We came to the second pillar, representing Yom Resheet, the Day of Firstfruits.
“Then comes Firstfruits as you begin bearing the firstfruits of salvation, the firstfruits of repentance, of love, of godliness, and you begin walking in the power of resurrection and the newness of life.”
He led me to the third pillar, representing the Feast of Shavuot.
“Then comes the Shavuot, the Pentecost, the power and anointing of the Spirit to enable you to overcome, to do the works of God, and to fulfill all you’ve been called to do and become.”
We came to the fourth pillar, representing the summer harvest.
“Then comes the harvest of your salvation, as you go forth into His fields, as you reap new life, as you bless and give life to others, and fulfill your ministry and calling.”
We came to the fifth pillar, representing the Feast of Trumpets.
“And then will come the time of Trumpets, the autumn of your salvation, the finishing up of your reaping, the completing of your harvest, and your readying to meet the Lord.”
We came to the sixth pillar, representing the Day of Atonement.
“Then will come the day when you will stand before Him, beyond the veil . . . face-to-face.”
He led me to the last pillar, representing the Feast of Tabernacles.
“And finally will come your Feast of Tabernacles, your days of dwelling in the presence of God, in His peace, His joy, His love, and His blessings . . . forever.”
The Mission: God has ordained appointed times for your life—so too for your days. Seek and find His appointed times and moments of this day.
Leviticus 23; Psalm 139:16
The Moedeem and the Mystery of Your Life
DAY 360
THE LAND OF BEYOND
THE TEACHER LED me into the Chamber of Scrolls, but instead of unrolling a scroll and sharing, he began the sharing with no scroll.
“I’ve told you of the mystery of Shemini Atzeret,” he said, “the last of the appointed holy days, when the scroll of the Torah reaches its end, and its last words are read . . . which are all about the end, the end of the wilderness journey. Of what does all this speak?”
“About the end,” I replied, “the end of earthly existence, the end of this creation.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “but Shemini Atzeret speaks also of what comes after the end. And there is another scroll. One scroll ends . . . but another begins.”
He then led me over to one of the shelves, removed a scroll, laid it on the wooden table, and unrolled it to its beginning.
“This is the other scroll . . . the Book of Joshua. For the children of God, what comes after the end? When the wilderness journey ends, the Book of Joshua begins. And what is this book about? It’s about leaving the wilderness, crossing the Jordan to the other side . . . to that which is beyond the wilderness . . . to the Promised Land . . . And so for the child of God, when the old is finished, a new book begins. When the old creation is no more, a new creation will come. And when the old life is finished, a new life begins. And we will cross over to the other side. Do you remember what the word Hebrew means in Hebrew?”
“One who crosses over.”
“And so on that day you will cross the Jordan into the land beyond. And as it was for the children of Israel when they finally entered the Promised Land, so it will be for you . . . That which you had for so long hoped for, longed for, and believed in by faith, you will then see with your eyes and walk with your feet . . . the Promised Land. And who was with them in the Promised Land, who had walked among them in the wilderness? Joshua. And do you know what Joshua is in Hebrew?”
“What?”
“Yeshua. . . Jesus. And so when all has passed away, the old world and everything in it . . . He who led you through this life will lead you in . . . into the Promised Land. He who held you, who kept you, and who never left you . . . in every moment of your earthly journey . . . and who loved you before you were . . . will be with you every moment . . . to the end . . . and beyond the end . . . forever.”
The Mission: Ponder the day you’ll cross over into the Promised Land. And give thanks that He Who will be with you then, is with you right now.
Deuteronomy 8:7–9; 26:15; Joshua 1:1–4; 1 Peter 1:3–4; Revelation 21:1–4
The Mystery of the Eighth Day I–III
DAY 361
THE MYSTERY OF THE PLURALITIES
WE STOOD ON the flat top roof of one of the school buildings from which we took in a vast panorama of the surrounding desert landscape.
“Today,” said the teacher, “we bring together the pluralities . . . those mystery words of Hebrew that can only be expressed in the plural. Tell me what you remember of them.”
“Elohim,” I said, “the word for God.”
“God, who transcends all things and all that we think He is.”
“Chayim, the word for life.”
“That life is more than this life and, in God, is unending.”
“Rachamim, the love of God, His mercy and compassion.”
“That there is no limiting of God’s mercy and no end to His love.”
“Shamayim, the word for heaven.”
“That there’s always more to heaven than you think there is.”
“Jerusalem . . . Yerushalayim, the City of God.”
“That there are always two Jerusalems, that which you see and that which is beyond seeing, that which is, and that which is yet to come.
“Do you see any pattern,” he asked, “anything that binds them all together?”
“They all bear the property of transcendence.”
“They do,” he said. “And together they bear another revelation. Chayim, life everlasting. Where will we spend it? In Shamayim, heaven. Where specifically? Yerushalayim, in the New Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above, which is yet to come. And what will be flowing in that city? Mayim, yet another of the pluralities, the river of living waters. And what will fill up the New Jerusalem? The Panim, the Face of God. And what will be the essence of heaven and that which fills up its every moment? Rachamim, the infinite, overflowing, never-ending love of God. And what will it all center on? It will all center on Elohim . . . God. For what are all the pluralities about? That which is beyond. And so they will all be part of the beyond. And they tell us that the things of God are beyond containing and beyond the end. God is beyond all that is spoken of God, beyond all that is thought and imagined of Him, and beyond all the praises that are lifted to Him. He is beyond even the beyond. For His love to us . . . His love to you . . . has no limits and no end. It is beyond all things from everlasting to everlasting.”
The Mission: Take time today to meditate and dwell on where you will dwell forever, and on all its never-ending and everlasting pluralities.
1 Corinthians 2:9; Ephesians 3:20–21; Revelation 22:1–5
The Hebrew Mysteries I–IV
DAY 362
THE TIME OF KNOWING
THE TEACHER LED me to the Chamber of Books and removed from one of the shelves a large ancient-looking book in a brown binding.
“Look through it,” he said. So I did. “How long do you think it would take you to learn everything that’s in this book in depth?”
“In depth? Maybe three months.”
“And what about all the books on this shelf?”
There were many books. I did the calculation in my head. “Maybe ten years,” I replied.
“And how long to learn what’s in every volume in this bookcase?”
“I would guess eighty years.”
“Now look at all the bookcases in this chamber. How long do you think it would take you to learn everything that’s inside every one of these volumes?”
“Many lifetimes,” I said.
“Do you know why God gives us eternity?”
“Why?”
“Because the purpose of our existence is to know God. And so it must be eternity. For eternity is the time it takes to know God . . . So never make the mistake of thi
nking that you know everything there is to know about Him. It’s when you think you know, that you stop knowing. And if it takes an eternity to know God, then how much is a lifetime of knowledge next to how much there is yet to know?”
“One eternitieth,” I said, “one infinitieth . . . next to nothing.”
“No matter how much you know, there will always be more . . . there will always be so much more. No matter how much you know of Him, you’ve only just begun. And that’s how you must always come, as one who doesn’t know the half of it, which will always mathematically be the case. So you must come as a little child, as one who knows there’s so much more to know, and for whom everything is new. Even the apostle Paul, who knew more of God than anyone else, even he wrote, ‘That I might know Him.’ If he could say that, how much more we. So never stop seeking Him. Never stop pressing on to know Him . . . and to know more of Him . . . and more than that. For eternity is the length of time it takes to know Him . . . and a lifetime is just the beginning of eternity.”
The Mission: Since it will take an eternity for you to know God, there’s so much for you to discover. Seek to know Him today as if for the first time.
Psalms 23:6; 27:4; 63; Matthew 18:3–4; Philippians 3:10
The Mystery of the Eighth Day I–III
DAY 363
THE BLESSING WITH NO END
WE WERE STANDING at the school’s western border, beyond which was the rest of the desert. Just outside the border was one of the teachers surrounded by his students. His course had begun just before ours and so had now come to its end. The students were getting ready to depart, and the teacher was saying a blessing over them before they began their journey.
“That will be us,” said the teacher, “not long from now. It reminds me of another teacher, another course, and another farewell.”
“A teacher from the school?”
“The Messiah,” he said, “and the students were the disciples. It is written, ‘He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And while He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.’ It was the end of a course, and of Messiah’s ministry on earth. So what exactly happened?”
“He blessed them and then ascended.”
“No,” said the teacher. “It doesn’t say that. It says that He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And while He blessed them, He was parted from them.”
“I thought that’s what I said.”
“No,” said the teacher. “You said, He blessed them and then He left. But the Scripture says He blessed them, and while He blessed them, He was parted from them.”
“Why is that significant?”
“He never ended the blessing . . . not on earth . . . His blessing never ended. You see, Messiah’s blessing has no end . . . It has no limitation, no expiration, and no ceasing. It’s an unending blessing. It’s not limited to the first century, or to Jerusalem, or to the disciples, or even to the Book of Acts. He doesn’t only bless them. He blesses you. And the blessing He gives you has no end. It doesn’t stop because of your failures, your falling, and your sins. It has no end. There’s just as much of it now as there was when He blessed them as He left. The blessing never runs out, never ages, and never fails. So receive it now, as new and as powerful as it was as on the day He gave it. And as the blessing keeps going, you do the same. All things of this world must end . . . except this . . . the blessing . . . it has no end.”
The Mission: Receive this day the blessing Messiah gave His disciples. It was to you as well. Receive as much as you can. It has no end.”
Psalms 21:6; 106; Luke 24:50–53; Revelation 22:21
The Unended
DAY 364
HOME
HOW STRANGE,” SAID the teacher. “We’re born into this world. We’ve never been anywhere else. And yet, we never feel at home here. It’s the only place we’ve ever known, and yet still, we’re never quite at home within it. We’re never at home with its pain and sorrows, with its growing old and dying, with its losses, its death, its imperfections, its darkness, its evils . . . and where nothing lasts and everything passes away. Even in the best of times and circumstances, something’s always missing. It can never fill our hearts. And the longer we’re in this world, the less at home we are within it.”
He paused to look up for a moment at the starlit sky above us.
“Where does the story of Passover begin?”
“In Egypt.”
“The Israelites grew up in Egypt. It was the only home they knew. And yet they were never at home within it. And what was salvation about? Leaving Egypt and going to the Promised Land. They had never been to the Promised Land . . . and yet it was their home. Salvation is about coming home. From the Jewish people returning to the land of Israel to the prodigal son returning to his father, salvation is about coming home. And that’s the mystery. That’s why we’re never at home in this world.”
“Why aren’t we at home in this world?”
“Because it’s not home,” he said. “Because it’s not our home. Our hearts can never be at home in a world of imperfection and evil . . . of sorrows and dying and death . . . of seeing everything we know and love grow old and pass away. There is a home, but this world is not it. And our salvation begins on Passover. And Passover isn’t only about being free . . . It’s about coming home, coming home to God, and coming home to home.”
“So home is . . . ”
“The place for which our hearts were made . . . that place of no more sorrows and dying and death . . . and no evil or imperfection . . . and where nothing grows old anymore or passes away . . . the eternal . . . the Promised Land . . . heaven.”
“But we’ve never been there before.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “but when we get there, then for the first time in our lives . . . we’ll be home.”
The Mission: You are not yet home. Live today in light of that. Set your heart away from that which is not home, and toward that which is.
John 17:16; Psalm 46:4–5; Hebrews 13:14; John 14:1–3
The Blessing of the Bridegroom
DAY 365
THE TWO SHALL BE ONE
HE TOOK ME back to where the wedding had been. It was now sunset.
“We’ve been here several times,” said the teacher, “from when we first saw the bridegroom alone until the wedding. This will be our last time here.”
“What happened to the bride and groom?” I asked.
“Do you see that tent,” he said, “over there . . . the light brown tent with the golden cord over the doorway? That’s where they’ve been ever since the wedding. It was during the wedding celebration that they went off together to that tent and there the two became one. ‘Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ It’s the completion of the circle,” he said. “In the beginning, in the creation, the two were from one flesh. And from one flesh they become two. Now from two they become one. The woman came from the man. Now again she is joined to him, as in the miracle of creation, and from that joining comes the miracle of new creation. The two shall become one.”
“But you’re speaking of a mystery,” I said, “more than of the man and the woman.”
“Yes,” he said, “I speak of a mystery. As the woman came from man . . . ”
“So we came from God.”
“And as the woman and the man must again become one . . . ”
“So we must become one with the One from whom we came. We can only find the purpose for our existence in the One who is the reason for our existence. We must become one with God.”
“And you do remember what the word bridegroom means in Hebrew?”
“The one who joins himself.”
“And God is the Bridegroom, the One who joins Himself to us . . . to you. And if we are married to Him, then we must also become one with Him. The two become one. And of this it is written, ‘The mystery is great . . . .’”
“It�
��s the mystery of love, isn’t it? In the equation of love, one plus one equals one.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “the mystery of love, and the final mystery. In that day, after the wedding, then the mystery of God and you will be complete. It is then that the two . . . shall be one.”
The Mission: Join every part of your life to His life and let every part of His life be joined to yours. Unlock, experience, and live this mystery—the two shall become one.
Genesis 2:24; 1 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 5:31–32; The Song of Solomon
The Two Shall Be One
AFTER THE END
THE LAST MYSTERY had been given. It was now the day after, the day after the end. It was time to leave. I had spent the morning packing my belongings. The teacher came to my room and walked with me to the end of the school grounds. There we stopped and looked out at the vast expanse of plains and mountains of the desert wilderness.
“Do you know the way?” asked the teacher.
“Very much so,” I answered.
“I mean through the wilderness.”
“I do.”
“What are you feeling?” he asked.
“Sad to leave.”
“Are you glad you came?”
“I am. I can’t imagine having not come. I wish it could go on.”
“But leaving is part,” he said. “You’ve been on a mountaintop. Now it’s time to go down. Now you must take what you’ve learned and apply it to the world, to life. What you’ve received, you must now give. The disciple must become the teacher.”
“The teacher?” I replied. “I could never be like you.”
“But I was once just like you,” he said, “a disciple, invited to come here by another teacher. And he, in turn, was once a disciple like me, invited by another. And so the mysteries have been passed down from teacher to disciple, from age to age. Remember what you were given here.”
The Book of Mysteries Page 52