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Corruption

This week we continue the thread of study in the Song of Songs that prophesies of the call to Messiah to possess the earth, the awakening of Gog and Magog, as well as the awakening and ingathering of the Bride of Messiah into the Garden:

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.” (Song of Songs 5:1)

As with the sending of pomegranates in Chapter Four symbolized the giving of the commandments to Israel, so this expression:

“I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam [oil…]”

…can allude to a “good name.”

Those who bear the good Name have a reputation that is aromatic in the earth already. They do not wait for Messiah Yeshua to return, but they work hard “That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles which know not God:” (1 Th 4:4-5)

Because we must show hospitality to the stranger, alien, orphan, and widow, we must be a miniature “house of prayer for all nations” like the Temple. For those seeking healing, comfort, salvation, and the many things for which humans rely on their Creator to supply, we are the Father’s outstretched arms. And because He is holy, we must be holy.

Like the greeter at the door of Walmart represents our first impression of the store, so believers are the first impression the nations have of their Creator’s holy nature.

Like the holy incense was pounded and compounded for the holy Temple, believers will be pounded and compounded to release the pleasing aromas to the world. The discipline of our evil inclination, or yetzer hara, is like a daily death which turns into a fragrant Temple spice. Likewise, myrrh is a death spice, yet it is compounded with other spices like healing balsam oil to create a compounded fragrance.

 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.” (Ecc 7:1)

The first statement sounds agreeable, but does the second?

If the gathering of myrrh and balsam is the gathering of the righteous to the Garden who have received the Good Name and who have returned their gifts and sacrifices for the sake of His Good Name to the Bridegroom, then how is their “gathering” related to the day of their death and a better day?

Death must occur before there can be a resurrection. What was sown in corruption must be raised incorruptible. Isn’t this what every righteous soul longs for?

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable G5356 body, it is raised an imperishable body;
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (1Co 15:42-44)

For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable [G5349] will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. (1 Co 15:53-54)

“Perishable” is G5349, phthartós, from G5351; decayed, i.e. corruptible, perishable, i. e. mortal, that which is liable to corruption

It is from: Strong’s G5351 – phtheir?

to shrivel or wither, i.e. to spoil (by any process) or (generally) to ruin (especially figuratively, by moral influences, to deprave):—corrupt (self), defile, destroy.

Sin and death go together. As long as we are susceptible to death, we are susceptible to sin. Remove the strength of death, and the strength of sin is removed as well. The aromatic righteous will no longer be subject to the corruptibility of sin that destroys the Temple.

Outline of Biblical Usage G5351:

to corrupt, to destroy
in the opinion of the Jews, the temple was corrupted or “destroyed” when anyone defiled or in the slightest degree damaged anything in it, or if its guardians neglected their duties
to lead away a Christian church from that state of knowledge and holiness in which it ought to abide
to be destroyed, to perish
in an ethical sense, to corrupt, deprave

Ummm…wasn’t Paul a Jew? It explains what he taught the Corinthians, who were quite a lusty folk, that corrupting their bodies with sin was like destroying the holy Temple. Perhaps they were merrily celebrating Chanukkah at the Feast of Dedication with their Jewish friends, yet also merrily carrying on in certain lustful sins, defiling their own temples.

Here are a couple more examples of its use in context:

“If any man destroys G5351 the temple of God, God will destroy G5351 him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” (1Co 3:17)
“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts G5351 good morals.’” (1Co 15:33)

When Messiah comes into the Garden, he gathers the spices of those who have attained a “good name” and a new day of birth, which also their day of death. These have grieved over their susceptibility to sin after salvation because they know how destructive it is. They labored in their walk with Messiah to do so worthy of the Good Name, the pomegranates of the 613 mitzvot. They diligently guarded the temples of their bodies. When they sinned, they repented. The death of wrong desires was compounded with balsam oil to make a precious ointment that will only be fully understood when we are gathered by our Beloved to the Garden.

As they have offered this sweet-smelling aroma of a sacrificial life, striving to purify their temples, now they are rewarded with a birthday on their death day so that they may no longer be susceptible to sin and its decaying effects. They are assembled to worship in the incorruptible Temple. What could diminish the joy of being gathered in the Garden? Perhaps knowing we didn’t try very hard to encourage more people to join us!

The lost and needy of the world need to see us practicing habits of repentance. We’re not born good at it; we’re born bad at it! When we manage our sins not by hiding or denying them, but by acknowledging them, repenting of them, asking forgiveness of those whom we’ve wronged, and resuming the holy walk, it is proof that Yeshua DOES have the power to transform us and renew our minds.

When we renew our minds, the body will follow. When the body follows, it is a living testimony of Yeshua’s righteousness. This is how we are pounded and compounded as fragrance for both the Garden of our resurrection as well as this earth right now. This is how we gain a reputation as a Temple builder and repairer rather than a destroyer.

If you love Yeshua, then you hate sin. You hate it when you sin. You wish you didn’t have to fight it day after day because you know it is the “old man,” not the one seated with Messiah in the heavens. Like Paul also said, “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” (Ro 7:21) Last week’s newsletter explained why satan’s greatest attraction is to the holiest places. If we follow Messiah and guard our Temples, then surely temptations will come. We will sometimes fail and sin, and yet we have the opportunity through repentance to build a good name in this temple of our bodies. As we walk in the Word, we will be pounded and compounded, but know this:

A resurrection birthday is coming. We will die, even if only for the duration of a twinkling of an eye, but it is even better than the day of our natural birth. On the day of our natural birth, we were born with a sin nature. On the day of our resurrection birthday, we will have only a holy nature. A good name.

That persistent gravity of sin and death will be destroyed, and its corruption will no longer have power over you. Your greatest grief, that you would continue to sin even after coming to Messiah Yeshua to accept his salvation, will be comforted. You will know sin no more because you will not desire it. You will desire only to know Yeshua in all righteousness.

Well, done, good and faithful servant.