Seven Steps

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Giuliano

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I realize my ideas are unusual, so I will post this in the unorthodox area.

I believe Genesis 1 has more than one meaning. I believe if we could understand it completely, perhaps we would not need the rest of the Bible. First here is a comparison to the life of Jesus.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.


The Spirit is shown as a mother hen brooding over her chicks. The Spirit discerns the situation.

Day One

Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.


This is the first type of light. Light in the two great lights and stars is shown later. In the life of Jesus, we see the Star of Bethlehem described. Note that the magi could see and Herod could not. In the Scriptures, a star or sun shows a spiritual being. The Star of Bethlehem was the Source of the Light at this spiritual level before Jesus was born, and he brought down this Light by becoming the Light when he was born to Mary. I cannot tell you precisely what or who this Star depicts; but I can tell you that Jesus was unique in that he never lost his connection to this Star throughout his lifetime. He was attached to it like a grape on a vine. The spiritual connection of the Vine is established; but he is attached to it. I would not say he was yet the Vine himself. He became the Vine later by work.

This period of his life lasted about 30 years.

Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
 
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Giuliano

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Day Two

Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.


In the life of Jesus, this is shown by the Baptism. The lower waters should be evident. Less evident is the meaning of upper waters which are vapors of water above in clouds. The texts do not say there was a cloud as it does at the Transfiguration; but we are told a Voice comes from above. In other places, these symbols are water and blood, blood also being a liquid that contains air.

Mark 1:9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.


The Spirit which had been hovering above the waters descends. Again the Spirit is that of discernment and wisdom, now operating below.

Immediately, Day Three begins since "something" came up out of the waters.

Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.


The son just born of water emerges from the water as dry land or the Rock. In Hebrew ben means both son and stone.

Luke 3:21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.


Nothing has been grown yet from the dry land.

Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.


This includes what we call the Temptation.

Luke 4:4 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.


Note that Jesus had not yet produced any plant life. He was the Rock or dry land; but it was still a barren desert. There was no wheat to make bread with. The Devil is tempting him to produce "bread" (a spiritual body) by using black magic. Jesus declines. He will produce bread by following the rules.

Note that as we go along, we read words God speaks in Genesis. At this point in Luke, the Voice of God is calling forth the wheat and the vine. The seeds are already in the earth, but they must be called forth, so Jesus needs to hear and then to obey. Jesus does not heed the voice of Satan but says man lives by "every word of God."

Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.


Note that a stone is mentioned again. About this time Simon is also called "the rock" by Jesus. While Jesus does not heed the voice of Satan, Jesus needs to reprove Peter. Peter had been baptized also, and Jesus could see how he would develop as a stone or rock.

This part of the life of Jesus, growing of the wheat for bread and grapes for wine, lasted about three to three and a half years.
 
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Giuliano

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Day Four

Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.


We see a new kind of light appear in the Transfiguration of Jesus when his body was transformed into Light.

Matthew 17:17 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.


Just as the magi saw the Star and Herod did not, here we see three disciples seeing this Light while the others did not.

3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

Note that there are three heavenly witnesses in this story. Elijah and Moses appear beside Jesus with the Heavenly Voice above.

4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.


Here we see the cloud of the upper waters in which the the Heavenly Presence appears. Note also that like Day One in the Life of Jesus, we have another overshadowing. Compare to the announcement of Jesus as Light of the world to Mary:

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

At the Transfiguration, Jesus' birth by fire or spirit is announced. This clarifies the mystery of the three births of flesh and then of water and of spirit.

This is also when Peter, James and John became pillars connecting Heaven with earth. When Jesus moves up a level, being promoted by the Voice in the cloud and receiving sonship, his earthly station is being passed to Peter who forms the center pillar. Elijah's anointing is passed to John, and Moses' is passed to James. Viewed left to right, they appear as James, Peter and John. When Paul writes of them as "appearing as pillars," that's the order he gives.

Galatians 2:9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed <appeared, resembled, etc.> to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

If viewed from the earth, Peter is first being the central column where Heaven meets earth with the two other pillars supporting him. Thus the order usually given is Peter, James and John.

So when Jesus moved up a level, we see these three also moving up to replace him, keeping the chain of hierarchy intact. We could also say the connections on the Tree of Life were kept in place with Jesus no longer being "the Branch" which bears fruit but the main trunk which supports the new branches which bear the fruit in the future.
 
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Giuliano

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Day Five

Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.


Here we see life in the lower waters and life in the air or upper waters. This corresponds to his harrowing of hell (lower waters) and rescuing the souls there when he went to preach to the spirits in chains, and to his traveling to Paradise (of air or upper waters) to meet the thief.

Travelling to that section of sheol which was a prison:

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Souls also came out of their graves sometime after the crucifixion. I read "bodies" in the following to mean the souls or emotional bodies, not physical bodies. The word "body" is important since after death, a soul can forget how to maintain its form. With a physical body, the soul can refer to it to maintain its form. These were souls of those who slept up until then. While it is still possible for some souls to fall asleep the way many did prior to Jesus' time on the earth, it is far less frequent now.

Matthew 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.


I realize that many people read this passage to refer to the earthly veil in the earthly temple and to earthly bodies; but I maintain, it was the veil in Heaven that was rent. I do not much care if the earthly veil was rent or not; but no historian wrote about it. Josephus who loved to write about miraculous events did not report it; nor did he report resurrected saints being seen. I doubt those saints would have appeared to any except the righteous who possessed spiritual sight. Those saints would have gone to Paradise, not Heaven, but Paradise where the thief also went to meet Jesus. Paradise means "garden," and it means Eden, of course, also known as the Holy City.

Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Do not confuse Paradise with the Third Heaven, since Jesus said after his resurrection he had not yet seen the Father. Paul also draws a distinction between the two. So should we.

2 Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; ) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; )
4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.


So I think this corresponds to how Jesus defeated death and hell by the crucifixion, nailing the serpent to the tree. The serpent can be seen as corresponding to Leviathan, the beast of the water.

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Souls awake in hell were preached to and souls which were sleeping in the dust were wakened. I do not assume that souls sleep the way they often did before Jesus' time since I see him acquiring the power to waken them. I also do not assume either that all slept before Jesus' time.
 
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Giuliano

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Day Six

Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.


26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.


In the life of Jesus, this corresponds to the defeat of the beast of the earth. The animal nature, imperfect before, is brought under complete control.

Day Seven

2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.


I believe Jesus spent the sabbath coming to rest as his revived "body and soul" took on its final form. It is lawful to heal on the sabbath. Indeed that may be the proper purpose of the sabbath.

Eight Day

We see the Ascension. One could call it a eighth step; but it's a first step on a new plane. When did the spiritual Ascension occur? Sometime between Jesus' meeting with Mary Magdalene and Thomas. He told her not to touch him since he had not yet ascended but told Thomas to touch him. The going up into the air and disappearing, apparently in material clouds of physical water vapor was not the true Ascension. Indeed the angels seem a little baffled why the disciples were looking at things the way they were.

Acts 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
 

Giuliano

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I believe the book of Jonah begins with Day Four or Five. I lean towards Day Four, when a new type of light appears.

Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.


Next we see Jonah (whose name means dove) in a ship, and ships are between the lower waters and the air or upper waters. Both air and water are mentioned, connecting it to Day Two or Day Five:

1:4 But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

Then Jonah is cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish. This tells us we're dealing with Day Five, not Day Two.

1:17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

This is the crucifixion scene of Jonah to which Jesus compared his own. This part of the story should not read literally to think a physical fish ate Jonah and kept him inside for three days.

Notice another similarity between Jonah and Jesus.

1:15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.

Mark 15:38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.


Jonah then tells us he was "in the grave" or "in gehinnom."

Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly,
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.


Compare Jonah's language to this:

Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

The great fish in Jonah represents the beast of the water, Leviathan. Every living animal contains some of this soul-force in its nature. Now onwards to the beast of the earth. We learn that the king of Nineveh orders both men and beasts to repent.

Jonah 3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.


We are at Day Six here, with the restoration of the correct animal soul.

Next we are told of a gourd that springs up and a worm that chews through its root. While the symbols are different, we can compare this to the serpent and the tree. Did Jonah succeed or fail? I say if he had succeeded, he would have become one upon it is said the sun does beat down upon.

Jonah 4:8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

Revelation 7:16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.


It looks to me as if the worm defeated him, at least temporarily. There is one tradition that says Jonah was carried off on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles by the Holy Spirit. We could read it to mean that Jonah presented his own "beast" as a living sacrifice.

We can read leviathan and behemoth, beasts of the water and of the earth, fishes and bread, water and blood, soul and body.

There is another tradition among the Jews that Jonah's wife used to pray as men do in the Temple. This too may be a clue that the two of them accomplished what Adam and Eve did not achieve while in Eden -- becoming one, being neither male nor female.

Yet I find this hard to accept since Nineveh was overthrown 40 years later. If Jonah had broken his body as a sacrifice for them, I believe this catastrophe would have been averted. Although they repented, Jonah did not offer his body to them as bread the way he had willingly volunteered his "blood" to save the sailors.
 

Giuliano

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In Exodus, first we see the plagues on Egypt and then the Passover Angel goes over the land. The physical census comes later in the story; but the story tells us that the angel took note of which houses had the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and which did not. I reckon this is a type of spiritual census involving the Book of Life. Remember that strangers could join Israel and partake of the Passover if the males were circumcised; and we know that Egyptians and other strangers became part of Israel.

Compare that to:

Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The word moved in Hebrew equals 288; and some say this means there were 288,000 souls in Adam Kadmon from the beginning. John gives the number at 144,000 in Revelation and describes them as "male virgins." I read that to mean both male and female. So if you count each being as one male and one female, you'd have 288,000. If you count each one as being both male and female, you'd have John's 144,000.

Compare this also to the census in the New Testament. I do not know if there was a physical census conducted by the Romans, nor does it seem too important to me. What seems more important is there is an inference before the Lamb of God was born, Heaven took note of whose names were in the Book of Life.

What corresponds then to Day One in the story of the exodus?

Exodus 13:21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.


Note too that this pillar did not give light to Pharaoh or his army. It was a cloud and darkness to them!

19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.


How wonderfully this compares to the Gospel:

John 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Day Two corresponds to the parting the sea, obviously, since Paul tells us:

1 Corinthians 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

Exodus 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.


In Hebrew ruach means both wind and spirit. At times we read about a wind over the waters, at other times the spirit moved above the waters. At Jesus' baptism, we see a dove descending. Noah had a raven and a dove flying above the waters. Is there a bird in Exodus? Yes.

Exodus 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

The dove is the more peaceful manifestation, the eagle is the more active.
 

Giuliano

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Day Three

Following the baptism of Israel, we see:

Exodus 15:22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.


Compare to:

Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Then we can compare these passages also:

24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
25 And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
27 And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.


How many trees were in Eden? Seventy, one for each of the nations; and that is also the meaning of the seventy palm trees of Elim. The twelve wells represent the twelve tribes.

There is another parallel: Israel was fed manna, and Jesus, wanting bread, was ministered unto by angels.

Also on Day Three is "the rock" from which water came.

Exodus 17:5 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.


I see a parallel to Jesus' first miracle. Plain "water" is lower waters; wine and blood are upper waters since air is involvd in both.

Day Four

Exodus 19:20 And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
21 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.
22 And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.
23 And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.
24 And the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them.

Exodus 34:35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.


We learn elsewhere that Joshua did go up part of the way with Moses, and also the seventy elders saw something. Compare this to the Transfiguration of Jesus when he did not take all the disciples with him.

Mark 9:2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.

Moses appears to have been unable to "turn off" the light (at least at first) while Jesus could turn it off and appear as he had before to people. Thus Moses resorted to wearing a veil.

Day Five

Numbers 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.


Maimonides said and I believe that a curse was removed from Israel at this time. We can believe this is connected to the crucifixion of Jesus since he said it was. Notice the phrase "Son of Man" is used all three times when talking about being lifted up.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.
26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
27 They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.
28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.
34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?
 

Giuliano

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Day Six

This step was failed by Israel. Before the Levites were assigned to be the priests of Israel, the male heads of each house acted as priests. Thus we read that there were priests at Mount Sinai before the Levites became priests. We turn now to how this came about. Remember this is step six.

25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.
5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.
6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
10 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.
12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:
13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.


Compare this to Eve's being tempted by the serpent, and to Adam's hearkening to the bad advice of Eve after she had been infected with the serpent's wily wisdom.

In the Crucifixion we see there the water and the blood coming from the side of Jesus and beginning to form the Church just as Eve was formed from the side of Adam. Male elements within the person are separated from the female. These are to become stable in the sixth step and then rejoin; and out of the union, offspring is formed -- the firstfruit and then others. Thus it appears to me that Jesus' resurrected body was yet stable since he told Mary Magdalene not to cling to him.

In Israel, we see these men, healed of the curse of the serpent, falling back into the error they had been cured of. Why was the tribe of Levi given the priesthood? For the reason given, of course; but it is worth noting that "Levi" means twisted, crooked or serpentine. Only Levi with the purified serpent mind was able to grasp the spiritual danger posed by wicked serpent. Thus you could conjecture that the rest of Israel had gone 666 to some degree and were not suitable to act as priests for their families.

It is said that Balaam had advised Balak to have his women entice the men of Israel. Some say the men took them at face value, unable to imagine women who seemed so affectionate could be part of a plot to destroy them. In other words, they were good-hearted, and that was their weakness since they lacked wisdom to go with their lovingkindness. Be wise as the serpent and gentle as the dove. Being gentle as the dove without also being wise as the serpent sometimes can lead to trouble.

Note the curious reference to the sun. Six is the number of the sun; and if you add the numbers from 1 to 36, you get 666. Success at step six is alluded to by Malachi:

Malachi 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

The process begun at Transiguration reaches a new stage where the person becomes like a sun himself, as Jacob did -- when the Torah says the sun rose "for" him. The defeated fallen serpent no longer eats the dust; the serpent raised up on the pole is given wings.

Day Seven

Israel did not enter the eternal rest. I believe Moses did however. I also believe Moses ascended; and some Jews also say also that two women present at Sinai also did.