The Mission: Today, embrace the aderet, your mantle. Accept its greatness and that it’s over and above you. Believe it, and, by God, rise to it.
1 Kings 19:19; 1 Corinthians 1:26–31; 2 Corinthians 3:5–6; Ephesians 4:1
Don the Mantle
DAY 202
YARDEN: THE DESCENDER
HE LED ME to the edge of a small valley. “Look,” he said, pointing to a rocky slope on the other side of the valley down which a stream of water was cascading.
“It comes from a nearby spring,” he said, “and descends the slope to a pool at the bottom of the valley . . . similar to the river that flows through the Promised Land.”
“The Jordan River?”
“Yes. The Jordan flows from one end of Zion to the other and, as it flows, gives life to the land. It begins its course in the north at Mount Hermon and flows down to Galilee, then through the Jordan Valley to the wilderness of Judea, and finally into the Dead Sea where it comes to its end. In Hebrew, the Jordan is the Yarden. Do you know it means?”
“No.”
“It comes from the Hebrew word yarad. Yarad means to go down, to descend. So the Jordan means the descender. All rivers descend,” he said, “but no river descends as much as does the Jordan. It descends so far that it ends its journey in the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea. And yet it is in the Jordan’s descent that it gives life to the Promised Land . . . What is the revelation of the Yarden?”
“It is through a descent,” I said, “that life is given.”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “And who is the Descender?”
“God. God is the Descender.”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “God is the Yarden. It is the Most High who is the Descender. Only He can fully descend. And so the Descender humbled Himself, descending from the heights to come into the world, and taking the form of man. And as the Jordan descends to Galilee, so the Descender came to the land of Galilee, and there gave life to those in need. And in the same way that the Jordan descends from Galilee to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, so from Galilee the Descender went down to the lowest of depths, to death and judgment. For God is love. And the nature of love is to descend that it might give of itself, and that we, in its descent, might find life. And those who have received the life of this Yarden must likewise descend to give of that life to others. For God is the Yarden . . . and the Yarden is love.”
The Mission: As God descended in Messiah the Descender in order to bless us, so today descend, go lower, pour out your life that you might bless others.
Ephesians 4:8–10; Philippians 2:3–9; James 4:10
The Waters of Zion
DAY 203
THE DANCE OF THE CIRCLES
IT WAS EVENING. There was, in the tent village below the hill from which we watched, a celebration. The camp was aglow with the light of torches. “Come,” said the teacher as he led me down the hill and into the midst of the celebration. They didn’t mind our presence. Before us were men, women, and children, old and young together, all taking part in a circle dance. One of the girls in the circle motioned for the teacher to join in. So he did. I was content to watch.
“Come,” he called. “Join in the dance.”
So, with great reluctance, I did as well. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did my best to follow the steps of the teacher and of those around me. After a time, it began to almost flow and even became a joy. At the end of the dance and before the next one began, the teacher and I stepped back from the circle and watched the others as they continued in the circle dances.
“You would have seen this in ancient Israel, the dance of circles,” he said, “in the days of their celebrations, in the holy festivals that God gave them. And you know what they were called, the feasts and celebrations of the Lord?”
“No.”
“Khag. . . a feast or festival. And do you know what khag really means?”
“No.”
“Khag actually means a dance, and specifically, the dance of circles. God named His holy days, His sacred gatherings, after the dance of circles.”
“So God ordained that His people take part in the khag, the festival, but also the dance of circles.”
“And not just His people,” he said, “but another.”
“What another?”
“The world,” he said. “God ordained that the earth also take part in the khag, in the dance of circles. So the earth performs the circle dance around the sun. And so our entire world is part of a khag. And so our entire lives have taken place and are taking place within a cosmic circle dance. And the circle dance is the khag. Therefore, if you dwell on earth, you must live your life as part of the khag . . . as a celebration of the Lord, a manifestation of worship, a festival of His love, a sacred expression of joy and thanksgiving . . . You must live your life as a sacred dance of circles.”
The Mission: Take part in the khag. Live your life today as an act of worship, a flowing of His love, a dance of joy.
Psalm 149:1–3; Jeremiah 31:13; 1 Corinthians 10:31
The Dance of the Heavenly Circles
DAY 204
THE CHRYSALIS
WE WERE SITTING outside under an olive tree. The teacher’s attention was drawn downward to a small dark object slowly moving along the ground.
“It looks like a worm,” he said, “but different from the worm . . . a caterpillar, a fascinating creature . . . the child of a butterfly . . . an ugly crawling wormlike creature born of a beautiful winged creature. And it has no idea of its origins or who its parent is. It goes through life crawling on the ground. The only life it knows is a wormlike life.”
He picked up the caterpillar and placed it on the olive tree.
“But one day the caterpillar climbs up a tree, hangs itself upside down, and begins to form around its body a hard protective shell, a chrysalis. In the chrysalis, that which was the caterpillar comes to its end. Only in its dying as a caterpillar can the creature undergo a metamorphosis. And when the metamorphosis is complete, a new being emerges from the shell of the chrysalis. The new creature no longer has anything wormlike about it. It is now winged and beautiful. It will never again crawl through the earth and never again be earthbound. It will live in the image of the one who gave it life . . . as the winged creature it was always meant to become.”
“It is an amazing phenomenon,” I said.
“Yes, within it a shadow.”
“Of . . . ?”
“The caterpillar is given life by the butterfly. We are given life by God. As the caterpillar crawls through life, earthbound and unaware of the purpose for which it was born, so man goes through life earthbound and unaware of the purpose for which he was born. We see with wormlike eyes, think wormlike thoughts, and live wormlike lives. But to some of these earthbound creatures a miracle happens . . . They allow themselves to die to the old, to the earthbound wormlike life. And yet in their dying to their old self they begin a metamorphosis. The earthbound life dies. But what emerges in its place is a different life, a new creation, beautiful and no longer earthbound but now heavenly and made to dwell in heavenly realms . . . and what it was always meant to be . . . a heavenly being in the image of Him from whom it was given life in the first place.”
“The new birth, the new creation.”
“Yes, the metamorphosis of the children of God, born as earthly creatures, but reborn as the children of heaven . . . the Gospel of the butterfly.”
The Mission: Move away from the earthbound—everything in your life that is tied to the world, to the flesh, and sin. Move into the realm of the heavenly. Start flying.
Romans 6:4–8; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:22–32 The Gospel of the Butterfly
DAY 205
ZICHARYAH, ELISHEVAH, AND YOCHANAN
THERE HAD BEEN centuries of silence,” said the teacher, “in between the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. To many, it seemed as if God had forgotten His promises to Israel. Do you know what ended that silence? The f
irst earthly event recorded in the New Testament?”
“The birth of Messiah?”
“No,” he said. “It was an event concerning a priest named Zachariah. When Zachariah was young, he married a woman named Elizabeth. Undoubtedly they had dreamed of having a child, but were never able to. They were both now old. Time had taken away their youth and their dream. But while Zachariah was performing his priestly service in the Temple of Jerusalem, an angel of God appeared to him and told him that Elizabeth would, in her old age, give birth to a child. So God would fulfill the ancient hopes of Israel through the fulfilling of an old couple’s long lost hopes for a baby. But behind it was a mystery. Zachariah’s real name was Zicharyah. Zicharyah means God has remembered. Elizabeth’s real name was Elishevah. Elishevah means the oath of God. Zicharyah and Elishevah were joined together in marriage. So God has remembered was joined to the oath of God. The very joining of the two lives created a prophetic message, God has remembered the oath of God. A sign to Israel that God had not forgotten His promise, but was about to fulfill it. And when God remembers His oath, then the oath bears life. So Elishevah will bear a child who will be known as John the Baptist. But his real name was Yochanan.”
“And what does Yochanan mean?”
“The grace of God. God’s remembrance of His oath causes to be born the grace of God.”
“The grace of salvation, the very thing that would come forth out of God’s fulfilling of His oath.”
“And when Zicharyah gave praise to God, he would declare that God had performed the miracle ‘to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham.’ Never forget this,” said the teacher. “No matter how long it takes, whether centuries or moments, God will never forget His promise and never break His Word. And out of the broken, the barren, and the impossible, the grace of God will be born.”
The Mission: The Scriptures are filled with promises for His people. Take one today. Hold to it. Live in light of it.
Leviticus 26:40–42; Luke 1:4–17, 72–73
The Angel and the Priest
DAY 206
THE MYSTERY OF EUROPA
HE LED ME into a room of varied ancient artifacts and to a table on which rested a black vase. He lifted it up to show me. Against the black was an image, a robed woman riding a large, white bull.
“It’s from Greece,” he said, “a depiction of an ancient pagan myth. The woman was a princess. The white bull is the Greek god Zeus in disguise. According to the myth, Zeus became enamored with the princess and disguised himself as a white bull. When she saw the bull, she was fascinated and got on his back. He then carried her away and seduced her.”
He set the vase back down on the table.
“The Scriptures prophesy that in the end times there will be a world civilization characterized by godlessness and evil. They also foretell that in the last days will be a great falling away, a great apostasy from the ways of God. How do the two go together? And what does an apostasy require?”
“It requires that one has once known God. Otherwise there could be no falling away.”
“So a civilization that once knew God ends up as a civilization of evil. How does that happen? In the case of the princess, it was a matter of abduction and seduction. Could that happen as well to a civilization? The princess had a name. She was called Europa. . . as in Europe. Think about it, a whole continent, an entire civilization bearing the name of a woman seduced by a pagan god. Europe was once the center in the sending forth of God’s Word. But as it turned away from God, it was seduced by other gods and carried off by other gospels, the gospel of communism, the gods of humanism, fascism, Nazism. In the ancient myth the god who seduces Europa takes the form of a bull. So too in the apostasy of ancient Israel, the god to which the nation turned, Baal, assumed the form of a bull. In the end, it’s all the same god . . . the same satanic principality, the enemy, seeking destruction. Never forget the warning of Europa: a civilization that once knew God, which, in its turning away from God, produced more destruction than any civilization in human history. For when you depart from the light, the darkness will abduct you. And when you turn away from God, you’ll end up seduced by the god of your turning. So guard your heart. Stay far from all gods and idols. Love the Lord with all your heart and strength . . . and you’ll never be touched by the seduction of Europa.”
The Mission: See behind the temptation to the destruction that awaits. Turn from all temptations, gods, idols, and sins. Love God with all your heart.
2 Timothy 3:1–5, 12; 4:1–5
The Woman, the Beast, and the Saints: The Maccabee Blueprint
DAY 207
HEAVEN’S LADDER
WE STOOD AT the bottom of an empty cistern. I had asked the teacher to show me as I had never seen one before. We were now ready to leave.
“Look,” said the teacher, “right now that’s our only hope.”
He was pointing to a wooden ladder, the same ladder we had climbed down to get to where we were. “Without that ladder,” he said, “we’d be stuck here at the bottom. And what if it only went halfway up to the top?”
“If it didn’t reach the top, it wouldn’t do us any good.”
“And if the latter started from the top but only went halfway down?”
“If it didn’t reach the bottom, it wouldn’t do us any good either. We’d be stuck here either way.”
“What about getting into heaven?” he asked. “How high is heaven above the earth? How great is the distance that separates man from God, and sin from the Most Holy? How long would that ladder have to be . . . to get you into heaven?”
“As high and as long as the distance that separates man from God, a ladder between heaven and earth.”
“It was that ladder that Jacob saw in his dream, a ladder from heaven to earth. It was the shadow of Messiah, that which joins heaven to earth, and God to man. It can only work if the ladder touches both ends, the highest height with the lowest depth. So the Most High had to descend to the most low of depths so that those in the lowest depths could ascend to the highest heights. The Most Heavenly had to become earthly so that those who were earthly could become heavenly. And the Most Holy had to join Himself to the most unholy, the Holy One joined to the lowest of sins, the Most Sacred to the most profane . . . So God descended to the deepest depths of darkness, to the lowest rung of degradation and judgment.”
“The bottom of Jacob’s ladder,” I said, “that which joins earth to heaven . . . ”
“Therefore,” said the teacher, “no matter how low you find yourself, no matter how lost you are, no matter how sinful, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far from God you are . . . no matter how deep the pit you find yourself in . . . look for the ladder . . . and it will be there to take you out. The ladder will be there with its one end touching the bottom of your lowest depths, and the other end touching the Most High.”
The Mission: Wherever you are there is a ladder connecting you to the Most High. Find the first rung of heaven’s ladder and take it.
Genesis 28:10–17; John 1:51
The Heaven and Earth Continuum
DAY 208
ANI LO
ANI LO,” SAID the teacher, as we walked through the garden. “It’s from the Song of Solomon. It’s what the bride says of the bridegroom. Those two Hebrew words sum up everything you’re called to be and do in God . . . every good work, every prayer, every act of repentance, every overcoming of sin and evil, every manifestation of love, every decision of righteousness . . . everything. It’s all summed up in Ani Lo.”
“What does it mean?”
“Ani Lo means I am His.”
“How does it sum up everything we’re called to do?”
“If you live an Ani Lo life, if you’re His, then you can’t give yourself to anything else. Therefore you can turn down sin and its temptation. And if you’re His, then what is it to give of yourself, or of what you have? It’s nothing. Even self-sacrifice is nothing. And if you’re His, then yo
u have nothing to worry about, or to be offended over, or to be weighed down about. Your burdens are His. Your life is His concern. You’re free.”
“But you said that in Hebrew there’s no true verb for having, for his or hers. So there has to be something else that the bride is saying.”
“There is,” he said. “Ani Lo literally means I am to Him. So if you belong to God, you must be ‘to Him.’ In other words, you can’t just belong to God, any more than a bride could just belong to a bridegroom. The bride is only his if she gives herself to him. It’s her choice. So to belong to God, you must choose to give yourself to Him, your desires to Him, your heart to Him, your burdens to Him, your everything to Him. And you must do this freely and every day of your life. You must live an Ani Lo life, a life that is to Him, in which everything you do has one aim and direction . . . to Him. And you must do this as does the bride.”
“And how is that?”
“The bride isn’t a theologian. When she says ‘Ani Lo,’ ‘I am His,’ or ‘I am to Him,’ she’s not making a doctrinal statement. She’s overflowing with the joy of love. It’s her joy to be His and her joy to give herself to Him. To give yourself is not a burden when you’re filled with love—it’s a joy. Live your life this way, giving yourself in love to Him in the joy of Ani Lo.”
The Book of Mysteries Page 30