temple to vine rough draft

It is interesting how the mode of worship goes from stationary and vertical to fluid and horizontal between the Old Testament and the new. The Jewish patriarchal hierarchy, the religio-political system of the Old Testament, with its priests, temples, rituals and laws was considered by Paul and the New Testament believers as a tutor and model for the coming messiah, Jesus. The law was not the end but a speedily exhaustible means to an end. The sacrifice of Christ redeemed the Jews from their oppressive and legalistic religion that required blood for the remission of sins. He became the final sacrifice, the fulfillment of the law. He allowed himself to be swallowed by the religious machine and crushed in the teeth of the gears in order to stop the wheels from turning. He destroyed the temple, ripped the curtain in two and put the priest-hood out of work, and established a new kingdom…a kingdom not of this world.
The “kingdom” of heaven is quite different from our worldly concept of kings and kingdoms. Jesus’ thoughts on leadership include statements such as “whoever wishes to be first among you must become the least.” “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” He turned the paradigm of hierarchy upside down with visions such as: “the lion shall lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them.” In fact, being born again and becoming like a little child was a pre-requisite for being a part of his heavenly kingdom. “Let the little children come unto me and forbid them not for such is the kingdom of heaven.” “If you do not become as a little child you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In the parable of the rich young man he spoke of the renunciation of material possessions and even said that it was easier for a camel to go through the “eye of a needle” than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. He made a clear distinction in Matthew chapter 6 between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of heaven “you cannot serve two masters…you cannot serve both God and Money.” He commanded his disciples to not carry extra clothes, or staff (used as a weapon against thieves), or Money when he sent them out in two’s to spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.
In any kingdom of man, laws are instituted to protect persons and their property from the hands of selfish and greedy people; mechanical mechanisms to discourage crime. A hierarchy must be established to enforce these laws. Jesus’ remedy to this dilemma was simple: “Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal…” “Observe the birds of the air, they neither sow or reap or gather into barns, but your heavenly father feeds them.”
To the converts from Judaism, the coming of the Messiah marked the end of God’s vertical, hierarchical, second hand relationship with his people and the beginning of an intimate, personal, first-hand relationship. “The time has come and now is when the true worshippers shall worship God in Spirit and in Truth. He was the fulfillment of the prophesies of Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Hosea… Jesus brought God to the people by calling him Father rather than Lord. He included humanity in the Godhead when he said I am the vine and you are the branches… He put himself on an equal plane with his followers when he said “who is my mother and brother and sister? Those who do the will of my Father.” The apostle Paul said: “We are the body of Christ…”“we are no longer slaves but friends.” All of the revolutionaries in the history of Judaism spoke of someone coming after them that was greater, from Moses to John the Baptist who said, ‘ I am not even worthy to unloose his sandal straps.’ Jesus as well prophesied of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost was a step closer to people experiencing God on a horizontal plane and resulted in the egalitarian model of the first church before it’s corruption in the book of Acts.
God is Spirit. The idea of a stationary God in another realm is a conceptual misnomer. The idea of Omni-presence implied in the bible suggests that God is everywhere at once, thru all and in all, that he inhabits and yet transcends his creation. The personification of God is merely a metaphor. The feeling of the absence of God’s presence is nothing more than a lack of perception and the overwhelming experience of ecstatic and intrancsive worship is a revelation, a heightened sense of awareness of the presence of God.
Temples don’t grow and evolve but bodies and vines never stop. A tree will never grow to the capacity it was designed to reach if it is transplanted and confined to a pot. Its roots will either break thru the structure that contains it or its growth will be stunted and it will eventually shrivel and die. God is alive and cannot be contained. He cannot inhabit man-made structures without ripping the curtain in two and demolishing it completely not leaving one stone on top of another. King Solomon said, “The heavens, even the highest heavens cannot contain you oh, lord how much less this temple I have built with my own hands.” Just as the tree cannot be contained in the pot, or God in the Temple, or Christ in the Tomb; neither can the Church (The Body of Christ) be contained within a religeo-political hierarchical structure. Truth is alive. It transcends scientific and mathematical formulas. It is not known by him who claims to have found the end…it is known by him who wonders…and wanders, perusing it to the end…of himself.
the problem with the church is that they are still stuck in the old testament, they still believe in a "God" that requires blood for the remission of sins, they still live by law rather than Love, the revolution that Jesus Christ started was hijacked and has come full circle and become the new orthedoxy, the temple has been rebuilt from the ruins...the only thing that is Relevant is LOVE...it is time for a new revolution...the remnant of the church is awakening from their mental slavery and escaping the satanic institutions of church and state and soon the vines will wrap around the pillars and tear the temple down...Love calls out in the streets, whomever has ears let them hear Babylon is falling, "COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE!!!"