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Supply Chain Management - SCM - The Coordinated Process of Producing and Delivering Goods and Services from Suppliers to Consumers - Conceptual Illustration.
Delivering the deliverables...
A schematic of Supply Chain Management may seem to be an irrelevant starting point for a discussion on the delivery of Guidance by the Most High!
Few will have actual experience of such management; on the other hand, many will have been on the receiving end of deliveries of some sort or another.
Today, more and more suppliers are asking their customers for comment/rating on a product and its delivery. And it is easy to understand the reasons behind their enquiry.
The company has a product of which they are proud. And they want their customers to be delighted with it, and to receive it on time and in pristine condition. The request for feedback will help to address these issues.
Unfortunately, further complications arise when the parent company outsources product manufacture to a subsidiary! Feedback will now provide insight into QA of the product:
In short, the feedback system will throw up an alert if standards drop. Should this occur, then steps can be taken to analyse the reasons behind the fall-off in quality; further analysis will, in turn, lead to changes which will resolve the problems.
Seen in this light, SCM Management becomes a metaphor for the delivery of the Lord's guidance! It certainly prompts questions and directs enquiry!
What is the supply chain for the Lord's Guidance? Since this is managed in real-time, the place on the timeline will be a factor which must be considered.
The Lord's intention was that the Mosaic 'Supply Chain' would faithfully deliver His words to both Israelite and stranger alike.
[Dissertation: The failure of the Mosaic 'Supply Chain'.]
Most people will probably be familiar with the way goods and services are delivered; not so much with the delivery of God's guidance. Candace's treasurer makes a point:
Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it."
So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" (Acts 8:29-31a NRSV)
The Covenant delivers guidance on many levels (Guidance - Scope).
Unfortunately, new-covenant doctrine has reduced the Lord God to someone akin to Father Christmas! Ask Him in faith ... await delivery! But what happens if there is no delivery? Is it, as James dogmatically states (James 1), simply a matter of doubt and a lack of faith?
We may be faced with a baffling questions. But we won't know until after we mine the Covenant and its Guidance.
Knowing the ways in which the Lord delivers guidance, directs enquiry. This, in turn, leads to a more meaningful and productive discussion with the Lord.
[Essay: The importance of an understanding of the ways in which the Lord delivers guidance.]
The terminology surrounding the Law is unclear, confused even.
The new-covenant church consider the Law to be the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses.
The Jews refer to these five books as the Torah, the Written Law. However, 'Torah' is also used to include the Written Law; and the Oral Laws, Customs, and Traditions. See:
Jesus' assessment of Jewish traditions:
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, [2] "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"
[3] Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? [4] For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' [5] But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' [6] he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. [7] You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: [8] 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. [9] They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" (Matthew 15:1-9 NIV84)
Taking Jesus' words as our baseline, we may safely infer that the defilement of the Covenant - now - is much greater than it was in Jesus' day (See: exponential growth of evil), and that things will continue to get worse as time goes on.
Two points emerge:
In order to avoid confusion, it would perhaps be better to use the all-embracing term 'Book of Teaching' - which, of course, equates to the Scriptures.
The new-covenant Bible refers to the five books of Moses as the 'Book of the Law':
[26] "Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God; let it remain there as a witness against you. (Deuteronomy 31:26 NRSV)
The problem is that the term 'Book of the Law' limits the law to that contained within these five books - which is far from the truth. For example, it takes no account of the Messianic Amendment to the Covenant.
Tanakh[1985], on the other hand, refers to the 'Book of Teaching':
24 When Moses had put down in writing the words of this Teaching to the very end, 25 Moses charged the Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, saying: 26 Take this book of Teaching and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, and let it remain there as a witness against you. (Deuteronomy 31:24-26 (Tanakh))
The 'Book of Teaching' is a less blinkered term. It speaks more of Scripture than just five books! By extension, the Book of Teaching will include all laws and updates as they occur across the timeline.
The Book of Teaching is more than a list of do's and don'ts! It also helps with explanations, insights, and examples.
Children's schematic of the Covenant.
Notice the commentary, structure, and explanations offered by the Book of Teaching. It is an approach which will enhance the shift in the operation of the Law to the Two Abstract Rules, where people actually engage in discussion with the Lord.
We can, if we want, extract the set of laws, the 613 commandments, from the five books of Moses.
With the shift to the Spiritual Level, the operation of the Two Abstract Rules yields an infinite number of commandments.
Nevertheless, the '613' are a good starting point for one's education!
Here's a schematic of the derivation of the Law from the five books of Moses:
Children's schematic of the Law.
'The Law' is obtained from the union of the terms of each component contract (note that the penalties are collectively summarised as 'Death'). The structure allows for the dropping or addition of components, and therefore explains how the Law was amended when the Post-Eden Covenant was upgraded to the Mosaic Covenant.
With the fall of David's Tent, the Covenant is no longer enforceable at the Physical Level - though it remains enforceable at the Spiritual Level. The Law's commandments are now obtained through the triggering of the Two Abstract Rules.
Everyone committed to the Covenant is a member of the Priesthood in the Order of Zion:
but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests [the Priesthood in the Order of Zion] and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel. (Exodus 19:6 (Tanakh))
The use of the future tense - 'you shall be' - indicates that the Lord is looking ahead to the time when Israel will be settled in the Promised Land.
As can be seen from the Book of Job, the 'Priesthood of Believers' was not working. So, when the Lord set aside the nation of Israel, He also appointed them to be a 'kingdom of priests'. Their parish was to be the whole world:
5 Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, 6 but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Exodus 19:5-6 (Tanakh))
[Essay: The failure of the new-covenant 'Priesthood of Believers'.]
The Levitical Priests were, first and foremost, Priests in the Order of Zion. They were then given the role of 'shepherds' to the House of Israel.
The failure of the Levitical Priesthood to tend the flock, is a matter of record:
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 O mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them:
To the shepherds: Thus said the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel, who have been tending yourselves! Is it not the flock that the shepherds ought to tend? 3 You partake of the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, and you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not tend the flock. 4 You have not sustained the weak, healed the sick, or bandaged the injured; you have not brought back the strayed, or looked for the lost; but you have driven them with harsh rigor, 5 and they have been scattered for want of anyone to tend them; scattered, they have become prey for every wild beast. 6 My sheep stray through all the mountains and over every lofty hill; My flock is scattered all over the face of the earth, with none to take thought of them and none to seek them. 7 Hear then, O shepherds, the word of the LORD! 8 As I live—declares the Lord GOD: Because My flock has been a spoil—My flock has been a prey for all the wild beasts, for want of anyone to tend them since My shepherds have not taken thought of My flock, for the shepherds tended themselves instead of tending the flock—9 hear indeed, O shepherds, the word of the LORD: 10 Thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock. The shepherds shall not tend themselves any more; for I will rescue My flock from their mouths, and it shall not be their prey. (Ezekiel 34:1-10 (Tanakh))
"I will dismiss them from tending the flock!" So says the Lord God (Eze. 34:10 T). The Levitical Priesthood won't be done away with altogether, for the Lord has promised their continuation:
[17] For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, [18] and the levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to make grain offerings, and to make sacrifices for all time. (Jeremiah 33:17-18 NRSV)
The Zadok Amendment describes a change to the hereditary structure of the Levitical Priesthood. But here, in Eze. 34:10, the Lord is alluding to the dismissal of the entire Levitical Priesthood. Their fate, like that of the unfaithful priests mentioned in the Zadok Amendment, will be reduction to the ranks - equivalent to the rank of most menial Servitor (see Ezekiel chapter 44).
The unfaithful priests (Zadok Amendment) were priests no longer, and were denied access to any dealings with the 'most holy things':
13 They shall not approach Me to serve Me as priests, to come near any of My sacred offerings, the most holy things. They shall bear their shame for the abominations that they committed. (Ezekiel 44:13 (Tanakh))
The scale of the dismissal of the Levitical Priesthood at the time of Jesus, is hardly surprising when one considers the Levitical-Priesthood defilement of the Covenant, their total rejection of their Messiah, and their conspiracy to have Jesus executed!
The Levitical priests are no longer shepherds to the House of Israel. They are excluded from all priestly duties - especially teaching. Banned from access to the most holy things, they must at all times defer to the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek - whether that is to do with doctrine, procedure, function, management...
They were replaced by Jesus, the Good Shepherd of the Flock:
22 I will rescue My flock and they shall no longer be a spoil. I will decide between one animal and another. 23 Then I will appoint a single shepherd over them to tend them—My servant David. He shall tend them, he shall be a shepherd to them. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and My servant David shall be a ruler among them — I the LORD have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:22-24 (Tanakh))
The shepherd to which reference is made is Jesus, the Great High Priest in the Order of Melchizedek.
Following Jesus' ascension, shepherding was handed over to 'shepherds after His own heart':
14 Turn back, rebellious children — declares the LORD. Since I have espoused you, I will take you, one from a town and two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. 15 And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will pasture you with knowledge and skill. (Jeremiah 3:14-15 (Tanakh))
The shepherds after God's own heart are the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek, of whom Jesus - the Great High Priest - is the leader.
[Analysis and implications: of the reduction of the Levitical Priesthood to that of Servitor. Compare and contrast with the role of those Gentiles who help with the rebuilding of David's Fallen Tent, and whom the Lord takes as Levitical Priests†.]
[† [The time] has come to gather all the nations and tongues; they shall come and behold My glory. 19 I will set a sign among them, and send from them survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud—that draw the bow—to Tubal, Javan, and the distant coasts, that have never heard My fame nor beheld My glory. They shall declare My glory among these nations. 20 And out of all the nations, said the LORD, they shall bring all your brothers on horses, in chariots and drays, on mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem My holy mountain as an offering to the LORD—just as the Israelites bring an offering in a pure vessel to the House of the LORD. 21 And from them likewise I will take some to be levitical priests, said the LORD. (Isaiah 66:18b-21 (Tanakh)) ]
See: Melchizedek Contract.
The evaluation of the Law through the triggering of the Two Abstract Rules, is dependent on a sound knowledge of the Covenant at the Spiritual Level.
[Dissertation: A sound knowledge of the Covenant at the Spiritual Level is a necessary requirement.]
Ignorance of the world in all its many aspects at the Physical Level, will lead to unsound evaluation of the Two Abstract Rules
[Dissertation: The greater the ignorance of the world in which we live, the more unsound will be solutions arrived at through the evaluation of the Two Abstract Rules.]
A knowledge of what is going on in the world will prompt discussion with the Lord. The Priesthood of Zion are required to minister to a world hell-bent on self-destruction.
[Dissertation: Being clued up on what is going on in the world will lead to meaningful and productive discussions with the Lord.]
Warning: you are going to make mistakes! So keep them in the Classroom.
Education in the UK:Education System in the UK.
[Group Discussion: Balanced education at each level of the education system.]
[Essay: There is no distinction between the 'spiritual' and the 'secular'.]
Education: not just in the Covenant, but also in the various disciplines, such as the arts, science, technology, history, business, and so on.
Discuss:
[Essay: The Lord needs people willing and able to witness for Him wherever they may find themselves in society.]
[Dissertation: The warnings, and their classification.]
[Dissertation: The ready acceptance of self-deception in the world today, and the implications.]
[Dissertation: Israel's dependence on the US is, as was their dependence on Egypt, nothing but reliance on a splintered reed (cf, Is. 36:6 Tanakh).]
Guardians of the Covenant.
Protecting the flock and the Covenant, was originally the function of the Levitical Priesthood. They were to form a ring of steel around the Tabernacle, thus safeguarding the Lord's dwelling place, the Lord's Name, the integrity of the Covenant. In so doing, the flock - whose dependence was on the Lord - was safeguarded:
The Tabernacle is the dwelling place of the Lord God:
8 And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. 9 Exactly as I show you—the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—so shall you make it. (Exodus 25:8-9 (Tanakh))
The twelve tribes are as follows: Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim and Manasseh. Notice the absence from the census of the Levites, as well as their function on setting up camp:
47 The Levites, however, were not recorded among them by their ancestral tribe. 48 For the LORD had spoken to Moses, saying: 49 Do not on any account enroll the tribe of Levi or take a census of them with the Israelites. 50 You shall put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Pact, all its furnishings, and everything that pertains to it: they shall carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it; and they shall camp around the Tabernacle. 51 When the Tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the Tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; any outsider who encroaches shall be put to death. 52 The Israelites shall encamp troop by troop, each man with his division and each under his standard. 53 The Levites, however, shall camp around the Tabernacle of the Pact, that wrath may not strike the Israelite community; the Levites shall stand guard around the Tabernacle of the Pact. (Numbers 1:47-53 (Tanakh))
See: the Israelite camp.
The Lord reproaches Israel's prophets:
[5] You have not gone up into the breaches, or repaired a wall for the house of Israel, so that it might stand in battle on the day of the LORD. (Ezekiel 13:5 NRSV)
Hear the anguish, hear the indignation:
[30] And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.
[31] Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; I have returned their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 22:30-31 NRSV)
The worthless watchmen:
17 And I raised up watchmen for you:
“Hearken to the sound of the horn!"
But they said, “We will not.” (Jeremiah 6:17 (Tanakh))
9 All you wild beasts, come and devour,
All you beasts of the forest!
10 The watchmen are blind, all of them,
They perceive nothing.
They are all dumb dogs
That cannot bark;
They lie sprawling,
They love to drowse.
11 Moreover, the dogs are greedy;
They never know satiety.
As for the shepherds, they know not
What it is to give heed.
Everyone has turned his own way,
Every last one seeks his own advantage.
12 “Come, I'll get some wine;
Let us swill liquor.
And tomorrow will be just the same,
Or even much grander!" (Isaiah 56:9-12 (Tanakh))
Sadly, the Levitical Priesthood became utter dross. Demoted to the most shameful level of menial servitor, they were superseded by the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek.
The Levitical Priesthood - following the death of Moses - progressively defiled the Covenant ... to the extent that Jesus poured oil of vitriol over the teachers of the Law and Pharisees of His day:
[29] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. [30] And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' [31] So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. [32] Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! [33] “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?" (Matthew 23:29-33 NIV)
History records that the teachers of the law and Pharisees did not heed Jesus' words, but went on to reject Him as their Messiah, and to seek His execution. But when Pilate told the crowd that they would be responsible for the shedding of innocent blood, they replied:
Then the people as a whole answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25 NRSV)
Appointment to the Levitical Priesthood was hereditary. But now, with their declaration 'His blood be on us and on our children', their blood-guilt is superimposed on and overshadows the line of succession. The Lord would have rightly been able to summarily abrogate the Levitical Contract were it not for an earlier promise to keep the Levitical Contract going:
Nor shall there ever be an end to the line of the levitical priests before Me, of those who present burnt offerings and turn the meal offering to smoke and perform sacrifices. (Jeremiah 33:18 (Tanakh))
The text - Matthew 27:25 - says little about the demographic of the people baying for Jesus' blood. So who would have been at the Governor's Festival (Mat. 27:15)? The hoi polloi? Hardly! Present, were the chief priests and elders, as can be seen here:
[1] Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. [2] So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor. (Matthew 27:1-2 NIV)
Elsewhere we read that the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus:
[55] The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. (Mark 14:55 NIV)
Those present represented the priesthood, such as it was in those days. They accepted their blood-guilt, at the same time accepting it on behalf of their descendants. These pretenders to the priesthood had defiled the Covenant to the extent that they considered themselves to be the legitimate successors to the Levitical Priesthood. Jesus confirmed that the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were, in fact, the descendants of the Levitical Priesthood:
[29] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. [30] And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' [31] So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. [32] Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! (Matthew 23:29-32 NIV)
The result was that the Lord had no other option other than to reduce the [Levitical] priesthood to shamed servitors (because: Jer. 33:18 T). As servitors, they would forever bear their shame - together with the knowledge that they had been stripped of the shepherding of Israel, which had been handed over to the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek.
There was a call for witnesses. The call wasn't explicit; nevertheless it was implied, being part of Covenant teaching of which the church leadership should have been aware: indeed, it was a commandment included in the written Covenant Law! But the only witnesses who came forward gave false testimony:
[55] The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. [56] Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. [57] Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: [58] “We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.'” [59] Yet even then their testimony did not agree. (Mark 14:55-59 NIV)
With the priesthood having closed ranks, it is hardly surprising that the call for witnesses - implied and required by Covenant Law - did not produce any witnesses for the defence! The only witness who spoke up for the defence was a Gentile, Pilate's wife - a person who had no standing whatsoever in court:
While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” (Matthew 27:19 NIV)
I have heard teachers of the new-covenant exclaim that the [Levitical] priests weren't all bad; and they cite examples. Their protestations carry no weight, however. Since no one in the courtroom from the priesthood stepped forward in defence of Jesus' name or even to voice their doubts, their silence gave assent to the evil which was being perpetrated by the priesthood. Which makes the entire Levitical Priesthood guilty. The Zadok Amendment established a precendent; but in this case the evil engulfed the Office of the Levitical Priesthood, leaving the Lord little choice other than to reduce the Levitical priests to servitors.
With the destruction of David's Tent, the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, and the shift of worship to the Spiritual Level, the 'wall' was no longer that existential wall surrounding Jerusalem. The wall had been shifted to the Spiritual Level, a wall of Fire which is the Lord Spirit:
5 I looked up, and I saw a man holding a measuring line. 6 “Where are you going?" I asked. “To measure Jerusalem," he replied, “to see how long and wide it is to be.” 7 But the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him. 8 The former said to him, “Run to that young man and tell him:
“Jerusalem shall be peopled as a city without walls, so many shall be the men and cattle it contains. 9 And I Myself—declares the LORD—will be a wall of fire all around it, and I will be a glory inside it. (Zechariah 2:5-9 (Tanakh))
The only watchmen able to stand on Jerusalem's Wall of Fire are the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek:
6 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen,
Who shall never be silent
By day or by night.
O you, the LORD's remembrancers,
Take no rest
7 And give no rest to Him,
Until He establish Jerusalem
And make her renowned on earth. (Isaiah 62:6-7 (Tanakh))
The context of the watchmen is the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek. For it is they who will establish Jerusalem and make her renowned on Earth. Note the correspondence between Is. 62:7 T and Mic. 4:1-2.
Protecting the flock and the Covenant from betrayal, which originally was the function of the Levitical Priesthood, is now firmly in the hands of the Priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek.
Let's revisit the Heavenly Guidance Management System as it will appertain to David's Rebuilt Tent!
And the Lord's Heavenly Guidance Management System will be successful, even in the Last Days:
In the last days
the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.
Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2 NIV)
"Yes!"
Version: 2024-11-27