- Aug 14, 2024
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Belief in the Son of Man.
What does it mean to believe in Jesus as the "Son of Man?" Well let's take a different way of looking at it, as opposed to the conventional evangelical approach. Let's look at it through the lens of the Tabernacle structure in the OT Law.
Let's say you, as a common Israelite, choose to accept the Covenant of God's Law, and accept His rituals of the priesthood and the Tabernacle. You believe in what the High Priest and the other priests are doing. They are dressed up in regalia to depict what Christ, our High Priest, will do under the New Covenant.
We believe that the priests, dressed in white linen, approach the burnt altar, and present our fallen carnal lives, destined to death, to a ritual of sacrifice designed to bring atonement for us. You and I died there and leave it in the priest's hands to further reach out to God for mercy on His Mercy Seat.
Following the Altar the priest washes away the blood at the Laver and becomes clean on our behalf, presenting himself as an object of faith for us in our uncleanness. Following this the priest enters into the Tabernacle and the Holy Place, where he enjoys the light of God's Presence and the food on the Table of Bread. Vicariously, the old man (us), being dead, enters into new life in the Holy Place and experience, along with the priest, the light and food of God's word and presence.
As the priest continues on to the Altar of Incense, our death is once again confirmed, and our new life, lived vicariously through the priest, offers the aroma of praise and prayer to God, pleasing God. The New Life we experience in this priesthood is here in the Holy Place after we left our old lives outside at the Burnt Altar and got cleaned up for entry at the Laver.
But it is the High Priest who alone enters into the Holy of Holies and the Ark of God's Covenant. It displays the fact that though there were these limitations under the Old Covenant, once the Veil is torn, a New Covenant takes effect through a different kind of High Priest, the Messiah Jesus.
And now we live vicariously through him, believing that he went through these various stages in the New Covenant sense, ultimately tearing the veil and introducing in himself the New Covenant of Eternal Salvation. Whereas the Old Covenant only brought a temporary reprieve, it was all intended to prepare the way for the means to Eternal Life.
This is sort of what Jesus meant when he called upon us to "believe in him." He wants us to believe in his priesthood under the New Covenant so that we may enjoy, through him, Eternal Life. We now live in a New Testament "Holy Place," and give the Light of our New life to others.
And we partake of the Bread of Life from Christ, our High Priest, to enjoy his spiritual life every day. We can emit this light ourselves, and also feed others, now that we've become priests, of a kind, having entered into Christ, our substitute High Priest. Then we can acknowledge that our Life comes from Christ, to whom alone belongs all of the Glory.
What does it mean to believe in Jesus as the "Son of Man?" Well let's take a different way of looking at it, as opposed to the conventional evangelical approach. Let's look at it through the lens of the Tabernacle structure in the OT Law.
Let's say you, as a common Israelite, choose to accept the Covenant of God's Law, and accept His rituals of the priesthood and the Tabernacle. You believe in what the High Priest and the other priests are doing. They are dressed up in regalia to depict what Christ, our High Priest, will do under the New Covenant.
We believe that the priests, dressed in white linen, approach the burnt altar, and present our fallen carnal lives, destined to death, to a ritual of sacrifice designed to bring atonement for us. You and I died there and leave it in the priest's hands to further reach out to God for mercy on His Mercy Seat.
Following the Altar the priest washes away the blood at the Laver and becomes clean on our behalf, presenting himself as an object of faith for us in our uncleanness. Following this the priest enters into the Tabernacle and the Holy Place, where he enjoys the light of God's Presence and the food on the Table of Bread. Vicariously, the old man (us), being dead, enters into new life in the Holy Place and experience, along with the priest, the light and food of God's word and presence.
As the priest continues on to the Altar of Incense, our death is once again confirmed, and our new life, lived vicariously through the priest, offers the aroma of praise and prayer to God, pleasing God. The New Life we experience in this priesthood is here in the Holy Place after we left our old lives outside at the Burnt Altar and got cleaned up for entry at the Laver.
But it is the High Priest who alone enters into the Holy of Holies and the Ark of God's Covenant. It displays the fact that though there were these limitations under the Old Covenant, once the Veil is torn, a New Covenant takes effect through a different kind of High Priest, the Messiah Jesus.
And now we live vicariously through him, believing that he went through these various stages in the New Covenant sense, ultimately tearing the veil and introducing in himself the New Covenant of Eternal Salvation. Whereas the Old Covenant only brought a temporary reprieve, it was all intended to prepare the way for the means to Eternal Life.
This is sort of what Jesus meant when he called upon us to "believe in him." He wants us to believe in his priesthood under the New Covenant so that we may enjoy, through him, Eternal Life. We now live in a New Testament "Holy Place," and give the Light of our New life to others.
And we partake of the Bread of Life from Christ, our High Priest, to enjoy his spiritual life every day. We can emit this light ourselves, and also feed others, now that we've become priests, of a kind, having entered into Christ, our substitute High Priest. Then we can acknowledge that our Life comes from Christ, to whom alone belongs all of the Glory.
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