Extreme Walking

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Tom de Bruin. Extreme Walking

Extreme Walking

Table of Contents

A. My Brother Paul

1. Heaven

B. Extrabiblical Books

2. Satan

C. How We Got the Canon

3. The Messiah

D. The Deuterocanonical Books

4. The Messiah Again

E. Pseudepigraphy

5. The Hereafter

F. The Dead Sea Scrolls

6. Melchizedek

G. Bible Translations

7. Spirits

H. Quite the Trip

Bibliography

Отрывок из книги

Extrabiblical Books and the Bible

Tom de Bruin

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These angels do three things that are all related: they minister, they make expiation for humanity’s sins, and they offer sacrifices. In this respect, they look very much like the Old Testament priests, who—just like these angels—ministered in the temple, made atonement for the sins of the people, and brought sacrifices to the Lord. It seems that the Jews and Christians back then imagined that there was a temple in heaven, just like on earth, where angels organized similar services to those in the earthly temple. This is not totally unexpected, whoever reads Hebrews 8 and 9 would come to a similar conclusion.

What is unexpected, however, is the sacrifice the archangels bring. This is a sacrifice with two characteristics: it is a spiritual or rational offering, and it is a bloodless offering. The first characteristic, “spiritual,” is something that Paul also talks about (Romans 12:1). It is “spiritual” or “true” worship that we ourselves give to God. The other characteristic, “bloodless,” is stranger. If you think about it carefully, a bloodless sacrifice is hard to imagine. On the other hand, you can imagine that a bloody offering is equally hard to imagine in heaven. Nowhere do we read “and this is where the bulls and lambs are kept for the sacrifices.” There are no sacrificial animals in heaven, patiently awaiting their fate. In fact, there isn’t any death at all in heaven. So, these archangels have to be sacrificing something else, something that wouldn’t die. Something spiritual, something without blood. What that is exactly, the testament does not tell us. Maybe it is a good and godly life, just like in Romans 12. Maybe the angels’ lifestyles are the sacrifice, or maybe it is something else altogether.

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