TESTAMENT

 

² Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering… ⁸ Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them… ²¹ thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee…  ⁴⁰ And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount. (Exod 25:2,8,21, 40)

² And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat… ¹⁵  “sprinkle it (the blood of the kid) upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 16  And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel… (Lev 16:2, 15-16) 

  Moses was given a pattern for temple worship when He was with God on the mountain. The “pattern” was for the tabernacle, but more importantly it was for two things which would happen inside: (1) The Presence of God in a cloud on the Mercy Seat, and (2) for the sacrifice of His “kid” inside the curtain onto the Mercy Seat. Note that the “Testament” was inside the box and beneath the Mercy Seat. Sacrificial blood would never touch the Testament.

  Just what is the Testament? It was God’s “Will;” what He willed be done for His “estate.” That Testament was the “two tablets of stone” written with the finger of God (Deut 9:10). Why written on stone? For perpetuity; it would be God’s Will forever. As such, the “Ten Words” (of Jesus) are terms of God’s Will. They are God’s “Will to be done in earth” (Mat 6:10) and Jesus is the Executor of God’s Will.

  Let us touch on a modern estate will now: The Father has an estate to provide to his heirs. The estate is for those who revere their Father. They are not only biological children but others who have pleased Him during all those many years. Often wills are written long before the grantor dies, and there are provisions to inherit the estate. The heirs, even adopted ones, must meet certain criteria to get their reward of home, property, security, and the like. Usually, all that is required is that all the heirs love the grantor to the end. The issue is how the heirs can demonstrate their fidelity. Hence, there are terms of the will, written as items, to wit: “so long as…”

  In the case of “The Ten Words,” they are Ten Ways to demonstrate love to the Father and the other heirs, both present and future. His hope is that His good children will multiply His heirs because he loves even the prodigal sons so well; so well that neither should they not share in the estate. Just what is God’s estate? “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3).

  Of course, the Good Son will be there, but therein is room for many more! The estate of His adopted and faithful children is a mansion in the Father’s House, free of charge and forever… and with eternal health care and nourishment provided. That “Estate” is the one that Utopian-seekers should seek rather than a chattel in a commune!

  What’s wrong with the first Testament; it seems quite adequate? Well, it is a pattern, not for a practical Will but a more perfect Will. The original Testament required that an Aaronic Priest make the sacrifices daily for the sins of the people. In the final Testament, God cut out the middlemen. He would be the Priest, not like Levitical Priests appointed by God, but God Himself. The Priest on the order of Melchizedek would provide the sacrifice and make it much like Abraham was willing to do on the mountain. Melchizedek blessed Abraham by sacrificing as He would. Jesus was that Priest, Melchizedek, and He knew that Abraham was willing to do it right.

  The Old Testament is not really the “Ten Commandments” but the Abrahamic Covenant. That Covenant was written in the hearts of the faithful by the Finger of God (Jesus), and Abraham signed on as heir with blood from his heart.

  As for Moses, he would sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat himself, but he would not sign the “deed” himself. Zipporah would do what Moses would not, “Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision” (Exod 4:25-26).

  Zipporah was not authorized to sign the “deed” to gain the true Promise Land. Only the blood of their son would do, but Moses would not even do a minimum of what Abraham was willing to do. Moses had faith but not the faith of Abraham. Abraham covenanted with God, but Moses did not. It was the Mosaic Covenant that was fraudulent, but the Abrahamic Covenant remains in effect to this day.

  Remember, Moses provided the blood of a “kid” — a captured goat. God provided a ram for the sacrifice for Abraham. A ram is a male sheep. It is likely that God provided a male lamb as the sacrifice, not a goat that would escape if not held, just as he would provide the Lamb of God for the final sacrifice; once and for all, on the Holy Cross.

  The Old Testament is Mosaic Law. The New Testament is finalization of the Abrahamic Covenant. (Jesus said, “It is finished.”) Just what then was the Mosaic Covenant? “Who (the Levitical priests) serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount: (Heb 8:5) The tabernacle and sacrifices therein where a pattern for better worship. What the priests would do was an example of what Jesus would do. Worship was but a shadow of things to come.

  In engineering, we would call the tabernacle and tabernacle worship a “protype” of things to come. Indeed, Mosaic Law was prototypical of Christian freedom. The difference? They were not commandments at all; they were the Ten Wills of God that He prescribed for eternal “health.”

  The New Covenant has the same Testament as the Old Covenant. The Old Testament tablets remain out there somewhere preserved until the Antichrist comes. (The archeologist, Rom Wyatt, claimed that they were discovered in Jeremiah’s Grotto that he said was beneath the true Golgotha). Now, since the crucifixion, the Mercy Seat has the blood of the Lamb of God on what was its clean side. If that is the case, the blood of Jesus finally bled onto the Testament, and the Will of God has been exercised years after it was probated with Moses as a witness.

  What was the “fault” with the first Covenant (Heb 6:7). It was sealed with the wrong blood and the wrong priest sealed it. It took the Priest on the Order of Melchizedek to bleed for mankind. He was to sprinkle His own blood on the Mercy Seat, and that He has done! (According to Wyatt, the Messiah’s blood was found and verified as supernatural blood that he obtained from the Mercy Seat in the Grotto.)

  The first Covenant is the second Covenant administered correctly and with a perfect sacrifice. How about the first Testament — The Ten Commandments — as Christians call them. They are not commandments at all, but the Ten Terms of God’s Will that are to be done in earth as in heaven.

  What about the Greatest Commandment? The Ways to love are enumerated on the tablets of the only Testament that ever existed.

  Perhaps now you understand the way to be born again. The Hebrews were saved from Pharaoh but their hearts remained in Egypt. Moses led them toward the Promise Land but they never got there. Their hearts were not in it. Sheep follow the Good Shepherd without prodding. The Testament is all about how we follow Jesus. Is it because of the Law? ? Is it just a Way to get to the Promise Land? Or is it to please God? Only the latter satisfies God’s Will for you!

(picture credit: amazingfacts.org)

tplease God? Only the latter satisfies God’s Will for you!