The Two-edged Sword

Everything that speaks of death in the OT, becomes Life when it is fulfilled in the NT. And I believe it is because to look at the Old is the same thing as looking in a mirror. Everything is turned around. Your right ear, appears as your left when you are peering in a mirror. So, as I see it, the New Covenant of Life, because it is our Eternal Truth, was the Reality that cast the shadow of the Old. Now shadows can speak OF the truth but are not THE TRUTH ITSELF.

Paul said that all these things happened unto them (those in the OT) as examples unto us upon whom have come the ends of the age. For instance, at Mt. Sinai God told Moses of His intention to make a kingdom of priests out of the whole nation of Israel and they were to prepare themselves for two days and be ready to meet the Lord by the third day....but the people were in such fear of the manifestation of God that they told Moses that they DID NOT WANT GOD TO SPEAK DIRECTLY TO THEM.....they wanted Moses to be their intermediary instead.

By their refusal to hear from God directly or by their refusal to hear the Living Word of God, they were choosing the only alternative to life which is....death. The Word of God is a a two-edged sword....it cuts both ways. It brings life or death according to how it is embraced.

They refused to embrace the Living Word which would have empowered them to have entered their 'promised land' or to have come into resurrection and immortal life and they would have become the 'kingdom of priests' and saviors to the rest of creation by bringing them into life. That is how they would have 'conquered' the nations.

So, by their refusal of the Sword of the Spirit of Life, they experienced the 'backward' swing of the sword....death. Every attempt made by them to fulfill God's word was now always in the natural because that was the level of their consciousness without the quickening of the higher Spirit of Life.

An illustration of this is graphically displayed on the Day of Pentecost. This was one of Israel's feast days and was commemorated as the day that God gave Israel the Law at Mt. Sinai. And as the story goes, Moses came down after receiving the 10 commandments and found them involved in idol worship and the priests were told to go through the camp and kill those who were involved. And we know that 3000 souls were killed that day by a natural sword.

But many years later, on the Day of Pentecost there WAS a people this time willing to obey the instructions of the Lord and come up the mountain or into an 'upper room' to encounter God's presence and word first hand just as Moses did, and when one in their midst stood to minister, namely Peter, he wielded THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT and, this time, 3000 souls were added to the church that day! This Sword brought life!

So, just as Jesus said, "all that came before Me are thieves and robbers"......it all was an outer picture of the inner workings of mankind without the quickening of the Holy Spirit to bring them into Life. That is why the natural nation of Israel did not bring in the kingdom, because they lived by a carnal understanding and the natural sword and, consequently, died by it.

But Jesus came to birth a new species of Israelites, the firstborn from among the dead, the Faithful and True and from their mouth goes forth the Sharp Sword of Life.