Back to the Garden

Remember the garden? Remember paradise? Remember the rabbinical teaching drawn from it? Let's dive a little deeper. A good friend of mine, Mike Wlodarczyk, taught on the four layers of the word based on Mark 4:3-22.

He introduced another acronym which we can use in English to better remember the four layers: LAMB.

• L for the literal layer pschat
• A for the allegorical layer remes
• M for the moral layer drasch
• B for the biblecode or revelatory layer sod
  

In one of my last postings we had a look at the river in Eze 47:1-12. Let's look at this from a different angle:

The river started at the altar in Ezekiel and proceeded through the city to the world. In Gen 2:8-15 it started in Eden and proceeded through the garden, or paradise, to the world. The same picture we find in Rev 22:1-2.

What if the river on a macro level represents world history? Let's play with that:

All started in the supernatural, with the altar of God and the lamb. God created man and placed him in the garden. The garden was the place of God's presence. In Revelation we would say that this is the city, as God is there in the midst of His people.

But then man is driven out of the garden. Hezekiel in the first verses is lead outside of the city. Outside of the city, Jesus measures 1000 cubits, or let's say feet for ease of understanding.

Fast forward 1000 years from when Adam and Eve had to leave the garden. Noah just came into being. God's work is very literal with very literal and direct consequences. The people sin, it starts to rain, and they die. Straightforward. Easy to understand. Easy walking in the river. Ankle deep.

Fast forward again. Another 1000 years have past, and we meet Abraham. Abraham is to become a living allegory, a parable for all generations. So are the patriarchs and even Jacob's sons. We can look at their lives, and the New Testament often does, to see how to live life, and how not to. There is more resistance and more work involved to understand. Knee deep.

Fast forward again. David just became king. We are in the midst of yet another area. The law has been given and serves as moral standard. It teaches us how to live our lifes morally. Understanding of God is growing, but resistance is even bigger. Hip deep.

Let's go forward another 1000 feet or years. Jesus just died on the cross, the Holy Spirit has been given. The big mystery has been revealed. No way we can resist any longer, we just let go. Swimming.

And from there? The river flows through the valley of Jordan, the border of the Holy Land - they had to cross Jordan to come there. Again there is a river for people outside of Israel that they can cross to come to the Holy Land, to be restored to paradise.

And then the river flows into the dead sea and brings it back to life. The sea as a picture for the masses, the dead sea resembles the unsaved masses of the world. There will be a great harvest! And then Israel will again dwell in the fully restored Holy Land. For me - the millenium.

So the four layers hold for humanity, and the four layers hold for the faith life of a single believer, as Mike showed in his post.

Just be aware of what is said in Eze 47:12. The puddles and swamps on the side of the river remain salty and dead. Camp on any of the layers, stop to flow, and you will be dead. Look at the pharisees. When it was time to go deeper, from hip deep to swimming, when they should have come from a moral standpoint to the revelation of the Spirit, they camp out and missed it. It happens time and again.

Let's make it personal: if you stay at the literal level, the cross is a place where Jesus died. You will never know that we are to do the same for others, laying our lives down, that is, it will never become a parable for you to live after. You will never understand the moral aspect of: your sins are forgiven, now go and sin no more. And you will never catch the mystery of Jesus in us and we in him, with rivers flowing from us into this world.

But if you progress to the allegorical layer and forget about the literal - saying: oh, that is such a thing of the past - you will look at the cross purely allegorical. But without the physical death of Jesus on the cross, all other layers are not possible.

When you are swimming, your ankles, knees, and hips are still wet.

So, let's go swimming.

Elohim

Elohim is one of two words in the Hebrew that means God. The other one is El. Elohim is plural and means gods or, as a pluralis majestatis or generic term, God. Its singular is Eloah. El is singular, and elim in the plural.

Elohim is used of God, when His characteristics of ruler, judge, mighty one are in view. When the Bible talks about the personal God, the father, the God of mercy, it uses the tetragram JHWH, what we usually translate to Jehova or Jahwe.

But the Bible does not only use Elohim for God. Especially in Psalm 82:1, we see God (elohim) stand in the councel of God (el) among the gods (elohim).

So there are gods, and in Psalm 82:6 they are even called sons of the Most High (beney elohim).

But it gets even more interesting. In 1 Samuel 28:3-18, we read the story when Saul inquired Samuel after his dead. How did Saul do that?

Saul asked an necromancer (a mistress of the ob) to consult an ob for her. Ob means a spirit, what we today would call a familiar spirit. This is a spirit that disguisses itself as a familiar but dead person. The necromancer was also called ob, as the word means familiar spirit as well as vessel. So the necromancer is but the vessel for the familiar spirit to appear.

But what happened: the woman called out: "I see a god (elohim) coming up out of the earth". The spirits of dead people - as opposed to spirits that disguised as them - were called elohim.

Now for a little rabbit trail: Where did paradise go after the fall? In the beginning it was guarded by mighty angels, the cherubim. But we can say that, at least after the flood, it hasn't been found on earth. Could it be that paradise, the garden Eden, became part of Hades? Hang in this for a moment with me.

Jesus tells the story of poor Lazarus and the rich person. When they died, Lazarus was in the bossom of Abraham and the rich person saw him from Hades, but could not cross the chasm. Jesus also tells the thief on the cross that he would be in paradise with him the same day - but Jesus did not ascend to heaven that day, but descend to Hades to get the keys.

Could it be that Lazarus was in Paradise, and it was the part of Hades for the just? The place that Jesus went to to preach the Gospel to the just of the OT?

If so, maybe the just people of the OT were elohim as they were back in the original paradisiac state?

But then, haven't we been justified and restored to paradisiac state at the cross? Wouldn't that mean by deduction that we are elohim (Psalm 82:6, John 1:12)?

The River

"Did you see this?" Jesus and Ezekiel swimming in the river in Eze 47:6. Ezekiel is swimming, in the midst of the water, and the Lord asks: "Did you see this?"

When God asks a question, it is not because he does not have the answer. "Adam, where are you?" Did God lose the only 2 human beings he created? No, but Adam did not know where he was. "Why do you pursuit me, Paul?" Jesus knew perfectly, but Paul answered "Who are you, Lord?"

So what was there to see for Ezekiel? One thing amongst many was the river. Let's have a closer look at this river.

The river started in the Holy Of Holies. It went out of the city and into the countryside. It reminds me of some other rivers mentioned in the bible:

In Genesis 2, we find a river flowing from the garden Eden and from there in 4 streams into the world. In Joel we see that the river will break forth from the temple and water the valley (Joel 3:18). And in Rev 22:1-2 the same river is portrayed again.

Let's look at some characteristics of that river.

In Gen 2:8 we see that God planted a garden in the east sector of Eden. In Gen 2:10 we see the same area, but this time a river flows from Eden into the garden. The Hebrew now places eden in the garden. But didn't the first reference place the garden within Eden?

In John 15:5 Jesus tells his disciples, that "whoever abides in Me and I in Him will bring much fruit". Jesus in us, or we in Jesus? The garden in Eden, or Eden in the garden?

Gen 2:15 the bible does not even differentiate between the two: the garden Eden (without the "of" that is used in English translations, but not in Hebrew). Identity. Me in Him, and He in me. Eden. the supernatural place of delight (that is was Eden means), and the garden, the natural place of human work and life, being congruent. One place, one state?

So from Eden a river flows into the garden and then into the world. The garden is the doorway to the world for the river.

In Eze 48:30, the doorways of the city that river flows out of are described as exits (not entrances!) and named after the 12 tribes or 12 sons of Jacob. The exits are people.

Where does the river flow to? Eze 47:6 shows us that it flows to people and becomes their provision. In Revelation it flows to the nations for their healing.

Where does it flow from? The temple, the throne of God and the Lamb. When Jesus was on the cross, his side was pierced, and out came blood and water. Does the river start from Jesus? Does it start from a person?

From a person, through a people, for the people.

The river was supposed to flow at all times. It started to break into our world at creation. Recognize that the garden was created, but not Eden. It pre-existed. It was to flow at the time of Ezekiel and Joel, started to flow again at the cross, and will flow in the New Jerusalem.

But there has to be a garden, there have to be exits to the city, there has to be a people for the river to flow through.

All of Israel was supposed to be a people of priest for the most high God. They failed and kept the Gospel of their time to themselves. They did not accept their role when they told Moses to speak to and from God for them at the Mount Sinai.

The church according to Peter is supposed to be a people of kings and priests. But for many centuries we failed to do so, either bringing the Gospel through might and power and the sword, but not His Spirit, or by locking God into a new Holy of Holies, the church building, after he ripped open the curtain and left the small confinement man put Him in.

Let us be the people the river will flow through. Let's change from child's stage of "what's in it for me" to adolescence ("What can I do for You, God") to maturity: "Who can I invest myself in?" Or, whom can I reach with the flow of the river that breaks forth from within me. Let the gifts, let faith, and let love flow from your inner most being. Read 1 Corinthians 12-14 to see what I mean.

Is this what Jesus meant when he said:

Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says." (John 7:38 MSG)

"Did you see this?" Jesus asks.

The different Levels of the Word

Live started in a garden. We call it paradise, from Persian pardes, garden. The word made its way into Aramaic and Hebrew, written PRDS. Later the rabbis based a teaching about the layers of the Word of God and a way of hermeneutics on this word:

• P = pschat, the literal sense of the Word
• R = remes, the allegorical, parabel sense of the Word
• D = drasch, the moral sense of the Word, what it teaches us
• S = sod, the hidden layer of the Word

The rabbis defined the fourth layer "sod" as kaballah, what we would call bible code. Just remember that they did not have the Spirit, as "sod" was added in the 11th/12th century. I will define this layer as the hidden now word, the rema, that is revealed to people to speak into their time, their situation.

Let's recall my last blog entry about the fig-tree and use it as an illustration for the four layers:

In the literal sense, Jesus was talking to a fig-tree as he was disappointed - it did not bear fruits. And He was talking to a farming culture about recognizing the times, looking at nature around them. So they new summer was coming when the trees budded and gained strength.

In the allegorical sense, Jesus linked the times to Israel, His own fig-tree. He revealed His plan for the years to come - at least the beginning and the end of it. Even hinted on the duration.

In the moral sense, He wants to show us that he is not through with Israel and that they have a vital role to play in the end times. Here he only hints at it by showing them as a sign we can know from that we are getting close.

And in the personal, timely sense He speaks right to our generation: the fig-tree buds and gains strength. Now look for the other trees - the church - to do likewise. And soon the end will begin. Are you ready?

The Fig-Tree

In Mark 11, Jesus saw a fig-tree, and discovering that he bore no fruit he cursed the tree. Later that day Peter saw that the fig-tree had withered, and they started to talk about faith and the power of our words.

In Mark 13:28-29 Jesus talks about the fig-tree again:

And learn the parable of the fig-tree: when her branch is still tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, at the doors. (Mark 13:28-29 MKJV)

Let me get a little rabbinical with you and ask: Why a fig-tree?

In Joel 1:7 God says that they laid His wine waste and splintered His fig-tree. Who is he talking about? Israel, His people. Wine and fig-tree have been pictures of Israel all along.

In John 15:5, the wine is used for God's people in the new covenant, as Jesus says that He is the wine and we are the grapes. But the fig-tree has not been "redefined", it still stands for Israel.

So one morning, going from Bethania to Jerusalem, Jesus cursed the fig-tree and it withered. The evening of the next day, maybe on their way back, he is talking of a fig-tree again, one that regains strength, power and produces leaves, one that comes alive.

Nearly two days later (one day is like a thousand years) we see the fig-tree starting to come alive again, right in front of our eyes.

And Jesus links this directly with the signs of the end times. If you see this, you will know what time it is.

I love the parallel in Luke 21:

And He spoke a parable to them: Behold the fig-tree and all the trees. Now when they sprout leaves, seeing it you will know that summer is now near. So also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. (Luke 21:29-31 MKJV)

This time its the other trees as well. We are included. The church is regaining strength. The bride is "de-wrinkled" and "de-blemished". The body is maturing and reaching its stature.

Are you ready?