Homer Kizer Ministries

May 21, 2013 ©Homer Kizer

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Commentary — From the Margins

Alpha & Omega

Part Eight: The Daily

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13.

The previous section introduces a problem it doesn’t resolve: what constitutes the daily once Herod’s temple was razed? For no longer are two lambs sacrificed, one at dawn and one at dusk, with these lambs forming the burnt offering of the Lord. There is no temple, no altar in which and upon which these two lambs can be sacrificed.

But there is a standing temple today: the Christian Church that is the Body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:16–17; 12:27; 2 Cor 6:16; John 2:19–22). This temple is not all of greater Christendom, or even most of Christianity. This temple is, today, the Elect, those disciples truly born of spirit through receipt of a second breath of life, the breath of God [pneuma Theou] in the breath of Christ [pneuma Christou]. And if the daily is the signifier disclosing that the Lord will dwell among Israel and be their God (Ex 29:45), then the daily still occurs within the Elect. If it did not, the Lord would be a respecter of persons, requiring from the ancient people of Israel what He does not require of either Himself or of Christians.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (2 Cor 6:16), with Paul’s citation of Moses being from Leviticus 26:12, the passage similar to Exodus 29:45.

Paul claimed that in his day disciples were the temple of God, that God dwelt among them, that disciples of Christ Jesus were the people of God—all of which together suggests that the daily was an ongoing event apart from whatever occurred or didn’t occur in Herod’s temple that then still stood; thus, the daily as the signifier disclosing that God dwells among and walks among Israel will have this Israel being the nation circumcised of heart, with “heart” being a euphemistic expression for the inner self [psuche] that separates the descendants of Adam and Eve from the beasts of the fields … when Elohim [singular in usage] “formed” Adam from the base elements of this earth, the Hebrew word translated into English as <formed> has two yowds between the first and second consonants of the root-cluster, but the word translated as <formed> when Elohim “formed” the beasts of the field from the same base elements but formed them within the parameters of the Garden of Eden has only one yowd between the first and second consonant of the root-cluster.

Traditionally, rabbinical Judaism has taught that the first yowd in the Hebrew word yâtsâr [Strong’s #H335], which is here written without either the included double yowd found in Genesis 2:7 or the included single yowd found in Gen 2:19 pertains to a spiritual element placed within the man of mud that was not placed in the beasts of the field. This understanding of the included yowds that wouldn’t be found in yâtsâr if a clay pot were being formed from red mud has merit, but doesn’t go far enough and doesn’t take into account that Adam was formed from mud outside of the Garden of Eden, that after being formed Adam was given one breath of life (the breath that enters a person through his or her nostrils). Adam was then placed inside the Garden where the beasts were created and given the breath of life so that they, like Adam, became nephesh, breathing creatures … all of the preceding is correct, the Hebrew three-consonant-cluster that is translated into English as “formed” as in pressing into shape such as molding clay into a “form,” whether a chamber pot or a man, has two yowds inserted between the first and second consonants when used for the creation of Adam, but one yowd inserted when used for the creation of beasts in the Garden of Eden, with Judaism teaching that one of the inserted yowd represents the spiritual component that separates humanity and beasts from clay pots, with humanity having an extra spiritual component that beasts do not have, this extra component being the soul of the person. But I will argue that the yowds disclose the potential for accepting the breath of life, the first yowd the potential for accepting physical breath that brings into physical life a breathing creature and the second yowd the potential for accepting spiritual breath that brings into spiritual life a son of God. Thus, the beasts of the field, unlike clay pots, are able from the same base elements used to form pots to become nephesh, breathing creatures, animated by the spirit [breath] within them; whereas human persons, also unlike clay pots but like beasts, are able to accept physical breath and receive physical life, while additionally having the potential to receive a second breath of life, the breath of God [pneuma Theou] that will with receipt of a second breath of life give to the person indwelling heavenly life typified by the Garden of Eden.

When beasts of the field die, their spirit or breath returns to God; same for men. Solomon wrote,

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? (Eccl 3:18–21)

With physical death what returns to God is physical breath and the potential for possessing physical life. What had not been given to any human person when Solomon wrote was spiritual breath; for Christ Jesus is the second or last Adam (Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 15:45), the first human person to be born of spirit; born from above through receipt of a second breath of life, the bright fire that is the glory of God. No human person can receive this bright fire even though the potential for receiving it was “formed” in Adam (given to Adam); for receipt of this bright fire requires the indwelling of a vessel that has also come from heaven, with this heavenly vessel being the spirit/breath of Christ [pneuma Christou].

The “spirit” of the man Jesus came from heaven, the reality that separated early adoptionist Christians from other 1st and 2nd Century sects; for the “spirit” of Christ came from His father, the Logos, who was God [Theos] and who was with the God [ton Theon] in primacy (John 1:1) when He, the Logos [’o Logos] created all things physical. It was the Logos whom Moses and the seventy elders of Israel saw (Ex 24:9–11). It was the Logos with whom Jacob wrestled. It was the feet of the Logos that Abraham washed. The Logos was the God [Theos] that was the God of living ones (Matt 22:32). However, the Logos and the God, together, were “one” as a man and his wife are “one”: they are one in the Tetragrammaton YHWH and one in the regular Hebrew plural Elohim, with <El> being the equivalent Hebrew word to the English word <God> and with the <ah> radical representing breath or spirit and the concluding mem [m] disclosing that the word is plural.

When the word <Adonai> is sung/uttered in lieu of attempting to pronounce the always unpronounced linguistic determinative YHWH, the singer unwittingly discloses a truth concealed from rabbinical Judaism: the Tetragrammaton YHWH deconstructs to YaHd~nWaiH, with the radical <d~n> indicating <another such>. Thus, there is Yah [Strong’s #H410], the God Abraham knew, that Isaac knew, that Jacob knew, that King David knew, and there is “another such” deity [WaiH] that is not the God of living ones but the God of dead ones; the God that twice raised the dead Christ Jesus from death, once when He gave His breath, His spirit [pneuma Theou] to the newly baptized man Jesus thereby raising Jesus’ inner self from death, then a second time when He raised the dead body of Christ Jesus from the grave.

What separates truly born of spirit Christians from all of Judaism is the understanding that “two” are “one” as a man and his wife are one flesh even though they are two human persons. A man’s inner self and outer self form one person. And the God and the Logos, together, formed one deity, the one God of Israel, with the creation concealing from Israel the beginning and the end (Eccl 3:11), the Alpha [Α] and Omega [Ω], the deity that entered His creation (John 1:3) as His unique Son (John 3:16).

Life that is of this earth; life that is sustained by the dark fire of cellular oxidation can be held in a vessel that is also of this earth. But life that is not of this earth cannot be held in a vessel that is not of this earth: what is of heaven can only be held in vessels that are of or from heaven. Therefore, life that comes from heaven—eternal life, or life outside of space-time [i.e., timeless in origin]—needs to be held in a vessel that has also originated outside of space-time and is equally eternal. This vessel is not the earthly body of Christ Jesus, but is His spirit or breath [pneuma Christou] that received the spirit or breath of God the Father [pneuma Theou] when the human man Jesus rose from baptism (see Mark 1:10 et al). And what Solomon never suspected was that man would receive a second breath of life, a second spirit that would also return to God but not as vapor that dissipates in the atmosphere, but as a living spirit that would sleep under the heavenly altar (Rev 6:9–11) until the fullness of their number has been reached.

Indeed, God tests man to see what man believes about himself, about life, about God.

God tests, but doesn’t tempt man; for God wants to know whether the man or woman will obey God, with these tests not being for the purpose of rejecting man as a son, but as teaching moments that build faith, belief.

When Elohim [singular in usage] formed Adam from red clay, Adam was still lifeless: the capability of beasts and of human beings to receive the breath of life was indeed incorporated into the creation of each so that each differ from cooking pots that are similarly formed from molding clay but without any ability to receive life. But life was not given to Adam when he was formed from red mud. Only after Adam was formed did Elohim breathe the breath of life into the man and the man became a breathing creature [nephesh]. Only long afterwards did God the Father place His breath in the man Jesus the Nazarene so that Jesus became the First of the Father’s firstborn sons.

The beasts of the field and the birds of the air have no indwelling ability to receive a second breath of life … a saint’s child may or may not be in heaven with the saint, but the saint’s pet dog will not enter heaven for beasts have no capacity to receive indwelling heavenly life. The potential to receive a second breath of life is restricted to the descendants of Adam and Eve; is restricted by that doubly included yowd when Elohim formed Adam from red clay. And the potential to receive a second breath of life remained unutilized until Christ Jesus was formed by the Law and the Prophets into the likeness of a son of God.

Adam’s potential to receive a second breath of life could have been utilized by the first man if the man had eaten from the Tree of Life when he had access to this Tree … access to this Tree of Life was denied to the man once he ate forbidden fruit.

Unlike endtime Christians that can see the two inserted yowds ahead of the consonant tsadey in the word yâtsâr, the first Adam did not know that within him was the potential to receive a second breath of life, a potential that would have given him life in the supra-dimensional heavenly realm. Yes, the potential was formed into the man when Adam was created. The potential remained in Adam and Eve when they were driven from the Garden of Eden. It remained in Noah and his sons. It remained in Israel in Egypt, but as with Adam who was driven from the Garden, the nation of Israel that left Egypt (with Egypt being the inverted or reversed image of the Garden) had this potential blocked when sin was brought to life at Mount Sinai … as Adam and Eve were prevented from eating of the Tree of Life by being driven from the Garden, Israel at Sinai was prevented from receiving eternal life by sin devouring the nation, the signifier disclosing this devouring is the prohibition against kindling a fire on the Sabbath (Ex 35:3), with “fire” representing life via the dark fire of cellular oxidation of simple carbohydrates or the bright fire that is the glory of God (see Ezek 1:26–28), and with “the Sabbath” representing entering into the presence of God. The people of Israel that saw the glory of God—that saw the glory of God through their representatives (Ex 24:9–11)—were as Adam and Eve were, in that they knew what they saw, what they heard, but they did not believe the Lord. And their unbelief prevented them from entering into the Promised Land of God’s rest.

As Adam and Eve could not, because of their unbelief, remain in the Garden of Eden, the people of Israel that left Egypt could not, again because of unbelief (cf. Heb 3:19; Ps 95:10–11), enter into God’s rest. And greater Christendom, following the Second Passover liberation of Israel (this time the nation to be circumcised of heart), will be prevented from entering into heaven because of its unbelief that will prevent Christians from obeying God. Remember, the purpose of traditional Christian ministry has been burying the dead of themselves and inoculating the Christian laity against so-called legalism.

If the daily is truly the signifier disclosing the presence of God among His people, His firstborn son, then what the sacrifice of two lambs, one at dawn and one at dusk, represented will be manifested in Christians. … The day begins at dusk, not at dawn, so the daily begins with the sacrifice of the first lamb at twilight. And that lamb, the Lamb of God—the Paschal Lamb of God—was sacrificed at Calvary.

When God is light; when Christ Jesus is the light and life of men (John 1:4), darkness or night becomes the absence of Christ (the unique Son of the Logos) from the Logos’ creation; for “darkness has not overcome” the light (v. 5) but comes from the Light voluntarily leaving His creation for a period of time.

Indeed, darkness cannot overcome light/Light. Even the smallest of lights overcomes darkness. Therefore, for spiritual darkness to come upon the earth requires that Christ Jesus withdraw Himself from the affairs of men and leave the world to its own devices and to the devices and designs of its present prince, the Adversary, the spiritual king of Babylon … this is, perhaps, the thing that endtime Christians are least willing to accept: Christ has left governance of the world to the Adversary until the single kingdom of this world is given to Him halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation. There is no spiritual struggle between Christ and the Adversary (between good and evil) occurring here on earth. The “good” of this present world is the “good” of the Adversary; thus the good of this world isn’t good at all but a lesser form or degree of evil, a lesser form of rebellion against God. But any rebellion against God is “rebellion.”

Sunday morning worship services are inherently evil, said without caveat: to now attempt entering into the presence of God on the day after the Sabbath is presumptuous. Until the Christian has received a glorified body [house] to go with a glorified inner self, the Christian will enter into the presence of God on the Sabbath or not enter into His presence at all. Thus, what seems “good” to greater Christendom comes from Satan’s servants who long ago first disguised themselves as servants of righteousness; for Satan “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14). His servants; his ministers wear as carnival garb masks of goodness that temporarily conceal their fangs from the laity.

The Adversary is and has been the prince of this world since the days of Noah when the world was baptized into death. All authority in this world presently comes through the Adversary even if that authority originates with God; thus, the hierarchal governance of Christian denominations and sects is not of God, but of the Adversary regardless of what the denomination or sect believes about itself. The existence-of, or exercise of either secular or ecclesiastical authority is prima facie evidence that the entity is of the Adversary, no exceptions permitted; for the present prince of this world doesn’t rule over all of the world except for the Catholic Church, a third of the world’s population—or except for the Mormon Church, the largest sect of neo-Arian Christianity—or except for Seventh Day Adventists, the largest sect of Sabbatarian Christianity—for what is it that John sees in vision,

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!" (Rev 12:7–12 double emphasis added)

After the two witnesses have been slain and resurrected three days later, who remains here on earth that is not deceived by the Adversary? The remnant of Revelation 12:17? Possibly. However, according to John’s vision, Satan has deceived the entirety of the world.

How many are not deceived today? Few if any—a truly deceived person doesn’t realize that he or she has been deceived. If the person realizes that he or she is deceived, the person is no longer deceived. And take just one “for instance” as an example: it seems necessary for a person to engage in the transactional economy for the person to survive in this world, but how is it that the Adversary when cast from heaven marks those individual who are his: “Also it [the second beast, the Adversary cast from heaven] causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Rev 13:16–17).

In the Endurance of Jesus, the Adversary will use the ability to buy and sell to compel human persons to take upon themselves the mark of death, the tattoo of the cross [chi xi stigma]. But not everyone will accept the mark of death, meaning that they will not be able to buy and sell (engage in transactions); yet they will still live. So has the Adversary deceived people in this era to believe that they must engage in transactions to survive? Or is it really necessary to engage in transactions to survive—and the latter seems to be the case, suggesting that this present world is organized in a manner such that deception and being deceived is unavoidable.

If a person cannot long survive in this present world without engaging in the transactional economy, then the extent to which the Adversary has deceived the world extends from the underpinnings of society to its superstructure so that, indeed, the Adversary has deceived the entire world (Rev 12:9), with this deception forming the basis for him to enslave humanity in this present era and for him to recover many of his liberated slaves in the Affliction and Endurance of Jesus.

The necessity of making many transactions forms the principle means by which the Adversary deceives, but a secondary means is the assumption that if a few or if most politicians reigning over a nation were replaced by other politicians, the replacements would reign differently than the politicians now holding power, when both those now serving and their replacements are subjects of the prince of the power of the air … the reason nothing changes when one set of political rascals are thrown out and a new set installed is that both reign over the nation as servants of the Adversary. And the same applies in corporations and in ecclesiastical organizations. Wherever one adult person exercises authority over another adult person, the authority comes through the Adversary even if that authority originates with God.

The Passover liberation of Israel began with the death angel of the Lord slaying all uncovered firstborns of man and beast in Egypt at the midnight hour, with the midnight hour being when the night could get no farther away from the light; when it was six hours from dusk and still six hours to dawn. But when the death angel passed over Egypt, the full (or nearly so) moon would have brightly lit the night sky from its reflection of sunlight … the Elect are sons of light, producing light through the indwelling of Christ Jesus. The Elect do not merely reflect the light of Christ Jesus, but the Elect actually give off light as a candle does, or as a lamp does. Through the indwelling of the earnest of the glory of God, the Elect are sources of light, as opposed to Christians within greater Christianity that at best reflect the light of Christ as the moon reflects the light of the sun.

A full moon gives off much more “light” than does any candle or lamp; however, greater Christendom has not yet been born of spirit as evidenced by the unbelief of Christians individually and collectively, unbelief that prevents Christians from obeying God on even simple points such as remembering the Sabbath. Therefore, at best greater Christendom can only reflect the light that is the life of men. When it does, it reflects “light” as a silvered mirror does, with the image seen in the mirror being reversed reality.

The colors of the humanoid image Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision are here important; for the silver arms and chest that are represented by the spiritual kings of Media and Persia reflect the “light” that is the life and light of men. These demonic silver kings have long reigned over greater Christendom, blinding humanity with the glare that reflects off from them, causing humanity to see Christ Jesus and Christianity as reflected light, not as direct light …

In the Garden of Eden, Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil without having first eaten from the Tree of Life. That anointed guardian cherub in Eden, the Garden of God, took to himself knowledge-of, or the determination of good and evil without understanding that he could never ascend to the top of the holy mountain of God; that he could never set his throne on high (Isa 14:13) for he had no life in that moment, that heavenly location—and without life originating in that moment, life originating on that mount where the assembly of elders sit in the far north, the anointed cherub was for his effort to ascend the holy mountain of God, doomed to death, with fire coming from his midst that utterly consumed [past tense] him, who comes as a roaring lion to devour whomever he can during the Endurance of Jesus, the last 1260 days before the Messiah returns as King of kings and Lord of lords.

What will happen has already happened … humanity dwells in a sea of time, or rather in space-time. Hence, as fish are out of their element when floundering around on the deck of a boat, humanity is out of its element when there is no past, no future, but only the present. Yet to convey the essence of there being no past, Adam was created without history, without a collective memory of his pre-existence, something endtime Christians take for granted. What endtime Christian doesn’t know that Christ Jesus lived as a man in the 1st-Century of the Common Era? Yet what endtime Christian realizes that the Christianity with which the person is familiar comes as reflected glare, blinding light flashes off the silver kings of Persia?

Christ Jesus is the twilight half of the daily, with traditional Christianity appearing in this world as reflected light—as spiritual moonlight—with the surface reflecting the light of God having at its core the demonic silver kings of Persia, part of the Adversary’s reigning hierarchy.

Endtime Christians of all flavors know that the Apostle Paul identified Christ Jesus as the last Adam (cf. Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 15:45), but have they truly considered what this identification implies? If Jesus is the second or last Adam, then Jesus’ receipt of the breath of God [pneuma Theou] in the bodily form of a dove is analogous to the first Adam’s receipt of the breath of life after, not when, Elohim [again, singular in usage] formed Adam from red mud or red clay. Therefore as Adam had no memory, no recollection of the physical things that preceded his receipt of the breath of life, the man Jesus as the second Adam would have had no memory of spiritual things that preceded His receipt of spiritual breath that gave to Him indwelling spiritual life (John 5:26). However, because Jesus had previously studied the writings of Moses, He had sculpted [formed, yâtsâr] His inner self into the image of God before He received a second breath of life, the breath of God.

It is Moses and the Prophets during the Tribulation that compress, mold, shape, form the raw (base) material that humanity represents into the image of God before surviving humankind collectively receives a second breath of life, said with a caveat: the foreknown and predestined Elect receive a second breath of life before they are molded into the image of God by Christ Jesus, their elder brother, through His use of Moses and the Prophets. The Elect are “unique,” an English word that never takes a modifier, and indeed, is incapable of being modified. (Something is or isn’t unique as a person is or isn’t alive, or as a woman is or isn’t pregnant.) Thus, the Elect are without precedent. At any one time, they are few in number; for they have received a second breath of life without being perfect, or even believing that God exists. They will come to know spiritual things (i.e., the things of God) after being born of spirit—and as such, they form a shadow and type of angelic sons of God initially receiving spiritual or heavenly life without knowledge of the things of God.

If God the Father can chose human persons that usually have substantial failings or character flaws, deliver these individuals to Christ Jesus, and receive back from Christ spiritual sons that walk in this world as Jesus walked, that think as Jesus thought, that are the image and likeness of Christ Jesus, then rebelling angelic sons of God are without excuse. All of them could have overcome the handicap of being under that anointed guardian cherub in whom iniquity was found. All of them should have used the opportunities presented to them when cast into the Abyss to change directions and return to obedience, which is what the Elect will do with a little persuading by Christ Jesus. And because the Elect, while living under the Adversary and his dominion over the single kingdom of this world, overcome the Adversary (albeit imperfectly), the Elect will hold unique qualifications to judge rebelling angels; for the Elect alone receive indwelling heavenly life while still subject to the broadcast and mindset of the Adversary, meaning that for the Elect, there is no margin for failure: they will be, are, and have been sacrificed day by day.

But in the Elect receiving indwelling eternal life in this present era that immediately precedes the spiritual midnight hour when humanity can get no farther away from the Light that is the glorified Christ Jesus, the Elect form the other sacrificial lamb of God that makes up the daily, not something the Elect want to hear said about themselves.

For Christians, the daily—the two lambs a year old— is technically represented by Christ Jesus, sacrificed at Calvary, and by the two witnesses, individually representing the collective firstfruits of God. Not all of the Elect have to be sacrificed as the daily, the lamb of God slain at dawn. But the two witnesses have to be sacrificed in order for Death, the fourth horseman, to be defeated, taken and dealt a mortal would, with his body being burned (Dan 7:11– 12).

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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."