Shalom Mishpachah in Yah'shua our Messiah (Jesus Christ). If you were not here yesterday, please go back to one of the written or audio-visual record of yesterday's assembly for orientation (see Part 1).

Each of these sessions connects to, and follows, in a specific order. The purpose here is not the acquisition of knowledge (see Gnosis) but of anointing, which is why this is is being done in public. The best way to view this is as a kind of spiritual 'tenderising'. Just as meat must be prepared by tenderising to make it delightsome and soft to the mouth, so also in the spiritual before the new arrival of the annual moedim (appointments). This began yesterday by our asking Yahweh to 'tenderise' our spirits with the Ruach (Spirit). Perhaps another way of putting it is 'alignment' which leads to echadness or 'oneness'. The Melchizedek Priesthood is a tenderising priesthood - the Ruach (Spirit) that governs it softens the spirit or essential quality of a man or woman so that he or she can draw close to, and unite with, Elohim (God).

We are on Day #2 of a spiritual prepping cycle, and if yesterday was a kind of 'pre-Pesach' (pre-Passover) or a type of the First Day of Creation when Yahweh said, "Let there be light" (Gen.1:3), then today is a kind of pre-Chag haMatzah (pre-Unleavened Bread) or Second Day of Creation when Yahweh created a space to separate the two bodies of water, in the same way that when a musician plays his instrument, a space or pause is created to separate two notes of music, one behind and one in front of the other. A pause, like space, has substance, and is created.

If you have forgotten what the second item was that Yahweh ordered made for the Tabernacle of Moses, the festival of Chag haMatzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread) will give you a clue. For today devoted to the making, by Yahweh, of the Table for the Bread of Presence or as it is also known, the Table of Shewbread.

The first thing Yahweh did was command the construction of the Ark of the Covenant with its Mercy Seat and two Cherubim made from a single block of gold and then He ordered it to be 'tented' by a screen, around and above, forming a perfectly cuboid room that depicts Elohim's (God's) perfection and into which only the Cohen Gadol or High Priest was allowed once a year at Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonements) to make corporate, communal atonement for the whole Nation of Israel.

This corresponds, as we learned yesterday, to the human ruach or spirit which is a separate entity from the rest of the body, that invisible part of ourselves that comes directly from Elohim (God) Himself. The second item He ordered constructed, which is the business of today, was what is known as the Table of Shewbread or Table for the Bread of the Presence, one of the three main furnishings of the adjacent tabernacle room, the Holy Place (Lev.24:5-9). You should by now have made the connection between the lechem or bread on that sacred table and the unleavened bread served at Chag haMatzah for a week to kol Yisra'el, representing freedom from sin. And doubtless you are already making connections to Yah'shua (Jesus) Himself who calls Himself the "lechem chayim (bread of life)" (Jn.6:35,48).

You will remember from yesterday that the Holy of Holies is the 'Chamber of the Father' and the 'Holy Place' is the 'Chamber iof the Son'. The table itself was made of shittim wood overlayed with gold that speaks to us about the humanity (wood) and deity (gold) of our Messiah. This dual nature of Messiah is very important and is refelcted throughout the construction of the Tabernacle. The only way that we are able to link together or link directly to the Father is through the duel-natured Christ who is part Elohim (God) and part human (the 'Elohim/God-Man') (see Incarnation). There no access to the Father except through the Son. Not only can no man come to the Father except through Messiah (Jn.14:6) but equally no man can come to Messiah unless he is drawn to Him (Messiah) by the Father (Jn.6:44). We are drawn, bound, and sealed in and through a dual tie of 'wood' and 'gold', or humanity and deity.

Upon the Table of Shewbread was anciently placed 12 cakes of bread consisting of two rows of 6, one representing each of the 12 tribes of Israel. When the cohenim or priests ate this bread, as they were commanded to, they were pointing to the future talmidim (disciples) of the B'rit Chadashah or New Covenant 'eating' the Body of Messiah (Mt.26.26) as an extension of the Pesach or Passover Meal into Chag haMatzah itself and (on Day #3) into Yom haBikkurim or Day of Firstfruits - which itself pointed to the firstfruits of the Resurrection. This implement in the Holy Place is of immeasurably deep spiritual meaning. It represents complete echad union with Messiah through His death and resurrection and the only way therefore to have echad union with Yahweh, our Heavenly Father.

Let me remind you of one of the key messianic scriptures that pertains to this symbol and spiritual reality:

"Yah'shua (Jesus) said to them, 'I tell you the emet (truth), unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no chayim (life) in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has æonian chayim (eternal life), and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the lechem (bread) that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this lechem (bread) will live le-olam-va-ed (forever)" (John 6:53-58, NIV).

This bread was present in symboplic form in the Tabernacle of Moses because this arrangement is permanently built in to the Creation. To be connected to Yah'shua (Jesus) is to be connected to Yahweh and to have enduring chayim (life) in you, and this will affect not just your ruach or spirit but your physical body as well which is scheduled for resurrection one day, all the while receiving resurrection power and energy today through your connection, and therefore, because of your communion with Messiah. That connection is only possible through the death or surrender of self-will so that Christ can have us all-in-all, in totality. The more He has of us, the more Ruach (Spirit) flows into us, the more sanctified and the more whole and pure we become, because our final justification (the declaration of righteousness or being 'in the right') is based, finally, on the totality of the life we have lived, our faithfulness to Messiah - the 'filled faith' or biblical emunah. The quickening of this symbolic 'Table of Shewbread' within us is the means by which we can grow into the full stature of Christ.

This Lechem or Bread has an interesting name - it is called the 'Presence Bread', the 'Bread of Faces', and the 'Bread of Ordering'. It is also called the 'Bread of Continuity' because its supply is everlasting to those who have access to it through faith and faithfulness. For as it is written:

"For Elohim (God), who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' (Holy of Holies, Creation Day #1) made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of Elohim (God) in the faces of Messiah" (2 Cor.4:5-6, NIV).

We can only 'see' the Father in 'seeing' the Son (Jn.14:9). Though our Bibles usually render the expression in 2nd Corinthians as "face of Christ" (singular) in reality it should be translated "faces of Christ" (plural).

This bread, prepared for us, was not easily made, and was produced only through much pain and suffering - on a cosmic scale, in fact. Its flour is exceedingly fine because it was 'ground' at Calvary. In short, it is flour that can only be produced through the voluntary laying down of life - of dying - as Yah'shua (Jesus) did when He died for us. That is the 'flesh' we are commanded to eat - flour 'bought' at an exceedingly great price - which, if we too are to partake of it, as commanded, means we must be prepared to suffer for Him as well. This personal 'flour' of our life is to be ground and sifted through the hardships of life. Though the Mills of Heaven work exceedingly slowly, they grind exceedingly fine. That 'bread' which is our lives is not only an offering to Yah'shua (Jesus) but the 'bread' that others feed off us, enabling them to make heavenly connections too.

Now we could spend many hours on this great and deep subject but that is not principally why we are here. The question you must ask yourself is this: are you, who are assaying to become a part of the Remnant... are you willing to be ground into fine spiritual fine flour like this and to be used to make these shewbread cakes on a human level, as Yah'shua (Jesus) was on the cosmic level? Are you willing to become a part of Israel? For remember there are twelve cakes in all, one for wach of the tribes or sons of Jacob-Israel, and each is elected into one of these with particular giftings with which to serve Elohim (God) and the Body.

The band of people you want to be with is a nation and is only by covenant - first, one-to-one covenant between you and Yahweh through Yah'shua (Jesus), and second, a one-to-many corporate (communal) covenant with Messianic Israel (not the secular state in the Middle East), for this bread can only be eaten by Israelites. That means, in addition to everything I have already said, you must be willing to live the Israelite lifestyle, which means living all the mitzvot or commandments, without prejudice between them (minus those fulfilled and therefore abolished by the Cross, like the animal sacrificial system and Levitical Priesthood system that administered it), that includes living under a communal covenant. It means you cannot pick and choose between them as the denominations of Christendom do.

You cannot be elect without communal covenant because the elect are not 'the saved' but Israel-the-chosen consisting of those who first freely choose to be saved in the New Covenant. Election can only follow salvation because Torah is the lifestyle to which the saved are elected. You don't 'earn' your election either. There is only one rule in Israel and that is Torah - New Covenant Torah, which is the rule of the King of Israel, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). We are not permitted to go and make our own rules up. The Government of Messiah embraces all areas of life, including the way we observe time.

This tabernacle lechem (bread) therefore consists of a great deal. Is this what you want to eat? Is this the life you want to live? No one comes into the Holy Place, let alone the Holy of Holies, who is not willing to do this - to be faithful, not simply to exercise courtyard 'armchair faith'. Your faith - your trusting - must lead to obedeience. You must be willing to offer yourself up to Elohim (God) as a Cohen (Priest) - a Melchizedek Priest, who who follows the 'King of Righteousness' (the 'Malchi-Zadok' in Hebrew). This is what an Overcomer is. This is what the Royal Priesthood is:

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a qadosh (holy, set-apart) nation, a people belonging to Elohim (God), that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of Elohim (God); once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10, NIV).

You cannot be a lawless Protestant (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, etc.) or a spiritually dead, legalistic Messianic because the lawless do not even enter the Tabernacle. To eat this lechem (bread), you have to do some sober choosing. The 'Royal Melchizedek Priesthood' is not handed out with party balloons, it's a serious - but also wonderful - business, a whole identity, lifestyle and spiritual empowering.

Would you like Yahweh to tenderise your heart so that is can more fully prepareded for this calling and walk in Messiah? That is whay we are here to pray for, not for a gnostic sack of intellectual candy. It takes most genuine, authentic believers a good while to come to this point - this is the 6th stage in our committment to Elohim (God), remember, as we are approaching the steps from Yahweh's direction, so this in reality corresponds to Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonements) in the direction that humans make, not Chag haMatzah. Yesterday I told you everything is reversed when Yahweh builds - man does not personally enter the construction process, actually, until the 7th or last day. It's a little difficult to grasp, I know, but very important. We have no part, in actual fact, other than to present ourselves in contrition as candidates for anointing. My task, in large part, is to make you aware of the price you must pay.

And so:

Thus spoke the Saviour of the world, and raised His eyes to heav'n;
To Thee, O Father! Lord of all, eternal praise be giv'n.
Thou to the pure and lowly heart hast heav'nly truth reveal'd;
Which from the self-conceited mind Thy wisdom hath conceal'd.

Ev'n so! Thou, Father, hast ordain'd Thy high decree to stand;
Nor men nor angels may presume the reason to demand.
Thou only know'st the Son; from Thee My Kingdom I receive;
And none the Father know but they who in the Son believe.

Come then to Me, all ye who groan, with guilt and fears opprest;
Resign to Me the willing heart, and I will give you rest.
Take up My yoke, and learn of Me the meek and lowly mind;
And thus your weary troubled souls repose and peace shall find.

For light and gentle is My yoke; the burden I impose
Shall ease the heart, which groan'd before beneath a load of woes (Paraphrase #34 from the Church of Scotland KJV Bible of 1898, Matthew 11:25-30).

Dear Father Yahweh-Elohim, King of the Universe, we come before You in the name of Your Son Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) who is the Lechem Chayim (Bread of Life), through Whom alone we have access to You. We desire to first of all acknowledge that nobody comes to You save through Christ. We come before You with nothing to present but ourselves and have assembled here today from around the world to present ourselves as living sacrifices to You to be used by You in whatever way You want.

We know in making this covenant before You that we cannot do so rightly [in our own strength], that there are deep and significant implications in yielding sovereignty of the will to You. We confess that the flesh will rebound and revolt against this occasionally but help us, Father, to always get our eyes back on You quickly and with the minimum of delay.

We are here to walk as Your talmidim (disciples) in Your will and as Your avadim (servants) in these last days. We ask you, Father, therefore, that you would activate, enlighten, quicken, bring to life the inner equivalent of this Golden Table of Shewbread containing the Bread of Your Presence and Your Faces - the Lechem Panim.

We are asking You, Father, to make yet one more aspect of our souls alive to You through Your grace, Your undeserved loving kindness, Your unmerited favour, through Your chesed (mercy).

So Father we invite You into our physical bodies too, into our temples (tabernacles), into our hearts and minds and psyche. We are asking for a quickening there particularly at this time of [coronavirus] plague with so many people ill because of poisons received one way or another, and dying.

We're asking, Father, for a cleansing, and that You rebuke the powers seeking our destruction and with the destruction of the human race. We declare your blood-covering through Your Son Yah'shua (Jesus) around us and over us, our Sukkah, our Tent, the tent that surrounds the Holy Place and also the Holy of Holies, the tent that surrounds our entire physical body, our entire tabernacle of the flesh, and surrounds our homes.

We invoke the blood of Messiah in which we are trusting for our salvation and deliverance and healing. So please bless this day, Father, please make us soberly consider what it is You are calling us to, for we desire to walk up to Your Priesthood and Your Calling to become Your Avadim (Servants), which is our prayer in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.