Moses instructed the Hebrews what to do when they passed over the Jordan River upon entering the Holy Land; to wit:
4 It shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. 5 And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. 6 Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones. (Deut 27:4-6)
Upon Mount Gerizim the Hebrews were to pronounce blessings, but curses on Mount Ebal. Moses had told them, since he would not be there to, “Keep all the commandments which I command you this day” (Deut 7:1). Remembering that the Law is not for the righteous but sinners, then it makes sense that Mount Ebal would need the Law. Perhaps the Two Tablets of Stone were the curses. Much later, Jews found out that beatitudes are blessings and Laws are curses:
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them… 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. (Gal 3:10,13)
The Law, even all ten of them, could not make anyone “whole;”
it took something else. It would not be water that would restore those who
wandered in the world (The Exodus). As in the days of Noah, it would take dry
ground. Moses knew that as well because water had not saved them crossing the
Red Sea, but dry land.
Rather, than “save,” preserve them until later applies
more, because the Hebrews of the Exodus, on the whole, made it into the “paradise”
of the Promised Land. Throughout scripture “wholeness” is the common thread.
God endeavored always to make things whole the way that He created it in
the beginning.
God, through Moses, planned ahead. When the Hebrews would cross
the “River of the Garden” (Naral Ha Yarden; The Jordan River) into Paradise,
they were instructed to erect “an altar of stones unto the Lord thy God.” Also,
that no iron tool would be used to construct the altar, and that it would be
covered with plaster, indubitably to preserve it through the ages. God would
provide both the whole stones and plaster that was abundant on that
mountain. The Hebrews would need to do no work but carry the Cross so to speak;
God would do it all!
The Hebrews would not even need to provide the plaster. God
selected Mount Ebel because it contained much natural plaster. One of the
curses would be, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth” (Exod 20:4).
The key word in that command is “graven.” God’s people would
not make gods by their own hands, using tools made by their hands. God would
provide the materials for the altar and the Hebrews would only have the faith that
God would. They would need to trust God. Since most of them who lived in sin were
not allowed in, the “congegaton” would be a regenerated (or made whole) for the
people who would come into Paradise.
They would make an altar to God, and not an image
of God. They were given strict instructions on how to honor God. They were
about to enter the land of Baal, and he would not be another god for them. Cursed
Canaan’s seed had been planted on virgin, holy soil of the Garden. Satan had
found a way back into Paradise after the flood.
Just what were the Hebrews doing with the altar? They were laying
claim to the “Foundation of Peace” (Jerusalem) on Earth and Good Will (agape
love) in the land that God had returned to His people.
Adam had been sent out of the Garden and Adam’s kind had been returned to their land… but only for those who were of God’s kind. Living in the land were whose kind? Satan’s!
Canaan was cursed. He had Satan in
him, and Canaan was the body in which Satan assumed control for of God’s realm, which was the
first step in Lucifer’s plan: “I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north” (Isa 14:13). Satan’s plan was well on
the way, but God ran interference for the Hebrews.
Mount Ebal was the Mount of the Congregation (har mo’ed) — the appointed mountain to the north. Mount Ebal was cursed because God had appointed that mountain forty years before as the gateway back to Paradise. Spiritually, there was a presence there. That place had been cursed.
The River of the Garden was most certainly the boundary to the Garden where
Adam was driven out. That cursed place would be protected from re-entry; to
wit: “So He (God) drove out the man (Adam); and He placed at the east of the
garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep
the Way of the Tree of Life. (capital letters the author’s).
Cherubim are a low order of angels dedicated to guarding and working. They were there to guard the way to the Tree of Life. That seems odd! God gave permission to eat freely of it, [i] and then He wanted it guarded to keep any who were unworthy from eating of it!
lol The
penalty for original sin was that Adam was cursed; he could no longer freely
eat of the Tree of Life because then he might live forever. Someone would have
to pay, and Christians are to remember who did! “Wherefore whosoever shall eat
this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord (The Tree of Life), unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27).
God made those who endured the exodus from Egypt and sin
worthy of entering in, but only those who trusted God rather than the poisonous
vipers. [ii]
Jesus made that the qualifier for rebirth: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Well, at
Mount Ebal, God provided the material, but the Hebrews lifted the rocks. They only
carried what God had provided. The Serpent’s Pole was carried with them, but that
would not suffice. They built the “Church” of Jesus of Lively Stones provided
by God on which Jesus is the Cornerstone.
That altar at Mount Ebal was not only an altar to the Lord
but also the cornerstone to Paradise. It signified Jesus — the Rock of
Salvation. No longer would they look at the brazen Serpent with that image so lifeless; they could look at an image of the “Assembly” that Lucifer desired to
rule. The Hebrews assembled the rocks that God provided and effectively
restored the “Gate” to Paradise. No longer would cherubim keep Adam’s kind out,
but the straight Gate to enter in would be built that day.
They were instructed to use unhewn stones. They were to
remain whole. As “Lively Stones” Christians are to do the same: “Ye also, as
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5). It was
not only an altar that was built on Mount Ebal, but a “spiritual house” not
made of trees and gold but open air and peace. God was breathing life back into
Adam as Adam’s kind was allowed back in. Those who had endured to the end of their
exodus from sin were worthy of salvation. [iii]
Satan had been defeated. The cherubim guarding the way to the Tree of Life were gone. The Anak (giant Nephilim) were nowhere to be seen! Trust in God had defeated the “cherubim” in those giants who guarded the Way. And what is more, the Canaanites with the seed of the Wicked One in them would be dispersed to fight another day.
Rather than Lucifer as head of the “congregation”
assembled there, God would remain in charge! He symbolically made the nation of
Israel whole (for a time). The Tree of Life would be honored again in the
Garden Paradise! Many of the “congregation” would continue walking the Way to
the Tree of Life and take charge of the city, now Jerusalem, right there in the
midst of the Garden.
Baal was destroyed. The Promised Land was again theirs for
the having. Satan had been defeated for a time as his “garden” perished and
Paradise restored. The whole rocks of the altar represented whole Adam. Adam
was made whole; in the image of God; with perfect mind, flesh, and Spirit. When
Jesus made the diseased whole again, He would begin the generation process
again and theologians would call it “regeneration,” but not all the way back to the
innocent child from the womb but as it was in the Garden.
During the ministry of Jesus, “When the men of that place
had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and
brought unto him all that were diseased; And besought him that they might only
touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole”
(Mat 14:35-36). No doctor formed, or reformed, lol them. Jesus did all the work! Just
as the altar was made with whole stones, the Church would be built of whole
Living Stones!
Made whole is not just their disease cured and a
return to health, but that they were made entire again as God intended. The
Greek word for “whole” is diasozo. Sozo means “safe.” Dio
is “accounted of” (Strong’s Dictionary). Thus, diasozo is “accounted as saved,”
or “made safe.” God would keep them safe until, at death, their souls would be
saved and at the rapture, their flesh would be saved.
Before entering the Paradise in heaven, they would be made
whole by Jesus: “The dead in Christ shall rise first.” [iv] That
is God making whole according to His design intent. When those who
sought Jesus were made whole, it did not occur right then. Of course, the biological
disease was cured but the disease of sin would return. They were given perseverance
to endure all that Satan would throw at them until the end; then they “shall be
saved.”
Making whole is not by the works of oneself or
others. Jesus alone makes whole again. “Wholeness” is the image in which God
created Adam’s kind — of like mind with the Father, with the Spirit like the Holy
Ghost of Jesus, and with glorified resurrected flesh as Jesus would have. Why
is death gain? Away from the presence of Satan. The wholeness without him comes
to completion.
What about the plaster that would preserve the altar that
the Hebrews built? It was plaster. That altar is long gone because the Jews eroded
the spiritual intent. If the altar was the image of the invisible God, then the
plaster would be the image of His Spirit. The Holy Ghost is the “plaster” of
Christians and Satan can erode it as well. The unpardonable sin is blaspheming the
Holy Ghost. [v]
The unpardonable sin for the Jews was allowing those who encroached upon the
Way to the Tree of Life to gradually distress the plaster until all the rocks
have fallen down. The Jews blasphemed the Holy Ghost that Jesus gave up to
preserve until He returns for them.
God had Jesus in mind when he sent Adam out of the Garden,
and Adam’s kind when He allowed them to return. By whose Name were they allowed
back in? Joshua, the very Name of God who is called “Jesus.” Note that they did
not erect the Two Tablets of Stone, but an image of grace — the very
stones that would hold the Cross of Jesus.
And just where was Jesus baptized? Perhaps right there. He took on the “plaster” that was long gone. That altar was an image of the invisible God. The Holy Spirit was accounted for.
And what happened to Jesus at the River of the Garden? “The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:22). That plastered altar was the shape of Jesus then, and at His baptism, His true shape was revealed, and also, God restored the “plaster” that had disappeared so long ago!
(picture credit: Heavenly Gifts USA; "Plaster of Jesus")
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