Finishing the Finished Work

 Last week we focused on the preparations that were made for constructing both the Tabernacle (Mishkan) in the wilderness, as well as Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. I also said the following, ending it with a question: “It is interesting to note that the glory filled the Tabernacle and the Temple when Moses and Solomon finished building them.  Now, what about the tabernacle/temple that Yeshua is building out of what His Father prepared for Him to build and finish?”

For the edifices mentioned above, Elohim, at times, provided the materials from unlikely sources. In the case of Solomon’s Temple, his father, David, had been gathering or assembling materials in a variety of ways, for example war booty (2^nd Sam. 8:7,8,1112), purchase (the site for the Temple, 2^nd Sam. 24:24), gifts (1^st Chron. 14:1), etc.  He then gathered everything together and made meticulous plans for the materials and the workmen (and later for the ministers’ roles), as enumerated in 1st Chronicles chapters 15-16. In chapter 22 of 1^st Chronicles, we read: “So David gave orders to gather the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of Elohim. And David prepared large quantities of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the clamps, and more bronze than could be weighed;  and timbers of cedar logs beyond number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought large quantities of cedar timber to David”. This illustrates the thoroughness and all-inclusiveness of the plans, the preparations, and the assembly of the different elements and people involved in the setting up of the Temple, even before its actual construction.

To return to the question posed above (and last week) regarding the tabernacle/temple that Yeshua is building out of what His Father prepared for Him to build and finish, let us go all the way back to the beginning of Genesis (chapter 2 and verse 5): “Then Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which Elohim had created and made” (emphasis added). This verse seems to bring to an end to the process of creation as described in Genesis chapter 1. However, a closer examination of this text, as it appears in Hebrew, indicates a rather curious wording. What is translated as, “and made” is in the infinitive form, i.e., “to make”, thus presenting a somewhat different reality. The first chapter’s enumerated-chronology describes what Elohim prepared in order to start the process of making Man in His image and according to His likeness, which is what the following account (in chapter 2) delineates.   

“Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for YHVH Elohim had not sent rain upon the earth; and there was no man to cultivate the ground” (Genesis 2:5, emphasis added). Please note the citation of the man’s absence and also the fact that until now, Elohim’s name – Yod Hey Vav Hey – has not been used. The four consonants that make up this name are equivalent to the sound of breath or breathing (using onomatopoeia). All living things have breath because Elohim is breathing!

“But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground” (Genesis 2:6). This was part of the preparation for the making of earthy Man.

As we can see from 2:5-6, YHVH-Elohim’s actions are taking us back to the beginning of the 6^th day, where He starts the actual making of man after having created a proper place for him (the environment – celestial and terrestrial, spiritual and material) and will be gathering, as it were, the components and presenting directives/manual (the Torah) for his final “shape” – again, in the image and according to the likeness of Himself,  until we “grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Messiah” (Eph. 4:15). Therefore, one can observe throughout Scripture - “the works of YHVH Elohim”, making it evident that He is not resting yet.  His Breath/Word is the history of the sixth day of creation. The seventh day does not show up until the end of the complete revelation of Yeshua (see Revelation 19-22). These Revelation chapters are the grand finale of the seven ages of the sixth day of Creation. At this point in time, we are only at the end of the sixth age and will be entering the seventh age of the sixth day. (see Creation Revisted)

In the meantime, YHVH Elohim is still assembling His materials and shaping and preparing them. Before us is one aspect, or example, of His temple preparation. "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek YHVH: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; When he was one I called him” (Isaiah 51:1-2 emphasis added).  Out of the soil of humanity (the ‘one Man’, see Gen. 2:7) YHVH queried a rock that contained precious stones which He hewed and is in the process of cleansing, chipping them into the shape that will cause each of them to fit perfectly into oneness, and readying them for polishing (the ‘one new Man’).  The twelve living stones, precious gems (seen on the breast plate of the High Priest) will make up YHVH’s Temple, that when finished will be filled with His glory - the full expression of the image and likeness of Elohim.  Just as with Moses and David, Yeshua, the Spirit of the Word, will finish His work and present it to Elohim the Father.  “And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that Elohim [the Father] may be all in all”(1 Corinthians 15:28).