7.2 Blood and Oil
I want to spend this lesson on the two elements found on the two pieces of furniture that are solid gold, Blood upon the Mercy Seat and Oil contained in the Lampstand. Part of the reason for this focus is that these two elements are the two things God instructed Moses to use in order to cleanse and to consecrate every item used in the Tabernacle after its construction and every individual priest who would be involved in the Tabernacle duties. To cleanse means to break all commitment to any other entity and to consecrate means to establish all commitment to God alone.
And we see, then, in the terms of a marriage covenant this clause: forsaking all others.
The Two Cherubim. Let me give you a clue as to the identity of the two cherubim upon the Mercy Seat facing those seated upon it, with wings spread around them. To the person seated there utterly together with God, the cherub on the right has a name. His name is Keep. And the cherub on the left has a name. His name is Sanctify.
These are the two cherubim set to KEEP the WAY to the tree of LIFE, the two cherubim who stood on either side of Jesus, holding up His arms upon the cross. Outwardly, in that moment, these two appeared partly as nails, but of truth, they were the two secret cherubs of God and their keeping power went way beyond the power of the nails.
The Five Elements. And so we want to look at the elements of Blood and Oil out from the knowledge of these two cherubim, Keep and Sanctify, whom God has placed on each side of us. First, let’s place them among the five elements of God: Covenant – Blood – Bread – Oil – Incense. The diagram has given us such understanding. I would suggest that you print out a copy to look at. In fact, I will make such a page as our understanding becomes more complete.
| Ark of the Covenant | Mercy Seat | Table of Showbread | Lampstand | Altar of Incense | Altar of Sacrifice | Laver |
| Wood/Gold | Gold | Wood/Gold | Gold | Wood/Gold | Wood/Bronze | Bronze |
| Covenant | Blood | Bread | Oil | Incense | Wood/Flesh | Water |
| Aaron’s Rod | Pillar of Fire | Eating | Fire | Fire | Fire | Bathing |
| Manna | Authority | Sustenance | Light | Aroma | Smoke | Cleansing |
Smoke vs Aroma. Consider the two altars that have ended up side by side. Smoke comes from both, one a black stench, the other a pure Aroma. The smoke from the Sacrifice is the acceptance by any individual that his or her own story has been utterly false; the Aroma of the Incense is the story of Christ our only life.
Thus, it is clear what the outer court is for and why it is not an everlasting part of God’s expression. First the smoke, “my self-story is so obviously false,” then the washing away of that false story by the Word of Christ. Once its purpose is fulfilled, there is no more need for the functions of the outer court. We do not run back out to the outer court in order to “get forgiven again.” Rather, we carry “It is finished” inside of us forever.
Fruit and Actions. Another wondrous thing we see is that the five things that are the fruit coming out of this Covenant transaction are, in fact, the definition of what we entered the Covenant to obtain – LIFE. And we possess LIFE the most as we give it to others.
Finally, we look across the seven actions that consume the elements of the Tabernacle and we see that, in actuality, the food we eat is, technically, the fuel our body burns for energy. Thus we have two non-fire actions on each side of five consumptions by fire. The Covenant produces its fruit by resurrection in the moment we are born again, and the water, that is Jesus first come to us, gently cleanses away our false story.
Transformed by Fire. Every other element is consumed, that is, transformed by fire – the God who answers by fire (1 Kings 18:24). The Tabernacle then requires us to place Fire as God Himself into “we are being transformed into the same image.”
The actions of Resurrection and Fire we will expand on in the next lesson, here we want to return to the two elements that are liquid, Blood and Oil. Covenant – Blood – Bread – Oil – Incense. This is truly, truly God’s order; Life begins with Christ in our hearts as Covenant and it goes forth as Christ from our mouths as Incense, as the story of our lives, a story we speak with all joy, a story that is always inviting others to speak the same.
Two Pictures. Bread represents our work in the New Creation, God and us together. – Then, Blood and Oil are liquids. In the establishing of the Tabernacle as the earthly expression of God’s Pro-Thesis, God required Moses to cleanse all parts of the Tabernacle with blood and then to consecrate all those same parts with oil.
We have two differing pictures, then, that we must hold in our minds as we consider the Blood and the Oil. The greater picture is that the Blood and the Oil function in us forever as elements of our incorruptible Life inside of God. But the present, and in some ways more-important-for-us-now picture, the Blood and the Oil are the two elements by which God is establishing us as His house inside a world that hates God and us.
The Blood Keeps. The Blood KEEPS us from all that is evil and the Oil SANCTIFIES us utterly to God. The reason we used to “plead the blood,” is that we did not believe it at all, but imagined that we had to “make it” do its work by our crying. Now we simply confess as an essential part of our story of Christ that the blood is always cleansing us from everything that might be offensive to God.
We will be the revelation of Father, just like Jesus, ONLY by CONFIDENCE. The Blood stands guard in our own souls, our Christ self-story, as the mighty Cherub that continuously assures us that NOTHING could possibly get between us and God.
Purified with Blood. The Blood sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat of our hearts causes us to know, every moment, that God KEEPS us. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words” (Exodus 24:8). – Likewise he (Moses) sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:21-22).
Purified with blood – removing all impurity. – We will see in the chapter on LIFE that forgiveness is the supreme quality of incorruptible life together. It begins its work by washing away sin, but its eternal work is as the harmony of the Body.
Consecrated to God. Then the Oil is that which consecrates to God. Also Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them (Leviticus 8:10).
Blood and Oil, the two liquid, flowing elements, are paired together. Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him; and he consecrated Aaron, his garments, his sons, and the garments of his sons with him (Leviticus 8:30). – To consecrate, to sanctify, is to commit to the use of God alone.
Spirit and Life. The Blood is the life of Jesus flowing within us and among us, connecting us together as one body, giving life to each member and carrying away all impurity. The Oil is the knowledge of the immediate presence of the Holy Spirit upon us enabling all things that God and us are doing together.
This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you (Luke 22:20). Moses sprinkled the blood of the old covenant upon the people, but Jesus instructed us to drink the blood of the New Covenant. Believe in Me. – I am the Bread of Life – Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has life – abides in me and I in him (John 6:29 & 35 & 54).
Continuing the Chart. Let's add to our chart, but just to the first five elements.
| Personal Inside of God | The Expression of the Church | |||
| Covenant | Blood | Bread | Oil | Incense |
| Pro-Thesis | Pro-Knowing | Pro-Determination | Symmorphose | Image |
| Called according to His purpose | Those found in the Heart of God | God, by His zeal | Symmorphoses them with | The image of His Son. |
| Resurrection Life | Fire coming out of the heavens | Fire of the burning of calories | Fire of pure oil | Fire of pure incense |
| Inner sustenance of knowing God | Authority | Outer sustenance of strength | Light – God becoming visible | Incense – face of God seen |
| Believe in Me | Drink My blood | Eat My flesh | Abide in Me | And I in him. |
Placing the Blood. The Covenant is made by the shedding of blood. That blood is taken straight to the Mercy Seat between God and the Covenant. Blood is at the center of our first picture.
The blood is shed only in the outer court. Then the blood is brought in and placed upon the beaten gold of the Mercy Seat. (Our hearts filled with Christ are more the Bible than the Bible ever could be.)
Placing the Oil. The blood is placed upon the beaten gold, but the oil is held in the beaten gold. Both pictures of gold are beaten by hammers out of one piece – the ekenosen of God.
The second picture is of the full symmorphy of Christ within His Church. I am… the Source and the Completion… Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man… the seven lampstands are the seven churches (Revelation 1:11-13 & 20). – These things says He who… walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands (Revelation 2:1).
The Blood is our symmorphy inside of Jesus inside of Father; the oil is the symmorphy of Jesus inside of us together as the church and by the Spirit of power.
Our Present Task. In this session, we are attempting to place before our eyes all of these elements of life as they fit together inside of God's pattern. We will see in this picture that the entire arrangement is to showcase how the fire that is God Himself, passing through these elements in our lives, becomes the life and light, the provision and goodness, flowing out from us to all.
God went to a great effort to create this picture for us – See that you make all things according to the Pattern. He wants us to imprint the picture of these things in the pathways of our minds, for by this layout the verses of the New Testament will flow together as the fulfillment of Christ through us.