Chuck Missler The Gospel of John Session 19 (SLIDES CORRECTED)

well here we are it's a jump right in the we've been going through as you know from chapter 39 we go into what they call the final week we had had several chapters in the Upper Room discourse and now we're in that final week it's astonishing to realize that virtually half of John's Gospel is focused on the last week of his ministry and there's many good scholars that will try to harmonize what we think we know about that last week and they will do it slightly differently there it's not there isn't some bullet proof agreement among our good scholars that have slightly different perceptions I'll just give you one as a starting point and again I want to emphasize what we try to show here we're not here to sell a point of view what we're hoping to do is to raise the biblical literacy among us and equip you to address these issues on your own and come to your own conclusions if we present a view it's simply that may be useful too because we'll be glad to tell you what we think and share it with you why we think that but don't confuse that with the idea that we're trying to sell a doctor or something we want to share our views to the extent that may be useful our goal is not to sell the view our goal is to raise the hermeneutics your theory of interpretation to get you to take the text with more we do have a bias we take the text very seriously we think the the there are no synonyms that two words may be synonymous and I mean almost the same thing watch out for that word almost and the more we more I've studied for 65 years the more gwanmi I've obviously learned and changed views as I went through those 65 years but it was always the same direction taking the text even a little more seriously holding it and even a higher aw and so that's where we are and so that that's a bias that undergirds our approach doesn't make us right but anyway this is one reckoning Friday when he goes to Bethany in John 12 triumphal entry we suspect occurred on a Saturday not on a Sunday we call it a Palm Sunday but it may have finished about that's a technical entry to avoid that issue because different scholars have slightly different views but the fig trees curse the conspirators council the Last Supper would be Tuesday between the evenings what we call Tuesday maybe their lens do you understand we'll get to that in a minute and the Wednesday is where we tend to lean to a Wednesday crucifixion our good scholars that would try to defend a Thursday perfect we have no problem with that either way I might just mention what we do know from the text it could have been Friday and we emphasize that primarily to mature us not to presume tradition is correct it's my discussion the most efficient traditions over the years turn out to be wrong and so that's a that's a form of critical view you should you might color it yourself but anyway Wednesday this is a Wednesday crucifixion Thursday would be the feast of unleavened bread that is a Shabbat it's not a Saturday it's one of seven high Sabbath's during the year for the Jewish life Friday the women prepare the spices Saturday Shabbat is a day of rest and it's after the Sabbath's one of those in this translation and most of the modern translations in King James and made amount and was missed the fact that method 21 it's a plural not a singular when the Sabbath's plural were passed that tells you that there were two Sabbath's that week between Passover and Saturday there was another Sabbath a high Sabbath but anyway then of course Sunday his risen there's no there's no debate about that we think that that's a hit one thing that most agree it was Sunday morning they discover the empty tomb that doesn't mean he was resurrected on Sunday was probably at sundown Saturday night but that's a technicality they discovered the empty tomb on Sunday morning but I want to talking I want to back up a little bit here to try to highlight the importance what we got we use the term gospel so frequently so casually and most people don't know what it means what is the gospel meeting well the good news yeah great what kind of good news would be more specific Paul defines it for us you know the resurrection by the way of Jesus Christ was first addicted in Eden when God declares war on Satan ah but enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed yes there's a seed of the serpent not justice either one Mitchel bruised I had national bruises heal and so we saw three days ago his heel bruised setna seated woman and we're going to see in this sense his destiny sealed this is Christianity's most fundamental and certain event and what you you're assigned reading for in preparation for tonight wasn't just John 20 it was first Corinthians 15 and to net it and just a fuse in one sentence Paul argues that without first Corinthians 15 we've got nothing with first Corinthians 15 we have everything it's quite a chapter to really master I'm not going to spend a lot of time here but I do want to get the definition out of it before I go any further though I love to start with job there's a passage and job I remember learning when I was a very young teenager it blew me away then and it still does today this is out of the oldest book in the Bible where job says I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold not another though my rains be consumed within me it fascinates me to see how many modern translations messed that up and if you double back on the original the King James Version is blood proof despite what some of it some people soften some of the terms don't need to job was very direct I love them but I want to talk about the first few verses of first Corinthians 15 where Paul says moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel he defines it here I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you which also ye have received and wherein ye stand so is a definition for coming that's crucial for all of us by which also ye are saved if big word if you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you have believed in vain can you believe in vain wow I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that my partner on us got a very popular package called the death of discernment and it's worth reading yes you can be a believer and have it still be in vain you want to understand that but let's move on here I declare unto the gospel he is defining it for us unless you believed in vain I want to just leave you with that thing to give yourself an assignment to double back on that one but we're going to move on here Paul says fly delivered unto you first of all that which I also received and here it comes in three pieces how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures that's it that's it you'll discover you examine this chapter he doesn't make any mention of the miracles doesn't make any mention of the teachings doesn't make any mention that he was some kind of example for us not that those aren't true that's not the gospel the gospel is that he died for our sins according scriptures that he was buried he rose again the third day according to the scriptures first one he died for our sins he didn't just disappear he wasn't just killed it's the best documented death in the history of man and yet in doing so there are dozens of specific specifications that were met all the way from his genealogy to the all the medical details of the occasion our document he died for our sins not just that according to the scriptures he fulfilled those specifications and we explored all this in the previous session just by way of review of last session and that he was buried only Paul emphasizes that but if you interesting there's some lessons behind that we'll take look at in terms of that but Paul relates this to he does it because he sets up the case and his other pistols about baptism but Peter relates his burial to Noah's Flood and we'll come back to that and finally of course that he rose again the third day that's the gospel now the it's interesting that Jesus predicted his death and the three days in the tomb way back there in John chapter 2 you may have forgotten the way back there he announced it it's amazing to me there's only two groups of people that picked up on it the girls knew they seemed to understand what he was heading into washing his feet and so forth and his enemies the enemies remembered it when they went to Pilate said you better seal that tomb because he said he's going to raise in three days as enemies remembered the disciples didn't remember they admit they didn't remember until later then they remembered he had said that it's interesting you girls know the problem with a man you have to tell him 23 okay alright three days and three nights Passover is defined on the calendar as being on the 14th of the Sun so that that one is mailed to the calendar others are described in relative terms sometimes but this is nail'd there and if you count three days three days and three nights you come to the duration that he was remember that Jesus himself said so because he parallels it to the two Jonah as Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the big fish so shall the Son of Man spend three days and three nights in the belly of the earth interesting statement it's specific three days three nights where it's another reason we sense a geocentric relationship here where is Cheryl or Hades at least idiomatically it's the center here but we look at this carefully the day after Passover is the feast of unleavened bread is celebrated for seven days but it's a specific the specific day of the fifteenth is a chabot on it is a high Sabbath and it's a feast of unleavened bread so it's a there are seven Sabbath's a year in addition to the Saturdays to the Jewish calendar and so we have and we get to Matthew 28 it's when the Sabbath plural were passed that tells us that between Passover and the resurrection there were more than one Sabbath the Saturday Sabbath of course but also the feast of unleavened bread and so that tells us then that brings us to the feast of firstfruits and when you study Leviticus the feast of firstfruits the feast of firstfruits occur in the morning after Shabbat after Passover and so you have Passover and whatever else is going on we get to Saturday the next morning is the feast of firstfruits it's all obviously by definition from the Leviticus 23 it's always on Sunday Sunday morning interesting so and so that is of course the feast of firstfruits and the feast of firstfruits is the morning after Shabbat after Passover and it's the morning of the ultimate firstfruits with that Sunday morning that we're going to be focusing on here and that's mentioned all through the New Testament you can pick up those references as we go one of the things that may surprise you Peter makes an interesting remark that Noah's Ark passed through the waters of judgment on a cleansed earth he makes a a idiomatic link between Noah's Flood and baptism the 1st Peter chapter 3 we're gonna take a look at that when did the flood of Noah end when you get to Genesis 6 you find out the reasons for the flood and then you get to seven you have the flood and so forth you get to chapter 8 verse 4 and the ark came to rest on the Mount Ararat right may remember that from your study of Genesis what's that got to do with the resurrection let me show you something when did the flood end Genesis 8 for we are rested in the seventh month on the seventeenth day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat now that's the book of Genesis in the book of Genesis the first day of the year was Rosh Hashanah the first of Tishri on their calendar but you need to understand when you get to Exodus chapter 12 God gives them a new calendar so there's a difference calendar from in Genesis and exces them show you Rosh Hashanah is in the fall and the Passover month is in the spring so they're different Exodus 12 verse 2 in the Passover instructions God says this month the month of the son shall be unto you the beginning of months it shall be the first month of the year to you so he's speaking what you talked about here well if you look at the Genesis calendar month of Tishri is the first month that's Rosh Hashanah the head of the year that's their civil calendar and the month of Nisan is it all right is all from the fall all the way around to the spring that is not the eve or the Sun two different words for the same in Exodus though God changes that around he's speaking about in the Sun the Passover month he said I want you make that the big first half-year months that gives them now two calendars what they might call is the silikal every right call is a civil calendar as the Genesis calendar but the religious calendar the spiritual counter is the Exodus calendar you with me so far so don't get confused but let's see what this all says here that what was the first month on the one is the seventh on the other and vice versa strangely okay you with me okay so this one takes a little bigging to get into the feast of firstfruits the crucifixion takes place on a Passover that's what it celebrates when John the Baptist first introduced Christ to the public to behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin the world that's a Jewish title what mean Lamb of God Passover lamb and that's recorded as you know many times crucifixion is on 14th of Nisan how long was he in the tomb anyway three days good we agree on that okay which means the resurrection occurs on the 17th of NIH's on 14 plus three believe in 17 right now the first month of religious calendar is the seventh month of the jet ski calendar so what that tells us is that the ark came to rest on the 17th of the seventh month according to Genesis a four but on the ridges counter it you discover that our new beginning in Christ on Resurrection Sunday is on the anniversary of Noah's new beginning of the planet Earth what a coincidence and you begin to discover what the rabbi's mean when they say that the Jews calendar is as catechism you see we think of catechist as many faiths have a very elaborate catechism the Jews catechism is his calendar and it's astonishing to discover how many truths emerge as you study the Jewish calendar and its ramifications in fact the early church this may shock you in the early church if you are a believer and you tried to worship celebrate Resurrection Sunday based on the 14th and the Sun you were designated by the church as a cuatro dissonant and were excommunicated from the church one of the shocking discoveries you make if you study church history church history church in the organizational sense how anti-semitic it was very early in fact I yet by the time to get to the 3rd century they're trying hard to not only not worship the resurrection on the right day they're trying to adopt a formula that will work so it doesn't even accidentally fall on the right day and that's why so many faiths have slightly different definitions at Easter because they're trying hard to avoid the Jewish calendar not realizing that's the correct one from a biblical point of view and so and so the seed God told annex is 12 that you are to keep this as a perpetual ordinance among these people if the early church strange enough X communicative believers that tried to do that it gives you a flavor of those early churches that should give you a caution in adopting traditions because many traditions are not only wrong they're deliberately wrong so we'll move on though also swear I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins across scriptures that he was buried and he rose again the third day three elements here you must be so hard that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures Wow whoa whoa Paul is talking about the Old Testament here isn't he at the time he's writing to to the his first epistle to the californians event Corinthians that he rose again the third day according to script the question the challenge I'd love to give you to go off on your own for a while is show me where in the Old Testament that he's going to be that he would rise again third day according to the scriptures well that's where is that well your first one was so easy doesn't count Matthew 12:40 Jesus himself says as the one I quoted just a lil while ago right okay the other one you may discover when you study carefully Genesis 22 the ikeda where Abram offers Isaac because from the commandment until four Hebrews 11:19 points out that as far as Abraham is concerned Isaac was dead when the commandment came how long was he dead to Abraham for three days and three days get there after the endings of substitution and that's that's not a chuck Missler contrivance that's exactly what Paul and Hebrews highlights so if you study that that emerges quite clearly I won't go through all that here we've got other places to go but I'm going to show you something that I the probability is very high you may not have seen before and I couldn't resist putting this in here because for me it's been a relatively recent discovery and I'm in lap I think it's pretty interesting and that's Rahab member Rahab the harlot we see the two spies under Joshua gave them cover for a while you know the story I hope you thought you can check it out in the Joshua chapter 2 there's also told her I won't take into the the Jonah thing we talked about quoted that for you before but this Rahab's cord thing you might find kind of provocative so let's take a look at this in Joshua - Rahab she's got the two spies there she hides them and she's beer because her places on the wall itself she puts a cord out the window and they can slip out outside the wall and she advised she's going to advise them don't go directly back go to the mountains and hide until the search is over then go home at the picture there and it says she let them down by a cord through the wall through the window and her house was upon the town wall she or she groped on the world the word she uses in the Hebrew is Sybil which is a word that means a rope or a cord obviously what's not obvious to you unless you know Hebrew is that it's also a word that can mean pain sorrow travail it's a fun word that word has two different meanings with me so far okay so what they say to her in response a few verses later they say behold when we come into the land thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which that is lens down by and thou shalt bring thy father thy mother thy brethren and all my father's household home to thee what they were they give her a deal here since you've taken care of us will mark the house with this cord and when we take over the city will spare you and your family you'll be protected our troops will be alerted that you have sanctuary you get the picture okay well what's interesting as you study the Hebrew here when they speak of the line of scarlet they don't use the word Hebel they use the word tickler the word tikva can mean a line or a cord obviously as much translated here but most people may not know is that tickler can also mean hope or expectation the national anthem of Israel is hatikvah the hope see it's a pun with me so hard now this is fascinating to me you may think I've gone out on a strange limb here but I find this kind of observation about to give you fascinating because it gives you an insight to the Holy Spirit because I think he's got a smile on his face right now because as we get into this we're going to just go in the middle between those two verses after the Hebel but before they get to the one I just read to you those two verses earlier she said some she gives them advice I'm gonna put the cord out let you out get you to the mountain lest the pursuers meet you and hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers be returned and afterward maybe he'll you way she's advising them don't go directly back to your camp because they'll find you go to the mountains which I imagine is going it the other way or something and hide there until the search is over then go get the picture now the mystery to me is why'd she say three days she was there two days or five days why three I don't know she may not know but that's what she said I think the Holy Spirit saw to it I'll tell you why you see three days ok Kebbell and Dikhhla they both can mean a rope record but they also have a pun an alternative meaning they can mean pain sorrow travel or hope and expectation how much space is between the hebel and by the way paints are incredible the ultimate pain traveling sword was the cross we just spent last session on right nothing were significant and the hope or expectation the ultimate one is what our ultimate is the empty tomb evidence that God accepted that sacrifice on our behalf the validation of everything and what fascinates me is there's three days between the cable and tikva in Joshua 2 and there's three days between the cross and the empty tomb now many of you many people especially skeptics they love Chuck you're just making something out of nothing maybe I don't think so because as I look at the text and I look deeper in the text I always see behind the scene the Holy Spirit with a smile on his face I think that Rahab didn't say 2 or 4 five seven five she said three and it fits the bottle Moses was told to strike the rock the first at Meribah and Russell game not what I could speak to it and Moses didn't and he was after a hundred and twenty years of committed service he's disenchanted dissin disinherited because he didn't took the model why is it that important because God told him you and he didn't do it they got told to but the other thing is it would have broke the model it would have been a a metaphor of the first and second coming of Christ versus a suffering servant as fast as the Savior grace but anyway we'll move on you that's way that's court there's another one I'll throw in here just to give you a perspective and that's the Toller worm did you know that a little worm is also prophetic jesus said sold but it's missed by most people you met with time twenty-two he's hanging on the cross it's as if he's dictating Psalm 22 as he's hanging there although the whole time we talked about that last time but verse six he says something strange visualize Jesus hanging on the cross thing but I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people well they slip over that word we're without doing a little bit of homework most people okay it's he's saying it's a form of detection or something something much more profound than that I'm a worm in oh man the word he uses there is Tola which is a word in the Hebrew that can be used for scarlet the reason it's used for scarlet is the source of scarlet ink paint scarlet dye was made from a particular worm the service vanilla and what is the mode we know about this it pierces the thin bark of twigs to suck the SAP and from which it prepares a waxy scale to protect its soft body the red dye is in that scale when reproducing the female climbs a tree usually the homework home oak where there's it's eggs the larvae hatch and feed on the body of the worm it gives its life for its offspring cut the picture so far it's better a crimson spot is left on the branch when the scarlet spot dries out in three days it changes to white and flakes off really now those of you that have studied Isaiah comes right between a three days it goes from scarlet to white Isaiah says come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool scarlet let us know crimson they shall be as well you can call it a coincidence if you like I think it's the deliberate machinations of the Holy Spirit when Jesus I'm a worm he's usually mad and pointing us to that model that thing I think these metaphors that God uses are usually pregnant with meaning he calls us his sheep you know what taught their Shepherd what do you know about sheep they're pretty stupid but if there's a whole defense they find it so he begins he would know that now we know why he calls the Sheep okay Gentile believers are called pearls pearls are not kosher but their response to irritation and they grow whether they're planted to be removed to be an item of adornment if you want a model of the rapture there it is these idioms that God uses from Genesis 1 to revelation 22 consistently are astonishing ok the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the key to the entire gospel we've just found out he was raised for our justification Romans 4 hammers this and many other places is that the resurrection of Christ validates the adequacy of his sacrifice for you and me that's how it says fallacy and without the resurrection our faith is in vain that's again first week these 15 but when you get to verse 14 these make that case the resurrection of Jesus Christ being a witness to it was a prerequisite for being an apostle that's later on the definition between just a believer an apostle where they an eyewitness to the resurrection was a litmus test later and it's a key truth Peter Pentecost makes it the key truth in his in his a sermon in next to the Apostles it's almonds porch next three same thing the key issue being preached to born in Acts is the resurrection of Jesus Christ we don't worship a crucified Jesus we worship a risen Lord and that's why many people I think they go too far perhaps but they're offended by the crucifix with Christ pain because they've added to his that's not our focus our focus three days later and indeed it should be not that we dismiss the other don't misunderstand me but before the Sanhedrin Acts chapter 4 well it was proclaimed to the Gentiles in acts 10 X 13 that all through the book of Acts everything the book of Acts happen in homes by the way that's the interesting thing to notice it's interesting if you look at the Trinity you discover that the three members of the Trinity have it tributed to them every major event in the Bible we'll just pick three the incarnation of Christ is attributed to the father in Hebrews 10 to the son in Philippians 2 and by Luke in chapter 1 to the Holy Spirit they're each attributed to who who was responsible to creation all three of them it in different perspectives what about the atonement Isaiah tributes to the father and not say 53 Paul and visions 5 judges to the son and again in Hebrews 9 to the Holy Spirit interesting the resurrection is attributed to a Roman 6 to the father and John ken to the son and Romans 8 to Holy Spirit so it's interesting as we look at these one of the big arguments for the Trinity is to go through the Bible and take every May not just these three these are three big ones and you'll discover their attributed in one case of the father another case inside viewed and so we find the Trinity all through the scripture where these three are equal in nature separate in person and subservient and duties just a little little study that you can go onto on your own it's coming here well we finally made it this is all by the warm up who are now in chapter 20 verse 1 you with me still ok on we go the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the supper and see if the stone taken away from the sepulchre wow the first day of the week it's an octave it's a new beginning that's why we say eight is a new beginning and I've had some friends there that had seven kids in linking wife was pregnant again this and let's an octave that's the beginning next next group of seven they didn't think that was very quick the old creation is finished the new creation has begun that's the flavor of the first day of the week and the requirements of the law have been satisfied the shadows of the ceremonial law had been fulfilled we need to understand that we do embrace it and a major part of the New Testament tries to unscramble the confusion on that issue but we'll move on here Mary Magdalene interesting person very controversial er in her own right she was the first to recognize his impending death she was the first one that recognized she was also the first one to discover the empty tomb Mary Magdalene native city was Magdala that's why she's called Mary Magdalene on the Sea of Galilee up in the nor in the northwest corner of the lake she was healed of by Jesus of seven demons don't confuse her with the harlot we'll get to that but she worked 16 located makes mention see Jesus apparently previously had healed her of seven demons she apparently was quite wealthy by the way she's a leader among the women and she's often confused with the other Mary's because there's a handful of around okay there were three specific ones at the foot of the cross Mary Magdalene there's no reason to identify with Mary of Bethany who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus different group in 591 the Pope Pope Gregory the Great gave an Easter sermon in which he erroneously declared that the prostitute that's mentioned Luke 7 was Mary Magdalene of Luke 8 it's a very common error among pastors who don't do their homework because it's it sounds it seems to fall but it's a mistake it fascinates me though that even the Pope of the Vatican corrected this in 1969 after ology what is it that's almost a thousand years now that can corrected centuries of misrepresentation and acknowledged that there was no basis for her identification as a prostitute that's interesting to me for selling it clarifies our understanding of Marilyn but it's also fascinating to see an infallible Pope correct an error that's always kind of interesting ok we'll move on Mary Magdalene the healer of seven spirits indeed in Luke 8 following Jesus from Galilee ministering Matthew 27 beholding a crucifixion from afar and Mark 15 standing by the cross itself in John 19 locating the tomb and watching the tomb in Matthew 27 coming early to the - with spices and mark 16 and John 20 this verse being the first to see the risen Lord I think that's exciting and reported the resurrection to the disciples so she's a key player in the in the drama unfolding before us verse 2 she read it and cometh to Simon Peter and the other disciple who's the other disciple the one whom Jesus loved his strange appellation that John always uses himself we recognize that because the frequency of it now saving them he has taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre and we know not where they have laid him she shook up he's gone he's empty short they to exempt T and so that we know not where they laid him as it's a plural it's a plural note by the way in the Greek which means they that's a conclusion of all of them together okay Peter therefore went forth another disciple and came to the Sepulcher and so they ran both together the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first in scepter Jonathan was a little younger and a little faster apparently then Lazarus when he was raised the stone was moved with hands but here Jesus stone is moved by angels he's always has preeminence every suddenly always and and I say John was probably younger I believe so he outran Peter and you need to understand the stone was rolled away to let the people in not to let the Lord out just thought I'd point that out to you okay and he's stooping down looking in saw the linen clothes lying yet went he not in John gets there first as you ran faster peeks in but being Julie she's headed to enter a separate curse that was just not a Jewish practice Peter didn't select that he went right on it as you will see here in men so he agenda John didn't going because it was a Jewish instinct obviously because of fear of ceremonial defilement but then come at Peter sighs Peter following him and went into the Sepulcher and see if the linen clothes lie and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the linen clothes but wrapped together in a place by itself interesting that wrapped together and the Greek there is two wrapper roll up neatly rolled up and neatly set aside as is the flavor of the Greek term and it's interesting that the only ones that took Jesus seriously were his enemies the disciples were baffled at first by that he they were surprised by the empty tomb apparently the enemies weren't because they're going to go they go to Pilate and say the you know the deceiver when he's long as he he said he'd raised in three days we'd better put a seal onto him there was they were they were aware that the tomb should be empty by the third day does Emily's dude that's right he put a seal or the two I think that's interesting there are three terms verbs by the way for looking the one is real quick glance that's the one used here by a gun and then other passages that examining a scrutinizes Peter and then look with understanding was John so the actually the Greek is that subtle in its different words but we move on the body was not embalmed that was not a Jewish custom they didn't handle blood so it's not a bombed in the in Egyptian sense but it was very quickly wrapped with looming claws and anointed with a sweet gum like ointment of spices that wrapped up and wrapped up like a cocoon the body was mummified in the sense of its bearings up to the head and then a napkin was placed over the skull what they saw was an empty cocoon in effect that would be the implication and then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulchre and he saw and believed for as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead that was they'd forgotten that okay he knew he saw him believed see John realized the significance of this apparently the first I really appreciate it and in some 1610 was quoted by Peter next to 27 so that gets clearer later and so forth anyway limits disciples went away again unto their own home they hastened back to tell obviously married Jesus another it always takes two witnesses we know from the Old Testament references so there were two witnesses and so they go but Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre and see have two angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of ladies had lain now she just peeped in the tomb is what the Greek actress is there two angels then this is the only place in the scripture where we find angel sitting I think that we find you've carried them kneeling like on the Ark of the Covenant but we don't find angel sitting is the only place in the scripture where we find them sitting I know what you can do that piece of information that I thought just passing on again okay and they sent her woman why weepest cell she said to him because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him so she's at her wits end in that sense okay notice that ownership here they have taken away who my lord I want you to notice the ownership I hope we all have that irrevocable attitude and I know that were they have been is if I will take him away she says in that couple verses later she fails to recognize him two verses later she's going to mistake him for the gardener what's going on here which is thus said she turned herself back when she's looking in the tomb if you've been there you know you look in the tomb she sees the angels then she turns herself looking back at the garden and saw Jesus standing he's standing out there in that space just outside she saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus that's a little weird she wasn't a casual disciple she loved him she'd be with a better part of three years he's standing there and she thinks he's the gardener that should bother us we're going to deal with that especially in the next session not tonight but I want to plant the problem to understand the solution when we get there he sent her woman why weepest thou whom seek us out she supposing him to be the gardener Savin em Sarah thou have borne him from hence tell me where thou has laid him and I will take him away I love that lie weep Estelle that was in the old testament too by the way she thinks he's the gardener that puzzled me for a long time because we noticed that every time he appears after the resurrection there's something going on do you say that her Mary or Maria to be more careful that's what the Greek would say she turned herself and said unto Him or upon I which is to say master she turned herself see she looked back from the tomb and hears him call her name she realizes his hem by hearing his voice interesting what's in the way that weighted tape that what if the sound nothing sounds sweeter than the sound of one's own name is a Dale Carnegie built his whole career on that with his book how to win friends and influence people but it became a phrase identified with him for more than a generation nothing sounds sweeter than the sign of one's own name well that's certainly true here he calls his sheep by their own name we find out in John 10 and in Isaiah 43 I think from from first Thessalonians 4 when we hear the shout of the Archangel and so forth I think what will here each of us will hear our own name that's my suspicion from the inference rabona is never applied to a man it's reserved exclusively for God as a use of phrase do you senator touch me not for I'm not as yet ascended to my father but go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my father and your father and to my god and your God or there's a commission huh what she hopped house what she acts is do not cling to me this is a widely discussed phrase and there are several views we'll take a look at several of them and we know that heavenly places are yet to be cleansed with his blood and that's the idea so there's three views about that phrase the first view is that Jesus spoke as the high priest in accordance with Leviticus 16 because he's enroute to present the sacred blood in heaven as the thought and he's going to do this prior to the appearance that occurs a little later which is Matthew 28 verse 19 because he'll be back with his disciples but some people believe there was an interval here that he has yet he had yet to do and that's one view of the coming others point out that what he actually said stop clinging to me and she apparently had a death grip on his ankles it was a rebuke not to seek to hold him in lieu of a new relationship that's another view of the thing each of these are quite defendable and the other one is more casual just do not detain me now and not yet ascended you will see me again go tell the Brethren okay so there's different views of this and not a Earthshaker anyone of these things okay the secret ascension that's that is implied in Leviticus 23 for the waiting the first fruit sheet as the after Sabbath maybe you know fits there's there's some justification for that first view but moving on Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things unto it that's different than finding an empty tomb she actually had encounter with Christ that's news to the disciples oh wow okay now I'm going to shift from John I have not tried to harmonize everything we know about all four got all four Gospels I've almost a chapter on this so it's useful to try to put bring them all together I haven't tried to do all that would couldn't squeeze that now but there is one from Luke I really want to include here and that's the road to Emmaus because there's so much that we learn from it so we're shifting here to Luke if you may if you this is now we're shifting from the morning to the afternoon and behold two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus which was foot which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs now some of you may not know what a furlong is unless you play the horses I won't ask for a show of hands here what is a furlong it's a stadium a Greek measure of distance equal to six hundred and six feet and 9 inches I thought you might like to know that and it does refer several times the scripture three score of these now would 60 of these are six point eight nine miles so I'm going to be little just call it seven miles to give us a feeling of the distance are we together I didn't bother playing it and I'm still new to New Zealand I should probably put that in the metric system but the guide at the garden tomb a British guide there pointed out to something to me I've never forgotten he says if God wanted some metric system he would have had 10 disciples to say so I never forgot that but when we bought here so these two disciples are on the way to Emmaus and they talk together of these things which had happened and as he came to pass that while they commune together and reason Jesus himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were holding that they should not know something suffer some reason they didn't recognize him whatever that reason was there is going to limit itself by verse 31 so it'll go away whatever it is then at first they don't recognize who he is and I love this passage for a number of reasons where I learned a lot from it but one of the things we learned is that the Lord Jesus has a sense of humor I love that I love that because we tend of course to emphasize the taking him and awe and wonder and justify me so but it's refreshing to discover that he has a sense of humor he said of then what manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad they're walking or anything what's the matter guys what's the problem why you said why is the blue and one of them whose name was Cleophus answering said unto Him art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem has not not known the things which are come to pass there in these days now clip us his wife was married by the ways mentioned in John 19 that it was a possible that his wife was a companion on the on the road it also made that he might be the Alphaeus that was the father-in-law of James James the less that is a cycle so if so James might have been his companion so there's some speculation was clear person James are two guys but those are speculation not critical but something to poke into if you're interested in that but meanwhile you know they're puzzled this guy the stranger they don't recognize who he is and he doesn't he seems to really be out of touch doesn't know what's been going on here and I love Christ's response and he said unto them what things no sis every time I read this I can't help but chuckle he's standing there and he pretends he's ignorant of all this with three days ago he was betrayed arrested suffered six trials tortured beyond human recognition crucified dead and now he's raised from the dead and he has the the a plumb to what things I mean since I I can't see this scene without chuckling at his at the humor that's minded they said at him concerning Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all people and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him and to be condemned to death and crucified Him but we trusted that it be he which should have redeemed Israel but beside all this today is the third day since these things were done which is sorta like saying where were you fella you know yeah a certain women of our company made us astonished which were early at the sepulchre and when they found not his body they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive and certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found even so as the women had said that him they saw not that's Luke's summary of their recounting to Christ as a stranger as if he didn't know folks going on loved us now he'll evel's with him now he shifts gears a little bit then he said on him Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken that's an interesting phrase holding them accountable to know what all the prophets have spoken ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter is but notice the thing that he even now is using the third-person grammar Christ that guy the guy you're talking about was it I supposed to suffer all these things he doesn't admit that's him he's tutoring them to wake up haven't you didn't your horn wasn't it was Christ was supposed to do did you see the humor in the situation they've got the Messiah himself standing there scolding them for not having done their homework you with me woo I love this passage so do you still remain sort of incognito he uses a third person pronoun if you will and then notice what he does his first ministry after the resurrection is to lead a Bible study and beginning at Moses and all the prophets Wow he expounded unto them in all the scriptures I don't know how he did it did he have them all unders on him or is it all from memory they apparently had enough biblical literacy that he could do it on the road as they talk he expanded in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself now this tells us a lot first of all this should end the debate about who wrote that Moses wrote the Torah Jesus tells us that right here beginning at Moses and all the prophets not JEP Q or the day all that nonsense that comes out of our selling areas all the scriptures and obviously it's talking about the Old Testament here Wow the road to Emmaus a seven mile Bible study covering all the scriptures the seat of the one a genesis 3:15 would be part of that where Abram offers Isaac is obviously a part of that the Passover itself and what it really means the tabernacle and the temple all of that would be included the serpent the wilderness the brazen serpent the numbers 21 thing would I'm sure would have been part of it and all the other prophetic passages certainly Isaiah 53 would have been summarized to them Psalm 22 would be somehow communicated to them and Psalm 69 the most quoted Solomon's New Testament by the way and so Jesus Christ is on every page of the Old Testament and when you discover that for yourself it changes your whole perspective of what we call the Bible 66 separate books penned by over forty guys over almost 2000 years and yet we discover that every detail is there by deliberate design and they drew nigh into the village whether they went and he made as though he would have gone for who's going to keep going but they constrained him saying abide with us forties toward evening in the day is far spent and he went in to tarry with him so they forced him to stay for dinner can you imagine I love that there's something else about his resurrection you need to know he never appears without eating my kind of guy okay and it came to pass as he said at meet with them he took bread and blessed it and brake and gave it to them that should shock you if you understand the etiquette that's the job of the host no no he took over he took bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to them so that's that's the role of who was in charge here Jesus is always in charge he was in charge at his arrest he was in charge during his trials and he's in charge of course all the way through and he's the one that gave His life they didn't take it he gave it that's that's very clear and it's important meanwhile now their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished out of their sight they will explain how they recognized him and it wasn't by his face how did they suddenly know at dinner he's breaking the bread and they realized who he was what do you think they saw nail prints at his wrists absolutely right and they'll explain that later because they're all going he disappeared here but they all end up in Jerusalem that night so they take a seven mile hike back to share the news yes who guess who came to our Bible study this afternoon you know and so that's how they so we get there so we know that Jesus still to this day has those nail prints believe it or not Thomas saw them in John 20 Zechariah even talks about the second coming they shall look upon me whom they have pierced he apparently has manners risk still then they show up in in Revelation where John's us he saw the lamb as it had been slain that's a heavy trip we'll talk more about that next time the only man-made things in heaven are scars but they're still there because they are the emblems of his glory saying the Lord is risen indeed so the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared assignment and they told what things were done in the way and how it was he was known of them in the breaking of bed see they explained that's that's why they recognized and we're going to explore some other aspects of that next time and their eyes were open they knew him in the advantage towns are safe and just as these vanishes I love this they said wonder another did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and well he opened to us the scriptures can you imagine as they discover who it was that had been with him for seven miles and was teaching other scriptures that's the kind of heartburn we all wanted yeah okay and they rose up the same our return to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and then that were with them and so forth eleven there's a title obviously because Judas is no longer there saying Lord is risen indeed death appeared assignments when they told about all of this and as they spake now this is what I loves they told what things were done in the way and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread when they get to that point now understand where are their in locked doors they're terrified because the panic zone so you got locked doors a plurality of them lock I want to see you got a six sided space and while they're musing about this guess who shows up right in the middle as they thus spake Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and seven peace be unto you Wow they were understandably terrified that affrighted and suppose that they had seen a spirit can you imagine if somebody suddenly emerged in the middle he would be kind of shook I can understand that and he said unto them why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts so their parent leap ritty panic there he says behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have he's not a spirit this is a tangible person a palpable person challenging them to be touched handled and felt what an experience that must have been there's a lot to live for here for us here just get back we'll pick this up no I wanted the Luke account because it really emphasized that let's get back to John where we were before then on the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for free of the Jews and Jesus came and stood minutes and setting them peace be unto you so we picked it up here this is about an evening from 6:00 to 9:00 using Roman time and the doors were shut it's a plural by the way that they're double doors and they were barred and for fear of the Jews what who are fear does the jewel of the parents of the blind men in John 9 the Feast of Tabernacles group in in John 7 and the rulers some of the rulers were private believers we know from John 12 he says peace be unto you in Ephesians 2 we have the peace from God alluded to in Romans 5 verse 1 we have the peace with God these are different things and the in Philippians for you have the peace of God so there's three different pieces there they're quite distinct and quite different but I'm running out of time so I'll leave that for you in a devotional time to search out those three and understand how they're distinctively different they're quite different we'll continue here when it so said he showed unto them his hands and aside then when the disciples glad when they saw the Lord praise God handle me and see he had said and those marks are still there when I see him I will not be surprised if I see his wrists with those much because they apparently are his emblem if you will and they shall look upon him whom they pierced second ones in advance with the alla' from the tile and we've been through that then said Jesus to them again peace be unto you as my father has sent me even so and I you Wow so send I you pest I'll come that the sent one that's where we get the word apostle by the way which means descent one and we don't find that in John in that way Jesus was sent himself as an apostle in Hebrews chapter three verse one but he commissioned with authority like an embassy representing a foreign government that's what he's doing here he's empowering them as an as a foreign government might empower an EV asset er that's what he's doing here and that's what he's directing to all of us we need to understand that our Institute the think tank is aimed at just that issue if you're going to take the name of the king you need to be prepared to represent him competently and faithfully and we had said this he breathed on them and save and receive ye the Holy Ghost now here's a verse that has a lot of argument about it different things he breathed on them and one of your challenges that you needed to do for yourself is to see what makes this different than Acts chapter 2 which done in a larger corporate sense there's a lot of different views there and I'm going to try to unravel all those here in this brief summary we breathed on them this is only in the Septuagint by the way that verse occurs also in Geneseo Testament Genesis 2 verse 7 they are now a new creation we know just as Israel was declared in Ezekiel 37 inspiration by the way means God breathed in 2nd Timothy 3:16 all Scripture is god-breathed so he breathed on them there's a link there's linkage there now that you work that one through this is all before the feast of Pentecost or Acts chapter 2 they have joined the spirit they have one Accord in prayer and repeater they have understanding and one of the most astonishing things is to see the difference in Peter before and after Acts chapter 2 continuing verse 23 whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosoever sins you retain they are retained and so this is a this is a leads to a lot of controversial doctrines and there's no instance in the New Testament of a partial forgiving sins only God can do that and yet there is a thority that is developed a devoted to them and that so there's a there's a lot of debate among experts as to whether these rights are still operative today or whether you're confined to those things and I'm that that's a whole study in its own right I'll let you go into their two other occasions where this comes up in Matthew 16 and 18 and let you sort that out but only God can forgive sins even though he may have delegated that authority to us that's something you need to look into and is after the giving of the Holy Spirit we know there's a new way because it's the spirit of the flesh we know there's a new title tour called brethren which is a new titling number 79 a new position before the Father we have a new position before the father we have a new place apart from the world we have a new blessing of blessing a peace we have a new privilege Jesus is in the midst of us even here as we study we have a new joy because we serve a risen Lord that's a whole new thing we have a new commission we're since we have a new creation that breathe and we have a new in glow of the Holy Spirit and we have a new beginning the first of the week is our new beginning but Thomas one of the twelve called didymus was not with them when Jesus came and the other disciples ever said and we have seen the Lord but he said unto him except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand and aside I will not believe they're saying hey man you should have been with us last night guess who showed up and he's skeptical and so he this goes on apparently for about eight days the nail prints are all through the scripture by the way and Thomas was skeptical in the returning to Jerusalem back in John 11 you may recall what's the way to the Father he asks in John 14 he expresses doubts in verse 25 but it's entering this is the only place where the nails are actually mentioned I may surprise you you can check that out and he wants to thrusted what's interesting when he says that Jesus was listening because he's gonna make reference to that which must have shook him because he didn't realize that Jesus heard every word he while he's talking during that week after eight days again his disciples were within and Thomas was with them this time then came Jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said peace be unto you is a repeat performance this is same thing that happened eight days ago then what does he do what does Jesus do any safe to tell us reach hither thy finger and behold my hands reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing boy that must have shook Thomas because he realized he's heard that pout of the previous week whenever the heard you with me and is right visualize it early and so a pistils meaning a faithless Christos means believing it's an unbelieving thing and then we're not talking about the intricacies of prophecy or the fine points of docking but the foundation crews of atonement is the issue here you not faithless but believing talk a little bit about the pathology of faith there is such a thing as an unsaved encase that's what he started this with you unless you have believed in vain is there a way of believing and yet be in vain yes there is a thing called vain faith faith in the wrong doctrine and first Corinthians 15 warns about that among other places there's a dead faith that's a faith an Orthodox talking without personal belief in Christ is about a person not a catechism and that's in James 2 and elsewhere you can pick up on these and do your own study in contrast to a saving faith you have little faith faith and unbelief are mixed sometimes in Matthew 14 and there's sometimes there's a weak faith where believers have a legalistic expression of faith in Romans 14 deals with it but there's also a strong faith a faith in the promises of God Romans 4 or 20 and on so I'll leave you to dig into that each one of those is a study that'll last a lifetime and Thomas answered and said to him I love his response to this it doesn't say that he fell to his knees but I asked the way I visualize it when Jesus confronted them for training he but I don't I don't see him reaching I see him falling to his knees saying my lord and my god and almost every study Bible on this verse will give you a little outline that is probably a two or three hour study in the deity of Christ is usually clustered organized under this verse in your in a week at most the New Testament Study Bible called I'll do the equivalent of that and my Lord and my god that's the apex of the gospel that's the highest expression of deity and you can fight it all through the Old Testament and it's laid out for you in your notes you can take that make it your own study yaho by the I am that I am and Elohim the Creator God these are terms using your Testament and by the way what accompanies all of this is angels and men are not to be worshiped you don't worship angels one of them accepted it gotten a lot of trouble and angels and men again and again we find the protagonist in the scripture where there's a tempter worship and he says seed I do it not that's why in Joshua 5 when you get to Jericho when that one says take off your shoes on holy ground he allows you to be worshipped and no that's not an angel and said Lord Jesus and a pre-incarnate appearance we see that Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 we see that Paul in acts 14 we see the angel in revelation 22 see thou do a dot says so forth so we want to be conscious of that I find that hard sometimes because I often feel like sending a thank-you to the angels that are watching over me but that's not right jesus said I am telleth because thou has seen me that was believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe this is the elder bay attitudes the final and the greatest of the Beatitudes you don't find this in certain amount you find here in John 20 and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these are written for a purpose this is this is not a impartial review it's what we would call an op-ed piece this is a piece with an agenda with the mission these are written that ye might believe that Jesus the Christ the Son of God and that believing you might have life through his name here in John 20 as it closes his chapter gun lays it out I think I called your attentions when we first started the study of this Gospel John announced his agenda from the very beginning and I believe he did I think he wrote this gospel after his experience and patents we tend to assume the text away because it's last book of the Bible we think that's less than your order I don't think so I think he did that all of this after the benefit having the benefit of the patent experience keep on believing it's present tense it's not not perfect tense its present tense it continues keep on believing it's a continuing adventure they're number people that did believe in receive course Nathanael did in Chapter 1 his disciples in chapter 2 the Samaritans in chapter 4 the nobleman in chapter 4 the blind man in Chapter 9 Martha in chapter 11 the Jews Esau Lazarus raised is dead obviously and Thomas and chapter 20 so there's a them we're going to discover a lot of post resurrection experiences we'll review some of these next time of course to Mary Magdalene of course to the women returning from the tomb on the Emmaus Road to Peter to the ten disciples in Jerusalem to the eleven disciples in the upper room to the seven disciples that will be up in Galilee that we'll look at very carefully in the next session and then the apostles and over 500 I recorded many of whom were present then that we see Paul's first Corinthian letter he's writing to people at among which there are hundreds of eyewitnesses we miss that if you just read it it's just a document and of course the James with first Corinthians 15 and so it could be is though the apostles of Mount of Olives and x-one to Steve and added stoning of course in acts 7 to Paul at his conversion that's in post-resurrection appearance to Paul at Corinth the next 18 we missed that one often to Paul in the temple in acts 22 and to Paul later in Jerusalem and de Paul in another vision 2nd Corinthians 12 and a John of course the climax in her mind on that it was just so detailed for us in what we call the book of the apocalypse that's quite a thing that I don't have the answer to but I thought I'd be chatted if we look at Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the feast of firstfruits and it's 23 and we count 49 plus one we get to the feast of shavoo and the first day of course in the feast of weeks and when we count forty days from that we get to the Ascension in Acts chapter 1 verse 3 but the Holy Spirit defends in 49 plus 1 days at the feast of sure boat in which fulfills Leviticus 23 but of course occurs there in Acts chapter 2 and one of the questions I get asked by some of our more diligent members Chuck is there some relevance to the 10 days between the Ascension and chavala and I don't know so I invite you to give me your conjectures and be curious about that and so I leave that with you as a thing but for next session what I want you to do is prepare by reading chapter 21 if you will and one of the lurking questions I want you to reflect on is why does everyone seem to have trouble identifying Jesus after the resurrection there's something lurking that we're missing and we'll talk about that head-on and with that let's bow our hearts for

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Published: Sun Apr 30 2017