4.8.25

Good morning!

Our Lord's Supper Celebration, last night, was amazing. The translator as always was spot on. The food was delicious and nutritious. The truths expressed through the night were transformative. The unity that was fostered will be a theme to nourish and develop in the days, weeks and months ahead, so that the city of Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, will become a fruitful vine for the Lord (Psa. 128:3; Jn. 15:1-6) and no foxes will destroy the tender fruit (SoS 2:15).

This evening at 6:30 p.m. we will celebrate the Passover by observing and personalizing the Exodus story out of Egypt and prophetically tying it into the next Exodus that is coming soon to a theater near you...make sure you're on your 'A' game (Jer. 16:14,15).

Over the past couple days, in our study of Vayikra/Leviticus, I have been sharing with you some validating thoughts that the 'sacrifices', the Korbanot/offerings (Lev. 1-9) aren't about blood, guts, gore, etc., but about a joyful action that fosters intimacy between the Bridegroom King and His wife (Ex. 25:8).

This morning, I want to introduce another thought to whet your whistle in order that the 'tune' of our mindset might produce a more palatable song for ears to hear: Ritual purity.

This stuff gets very deep and many of us, and I mean many of us, don't understand the meaning of ritual purity vs moral purity and their relationship to the landscape of the Torah and activities at the altar. When someone becomes ritually impure, they are said to be 'unclean/tamei'...something that we as modern believers don't comprehend at all; but need to!

Our misunderstanding comes when we think that tamei is only the result of sin, rather than a natural event that causes us to become fragmented/tamei; E.g. having a baby, bodily emissions with your honey bunny, a loved one dying, and much more (Lev. 11-15).  These are not sins. It’s a temporary state of uncleanness and it does something that bars people from entering into the sacred spaces of God.  That may sound completely outlandish to you if you approach it from a modern Christian mindset, but that’s what the Torah says and they aren't Moses words, they are Gods. That’s what God‘s word says: you couldn’t draw near/karav without your offering/korban, you couldn’t eat sacrificial foods without first being cleansed/tahor through immersion or an offering connected to ritual impurities. Huh?

In many ways, the state of tamei was symbolic of mortality or death in contrast with God‘s holiness, purity and life. These offerings were used in large part to cleanse the sanctuary from this ritual impurity.  For example, after childbirth, a woman finds herself in a state of impurity/tamei, her life is super duper fragmented. After her time of physical healing and bonding with her child, the woman would bring a burnt offering and a sin offering; not because birth is sinful, but the offering would reintegrate her into sacred space.  The temple sacrifices maintained Israel‘s relationship with God by upholding a status that provided the atmosphere for the shekinah glory to dwell, showing that the sacrifices were very, very distant from the idea of appeasing an angry God. They are definitely not punitive, they're not substitutionary, but they are purificatory (that’s a lot of syllables purifying). In God's economy the blood acts like a ritual detergent.  The temple installations were ritually cleaned. The people cleaned, the temple spaces were cleaned, and the glory of God remained.

But, you might ask, how is giving birth, the fulfilment of the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, an action that makes a woman tamei? The birthing process is a constant reminder to us of our mortality; the fact that we are born and one day will contract contact with death. Even birth has this effect making the person come into this state special, though different processes of purification had to be undergone by those who would come in contact with the dead or a mother who had given birth. The result was the same: tamei. In God's economy, death and mortality have no place in the temple space which celebrates God‘s everlasting life and his promises of life.

Why was a woman who had her period considered unclean/tamei? Because the loss of the egg, ova, is a form of death. No life was created from that which held the promise of life. You understand that skin disease, like leprosy, was equivalent to an individual compared to one who walks around as if they’re dead (Lev. 14)...and the examples of Lev. 11-15 could go on and on...but, why blood? Enquiring minds want to know.

Where is life (Lev. 17:11)? Life, the Torah says, is in the blood.  Thus when we are confronting these areas of death and our mortality it is only the life in the blood. If all of your blood is taken out of you, you will not make it (Jam. 2:26). Life is in the blood thus that’s why we find blood polar opposite of death and immortality in the blood. It's not so crazy when we see it that way. In God‘s house, life washed away death and its association.

Ritual purity is not the same as moral purity (grievances, sexual immorality, bloodshed, murder, theft, lying, etc.). These generate impurity at a different level; one that can defile the land and alienate the divine presence of God. Something, in our modern culture we don't comprehend for multiple reasons. And here we get to the meat of the matter, pun intended.

However, that entree will have to wait till tomorrow :-)

Happy Feast Season!

Shalom