In these chapters the author discusses the theme of transformation in scripture. He points out from the beginning that the Bible begins with a garden and ends with a perfected city. The author does not believe that man was to remain in Eden and leave Eden as it was, but was to transform Eden as we are to change the world now. The fall and redemption just changed the course of the transformation (if one is not to take the high Calvinistic view of the plans of God).
Jordan points out that transformation has been the theme of scripture right from the beginning, and that the creation account describes how God did it. Man is to imitate God, as we saw in the last few chapters, since earth is to mirror heaven.
1. Taking Dominion. God did this by command, Man imitates God by taking hold or taking control of a given thing in our own way. 2. Restructuring: God did this on the first three days primarily, man imitates God by his work (moving, cooking, planting, building, etc) 3. Distribution: God did this primarily on the last three days of active creation, man imitates God by buying, selling, trading, giving things away or keeping them. 4. Evaluation: God did this by declaring His creation good. Man does this when he makes judgements about what he has created (before there is eating, there is tasting). 5. Enjoyment: God did this on the seventh day. There was a day set aside for man to stop and enjoy what he has done, but there is also the sense that when we make something we can then use it to our pleasure or for the pleasure of others.
God has 5 steps in transformation, Man has 6.
6. Thanksgiving: Man acknowledges his dependence upon and his submission to God by giving thanks. This is also the standard by which the evil men of old were judged (Rom 1:21).
Jordan notes that there is no distinction between the secular and the sacred in scripture when it comes to the way things are transformed, only the attitude of the man who is transforming them.
Also important is the theme of growth. Adam may have been a fully adult male, bodily speaking, but spiritually he was a child. The author posits that this is why he had not eaten of the tree of life or the tree of knowledge. He believes that mankind is expected to grow over time. This is why the covenants made in scripture build upon each other, and why the OC is good but the NC is better. (Deut 5:6-8; Gal 4:1-11)
Even though corrupted by sin and thus doomed to not endure, our works are to make the world glorious. Since the curse is removed, the effect of these deteriorating works is still cumulative. When God takes hold of a situation and establishes a new covenant, the effect is cumulative.
And as an interesting bit of information, he points out that the six step transformation process was the basis for the Eucharist and Liturgy of the older churches.
The Next chapter dealt with Man as an agent of change. There was a great deal of space given to the roles of prophet, (which was not present in the garden as there was no need for one), priest and king. Man is king by taking dominion. In the garden it meant dressing and tending it. Man is a priest by protecting the purity of that around him, in the garden it meant guarding it. man is a prophet when he enters the divine counsel. It originally only had the trinity, but was expanded to include man. In older times it was only certain men, then after the death of Christ it includes all who have reached maturity.
Thus scratched Lady Raven at
11:46 AM
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While I was on hiatus from my internet connection, I was not on hiatus in relation to my reading and study. I did in fact finish "Through New Eyes." I'm glad that I read it again. I have had a rough time of it recently and reading through the material, and then the notes I had taken on the material was inspirational for me. So I will try, in the next few posts, to finish up my review of this book and move on the the most recent of material I have read.
Chatper 8 - Birds and Beasts
There were analogies scripture drew from the animal kingdom because there were parallels in God's eyes. The dominion mandate was not in relation to the ground, or the plants, but over the animals. Animals were under the law in some aspects (they were liable for murder, had to obey the Sabbath, the first-born belonged to God) and without a parallel, they never would have been. Besides, without an assumed parallel between man and beast, Adam never would have assumed that he, like the ox, needed a mate. And finally, the whole sacrificial system presumes an analogy, it would have fallen apart without one. The NT expands on these for our own wisdom (1 Cor 9:9-10) but the whole of the OT animal codes were for our good and for symbolism.
Birds - heaven, spirits Fish - Water - gentiles (which is why fishing was a good analogy for spreading the gospel) Domestic Animals - Earth, Man in covenant Wild Animals - Gentiles (especially noble ones) Creeping things - Dirt, the curse, Satan and evil men
There was also a good deal of discussion about the notion of clean and unclean animals, which I found fascinating. I had always wondered why some animals were clean and others weren't. I concluded that maybe it was healthier to eat biblically kosher foods, but this was not the reasoning behind it.
Clean animals chewed the cud, which is biblically symbolic of meditation on God's word. Other aspects dealt with the curse, not with the animal particularly. The earth was cursed, so clean animals had hooves, which were parallel to shoes, which protected them from the ground. (Man had to wash the ground off his feet and wear shoes to separate himself from the curse). The hooves were split to allow the animals to climb to high places (symbolic of seeking God). Clean sea creatures had body armour (scales) to prevent contact with the cursed matter in which they lived. They also had fins for movement, symbolising how the man of God is not driven by the tide, but moves purposefully in the world.
Under the NC, with the sacrifice of Christ, the curse has been lifted on the earth. Therefore we can eat as we like and go barefoot without any ceremonial foot washing before we come inside. However, there are lessons to be learned from animals and how they are portrayed in scripture. It's about making judgements and decisions from lessons taught in the whole of scripture and I intend one day to make a more comprehensive study of animals in the Bible.
Chapter 9 - Angels
The main stress of this chapter is how heaven is the model for earth and angels are role models for man. There is a great deal of time spent presenting the parallels and making conclusions from them. The important thing though is that man is not angelic, and they do have somewhat separate roles. At the same time, angels are presented in a sort of maturity and perfection of mankind's roles on earth. man's maturity will grow over time, whereas the angelic host are always mature. Yet both are in the service of God and both work to do similar tasks. Angels run the world for God, Man is in charge of reshaping the world and history as God has planned it.
There was a good deal of discussion given to the biblical view of causality and natural law which tied my mind in a knot. It goes like this...God is always active (eph1:11) we cant even move without divine sanction (acts17:28) Angels are running it all, and laws like gravity are laws that God has imposed upon himself and his angels (Heb 1:7) and can be trusted because God is consistent. Part of the discussion involved the question as to whether angels literally ran the world 'all the time.' Did they literally cause the weather or pull my pen to the ground when it fell? Or is that all metaphorical language that teaches that somehow it's all being controlled? It was reasonably posited that a secular mindset (objectivism, materialism, empiricism) might reject such notions, as well as a mind which was too concerned with rejecting paganistic ideas. The chapter was a definite defence against the watchmaker mindset. If nothing else, it will make you see thunderstorms and sunlight in a new light.
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6:48 PM
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Hey, I've made it all the way to chapter seven of Through New Eyes by James Jordan. It is fascinating, though at times my eyes cross. Even though this is the third time I've read it, I still am learning new things. It is truly blessing me beyond belief.
Chapter seven is about trees and thorns. Trees get a whole chapter cause they're all through the Bible.
In Gen 2, we trees as provision, both of food and of esthetic beauty...and shade from the sun after the fall. Leaves of trees are for healing and the fruit is for food (Ez 47:12;Rev 22;2 and Psalm 1:3)
Biblical symbolism also makes trees representative of the people of God. We see trees fed by spiritual waters and healing the nations of the world through the gospel (these are the saints) and in Ez 17:23 Israel is presented as a great tree which shades the birds of all nations.
Jesus repeated this parable in Matt 13, but changed the tree to a mustard tree, signalling a change in covenant (cedar to mustard, new planting).
Hosea 14:5-8 shows the restoration of Israel via imagry of trees. We see references to the temple here also as Cypress, Cedar and Olive were all woods used in the construction of the temple.
God is also associated with trees. Sometimes He IS a tree and sometimes he is "at" or "in" trees. There is a high fallutin term "arboreal theophany" to describe this sort of thing. It's not as common as the "God is a rock" allegory, but it is still there. We have the burning bush, for instance. and we have Jesus as the tree of life (2 Sam 22:29; Psalm 119:105)
Trees are Ladders to Heaven
Daniel 4 shows King Nebbie dreaming of himself as the tree of life and God ordering this presumptuous person to be "cut down" to size (4:11-15) John 1:51 shows that Jesus is a ladder, but in context Jesus has a conversation with Nathaniel sitting under a fig tree. The fig tree, a symbol of Israel, is also parallel with Jesus the Messiah. And the Cross has been called a tree.
With all this in mind, I can see a new symbolism for the Christmas tree I have in my home each year and Dr Jordan did a good job of showing me the truth of what it really means. This chapter is so much more than what I presented here and I urge everyone who can read the book to do so.
Thus scratched Lady Raven at
1:46 PM
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God calls himself a rock...what is meant by this? I'm sure you have a few accurate ideas, I know that I have always had a few ideas as to what this meant. This is proof of course that the original thought, the original world view has been preserved in this area as the symbols still mean what God intended.
1. Strength - they are hard, and if large enough, near impossible to crack.
2. A Fortified Hiding Place - God put Moses in the Cleft of a rock to protect him (Ex 33:22) from His glory.
3. Judgement - (Luke 20:17-18) Falling on the stone is the image of salvation, but the stone falling on you is judgement. We have the stone crushing the nations in Daniel 2.
4. Foundation - (Eph 2:20, Matt 7:24-25) He is the foundation of the house, the Chief Cornerstone (and we are all living stones, part of being in His image).
5. Provision - Isaiah 32:2 shows man acting like God, providing for the land. The rock in the wilderness provided water for His people.
6. God's Glory - Ez 28:13-14 speaks of a high priest walking amongst the "stones of fire" which are the precious gems. Tyre had broke the faith...eden is the land of Israel in this verse, the High Priest was the guardian who led the people astray. The gems have a 'fire' (the brillance you see in the light when you hold a diamond or other precious stone just so) which is an image of God's glory. These stones give off an eternal rainbow in heaven and there are references to this in places including Revelation 4 and the picture presented of the New Jerusalem. stones have been associated with the apostles (Rev 21:14), and the righteous of the Church are gemstones, or will be with a little refining (1 Cor 3:10-13).
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Some stones are important for their strenghth, but the stones which reflect the rainbow, the saints of God are what God really prizes. The fact that the High Priest had gems on his garments (chest area) signifies that God's people are always close to His heart. We see our sin and regard ourselves as ugly rocks, but...with a little holy fire...we become gems, glorious stones of fire. It's amazine what God can do isn't it?
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1:06 PM
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The fall of the sun moon and stars is often associated with the second coming, however, it is more Biblically consistent to assume that this refers to the collapse of nations...usually one in particular.
Stars symbolise rulers and their times. In Gen 15, Abraham is told to go out and "tell" the stars and if he could do so, thus should his seed be. The word is usually translated as count, but sometimes means evaluate.
There is a sense that of course this verse means that Abraham would have alot of descendents. However it is also valid to say that their history would mark time (as this is what stars do). When God made the covenant with Abraham, he showed his assent by burying the sun (making it dark). IF the seed would be "like the stars of heaven and dust of the earth, it wil have to be a new heavens and a new earth" (Jordan, pg 59)
Then we have Joseph who dreamed that the stars would bow to him. It has been suggested that this was the zodiac and not individual stars and that the zodiac might represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Evidently Josephus refers to the twelve tribes this way.
Constellations are referred to in scripture merely as part of the way things were created, for example in Job where God asks Job if he can lead a constellation, then refers to a specific zodiac sign...the bear. Job 9:9 also uses these zodiac signs to proclaim God's greatness. Psalm 147:4 says that God gives names to all the stars. This does not give permission to engage in astrology, however it does indicate that God gave those stars and constellations their names. God designed them and is opposed to any use which abuses them for idolatry or fortunetelling purposes (Deut 18:9; Is 8:19-20, 44:24-35). I don't know, and Jordan seems to disagree with, the idea that the gospel is written in the stars starting with virgo and ending with leo. That is an interesting theory, and it would be really neat if it could be true, but Jordan seems to think there is no support for it. I have not studied it myself to evaluate it, so I don't know.
The four faces of the cherubim do correspond with the zodiac, as do some of the tribes of Israel. Four of them are given Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, Dan (Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio - Gen 49:9, Deut 33:17, Gen 49:4 and Gen 49:17). If you line the rest of the tribes in the wilderness up, you can link the rest of the tribes up with a zodiac sign.
Stars then are very much linked to human governments. In Is 13:1-10 we see some prophecy which concludes with the stars and constellations not giving their light, the sun will be dark and the moon will not give it's light. This was not a darkening of the sky like would happen if the sun burnt out, it is the fall of Babylon. There was no cosmic shakeup at that time...there is a shakeup of the current order of things. Babylon's time is up, it will soon be "lights out" and the day of doom is coming. The heavenly bodies symbolise the rulers also and them going out of power, their light, their power and influence, is put out.
Thus we need to translate Revelation the same way, the falling of the stars is not a meteor shower, it's changing of the governments, the fall of leaders, an end of the way things were.
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7:25 AM
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The Sun, who rules the daytime, is used to symbolise the Lord. This can be found in PS 84:11 or in IS 60:1-3. The latter speaks of the light of the Lord shining on his people and nations coming to the light of him.
In Rev 1:16, Jesus face shone like the sun.
When night is overcome by day, it is symbolic of the coming of the kingdom. The Old Covenant can be seen as the nighttime, the New as the daylight (Mal 4:1-2), the two adams can also be seen as night and day.
The sun can also in biblical literature mean counterfeit gods, this is shown in the life of Pharoah who pretended to be an incarnation of the sun and thus the sun was put out for three days in Ex 10.
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1:18 AM
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The text itself sets forth the reasons for these lights and gives clues as to their purpose symbolically.
They are to be for seasons…this is related to the OT festival calendar mostly They are to be for clocks for days and years They are to rule the day and the night
As lights they are all representative of glory (Matt 13:43; 1 Cor 15:41), and are often associated with the heavenly host around the throne of God. These are both angelic hosts (Judges 5:20, Job 38:7 and Is 14:13) and also human (Gen 15:5, 22:17; 26:4; Deut 1:10).
Because they rule time they represent rulers, and by virtue of the connection to humans also, governments. Because they keep time they also represent the natural life of said government or rulers. Ergo the fall of sun moon and stars in Biblical literature represents the fall of a government.
Thus when a believer sees reference to this is Revelation, this is not meaning a meteor shower.
Thus scratched Lady Raven at
7:15 AM
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Name: Raven Shadowwinds From::Gaston, South Carolina, United States
I'm a 40ish mother of two; wanna-be historian, webdesigner, thinker of deep thoughts, and gothic princess. I am a perplexing and arcane person, creative writer, artist and photographer. I’m a voracious reader of anything Celtic, Norse, Confederate, Reformation, Renaissance, Medieval, World War two, political, philosophical or theological subject matter, as well as vampires, werewolves and other “darker” gothic themes. I’m an amateur historian, philosopher and theologian. I’m a confederate constitutional libertarian. I like antiquity goth, romanti-goth and period-goth styles mostly, though my hair has punk tendencies. In music I prefer celtic, renn, medieval, gregorian chant, ethereal darkwave, gothic rock, punk, melodic metal, medieval metal, hair bands, dark ambient, new age. I drink Coca-Cola, Chai Latte or British style tea.
Legalism is a sin, one cannot bind the conscience of another believer without direct scriptural compulsion to do so. Where there is no commandment or restriction there is liberty. Twisting scripture and
misinterpreting it to take away the liberty of a believer is legalism.
No culture can honestly claim to be Christian unless it has been ordered by and initiated by God. All cultures have been polluted by sin as all men are sinners. The Body of Christ should remember this...When attempting a conversation with a member of another culture...in that conversation, there will be two sinful cultures and two people who have a sin problem. This does not change whether the conversation is in deepest africa, or the goth club down the road.
**Warning** the below linked blog rolls contain sites which may not be acceptable or Christian. I have placed them here to increase traffic to my blog and possibly expose unbelievers to the truth. Click out at your own risk!!
by James Jordan. It is fascinating, though at times my eyes cross. Even though this is the third time I've read it, I still am learning new things. It is truly blessing me beyond belief.
