The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is dead or dormant?
Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of June 18, 2011
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
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I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. / For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:14–17)
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The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers' house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff, and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house. Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. And Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.
On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” Thus did Moses; as the Lord commanded him, so he did.
And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die. Are we all to perish?” (Num 17:1–17)
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Dead or Dormant
Because of the weather this spring, here where Philadelphia’s website is maintained fruit trees for new espaliers were not even ordered until late May, the very end of the season for when bare root stock can be shipped across country. The two apple trees (half inch caliper) arrived in about a week, but were in transit the week of the hottest weather northern tier states have experienced this wet spring. Thus, when one of the two trees immediately broke dormancy and leafed and the other tree didn’t, the webmaster (mistress) was concerned for a bare root quince had made a similar cross country journey in 2009 and had never leafed … the quince was replaced by the nursery, but for a year there was a dead stick protruding from the ground where there should have been a living tree.
When a bare root tree arrives from a nursery, how is the person receiving the tree to discern the difference between a tree that has died during the winter—a tree that will never break dormancy—and a living tree in dormancy? Both will be pruned and will appear as “sticks.” Both will have appropriate roots and will appear similar in every way: the nursery would not ship a tree that the nursery knew was dead.
The twelve staffs brought to Moses were all “dead” sticks, or so they appeared. But there was a difference between the staffs, a difference determined by the Lord, a difference disclosing that Aaron’s staff was like dormant bare root stock received in the spring.
The men of Israel recognized the dilemma confronting them when Aaron’s staff sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms and bore ripe almonds: it wasn’t Israel that could approach God, that lived to serve the Lord, that differed from every other peoples on the earth—it was the tribe of Levi, for the Lord had already determined to build for Himself a great nation, but a great nation through Moses, not through all of the descendants of Jacob or through all of the descendants of Isaac or through all of the descendants of Abraham or through all of the descendants of Noah.
Jesus said,
I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:30–47 emphasis added)
Works as witness—the lack of “works” manifested by Christians terrified of being labeled legalists bear witness against them; for every Christian will believe Moses and believe Jesus’ words, or the Christian will be as the staffs of the other eleven tribes of Israel were. The Christian will be spiritually dead, not dormant.
In outward appearance, there was no difference between the Portugal Quince that did not break dormancy in 2009 and the Calville Blanc received this spring that broke dormancy a week ago, two weeks after the other bare root apple broke dormancy. Neither tree [Quince or Calville Blanc] arrived with leaves or with swollen buds. Both appeared like dead sticks with roots attached when received. Both had been grafted upon stool-bed rootstock, and both had been placed in cold storage in late fall of the preceding year. Both were received with great anticipation—
The twelve tribes of Israel form the shadow and type of greater Christendom, the nation/peoples that should be circumcised of heart: circumcision of the flesh by human hands forms the shadow and copy of circumcision of the heart via the soft breath of God [pneuma Theon]. Hence, those Christians that spurn or belittle so-called replacement theology are without understanding and have willingly separated themselves from Christ Jesus; for the nation of Israel that has endtime importance is not the outwardly circumcised nation but the inwardly circumcised nation.
When the Lord told Moses, “‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you’” (Ex 32:9–10 emphasis added); and “‘How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they’” (Num 14:11–12 emphasis added), the Lord declared the spiritual reality underlying the budding and fruiting of Aaron’s staff … it will not be from all of Israel that glorified sons of God come but from Moses, from whom the Lord will construct New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16) … to believe God—to live by faith—requires that Christian is able to say of him or herself what Paul said about himself: “‘Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense’” (Acts 25:8).
If the righteous are to live by faith, the righteous will keep the commandments of God (see 1 John 3:4–10); for to live by faith is to live by the Christian’s belief of God through hearing the voice of Jesus who only spoke the words of the Father, the words of God. Thus, the Christian will believe the writings of Moses—the visible, physical manifestation of the words of the Lord—and the Christian will hear Jesus’ voice in the writings of Moses. Since Sinai, it was and remained the intention of the Lord, the Creator of all that has been made, to make a greater nation than Israel from the man Moses, with the greater nation being circumcised-of-heart Israel, the people that will believe Moses and hear the words of Jesus.
But Christians today are like nursery stock, grafted cultivars, being kept in cold storage.
Once the Church went into dormancy at the end of the 1st-Century CE, spiritually living and spiritually dead Christians began to look alike. Neither displayed signs of life. Both appeared dead; yet one was truly dead and the other was like Aaron’s staff, which looked enough life the staffs of the headmen of other eleven tribes that each man’s name had to be written on his staff.
Christians that are truly dead will not keep the commandments of God, nor even attempt to keep them … to be a living Christian, the person must do two things, (1) keep the commandments (i.e., believe Moses), and (2) have love for brother and neighbor (i.e., hear the voice of Jesus). It is not enough to have love for this world and the people of this world if the Christian doesn’t love God enough to attempt to walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6; 1 Cor 11:1 et al), meaning keeping the commandments, all of them, especially the Sabbath commandment. Likewise, it is not enough to keep the commandments if the Christian doesn’t truly love his brother, earthly and spiritual. The Christian who physically treats his brother as America’s President Obama treats his Kenyan brother is a spiritual bastard. The love of God is not active in the Christian. At best, this Christian is in a state of dormancy that must be broken by removing the Christian from cold storage and planting the person in a land of trials and tribulation.
Again, the difference between being spiritually dead and being in a state of spiritual dormancy is not outwardly discernable until the Christian is planted in a landscape of trials and tribulation. Then, the dead slowly reveal themselves by doing nothing, by not responding to sunlight, by remaining a stick even though planted and watered by God through Him giving to every Christian the full measure of His breath so that there is no indwelling sin and death in the person.
The Christian who is as Aaron’s staff was—regardless of whether that Christian is a Sabbatarian without love for his lawless brothers, or is one of the lawless that truly loves this world—will when filled with the breath of God put forth buds and branches and produce fruit in a period represented by the last six hours of darkness of the long night Israel spent in Egypt after the death angels had passed over the land. In the 1260 days between the Second Passover liberation of Israel and when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man, today’s dormant Christian will produce the fruit of the spirit.
But today’s dead Christian will be first marked as not being of God by not keeping the Sabbath, and will then be marked as being of the Adversary through accepting the tattoo of the cross on the Christian’s right hand, which will be accompanied by worship of the cross, the fourth king of Daniel chapter 7, the fourth horseman, Death. For the cross represents death, not life. And the dead Christian will self-identify him or herself through the Christian’s acceptance of the cross as an identifying mark.
What about today? What distinguishes between a Christian who is spiritually dead, as the staffs of eleven tribes of Israel were, and between the Christian who is simply in a dormant state, as Aaron’s staff was for all of the first year after Israel left Egypt?
Paul wrote, “For in it [the good news of God] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Rom 1:17) … the righteous are those who keep the commandments of God, for righteousness is the opposite to sinning (i.e., transgressing the commandments); for John wrote, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:7–9 emphasis added).
When the Christian who has tasted the goodness of God and who is now cut off from God and hence dead is baptized in the divine breath of God, nothing will happen: this Christian will shake off eternal life as a dog shakes off water. However, when those Christians who have been in figurative cold storage are baptized in the breath of God, all will have the potential of bearing fruit as Aaron’s staff bore fruit. But most will never break dormancy for they died in darkness, died during the long period of cold storage, died without anyone realizing they were dead—and they will be as the Quince tree that stood as a dead stick in its place for a year, or until another bare root replacement could be sent from the West Coast the following spring.
As the children of Israel—the circumcised children too young to be numbered in the census of the second year, and the uncircumcised children born in the wilderness—as a nation (Num chap 26) replaced the nation of rebels numbered in the census of the second year (Num chap 1), the third part of humankind (from Zech 13:9) will replace greater Christendom, the nation that died spiritually in the darkness between the end of the 1st-Century and the beginning of the 21st-Century. But not all of greater Christendom will die spiritually. Some Christians who today appear as dead sticks are really only in a state of dormancy that will be broken by baptism in the divine breath of God.
Because it truly isn’t possible to determine which Christian is alive but dormant and which Christian died during the long night of darkness, God will baptize every Christian in spirit—and if God will give to every Christian a chance, should not we as Philadelphians, do likewise, giving to both the lawless and the loveless an appropriate length of time to break dormancy after the Second Passover liberation of Israel? God will give to Christians 220 days to break dormancy.
Having genuine love for brother and neighbor is not easy in this world, especially when a brother or a neighbor does everything possible to foster hate or contempt in the Christian. Nevertheless, a Christian’s love for neighbor and brother isn’t dependent upon the neighbor or brother, but upon the Christian’s love for God. The derelict brother or abusive neighbor exist as trials devised by the Adversary to undo the Christian’s love for God. As such, they must be endured and overcame. And in doing so, the Christian will become as Moses was, who repeatedly sought to save those Israelites who could not be saved.
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."