Genesis 22; John 3:16
The Moriah Miracle
DAY 80
THE BRIDEGROOM'S VISITATION
COME,” SAID THE teacher. “We’re going to see the beginning of a wedding.”
We journeyed through the desert until we arrived at the tent village of the bridegroom where we watched the events unfold as uninvited and mostly unnoticed guests. It all focused on a young man and the entourage that surrounded and followed him.
“That’s the bridegroom,” said the teacher, “with his relatives and friends.”
The procession made its way to the end of the camp where the bridegroom got on a camel and continued, while the others followed behind on foot. We joined in. No one seemed to mind. We walked for about half an hour until we arrived at our destination, another tent village where a small crowd was waiting. The bridegroom dismounted the camel, was welcomed by the group, and then led to one of the tents.
“What you just witnessed,” said the teacher, “was the journey of the bridegroom. It goes back to the Hebrew wedding of ancient times. In order for there to be a marriage, the bridegroom had to first make a journey from his house to the house of the bride. It didn’t matter where she lived, across the camp or across the desert; wherever she was, he had to journey to her.”
“And there’s a mystery in it?” I asked.
“The bridegroom is a shadow of God. And we are each born to be the bride. But in order for there to be a marriage, the joining of the two, the bridegroom must always journey from his house to the house of the bride. So according to the mystery, two thousand years ago the Bridegroom, God, undertook the journey of the bridegroom. He traveled not across a city or desert, but across time and space . . . from heaven, the house of the Bridegroom, to earth, the house of the bride.
“Does the bride ever journey to the bridegroom?” I asked.
“Never,” he replied. “And so in the same way, you can never reach God or heaven on your own. But you don’t have to. It is the Bridegroom who journeys to the bride. It is God who journeys to you. He comes to your tent, to your life . . . no matter where you are, no matter what your life is like, no matter how far away you are from Him. He still comes to your house, to wherever you are. And no matter where you find yourself, He will be the One who comes to you . . . and who knocks on the door of your heart.”
“And what does the bride do?” I asked. “What are we supposed to do?”
“Open up,” said the teacher. “You open up . . . and you let Him in.”
The Mission: Today, encounter the Bridegroom. But instead of trying to reach Him, let Him reach you, just where you are, just as you are.
Matthew 25:1–13; John 3:29; 16:28
The Visit of the Bridegroom
DAY 81
THE CELESTIAL CURRENCY EXCHANGE
WE WERE SITTING in his study when the teacher got up from his desk, went over to one of his cabinets, opened the drawer, pulled out a container the size of a shoebox, placed it on his desk, and asked me to open it.
“Go ahead,” said the teacher. “Take them out. Look at them.”
So I did. The box was filled with the paper currency of many nations.
“Souvenirs,” he said, “of my travels in the nations. It probably surprises you, but I haven’t always been here.”
He paused for a moment while I put the paper bill I was examining back in the box.
“If you travel to different nations,” he said, “you have to convert the currency of the place you’re leaving into the currency of your destination. Now what if you were going to a place from which you would never return? And what if in that place your native currency was of no value? And what if it was impossible to transport anything from your native land to that place? What would you do?”
“Convert everything I had into the currency of my destination because anything not converted would be lost.”
“And where would you do all the converting?”
“I’d have to do it my native land, before I left on the journey.”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “And this is why currency conversion is critical for the children of the kingdom. You see, we’re all going on a journey. We’re all leaving the land of our origins for another realm. And the currency of the earth, of all we possess on earth, is of no value there. And we can’t bring any of it with us. And so whatever earthly currency we hold on to, we lose. But who are the wise? They are the ones who in the days before the journey make the exchange. They convert their earthly currency into heavenly currency.”
“How?” I asked. “How do you make the exchange?”
“You give your earthly currency, what you possess in this world, to the purposes of heaven, to the kingdom. And you do so without getting any earthly return. And since no one knows the exact time of their departure, you make the most of your time and convert as much as you can into the heavenly currency. For it is only wisdom,” said the teacher, “to exchange that which you can never keep to obtain that which you can never lose.”
The Mission: Today, start your heavenly currency exchange. Give of your time, your energy, your wealth, and your love to the purposes of heaven.
Proverbs 10:2; 19:17; Matthew 6:19–21
Tithes to Jerusalem
DAY 82
THE WAY OF THE YASHAR
WE WERE STANDING on a ridge overlooking a vast desert expanse. The teacher began reciting the words of the prophet: “‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”’ How does the prophet describe the way of God?”
“The way of God is straight,” I replied.
“That’s right,” he said. “And in physics, in geometry, in space, what is the shortest distance between two points?”
“A straight line.”
“And not just in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm as well. The way to walk the path of God is to walk straight.”
“How do you walk straight in the spiritual realm?”
“A straight line is a consistent line. It has only one direction. The opposite of a straight line is a crooked or wavering line, a line that’s inconsistent and follows more than one direction. But the more the line wavers, the longer it takes to get to the same point. So the more you waver on your path in God, the more you veer back and forth, the more time it takes, the more effort you must put in, and the more energy you must expend to get to the same place. And the less you will go forward. And in the end, the wavering and crooked road is the much harder path, and the straight path, the much easier. For it is the straight path that takes less time, with less effort and less energy spent. And it’s the straight path that allows you to go farther.”
“How exactly do you apply that in the spiritual realm?”
“You walk with a single aim, a single motive, a single goal, and a single heart. You eliminate any wavering to the right or the left of that goal. And whatever doesn’t line up with your calling, with your faith, with your convictions, and your purpose, you eliminate it from your life. You eliminate it from your actions, your words, your thoughts. When you walk straight, everything lines up—your words with your actions, your actions with your faith, your life with your heart. And one more thing,” he said, “In the prophecy, the word straight is the Hebrew yashar. And yashar also means good, upright, pleasant, and prosperous. And those are the blessings that are given to those who ‘make straight’ their path and walk in the way of the yashar.”
The Mission: Today, make it your aim to eliminate all wavering in your life and whatever is not in line with God’s will. Walk and live in a straight line.
Isaiah 40:3–5; Hebrews 12:13
Making Straight the Crook
DAY 83
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF EXISTENCE
IT WAS NIGHT. We were outside under a clear, star-filled sky.
“The law of cause and effect,” he said. “It lies at the foundation of science, logic, and reason: For every effect, there must b
e a cause. For every phenomenon, there must be a reason. Nothing can exist without a cause behind it. It would go against reason, science, and logic. You cannot have something from nothing. Everything has to have a cause.”
“That sounds logical enough,” I said.
“But if everything has a cause, then what is the cause for everything? What is the cause for the universe? The universe exists. So, what is the cause behind its existence? What caused the universe itself? What caused everything to exist?”
“The big bang?” I said.
“And what caused the big bang? If it’s the beginning, then it came from nothing. But if it came from nothing, it has no cause. And if it has no cause, then it can’t exist. Then it’s magic.”
“But what if the universe always was?”
“If it always was, then it had no beginning. And if it has no beginning, then it never started. And if it never started, it can’t exist. Again . . . magic. Either the universe began from nothing and thus cannot exist, or it has no beginning and never began, in which case it can’t exist.”
“So we can’t exist . . . but we do exist. Then what’s the answer?”
“The answer can only be that which cannot be explained yet explains all things . . . that which you cannot make sense of, yet which makes sense of all things . . . Only an uncaused cause could cause the universe to exist. And only that which exists beyond the laws of the universe could cause the laws of the universe to exist.”
“Which is . . . ”
“God,” said the teacher. “By definition, it is God, I Am, the One you can’t explain but who explains all things. It is His unfathomability that causes our impossibility to exist. The universe can never make sense of itself by itself. Nor can you ever make sense of your life by your life . . . or by your life give your life meaning. The only way to find the meaning and purpose of your life is to find it in a mystery . . . the mystery of Him . . . and to make that mystery the cause of everything you do and the reason for everything you are.”
The Mission: Today, ponder the miracle of every moment you have. Treasure each moment and make the most of it. And make Him the cause of all you do.
Genesis 1:1–2; John 1:1–3; Hebrews 11:3
The Unknowable Love
DAY 84
THE KNEELING GOD
IT WAS A time of worship. Everyone was gathered under the large open-air tent, praying, worshipping, singing, being silent, as each was led. In the midst of it all, I noticed the teacher dropping to his knees and staying on his knees for some time in silence. It struck me. Later that day, when I saw him outside with no one around, I approached him.
“I noticed you were kneeling during worship,” I said. “I never understood the purpose of it. Why does one kneel?”
“To kneel,” he said, “is to lower yourself, to humble yourself. Kneeling is an act of submission. You’re submitting to another. I was led to kneel down, to humble myself before the Almighty, to submit myself to His will.”
“I’ve never heard it explained that way before.”
“Do you know what the word for bless is in the Hebrew Scriptures?”
“I have no idea.”
“Barach. It means to bless but it also means to kneel. And who is it that blesses more than anyone else? Whose nature is it to bless?”
“God.”
“And what is the greatest blessing He gave?”
“Salvation . . . redemption . . . eternal life.”
“So God’s nature is to bless, and the greatest blessing He could give is the blessing of salvation. But to bless is to barach, and to barach is to kneel, and to kneel is to lower yourself.”
“So for God to give us the blessing of salvation, He has to lower Himself . . . ”
“Yes. And to give us the greatest blessing,” said the teacher, “would require the greatest lowering of Himself, the greatest descending.”
“So He descended to this world and humbled Himself in the form of man.”
“Yes, and to kneel is also to submit. And so He submitted Himself to man’s mockery, abuse, and condemnation. He submitted Himself to judgment, to crucifixion, and to death—the ultimate lowering... the cosmic kneeling . . . the kneeling of God. And yet in the kneeling of God, comes the barach, the blessing, salvation. To bless is to kneel. And He who kneels is He who blesses. And by His kneeling . . . we are blessed. And in light of such blessing we can do nothing less than kneel before Him and bow down our lives.”
The Mission: Whom do you need to bless? Be a blessing to them today. As God humbled Himself to bless you, humble yourself likewise, to become a blessing to others.
Psalm 95:6–8; Philippians 2:4–10; James 4:6–10
The Purple Crimson King I–II
DAY 85
THE MYSTERY OF EPHRATAH
WE SAT AROUND a low wooden table on which rested an oil lamp, a metal goblet, and a plate with two pieces of matzah, unleavened bread.
“Every Passover Seder,” said the teacher, “has these two elements, the bread and the wine . . . so too at the Last Supper, Messiah’s last Passover on earth.”
He then lifted up the plate with the unleavened bread.
“In Hebrew, the word for bread is lechem. Messiah took the bread, and then said an ancient Hebrew blessing that gives thanks for lechem.” The teacher then recited the Hebrew blessing, and we partook of the bread together. “Then,” said the teacher, “Messiah took the cup and gave thanks. He said the ancient Hebrew blessing over the peree hagafen, the fruit of the vine, then gave the cup to His disciples as a symbol of His blood.” The teacher then recited the Hebrew blessing over the cup, and we partook.
“The two elements,” said the teacher, “the bread and the fruit of the vine, the lechem and the peree, the lechem, representing His body, and the peree, representing His blood. And now a question: When was His body and blood first revealed? When did He first appear in flesh and blood?”
“At the nativity,” I said, “in Bethlehem.”
“And what is Bethlehem? Bethlehem means the Place of Lechem, the House of Bread. So the place of His birth, where He first appeared in bodily form, contains the same word He spoke over the bread that represented His body, lechem, Bethlehem. But Bethlehem had another name,” said the teacher. “It was also called Ephratah, ‘Bethlehem Ephratah.’ Do you know where Ephratah comes from? It comes from the same word from which we get peree, the same word He spoke over the cup that represented His blood. So the place of His birth, where He first appeared in flesh and blood, contains the same word He spoke over the wine that represented His blood, peree.”
“So the place where Messiah first appeared in flesh and blood bears the name of the symbols of His flesh and blood, Bethlehem Ephratah, the bread and the fruit of the vine. It was all there from the beginning.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “as His death was there from His birth. For the sacrifice comes to be sacrificed. So He lived His life as a gift, to be given, a sacrifice of love . . . Let us do likewise.”
The Mission: What gifts, resources, and abilities do you possess? Turn each one into a gift to be given and seek today every chance to give of them.
Micah 5:2; Luke 22:14–20
Ephratah: The Mystery
DAY 86
NISAN
WE WERE WALKING along a barren plain when he stopped to pick up a desert flower that had just blossomed.
“Even in the desert,” said the teacher, “you can find blossoms.”
“It’s beautiful,” I replied.
“The word for winter in the Scriptures is the Hebrew setav. Setav means the season of hiding or the time of darkness. The winter is the season of darkness, barrenness, and death. But each year, the winter ends with the coming of the Hebrew month of Nisan.”
“In the spring.”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “Nisan is the month that ends the season of darkness, that breaks the death of winter. Nisan is the month when the earth again bears its fruit, and its flowers again begin to blossom. Nisan is
the month of new life. In fact, the word nisan means the beginning. Nisan is the month when the sacred Hebrew year begins anew.”
“Why is that significant?”
“Because Nisan is the month of redemption, the month of Messiah. It’s the month Messiah chose to enter Jerusalem, to die on the cross, and to rise from death to life. Why do you think it all happened in Nisan?”
“Because Nisan is the time of new beginning. So when Messiah comes, it must be a new beginning. So it must be Nisan. And Nisan is the season of new life. So Messiah’s coming brings new life . . . a new birth.”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “And what else does Nisan do?”
“It ends the winter.”
“What winter would be ended?” he asked.
“Our winter,” I said. “The winter of our lives. The season of our darkness . . . the time of our hiding . . . the days of living in the shadows . . . the season of our barrenness . . . when our life can’t bear the fruit it was meant to bear.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “Messiah’s coming is our Nisan, that which ends the winter of our lives and begins the spring of our lives. That’s the power of Messiah, the power of Nisan. And for those in Messiah . . . it is always Nisan. And that’s where we must always stay, in the season of new life, of new beginnings, of blossoming, and the end of winter.”
The Mission: Break out of the winter and out of every darkness, and bear the fruit your life was to bear. Live in the power of Nisan.
Song of Solomon 2:8–13; 2 Corinthians 5:17
Nisan
DAY 87
THE SIMILITUDE
The Book of Mysteries Page 13