Science catching up to Scripture.
A video from Life Site (John Henry Weston) with an interview re. the “Foundations Restored” series of videos which link philosophy, theology and natural science. A fascinating enlightening discussion: https://youtu.be/ZWJX_4o0f-s
a couple of spaces below two trailers of the new film: “The End of Quantum Theory” by Wolfgang Smith
A fascinating recent scientific study:
For more detail of the work of Barry Setterfield and other scientists we present below the first of four parts of recent science which is proving the Scripture account of creation. The other three parts can be found on YouTube.
This is a video looking at the four geological eras and three world-wide catastrophes as recorded both by science and by the Bible:
Also interesting is a new series called FOUNDATIONS RESTORED. Click on the below for an introduction:
By the director and producer of the Principle:
VIDEOS ON THE EUCHARIST
What Makes Calvary a Sacrifice and the Mass a Sacrament? Watch the video below:
Please listen to this video for a great ending of the Church year
– on the covenant relationship with God and within sacramental marriage
Comprehensive Sex Education in Schools for our Children
Click on the above letters and then click on the url that comes up:
The SA Education minister wants to put the comprehensive sexual education into our South African schools that will get our young children sexual active at an early age and that will make them discrimninate against normal marriage in favour of all other kinds of sexual liaisons. Please see the web site on the article below (bottom of page 1) in order to lodge your disagreement to the Minister. The UNSAID is refusing financial help to the country unless this family disruptive education is enforced in our schools. Please pray for our government that they may have the prudence and foresight and moral courage to refuse this new economic
colonization that is taking place in Africa.
Go to www.StopCSE.org or https://www.comprehensivesexualityeducation.org/stop-cse-petitiion/ to sign petition against cse.
Look at the video below to understand what comprehensive sex education is about and all the deception that is behind it:
https://www.apostoliviae.org/resources/11661/a-manifesto-of-faith-cardinal-muller
I SHARE with you the notes of our RCIA class last week, in which was introduced the church building to the group with an explanation of its being, presence and purpose.
INTRODUCTION
The Family Foundation
The human race as a priestly people was created by God with a family structure: its relational worship of God was conducted within a family context in which the husband and father – and in his absence the first born son – acted in a priestly capacity in relation to his family. God in giving Adam -before Eve was created- as representative of the human race- the two priestly tasks of “cultivating and protecting” (which two tasks are used elsewhere together in Scripture only as the tasks of the temple priesthood) was revealing this priestly character of the human race. But He was also revealing the priestly calling of Adam in his future capacity as husband and father.
THE EARTHLY SANCTUARY OF GOD
As we prepare to enter the church building, we must keep in mind that WE -the baptized People (literally kinfolk) of God together with Jesus Christ as the Head of His Bride (His Body)- are the Church, the living Church. Secondly, JESUS indicated Himself as the NEW TEMPLE replacing the old (which was to be destroyed within a generation by the Romans) and so, by extension, we, the Church, are part of that living building together with Him – the apostles and prophets being its foundation, as Scripture says. Thirdly, as the temple of the Old Testament was patterned after the nature and relationship of the Old Testament people with God, so are our church buildings of the New Testament patterned after the nature and relational life of the bridal people in Christ. WE are the Church and so our CHURCH BUILDING reflects and anticipates who we are and what we are to be in Heaven.
Fourthly, according to Scripture, the earth was created to be the temple of God within the universe, with the Garden of Eden its SANCTUARY or place of intimate meeting between Adam and Eve (the marriage-covenant intimacy between them) and between them and God in their sabbath (“oath”) Covenant relationship with Him. The sin of Adam and Eve, their rejection of God’s covenant plan for the human race, and of their sin against the marriage-covenant, disrupted this perfect design of God. Not only did the human race get mucked up as it were as God’s people, but so did the physical creation along with it. After being expelled from the Garden (expressing their rejection of the Covenant intimacy with God), the subsequent (priestly) head of the families (particularly Abraham and the patriarchs descended from him) still continued to worship God and began to offer Him bloody sacrifices (which reflected their sin) at specific general places within their travels.
THE TEMPLE
The Tabernacle and Temple
At the time of the Exodus, Israel, no longer made up of tribal households, having become a tribal nation united in one place, in the renewal of the Covenant with them, God, at Mount Sinai, instructed them through Moses to build a TABERNACLE (a transportable structure) – which was to become a permanent temple in the time of the Kingdom under Solomon.
We as Christian Church also need PERMANENT STRUCTURES in which to gather for prayer and worship of God. Our church buildings thus reflect along the pattern of the tabernacle (temple) i.e. of the Church as the living Christ-and-His-Body in its Eucharistic and sacramental presence, being and life. The pattern of the tabernacle was given in vision form and instruction by God to Moses on Mount Sinai in minute detail as reflecting the HEAVENLY TEMPLE. During the Crucifixion of Christ the veil of the Holy of Holies was torn open so as to reveal and given access to the inner sanctuary to the believers in Christ: thus, in Catholic churches we have the sanctuary open to our gaze. What were three separate areas in the temple (the inner courtyard, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies) is one place – the sanctuary – in our churches of today. In the Book of Revelation, John witnessed a oneness between the worship on earth with that of Heaven.
From the court of the women of the old temple, one came into the first part of a three-fold structure: the inner courtyard (the court of the priests) with the altar. Beyond this was the closed off Holy Place (in which only the priests could enter) and the Holy of Holies (in which only the high priest could enter – once a year on the Day of Atonement) sealed off by an eight inch thick curtain embroidered with the images of two great angels (cf. the two angels who guarded the holiness of God at the entrance of the Garden of Eden). The altar of the temple was where the people presented their sacrifices to be offered by the priests. There was also a laver or gigantic round brass wash BASIN for the priests.
THE CHURCH BUILDING
Its Structure and Contents
When we enter the church on a Sunday morning for Holy Mass, we SIGN OURSELVES WITH THE CROSS by means of the holy water at the entrance of the church, repeating the words of baptism that Jesus Christ gave His apostles on the day of His Ascension into Heaven: “(go baptize all nations} in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. We thus call down upon ourselves the protection, the seal and grace of our baptism Covenant as the People of God.
Having done this, we find ourselves in the nave of the church which is like being in the outer (women’s) courtyard of the temple. Looking ahead, the first thing we notice in the sanctuary is the ALTAR. We are to attend and offer a sacrifice! The altar symbolizes Jesus in His humanity both as victim and the high priest of the sacrifice. If the Eucharistic presence of Christ (the Blessed Sacrament) were absent in the church (as on Good Friday and Holy Saturday), we would bow to the altar as representing Jesus.
If we look at the credence table to the side of the altar we notice – replacing the large temple laver – a bowl of water and a towel for the purification of the priest during Mass.
We espy CANDLES at the side of the altar – burning to indicate that soon there will be present on our altar the real bread of the presence (or Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ. In the holy place of the old temple stood three items (reminding us again of the Blessed Trinity revealed in Christ): the INCENSE ALTAR, “THE BREAD OF THE PRESENCE” (or “the Bread of the Face”) [often wrongly translated as the shew bread] along with flagons for the wine and incense, and the SEVEN-FOLD LAMP or menorah. The incense on the incense table in the Holy Place was always burning. In our St Augustine’s church you may have caught a lingering whiff of INCENSE hanging upon the air. The menorah too was always alight and together with the incense smoke indicated the sacred presence of the twelve loaves of the Bread of the Presence as well as the golden container of the miraculously preserved MANNA (“what is it”) bread within the Ark of the Covenant in the most inner room.
On the sabbath, twelve freshly baked loaves were taken off a plain marble table outside and brought into the Holy Place to be placed in consecration on the gold table where it represented the twelve tribes of Israel before God – that is, it was offered along with the WINE within the smoke of incense as a sacrifice to God. At the next Sabbath the loaves would be consumed by the priests with the wine. Three times a year at the 3 great festivals of Tabernacles, Passover and Pentecost, the loaves were taken out with the golden table which was lifted up to the people with the words “Behold! God’s love for you.” In the Torah of the Bible it was written: Three times a year shall all your males see the FACE of the Lord, the LORD God of Israel” (Ex 34.23; 23.17). And so the priests fulfilled this command by showing the men the Bread of the FACE of the Lord. The Bread of the Presence represented the COVENANT LOVE between God and Israel, the love of the Bridegroom for His Bride. . It was “the way his earthly people could catch a fleeting glimpse of the ultimate desire of their hearts: to see the face of God and live, and to know that he loved them” (Brant Pitre pg 133). Consider how during Holy Mass, the priest will be holding up the Holy Communion of Christ’s Covenant Love with the words: “Behold the Lamb of God! Behold Him who takes away the sin of the world.” It was this sacred bread, to which Jesus refers to in the Gospel, that David and his young men ate at the time of fleeing from king Saul.
We now think of and look for another candle or light, the SANCTUARY LAMP which like the menorah reveals to us that the true Heavenly manna of the EUCHARIST is present – as our pilgrimage food – in the central TABERNACLE (usually in the far recess of the sanctuary wall). Here lies the REAL PRESENCE of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. As we catch sight of the usually gold-coloured tabernacle, we immediately genuflect to JESUS OUR LORD in His true Eucharistic presence, being the real manna from Heaven which Jesus so eloquently spoke about to the crowds in John chapter 6. In the Book of Revelation as John participates in the Holy Mass of Heaven and earth, the Heavenly menorah is revealed to Him as the “angels of the seven churches”. Thus the candles and sanctuary lamp in the church represent and remind us of the literal presence of the ANGELS of our churches (or parishes) as well as of all the angels of attendance upon God in Heaven participating with us – and we with them – before the throne of God in the liturgy of the SACRIFICIAL LAMB in His eternal self-offering love before the Father.
The TABERNACLE in our Catholic Church which contains the Eucharist is a reminder of the ARK OF THE COVENANT that contained the two tablets of the Ten Commandments of the Covenant and the pot of manna as well as the priestly rod of Aaron – looking back we can see that all three represented the future Jesus Christ (as the Priest who feeds us and gives us the Holy Spirit as a living law within us). Both Luke in his Gospel and John in Revelation reveal OUR BLESSED LADY as the true Ark of the Covenant. She bore and brought forth Jesus Christ, and at the foot of the Cross (as seen in Revelation), represented the Bridal Church of Christ and accepted the new Covenant offer of her Son on our behalf. Thus, the TABERNACLE in the church building is a representation of OUR LADY IN HEAVEN PRESENTING CHRIST WITHIN HER IMMACULATE HEART TO US and united with us in our self-offering to with Him to the Father. The Old Testament Ark, like the arks of other nations at the time, was a gold queenly mercy seat (except that Israel’s ark was unoccupied at the time and awaited its queen who would not be a statue merely) over which two golden heavenly beings bend in reverence. Within the seat was held the three sacred articles mentioned above. If the manna of the old ark was extremely sacred, how much more should we regard the new Heavenly manna – CHRIST HIMSELF in His Eucharistic presence as our risen Lord and bridal life-giving food.
Having entered a pew and knelt down to lift up a prayer of love and adoration to God, we now sit down. We notice the two AMBOS in the sanctuary. One for the WORD OF GOD and the other for the petitions of the Faithful and the notices. The liturgy of the Word is the first of three parts that make up the Eucharistic liturgy of Holy Mass. The Word of God accompanies all the Church’s Sacraments. Speaking of the Sacraments we might turn our eyes around to the entrance of the church and the BAPTISMAL FONT which represents the womb of the church, through which new members of the Church are born. Also, the three confessionals, in which we experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation, especially just before Mass, should we be in need of God’s forgiveness and reconciliation with our Catholic Family. The CRY CHAPEL and the CHOIR LOFT speak (or should I say sing and wail) for themselves.
As we glance around, noticing some of the people of God gathered around us, we also – especially if it is a clear morning and the sunlight is streaming in- are struck by the colourful stained glass windows presenting the stories of the SAINTS to us – which likely also draws our attention to the statues of the patron saints of our parish, especially that of St Augustine, directly in front of to the right. We notice opposite on the left St Joseph (the child Jesus in his arms).
This in turn draws our attention to the two alcoves – one housing Jesus’ statue as the Sacred Heart and the other that of Our Lady holding the child Jesus. There is a smaller statue of Our Lady of Fatima alongside the bigger one, reminding us of her important and relevant messages to our times. We are comforted by the knowledge of her prayers and concern for us – indeed of all the loving care of the saints for us. Probably, depending on the present season of the year, these saints in their pictorial images are honoured by a vase of two of flowers together with Jesus Himself. The candles we find lit here are devotional in nature (something like birthday candles on a cake, or a candle burning before a lost loved one’s picture at home). How fitting to be reminded of the full gathering of God’s saints in attendance at this Mass and of the long history of life and worship as Church with God. At Mass, we unite together with all the Catholics of the past and with all the Saints of Heaven in one continual Eucharistic and sacrificial worship in Christ of God.
Talking of Christ – we, of course, will not have missed the big hanging CRUCIFIX of Jesus above the altar – we might too have caught a glimpse of a small crucifix on the altar lying for the priest’s gaze. Also, around the nave of the church are the STATIONS OF THE CROSS that depict the way of the cross; i.e. the condemnation, suffering, death and burial of Jesus. The Mass and our life as Church is all about the Covenant sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross – once and for all – but continuing in a perpetual action of relational love taken up into the eternal Trinitarian love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Speaking of the BLESSED TRINITY: as we sit inside our particular church of St Augustine’s we might have unconsciously felt ourselves taken up into the great vault of the building itself, shaped largely according to the 6 large trinitarian-arches that make up the pattern of the front and back of the structure, with the 8 arches on either side of the nave of the church as well as the eight smaller similarly-shaped windows above them. It is as though we cannot get enough of the wonder of the Blessed Trinity and of how we the Church on earth, joined with the Saints and Angels in Heaven, in the Eucharistic worship of Christ, being fed – either on earth through the sacramental veil of Holy Communion or in Heaven directly – on the Life of the Lamb, are taken up into GOD’S TRINITARIAN LIFE AND LOVE.
What of the COMMUNION RAILS bordering the entrance of the sanctuary? In previous years we knelt here to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, an altar server holding the communion plate under our chin to catch a fallen host or particle. This is still the normal way of receiving Holy Communion, though our Southern African bishops have given us an indult to receive Holy Communion standing up and in the hand, so long as we do it reverently and consume any piece of the host that breaks off in our hand.
In the sanctuary we note the PRESIDER’S CHAIR. This reminds us that the priest is acting on behalf of Jesus, our Priest; or rather, that Christ is acting through him. Jesus is the new Moses – and as He spoke of the pharisees and religious leaders as occupying the chair of Moses, so do the apostles of today.
Right at the back of the church is a big bin for second hand clothing for the poor. The call to charitable love is ever present challenge to us. The various money collections made during Holy Mass always include contributions towards the EVANGELIZING and CHARITABLE work of the Church.
We are now shaken out of our reverie by the sound of a bell or the opening notes of the organ: the call to rise and join in the opening hymn of Holy Mass, which anticipates the procession of priest, deacon (with the Book of the Gospels) and the altar servers (carrying the crucifix and candles – and perhaps incense and boat depending on the Season or anniversary of a special Saint).
CONCLUSION
The Ever Present Jesus, our New Moses and Messiah, Our Bridegroom and Lord
At the time when Jesus lived on earth, the Jewish people were in expectation of a PROPHET whom Moses had identified as one who would replace him – who would bring about a NEW EXODUS and who like Moses would work great miracles, feeding the pilgrimage people with A NEW AND GREATER MANNA than the supernatural manna that was deposited each morning in the desert; and who would feed them with a BETTER MEAT than the quails that came every evening for forty years into the camp.
We are to celebrate the Thanksgiving Sacrifice of the Eucharist (“thanksgiving”) which is the once-and-for-all ongoing offering of Jesus Christ with and for His Bride and the human race on the Cross for the celebration of rebirth as Children of God. In this Holy Mass we will receive the Eucharistic Jesus who will become present in his real but risen flesh as the “BREAD (AND WINE) OF THE (REAL) PRESENCE”, and who remains in the tabernacle as the true Bread from Heaven, the living manna, to sustain us daily on our life’s journey.
When God renewed the Covenant with Abraham and his descendants, among other things, he gave the traditional symbolic covenant bread and wine (which used to be placed in the mouths of one’s fellow covenant partner) through Melchisedek (“king of righteousness”), also known as the high priest (of the original family priesthood) and “king of Salem” (which was to become Jerusalem of the temple). The old Jewish scholars believed Melchisedek was the first-born son of Noah, Shem, whom Scripture tells us was still alive at the time, as an old man in his five hundreds. The scholars also believed that this bread and wine of the Abraham Sabbath-Covenant was the Sabbatical “bread of the presence” which was later to be introduced into the tabernacle at the time of Moses. Amazingly, we today, children of the New Covenant in Christ daily and especially on Sundays, eat the fulfilment of that symbolic sacrifice in Holy Communion! This Bread of the Presence (or Face) is the same manna that God feeds us on our journey’s way and which we keep in the tabernacle.
Our Sunday Eucharist (and daily) Mass is a NEW PASSOVER which has taken up the Jewish daily TODAH (“eucharist” or “thanksgiving”) SACRIFICE of bread and wine and a lamb, which was a sacrifice of thanksgiving for future salvation from God. The Todah dimension of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross was especially recognized in the daily Todah psalm which Jesus recited on the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ….”. For a full understanding of Jesus as the new Moses and of His Eucharistic gift in the Holy Mass, I recommend the book by Brant Pitre, “JESUS and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist”, published by Image Catholic Books.
OLDER TEACHING:
WHAT KIND OF MESSIAH WERE THE JEWS OF JESUS’ TIME EXPECTING?
A new Moses
They were expecting a new Moses who would free Israel from their present slavery, and not only Israel, but all the nations. He would take them through a new EXODUS from the slavery of the world, sin and death – into a new 40 years (not literally) of pilgrimage of purification and intimate love and teaching. Jesus is the new Moses who brings us through the exodus from sin, death, and Satan, through His death and resurrection into the new promised land which would be God’s place of rest, Heaven.
He would feed them with everlasting manna
The rabbis tell us that in the time of the messiah miracles would happen daily and they would receive the manna daily. At the synagogue in Capernaum, the people asked Jesus for manna, as a sign (Jo. 6.31). “Manna”: “what is it?” Jesus tells them (vv. 32 33 and 35) that the real bread or manna from heaven is not what Moses gave – that miracle was a sign for something greater: He Himself was the bread from heaven. “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (vv. 48-51). When the Jews like their ancestors in the desert. Murmur against Him, Jesus explains: “’Do you take offence at this? The what if you were to see the Son of man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.’” We see that it will be the risen Jesus that we will receive in Holy Communion. This daily manna of the rabbis with the accompaniment of miracles is the daily miracle of the Eucharist.
In the Our Father: “give us this day our DAILY bread” – EPIOUSIOUS translated daily is in fact “super-substantial” Cf. our transubstantial bread or supernatural bread of the Eucharist. Our daily bread is the “real manna from heaven” according to Jesus John 6 but the manna of the messiah.
The Bread of the (real) Presence
In the tabernacle or Temple, in the HOLY PLACE, was the LEHEM HA PANNIM “bread of the Presence” or the “bread of the face” (mistakenly translated from the German in the King James Version as “shew bread”). By the way, the King James Version was a Catholic translation used by the Protestants and had the 7 books in it (that were later dropped) as well as the dates and names of the saints.
In Leviticus 12 we read of the 12 cakes of unleavened breaded – representing the twelve tribes before God but also representing God before us after their consecration to Him in the temple. They were offered each sabbath day for Israel – and so were a sacrificial bread – together with flagons of wine as a sign of the for-ever covenant.
There was also the seven-branched candlestick of oil lamps continuously burning – cf. our candles at Mass but also the sanctuary lamp continuously burning before the real presence of Christ in the tabernacle.
On the great festival days, the priests took out the gold table of the bread of the presence which was covered with a veil. This BREAD OF THE PRESENCE or FACE was a visible sign of the face of God – for as the priests held up the table before the pilgrims to the temple on the great festivals the priest would shout out “Behold God’s love for you.” To see God’s love for us now in the Word made Flesh, we at Mass proclaim: Behold the Lamb of God …Blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb.” Moses used to speak to God in the tabernacle “face to face”. A sign that the pilgrims to the temple had truly been there was to have seen this exposed bread – “face of God”.
The Apostles as the future priests plucking the wheat of the new temple
In Mattew.12.1-8 (Mk. 2.23-28 and Lu. 6.1-5), Jesus talks to the pharisees about how the priests on the Sabbath had to prepare the bread of the presence and thus broke the Sabbath. He was implying that His apostles, likewise, were the new priests in plucking and grinding the wheat grain from which the bread is made on the sabbath – in their hunger due to their work as his apostles. Jesus would say to the pharisees that something greater than the temple is here. What could be greater than the temple? Only God can be greater! The apostles were to be the new priests who would prepare the new bread of the presence on the sabbath, which bread would be God Himself, and in the Temple which would be the Body of Christ, the Church.
In the Holy Mass and Holy Communion
In the Holy Mass, we go back to the hour of Christ’s death for us, but also forward to Christ’s and to OUR resurrection! We do not believe in just the immortality of the soul like other religions, but in the resurrection of the body. And so, at Holy Communion, in answer to “The Body of Christ!” we say, “Amen!” We, like Israel are still in the desert. We are still with God in the tabernacle of the wilderness. The new manna (the Eucharistic communion) will cease one day when we are invited into the wedding banquet. For now, as St Paul says, we only see dimly, but then we shall see God as He is, face to face (1 Cor.13.12).
Accompanying the Hebrew people who had been constituted into the nation of Israel was God in the tabernacle with the Levitical priesthood. Inside the tabernacle was the ARK OF THE COVENANT – a throne (the mercy seat) of gold on acacia wood with two statues of golden heavenly beings facing inward in reverence. Inside the seat were the rod of the high priest Aaron, the pot of manna, and the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
We have Jesus our high priest, our heavenly manna, our King with his sceptre, the giver of the Spirit who is the Law of God within us.
The Holy of Holies was so sacred because of the Ark of the Covenant, that when the high priest went in – once a year – he filled it with smoke from the tray or censor of incense, and offered twice the blood of the bull (first) and of the goat for his and for our sins. He had a rope tied to his ankle. In case he died from weakness or due to his sin or improper liturgical actions, so that they could pull his body out. We are told by the rabbis that he would thus not stay too long in the holy place.
When Jesus died the curtain of the temple was torn in half, showing that in Christ we now have access to the inner sanctuary, and participate in the Eucharistic fuller worship of the presence of God.
PETER AS THE ROCK: A NEW TEMPLE
The rock
Matthew 16.18ff. At Caesarea Philippi where Jesus uttered the words there was a Roman pagan temple with a massive rock. The temples of the pagans usually were built on a great rock or had one inside them. The temple of Jerusalem, the rabbis tell us was built on mount Zion, which is believed to be mount Moriah. The “even shetia” or stone of foundation in the Jerusalem temple was a large flat stone (3 fingers high) in the holy of holies upon which the ark of the covenant rested. Jeremiah hid the ark of the covenant on mount Ebo. So, in the new temple, with the absence of the ark, the blood from the high priest was thrown on the foundation stone. The rabbis believed the whole world had been created from this stone. Jesus is building a new temple on Peter. Only the high priest could go into the holy of holies and now Peter is going to be the stone! He is thus to represent Jesus as the high priest!
The keys
They were the sign of the royal authority, but also of the PRIESTLY authority. The temple had actual keys which were kept by the priests in Jesus’ time. On their day off the priest would hand over the keys to a priest of the next lot to be able to offer the sacrifices. Peter is to offer the sacrifice of Jesus. The keys of the temple were kept in a rock in the temple. Under a slab. The priest slept on it. The priest to whom it was given was called the “segen hakonnamhi” i.e. the “prefect of the priests.”
Josephus recalls how (before the destruction of the temple took place) the eastern gates of the temple – which were so great it took 6 men to open and close them – swung open of their own accord. He tells us that they ran down to find the chief priest to get the keys. A sign that the priesthood will come to an end, and the keys will be handed over. Jesus said that the “gates of hades would not prevail” against the authority of the keys. When the first temple was destroyed the keys were thrown up into the air from the roof of the temple with the words. “We have not been worthy stewards and give them to You”, and a hand took it or at least they did not come down. The temple was set on fire. The apostles are being told the keys Jesus is giving are the “heavenly keys” – keys of the Heavenly Temple. They represent the authority for entering into the heavenly temple, or supernatural temple. For defence and offence – against the gates of hell. Peter was to be a warrior to plunder hell. In John 10.20, we find Jesus’ parable of the strong man overcoming the owner of the house (hell) and plundering him of the souls he had stolen.
Binding and loosing
This is the language of authority. Josephus uses this language in relation to the pharisees as authority to interpret Scripture. In Mt. 23, Jesus says the apostles are to obey the authority of the scribes and pharisees when they sit upon the throne of Moses – but not to imitate them, for they were hypocritical in that they did not practice what they preached. “Ex cathedra” – the pope sits on the seat of Moses (of the new Moses, Jesus). Jesus says they “bind”. The word literally means they “key-shut” the Kingdom of Heaven against the enemy. Peter is being given Mosaic authority and authority over the scriptures. Jesus uses the singular, referring specifically to Peter: I give to YOU.” Peter is the authoritative teacher and interpreter of scripture.
What about Peter having successors?
Isaiah 22. The prefect of the keys was not only the prime minister, but a priest – the “overseer” of the “house” i.e. the temple. “Thrust you from your OFFICE … STATION … ROBE … BELT.. your AUTHORITY…
he will be a FATHER… KEYS.. to SHUT… LOOSE… whole WEIGHT… CUPS AND FLAGGONS (the golden flagons of sacrificial wine)…”
(David too was not just a king but a priest – for example we see him doing a liturgical dance before the ark of the covenant as it comes into Jerusalem; also he was very involved in the psalmody and liturgy of the tabernacle.) This office of prime minister was one of priestly overseer of the temple and the sacrifices. The rabbis in their commentaries make it clear: his residence was “in the rock”, and they mention his “mitre” – a high priestly mitre (one priest’s mitre they record was 7 feet high]. He is girded with a “cincture” (the priestly sash of the high priest). The key of the sanctuary. Cf. the Aramaic targum on Isaiah 22. CCC 553.
THE EUCHARIST & ITS JEWISH ROOTS
Go to the video below or to brandtpitre.com for more information on the above topics.
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