Hello,
Let us welcome our new member Clea to Jesus on the Web (may she post
many articles as she is accomplished in theology). After talking with
Clea, I find that one of the large concerns that has been raised is
how spit relates to forgiveness in the scripture. Although I had
thought that spit related to forgiveness directly from Genesis, I was
wrong; moreover, I find that the administration of spit is a rather
complicated matter in scripture. Furthermore I bring this matter into
question because I had been contemplating the theological value of
having a sneeze guard over food preparation; moreover, the question
that is raised thus is what does spit mean theologically and what does
a sneeze guard testify concerning it.
In the Ancient Hebrew language the term Ruach Ha-Kodesh is used to
refer to the spirit of God (Holy Ghost) as like the breath of God or
the wind, and thus an ill wind is an evil spirit for example. The
fact thus that God gathered some clay and then breathed into it means
that he imparted his spirit into man in creation to animate him, and
this happened as God made man in his own image and likeness. Thus
consider the following text, "As he went along, he saw a man blind
from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or
his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his
parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of
God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do
the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said
this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it
on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of
Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came
home seeing." John 9:1-7 (NIV) Notice that Christ did not just take
dirt and breath on it and then apply it to the man’s face; moreover,
my case it that this example demonstrated a very complicated but clear
example of how the light rebuked the darkness by way of God working
with his hands to form a new set of eyes.
In Kabbalistic Jewish theology God has ten invisible attributes (these
are the ten fingers of God), and these ten invisible attributes are
connected by thirty-two paths just as we have thirty-two teeth. In
the case of Jesus whom is in the first chapter of John he is the word
made flesh and the light, and notice that he from his mouth (the same
place that the breath comes out of or spirit) spat into some dirt into
his hands and then put that dirt on the man’s eyes. The man went to
the pool of Siloam meaning sent and he washed or submersed his eyes in
water (baptizing them in water), and as soon as this man baptized his
eyes in water he could see and thus was sent out to tell the good news
about Jesus Christ.
Besides the passage showing us that Christ has a divine nature the
question that emerges is, "What does such a passage tell us about the
baptism of the Holy Ghost; moreover, is this a foreshadow of it"? If
you can remember in the book of Acts Pentecost happened with the sound
like the blowing of a violent wind from heaven and then tongues of
fire came down on the people. Acts 2:1-3 Just this in itself shows us
that the baptism by fire not only is performed by the breath of God
but also by the tongue of God that carries his spit onto us.
Consider the following text, "I know your deeds, that you are neither
cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because
you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my
mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a
thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor,
blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the
fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can
cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you
can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest,
and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears
my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he
with me." Revelation 3:15-20 (NIV) We learn in this passage that if
we are in Christ then in a since we are in his mouth submerged in his
spit, and not only that but the passage gives direct reference to the
blind and being refined in the fire (like the tongues of fire as like
the baptism by fire).
Let us consider this idea of being submerged in the spit of God
carefully as it relates to the circumcision of the heart and our
clothing in robes of righteousness. In Genesis 3:7 Adam and Eve sewed
fig leaves together, but we are told in Genesis 3:21 (NIV) the
following, "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife
and clothed them." The point is that first Adam and Eve clothed
themselves, then God sacrificed an animal foreshadowing the sacrifice
of Christ on the cross, and he then clothed them.
In other words just as their is a baptism by water and then their is a
baptism by the Holy Ghost one is done by us doing a work of God, and
then God does the other by himself. For example Ephesians 6:10-20
talks about us putting on the armor of God whereas when Jesus sent out
the 72 he told them that he was sending them out ahead of him and that
nothing would harm them and that they would tread on scorpions;
moreover, this shows us that they had been clothed with that power
from God Luke 10:19. Overall, this tells us a lot about how God works
that first he has us wash with the water before he washes over us with
the fire.
Regarding how the baptism of the Holy Ghost relates to the
circumcision of the heart we must think about it in terms of the law
being written on our hearts. The law with its ten commandments or
sayings was like a guard over our ‘ten spiritual fingers’ so to speak,
and the Islamic nations today will often cut off fingers as a result
of various sins. We however through grace do not have our fingers cut
off when we sin, but the circumcision of the heart writes the law on
our heart thus guarding our interaction with the world like the 10
commandments would protect the potter’s hands so that he need be
concerned with getting cut when working the clay so to speak.
Consider the following text, "And he said, "These are they who have
come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, "they are before
the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he
who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them." Revelation
7:15 (NIV) In this passage people themselves wash their robes in the
blood of the lamb, but before the disciples could leave Jerusalem
(after Christ was crucified) they had to be clothed with power from on
High. The point is that we wash ourselves with the blood of the lamb,
but only when we are part of the body of Christ does the blood of
Christ pump throughout the entire body and as a result we put on the
fig leaves so to speak and then God gives us the garments made of
skin. As a result God must spit on us first, before he puts us into
his mouth to be completely submerged in his saliva.
Consider the following text regarding Noah’s ark, Genesis 6:14 (NIV)
"coat the inside and outside of the ark with pitch" as it was with the
basket of Moses Exodus 2:3. My understanding is that the term pitch
is used to refer to atonement and the 40 days and 40 nights at sea are
a foreshadow of the 40 days and 40 nights that Christ was tempted by
Satan. In a since being on the water was like being in God’s mouth
submerged in saliva (the baptism), but yet at the same time being
clothed so to speak in atonement. More to the point is that if you
can remember the baptism of Moses 1 Corinthians 10:2 the Israelites
when under the sea and had been brought to a new life in Moses to be a
kingdom of priests whereas the Egyptians died in the waters like those
of Noah’s day when the flood came.
Thus when we go under the waters of baptism and get placed into the
tomb of Christ with death all around us to be risen with the Lord if
we do it without proper ‘clothing’ we are like the man that attended
the wedding supper of the lamb whom was not dressed in proper wedding
garments and was thrown out. In that story specifically the garments
had been supplied by the marriage party and the man just put the
garments aside and went in as he was. Consider the following text at
it instructs the disciples to stay in the city (Jerusalem) until they
are clothed with power on high, "Then he opened their minds so they
could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is
written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third
day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his
name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of
these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but
stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on
high."" Luke 24:45-49 (NIV) In other words Christ prepared the
disciples with their minds being opened by his words unlocking the
scripture and the word of God was like making the blind man see by the
spit, but not until the tongues of fire came down did the disciples
get clothed with power on high.
Consider the following text, "When the cloud lifted from above the
Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her
and saw that she had leprosy; and he said to Moses, "Please, my lord,
do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not
let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with
its flesh half eaten away." So Moses cried out to the LORD, "O God,
please heal her!" The LORD replied to Moses, "If her father had spit
in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days?
Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be
brought back." Numbers 12:10-14 (NIV) Overall, this act of spit
demonstrates a message like that of the seven day festival of unleaded
bread as during these days bread is made without leaven and then at
the end the bread is sanctified to be used to start out with a new
lump, and that is exactly what happened in this case as we know that
after the seven days of being outside the camp the woman was brought
back in to be sanctified as a new lump that yeast (remember the New
Testament Jesus talks about yeast as being teaching) could be added
to.
Spit is however is not always seen as the imparting of the grace of
God in a joyful manner but rather as a matter of justice such that the
grace is given as God’s mercy as he allows for the duties of a man to
not be fulfilled if it burdens him beyond what he can bare. Consider
the following text, "If brothers are living together and one of them
dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her
husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of
a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the
name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from
Israel. However, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife,
she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's
brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not
fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me." Then the elders of his
town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, "I do
not want to marry her," his brother's widow shall go up to him in the
presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face
and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his
brother's family line." That man's line shall be known in Israel as
The Family of the Unsandaled." Deuteronomy 25:5-10 (NIV) Overall,
the point is that the spit in this case is a act of disgrace, but it
is a disgrace that shows the mercy of God as a man is able to relieve
himself of his responsibilities if they are to much for him.
Consider the following text as it shows a very deep mystery, "They
came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged
Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him
outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his
hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" He looked up and
said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." Once more
Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his
sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Mark 8:22-25
(NIV) It would be incorrect to say that the first time that the man
had a hand put on him by Jesus that Jesus failed, and thus had to try
again. Instead what happened is that the man spoke about our
fundamental nature as we are all trees that draw from the river of the
water of life that proceeds down from the throne and wells up in us
springs of living water; moreover, these trees are made in the image
and likens of God whom has ten invisible attributes like ten fingers.
Thus the man was commenting on us being imprinted with the image of
the tree of life.
If we think carefully about the temple, then we will remember that God
spoke between the two cherubim on the atonement cover as they had been
like the two eyes of Christ. The two cherubim that stood outside of
the ark would be like the two ears of Christ. In a way thus inside of
the Most Holy place was like a picture of the face of God, but inside
the ark itself we are told that if a person would open the ark and
look inside that they would parish because they would see the face of
God.
The question thus is, "when the High Priest sprinkled the blood in the
most Holy Place" was he foreshadowing those whom would spit on the
face of Christ when he was being crucified. Matthew 26:67 I realize
that he was also however foreshadowing Christ whom would enter heaven
as High Priest offering his blood to the throne of God the Father in
heaven. Could this thus be a foreshadow of the fact that some High
Priests had died whereas others had lived when offering the blood just
like the Egyptians died in the sea and the Israelites lived because of
it.
We know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word the
proceeds from the mouth of the Father, so in order to be in that word
we need to be in God’s mouth being either Hot or Cold. We need to be
washed around his teeth (among the thirty-two paths). By this process
we are baptized in the spit (the fire), and thus we receive the Holy
Ghost as like the talents that the master gave us before he went away
in order that we may invest the spit from God’s mouth wisely as like
the treasure put into jars of clay (or spit added to dirt). Thus we
are to invest the love of God wisely through the spiritual gifts given
at Pentecost.
May God thus turn your water of washing into the wine or fruit of the
vine of Jesus Christ in order that our robes may be washed in the
blood of the lamb not just under our own power but by the power of God
in order that we may enter into the wedding supper of the lamb of God
with robes of righteousness being clothed with power from on high.
May God thus spit on you all and like the spiritual fruits that we
produce may God be pleased with putting us in his mouth. May their
not be a sneeze guard that separates God from enjoying the fruit of
the vineyard for when the last of the seven trumpets sounds the wall
of the separation of church and state will collapse like the walls of
Jericho, and the saints will rush in for the weeding supper of the
lamb and then the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven making no
separation between God and his people.
Thank you,
Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com