There was a very major event which occurred at the beginning of Messiah's public ministry. One of the first things that Jesus did was to cleanse the temple which the Jews held with such pious regard. By this event He was announcing His mission as the Anointed One.
But the Jews did not recognize this man from Nazareth as the Son of God. They were expecting a different kind of Messiah. They were expecting the Anointed One to come according to the Scriptures, and this Jesus of Nazareth, in their minds, hadn't come according to the Scriptures. "We know where this Man comes from; when the Christ arrives, no one is to know from what place He comes." John 7:27 Amplified. Jesus was just a man, to them, and when this mere man assumed the authority to enter into their temple and cleanse it, they were outraged! They regarded the temple as belonging to themselves. It was their institution, which God Himself had given them.
If you think about it for a minute, looking through the eyes of the Jews of His day, this invasive act was outrageous. Jesus was only a very young man. He wasn't a priest in the temple, nor had He been given any human authority. This cleansing of the temple was completely in the face of the Jewish nation, for they had no idea that their institution was no longer serving the purpose for which it had been given. Because of the fallen spiritual state that they were in, they felt very pleased with it.
The reason that Father instructed Jesus to cleanse the temple was because it was a symbol whose services of blood pointed forward to the first appearing of Messiah, and His specific Atonement by Blood. The temple institution was no longer pointing to Messiah, and it was necessary to cleanse its symbolism, so the Anointing among them could be recognized in human flesh. At the end of Messiah's time of ministry, He returned to His temple, and found it necessary to cleanse it a second time.
Father drew my attention to these two literal events in the life of Jesus, and showed me that therein He had encrypted another living parable in the life of Messiah. He revealed that there was a direct parallel between the cleansing of the temple at the beginning and ending of His Messianic ministry, and the two appearings of Messiah to the earth.
The first time Messiah came to His temple and found it in need of cleansing, it symbolized the first coming of Messiah to this earth. In the second literal event in the life of Jesus, He returned to His temple and found it necessary to cleanse it a second time, revealing the necessity of the special work of Messiah at His visible return, to cleanse the body of Christ, His own temple, once again.
Father likened the first cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Messiah's ministry on earth, to the first visible appearing of Messiah in human flesh, in Jesus of Nazareth, at the beginning of the Messianic ministry on earth. And He likened the second cleansing of the temple at the end of Messiah's ministry on earth - to the second visible appearing of Messiah in human flesh - in Michael of Travesser, at the ending of the Messianic ministry on earth.
Each appearing of Messiah revealed a specific cleansing work. The adversary had been working with special intensity on the specific symbols which were to point to the two appearings of Messiah in human flesh, and the special work of atonement that Messiah would be anointed to fulfill at each coming.
The first atonement of Messiah, which was to be the Atonement by Blood, and was foreshadowed by the symbols of the temple institution and its services, revolved around the shedding of blood. It was Satan's special object to corrupt this institution and its symbols, so the Atonement by Blood would be unappreciated and rejected.
The temple was the institution in this living parable at the first coming of Messiah, but the institution that stood in need of being cleansed at the second coming of Messiah, was the marriage institution, which had been given to symbolize divine marriage union with God. It was important that this symbol not be perverted, for it pointed forward to the Atonement by Consummation, and the marriage of the Lamb, at the second appearing of Messiah in human flesh, just as the symbol of the temple and its atonement by blood pointed forward so vividly to the Atonement by Blood, revealed at the first appearing of Messiah in human flesh.
The second Atonement, which Messiah would make at His return, was to be the Atonement by Consummation, and was foreshadowed by the symbols of the marriage institution with its imagery of union by consummation. It was likewise Satan's special object to corrupt this institution and its symbols, so the Atonement by Consummation would be unappreciated and rejected.
Thus when Messiah came the first time, He went into the physical precincts of the temple of that dispensation, to cleanse and restore its symbolism. And when Messiah appeared again, He came into the temple of this dispensation, the bride of Christ, to cleanse and restore the symbolism of divine marriage. While within human flesh, the divine Son of God physically consummated the divine marriage of the Lamb with the Anointed physical representative of the bride of Christ, the Two Witnesses, physically revealing the perfection of the union which the invisible divine Anointing has with the thoughts and the feelings of the bride of the Anointing, the human soul, into whom He has come.
I will quote briefly the specific principles from the two cleansings that Father desired to be brought out in this chapter, but you may read the entire accounts of these two cleansings of the temple in The Desire of Ages, in the chapters: "In His Temple," and "The Temple Cleansed Again." These principles apply with equal force to the temple institution at the first coming of Messiah, and the marriage institution at the second coming of Messiah.
The Jews were exceedingly proud of their piety. They rejoiced over their temple, and regarded a word spoken in its disfavor as blasphemy; they were very rigorous in the performance of ceremonies connected with it; but...they were scarcely aware how far they had wandered from the original purpose of the service instituted by God Himself. [As "Christians" we had no idea of how far we were from knowing what true divine union with God was.]
Christ saw that something must be done. Among them, unrecognized and unhonored, stood the One symbolized by all their service. [Michael stood up as the True Husband, revealing the unrecognized divine Anointing as the divine Husband of the human soul.] He understood their symbolical value, and He saw that they were now perverted and misunderstood.
His heart was filled with grief that the temple service [human marriage] had been polluted, and had misrepresented his character and mission. Christ's work was to establish an altogether different worship [different kind of marriage]. In the cleansing of the temple [marriage institution], Jesus was announcing His mission as the Messiah [of the Anointing in every soul temple], and entering upon His work. [Likewise, Michael stood up to enter upon His work of delivering the Anointing in every soul sanctuary, from everything that would oppress it; and soul domination in human marriage, and soul domination from the self, were the first things that Michael overthrew in delivering the Anointing from their control.] DA 155-166;RH 88-27-95.
At the end of Jesus' Messiahship the cleansing of the temple had to be repeated, revealing the cleansing and rebuilding of the spiritual temple, the bride of Christ, at Michael's appearing.
At the beginning of His ministry, Christ had driven from the temple those who defiled it by their unholy traffic...At the close of His mission He came again to the temple, and found it still desecrated as before. The condition of things was even worse than before...
Three years before he had cleansed the temple, but all that defiled its courts at that time existed now in a much greater degree. In fulfillment of ancient prophecy the people had proclaimed Jesus to be the King of Israel; he had accepted their homage and the office of king and priest. He knew that his efforts to reform a corrupted priesthood would be in vain; but nevertheless, his work must be done, the evidence of his divine mission must be given to an unbelieving people...
The Pharisees were utterly perplexed and disconcerted at the turn things had taken...One was in command whom they could not intimidate with their assumption of authority. [Even as they were exiting the temple in obedience to His command, they were saying to Him in their hearts, "Hey, you can't do this, you can't say that! You don't have the authority!!!! This institution is sacred! You can't come in here like you do, you aren't anybody." But the very fact that He was doing it, revealed the authority which had been given to the Anointed Messiah by His Father. The same authority is proven in Michael. The fact that the marriage was consummated, proved the authority to consummate it.]
Jesus had taken his position as guardian of the temple. [Just so Michael stood up, and took His position as guardian of the Anointing in the soul temple, and the guardian of the physical symbol of divine marriage union. Yet "Christians" these days say to Michael, Human marriage is a sacred institution! You can't come into that! They do not have any idea that the symbol of human marriage bears not one trace of resemblance to the divine union to which it was meant to point.]
Jesus, in taking charge of the temple court, had wrought there a wonderful change. [Michael, in taking charge of the Anointing's freedom within the soul temple of everyone who believes in Him, and revealing the freedom of soul blended with the sweetest and most unbreakable intuitive union of marriage with God, wrought a wonderful change.]
All these sayings and doings of Christ were important, and their influence was to be felt in an ever increasing degree after the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension. 3SP 20-30.
At the end of His three and a half years of public ministry, Christ went through His human veil for the last time. On the cross of crucifixion, Jesus faced the keenest and most real-appearing veil of human contradiction to His Father's word, and in the very midst of that trial He not only went through that veil of human sense Himself, but rent it completely, making a new and living way for the Anointing to rend the veil of sense in every human soul it is within.
Psalm 22 is the Messianic prophecy of the experience of the Anointing on Jesus' cross of crucifixion. It begins with words which describe very vividly the veil of flesh that the Anointing was required to go through. "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?" Yet, all throughout this psalm, the Anointing confronted the human appearances which surrounded Him, with the divine knowings His Father had given Him, pioneering a new and living way through the veil of human appearance and feeling, and rending its illusion forever. This process that Jesus went through on the cross, was a revelation of how the Anointing in every soul temple goes through the veil of what appears to be true, and emerges into the Most Holy Place of knowing, and remaining in, what is true. The Psalm ends with the prophetic testimony of the Anointing: "They shall come and shall declare His righteousness [the righteousness of the Anointing] to a people yet to be born - that He has done it, that it is finished!"
While hanging on the cross, the Anointing within Jesus felt the most excruciating agony. His body was crucified with literal nails on a wooden cross, as He willingly allowed His human nature to be impaled and rendered motionless. His divine nature was crucified as well, as with the most agonizing spiritual distress, He sacrificed Himself to carry the accumulated sins of humanity to the cross, cutting Him off completely from any sense of His Father's Presence.
The Anointing of God hung on His cross, with every sense in His body pressing Him with overwhelming outward evidence that He was forsaken by God, and every emotion within Him bringing forth agonizing inner proof that His Father had rejected Him. But the Anointing quietly and deliberately turned from all of the accumulated evidence of His flesh, to consider what was really true. He patiently gathered together all of the accumulated evidence that had been given to Him during His entire life on earth - all of His Father's personal words to Him, everything He knew personally of His Father by intimate experience, and all of the evidences that His Father had given Him throughout His life that He was the divine Son of God. The accumulated evidence to the Anointing within Him, pierced through all of the accumulated evidence of His human nature that was hiding His Father from Him. "And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit!" Luke 23:46 Amplified. As He acknowledged His Father's invisible, unfelt Presence, and deliberately yielded Himself into His keeping, He pierced through the veil of seeing only what a human is limited to seeing and feeling, and rent that veil of human illusion.
As soon as Jesus spoke those words to His Father, "a light encircled the cross, and the face of the Saviour shone with a glory like the sun. Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. [The Anointing in Jesus had gone through the final part of the veil of human nature that He was in, piercing through all of the agonizing feelings and conclusions of human appearance]. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father's acceptance heretofore given Him. He was acquainted with the character of His Father; He understood His justice, His mercy, and His great love. By faith He rested in Him whom it had ever been His joy to obey. And as in submission He committed Himself to God, the sense of the loss of His Father's favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor. [With the eyes of the Anointing, Jesus saw through the human veil and broke its power completely, piercing forever the human veil that can't see the Father.]" DA 756.
And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed out His life. And the curtain of the Holy of Holies of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Mark 15:37 Amplified.
At the same time that the human nature was rent which veiled the Anointing, the veil in the Jewish temple mirrored this awesome event. The rent veil revealed the Shekinah glory of God's immediate Presence which had been concealed from view - not in the Jewish temple of the last dispensation, but in the living temple of the new dwelling place of the Shekinah glory, Messiah Himself.
And when the centurion who stood facing Him saw Him expire this way, he said, Really, this Man was God's Son! Mark 15:39 Amplified.
The centurion saw the Shekinah glory through the rent veil of Messiah, because the complete crucifixion and rending open of Messiah's veil of human nature, revealed the pure glory of the Anointing within. Christ, the Anointing of God in human flesh, inaugurated this new and living way, revealing the true glory of God. When He tore His human veil, and saw His Father standing forth revealed, men saw through that veil into Him, and saw God standing forth revealed in Him. This event at the end of the earthly life of the Anointing was like the period at the end of a sentence, the climax of an entire life of going through every human veil that had attempted to obscure His Father from view.
Through the Spirit, Christ [the Anointing] offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice...Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus' death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one...He brought together God and his people in this new way...Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That's why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much...This accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that pointed to the realities of heaven. Heb. 9: 10-23 The Message Bible.
In Christ's death on the cross, with His giving of a real, divine life and the shedding of literal, physical blood, the sacrifice lamb from the wilderness met its Antitype in the Lamb of God. The shadow of the "Tent of Meeting" reached its Substance in the "tent of flesh" containing the divine Anointing. The act of Christ giving His divine and human life as one continual, perpetual sacrifice for us, forever completed the founding of the kingdom of God in the earth. Messiah's death brought to an end that system which was meant to "tide the worshipers over until the time of setting things straight, of reformation, of the complete new order when Christ, the Messiah, shall establish the reality of what these things foreshadow." Heb. 9:10 Amplified.
The supernatural rending of the veil in the Jewish temple was a divine witness that the Father's next plan had been set into motion. The divine statement was being made that the temple and its services, built and ministered by human hands, was forever ended. God was saying, in effect, "THIS PARABLE IS OVER NOW, and I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND MY NEW PARABLE." With the life and death of Christ, a new sanctuary had been inaugurated to look at and consider, and enter into the reality of. The old parable was finished. The new parable had come. Christ had initiated the entrance into the reality of the next "Tent of Meeting," of which His own human life had been the benchmark. The founded life was now available to everyone, because of Messiah's death on the cross.
The Atonement of Jesus by blood, as the sacrifice Lamb, had brought to an end the visible, physical sacrifices of the earthly sanctuary. Messiah's work within Jesus had brought an end to an earthly priest ministering in a temple built by hands. The Spirit of Messiah could now come into every human and minister His own divine life within that human being, as Melchizedek High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary of the soul.
Chapter 10, page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
