The Life – Convergence of Jewish and Christian Faiths

Remember, this is a journey, enjoy it, don’t think about the destination, just enjoy where we are at, in this moment. Ask Yah/God to speak to you, then clear your mind of all preconceived understandings and lean on His, not yours.

In Jewish Rabbinical traditions, The Life refers to the entrance to the Most Set-Apart Place, better known to a Christian as the Holy of Holies. In here we find the Ark of the Testimonies also known as the Ark of the Covenant. The presence of YHWH, the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, rested on the Lid of Atonement, most often referred to as the Mercy Seat. In the Ark of the Testimonies was the staff of Aaron, a bowl of manna, and the Testimonies. Aaron’s staff was a sign to the rebellious to put an end to their grumbling against Yah/God. The Manna was a sign of God’s provision for six days and resting on the seventh. The Testimonies have become known as two tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them, which represents the marriage covenant of God and his people. According to the covenant, only the High Priest could enter this area, once a year.

In Christian traditions, The Life refers to Jesus providing eternal life. Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live.” “I have come that they might have life.” “I give them eternal life.” John 10 and John 14

We’ve skipped over the Holy Place in the Tabernacle and moved straight to the Most Set-Apart Place – the Holy of Holies. This is where Yah/God dwelled among his people – he Tabernacled among them. They could see God in the Tent of Meeting as a “cloud by day” and “fire by night”. EVERYONE in the entire camp could see “the glory of Adonai,” but very few could draw near. This isn’t how it is typically picture. We typically think of this tiny place in the back of a tent and God contained in it. But that isn’t how it is described in Exodus 40. “For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.”

To the Israelites, wandering in the wilderness – which was really a desert – they completely relied on God. He provided their protection, their provision, and guided them daily. Seeing His glory meant life – not seeing it would have meant death. When the glory moved – they moved. When the glory stayed – they stayed. Can you put yourself in their place? Do you see Him as life like that? Or do you think you could “do life” without him? Stop, ponder on this. As a Christian, how easily do you quip out the phrase, “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life?” Oh, wait, when you say life, you mean eternal life – that’s something to come, it’s not something right now like it was for the Israelites. But is it really just for later?

The writer of Hebrews says, “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, this is to say, his flesh.” The veil spoken of here, that is what the Jewish Rabbis called “The Life.” The word new here – in Hebrew is more liken to our modern word renewed or restored. By a renewed and living way … Hebrews 10

Matthew also wrote about this veil in chapter 27, “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.” Why? Why was “The Life” split in two?

In both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds it was recorded “Forty years before the destruction of the Temple …” This would be after Jesus’s crucifixion but before the destruction of the temple. The priests would close this door – The Life – at night. But they would “get up in the morning and find them wide open.” The Historian Flavius Josephus recorded the “door opened of it’s own accord.” There must be some significance to Yah in having “The Life” open, right?

Prior to Jesus’s crucifixion, only a High Priest, from the line of Levi, could enter this most set apart place. “Only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.” But “we have boldness to enter into the Holies by the blood of Yeshua” Hebrews 9 and 10

Jesus didn’t just provide eternal life in the way we view it as life and death – breathing and not breathing. He became the door – The Life – as access directly to the Most Set-Apart Place – the Holy of Holies – where God dwells, even though we were not High Priests. And it isn’t something for once a year nor for later, it’s for now, anytime we need it.

“When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place.” “They were filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh …” “Now Jewish people were staying in Jerusalem … when this sound came the crowd gathered.” Just like in the Tabernacle, ALL could witness the glory of God at that moment in time. Acts 2

On Shavuot/Pentecost, the Veil of The Life was now open, and the Ruach ha-Kodesh/Holy Spirit came down and dwelled with God’s people. Jesus said, “On that day you will realize that I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

But Jesus had told his disciples when the Spirit came, “the world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14

What does having access to The Life now mean to you? How does having the Set-Apart Breath of God/Holy Spirit in you look like in your every day life?

Bible versions used: TLV, OJB, NIV, KJV

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