A Look at the Cross

There is one other interesting type thats found in Numbers 2. The 12 tribes were told to group into four camps. Each tribe had a standard and symbol, but Judah, Isaachar and Zebulin were to rally around the standard of Judah. They collectively represented 186,400. Reuben, Simeon and Gad collectively represented about 151,000. Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin collectively represented 108,100. Dan, Asher and Naphtali, 157,600. Judahs standard was the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Reubens was a man. Ephraims was the ox. Dan, the eagle. These four symbols are also the four faces of the cherubim around the throne of God in Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1 and 10, and Revelation 4.

Each of the camps, of three tribes each, was to encamp on one of the four cardinal compass directions (N, S, E, or W) with respect to the camp of the Levites enclosing the tabernacle.

We can only guess at how much space was required by the Levites, whether it was 100 feet on a side, 100 yards, or whatever. But whatever it was, well assume that length as a basic unit.

To fully appreciate all of the implications, you must try to think like a rabbi; you need to maintain an extremely high respect for the precise details of the instructions. They resorted to heroic measures in their attempt to comply with the letter of the law.

The Camp of Judah had to camp east of the Levites. This poses a technical problem. Notice that if the breadth of their camp was larger than that of the Levites, the excess would be southeast or northeast, not east. Therefore, if they were to comply strictly to their instructions, their camp could only be as wide as that of the Levites, and they then would have to extend eastward to obtain whatever space they required.

The camps of Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan had the same constraint on the south, west, and north, respectively. The length of each leg would thus be proportional to the total population in each camp. If we assemble what we can infer from the Biblical account, we can imagine what the camp of Israel looked like from above: the tabernacle and the Levites in the center, surrounded by the four faces of the tribal standards, and each of the four camps of Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan, stretching out in the four cardinal directions. We can also tally the size of each tribe to total the relative length of each camp as they stretched out in each of the four directions.

The Book of Numbers is a fascinating study in many ways. Expositionally, it demonstrates integrity of Design; homiletically, it reveals that these were real people with practical problems; and, devotionally, we see that ''crossing over Jordon'' is not ''going to Heaven'' - life is a warfare. Each one of us is in our own ''wilderness'' and every day is our ''Kadesh-Barnea'' - will we trust God and ''conquer the land''? Will we resolutely try to surmount the obstacles that lie in our wayor will we shrink from the apparent difficulties and remain slaves to the sin in our lives?

Europe’s particle physics lab, CERN, is losing ground rapidly in the race to discover the elusive Higgs boson, or “God particle.”

The particle, whose existence has been predicted by theoreticians, would help to explain why matter has mass. Finding the Higgs boson is the major goal of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN along the French –Swiss border.

CERN’s research was interrupted when an accident damaged some of the magnets that make up its collider ring.

Identifying the so-called God Particle has been a target for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) ever since the LHC was first conceived in the early 1980s.

At the launch of the LHC near Geneva in September, some scientists predicted the Higgs would be revealed as soon as summer 2009.

But just one week later, an accident occurred which will halt experiments at the accelerator for at least 12 months.

CERN has been in competition with the US Fermilab, also seeking confirmation of Higgs boson using its own particle accelerator called the Tevatron. The smaller the mass of the particle, the more difficult and time-consuming it will be for Fermilab to detect.

But Fermilab estimates that the Tevatron has already picked out about eight collision events which may be hints of the Higgs.

What is the Higgs boson? In quantum physics, the Higgs boson is one quantum component of the Higgs field. The Higgs field gives mass to every elementary particle that has mass.

Think of the Higgs field as a big pool of molasses that causes all the massless particles that travel through that field to come together, converting them to particles with mass that form the components of atoms.

In theory, without the Higgs boson, nothing in the universe could have mass. Without it, the universe and all that is in it would be without form and void.

It is the Higgs boson that converts the invisible into the visible and it converts the immaterial into the material.

The Higgs boson was first theorized by science in 1964 – but it was first revealed some 1900 years before that.

Romans 1:19-20
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

The more we learn about the ‘invisible things of creation’ the more difficult it is to reconcile that creation with the theory of unguided evolution.

The Higgs boson is nicknamed the “God Particle” because it does exactly what the Bible says God does – He holds the universe together.

Colossians 1:15-17
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn [prototokos] of every creature. For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist (sunistemi).

Look over those verses again, carefully. One of the key words in the Colossians passage above is the Greek word sunistemi which means “to stand-together,” “to be compacted together,” “to cohere,” “to be constituted with.”

We’ll revisit that shortly.

The nucleus of the atom contains positively charged and neutral particles-to use a simplistic model. Mutual electrostatic repulsion between the like-positive protons would drive the nucleus apart if it were not for the “strong force” which binds the nucleus together.

There is thus an active force imposed on the universe, which actively holds the very atoms of the material world together moment by moment, day by day, century by century.

Similarly, accelerated electrons circling the nucleus should quickly radiate all their energy away and fall into the nucleus unless there is an invisible energy source to counteract this.

While we’ve not yet identified the God particle, we have managed to split it. The resultant explosion that occurs is called an ‘atomic reaction.’

It is hard to imagine what would happen if every atom was suddenly allowed to come apart.

The Apostle Peter was given a vision of the unimaginable, and he did his best to describe the scene.

2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The more we learn about science, the more it confirms the Bible. Peter is here perfectly describing a scientific process that wasn’t learned until 1945.

2 Peter 3:12
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fireshall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

The Big Bang theory demands that time move more rapidly at the edges, and more slowly at the center as the universe expands.

Einstein’s theory of relativity says while the expansion of the universe took billions of years as measured from the outer edges, viewed from the center, it would have only taken a matter of days. So the six days of creation are compatible with science after all.

Now, let’s return to Colossians again. “In Him all things sunistemi.”

While scientists attempt to find the “God particle” that holds the atoms together, science has already located, identified and mapped the glue that holds each of us together at the cellular level.

Laminin essentially “glues” the cells (such as those lining the stomach and intestines) to a foundation of connective tissue. This keeps the cells in place and allows them to function properly. Without laminin your cells would fall apart.

The structure of laminin is very important for its function. It is that structure that I found so amazing when Pastor Gene Payne of Raleigh, NC sent me a photo. It was so amazing that, although I respect Pastor Payne enormously, I immediately suspected he’d been taken in by hoax and checked it out on Snopes.

Scopes confirmed it to be true. It is NOT a hoax. (truthorfiction.com)

I was going to embed a photo of laminin, but decided instead to post a link to the photo Pastor Payne sent me so you can see what laminin looks like now that you know what it is. I want you to be as awestruck as I was.

“The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.”

A Look at the Cross

The Wilderness Wanderings: The Camp of Israel by Chuck Missler (Add audio)

God Particles and Jesus Glue The Omega Letter (Link) - Jack Kinsella (May 5, 2010)