations of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Although there were times when the people returned to their King, they rejected him over and over again throughout their history as a nation. Whenever this happened, the King allowed other nations, which didn’t acknowledge him, to overrun them so they would see their need and return to him. Throughout the Old Testament, we read how the nation was often overtaken by other peoples, such as the Canaanites, Moabites, and Hittites.
The Meaning of the Law
When the Israelite people first came out of Egyptian slavery, they had forgotten much about the King and his ways. They had lost a clear conception of his nature and will. They didn’t know about Abraham’s personal relationship with the King, but had only a vague idea that Abraham was their fore-father. This is when the Most High instructed Moses to tell them who they were and what their true purpose was as a nation of kings and priests: The Creator-King wanted a kingdom or nation of priests on earth. This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: “You your-selves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. With these words, the King established his relationship to the Israelites, and their relationship to him. Then he instructed Moses to tell the whole nation to meet him at the mountain where they were encamped. He wanted to give them his laws directly. He didn’t want to give them to just one person who would pass them along to the people; he wanted the whole nation to hear them because all of them were to be rulers and priests. When they came to the mountain, and the King descended to talk to them, they were afraid of the display of his power and greatness. Moses told them not to be afraid but to reverence the King. But instead, the people wanted Moses to serve as their mediator. Again, the King gave the law so the people would know what it meant to live according to his nature. Yet his ultimate desire was not to have his laws recorded merely on stone or even paper. He wanted them to exist in the spirit of their minds. He revealed his ultimate plan with these words, which he gave to his prophet Jeremiah: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time....I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, the Most High, and they will be my people.” This is a direct reference to the eventual return of the Governor to live within humanity. For now, however, Moses received the written code, the laws and principles of the kingdom, or the “kingdom standards,” to give to the people. Their King wanted them to understand how his Spirit thought and how his kingdom worked so they could stay in alignment with him. If the nation obeyed the King’s laws, they would attract his Spirit because they would be living in holiness and be in harmony with his nature.When Moses came down from the mountain after meeting with the King, the people agreed to obey the law. As we saw, however, this didn’t last long. Joshua, Moses’ second-in-command, eventually took the people into the land the King had promised them. What we consider amazing miracles at this time, such as the parting of the waters of the river Jordan, the collapse of the walls of the city of Jericho, and the sun standing still and not setting for about a full day during a battle, were merely evidence of kingdom influence over the physical universe. Yet even with all these demonstrations of the presence of the kingdom of heaven among them, the people turned away from the will of the King. They began to intermarry with citizens outside the prototype kingdom and took on the traits of nations that did not acknowledge the King. They gradually became alienated from him and unaligned with his kingdom purposes.
The Priesthood and Sacrifices
This is where the priesthood comes in. I don’t believe the Most High’s real desire was to have a specific group of people called priests. Remember that he wanted a kingdom or nation of priests. But The Creator-King gave the law so the people would know how to live according to his nature. In order for the Israelites to remain his prototype nation, he provided a way for them to be restored when they rebelled against him and violated his kingdom standards. Since they had forsaken their calling to be a nation of priests, the King appointed Aaron, Moses’ brother, and Aaron’s sons, who were of the tribe of Levi, to be the nation’s priests. Their descendents would succeed them as priests. He also told Moses to set aside certain other men of the tribe of Levi to assist the priests in their duties. The priests were to keep themselves aligned with the King. They performed rituals of sacrifice prescribed by the King, which served to atone for (cover over) their rebellion and position the nation of Israel in alignment with the heavenly government again. In this way, the Governor could reveal the will of the King to the people, and his kingdom culture could come on earth through them. The result was that they would bring all other nations back to the King through their example. Therefore, all the sacrifices, the rituals involving the blood, the incense that was burned, the various components of the tabernacle, and later the temple—all these things were for the purpose of realigning the people with the Most High so they could be what they were originally called to be.The rituals that the priests performed involved the sacrifice of animals because the culture of rebellion, murder, and death that human beings had created needed to be paid for. So did individuals’ infractions of the King’s law. The first-century writer of the book of Hebrews wrote, “The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” In the system of sacrifices, therefore, the blood atoned for the violations against the kingdom law that the people had committed. When we read about all the intricacies of priestly dress and practice, the systems of worship, and the specific details of the animal sacrifices, we tend to be caught up in the particulars and miss their overall meaning. The ultimate goal of the King’s program was not the priests, the robes, the incense, the showbread, the goblets, and the inner and outer courts. Some people almost seem to consider these things as mystical religious icons. Instead, they were a means to an end. They were the Most High’s provision (his temporary program) for realigning the people with him so that his Spirit, the absent Governor, could come back to them and intervene on the earth.The ultimate goal of the entire Old Testament ritualistic program was designed, motivated, and developed for this purpose: when the high priest went in to the innermost chamber of the tabernacle (later, the temple), the sacrifices would be accepted on behalf of the people, and the Spirit of the Most High  would be able to come and dwell between the cherubim on the mercy seat (or atonement cover) there because the requirements for holiness had been fulfilled. Everything that came in the presence of the Spirit had to be holy because he is a holy Spirit. The sacrificial blood would cleanse both the people and the high priest who would stand in the immediate presence of the Governor in the inner room of the tabernacle, called the “Holy of Holies.” As a result of these sacrifices, a most beautiful thing occurred. The Spirit came back. The Governor was on earth! All the temporary sacrifices brought the Governor into the people’s presence, but Temporary sacrifices brought the Governor into the people’s presence but not into them.  He could not enter into human beings at that time because the permanent sacrifice had not yet been made.The animal sacrifices had to be offered again and again because the people were continually rebelling against the authority of heaven, and the sacrifices were a temporary method of atonement that allowed the heavenly government to intervene in their lives, even though it couldn’t change their rebellious nature. Whenever the people of Israel were aligned with the King and his Spirit was with them, they won every battle, had no sickness among them, and experienced peace. Why? They were living as true human beings again. They were living as they were intended to live—above their environment and circumstances. Great lengths had to be taken by the priests just to ensure the Governor’s presence in the inner chamber of the tabernacle or temple so the people could be at peace, prosper, and fulfill their role as the prototype nation. When the people disobeyed the Most High, the Holy Spirit left them, and their lives became chaotic again. When they received forgiveness through the sacrifices and again obeyed the Most High, the Holy Spirit would return, and they would have success.The sacrificial system served its purpose, even though it was inadequate to fully solve humanity’s dilemma of separation from the heavenly kingdom. It actually emphasized the incompleteness of the temporary cleansing to keep the people aligned with the Most High. They were “sprinkled” with the blood because the blood of animals cannot permanently cleanse a person from the inside out. The intent of the hearts of men and women are basically and continually evil. The unholy (non-integrated, non set apart) state of the human heart and  its potential for evil are always under the surface and always emerge in one way or another. Yet this program was the Creator-King’s temporary pro-vision for working with human beings, whom he couldn’t yet dwell within—because of their unholiness—but still needed to influence. He created his own environment of holiness through the sacrificial system in order to work among his people with out violating his purity and integrity. The prophets, priests, and kings of the nation of Israel would receive the Spirit of the King upon them for specific instances where they would speak or act on earth in behalf of the King. Many people like to study and teach all the intricacies of the Old Testament rituals; some even make quite a bit of money off books and products expounding on such things as the “ten keys to the tabernacle.” I’ve found that many people are (at best) missing the main purpose of these things, and other people are (at worst) exploiting people by overemphasizing them. They were not ends in themselves. We must always remember that their whole purpose was to be a means of bringing the governing influence of heaven back to earth for the benefit of humanity.
Shema selah we must hear what the King's plan is and align ourselves with Him!!