Today I want to discuss a King James rendition of an interesting scripture from the Old Testament and tie it into other Old Testament and New Testament scriptures which I think you’ll find fascinating.
Continuing from our last blog post, we are exploring the gist of, as Paul said, Christ in you, you’re hope of glory. Remember, we discussed the real reason women are to be silent in the church: it’s every person, not just women as all people are the bridegroom of the Christ, and thus, all humanity is considered “women” here through the allegorical interpretation. The true mystery is that Jesus and Paul, through allegory, were describing Christ and the Church, not literal men and women. Spiritual meat only shines through when we understand the allegorical nature of scripture (Gal. 4:24, Proverbs 1:6, and Psalms 78:2).
But the verse we will place emphasis on today is 2 Samuel 7:6:
“Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.”
This version is the most accurate in the big picture. Notice how the Lord says that “he walked in a tent and tabernacle.”
The most accurate Hebrew to English translation would be, “I have moved about in a tent and a tabernacle.” The only way you can reconcile this scripture and the verse that God is a spirit is to admit that God was walked among flesh, as in human beings. Remember: God does not dwell in a temple made of hands!
So take a moment and imagine the story of the wanderings of Israel as God himself walking in the desert among them, or through them. The bigger spiritual lesson here is that God walked in human flesh with, and, and more importantly, in Israel, as the mind and emotion of mankind. Let us consider these other scriptures again: (Acts 7:48, and Isaiah 66:1).
“Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples (houses, tents, tabernacles) made by hands; as saith the prophet…”
“This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?”
Here is a perfect picture of a dark saying. The author is saying through riddled speech, that the temple, house, tent, tabernacle, etc. always was, and always will be, YOU! Heaven, or spirit (consciousness) and earth (matter and flesh) are YOU. The kingdom is within you, and that is the only place the king of heaven and earth can rule.
In the Old Testament scripture of Isaiah 66:1, the LORD is asking a rhetorical question that many today in mainstream religion struggle to acknowledge. And that’s because the scriptures are spiritually discerned, not naturally (with the natural senses, as in literally, because it brings death to the spiritual understanding). The tent, tabernacle, and temple has always been the human body/mind/emotion.
Something to note here: in the literal aspect of the story, the tent and tabernacle were temporarily set up, as if the scripture were saying, even though God was walking with them, he dwelled temporarily when the tents and tabernacle were erected after reaching certain destination points. There is reason for this as well. Biblical salvation is a process, not a one-time instant event.
Paul Young (author of the Youtube channel: Decoding Scripture) and I were recently discussing the scriptures in which Jesus main plain: In times past (allegorically), spirit was WITH you, but shall be IN you. The simple meaning: salvation is a process which is carried out over time, in which God begins to be known in you, and as faith through adversity grows stronger, God becomes the indwelling mind ever increasing as you decrease—that Christ mind in which peace surpasses all understanding. And the entire Old Testament shows this process through each character and situation. Let’s continue to dig a little deeper!
Psalm 78 deals with the Israelites wondering in the wilderness (the arena of life where ADVERSITY is paramount). The speaker begins by saying it is all a big parable and dark saying, which means the true spiritual meaning is hidden. As you read, you discover that Israel kept disobeying God over and over, but God always seems to give more chances. This is indicative to human life as we deny our divine nature by missing the mark (sinning) and being alienated from the God within. In Psalms 78:18 it states:
“And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.”
The only place you will ever tempt or vindicate the God within is in your heart, which is the mind and emotion, where the kingdom is. In other words, and in this instance, they missed the mark by continually wishing to fulfill the carnal nature, or ego. Hence the emphasis at the end of this verse, “by lust.” And as Paul Young reminded me of in our conversations, in Job it also states that when God asked where Satan had been, he replied by saying walking to and fro in the earth. Earth is a symbol for the flesh or physical. We have the Christ-nature or Satan-nature-potential within us. And through our adversity one or the other can be manifested. By Satan is meant: darkness, or ignorance of the truth. In plain English, this adversary that separates us from the truth of the Christ within.
We must also remember that Egypt is a symbol of the lower mind, with its desires stemming from the lower nature. God calls Israel OUT OF EGYPT, as he does his Son. So even Christ first came out of Egypt. Hmm…something to think about as it deals with allegory! Now you know why the the New Testament scripture can truly state, against precedent from a literal standpoint, that the Son must also be called out of Egypt!
But I want to dig deeper still. Psalms 78:15 states: “He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.”
As the Apostle Paul states in the New Testament, that rock was always Christ. The waters that came from the rock symbolize truth. Notice that the verse states, he clave this rock in the “wilderness.” Meaning, your adversity! Gaskell states of the rock:
“[It is] a symbol of spirit as a firm foundation for all things. The Higher Self as a refuge from adversity.”
The answer for all life’s adversity was before Israel (the spiritual seeker) YOU. It’s the Christ within. In the Old Testament, Christ was metaphorically with them, but in the New Testament, Christ can be clearly seen as IN you. Is there really an old and new covenant in history? In sense no, but as the literal mind relates to it, yes. It’s all an allegorical representation of what happens as man progresses and learns to employ into his life unwavering faith, as Job did. The New Testament simply reveals what was hidden in the old through dark sayings, and makes it plain through further allegory. So rather than think of it as a historical timeline, think of it as a progression of your life’s experience (the wilderness) through all of your adversities.
So now back to Gaskell’s definition of the tent:
“A symbol of the Buddhic causal-body as the abode or vehicle of the Higher Self, in which he accomplishes his course through the cycle of manifestation.”
The cycle of manifestation is the key to take away here. As Anny has stated in former articles, the process of involution and evolution. For readers of SOS who are less advanced in esoteric language, forget the “causaul body.” It simply means, that aspect of yourself on a higher plane from which is hidden the natural man. A piece of you exists as the true self, not smudged by the ego with which you navigate this life. Each very small act which you do reverberates, on an energetic level, through eternity. Whether it be feeding a friend in need, or even sweeping the kitchen as a duty done to the family household—with the right heart attitude. They are the lasting impressions or imprints from this physical life into the spiritual that adds to the causal body as it is called in ancient literature. Will you accomplish the task, whatever it may be, with the Christ-mind, or the natural senses and carnal nature that craves what is next, living in the past or future instead of the present moment? In the wilderness of the wanderings of Israel, Joshua and Caleb certainly did this with the Christ mind.
Another thought: if you choose to dream small, if done in the right heart attitude, you will receive small, but still of worth. Dream big, and you can receive big, all with the right heart attitude and a faith that is unwavering. Yes, it takes time to happen, because everything happens in the right season according to your faith and your patience. Did Job receive just because he believed, or was it also through patience in adversity?
These are all allegorical lessons to teach us. Faith, perseverance, and the ability to ever dream bigger keeping the first two in mind! Sometimes we will walk around the mountain many times before gaining altitude. Reflect, and you will understand the reason why, in due time. The arena of life is full of lessons we must learn for a reason.
Blessings.
Updates: Paul and I are still working on the Youtube Channel. Will announce the first video. Just working through. We discovered after the first recording that we need some technical upgrades, and with our own personal work schedules it takes time to get together and fix them. Stay tuned and thanks for your patience!
Another great article, Josh. It becomes more and more plain to see just how much the Scriptures are pointing to Christ IN YOU, as opposed to a Christ coming through the literal clouds and catching people up to glory. People have been waiting forever for “the rapture.” The Scriptures are pointing us to something much, much greater. If only we had eyes that see and ears that hear. This is what “personal relationship with the Lord” is all about. Man (the bride) and Christ (the bridegroom) becoming one flesh.
You got it, Paul. Thank!
What happened to Paul Young? His website no longer exists and his videos on YouTube are all gone.
Hi Karen:
With apologies, I’ve had a philosophical redirection and felt the need to delete all my work on the Internet, save for the videos Jesse, Josh and I have produced together. It’s a decision I had been fighting with for many years, and have gotten crystal clarity on over the past few days. Jesse and Josh will continue to move forward with Christ Without Religion, and I believe they’ll find a third person to replace me. I do want to thank you for all the love and support you have shown us, and hope you will continue to support Josh and Jesse as they continue to move forward.
Blessings, Karen. And thank you, thank you, thank you.
Paul
That makes me sad. You are easy to understand, and I wanted to share your videos with others. Do you plan on giving up teaching altogether? I hope not. I really enjoyed your videos and your writings. Are you going out on your own? Will you be creating more videos?
There will be no more teaching for me. Or at least there are no plans currently to ever teach again. I don’t know what the future holds, but for now I’m going to be still and “wait on the Lord,” as Scripture requires. I will leave the teaching to those that understand. See Jer. 4:22; Rom. 3:10-11; Prov. 3:5-8; Ps. 14:2-3; Luke 10:38-42; etc.
One cannot disconnect the spiritual allegory from the manifested physical in the same way that we cannot disconnect subatomic particles from their physical representation. I love the spirit of these esoteric teachings but check this out: Yes, women are the subconscious mind, men are the conscious…but…you don’t want your subconscious mind leading your conscious mind! That is anarchy. The subconcious mind is there to provide feedback (backseat driving) that serves as course correction mechanisms. The conscious mind is the lead. Likewise, men lead in church and in society while privately getting feedback from women…just like the conscious mind privately gets feedback from the subconscious (usually during dreams). All levels of the game flow in the same direction. It doesnt seem wise to make a level of abstraction in order to discard the remainder.
Juss…
Thank you for commenting. You bring up a very interesting topic.
I think generally speaking, more women incorporate feelings into their thought processes than men. Oftentimes I have been advised by a significant other not to make the decision I was leaning towards based on her gut / intuition, and it turned out several times she was more correct, and had I listened, it would have saved me a lot of trouble.. And of course that goes vice versa too, where my decision was the correct thing to do against her wishes. But I think that we have to remember, when looking at the Bible, the symbols are speaking to the individual, not to a gender. And each of us, whether we are a literal male or a literal female, have both the divine nature of the masculine and feminine principal within us. You state that men should lead in church and society. But what is the church, Biblically speaking? It’s the individual temple. So your opinion is based on social structure, which the Bible is not addressing here. In your own personal experience, if your female significant other shares the same opinion, and it works for you guys, then it works for you. But every man (and woman) is different, with different strengths and weaknesses. I hope that makes sense. I would be very interesting to see how some female readers might respond to this, and males too of course 🙂 Anyone here have some insight for us?
Hi Josh, of course you know that I agree with you here as we discussed this subject before.
The original Adam was not a man who got a wife from one of his ribs but an androgynous being, both male and female. The notorious rib that is mentioned in the translation is the Hebrew word Tsela which means side as well as rib. And in my opinion that is the right translation in this case.
Before God separated them in a male and a female part, Adam was then both Adam and Eve in one body, both male and female at the same time. And all this is of course is only a symbol to make things clear for us.
After the separation Adam and Eve are different but equal beings and they can and do undertake actions independently which leads to a process of becoming self-aware in the end. Man and woman both have equal but different parts in this process and in one situation one should be in the lead and in other situations the other. But neither should be ‘boss’ in my opinion.
The same applies of course to the male and female sides of each of us. Generally the male side is stronger in males and the female side in women but it is our task to bring both sides in balance in ourselves as well.
I think you have summed it up very well, Joshua.
Dean…
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Hi Josh,
There was not really much to comment on in your previous article as I agreed with you completely. I never felt the need to be silent in church though as women were allowed to say whatever they wanted to say in our church and could even be pastors or any other function there. So I never did think much about the subject, neither literally nor symbolically.
In this article you mention that God ‘moved about in a tent and a tabernacle’. The verb in Hebrew is ‘hithalech’, which is a reflexive form of the verb ‘halach’ to go. I think you give a pretty good translation here but maybe it is interesting to know that this word does not seem to exist in modern Hebrew anymore. It is the first time that I could not find a verb in either of my two Hebrew dictionaries.
You also mention that God is ‘a spirit’, which feels limiting to me. I would call this God is Spirit, which can contain all levels of consciousness, and of being God.
I agree with you that God dwells IN us, and as such is immanent, but God dwells in everything else as well, and as such I see God as transcendent at the same time. When it is about God and us, then indeed the kingdom is within us. But God dwells in everything else as well and I suppose that the same applies there then. It should make us more careful and observant of the ways we relate to animals and everything else in creation, including the earth herself.
Then you write: “The only place you will ever tempt or vindicate the God within is in your heart, which is the mind and emotion, where the kingdom is. In other words, and in this instance, they missed the mark by continually wishing to fulfill the carnal nature, or ego.”
I agree with what you intend but not quite with how you formulate this. Part of this I think is how each of us interprets the word mind, and maybe also heart. I see the word heart as another term for Love and that cannot possibly the dwelling place of mind (brain in my view) and emotions. The ego I do see as housing the emotions, and the mind, if not used in a loving way, as well. Probably these are just semantics but we should consider how other people might interpret the words we use.
Has the “Christ Within” always been with humanity? And, is the Holy Spirit different if so how? If these two are one and the same it seems that the “Christ” or “Holy Spirit” has been with humanity from the beginning of time i.e. ancient days and to include the New Testament. Thank you so much for your work in moving humankind forward.
Josh,
Is there anyway you can help me understand this please? Trying to understand if the Holy Spirit has been with humankind since creation. Luke 1:67 speaks of Zacharias being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit.” The writer Luke uses the phrase “filled with the Holy Spirit” three times which would indicated it was a part of humans spiritual make-up before Christ ascended. I thought this phrase was also used in the Hebrew Testament as well. Any enlightenment in this area would be appreciated. Again, thank you for helping humankind awaken.
twnkela…
You are correct. The potential for the Holy Spirit, which is an aspect of the higher mind, has always been there. It was never conditioned from an external timeline of Christ’s life first.
You’re find also brings up a good point as it deals with Christ’s story as an allegorical for that which happens within us.
Josh,
Thank you! This will help me to help those who seek awakening in my community. Many are confused with how scripture defines the Holy Spirit and its’ arrival. One Jewish man was baffled why this was not taught in his religious circles. So, when Jesus said ‘I will send a comforter’ this was not an indication of something new, it has always been within us as the Christ within or our higher selves. Thank you for helping me to help others on their journey to enlightenment. Your website is very helpful.
Beautiful interpretations And very insightful thanks Joshua
Thanks Vernon.