Books Faith

Letter to the Hebrews

If you see the Father, you will die

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
John 1:18

The Son is the way we can see that which would kill us to see

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Colossians 1:15

We cannot bear the Father, not even His love.  And we wati for the Son to come again.  But until then, the Father, in the Name of the Son, sent the Holy Spirit to us

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:26-27

The Father

The Sigil of the Fire
The Sigil of the Fire of Fires

God, that ancient of days El, spoke the stars into existence.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:3

These fusion reactors are his warriors.

From the heavens, the stars fought
From their stations, they fought with Sisera
Judges 5:20

when_galaxies_collide_by_richmerk-d3k4lwo

Such a being – who created the hottest fires in the world, and uses them as his warriors — keeps even the sea monsters for fishing

“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
Can you put a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Will he make many pleas to you?
Job 41:1-3

While not fishing for monsters, He uses monstrous creatures of fire — the Seraphim — as his throne

seraphim_by_cinemamind

He lives, seated on bio-mechanical living beings

I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about[b] as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
Ezekial 10:9-14

And guarded — attended — sung to — by transdimensional monsters

cherubim_full_color_by_aremke-d30l7kj

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying…

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Isaiah 6:1-2,4

What else can be said of it?

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Genesis 28:12-13

The Son

The Technician Ascends to the Fire of Fires
The Technician Ascends to the Fire of Fires

But there seems to be another person who is also God. Instead of the terrible, effortless cosmic war to create the universe, there is work with hands

Then the LORD God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
Genesis 2:7-8

This LORD surrounds himself not with terrible monsters, but with humans. Humans he calls family

And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
Luke 8:20-21

Humans he calls friends

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:12-15

The Righteous King of Peace, and Friends
The Righteous King of Peace, and Friends

 

The Holy Spirit

The Singularity, To Which All Things React
No man has seen a naked singularity. We can detect its presence, but who can pass the Event Horizon and return?

And then there is this… other…. thing… We may call it a “person,” and “God,” because it is identified with God and is not the other two — yet —

Here, the LORD promises his “Presence”

If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
Exodus 33:13-15

By “Presence,” Moses seems to mean the Holy Spirit of God, a presence of God that is itself God

Yet they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
and he himself fought against them.
Then his people recalled the days of old,
the days of Moses and his people—
where is he who brought them through the sea,
with the shepherd of his flock?
Where is he who set
his Holy Spirit among them,
who sent his glorious arm of power
to be at Moses’ right hand,
who divided the waters before them,
Isaiah 63:10-12

And here, the “Angel of the LORD” is the LORD Himself. Proceeding from that which He is:

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Genesis 22:15-18

And here, the “Name of the LORD” seems not to simply mean the Tetragrammaton, but a being of its own will — a being of fire

See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
His lips are full of wrath,
and His tongue is a consuming fire.
Isaiah 30:27

This Presense, this Angel of the LORD, this Name of the LORD, He is the Father’s Ambassador, but from the Son too. We can have the Holy Spirit, because we could not withstand the Father.

The Holy Spirit, Wings of Fire Reaching to the Rims of the Wheel
The Holy Spirit, Wings of Fire Reaching to the Rims of the Wheel

The Presence of the LORD, the Holy Spirit of God, the Angel of the LORD, the Name of the LORD are ways of describing the indescribable — that God that proceeds from God the Father, and Our Lord the Son, who we can approach, without being consumed in fire.

Preparing the Blood of the Sacrifice

The Priests Prepare to the Sacrifice, for the Blood of the Covenant
The Priests Prepare to the Sacrifice, for the Blood of the Covenant

The Letter to the Hebrews is unique in that it takes hand of both ends of the Torah — the ancient worship of El and The LORD Genesis, the priestly devotions of Deuteronomy — and shows they are necessarily both of the same religion. The religion of Abraham. The religion of Christ.

Like many have before, the author of Hebrews notes that blood is a moral detergent, and that “the blood of the covenant” was re-presented by the High Priest in the Temple… a contemporary occurrence in the author’s time

When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance
Hebrews 9:6-7

Blood is used as a moral detergent throughout the Torah. Moses bound the young Bull for sacrifice, and

Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Exodus 24:5-8

But in the intellectual and Pharisaical tradition, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews asks — why is blood a moral detergent? Why must it be present for a command to be valid?

Because as Moses said, the blood of the Bull is the blood of the Law.

In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
Hebrews 9:16-18

But there is an imperfection. Not only was a bull sacrificed to the Bull El, goats were sacrificed…

He [Jesus] did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean
Hebrews 9:12-13

The Sigil of Azazel
The Sigil of Azazel

.. sacrificed to AZAZEL

“[High Priest] Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
Leviticus 16:6-10

Thus the Law is an imperfect sacrifice — from a mortal High Priest, mediated against through creatures like the Burning Bush and Azazel. The dead cattle and dead goats are not what God is after

For I desire steadfast love[a] and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6

The imperfect blood of a dead, imperfect law, mediated by imperfect creatures.

The Lord did not want sacrifice, and it is not even clear if the Aaronic priesthood was ever valid.

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless
Hebrews 7:18

In the regulations concerning priests, the Torah reads:

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God
Leviticus 21:16-17

What man is without defect? The modern eye is probably drawn to the first or last entry in this, one of many lists of defect

or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles.”
Leviticus 21:20

Hebrews’ hammers at the imperfection everywhere in the imperfect sacrifice, mediated by Azazel and the Burning Bush.

But the Gospel According to St. Matthew, the most Hebrew of the gospels, seems to dwell on the middle peace. A defect as small as one in the eye prevents mediation between God and man

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Matthew 7:3-6

Would a Perfect Priest walk the Earth?

The Lamb in the Center of the Wheel, the First Born of All Creation
The Lamb in the Center of the Wheel, the First Born of All Creation

Bread and Wine

If there was a Perfect Mediator, He could He could bless both God and man.

After his [Abram’s] return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Genesis 14:17-20

Hebrews gives an explanation to this passage

This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
Hebrews 7:1-3

Melchizedek_Abraham

The Perfect Priest, the Perfect Sacrifice

The LORD, begotten by the Father, was made perfect, on Earth, in His suffering.

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:7-10

This allows a Priesthood to be strong and worthwhile, a perfect priest, forever

For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:28

God does not wish sacrifice, and with the perfect priest, it is no longer needed, for God Himself will not remember those sins

As the Prophet Jeremiah wrote,

No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Jeremiah 31:34

Call Upon the Name of the LORD

Except, not really..  As the letter to the Hebrews says,

And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”

then he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Hebrews 10:16-17

The Prophecies of Jeremiah were voiced by jeremiah, but they were by the Holy Spirit.

And again

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,

Psalms 95:8

But really

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,”

Hebrews 3:7-8

The Father is a Fire, good in the sense a Bull can be good, visible in the sense a black hole is visible, incomprehensible to human minds and unseen to human eyes.

The Son has walked the Earth, but in his human nature comes to this place, or that, in this time, or that, and so much of what He has to say we cannot bear right now.

But in He, Sent by the Father in the Name of the LORD,

The TORAH

To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the Name of the LORD
Genesis 4:26

The WRITINGS

And everyone who calls
on the Name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors
whom the Lord calls
Joel 2:23

The LETTERS

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.  For “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:12-13

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