A Walk with Jesus 2,000 Years Ago (1 views)From:  David (DavidABrown)    5/3/2001 9:44 pm  
To:  ALL    
 
  24.1  
 
Spending Resurrection (Easter) Week With Jesus 2,000 Years Ago. 
As disciples of Jesus, lets go back with Jesus and the disciples to revisit and re live the last week that Jesus spent on earth. This week is also referred to as Holy Week. As we travel back we will be visiting approximately 10 days in the life of Jesus, the last ten days with Jesus on earth. The ten days will be a Friday through the following Sunday. To examine the last week we will have to piece together many items and statements from throughout the Bible. As we go back to the original Holy Week we will travel like students and detectives, searching the scriptures for events and clues that took place nearly 2,000 years ago. We will in actuality be students and detectives of Jesus, searching out Who He is and what His ministry came to accomplish here on earth 2,000 years ago. 

It is considered that Jesus had a ministry on earth lasing 3 1/2 years. Beginning at the age of 30 when Jesus was baptized, washed, witnessed, presented and testified to the public as the promised Messiah, by John the Baptist. Jesus then went up into the desert to fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights while being tempted by Satan the Devil. After rejecting Satan, Jesus then chose 12 of the disciples to become Apostles. Apostles are sent out ones disciples chosen to carry the message of Jesus throughout the world. The disciples and apostles spent the 3 1/2 years with Jesus, cumulating with the betrayal of Jesus by one of the Apostles, named Judas and the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus followed three days later by the Glorious resurrection of Jesus from the grave. 

Our first and most substantial clue to the last days of Jesus visit on earth is the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and that He did it on the first day of the week. We find this important information in each of the four gospels. Matthew 21, Mark 16:1,2, Luke 24:1, and John 20:1. Sunday is the first day of the week. We often consider Monday to be the first day of the week but Monday is actually the first workday of the week. A glance at any calendar will confirm that Sunday is listed first in the row with Saturday being the last day of the week. God prescribed in the 10 commandments given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai for the last day of the week to be a Sabbath or a day of rest, so the last day, Saturday of each week is the rest day for every Jew. As detectives we write our first piece of information in the column with the heading of Sunday the resurrection of Jesus, from Death to Life. We currently celebrate this day as Easter but the correct name for this day is Resurrection Sunday. 

Next as detectives the book of Matthew 12:40 tells us that Jesus Himself told the scribes and the Pharisees who were asking of Him to perform a miraculous sign, that indeed a miraculous sign would be given and the sign would be that Jesus would spend three days and three nights in the center of the earth, just like Jonah the prophet spent three days and three nights in the whales belly, Jonah 1:17. And in many places the Bible tells that Jesus was to suffer and die then be resurrected the third day. Matt 16:21, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:32. Counting back from the Sunday resurrection three days and three nights we now land on the Thursday column as the day of the Crucifixion of Jesus. Traditionally Friday is celebrated as the day of crucifixion but remember we are journing back to the original Holy Week to be with Jesus and the disciples. Knowing that Thursday was the day of crucifixion we also now know that Wednesday the day before the crucifixion is the Passover or the day that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with the disciples. 

We now have four of our ten days of Jesus activity known, the Sunday of resurrection and the Thursday of Crucifixion and the Wednesday of the Last Supper or Passover. Now as detectives we can broaden our horizon of the last week and catch up to Jesus and the disciples. John 12:1 tells us Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was. Thats it! Six days before the Passover on Wednesday will place Jesus at Lazarus house on the preceding Friday. We can now travel back to the Friday before the Passover and meet with Jesus and the disciples to spend the last Glorious week with Jesus. 

This day coincides with Friday April 6, 2001 
On our journey to be with Jesus we find that Bethany is located on the Mount of Olives Luke 19:29, Mark 11:1 and that Bethany is less than 2 miles from Jerusalem John 11:18. Once we walk up the mount of Olives and ask directions to Lazaruss, Marys, and Marthas house we would come into a small stone house to find Martha still busy working in the kitchen while Mary is seated near Jesus, Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead was also seated at the table, no doubt with much to talk to Jesus about. If we came in at just the right time we would smell the aroma that filled the house as Mary anointed Jesus with almost a pound of very costly Spikenard oil. We would hear Judas and the other disciples complain that the expensive ointment was wasted, and hear the rebuke of Jesus as He defended Mary and proclaimed that she had done an honorable act of worship in anointing Him for His coming burial. 

Palm Saturday  Feast of Sabbath (Rest)  10th of Nissan, Selection of the Passover Lamb; This day coincides with Saturday April 7, 2001 
On the next day Saturday John 12:12 we would rise up early with Jesus and the disciples. The people gathering for the celebration of Passover in the city of Jerusalem would hear that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and would gather palm branches to wave in honor of thier coming King, Jesus. Today being a Saturday a Sabbath day the people are not breaking the Sabbath by gathering branches to worship God. Worshiping God is not considered work, if the people gathered branches for thier own use it would be called work for it is work to sustain our lives but it is not work to worship God. Jesus would send two disciples ahead to get a mother donkey and the baby donkey that Jesus would ride on His way into Jerusalem. This will be a direct fulfillment of what the Prophet Zechariah saw and wrote about 400 years earlier. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout O Daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; upon the colt the full of a donkey. We would see this day, as Jesus would present Himself to Judah as the King. The prophet Daniel also saw and wrote about this day Daniel 9:25. The event of cheering Jesus as King would take the entire day there would be one dispute with the Pharisees as they would demand that Jesus silence His disciples, Jesus would reply that if the disciples remained silent that the very rocks would cry out in testimony to the glory of God. Then at the evening we would return with Jesus back up to the Mount of Olives. We would have to leave at the evening time to get to our destination before nightfall as this day is a Sabbath day and is a day of rest. Acts 1:12 tells us that Mount Olivet is from Jerusalem a Sabbaths days journey so we know that we would be able to walk that distance and not break the Sabbath law. 

That night laying at the top of Mount Olives and looking at the stars and reflecting on the days events it would begin to seem that the events that Jesus is caring out have already been written about by the prophets hundreds and thousands of years earlier. As disciples wanting to be informed about the situation at hand we would rethink the scriptures in a new light and began to consider the circumstances that Jesus presenting Himself as King to the people occurred on a feast day the feast day of Sabbath, examining the book of Leviticus chapter 23 we would notice that God prescribed eight feast that were to be followed in order by His people the Jews. The first feast was the weekly feast of Sabbath or rest, this was the feast celebrated today. Suddenly life flows through our bodies as we remember a Bible passage from the Apostle Paul, Colossians 2:16;17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of any holyday, or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days: which are shadows of the things to come; but the body is of Christ. Wow! We realize that Jesus is now at this very moment in the process of fulfilling scripture the prophecies and the feasts appointed in Leviticus 23. We consider and savor the thought that yea! Thats it our King has come. We can now find rest. With Jesus in rule and authority of our lives we can now rest or Sabbath. Jesus is our King in Him is Justice, righteousness, Truth, Light and Life. In Him we can trust and in Jesus we find our rest. No more striving with a world that is full of inhumane wrongs and cluttered with injustice. In King Jesus we can now rest. We note that the Sabbath is first a commandment, one of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai and also a prescribed feast day of God and we pay special attention to enter into the rest that Jesus as King in our lives provides. Life becomes more meaningful as we rest the night in Jesus. 

This day coincides with Sunday April 8, 2001 
We awake early Sunday morning, the first day of the week, to see Jesus and the disciples on thier way back to Jerusalem and to the temple. Catching up on the way we would find Jesus examining a fig tree for fruit finding no fruit Jesus, will curse the fig tree. We will stand by in amazement as we realize that this Jesus is the same God that Adam and Eve sinned against and then used a fig leaf in an attempt to cover thier sins. This Jesus is now saying that there are no more self made, man made coverings, that the system of fig tree religion is now a curse by God, because fig tree religion never did produce fruit for God. We will then follow Jesus into the temple as acting King, Jesus will now cleanse the temple of ungodliness and we will know that the true temple is our bodies and that we need to present our bodies Holy and Undefiled to God. Listing we hear Jesus proclaim that His temple will be a house of prayer for ALL nations and we rejoice to be a part of the Kingdom of God and to know that above all God desires for us to pray to Him, to get to know Him. That evening we will return with Jesus and the disciples to the Mount of Olives. 

This day coincides with Monday April 9, 2001 
Arising early the next day, Monday we would know from Mark 14:1 and Matthew 26:2 that we have two days left until the Passover. We would again follow Jesus to Jerusalem and to the temple as Jesus spends another day preaching in the temple and having discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees. On the way to the temple we would again pass the fig tree that Jesus had cursed the day before and be astonished with the other disciples that the fig tree had completely dried up and withered from the roots up. We would again consider that the fig tree cannot be our covering for sin and that God finds man made religious practices unacceptable and not one day will pass where the religious practices of man are acceptable to God. We would follow Jesus back into the temple where the Scribes and Pharisees and Lawyers will make a final assault on the authority of Jesus. Jesus will end His discussion with the Scribes and Pharisees with the comments of Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Jesus has strong words for a strong circumstance, the leaders of Judah are misrepresenting Jesus they are misrepresenting the word of God in the Bible and all that God stands for. Jesus refers to them as a brood of vipers referring to the words and actions of the leaders that thier deeds are separating people from the true God and are therefore poisonous. Earlier through the prophet Isaiah Jesus said to the leaders of ancient Judah that the people when the circumstances of thier lives pressed against them and caused them to be uncomfortable that the people responded from thier heart and thier heart was evil, God says that the deep down contents of our heart will be revealed when we are challanged in trying circomstances that we dont understand. Jesus saw that the leaders were upset and that thier hearts were poison, so Jesus was quoting the prophet Isaiah in order to incourage the leaders to search the scriptures in a new light and gain new insight into the person of God and new insight into the kingdom of God. After the death and resurection of Jesus the book of acts tells us that many of the Priests and Pharicees came to believe in Jesus. Jesus is showing us that although strong words were used that Jesus did it in a way of Reconciliation, there is only one ministry, it is the ministry of reconciliation, man to God and man to man. After this discussion Jesus left the temple for the last time. We can immediatly remember the Prophet Ezekiel, Ezek 10:1-22 and his dipiction of the presance of God departing from the temple as the people had rejected God. Ezekiel wrote of a temple that the presance of God had departed and later that temple would be destroyed by the invading Babalonians. Likewise this temple with the presance of God, in the person of Jesus, departing, this temple would later be destroyed by the Roman armies. 

After the discussion between the leaders and Jesus as Jesus walked out of the temple and the disciples followed. The disciples thought that this was the long awaited moment, the moment when the King, Jesus would take controll and according to scripture would rein and rule from Jerusalem. The disciples were now interested in the buildings of the temple. In effect the disciples were saying these are great buildings to rule from and in effect wondering where thier office would be. As we stand there and evesdrop we would hear Jesus reply and give a prophacy that the temple would be destroyed, a stone block at a time, untile there were no more stone blocks left stacked upon another. The disciples were stuned. They realized that they were not familuare with the current plan of Jesus. That evening when they returned to the Mount of Olives some of the disciples came to Jesus privatly and asked what is the time or sign of Jesus comming into power in other words when is Jesus the King going to reign and rule on earth as the King. Jesus told them that it was not for them to know the times and gave a long informitive discourse into the end time events. Where Jesus specifically warned the disciples not to fall for deception, that many will be decieved by the vast amount of lies and deciet being told in the world. That only the Bible is the true word of God. The teaching is now called Jesus Mt. Olivet Discourse. 

This day coincides with Tuesday April 10, 2001 Matthew 26:6-16 
As we awoke Tuesday morning we would not go to Jerusalem and the temple this day, as Jesus had departed the temple for the last time on Monday. Instead today we will go with Jesus to the house of Simon a Leper that Jesus has previously cured. A woman will Anoint Jesus with more oil. Judas will depart to meet with the Jewish leaders to betray Jesus. Judas will receive the thirty pieces of silver for promising to deliver Jesus into the hands of the Jewish leaders. 

Passover  Feast of the Lords Passover, 14th of Nissan - This day coincides with Wednesday April 11, 2001 
Wednesday we would wake up to the second of the feast days known as the Passover, The feast was first observed by the Jews the night the plague in Egypt killed all the Egyptian firstborn sons, while death Passed over the Jews because they were saved by the Covenant blood placed above the doors of thier houses. This feast is also prescribed by God in Leviticus chapter 23. Follow Jesus to Jerusalem to eat the Passover dinner and celebrate it with the disciples in an upper room made ready by some friends. As we come into the upper room we will see that Jesus and the disciples have just finished eating lunch. Jesus is telling the disciples that God the Father has given all authority in heaven and on earth to Jesus. We marvel that this Jesus standing before us is not just the King of Judah but is the King of the Universe of heaven and earth all the physical realm that is seen and all of the unseen spiritual realm, Jesus presides over all of it as King. Before we can comprehend the enormity of the kingdom of Jesus, we see King Jesus lay aside His garments pour water into a wash basin and begin to wash the disciples feet. We are in total agreement with Peter when Peter says to Jesus Thou shall never wash my feet after all kings on earth do not wash the followers feet, so much more reason that the King of the universe should not wash feet. Then Jesus explains to Peter that unless He washes his feet that Jesus will have nothing to do with Peter. We wonder why have Jesus wash our feet and only our feet Then we realize that Jesus is King, He is also our Abba, Daddy, Father, and He is also the Holy God, Jesus requires that we be cleansed to approach Him, so as our creator Abba, Father, Jesus is happy to take all of His authority and use it to clean us and draw us near to Him. We now know that Jesus is really talking about cleansing our Souls our thought life and emotions. A dirty item cannot make another dirty item clean, we gasp as we realize that ONLY Jesus can make us clean because only Jesus is clean and without Jesus washing us and cleansing us we will remain dirty, and Jesus will have nothing to do with us We make a mental note to spend more cleansing time with Jesus in prayer and Bible reading. The door opens and Judas returns to the room. We think Judas really missed out, he was out while Jesus washed the feet of the other disciples. 

It is now the Passover Supper all of the disciples are seated around Jesus. Jesus begins to explain how one of the disciples will betray Him. We join the other disciples wondering if we will betray Jesus. After the events of the past week we now know that we are not that familiar with the plans of God and that Sin is deceitful, knowing that we can easily be deceived and betray Jesus in our thoughts and actions. We make another mental note to walk in the Spirit with Jesus at all times, seeking the wisdom and will of God continually for each and every activity we do during the moments of our lives. Jesus speaking up tells the disciples that to identify the one who will betray Him, He will dip His bread in the sauce at the same time the betraying disciple dips his bread. As Judas dips his bread Jesus also dips His. We know now why Judas was not washed and cleansed by Jesus, because Judas is a betrayer. Judas asks Jesus if he is the betrayer. Jesus tells him yes he is. We marvel that sin is so deceptive that one can betray God and actually think that he is doing Gods work. We shudder as we think of all the killing and all of the wrong that has gone on by the deceived ones throughout the Church ages, in the name of Christianity. We are very glad to make the journey back to Holy Week to walk with Jesus and to learn who He is, that we can be true disciples and followers of Jesus. Judas after receiving a bread dipped in sauce by Jesus, then departs the room to proceed to betray Jesus. The disciples wonder were Judas has gone to. Some think he is going to make arrangements for the next feast, the feast of Unleavened Bread which starts tomorrow. We at first think it is unlawful for Judas to go out at night then a quick glance in our Bibles back to Leviticus 23 reveals that the Passover is not a Sabbath Feast we wonder at the thought that this Passover feast is not a Sabbath feast and therefore there is no evening curfew for the feast. As Judas leaves the presance of Jesus, then Satan enters into Judas, and demonically possesses Judas. Again we realize the importance of staying in the presance of Jesus. 

Jesus then takes bread, giving thanks, Jesus breaks the bread, explaining that this is His body broken for us. He then passes the bread for the disciples to eat. Earlier the disciples had dealt with this very issue, John 6:47-58 as Jesus had told the large group of disciples the He, Jesus was the true bread of life that came down from heaven and if any man would eat of it that man would not die but would live forever. Many disciples were disturbed at that saying of Jesus, John 6:66 and some walked with Jesus no more. But Jesus had also explained to the disciples John 6:63 that it is the Spirit that aids a man not the physical. Jesus said that His words are Spirit. So here this night of the Passover the disciples readily enjoy the bread knowing that it is the Spirit of Jesus that gives Spiritual life. Next Jesus takes a cup of wine it is the third cup of the four prescribed cups of the feast. The third cup is known as the cup of redemption. The first cup is the cup of Sanctification, being set apart to God for the feast. The second cup is the cup of instruction. Instructing that there were many plagues on the land of Egypt yet the children of God could not go free from slavery until there was a death of the firstborn. And now this night Jesus is proclaiming that He is the firstborn of God and that His death will set us free from the slavery of sin and Satan. Then Jesus taking the cup of redemption and like the bread giving thanks, Jesus passed the cup to the disciples and said take drink all of it that this cup is the New Testament in His blood: this do, that as often as we drink it, to do it in remembrance of Jesus. The disciple fully aware that Jesus is speaking of a better blood than man has, of His Spiritual life blood, they gladly take the cup of wine and drink gladly all of it. We marvel that Jesus wants us to Drink all that He has for us. Jesus then mentions that He will not drink again the wine until He drinks it new with us in His Fathers Kingdom. The fourth cup of wine that Jesus is postponing to drink is called the cup of Rejoicing after the feast the cup of rejoicing is to be drunken as we rejoice in all that God has done in our lives in setting us free and reuniting us with Him in the promise land of Heaven. Jesus says that He will drink that next cup with us all for real in the real heaven. We sing a Psalm with Jesus and the disciples. Jesus again tells us that He is to be betrayed. He tells us in advance so that we will know that He does indeed know all things. Jesus then tells us that it is Satans time, Judas has already left to betray Jesus. Jesus says that Satan has nothing in Him, but that Jesus will show His love for the Father by giving His life as a sacrifice to reunite man to God, as this is the will of the Father and it is also the will of the Son. Arising they depart the room. We marvel that this feast is not a Sabbath feast so they are able to walk in the night and not break the law of the feast. Now during a short walk Jesus talks to the disciples, about Himself being the vine and that the disciples are the branches that the disciples are to abide in Jesus. Also teaching them that persecution will come to all of the followers of Him, and Jesus instructs them some more about the Holy Spirit. Jesus then prays His Priestly High Prayer to the Father, asking the Father to receive all of us that follow Jesus and to reunite us all with Himself in Heaven with the Father. As Jesus prays to God the Father we conclude that, we know that Jesus prayers are heard by the father and answered! After His priestly prayer of intersession for us to the Father Jesus then crosses over the brook of Cedron and walks to the garden of Gethsemane. We now know why God has not made the Passover to be a Sabbath Feast because Jesus and the disciples would have to remain at home after the feast and could not have walked to the Garden of destiny, the Garden of Gethsemane. Adam and the woman lost mankinds relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. Jesus is now stepping into another garden the Garden of Gethsemane to restore the relationship between God and mankind forever. 

We follow and see, Jesus separated from His disciples and engaged in prayer to the Father. Jesus asks the third time for the Father to remove this cup but there is no other cup of redemption available to mankind. Either Jesus gives His life for us, or mankind will never be reunited with God. Angels come and minister to Jesus, He arises, Judas can now be seen leading a group of temple soldiers. Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss, Jesus in turn calls Judas friend. Jesus is led off as all of the disciples abandon Him. 

Crucifixion Thursday  Feast of Unleavened, Bread 15th of Nissan  Coincides with Thursday April 12, 2001 
In the next few hours Jesus will undergo six trials, all of them will be a mockery of justice. Jesus will come out of His third trial just in time to hear the disciple Peter deny a third time to being a follower of Jesus a rooster will crow marking the dawn to a sunrise of a new day. The new day in which Jesus of Nazareth the true and living Son of God will be despised rejected of man and crucified on a cross. This new day will be the seventh day of our journey back and the third feast day. The feast of Unleavened bread, all of this because of the love that God has for His creation to reunite the people that are rejecting Him back to Himself. Jesus will be despised, rejected and beaten. The beating that King Jesus will endure for us, will be a savage fit of rage , a rage of mankind and a fit of Satanic rage, that no person has ever been so savagely beaten as Jesus was that day. It was the kind of abuse that all evil has against innocence. Peter will have gone out and wept bitterly, for his part in denying Jesus, Peter will not look to himself but will again look to God and experience the total love and compassion God Has for mankind. Judas who also betrayed God will not look to God instead Judas will look to himself and find no hope but only despair and Judas will commit suicide. 

Jesus is now led to a hill and crucified, it is the same hill that Abraham brought Isaac to 4,000 years earlier, to enact out a father offering his only beloved son, this crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus is offered wine, mixed with bitter gall to drink. Jesus rejects the bitter wine because He has promised that the next wine He drinks will be with us in Heaven and it will be a sweet cup of Heavenly rejoicing not the bitter cup of this world. Jesus first words on the cross will be Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. We stand amazed as the two thiefs being crucified with Jesus each mock Him, then one of the thiefs turns and says we are getting our just rewards but Jesus is innocent. Then the thief says a most remarkable thing he says Jesus remember me when you enter into your kingdom. We look on in dismay, enter the kingdom of Jesus, true Jesus declared Himself to be a king only a few days age a King has to have a kingdom, but Jesus is dying on a cross, No not dieing, the thief is right Jesus is entering into His kingdom, one where there is no more curse of the flesh where sin does not reign in fact sin is not even present in the Kingdom of Jesus, thats it only the spiritual Kingdom is good enough for Jesus. He died to the sin and flesh in this world so we can be united with Him in His glory in His Holy Spiritual Kingdom. Jesus will remain on the cross for six hours. From 9:00am to 3:00pm. At noon the sky will grow dark. At 3:00 Jesus will give a victory cry and proclaim  it is finished. We marvel that the prophecy given to Eve is now fulfilled as Jesus the Son of God has His heal bruised for us and on the cross. On the cross of victory on a hill called Golgotha (Skull) Jesus has crushed the head (skull) of the serpent Satan. Jesus will then commend His Spirit to His Father then Jesus will permit His Spirit to leave His body. It is now near the evening of the third feast day the feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast according to Leviticus chapter 23 is also a Sabbath or rest feast, in order to properly keep this feast the followers need to be home before sundown and engage in no work. So the legs of the two thieves on the other two crosses are broken to speed thier deaths. Jesus lifeless body is taken down from the cross and taken to a nearby new tomb, really a cavern carved out of solid rock, provided by Joseph of Armethia. Jesus will be laid in the new tomb His body including His face will be wrapped with fresh linen cloth and soaked with 75 lbs of anointing oils. Those taking part in the burial of Jesus will quickly depart to get home before the sundown. That evening we will return with the disciples back to the upper room where the Passover feast was held the night before. The door will be locked and everyone will cower in the darkened silence for fear that Romans will nock down the door to seize more of the disciples and drag them off to be horribly crucified. It is a dark bitter night. We sit down to consider the events. The third feast we ponder the thought what are the odds that every thing of major importance would happen on a feast day. We know its the same odds that brought life into existence and the same odds that could write the pages of the Bible before the events actually happened. We know that no odds could do this because there are no odds there is no chance involved. It is the predetermined plan of God. Not chance, but a plan, carefully and deliberately being carried out before the eyes of mankind. We ponder the feasts, first was Sabbath the required rest and Jesus presenting Himself as our King. Next was the Passover the Covenant feast of escaping death and entering into life and Jesus presented the New Covenant of eternal life in His presance with the Father. Now it is the Feast of Unleavened bread this feast will last for seven days. Thats it! Jesus often referred to leaven as a sin beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees Jesus would say. Jesus, shed blood and death on the cross are a removal of sin, a seven, a complete removal of sin. Of course we cannot have fellowship with the Holy Father in the New Covenant until the Sin is removed. And Jesus this day became the penalty for the sins of those who choose to reconcile with God in the New Covenant. 

Friday Coincides with Friday April 13, 2001 
We awake Friday morning, our first day without Jesus. Matt. 27:62-66. Today is not a Sabbath day and several people go to purchase spices and ointments and mix them and prepare them to anoint the body of Jesus. Later that day we find out that the Jewish leaders have just conferred with the Roman leaders to have guards placed at the tomb of Jesus in order to prevent His disciples from stealing the body of Jesus and claiming that Jesus rose from the dead just as Jesus claimed that He would in three days. The tomb is now sealed with a Roman seal signifying that the body of Jesus is inside and all is secure. The guards stand in front of the sealed tomb and wait for Sunday. Sunday the tomb will we unlocked unsealed the body of Jesus will be shown to the Jewish leaders and all will be back to normal in Jerusalem, because Jesus said He would live the third day not the second day or the forth day, Jesus remaining dead in the tomb on Sunday would reveal that Jesus was not a prophet, who prophesied that He would be alive the third day. There is no chance to enter the sealed tomb until the three days are up and the seal is removed, none of the soldiers on duty have the authority to remove the seal and open the tomb, only the Roman government has the authority to open the tomb and according to the contract with the Jews it will be after the third day. The frightened disciples are in no condition to reveal themselves as followers of Jesus, so back to the familiar upper room everyone journeys. In the darkness the disciples lament that they are not prophets one proclaims that he is just a herder of flocks from his youth. We sit in the dark also and wonder if we have the spiritual stamina to make it through this dark night of the soul we began to think about Jesus and His ministry on earth, we think about the parable of the sower and how hard the soil of our heart is compacted, that we are up against rocks and unable to push our spiritual roots down any further into fresh new soil, we wonder what has become of Jesus the master Gardner we need Him. We need the Gardner to pull the weeds of doubt and to break up the shallow rocky soil and direct the seed into the good soil so it can bring fourth much fruit. Oh its no use a garden needs a gardener. The garden cant maintain itself from the hard soil, shallow rocks and choking weeds. Without a Gardener the good plants will come to nothing as they are choked out and perish in the hard soil. 

Saturday coincides with Saturday April 14, 2001 
Luke 23:52-24:1 [Thursday] This man [Joseph of Arimathaea] went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down [from the cross] and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath [evening curfew] drew on. And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how His body was laid. And they returned and [Friday] prepared spices and ointments; and rested [Saturday]the Sabbath day according to the commandment [4th of the 10 commandments]. Now upon the first day of the week [Sunday], very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 

Saturday is again the weekly day of rest, we rest physically but emotionally we are anything but at rest as we ponder an uncertain future without a leader without our King Jesus. 

Resurrection Sunday (Easter) Feast of First Fruits, first day of the week after the feast of Passover  Coincides with Sunday April 15, 2001 
Sunday the first day of the week, we arise early and ponder that today is also a feast day the fourth feast the feast of First fruits. We wonder why Leviticus 23 did not have an actual date to be celebrated on like Passover the 14th of the month and Unleavened Bread the 15th of the month but First Fruits is specifically to be celebrated on the first day of the week after the Passover. Today the seal is to be removed from the tomb of Jesus, some of the women go early to gain access to the tomb and continue to anoint the body of Jesus. While walking to the tomb the women encounter an Angel who asks them why they are seeking the Living among the dead for Jesus whom you seek is Not Dead but is Alive. The women keep walking and seeing the tomb the Roman seal is broken the stone is rolled back and looking in they see that the body of Jesus is missing. Seeing what appears to be the Gardner the women ask him where they have moved the body of Jesus too. Mary replies the Gardner. WAIT! Mary knows that voice this Gardner is JESUS, HES ALIVE! Mary and the women grab the feet of Jesus. Jesus tells them that He has not yet risen to the Father but to go tell the Good News of the resurrection to the rest of the disciples. Peter and John like the rest of the disciples doubt the news but they run to the tomb to see for themselves. John and Peter enter the empty tomb together John had been one of the disciples at the crucifixion and he helped place Jesus in the tomb. As John saw the anointed strips of cloth used to wrap the body of Jesus, John realized that the cloth was not unwound but just empty, vacated and collapsed down in a way that a human body could not physically be removed from the cloth and ointment. John seeing this believed. 

Back at the upper room two disciples were excitedly telling of meeting Jesus on thier journey to Emmaus. When appearing in the midst of the group of disciples was Jesus. The door was locked and Jesus appeared in thier midst in a Spiritual supernatural way. The disciples marveled. Jesus presented Himself to the Disciples and then King Jesus breathed His breath on them the same way He had previously breathed life into Adam and Jesus said receive you the Holy Spirit The disciples did not experience anything as by Faith they receive the Spirit of God. We realize that it is by Faith that we are saved. This faith the faith in the risen resurrected Jesus. The faith that Jesus has sealed us with the Holy Spirit. We realize that this is the true feast the Feast of First Fruits as Jesus breathes on us the First Fruits of the Holy Spirit. We know that this is just the First Fruit or the first of the harvest. This harvest is special because it is according to Leviticus 23 the first of the fruit in the Promise Land. We like the children of Israel have left the bondage of the world and Satan through the death of the firstborn Son Jesus, we have wandered in the wilderness until our unbelief has vanished, we by faith have crossed the Jordan into the promise land and have accepted Jesus as our King and Lord, entered into His New Covenant so death has Passed us Over, receiving the shed blood and death of Jesus on the cross as payment for our own sin and transgression against God, in a complete removal of the sin or leaven of the believer, and we now rejoice in the Gospel of Good News that Jesus being righteous, Holly, and the Son of God, He cannot die but is alive in the Spiritual realm, the realm that Jesus existed in with the Father before He took on a fleshly body in the womb of Mary. 

Looking ahead we will see that Jesus will spend 40 days total with the disciples. Forty days to depict that this is a life change for the disciples. Disciples are to always be aware of the presance and company of Jesus in our lives. Jesus will convince the disciples of His resurrection to life from death and of His divine Godliness by Acts 1:3 Many infallible proofs We will also consider the death and resurrection of Jesus the fact that it is the most witnessed and most recorded event in ancient History. As we page through the pages of the Bible and read the prophecies that have been fulfilled and ponder the many that are being fulfilled right now in the days of our lives like Isaiah 11:11 That Israel will be re gathered into the Holy Land a second time and that in 1948 Israel again became recognized as a Jewish State. We consider the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit we know that God is near us as He speaks to us in His still small voice, words of faith and encouragement. We see by the circumstances of our lives and through answered prayer that we abide under the shadow of the hand of the Almighty, on occasion we have the baptism and fillings of the Holy Spirit as we experience first hand the working and effects of the Holy Spirit. As the Church we see miracles some pray in tongues, gifts are manifested and callings that are above and beyond our own abilities are preformed. We have come to love God and man and our neighbor even our enemies in a way that is only supernaturally of God. As we reflect God in our lives we like the disciple John stoop into the empty tomb of Jesus and proclaim I Believe for Jesus has risen He is Alive! and He is King of the Universe. Jesus will be appearing in thier midst of the disciples and then leaving, just to get the disciples used to the fact that just because they cannot see Jesus He is still with them. At the end of the forty days Jesus will be taken up into heaven. At the end of the next week it will be another of the feast days the fifth feast of the eight total feasts, the feast of Pentecost. This feast is 50 days after the feast of First Fruit this feast is another harvest feast and on this day the disciples will receive the harvest of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Unlike the First Fruit where the disciples had no experience, this Feast was all experience as they heard wind saw tongues of fire and spoke in unknown tongues. 

After our visit back and walk with Jesus we know that three more feasts are yet to be fulfilled so we Speculate as to what the feast could actually be. 

Looking further ahead we will see that three of the feasts of Leviticus 23 still remain to be fulfilled after the Feast of Pentecost will be the Day of Atonement since these three feast are yet to be fulfilled we can only be supper detectives and try to find out what each feast means. The Day of Atonement was the one day that the Jewish High Priest entered into the Temple Holy of Holies to make atonement for the Jews and this feast day could be Fulfilled when the Jews reunite with Jesus as they mourn the one whom they have rejected, and as they look upon the one whom they have pierced. 

The feast of Trumpets. The trumpet is an instrument to call the people to gather together. This feast could be the gathering of the Christians to God known as the rapture of the Church. As there is a voice heard like a trumpet calling all the Christians to heaven. 

The last Feast is the feast of Booths also called shelters. The shelters are huts built in the backyard to remind the Jews of thier time of wandering in the desert. This Feast could be fulfilled when we die and leave this temporary body shelter and receive our new permanent temple body as a new permanent Spiritual body and becoming Sons of God. 

After spending 10 days with Jesus, we can see that Jesus acted deliberately and decisively. Jesus has a plan and a purpose and Jesus came to fulfill His plan and to complete his purpose. Jesus did not meander around like a wondering poet. Jesus is God with full knowledge of mankind and of all the events to come. As we reflect on our visit with Jesus and the disciples, remembering our gaze at the sight of Jesus on the cross, we realize that the Gospel is larger than life and that it is also bloodier and holier than we could ever comprehend, and we realize that we have a God that loves us much more than we can ever comprehend, and we begin to realize the resurrection of Jesus fro death to life is more glorious than we can comprehend. 

Excerpt from the soon to be released book; 
Basic Christian: Maturity 
By David A. Brown 





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
From:  David (DavidABrown)    6/6/2001 3:52 pm  
To:  ALL   (2 of 8)  
 
  24.2 in reply to 24.1  
 
The above post covered the Feasts/Holidays of the Bible given from God to man about 4,000 years ago. But mankind has added many holidays and perverted much of what God has set aside as holy and instructional for us in holidays. 
For instance Christmas and Easter (Resurrection Sunday) are both holidays that have quite a bit of non-Christian practices intermingled in them. The Bible does not tell us the date of Jesus birth, and many Theologians suspect that Jesus was born in the fall because December is too cold for Shepards to be outside at night with sheep, and some people think the December date is a part of a pagan practice. It may well be, the Bible is concerned that we know that Jesus Resurrected from the dead and that is the Day the Bible keys in on. We know beyond any doubt that Jesus resurrected from death on Sunday. The Church still meets every Sunday to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus. So most of us as Christians celebrate holidays that are not purely Christian in origin. 

To me it doesnt matter that much because I have given my life to Jesus so I color Easter eggs but I worship Jesus while I do it and to me the eggs represent the sealed tomb of Jesus, then on Easter I open up the egg and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. As the Bible says to the pure all things are pure and we who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus are pure. 

The Christian Church has constantly been battling worldly and pagan influences in the Church, influences that are most dramatically seen in some of the holidays. 

It is the intention of every Christian to be pure and set apart to God. One of the best books available on the topic of pagan influences in the Church is the following Book. 

The Two Babylons 
By Alexander Hislop 
ISBN 0872133303 
In Stock $15.99 Hard Cover 

Available at www.ChristianBook.com 

*Note I think this book is very old I think it was first written in the early 1900s or even late 1800s yet it is still very relevant today. 






David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    6/8/2001 3:17 pm  
To:  ALL   (3 of 8)  
 
  24.3 in reply to 24.2  
 
Here is a link to further the study of the Feasts God established in Leviticus Chapter 23 
*scroll down past any "continuing construction" signs 
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~davar/feasts.htm 
7 Feasts Explained 





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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  From:  wknight001   6/25/2001 8:16 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (4 of 8)  
 
  24.4 in reply to 24.2  
 
Dear David, 
I've never understood why people seem so focused on the idea that Christmas 'should be the exact day of Jesus's birth'. Was it ever intended to be? It is a memorial, a feast, a celebration of His birth. It is not as if we have ever or will ever have a perfect calendar. We don't have perfectly even years, we have to have leap years. 

Christmas.. is for.. Christmas! The joy of charity, the birth of Charity, the Infant. And my favorite time of year. :) 

Sincerely, 

Jeffrey Thomas 
+AMDG
 
  
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  From:  wknight001   6/25/2001 8:23 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (5 of 8)  
 
  24.5 in reply to 24.2  
 
Dear David, 
On that theme I think you should -really- read, "The Babylon Connection?" by Ralph Woodrow. 

Woodrow wrote an earlier book, and was a great and recognized follower of Hislop. However his latest book is an eye opener. 

Sincerely, 

Jeffrey Thomas 

 
  
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  From:  ))))====ffft!!=====--- ___ @___ (SeaBren)   6/25/2001 8:24 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (6 of 8)  
 
  24.6 in reply to 24.2  
 
David: 
It is nice to read that there are SOME christians out there willing to accept history instead of denying it so their beliefs can stay intact and pastel-colored. There are a lot of interesting facts and events that surround what we call "Christmas" today that make it a pretty wonderful and tradition-rich holiday. 

Thanks for the info. 

s.






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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    6/25/2001 6:30 pm  
To:  wknight001   (7 of 8)  
 
  24.7 in reply to 24.5  
 
Christmas is a favorite time of mine, commemorating that God became a man to Reconcile mankind back to Himself. I love to get a tree every year and to decorate and all the festivity that goes with the Holiday. I look at the tree and Know that Jesus is the tree of life and I look at the all the lights and realize that Jesus is the light of Truth that shines into the dark world, and at all of the color and splendor of the holiday and know that Jesus gives me life. 
For us Christians everyday is Christmas! 





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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   From:  David (DavidABrown)    6/30/2001 10:15 pm  
To:  ALL   (8 of 8)  
 
  24.8 in reply to 24.2  
 
Great, Cross and Resurrection, Animations: 
www.tbcl.com/walk/ 
Cross Animation 

www.tbcl.com/walk/risen.shtml 
Resurrection Animation 





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
 
