Did Our Messiah Flunk Engineering 101?

E-mail Yeshiva/School of the Prophets, Part II © June 2000
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!
The Secret of the Latter Rain/Reign.... REVEALED!!

Warning: The contents of this post will CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER: DON’T READ IT if you’re happy with the way you are! “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; And also on my menservants and my maidservants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
Joel 2:28, 29

Our Messiah's curriculum vitae lists several accomplishments which, at least on the surface, appear to indicate reasonable engineering skill:
• creating the material universe from nothing, by His spoken Word
• hanging millions of gigantic orbs in space from nothing, and initiating and continuing their orderly motion
• designing and constructing cosmic heating, lighting, and gravitational systems that function without interruption millennia after millennia
• designing and delivering to planet Earth an incredible liquid called water, which, contrary to all established norms of physics, actually reduces in density as it moves from the liquid to the solid state. This novel feature allows fish to survive during northern winters, and also allows passage over the surface of frozen bodies of water, amongst other things
• conceiving and creating a most unusual state of matter called LIFE, and then displaying this marvellous phenomena in a myriad of beautiful and wonderful forms, including one in His Own Image
• and although this list could go on forever, we will conclude with just one more final point: assisting in the support of His earthly family's modest lifestyle by working with Joseph as a carpenter, thus demonstrating at least some ability in the areas of residential construction and furniture making.

It is in the last area mentioned, however, namely, furniture making, that something has come up which might lead us to question our Messiah's engineering competency. Strong evidence exists that He had a hand in the design of a unique and curious piece of furniture called the Ark of the Covenant ("All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made" John 1:3). The structural integrity of this piece of furniture has never been faulted, but the design aspect does raise some questions. You see, the Ark of the Covenant was basically a box or chest with a golden lid and with staves attached to facilitate portability. This box contained the two STONE Tablets of the Testament (inscribed with the 10 Words or 10 Commandments).... so far, so good.... but then affixed to the SIDE of the Ark in some peculiar fashion was the Scroll of the Torah, or the "Law" of Moshe [Moses], which included the Statutes and Judgements, and an internalized re-copying of the 10 Words as found on the STONE Tablets of the Testament. All of which beg the question.... why was not the Ark of the Covenant designed in such a way that the Tablets and the Torah Scroll could BOTH be safely placed IN the Ark, where they would be equally well protected and out of harm's way? Surely not that much more material would have been required to construct an Ark of sufficient size to contain BOTH items! Was the Designer just possibly a bit short-sighted when He drafted the plans for this piece of furniture (in spite of the evidence mentioned earlier testifying to His prowess and cunning).... or could it be that concealed in the design of the Ark is a Truth so sublime and uplifting that it will literally usher us into the Kingdom of Heaven and the Presence of our Creators? Indeed, as we shall see, it is the latter option that proves to be the case.

Various proposals and comments have been offered to explain the design of the Ark of the Covenant:
• since the 10 Words were written on STONE, but the Statutes and the Judgements of the Torah were written on animal skin (by Divine Decree given on Mt. Sinai!).... it has been suggested that the 10 Words were eternal, and thus were written on hard, strong, long-lasting stone.... but that the Statutes and Judgements were temporary and thus were written on the softer, weaker, and more perishable animal skin. Continuing in this vein, some have felt that the Torah Scroll was affixed to the SIDE of the Ark so that it could be easily and conveniently clipped off and discarded (preferably by nailing it to the cross — Colossians 2:14-16 [King James MIS-Translation]) when the Messiah arrived to deliver us from bondage to the "Law" of Moshe. This view is preferred by many SDA Reform brethren, Structure SDA brethren, and leading evangelical theologians.
• some have felt that the Torah Scroll was affixed to the Ark so that when those stiff-necked, unruly and rebellious Jews misbehaved, you could quickly get your hands on the Scroll and "throw the book at 'em!" This view is championed by those who quote Deuteronomy 31:26 "....that it may be there as a witness against you" and from it deduce that the Statutes and Judgements of the Torah are contrary to us and against us, and need to be "gotten out of the way" before we can be truly blessed, happy, and enlightened "new covenant" souls.
• some few, including the Jews and Ellen White, have recognized that a Divine Mystery was concealed in the design of the Ark. Sister White hinted at this when she wrote in Sons and Daughters of God p. 172: "He (Moshe) placed the book in the hands of men in the sacred office and requested that, for safekeeping, it should be put in the SIDE of the Ark, for Elohim's (God's) care was continually upon that sacred chest.... therefore the book of Moshe was preserved in a MOST SACRED PLACE for future reference" [emphasis supplied].

"And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain" Exodus 25:40. The profound hidden meaning of our Messiah's design of the Ark of the Covenant can only be found if the same Messiah who showed the pattern to Moshe reveals to us the meaning of that pattern. We must be willing to do our part and dig deep below the surface of the Word, searching for truth as for hidden treasure. Let us pray for Divine enlightenment as we launch upon this incredibly serious and life-changing quest:

"Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed and reverenced be Your Great and Holy Name. We thank You for Your love and the Gift of Your Son, Yahuahshua (Hebrew form of the Messiah's Sacred Name) to redeem the fallen family of man. We give thanks also for the inspired object lesson of the Tabernacle and it furnishings, and we petition You for the Wisdom You have promised in Your Word so that we can understand this object lesson. We thank You for so graciously granting this request. Hallelu-Yah!"

Several related concepts must be understood and integrated if we are to grasp the hidden meaning concealed in the design of the Ark:
• As well as the apparent-on-the-surface function of the "Law" to convey instruction from Elohim to mankind telling us how to live and worship, we must also see that the "Law" is the transcript of Elohim's [God's] character, and also describes Elohim's appearance and schedule of redemptive activities.
• The purpose of the "Law" is to restore/reproduce in mankind the lost image of Elohim.... thus revealing through its mitzvot (plural form of mitzvah: means "precepts") the very nature and work of Elohim.
• The Jew's understanding of the reproductive work of the 'Law*' is revealed in a basic institution of their life cycle/worship program known as the bar [son] mitzvah or bat [daughter] mitzvah. This service formally marks the "coming of age" of a son or daughter at which time he/she is considered a son/daughter of the mitzvot or precepts, of the "Law," and thus is "born again" of the "Law." After the Messiah was taken to the temple at the age of 12 for His bar mitzvah, His parents lost track of Him, and anxiously searched for His whereabouts. When they found Him, explaining the Scriptures to the temple worship leaders, they rebuked Him for leaving their company.... and in turn, He gently rebuked them, saying, "Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" Luke 2:49. He understood (but His parents did not) that His bar mitzvah marked the point when He came formally under His Heavenly Father's authority, i.e. He was "born again" of the precepts, or mitzvot, of His Heavenly Parents.
• All sons and daughters come from parents, specifically, a father and a mother, which leads us to understand that the mitzvot of the "Law" are the father and the mother of the newly-born members of the Kingdom/Family of Heaven.
• After learning that the mitzvot, or precepts, of the "Law" are the parents, or father and mother, of the True Worshiper, we are then moved to query as to which mitzvot function as the Spiritual (or Heavenly) Father, and which function as the Spiritual (or Heavenly) Mother. Several lines of evidence emerge to enlighten us on this matter.
• The 10 Words (10 Commandments) were written on STONE, but the Statutes and Judgements of the Torah were written on animal skin (by divine decree given on Mt. Sinai, as mentioned earlier). Gender associations with stone and skin are not terribly difficult to make:
- Adam was created from stone; "dust" is simply a term for fine particles of stone
- the 10 Words on stone are referred to as the Tablets of the TESTAMENT, a word coming from the same root word as the term referring to a part of a man's reproductive anatomy
- no man who is damaged in the stones (Leviticus 21:20) was suited to officiate at the temple service
- interesting skin, on the other hand, is something immediately associateable with the feminine, and, to reinforce the association, the Scroll containing the Statutes and Judgements is referred to as the Scroll of the TORAH, the word TORAH (or,"teachings") having the "-ah" ending sound which is feminine in Hebrew
• We should at this point be ready to recognize a basic concept: the 10 Words on stone declare rock solid foundational principles, while the Statutes and Judgements serve as helper mitzvot showing how to live out in daily life the foundational principles of the 10 Words.
• Keeping all these points in mind, we then recall heaven's first revelation of masculine and feminine (both created in the image of Elohim, by the way: Genesis 5:1, 2). Adam is created first, of stone particles - as the 10 Words were given first at Sinai, and then Eve is created of a rib taken from Adam's SIDE, to be his helpmate --just as the Statutes and Judgements of Torah were given after the 10 Words to be a helpmate to them; and, just as Eve is brought forth from the SIDE of Adam, so the Statutes and Judgements of the Torah are brought forth from the SIDE of the Ark of the Covenant! What a blessed and profound revelation, from which flow many valuable and useful insights! We now see that our Messiah most certainly did not flunk Engineering 101; rather, sadly, we see that our religious "leaders" and "theologians" and "Biblical Research Institutes" have miserably flunked Torah 101.... and to add insult to injury, they have consistently for many years persecuted those who would enter into life:
- Luke 11:52: "Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."
- Deuteronomy 4:5, 6: "Behold, I have taught you Statutes and Judgments, even as Yahuah (Hebrew form of the Heavenly Father's Sacred Name) my Elohim commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these Statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."
- Proverbs 3:13-18: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that retaineth her."

With our eyes opened by Heavenly assistance (Psalm 119:18), let us now see some of the things which our Heavenly Parents intend that we should understand from this revelation:
• Just as only the feminine can bring a child to birth, so we see that no soul can be "born again" into the Kingdom of Heaven without the help of the Statutes and Judgements of the feminine Scroll of the Torah ("Law") of Moshe. No wonder the Messiah said in Matthew 5:17-19: "Don't ever think that I came to set aside Moses' Teachings or the Prophets. I didn't-come to set them aside but to make them come true. I can guarantee this truth: Until the earth and the heavens disappear, neither a period nor a comma will disappear from Moses' Teachings before everything has come true. So whoever sets aside any command that seems unimportant and teaches others to do the same will be unimportant in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever does and teaches what the commands say will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven." God's Word Translation
• When the Messiah told Nicodemus that he must be BORN AGAIN of the Ruach ha Kodesh (the Holy Spirit) before he could see/enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:1-10), we can see that the Ruach ha Kodesh is identified as a feminine member of the Family of Heaven, and we can now understand that Her work involves the implementation of the Statutes and Judgements of Torah.
• Just as both masculine and feminine are required to produce children in our carnal earthly sphere, so both the masculine 10 Words and the feminine Statutes and Judgements are required to bring forth children for the Kingdom of Heaven. Truly, as our Messiah declared, "What Yahuah hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matthew 19:6).
• While the marital union and the making of babies are a part of parenting, in reality these phases of relationship between masculine and feminine simply create the recipients for the labour of love which is the really critical part of parenting, namely, the instruction from father and mother in the ways of righteousness. As we now see this principle in operation with both our earthly and Heavenly parents, we can see why the 5th Word — "Honour thy father and thy mother" — was placed at the point of transition between those mitzvot which define our responsibilities to Elohim and those which define our responsibilities to our fellow men.... because, in fact, that 5th Word belongs in both categories!
• We can now understand why the Ruach ha Kodesh was poured out on Shavuot (Pentecost), which commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Truly, as Scripture tells us in Acts 5:32 "The Ruach ha Kodesh is given to those who obey." As we ponder these things, we come to see that, spiritually speaking, the animal skin of the Torah Scroll is the same as the animal skin used by the Creators to make clothing to cover the guilty first couple, and that one glorious day Heaven will re-clothe with garments of light those faithful souls who walk according to the Statutes and Judgements of Torah!
• Just as Chavah (Eve) derived her existence and reason for existence from Adam, so the Statutes and Judgements of Torah derive their existence from the 10 Words, and their work is to establish the principles of the 10 Words. This relationship of the helper Statutes to the 10 Words of the Decalogue, if understood properly, will completely illuminate and illustrate the role of the wife in a heaven-ordained marriage relationship. This role is modelled by the Ruach ha Kodesh Herself in Her relationship to Her Betrothed, our Messiah, as explained in John 16:13 - please note that all references to gender in the following translations have been corrected to reflect current better understanding than that conveyed by the ambiguous Greek manuscripts:
- "However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, She will guide you into all truth; for She will not speak on Her own initiative but will only say what She hears. She will also announce to you the events of the future" (Jewish New Testament).
- "However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, She shall guide you into all truth; for She will not speak from Herself; but whatever things She shall hear, these She shall speak: and She shall declare to you the things that are to come" (The Sacred Scriptures, Bethel Edition).
- "When the Spirit of Truth comes, She will guide you into the full truth. She won't speak on Her own. She will speak what She hears, and will tell you about things to come" (God's Word Translation).
A worthy example, indeed, to be emulated by the wives and mothers of this generation, most of which prefer to "do their own thing" and "assert their individuality" rather than support and carry out the wishes and plans of their husbands for themselves and their children.
• In that birth is only from the female, we can see that the outpouring of the Latter Rain of the Ruach ha Kodesh is intimately connected to walking in the Statutes and Judgements of Torah, and we can appreciate why Malachi tells us that in order to prepare for the great and dreadful day of Yahuah, we must "Remember .... the law of Moshe My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel -- Statutes and Judgements." (Malachi 4:4) and why Ezekiel tells us that in the end time when the Almighty regathers Israel out of all countries into their own land, He will give "a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you: and 1 will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my Statutes, and ye shall keep my Judgements, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your Elohim" (Ezekiel 36:26-28).

Keeping all these points in mind, we view again the Ark of the Covenant, with the stone Tablets of the Testament IN the Ark, and with the animal skin Scroll of the Torah in the SIDE of the Ark. Slowly, mysteriously, the Ark with its contents fades from view, to be replaced before our wondering gaze with a vision of our Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Mother, working together in Holy Harmony to instruct and guide us in the ways of the Kingdom of Heaven! Then, as mysteriously as the vision appeared, it fades from our view, to be replaced once again by the Ark of the Covenant, Heaven's disguise for our Heavenly Parents, whose children we become as we walk in the ways of Torah.

Please consider this post as your personal invitation from the Kingdom of Heaven to "Remember the Law of Moshe, My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel ~ Statutes and Judgements," and to obey those Statutes and Judgements, so that you may receive the outpouring of the Ruach ha Kodesh in Latter Rain/Reign abundance! (see Acts 5:32). For Heaven's sake, listen to your Heavenly Mother.... let Her reign.... or you'll never see the Kingdom of Heaven! (see John 3:3-7)

One good way to begin your walk in the Statutes and Judgements of Torah is to observe the annual festivals, or mo'edim, of Israel. These helper Statutes to the 4th Word will provide you with an opportunity to assemble with like-minded brothers and sisters and the Ruach ha Kodesh Herself, and to learn more about the principles of Heaven's government. If you are unfamiliar with the festivals of Israel, call today for your copy of the basic Torah study guide entitled "Open THOU Mine Eyes": first copy free, subsequent orders of 10 or more copies at US$2/copy post paid.

NOW AVAILABLE ON CD! A much expanded version of "Open THOU Mine Eyes" along with Bonus Study "Did Our Messiah Flunk Engineering 101?" are now available on a 2 1/2 hour 2-CD set designed for your own personal study and particularly for use as a tool to help you share Hebrew Roots understanding with friends, relatives, and even enemies! Handing out this CD set is an effective way to comply with our Master's instructions in Matthew 5:17-19 and Matthew 28:19,20, and could very well result in more stars on your crown when the Master hands out rewards for services rendered. Quantity pricing for this 2-CD set is as follows:

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This study is copyrighted, but only to prevent for-profit copying; our Master Yahuahshua said, "Freely you have received, freely give" (Mattityahu [Matthew] 10:8), and the reader is hereby permitted and encouraged to copy this study for personal use, or for free or at cost distribution, provided it is copied in its entirety with no changes and that all copies include the author's name and contact information as provided at the end of the study. I would like to remind the reader, however, that the Messiah's statement which opens this paragraph works both ways. If you have been blessed by this study, I would be much obliged if you would freely share with me other facets of truth or useful study materials that the Ruach HaKodesh has brought to your attention. Thank you, and Shalom!

"My son, keep thy father's commandments, and forsake not the law of thy mother" (Proverbs 6:20).

"'I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my Statutes' (Ezekiel 36:27). This is the descent of the Holy Spirit"
(Review and Herald 10/13/1904: Ellen White)

Ron Buhler -- Bible Student

"Salvation is of the Yahudi (Jews).... We know what we worship" Yahchanan (John) 4:22