So the members of the Sanhedrin and the Jewish mob took
Jesus, and He went out having to carry His own cross, to the
place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew "Golgotha" (meaning -
place of a skull).
Jesus was so weakened by now with all the beatings and the
scourging He had endured, that it became impossible for Him to
carry His cross. So they compelled a passer-by, one name Simon of
Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of
Alexander and Rufus, to carry Jesus' cross.
There had by now a large crowd gathered behind Jesus and
along the sides of the road. Many women were crying and lamenting
in sorrow for Him. It is perhaps more than interesting, that we
see here and will again up to the time of Jesus' resurrection,
while the men were at the point of giving up (going back home and
back to their secular jobs) many women were quietly in their
hearts holding on to their faithfulness to Jesus.
Christ could see and hear many of the women crying for Him
as He was being led to His death on the cross. He turned to them
and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me, but weep
for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are
coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs
that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck to new born
children!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on
us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do this action
when the wood is green, when things are relatively good, what
will happen when it is dry, when they will really have something
to complain about."
They were doing evil against a man that did nothing but good
for people, and taught wonderful truths of the word of God. The
Roman Government allowed the Jews freedom to travel, freedom to
practice their religion, times were quite "green" in many ways.
If they were doing this kind of evil in the time of green, Jesus
was saying, then what on earth would they do when it was dry?
Christ was once more telling them that the time was coming, in
the next generation of the children many of them would have, and
their children of those children, that people would have wished
they never would have brought children into the world. It would
all come to a head in 70 A.D. when the armies of Rome would sweep
into Jerusalem, destroy much of the city and the all of the
Temple except a part of the outer Temple retaining wall (which is
still standing in Jerusalem today, called the Wailing Wall), and
kill tens of thousands of Jews. It would be a bitter and terrible
time that would lay ahead for the people of Judea.
JESUS ON GOLGOTHA and CRUCIFIXION
Jesus, with two other criminals, who were to also be
crucified and put to death for their crimes, and the large crowd,
arrived at the place of the skull, or Golgotha in the Hebrew
tongue.
We need to stop here and learn a few things about
"crucifixion." There are a number of false ideas people have
about the death of Jesus and about crucifixion itself, as
generally practiced by the Romans. And they did practice it a
great deal in putting criminals and their enemies to death.
I will quote from "Manners and Customs of the Bible" by
James M. Freeman. This is from the old original edition, not the
new one that most are familiar with today.
"Crucifixion was NOT a Jewish punishment, though among the
Jews culprits were sometimes tied to a stake by their hands
AFTER death. See Deut. 21: 22. It was an ancient mode of
capital punishment.....It was used by the Persians,
Assyrians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Scythians, Greeks,
Romans, and ancient Germans. It was a shameful and degrading
punishment, and among the Romans was the fate of robbers,
assassins, and rebels. It was especially the punishment of
criminal slaves.
There were several kinds of crosses used. One consisted of
two beams of wood laid across each other in the form of an
X. Another had two beams of unequal length, the shorter
placed on top of the longer, like the letter T. In a third
variety, a small portion of the longer piece appeared above
the transverse beam; and on this the inscription was placed
(the shape as our popular Christian cross that appears in
churches etc. - my added comment).
This was doubtless the form of cross on which our Lord was
crucified. From the center of the perpendicular beam there
projected a wooden plug or horn, on which the body of the
condemned rested. The bottom of the cross was sharpened,
that it might be more easily driven into theground...It was
not generally more than ten feet high, so that when erected,
a part of it being in the earth, the feet of the sufferer
were not far from the ground.
The condemned man was first stripped of his clothing, which
seems to have been the perquisite of the executioners. He
was then fastened to the cross, which had been previously
fixed in the earth - though sometimes he was first fixed to
the cross - which was then lifted and thrust into the
ground.
He sat on the middle bar or horn, already mentioned, and his
limbs were stretched out and tied to the bars of the cross.
Large iron spikes were then driven through the hands and
feet. Sometimes the feet were nailed separately, and at
other times they were crossed and a long spike was driven
through them both.
In this situation the poor sufferer was left to linger until
death slowly came to his relief. This usually required two
or three days, though some lingered a longer time before
their sufferings ended.
The pain was severe, though not so intense as has sometimes
been represented. On this subject Dr. Stroud says, 'The
bodily suffering attending this punishment were doubtless
great; but either through ignorance or design, have been
much exaggerated. The insertion of the cross into its hole
or socket, when the criminal was previously attached to it,
did not necessarily produce the violent concussion which has
been supposed; and; as the body rested on a bar, it did not
bear with its whole weight on the perforated extremities. At
all events there have been many examples of persons enduring
these sufferings with the utmost fortitude, and almost
without a complaint, until relieved from them by death. A
fact of importance to be known, but which has not been
sufficiently regarded, is that crucifixion was a very
lingering punishment, and proved fatal, not so much by loss
of blood - since the wounds in the hands and feet did not
lacerate any large vessel, and were nearly closed by the
nails which produced them - as by the slow proses of
nervous irritation and exhaustion ' (The Physical Cause of
the Death of Christ, p.55).
After death the body was left to be devoured by beasts and
birds of prey. The Romans, however, made an exception in
favor of all Jews who were crucified; this was on account of
their law, as contained in Deut. 21: 22, 23. They were
permitted to bury the crucified Jews on the day of
crucifixion. This usually made it necessary to hasten their
death, which was done by kindling a fire under them, or by
letting hungry beats attack them, or by breaking their bones
with an iron mallet."
End of quote from "Manners and Customs of the Bible" old
edition.
I think it would be good to re-read the quote above, slowly,
and let it all sink in. There are things mentioned that most
Christians do not understand and have not been taught about Roman
crucifixion. Especially to note is that it was NOT usually a
quick death. It was not DESIGNED to be a quick death, in fact the
opposite was true. It was designed to be a slow humiliating
death. And we need to note that there was a peg on which the body
of the victim rested, so the weight was not on the hands, and the
victim was not having to pull himself up to breath. When this is
understood we can see why the victim often lived for two or three
days or in some cases even longer, before death came to them.
True, in the case of Jews their death was hastened, often by
breaking their bones, so they could die on the same day they were
crucified, in keeping with their law, as given by God through
Moses, Deut. 21: 22, 23.
We shall see, as we come to it, that they did come to break
the legs of Jesus, but found He was already dead, and the reason
for this, His already being dead, I will give as I cover that
part of the crucifixion. It is another bit of truth that most do
not realize because in most translations of the Gospels, a verse
has been missed out that was in the original Greek manuscripts.
Golgotha was near the city of Jerusalem. The now they had
Jesus up on the cross, with the other two criminals, one on His
right had and one on His left hand, also up on crosses. Pilate
wrote an inscription and placed it above Jesus' head. The
inscription was in three languages, Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
Just about anyone could them read it, the Greek language was
especially the most common language of all who were within the
Roman Empire. The inscription read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King
of the Jews."
The chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write,
'The King of the Jews,' but 'This man said, I am King of the
Jews.' "
Pilate with a cold and straight face answered them, "What I
have written I have written. It will not be changed."
The Gospel of Mark tells us that it was the "third" hour
when they crucified Jesus. Now, hours by the Jews were counted
this way. 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. was hour ONE. 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. was
hour TWO. 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. was hour THREE.
The Jews only gave "the hour" (at least in the Gospels).
They did not give any exact time as we might today, in saying
something like "8: 30" or "8: 45" or "ten minutes to 9 a.m."
We only know Jesus was put up on the cross between 8 a.m. and 9
a.m. on the morning of the 14th day of the first month in the
Jewish calendar.
Many who were looking on and passing by were laughing and
making fun of Jesus. Here was this man that had worked many
mighty miracles for over three years, but now he was badly
beaten, His back and sides shredded by the Roman scourging, the
crown of thorns smash into His head, and black and blue bruises
all over His face, chest, arms, from being slapped and punched.
Here was this miracle working man, who claimed to be the Son of
God, who had raised Lazarus from the dead, now He was helpless
under Roman crucifixion. Yes, many were laughing at Him. Many
said, "You who would destroy the Temple and build it back in
three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down
from the cross."
The chief priests, with many of the scribes and the elders,
and some of the Pharisees, mocked also, saying, "He saved others;
he cannot save himself. If he is the King of Israel; let him come
down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts
in God; let God deliver him now, if he is special in his eyes;
for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' "
It is recorded that the soldiers also did their share of
mocking Jesus. They must at that time have really been feeling
like they had the power, and not this Jesus man. Probably
thinking this man's power was not so great after all.
Yes, Jesus' enemies, and those who had become disenchanted
with Him, for not doing things their way against the Romans, were
now having a field-day, a great time deriding Him as He hung
there on the cross, seemingly completely helpless to do anything
about the situation He was in. Little did they know it was all in
the salvation plan of the Father in heaven, for all sinners who
would repent and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
Some standing by offered Jesus some wine mingled with myrrh.
But He refused it. This was a wine that had some bitterness
added, such as myrrh, that was a bitter substance, produced in
Arabia. It had the effect of stupefying the senses. It was often
given to those crucified to help make them insensitive to the
pains of death as they hung on the cross. Jesus knew this, and so
refused to drink it. He had to suffer the full physical suffering
and not be numbed from it in any way. This was the Father's will.
With most now deriding and laughing at Him, saying all the
things recorded for us in the Gospels, and probably a whole lot
more not recorded, Jesus looked at them, knowing they were
blinded by Satan, and their own human mind, and said, "Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they are doing."
Jesus was, as we have seen, stripped of His clothes. He may
have been put on the cross naked, but then they may have left His
under garment on him, that covered His private parts. We cannot
say for sure. But His clothes that were looked upon as useful
for others to have, were stripped from Him. There was enough
clothing for four parts, one for each soldier the apostle John
tells us. There were obviously four main soldiers that
were in charge of this crucifixion. Jesus' outer tunic John
tells us, was woven without a seam from top to bottom. This was a
special and costly way to make a tunic. It would have been
regarded by anyone in that day, as one of the finest tunics you
could have. The soldiers knew this tunic was of the highest
quality, and so they said, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for
it to see who shall have it."
This was done to fulfil the prophecy of the Scriptures that
said, "They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing
they cast lots" (Psalm 22: 18).
..................................
Written January 2003
  Chapter Forty-two:Jesus is Crucified on Golgotha - part twoTHE CRIMINAL WHO JESUS WILL REMEMBER
And two criminals were crucified with Jesus, one on His
right hand and one on His left hand. One looked over at Jesus,
and with disdain sarcasm in his voice said, "Are you not the
Christ? Save yourself and us also!" The other criminal on hearing
this, immediately replied to him, "Do you not fear God, since you
are under the same sentence of condemnation and death? And we
indeed justly are condemned, for we are receiving our due reward
for our actions; but this man Jesus has done nothing wrong."
Then looking and speaking directly to Jesus, he said, "Please
remember me when you come into the power of your Kingdom." Jesus
replied, "Yes, for truly I say to you today, you will be with me
in Paradise" (Luke 23: 39-43).
Jesus could see that the heart of this man was in a humble
state of repentance, a heart that was in the right godly
attitude. He had never been called by God in this physical life
as far as we know. He will one day be resurrected in the great
White Throne Judgment resurrection spoken about in the last
verses of Revelation chapter 20. This resurrection takes place
after the 1,000 year reign of Christ and His Kingdom on earth.
Millions who never had a chance for salvation, who were never
called by God in their physical life (like babies who die, young
children that die, people in remote areas of the world who never
hear the Gospel, and people just plain blinded to the truths of
God's Kingdom and salvation) will be raised again and the book of
LIFE will be opened to them. They will live and they will be
judged by the word of God, just as we today who are called
and chosen are being judged. If they, like us, will confess their
sins, repent of being a sinner, call on God for mercy, accept
Jesus as our personal savior, be willing to serve and obey God in
a humble attitude, and remain faithful to their calling to the
end of their physical lives, then they, like us, will inherit
eternal life and be with God in His paradise for ever more.
Jesus could see this man's attitude was in the right
condition. When he is raised again in that general resurrection,
his attitude that he died with on the cross, will be the same. It
will be the right attitude to receive salvation. Jesus was
confident that he would serve God and so would indeed inherit
eternal life, so He was able to say to him that very day, as they
hung on their crosses together, that he would be with Him, Jesus,
in Paradise.
The paradise of God is shown to us in the book of
Revelation, it is the throne of God in the eternal holy city of
God, the new Jerusalem that will one day come down from heaven
and be placed on the earth that is made new (see Rev. 2: 7 with
22: 2, 14; read the context of all of Rev.20, 21, 22).
God has a wonderful plan of salvation for ALL people that
have ever lived. That plan of salvation will not be finished
until the GREAT general resurrection, spoken about in Revelation
20, has taken place. Everyone will have their day when salvation
will be plainly offered them. No more deception, no more
blindness of mind. They will have revealed to them the truths of
God. They will then have to decide which way they will go,
the way and life that is of God, or the way and life that is of
Satan the Devil. They will have to choose, the way of life or the
way of death, but all in their time will be clearly offered that
choice, with no blindness of heart or mind standing in the way.
God will be there to ask them to choose LIFE!(see Deut. 30: 19).
Praise the Lord for His wonderful ways and work and great
mercy.
JESUS TAKES CARE OF HIS MOTHER
There were many standing around the cross of Jesus. Many
were weeping and crying for Him. Many bewildered and confused, in
anguish of mind, just not understanding why all this was
happening. There was standing close by, Jesus' mother, and also
Mary the wife of Clopas, and there was Mary Magdalene. Jesus
turned His eyes towards His mother and towards the disciple He
had a close bond with. Many believe this was the apostle John,
the John who wrote the Gospel that bears his name. Jesus said to
them both, "Mother, behold your son!" And to the disciple,
"Behold your mother!"
From that very hour the disciple took her to his own home
and looked after her. We are left to presume that Joseph, the
husband of Mary, Jesus' mother, was no longer living, hence Jesus
wanted His mother to be taken care of by this particular
disciple.
DARKNESS COVERS THE LAND
It was about the sixth hour, for us today that would be
anywhere from 11 a.m. to noon or 12 p.m.
"Look...look, see what's happening to the sun," someone
shouted. Dozens of pairs of eyes immediately looked up, and what
they saw was shocking and terrifying, they could hardly believe
their eyes we would say. The bright shinning of the sun was
dimming. The sunshine of the day was beginning to fade away as if
it was evening time. It was growing darker much faster than it
did at the natural sunset time of the day. It was a cold
foreboding darkness that was fast coming, even an unnerving
darkness. Many were looking white like snow as their blood
drained from their faces at the sight of the sun being darkened.
It was only a few minutes of time, and all the land was
covered with darkness as if it was night. It would last for about
three hours, and most by then knew it was something that only the
power of God had brought about.
The Roman soldiers in charge of the three crucifixion
crosses, on which hung Jesus and the two criminals, tried to be
bold and strong, not wanting anyone to see that in their minds
they were also getting worried and a little scared at what had
taken place in the heavens above.
Three hours of this intimidating, harrowing, and shivering
darkness passed. It was now about the ninth hour, which for us
would be between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Jesus had been silent. All the
people that were still gathered there were mostly silent. Because
of the extraordinary and peculiarly bizarre darkness over the
land, some were looking for Jesus to work a great miracle, maybe,
they thought, He would heal Himself of all His wounds and pull
out the nails that fastened Him to the cross, and climb down.
Many of Jesus' disciples were still expecting Him to come down
from the cross. All that they were witnessing must be a dream,
and was not really happening, many of them were thinking.
They were excepting Jesus to perform a miracle for Himself, just
as He had performed many miracles for so many others during His
ministry.
But nothing was happening, one hour had gone by, then two
hours, and now it was the third hour of this darkness over the
land.
Suddenly, the dark silence was shattered by Jesus crying out
with as loud a voice as they had ever heard from a human being,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" Which being translated was, "My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
The time had come for the Father to step aside, to step back
into the darkness that was all around. Jesus would have to bear
the sins of the whole world on Himself now, without any help or
any kind of softening pillow to cushion the sacrifice of His life
in death, for the sins of mankind.
Some of the bystanders hearing Jesus cry out, said, "This
man is calling for Elijah." And one of them ran and filled a
sponge full of vinegar, put it on a long reed and raised it up to
Jesus' mouth for Him to drink. As the person was doing this they
said, "Wait, let us see if he is going to work a miracle, and
bring Elijah to save him and help him come down from his cross."
(Mat. 27: 45-49).
JESUS IS KILLED AS A LAMB LED TO THE SLAUGHTER
There was again only silence from Jesus. No miracle was
happening, no Elijah the prophet of old was appearing to save
Jesus.
Now it was all just too much for one soldier standing there,
who was thinking that kind of talk from people about Elijah, and
people crying for this Jesus man, people thinking that Jesus
would yet work a mighty miracle, was just too much. It was now,
for this hardened soldier, all way too much. He would show
everyone that this man was just a man, and nothing more, that he
could not work any miracles. He would show everyone that he as a
soldier of the mighty Roman army, had the power to kill this
Jesus that hung helpless before him. He would show those Jews
that were Jesus' disciples, that this man they thought of as the
Son of God, the Messiah, was just merely a human man and nothing
more. This soldier also knew that Jews who were crucified were to
have their life ended on the same day as they were nailed and
hung up on their cross.
He, this tough powerful soldier....well he would now show
everyone that he was greater than this Jesus, he would now
finally KILL this man called Jesus Christ, and so declare to all
standing there that Jesus was not the Son of God.
The soldier grabbed hold of his long war spear and with one
thrust plunged it into the side of Jesus' body, the spear head
breaking through Jesus' bladder. As the soldier pulled it out of
Jesus' body out came the water from His bladder together with a
gushing flow of His blood.
Jesus cried out, "It is finished! Father, into your hands I
commit my spirit!" and having said those words, He bowed His head
and breathed His last breath.
Jesus, God in the flesh, the Messiah, the Son of God, and
the Son of man, was now hanging DEAD on the cross. The soldier
walked away a few steps with a large confident grin on his face.
The scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and elders of the people
that were present and who had longed for this event, the death of
Jesus, were smiling also. The moment they had planned for and
wanted to see, had finally come, this Jesus was finished and done
with. They thought they were rid of Him forever, and that the
people would soon forget about Him and they would once more have
full power and control over their "religious little empire." They
were, in a very short while, to see how wrong they were for
thinking such thoughts.
As Jesus hung there dead, so very dead, His disciples were
now in complete and utter shock and disbelief. They had up to
this point still clung to the thought that He just could not die,
that He would somehow live and come down from His cross. The
eleven disciples were specially broken to pieces, like dropping a
china dish from the top of a twenty-story building on to the
concrete pavement below. They were shattered in heart and mind.
All the women disciples were weeping and crying even more than
they would have imagined possible. All the hopes and dreams and
expectations of all of Jesus' followers that were present there,
had flown away, disappeared it would seem into the blackness all
around them, with that one action of that one soldier who had
thrust his spear into the side of Jesus, and put an end to His
life.
Yes, Jesus did not die of a broken heart, or of not being
able to breath. He did not die of suffocation. He died as the
prophet Isaiah had been inspired to write about. He died as a
sheep led to the slaughter. He was slain with an instrument
designed to slay and kill people. He had His blood SHED, for the
sins of mankind. That through the shedding of His blood, people
who will accept Jesus as their personal Savior, can have
forgiveness of their sins, and can have the grace and mercy of
God the Father bestowed upon them, so they need not die, but live
in the Father's Kingdom for all eternity (see Isaiah 52: 13-15;
with chapter 53; and Ephesians 2: 8; with Romans 3: 23-26).
We know that Jesus died with a spear thrust into His side
from the original Greek manuscripts of Matthew 27. There is a
verse missing in most translations, but it is in the original
Greek. All of verse 50 of Matthew 27, should read this way, "But
another taking a spear pierced His side, when blood and water
came out. Jesus, however, having again cried out with a loud
voice, resigned His spirit" (Fenton translation).
We shall see shortly that John in his Gospel account
verifies that Jesus died by being slain, so indeed like a lamb is
led to the slaughter.
THE FATHER MAKES CLEAR JESUS WAS HIS SON
No sooner had the soldier walked away from slaying Jesus
with his spear, and the ground started to shake and rumble and
roll. There was an earthquake over the whole Jerusalem area.
People were screaming in fear. Many were running this way and
that way. Many large rocks were broken into pieces, and many of
the tombs of the dead were opened, the stones sealing the
entrances flung to one side. And it is recorded for us that
AFTER Jesus had been resurrected, many of these physical people
in the tombs were resurrected back to physical life and walked
back into Jerusalem, and showed themselves to their friends and
relatives and others.
Among all this shaking of the earth, the mighty curtain of
the Temple that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place
(see a pictorial Bible Dictionary of the Temple structure) was,
with one tremendous and mighty crack, split into two from top to
bottom. The Most Holy Place of the Temple (that no one ever
entered except the High Priest, and only on one day of the year -
the Day or Feast of Atonement, on the 10th day of the 7th month
in the Hebrew calendar) was open for all to view (whoever
stepped into the Holy Place of the Temple).
This happening to the monstrous curtain of the Temple, would
have put into panic and complete disarray all that may have been
taking place in the Temple at the time, which would also have
been put into some disarray from the three hours of darkness
covering the land. Some of the activity that was going on within
the Temple was the evening sacrifice and the slaying of Passover
lambs, as the Pharisees and their followers were traditionally
doing, in preparation for observing the Passover on the evening
of the 15th day of Nisan, that was only hours away. Remember
Jesus had observed the Passover with His disciples already, at
the beginning of the 14th, and on into the night of the 14th,
when He was betrayed by Judas, as we have already seen. The
correct Passover, and time to observe it, was when Jesus observed
it, but the Pharisees had built their own traditions over the
centuries and were observing the Passover at the beginning of the
15th, which is really the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, a totally different festival of the Lord, than the
Passover. Such false traditions of the Pharisees, was why Jesus
said what He said, as recorded in Mark 7: 5-13.
Well, whatever was going on in the Temple when Jesus was
slain and the earthquake it the area, and the curtain of the
Temple torn into two, you can pretty well guess correctly that
everything would have come to a grinding, and chaotic STOP! There
was nothing but confusion, perplexity, disorder, and pandemonium,
going on inside and outside the Temple, and in and around
Jerusalem.
Then on top of all that, after all that had taken place, the
darkness suddenly, and as quickly as it came on the land, it was
gone! Light, and the sun was blazing brightly once more in the
heaven.
So amazing was it all that the centurion, and all who were
with him watching over Jesus, were filled with great awe and said
to each other, "Truly, indeed, this man was innocent, and THIS
WAS the SON of God!"
The earth stopped shaking, the darkness was lifted, the sun
was casting forth its mighty light again. There was no more
physical signs of anything, all returned to being as the physical
day had begun. The soldiers and the crowd of people around the
crucifixion area, also returned to a somewhat normal disposition
of mind. They were no longer thinking the end of the world had
come upon them. Many of the women that had served in different
ways Jesus and His men, when they were in the Galilee area, were
present, looking on, but keeping themselves at a distance. Among
those women were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and
Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and many other
women who had come up with Jesus to Jerusalem. Other of Jesus'
followers did not stay around for very long after He had been
killed. They departed to their homes, downcast and very
distraught, still in confusion of mind about all that had taken
place (Mat.27: 51-56; Mark 15: 38-41; Luke 23: 45-49).
THE APOSTLE JOHN'S FURTHER ACCOUNT
It was now about the tenth hour or between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
as we reckon time. Much of the crowd had dispersed and were
making their way to their homes or back into Jerusalem. Jesus'
disciples were so upset and confused, none of them thought about
Jesus' dead body on the cross, and what they should do with it.
Not one of them at that time had their mind on such a detail.
Jesus was left there, dead on the cross, and none talked about
removing it.
But there was still two criminals alive. And as we have
seen, Jewish law (actually a law given to them from God) said
that persons hung on a stake should be taken down and buried the
same day as when put on the stake, or tree (Deut. 21: 22-23).
It was also what many Jews (especially those of the Pharisee
sect) called "the preparation" day. It was the 14th of Nisan and
not a Sabbath day, and the Jews who followed the Pharisees were
getting ready to observe their Passover supper, starting at
evening time, which was the beginning of the 15th of Nisan, and
which was also an annual Sabbath day, the first day of the Feast
of Unleavened Bread. They were also cleaning out their homes of
leaven bread and getting ready to eat unleavened bread for
the next seven days. So the 14th day of Nisan, for many Jews,
became known as "preparation day." They were preparing for the
15th day.
The Sabbath day that was coming at evening time, was not the
weekly Sabbath, but the Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
and such a Sabbath became known as "a high day" or "a high
Sabbath day." That high Sabbath day was a Thursday. Jesus
had observed the Passover with His disciples on a Tuesday
evening, the beginning of the 14th of Nisan. He was put on the
cross Wednesday morning, and died as we have seen, in the early
afternoon of Wednesday.
The evening and the beginning of the high Sabbath day of the
15th of Nisan, a Wednesday evening, was fast arriving. Many of
the Jews knew that no Jew should be left for the night hanging on
a tree or cross. The Romans allowed the Jews to obey that law
given to them by God through Moses. The Jews went to Pilate and
asked if they might break the legs of those on the crosses, to
speed up their death and so be taken down from the crosses and
buried, before the Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
arrived.
Pilate was in Jerusalem, and he granted them their wish, but
did not send a message to the soldiers already keeping watch over
Jesus and the other two criminals, but sent a few other soldiers
that were at his palace in Jerusalem, to go and do the job
of breaking the legs of those on the three crosses.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
criminal, and then of the other criminal. But coming to Jesus
they saw He was ALREADY DEAD. No one had told them, well....there
was by this time just about no one standing around to tell them
anything. It would seem even the original soldiers that had been
keeping guard from the beginning of the crucifying, were no
longer there to say anything to them.
They saw that Jesus was already dead and so did not break
His legs, no need to, as He was dead. Then John says this in his
Gospel, "But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear,
and at once there came out blood and water."
Now, in the Greek that John wrote, the word "pierced" is in
the "aorist" or past tense (an single action done and completed
in the past), and so what John actually wrote was this, "But one
of the soldiers HAD ALREADY pierced His side with a spear...."
John is telling us the reason as to WHY the soldiers coming
to break Jesus' legs, found Him already dead, it was BECAUSE
another soldier HAD BEFORE those soldiers came, ALREADY plunged a
spear into Jesus' side and killed Him, hence He was already
dead when the new soldiers arrived to start breaking the legs of
all three men on the crosses. They then had no need to break
Jesus' legs to speed up His death, as He was already dead. And
exactly how that took place we have seen just a short while back.
It was indeed by a soldier taking his spear and thrusting it into
Jesus' side.
The apostle John finishes this part of his Gospel by saying,
"He who saw it (referring to himself) has borne witness - his
testimony is true, and he knows that he has told the truth - that
you also may believe. For these things took place that the
Scripture might be fulfilled, 'Not a bone of Him shall be broken'
(Psalm 34: 20). And again another Scripture says, 'They shall
look on Him whom they had pierced' " (Psalm 22: 16, 17).
This part of God the Father's plan of salvation was indeed
as Jesus cried out just before He died, FINISHED! (John 19: 31-
37).
The power of Satan and sin, had been forever broken and
defeated. Through the shed blood and death of Jesus on the cross,
all who want and desire to be saved from eternal death, can find
the way to eternal life through Jesus as their personal Savior.
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have
everlasting life" (John 3: 16).
..............................
Written January 2003
  Chapter Forty-three:Jesus is Buried in a TombAND WHEN EVENING HAD COME
The three hours of darkness over the land of Jerusalem, on
that Wednesday of the 14th of Nisan (in the year 30 A.D.) had
been mysteriously foreboding, even scary. At the end of it all,
Jesus had been slain by the spear from a soldier. Those there,
from the scribes and Pharisees and elders of the people, walked
away smiling to themselves and to each other. They could not have
cared less what happened to Jesus' dead body. They of all people
were certainly not doing to apply the law of Moses, which said
that the body of a dead person hung on a tree or stake, should
not remain on it all night, but should be taken down on the same
day they were placed on the tree or wooden stake, before the
night came, and buried (Deut. 21: 22, 23). Those religious
leaders and elders who were happy to see Jesus dead, went their
way, and as far as they were concerned, Jesus' body could rot off
the cross and be devoured by the birds of the air and the wild
beasts and dogs of the city of Jerusalem.
As for Jesus' disciples, we know from the Gospel accounts
and what was to transpire, as we shall soon see, they also went
their way, with a downcast heart, a sad, grieved, desolate, and
dejected mind. They felt utterly crushed, troubled and
despairing. Even Jesus' close inner circle of eleven disciples
felt defeated and spiritually forsaken. They could not understand
the events that had just taken place over the last night and
into the late afternoon of this 14th day of Nisan. It would seem
even they had no plans or were not giving it much thought if at
all any, as to what would happen to the body of Jesus, now
hanging dead on the cross.
Yes, all but a few of Jesus' disciples left that cold place
of death. All that is but a few women from Galilee, Mary
Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses. They felt they had to
stay, even if it was at a distance. They were sure that some of
Jesus' disciples would come and take away His body before
nightfall. They wanted to see where Jesus would be taken.
A half hour passed, and no one returned to take Jesus down
from the cross. Then and hour went by, and still no one came for
Jesus. Then an hour and a half, then two hours, and still no
disciple of had returned.
By this time, it was being whispered around among Jesus'
followers in Jerusalem, that no disciple had claimed the body of
Jesus. Finally someone decided he had to do something about this
situation of Jesus still hanging on the cross, alone, with all of
His close disciples oblivious it seemed, even to be thinking they
should claim Jesus' body. Perhaps many thought that with Mary,
Jesus' mother, being there, and no doubt some of her other
children (you will remember in some of the past chapters, we saw
that Jesus did have brothers and sister....well half brothers and
sister, we would say, for Joseph, Mary's husband was not the
father of Jesus, but God the Father in heaven was), it would
be they who would have claimed Jesus' body. Whatever was the
thoughts of Christ's disciples at this time, it is clear from the
Gospel writers that no one was going to do anything about taking
Jesus down from the cross and laying Him to rest in a tomb.
So it was, that finally one man was going to come forward to
ask for the body of Jesus from the governor Pilate. He was not
one of Jesus' close disciples, but it is said of him that he was
a disciple.
Time had passed quickly since Jesus had been slain. Matthew
and Mark record that it was now "evening." Matthew says, "When it
was evening...." Mark puts it this way, "And when evening had
come....."
If we research ALL the verses in the New Testament where the
word "evening" is used, and we let the New Testament interpret
itself, without putting any additional ideas of man into the
truth of it all, we see that the New Testament interprets for us
that "evening" is NOT BEFORE the TWELFTH hour as the Jews then
reckoned time, or 5 p.m to 6 p.m. for us. Evening, as interpreted
by the New Testament, did not arrive until the twelfth hour had
finished. Evening then was AFTER 6 p.m.
This all makes sense and adds up to the fact that all of
Jesus' disciples had left the area where He was now dead on the
cross, and none were coming back to reclaim and remove His body.
It would have taken a few hours or more for the word to get
around that no one was claiming Jesus' body, not even His closest
eleven disciples or His immediate family members.
It was now "evening" but Mark adds these additional words,
"And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation,
that is the day before Sabbath...."
Let us remember that the Sabbath talked about here is NOT
the weekly Sabbath, but the Sabbath of the 15th day of Nisan, a
Thursday, the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, in the
year 30 A.D. when all this took palce. And the Jews were indeed
preparing, putting out leaven from their homes (many had already
done so as we saw that it was a custom for Pharisee following
Jews to start putting leaven out at the beginning of the 14th
day, and getting ready for this Sabbath of the 15th (again I
remind you that the Pharisee Jews were preparing to observe the
Passover supper at the beginning of the 15th, as they do to this
very day).
Many, thinking that a Sabbath begins at sunset, or when the
evening first starts, will have a question as to why Mark wrote
it the way he did, that evening HAD come, but it was preparation,
the day BEFORE this coming Sabbath. Well it may all be answered
when we understand that a large part of the Jews in Jesus' day
(and still even in our day) did not count the Sabbath as STARTING
until the first STARS appeared in the heavens.
Understanding this, we can see that evening could well have
come, that is the time after 6 p.m. but still be the preparation
day, for the Sabbath that was yet to arrive when the stars came
out.
THE MEN WHO CLAIMED THE BODY OF JESUS
I said "A" man finally came forward and asked Pilate for the
body of Jesus. Actually according to the Gospel of John there
were TWO men, but it seems the one man was the main one who
started the process and was the one who went to Pilate. The
second man was Nicodemus! Yes, the same Nicodemus that came to
Jesus by night, to tells Him that he and many other religious
leaders KNEW He was from God (John chapter 3).
The man who went before Pilate to request the body of Jesus
was a man called Joseph. From all that the Gospel writers have to
say about this man, we can list these things:
1. He was from a town in Arimathea. The Bible Dictionaries
say it was situated NW of Jerusalem, in the hill country of
Ephraim.
2. He was a rich man.
3. He owned an empty tomb in the Jerusalem area, in which no
person had been put to rest in. In other words the tomb had
never been used as a burial grave.
4. It is said he looked for the coming of the Kingdom of
God.
5. He was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin council.
6. He was said to be a righteous man, who had NOT consented
to the Sanhedrin's purpose and plans and deeds to kill
Jesus.
7. It is also related to us that he was one of Jesus'
disciples, but kept it under cover. Did not relate this in a
public way, because of fear of the Jews. He had not till now
stood up to be counted as we say.
But now, with no person coming forward from among Jesus'
disciples or immediate family, and as time had reached the
evening, and the Sabbath of the 15th day was soon to begin,
Joseph, says, Mark, TOOK COURAGE and went to Pilate to request
that he be granted Jesus' body. Joseph had obviously also talked
to Nicodemus about the urgent situation for someone to claim
Jesus' body, and Nicodemus would help out, as we shall shortly
see.
JOSEPH BEFORE PILATE
There stood Joseph, in the palace of Pilate, waiting for the
governor to grant permission for him to come before his presence
and ask his question. Joseph was nervous, ringing his hands,
being a little fidgety, his heart beating faster every minute he
had to wait. He knew that by doing this action and if he was
granted the body of Jesus, that all the Sanhedrin and all Judea
would know the truth of him being a disciple of Jesus Christ. But
keeping that fact hidden for so long a time....well now he
thought, it was time to come clean, to come out in the open. It
was as he thought the very least he could do, to ask for Jesus'
body and lay it in a tomb of his that was empty and had never
been used. Joseph knew God was wanting him to do this, especially
as not one other person was making any move to request if they
could take Jesus down from the cross and bury Him.
Joseph was nervous yes, but courage had finally come to him.
He knew God was with him.
Pilate summoned Joseph to appear before him. With a firm
upper lip and courage in his heart, Joseph walked into Pilate's
presence.
"What can I do for you," Pilate said to Joseph. "Please,
governor, I request that you give me permission to take down
Jesus from the cross and bury him, after our custom of the Jews."
Pilate looked somewhat puzzled. Said nothing for a few
seconds. Then said words to the effect that everyone present knew
he was shocked to hear that Jesus was already dead. Pilate was
not even thinking about any laws of the Jews, or thinking very
much about what had taken place on Golgotha that day. He was used
to the fact that some people continued to live hanging on a cross
for a few days or even longer, before they died. No one had said
anything to him about a soldier taking a spear and thrusting it
into Jesus' side and so putting an end to His life.
So now with Joseph standing before him and requesting Jesus'
body, Pilate was realizing that Joseph was saying that Jesus was
dead.
But it all still sounded a little strange to him, so Pilate
called in the centurion that was in charge of keeping watch over
the three men who had been taken to Golgotha to be crucified.
"Centurion," asked Pilate, "has this Jesus man been dead for
somewhat of a time already?"
"Yes, indeed he has, governor, Jesus has been dead for a
while now," replied the centurion to Pilate.
Pilate now looked back at Joseph, and said, "Very well then.
You may have the body of Jesus and bury it according to your
customs."
Joseph sighed a sigh of relief, silently gave thanks to God,
and quickly walked out of Pilate's palace. Waiting outside for
him was Nicodemus. Joseph told him that the request had been
granted, and both men hurried as fast as their legs would go to
the place called Golgotha, where Jesus was hanging lifelessly on
His cross.
JESUS IS BURIED
Joseph was doing his part in all this by providing a tomb
for Jesus. Nicodemus, would do his part by bringing along with
him, a mixture of myrrh and aloes, to help preserve to some
degree the torn and broken flesh of Jesus' body. It was not a
small amount either that Nicodemus brought, it was about one
hundred pounds in weight, a considerable large amount. It is
possible Nicodemus had servant help to carry all this mixture of
myrrh and aloes.
The two men soon arrived at the cross upon which Jesus hung.
The two women, both having the name Mary, were still watching
over Jesus, but from a distance. They knew Joseph and Nicodemus,
and were so relieved to finally see that men were coming to take
Jesus down from the cross.
Joseph and Nicodemus soon pulled out the nails from Jesus'
hands and feet. Nicodemus then got busy putting the mixture of
myrrh and aloes into all the wounds of Jesus' body. When that was
done, Joseph was busy wrapping Jesus' arms, legs, body, and even
the head, with long cloth bandage type rolls. This was how the
Jews buried their dead, certainly not with a "shroud" of one
piece cloth draped over the body. Remember when Jesus raised
Lazarus from the dead, and when Lazarus came out of the tomb,
Jesus told people to unwrap him, because he could not unwrap
himself, as his hands had been wrapped. Lazarus could walk,
because Jesus called to him and told him to come out of the tomb.
So we know the legs were wrapped individually.
Jesus' dead body was wrapped like Lazarus' body had been
wrapped. And Joseph with Nicodemus, were quickly off to rest
Jesus in the tomb owned by Joseph. The tomb was quite close at
hand we are told. Actually Jesus was crucified in a garden type
place on Golgotha. Joseph had probably chosen that stop in that
garden, for his resting place, upon his death, and hence had that
tomb hewn out of a rock within that garden.
The two ladies who had been standing by, at a distance, ever
since Jesus had been hung up on the cross, followed Joseph and
Nicodemus, and they saw where they laid Jesus.
After Christ was placed in the tomb, Joseph had a huge
massive rock rolled in front of the entrance. This would indicate
that Joseph and Nicodemus were not alone, but had either friends,
or servants with them, as two men alone could probably not roll a
huge stone, unless of course the entrance to the tomb was much
smaller than we imagine.
By the time all this was done, and Jesus was in the tomb,
Luke records this, "It was Preparation, and Sabbath drew on"
(Luke 23: 54 KJV).
Just about everyone has missed how the Greek reads in this
verse. The words "drew on" are, in the Greek, in the IMPERFECT
tense. The imperfect tense in the New Testament Greek, is an
action that has ALREADY taken place but is ALSO CONTINUING TO
TAKE PLACE. What Luke actually said was "...and Sabbath HAD
COME AND WAS CONTINUING TO COME!
Luke did say it was "preparation" - yes, Joseph had started
all this action at evening, when evening had come. That is when
he went to Pilate to request he be given the body of Christ, and
the Sabbath of the 15th day was yet to arrive (Jews reckoning the
start of the Sabbath when the stars appeared). But by the time he
and Nicodemus put Jesus in the tomb and rolled a rock in front of
the entrance, the Sabbath had already come and was continuing to
come.
Stop and think. It was evening (not earlier than 6 p.m.)
when Joseph went to Pilate. By the time he and Nicodemus went to
Golgotha, took Jesus from off the cross, wrapped Him up (which
was not just placing a one piece cloth over His body) and placed
Him in the tomb, it could well have been between 8 and 9 p.m.
It was the early hours of the 15th day Sabbath, the annual
Sabbath of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when
Jesus was placed in the tomb. He had previously told people that
He would be three days and three night in the heart of the earth,
the tomb, and would then rise again (Mat.12: 40). Three days and
three nights after being place in the tomb, in the first hours of
the 15th Sabbath, which was a Wednesday evening in our
understanding of time today, Jesus would rise again. And so it
was, for Mark records for us, "Now when He rose early on the
first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdaline...."
(Mark 16: 9). The first hours of the first day of the week, as
God and the Jews count days, is the first hours of what we call
Saturday evening. Jesus was resurrected to immortal life, within
the first hours of the first day of the week. I shall have more
to say on that when we arrive at that section of the Gospels.
The two ladies from Galilee, saw where they put Jesus to
rest. They were so pleased they had waited near the cross of
Jesus, and saw all that Joseph and Nicodemus had done, especially
where they could find Jesus, for they had by this time determined
between themselves, that they would buy and prepare spices after
that 15th day Sabbath was over (which was a Thursday), buy and
prepare them on the Friday, rest on the weekly Sabbath (our
Saturday), and then come back to the tomb very early on the
morning of the first day of the week (our Sunday) and anoint
Jesus' body with the spices. How they were going to roll away the
massive stone that now covered the entrance to the tomb, they
just never gave it a thought, for they were too exited in knowing
where they had laid Jesus, the one they loved so much.
THE PRIESTS AND PHARISEES PLAN MORE EVIL WORK
It was not long after Joseph and Nicodemus had placed Jesus
in Joseph's tomb that word got around to the members of the
Sanhedrin and chief priests and Pharisees, what the two men had
done. They were soon gathering together, even in that night of
the now 15th day of Nisan, to determine where they would go from
this point, for they now realized, at least some of Jesus'
followers were not about to "go away" and forget about this man
called they believed was the Son of God. These conniving,
conspiring men were once more together in secret to plan their
next move, in making sure the disciples of Jesus would be halted
and stopped in whatever work they were going to do with the dead
Jesus.
Those men of the dark, would go very early in the morning,
just after sun up, to Pilate. They stood before the governor and
said to him, "Sir, we now remember how this Messiah imposter,
said while still alive, 'After three days I will rise again.'
Therefore we beseech you, and request, that you order the tomb to
be made secure until at least the third day from last night when
he was placed in it. We want you to order this be done in case
his disciples go to the tomb and steal away his body, and so go
around telling the people that he did rise from the dead as he
said he would. And if they do this, the last fraud will be worse
than the first fraud."
Pilate thought for a moment, and to keep himself on the good
side of those Jewish leaders, whom he knew had great influence
with the people, and did not want any riot to take place with the
people, he said to them, "Alright, take a guard of soldiers; go,
make the tomb as secure as you can."
So off they happily went, and they put a cement like
substance between the tomb entrance and the stone rolled in front
of it, to seal it up tight. And they set soldiers around the tomb
to keep anyone from trying to enter the tomb and seal away Jesus'
body.
They left, feeling they had now fully and completely sealed
the fate of Jesus, and with that, the fate of all His disciples.
Finally and at last, once and for all, they thought, they were
rid of this Messiah imposter and His disciples would soon
disappear into the forest and fade away (Mat.27: 57-66; Mark 15:
42-47; Luke 23: 50-56; John 19: 38-42).
.................................
Written February 2003
  Chapter Forty-four:Jesus is raised to Glorified Life!LADIES PREPARE TO ANOINT JESUS' BODY
The two ladies both called Mary (Mary Magdalene and Mary the
mother of Joses and James), told other ladies what they had
witnessed that evening of the 15th day. They told other ladies
where Joseph and Nicodemus had buried Jesus, in a tomb in the
garden of Golgotha. It was probably Mary Magdalene's idea to buy
spices, prepare them, and come and anoint Jesus in the tomb.
The anointing was a kind of preserving a body for a while,
so it would not decompose as quickly as not being anointed with
the special spices. This shows that they never expected Jesus to
rise from the dead. Indeed none of the disciples were expecting
such a miracle to happen.
It was now the annual Sabbath, the 15th of Nisan, the first
day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It seems none of the
ladies had in stock in their homes any of the spices needed to
anoint Jesus' body. They would have to buy them after the annual
Sabbath of the 15th of Nisan (which was a Thursday), was over.
Friday, a work day, the second day of the feast of Unleavened
Bread would be the day they would purchase the spices and prepare
them. This they did, then rested on the weekly Sabbath (Saturday)
according to the fourth commandment (see Mark 16: 1 with Luke
23: 56).
They were now all ready, very excited, with the thought of
rising very early the first day of the week, our Sunday, a work
day, and head for the tomb in which Jesus was laying and anoint
Him with the spices.
JESUS IS RESURRECTED!
The ladies had bought and prepared the spices on Friday, and
they had rested the seventh day, in accordance with the fourth
commandment of God's great Ten Commandments. That Sabbath was
now over, the sun had set, it was getting very close to three
days and three night, or 72 hours, that Jesus had been placed in
the tomb. Darkness was closing in, the stars were about to shine
in the heaven above. It was a pretty normal Saturday evening we
would say, for most people that is. But in that Golgotha garden,
and in one particular tomb, something was about to happen that
was far from normal, in fact it had NEVER happened before, in the
history of mankind being on the earth.
God in heaven above, was watching over His Son Jesus in the
tomb where He lay. Jesus had died in complete FAITH that His
Father in heaven would, three days and three nights later,
RESURRECT Him from the dead, but not to just being once more a
physical man, but to being GLORIFIED and made IMMORTAL, made
eternal, having once more the GLORY that He had when He was with
the Father before becoming a human being (that was made clear to
us in Jesus' prayer to the Father during the night He was
betrayed - John chapter 17). No other human person who ever lived
had ever been made IMMORTAL! Some had been raised from the dead,
like when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but not one single
individual from the time of Adam and Eve, had ever been made
ETERNALLY IMMORTAL.
The time had COME....it was now 72 hours since Jesus was
placed in the tomb. The Almighty Father in heaven said, "LET IT
BE DONE. LET MY SON LIVE AGAIN WITH THE GLORY HE HAD BEFORE HE
BECAME A HUMAN BEING!!"
Glory FILLED the tomb where Jesus lay. The Father filled the
tomb with the POWER of His Holy Spirit.....and in one split
second, Jesus' literal body was made IMMORTAL! Jesus opened His
eyes. He was ALIVE once more! He had been dead, had NOT EXISTED
for three days and three nights. He had died in full FAITH, given
His spirit over into the hands of the Father in heaven, and He
was NOW ALIVE again! His body was filled with eternal GLORY. He
now once more had the power and majesty to appear as flesh and
bone, and to vanish away into the unseen world of SPIRIT!
God and the angels live in a different dimension than we
humans do. We are ONLY physical. But God, Jesus once said, is
SPIRIT (see John chapter 4), meaning He has a Spirit body,
eternal and full of GLORY. His world is a world made of Spirit.
The heavenly Jerusalem, and all it contains, with all the angels
and beings in that world that God has created (last chapters of
the book of Revelation) is made of Spirit. And is, unless
God chooses otherwise, not able to be seen by the human eyes.
God's face is like the SUN, and even more. We are told in the
Bible that Moses once asked God to show Himself to him, in His
GLORY form. God said He would show Moses His glory form, but
only His back parts, for God said to Moses, "Mankind cannot look
on my face and live" (see Exodus 33: 11-23).
Then God can, if He so desires, make Himself into physical
matter, of flesh and bone. He can then appear to humans, talk to
them, eat a meal with them, have them touch Him. We see this in
the Old Testament, in such chapters as Genesis 18, where God
appeared to Abraham, even ate a meal with him.
Jesus was again alive, but alive with the GLORY of
IMMORTALITY. He was laying in the tomb wrapped all over with
cloth, arms, legs, torso, even His head. No problem, in His now
glorified state, He simply came through all the cloth around His
glorified body, just in a sense walked through it all, or as we
might think of it today in our space age.....He beamed Himself
through it and beamed Himself back into physical form of flesh
and bone. He stood there inside the tomb, and glorified the
Father in heaven for His watchful love and power.
It did not matter that the great stone was still over the
entrance to the tomb, and was sealed shut by the soldiers that
Pilate had sent on the request of the Jewish religious
leaders. Jesus just "beamed" Himself, so to speak, through the
walls of the tomb, and stood outside in His invisible form, the
soldiers guarding the tomb, completely oblivious to what had
taken place.
There was singing and joyful praising going on by all the
angels and created beings in heaven. They were praising the
heavenly Father for His glory and His power. Jesus had overcome
SIN and DEATH. And Christ was the very FIRST of millions of more
humans that one day would also be raised to eternal IMMORTAL
GLORY! Yes, this was a time to praise and give the Father great
glory.
We are not told what Jesus did the rest of that night, but
then we are not told what Jesus did on many days (only some
events we are told) while still on earth after His resurrection,
and before going back to heaven to sit on the Father's right
hand.
THE LADIES COME TO THE TOMB
From all the Gospel accounts we learn that specifically
planning to come to the tomb was Mary Magdalene, whom Christ had
cast out seven demons. She was as we have seen one of His most
faithful followers. The other Mary was the mother James and
Joses. Mark informs us that a lady by the name of Salome was with
them. Salome was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of James and
John. From Luke ( chap.14: 10) Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's
steward (see Luke 8: 3), was also with them. Luke only
mentions the two Mary's but says other women were there also.
This could mean the women Salome and Joanna, but it could have
been possible that more than those FOUR women were part of the
party who were going to visit Jesus' tomb.
The two Sabbaths had come and gone, the one Sabbath of the
15th of Nisan which was a Thursday, and the weekly Sabbath had
come and gone. The ladies had no idea that Jesus had risen from
the dead in the early hours of what we call Saturday evening,
which to the Jews was the early ours of the first day of the
week. Matthew says, "After the Sabbath, and as it began to
illuminate or grow light towards the first of the week...."
(Mat.28:1).
Albert Barnes, in his famous Bible Commentary, explains it
all this way:
"The word 'dawn' is not necessity in the originals. The word
here properly means, as the first day 'approached,' or drew on,
without specifying the precise time. Mark says (16: 1, 2) that it
was after 'the Sabbath was past and very early in the morning, at
the rising of the sun,' i.e., not that the sun was risen, but
that it was ABOUT TO RISE, or at the early break of day. Luke
says (24: 10), that it was very early; in the Greek, DEEP
TWILIGHT, or when there was scarcely any light. John (20: 1)
says, it was 'early, when it was yet DARK,' i.e., that is, it was
not YET full daylight, or the sun had NOT risen. The time when
they came therefore, was at the break of day, when the sun was
about to rise, but while it was yet so dark as to render objects
OBSCURE, or not DISTINCTLY visible"
(Barnes' Notes on the New Testament, single volume edition).
Yes, the ladies had prepared the anointing preservative
spices before the weekly Sabbath, had rested on the weekly
Sabbath according to the commandment of the Lord, and could
hardly sleep all that Saturday night, waiting with great
anticipation the time when they would set off for the tomb where
Jesus lay. And as John clearly tells us, they were up and walking
to the tomb WHILE it was YET DARK, when people and objects
could not be well seen.
Now, it would seem, as they were getting close to the tomb,
they started to realize in a practical way, that they would not
have the physical strength, even among all of them together, to
push away the great stone that covered the entrance to the tomb.
And besides that fact, there were soldiers guarding the tomb, how
were they going to get permission to enter the tomb and embalm
Jesus' body.
They discussed these two problems, what seemed then, as
impossible obstacles to their dreams and plans of showing loving
care towards Jesus. They did not know how they were going to
overcome those two hindrances to what they wanted to do, but they
kept their faith in knowing that somehow God would provide the
answer and make their loving deed come to reality.
This is a wonderful example of faith in action, a faith that
could remove mountains, but this time in the specific, a faith
that could remove a huge stone and remove soldiers guarding it.
GOD HAD ANSWERED THE LADIES PRAYERS
God in heaven saw the faith and love of those women. He had
made it all possible for them to be the first to see inside the
NOW empty tomb. It is Matthew who records it for us as it had
happened. Sometime BEFORE the ladies ever reached the tomb,
Matthew put it this way as translated in the KJV, "And behold,
there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,
and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his
raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake,
and became as dead men" (Mat.28: 2-4).
The key here is the little word "was", the fourth word in as
given in the KJV. In the Greek this word is in the "aorist"
tense, meaning a single action done and completed in the PAST!
What Matthew actually wrote and said was, "And behold there
HAD BEEN a great earthquake....."
Sometime AFTER Jesus' resurrection in the early hours of
Saturday evening or the first day of the week (as God counts the
beginning of days) and BEFORE the ladies arrived at the tomb,
while it was YET DARK, on that Sunday morning, of still the same
first day of the week, an angel from God had come down, the
soldiers fainted at his sight, and lay as if dead on the ground.
The angel then rolled away the stone to the entrance of the tomb.
All of this was done because God was honoring the faith and love
those women He knew were coming to the tomb that early, but dark,
Sunday morning.
JESUS IS NOT IN THE TOMB!
The ladies were getting all uptight but excited at the same
time, as they were coming around the last corner towards the
tomb. When they turned this corner the tomb would be in front of
them, but as they thought so would be the stone in the entrance
way and the soldiers guarding it all.
What a SHOCK came across all faces, mouths dropped open,
eyes blinked twice and three times, they froze in their tracks.
None could believe what they were seeing. None could speak for a
few seconds. It was as if it was all a dream. Still no one saying
a word, they slowly moved closer to the tomb. Finally they
realized it was all very true what they were seeing....the stone
had been rolled away, the entrance to the tomb was OPEN, and the
soldiers keeping guard....well they were laying on the ground as
if they were dead men.
The ladies now looked at each other, puzzled, yes, having
joy in their hearts, yes, but also they were scared to some
point. For how on earth they thought and said to each other,
could this be possible. Then thoughts crossed their mind that
some men had already come, killed the soldiers, rolled away the
stone to the entrance, and had stolen Jesus' body. Some, with
this thought in their minds, fell to their knees and started to
weep in sorrow.
It was all too much for Mary Magdalene, she could take no
more of all this. She had been faithful in staying with Jesus all
the while as He was being crucified on the cross, she had stayed
around when all others had forsaken and left Jesus dead on the
cross. She had waited and had seen that finally Joseph and
Nicodemus had come back to take Jesus down from the tree of
death. She had followed them to where they placed Jesus in this
tomb. She had helped prepare the embalming spices on the Friday,
had patiently waited through the hours of the weekly Sabbath. She
had risen while it was yet dark, on the first day of the week,
and was now standing here in front of the tomb. The stone had
been rolled away, the soldiers were as if dead men. Someone she
thought had come and taken Jesus out of the tomb and now no one
knew where they had lain Him.
It was all just too much for this Mary. Running with tears
falling down her cheeks, away she went, back to Jerusalem, crying
her heart out. She ran and she ran, finally making it to where
Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved (which most believe it to
be John who is relating this to us) were staying.
With tears streaming down her face, she said to them, "My
heart is breaking. I've been to where they laid Jesus in the
tomb. Someone has taken the Lord out of the tomb, and I am in
great agony of mind, for I do not know where they have laid Him"
(John 20:1-2).
Peter and the other disciple could really not believe her.
They were thinking she was just too emotionally upset at all that
had transpired over the last three day. They were to Mary
dragging their feet as we might say. She could see they were not
really believing her. With another outburst of loud crying, she
turned and started back as fast as her legs could go, back to the
tomb. Maybe she thought, if she just waited at the tomb someone
would eventually come along who would know what had happened to
Jesus' body and where it had been taken.
MEANWHILE AT THE TOMB
Back at the tomb, where the other ladies were still in shock
and amazement, still very puzzled about what they were seeing and
what it all meant. SUDDENLY they saw, sitting on the huge stone
that had been over the entrance, the ANGEL of the Lord that had
come down previously and had rolled away the stone. He was bright
and glorious...they were at first very afraid, but the angel soon
calmed them down to a degree by saying to them, "Do not be
afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is
not here; for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where
He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen
from the dead, and He is going before you to Galilee; there you
will see him. Yes, I have told you what is truth" (Mat.20: 5-7).
The angel said those words and then he was gone, just
vanished out of their sight. The ladies looked at one another
wondering if they really had seen and heard what they thought
they had just seen and heard. They were not sure, could it really
be true they thought. They decided they must enter the tomb and
see if Jesus was inside or was really gone. So inside they went,
looking around none could see the body of Jesus. Had they indeed
seen an angel? Did they indeed hear that angel say Jesus had
risen from the dead? The whole thing for them was perplexing.
Then as they were thinking and looking, behold SUDDENLY ONCE
MORE......not just one angel, but this time TWO angels
appeared next to them, in dazzling apparel! They were frightened
out of their minds, and bowed their heads to the ground. Once
more they did not know what to think, by now it had all become a
little too much, their minds were in a spin. Then one of the
angels spoke:
"Do not be amazed or frightened. Why do you seek the living
among the dead? You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He
has RISEN, He is not here; see the place where they laid Him.
Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that
the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and on the third day rise from being dead. He
had RISEN! Go, tell his disciples and Peter, that He is going
ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him" (Luke 24: 4-7;
Mark 16: 5-7).
The ladies were astonished, still very unnerved by all they
had seen and heard. Trembling, they quickly left the tomb. They
spoke not a word to each other, but started back to Jerusalem,
determined to say nothing about what they had witnessed, for they
feared people would think they had gone insane.
As they were just a little way from the tomb, who should
they see coming back towards them but Mary Magdalene. She came
closer and in passing the other women now returning to Jerusalem,
she said to them, "No one will believe what I told them, that
someone has taken Jesus out of the tomb, and put Him somewhere
else....they just will not believe me."
The other ladies said not a word to her, but passed her by
as they set out back to Jerusalem.
MARY MAGDALENE THE FIRST TO SEE THE RISEN JESUS
Mary reached the tomb still weeping. She looked inside and
saw the two angels in white, that the other ladies had just seen.
They were sitting where Jesus' body had been laid to rest. One
where Jesus' head had been and one where His feet had been.
The angels saw Mary looking in and said to her, "Woman, why are
you weeping?" She replied, "Because they have taken away my Lord,
and I do not know where they have put Him."
As she said this she felt that someone was behind her,
turning around she saw a man. It was Jesus Himself, but she did
not know it was Him. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom do you seek?"
"Well sir," Mary replied, thinking she was speaking to the
gardener, "if you have carried him away, please tell me where you
have put Him, and I will take Him away with me, and take good
care of Him."
Jesus then said to her, "Mary." Her heart dropped to the
bottom of her feet, then sprang back up again. She exclaimed with
the biggest smile anyone could possibly give, "Rabboni!" (a
Hebrew word). Which meaning is "TEACHER." She KNEW, YES SHE
KNEW......IT WAS JESUS! How her heart leapt for joy, she was
floating on air, up on cloud nine as we say. She wanted to dance
around, dance the fastest and most joyful dance any Jewish girl
could possibly do. She wanted to go over and touch Him, hug Him,
just to makes sure this was a reality, that what she saw with her
eyes and heard with her hearing....that it really was her
TEACHER, her MASTER, her LORD.
Jesus knew she wanted to come and touch Him, and so said to
her, "Do not hold or touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the
Father; but go to my brethren and say to them that I am ascending
to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God"
(John 20: 11-18).
We are not given much more than the words above, to explain
to us this fact that Jesus had to ascend to the Father before any
physical human could touch Him. I will discuss it more as to what
it may have been all about, in a short while.
Mary was ecstatic, overjoyed, she had seen the Lord and He
had talked to her. Mark is the one Gospel writer that records
that Mary Magdalene was the first human person that Jesus
appeared to. Part of the reason as to why it was to Mary
Magdalene that He first appeared must be the fact that she not
only loved Him so much, but was probably the leader among the
women to (1) stay near His cross all the time, even after His
death. (2) follow Joseph and Nicodemus to see where they laid
Jesus (3) determine to buy spices and prepare them and come and
anoint Jesus' body, while it was yet dark in those early hours of
the daylight portion of the first day of the week.
All of this, what took place as the sun was about to rise on
that first day of the week, during the feast of Unleavened Bread
in 30 A.D. is a wonderful testimony to the devotion and love of
some of the women among Jesus' disciples.
Mary Magdalene was off as fast as she could go, like being
chased by a wild bear. She was off to do as Jesus had instructed
her to do. The joy she was feeling made her legs move and run
like never before in her life. Soon she had caught up to the
others ladies who were already making their way back to
Jerusalem. She told them what had happened to her at the tomb,
and how Jesus had appeared to her, and talked to her. All
were now beginning to see they had not been in a dream, not
imagining things. They realized too many things had happened, and
so it was indeed a reality. They then recalled how Jesus had
spoken in the past about how He must suffer at the hands of
sinners, be put to death, but rise again after three days.
It all began to click together for them, their minds
becoming clearer and clearer on everything. Yes, now they knew it
was all true what they had witnessed, they now knew Jesus was
ALIVE, that He had been RAISED from the dead, and was alive
forever more. They had a deep fearful awe for God and His power
and great joy at the same time.
JESUS APPEARS TO ALL THE WOMEN
All the ladies who had come out early that Sunday morning
and had experienced all that they saw and heard, and Mary
Magdalene now having seen Jesus, were busy talking about it all,
and relating many stories of Jesus as they had in the past
followed Him at times when He preached and taught and healed
people. Oh, how busy they were talking about it all as they made
their way back to Jerusalem to tell everything that had
happened to Jesus' other disciples, especially to the eleven.
They had no idea what was about to take place.
Suddenly, out of the blue, Jesus met and appeared to them,
saying, "Hail!" How splendid, how grand, how royal it was. All
of the ladies knew it was Jesus, no question about it. They all
ran up to Him and falling at His feet, taking hold of them, they
worshipped Him.
Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my
brethren to go into Galilee, and there they will see me" (Mat.28:
8-10).
You will notice when Jesus appeared to all the ladies, He
allowed them to touch Him! Yes, they took HOLD of His feet!
He would not, shortly before, allow Mary Magdalene to touch
Him, for He had said to her that He had not yet ascended to His
Father in heaven, but NOW He does allow them all to touch Him.
There is ONLY one answer. In the time when He appeared to Mary
Magdalene and the time He appeared to all the women making their
way back to Jerusalem, He had ascended to heaven, appeared before
the Father and had returned to earth.
JESUS THE FIRST OF THE FIRST FRUITS
What seems like a strange happening, Jesus going to heaven,
and back again in a relatively short time, before anyone was
allowed to touch Him, may be answered in the symbolism of what
the priests did at this time, even on this day, Sunday morning,
in the Temple.
God through Moses, had given instruction to Israel that the
new year harvest of barley grain could not be started to be
gathered in UNTIL the first cutting of it had been done and
presented or offered in the Temple by the priests, on the first
day of the week, DURING the feast of Unleavened Bread.
It is also very interesting that the Sadducees, cut the
first sheaf of the new barley grain harvest AFTER the weekly
Sabbath had ENDED, hence a fist day of the week cutting, or what
we call Saturday evening. Then they ground it up, put it in a
basket or container of some kind, and waved it around while
holding it, in a Temple ritual early on the first day of the week
(our Sunday) during the feast of Unleavened Bread.
All of this it would seem, Jesus fulfilled. He was
resurrected in the first hours of the first day of the week, or
Saturday evening, after the weekly Sabbath had ended. As Mark
records for us, "Now when He was risen early the first day of the
week...."(Mark 16: 9). Risen within the first hours of the first
day, which in God's counting of days, begins at evening time
(Genesis 1). Indeed it is just not possible that the disciples
did not know WHEN Jesus had been resurrected to life. Many must
have asked Him, and He must have told them, for there would be no
reason for Him not to tell them.
The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus is
the FIRST of the FIRSTFRUITS, and others will be at His coming.
All in the first resurrection at the coming of Jesus in glory
back to this earth, will be "firstfruits" to God the Father. The
day of Pentecost is to be held on the first day of the week, our
Sunday.
Jesus ascended to heaven, to the Father, on the first day of
the week, and back again on that same day. Before he ascended no
human person could touch Him, but after ascending He did allow
people to touch Him.
The whole symbolism is just to coincidental to ignore. Jesus
was the wave sheaf in type. He was the FIRST to ever be raised to
glorified, immortal life. He was the first of the firstfruits to
God the Father from the human population of the earth. Those in
the first resurrection will be "firstfruits" according to the
apostle Paul. The feast of Pentecost, which pictures the coming
of the Holy Spirit upon the first New Testament church, is on
the first day of the week.
Jesus fulfilled the wave sheaf offering. It was being
offered in the Temple right at the time He was ascending and
descending to the Father and back again to the earth, on that
morning of the first day of the week, during the feast of
Unleavened Bread. He was in heaven for that short period of time,
to be accepted as the spiritual human/resurrected wave sheaf
before God the Father.
The ladies who had come to that tomb, that early morning,
were now exhilarated, elate, stimulated with heartened spirit of
mind. They had seen and touched the risen Christ. They were told
to go and tell Jesus' other disciples who were in Jerusalem. This
they would do gladly, but would anyone believe their words?
..............................
Written February 2003
This section of the harmony of the Gospels is extremely hard to
put into chronological order. With the help of the Holy Spirit I
believe I may have come close to harmonizing it.
 Chapter Forty-five:More Disciples See JesusTHE LADIES TELL THE ELEVEN
THAT JESUS APPEARED TO THEM
The group of ladies that had come out that early Sunday
morning were close to being back in Jerusalem. In the meantime,
the soldiers that had been struck unconscious by the angel who
came to roll back the great stone over the entrance to the tomb
that Jesus had been put in, were now awake. A few other soldiers
had arrived to take their shift of guarding the tomb. They were
all looking into the empty tomb, and realizing Jesus was gone.
They of course had no idea what had taken place. They hurried off
and made it back into Jerusalem before the ladies did. Straight
to the chief priest they went, telling them the tomb that Jesus
was in, was empty, and the stone had been rolled away from
covering the entrance.
The chief priests were in shock, the worse possible thing as
far as they were concerning had actual come to pass. They
immediately called for the members of the great Jewish Sanhedrin
to assemble. After some debate on what now to do in this
situation, they decided to give money to the soldiers and have
them say, "Go, tell people, 'His disciples came by night and
stole him away while we were sleeping.' And if all what has taken
place comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him with some
story that will keep you out of trouble."
And so the soldiers took the money and did as they were
directed. The Gospel writer Matthew says that, that story has
been spread among the Jews to this very day (Mat.28: 11-15).
The ladies finally arrived back in the city of Jerusalem.
Straight-a-way they found where the eleven apostles were
staying.
"We have seen Jesus," they excitedly and loudly proclaimed.
"He is alive! He has been resurrected to glorious immortality,"
they continued.
The apostles looked at each other, then back at the ladies,
saying nothing. The women could sense they did not believe them.
"Jesus appeared to us out of the blue, and we worshipped
before His feet, actually holding and touching His feet," the
women shouted back at the apostles. "It is true, He is ALIVE, He
is ALIVE," some of the women proclaimed.
Some of the eleven men finally said, "No, it cannot be, you
have imagined it all. You have been so emotional since Jesus was
crucified, that you just think you have seem Jesus. If He has
been resurrected, why would He appear to you first, and not to
us, His chosen eleven apostles? You are all just dreaming!" (Luke
24: 9-11).
Mary Magdalene looked over at Peter and John, and said, "I
was there standing and weeping as I looked into the tomb, and it
was empty, then two angels were there and they told me Jesus had
risen from the dead. Then I saw, who at first I thought was the
gardener, and I ask him that if he had taken Jesus, to tell me
where he was. He then spoke, and I knew it was Jesus. And it was!
I'm telling you Jesus has been resurrected, and is ALIVE. Go and
see, the tomb is EMPTY!"
Peter looked at John and said, "Alright John, tell's go to
the tomb and see if what happened to the women and Mary Magdalene
happens to us."
Both men were pretty good runners, but John was the better.
He out ran Peter to the tomb. Looking in he saw the linen cloths
lying there but no body of Jesus. John did not go into the tomb.
Simon Peter arrived, and he did go inside the tomb. He saw also
the linen cloths lying there. The cloth that had been wrapped
around Jesus' head was there but neatly rolled up and lying in
another place in the tomb. Jesus' body certainly was NOT there.
John, finally decided he needed to go inside the tomb also,
and he did. For John it was all proved as the women said. He knew
within himself, that Jesus indeed had been resurrected to life.
None of the apostles yet understood the Scriptures that
Jesus would rise from the dead. But John knew in his heart that
Jesus was indeed alive.
Peter on the other hand, though having to admit Jesus was
not in the tomb, still could not believe Jesus had been
resurrected to immortal life.
They both returned to the other nine apostles. John kept his
inner belief to himself. Peter was not convinced that Jesus was
alive and had appeared to the women. The other nine could not be
convinced either no matter how the women insisted it was true.
The apostles went to their homes or places they were staying in
Jerusalem (John 20: 3-10). And Simon Peter was alone for a while,
to think upon all he had see and heard from the women who had
been to the tomb earlier that morning.
JESUS APPEARS ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS
Later in that day two disciples were going to the village
named Emmaus, about seven miles west of Jerusalem. They were
talking to each other about all the things that had happened,
from Jesus' betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane, during the
night of the 14th of Nisan, to the crucifixion on the afternoon
of the 14th, to the guard watch being set in front of the tomb in
the early hours of the 15th of Nisan. While they were talking and
discussing, Jesus drew near to them and started to walk along the
road with them. But their eyes, we are told, were kept from
recognizing Him.
Jesus said to them, "What is this conversation about, that
you are having with each other."
One of them, by the name of Cleopas, answered, "Are you the
only visitor to Jerusalem this Passover feast time, who does not
know the things that have happened in the last number of days?"
And Jesus said, "What things?" And answering him they
replied, "Why, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet
mighty in deeds and words before God and all the people, and how
our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to
death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one,
the Messiah, the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this,
it is now the third day since all this happened, since he was
crucified, placed in a tomb, and a watch of soldiers, set guard
over it, to keep people from taking Jesus' body. Moreover, some
women of our company, have amazed us today. They were at the tomb
early this morning and did not find his body in the tomb; and
they said they had seen angels that told them that Jesus was
alive again. Some of those with us in Jerusalem went to the tomb,
and found it just as the women had said, empty, but Jesus did not
appear to them. So we doubt their story is true that the women
told us in saying he had appeared them."
Jesus now looked at them with pity and amazement at the same
time, and said, "O foolish men and so slow of heart to believe
ALL that the prophets have spoken! Was it not written, and was it
not God's plan, that the Christ should SUFFER these things and
then enter into GLORY?"
Then Jesus, beginning with the books of Moses (first five
books of the Bible), and all the prophets, interpreted to them
ALL the Scriptures concerning Himself. It was a lesson in Bible
study like they had never heard before, their hearts beating
faster and faster with every explanation of all that was written
about the Messiah Christ that was to come.
They walked on and got closer to the village of Emmaus.
Jesus made out that He was going to walk further, but they
constrained Him, saying, "Please stay with us, for it is towards
evening and the day is far spent." So He went in to stay with
them.
The two men prepared a meal. When Jesus sat down to eat with
them, He took the large loaf of bread and blessed it and broke it
in pieces, and gave some to each man (remember in those days they
did not have "sliced" bread, so people at meal times literally
had to break the bread into pieces).
Immediately their eyes were opened and they KNEW it was
JESUS! Then He just VANISHED out of their sight!
Oh they were ecstatic with joy and praise. They said to each
other, "Did not our hearts BURN within us when he talked to us
and opened to us the Scriptures? Yes indeed! Praise be to God, we
have SEEN Jesus. He is ALIVE!"
Those two men forgot about eating, they were not hungry any
more, eating a meal was now the furthest thing from their minds.
They put their sandals back on and headed as fast as they could
go back to Jerusalem. They knew they had to tell the eleven
apostles that Jesus had appeared to them.
When they got back to Jerusalem they found the ten of them
in one place again. Much had happened they were not aware of. The
soldiers had been telling people that some of Jesus' disciples
had stolen away His body to make it look like He had been
resurrected. Of course what the women that morning had witnessed
had not just kept with themselves or the eleven, it was now
pretty common knowledge as to what they said they had seen and
heard, so to the people hearing the soldier's story, they thought
that Jesus' disciples were indeed up to trickery. Many Jews were
very angry and ready to do harm to the eleven apostles. They
thought it would be safer for them to all be together in one
room, with the doors and windows barred shut.
Then, what the two men coming back to Jerusalem did not know
was that before they arrived and before the apostles were
together as one group again, Jesus had appeared to Simon Peter.
We are NOT told anywhere in the New Testament exactly when
and how and what was said between Jesus and Peter. We are only
told that Peter had seen Jesus. Peter was still in doubt about
everything, though he saw for himself that the tomb was empty,
he still was not convinced by the women that Jesus had been
resurrected to eternal immortal life. Sometime before the two men
arrived back in Jerusalem from Emmaus, it would seem Jesus
appeared to Peter, and so ended Peter's doubts about all the
events that had taken place that Sunday during the feast of
Unleavened Bread.
The two men from Emmaus came running into where the apostles
were gathered, and before they could get a word out about Jesus
appearing and talking with them, the aposles, with loud excited
voices said, "The Lord HAS RISEN indeed, and has appeared to
Simon (Peter)!"
Then the two men told the ten apostles (Thomas was not with
them for some reason) the fascinating episode that they had been
part of, and how their eyes had been opened to recognize Jesus
when He had blessed and broke the bread.
There was by now, little doubt in the minds of all those
disciples in that room in Jerusalem, that Jesus was alive once
more, and was alive in a glorified immortal sense (Luke 24:
13-35).
JESUS APPEARS TO THEM IN THEIR CLOSED UP ROOM
John records that it was the same first day of the week, and
at evening, of that same first day. Now, you are thinking how can
this be possible, when God starts a day at evening (Genesis 1)?
Should John not have written it was the SECOND day of the
week and at evening?
There are two reasons why John wrote it the way he did.
First, it could well have been that John was using ROMAN time (12
midnight to 12 midnight for a day, as most of us in our countries
that we live in, do). Then that evening of the first day, would
indeed in Roman time language still be the first day of the week.
On the other hand if John was using Jewish or God's counting
time for a day, there are times when the Almighty Himself counts
the EVENING as PART OF the PRECEDING day. We find an example of
this in Exodus 12: 18, 19. God is talking about the feast of
Unleavened Bread (verse 17), and as this and many other
Scriptures prove and teach, the Israelites were to eat no leaven,
but only unleavened bread for 7 days, from the start of the 15th
(at evening time) to the end of the 21st (at evening time) of the
first month of Nisan or Abib. But in this verse in Exodus 12, God
puts it this way to them, "In the first month, on the fourteenth
day of the month at EVEN, you shall eat unleavened bread, until
the one and twentieth day of the month, at even. Seven days shall
no leaven be found in your houses....in all your habitations
shall you eat unleavened bread" (Ex.12: 18, 19).
We know from verses like Leviticus 23: 6, that the feast of
Unleavened Bread was for 7 days, from the 15th to the 21st
inclusive. During those days they were to eat unleavened bread
only, seven days of no leaven bread but only unleavened bread.
Yes, in this instant, the evening was PART OF the previous
day. God can do things like this you know, if He wishes. He can
throw a curve ball now and again among all the straight fast
balls, the basic true balls. Genesis 1 is the basic true ball of
how God counts days 99% OF THE TIME, but now and then He pulls a
curve ball, just to keep you on your toes.
It was the evening time of the first day of the week, and
the eleven, well actually only ten (because Thomas we are told
was not there with them, for whatever reason, which we are not
told) plus the two from Emmaus were all together in a room that
had the doors shut, bolted tight. They were there for fear of the
Jews.
There they were talking over the great and wonderful events
that had taken place in the last 12 plus hours. Then....just
there.....no doors opened, Jesus STOOD IN THE MIDST of them! He
said, "Peace be with you." Immediately He showed them His hands
with the nail hole scars and the gash in His side where the
soldier's spear had been thrust. They knew it was Jesus and not
some demon playing tricks. They were delighted to see the Lord.
Jesus again said to them, "Peace be with you. As the Father has
sent me, even so I said you." And after saying this He breathed
on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the
sins of any, they are retained."
Maybe sounds a little strange to you. Jesus breathed on them
as typifying that the Holy Spirit had been with them in many ways
in the past, for that set them apart from those Jews who could
not understand because it was not given to them to understand.
Then the breathing on them for the Holy Spirit signified the Holy
Spirit would be continually with them, and even as a direct
begettal IN their mind on the coming day of Pentecost. And all of
that we shall soon find out about as we proceed through this
Bible Story in the book of Acts.
What about Jesus saying that what sins they retain shall be
retained and what they forgive shall be forgiven?
When is it that ministers or disciples of Jesus have the
power to retain or forgive sins. Probably in the main when they
are leading someone to baptism, or having to determine the
attitude of someone when they request to be baptized, for baptism
is the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ. People
who are going to baptize in the name of Jesus, must, with the
help of the Holy Spirit, determine the person or persons have
truly come to understand what being a disciple of Christ means,
and that they understand sin, and what they are requesting to be
forgiven from. Sometimes people are ready for baptism and
sometimes they are not. If they are, then sins will be forgiven.
If they are not ready, then sins will be retained, until they are
ready for baptism.
Jesus was telling those disciples that the Holy Spirit would
be guiding them as they worked with, served, helped, and led
others towards baptism and salvation.
Thomas, called the Twin, was not with them that evening when
Jesus came, so they had to tell him later that they had seen the
Lord. But Thomas said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the
print marks of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the
nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe!" (John
20: 19-25).
Would Thomas get his chance to do what he said was the only
way that he would believe that Jesus was alive from the dead? We
shall see in the next chapter.
................................
Written February 2003
  Chapter Forty-six:The Disciples finally Believe Jesus is Immortally Alive!
THOMAS GETS TO SEE JESUS
The Gospel of John says it was "eight days later." Now the
Bible uses "inclusive" counting and it uses "exclusive" counting.
If John was using "inclusive" counting then that first day, when
Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, the other women, to Peter, and
then the other nine disciples, was day number one.....eight days
later was then a another Sunday. If John was using "exclusive"
counting, then day number one was a Monday and day number eight
was a Monday.
So either a Sunday or Monday, ALL eleven disciples,
including Thomas, were together in the same room as before, with
the doors (the Jews were still in an angry mood towards them)
shut tight. But the doors shut, made no difference for Jesus. He
was now glorified, and doors being shut.....well He had no need
of doors. He could appear anywhere He desired. Those born of God,
made immortal, have the power to beam themselves wherever they
will, shall we say, molecule their atoms as invisible and put
those atoms back together as physical, wherever and whenever they
desire.
The eleven disciples were together behind closed door, and
in the blink of an eye, Jesus stood among them, and said, "Peace
be with you."
The apostles were STARTLED and even frightened (remember
only Peter of the eleven had already seen Jesus, and that was
eight days ago), they thought they were seeing a spirit or a
ghost.
Here we need to understand a few things that the Bible in an
overall ways teaches. We can see in the Bible that God has the
power to make Himself flesh and bone (it was God that came to
Abraham and had a meal with him, in Genesis 18), and God can show
His glorified form, His back parts (because no man can live if
they saw His glorified face and front parts (see Exodus 33:
11-23), to a human, if He so chooses. Angels, the good righteous
ones, who obey and serve God, can also appear to humans as flesh
and bone. We have many examples of this throughout the Bible. And
Paul told us to entertain strangers, for in so doing some have
entertained angels and did not know it (Hebrews 13:2). The other
two person that came with the Lord to Abraham (Genesis 18) were
angels. They went on to Sodom and Gomorrah. They actually took
hold of Lot at one point and pulled him back into the house (see
Genesis 19: 10). Angels can then transform themselves into flesh
and bone if they need to. But the fallen angels, or those known
as "demons" in the Bible, are NEVER ever said to be able to do
such a transformation, as to become flesh and bone. They can only
appear to mankind as a "spirit" or "ghost" type. And they have
and still do, appear to people as a "spirit." If you were able,
or if they allowed you to walk up to them and reach out to touch
them, you would touch nothing, your hand or arm would just pass
right through them, come out the other side, and you would feel
nothing.
God has NOT given the RIGHT or the POWER for fallen angels
or demons to appear as flesh and bone, and we can be mighty
thankful He had not, for they do enough evil damage on this earth
as it is, without having the power to transform themselves into
flesh and bone. Just think what a mess, much bigger and faster
than we could ever imagine, we would be in, if demon spirits
could appear as flesh and bone people. We would never know which
human was really a demon spirit. That is a frightening thought
just to imagine, but praise the Lord He has never allowed demon
spirits to appear as flesh and bone humans, only as "ghost" type
phantoms.
When Jesus now appeared, HE just stood in the midst of the
apostles (in a split second not there, and the next spilt second
there among them), they were frightened, thinking they were
seeing an evil spirit, looking like a Jewish man, looking in fact
a lot like Jesus.
Christ said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do you
have questions in your heart about what you are seeing? See,
look, my hands and my feet, that it is myself; come handle me and
see; for a spirit ghost has not flesh and bones as you see that I
have."
And while they still were in a disbelief for joy and
wonderment, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?"
They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it
before them.
A spirit ghost it would seem cannot do such a thing. Another
impossibility God has proclaimed on demon spirits. Yes evil
spirits can only do certain things, God has not allowed them to
do other things that could deceived the human race even more than
they are deceived already by their own human nature and Satan's
influence. Good righteous spirit angels as we can see from
Genesis 18 and other places, can appear as flesh and bone, and
eat a meal with humans. They, being righteous and faithful to
God, would NEVER with those miraculous attributes use them to
harm or deceive the people of this earth.
Jesus now looked over at Thomas, and said to him, Put you
finger here, and see my hands; put out your hand and place it in
my side; do NOT be FAITHLESS, but BELIEVING!" And Thomas
answered, "O my LORD, and my GOD!" Jesus said to him, "Have you
believed because you have seem me? BLESSED are THOSE who have NOT
SEEN and yet BELIEVE" (Luke 24: 36-43; John 20: 26-29).
Thomas got his chance to see Jesus and believe. We who have
come AFTER all this, after Jesus returned to the Father in
heaven, have not seen Jesus in this manner, but Jesus said those
who have not seen Him but BELIEVE anyway, are truly BLESSED.
One day, when Christ returns, we with millions of others, will
see Jesus, we will be able to see Him as flesh and bone, and also
as spiritually glorified, in His GLORIOUS POWER form, that is
portrayed to us in Revelation 1: 11-15. We will be able to see
Him from a frontal view, not just the back parts as Moses was
only allowed to see, but we shall see His face, and we shall
live, because we then shall also be in our glorified spiritual
bodies, we also shall be able to appear to humans as flesh and
bone, as being a part of the very family of God.
Jesus departed from them. A few days went by and they were
reminded by the women who had gone to the tomb that very early
morning, on the Sunday during the feast of Unleavened Bread, that
Jesus had said He would go before them to the Galilee area, and
so meaning they, the apostles should go there also. If fact Jesus
had unstructed the women to tell the apostles to go to Galilee.
So they all set off for the land of Galilee. Some of them at
least, maybe all of them, were at or very near the shore of
Tiberias. Sometimes the Sea of Galilee is called Sea of Tiberias,
after the name of the Roman emperor Tiberias Caesar. There was
also a town situated on the south west shore of the Sea, called
Tiberias.
On one particular day Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,
Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee (James and
John), and two others of Jesus' disciples were together, seven of
them.
Simon Peter said to the others, "I am going fishing." The
others said to him in reply, "We will also go with you." Perhaps
all seven of them were or had been fishermen before they were
called by Jesus to be His apostle.
They proverbial hung a sign on the door "gone fishing" and
went. But though they toiled through the night, they caught not
one fish.
Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, maybe
because of the morning mist, or the dimmed morning light, or
because they were about one hundred yards off shore, they did not
know that it was Jesus standing there. He shouted to them,
"Fellows, have you any fish?" They shouted back, "No, not a one."
Jesus replied with, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat
and you will find some." So they did, and within a minute they
were not able to haul the net in because of the number of fish in
it.
Then John said to Peter, "It is the Lord you know!" When
Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his top
clothes, for he was stripped down to his under garments, for the
hard work they had been doing all night long. He jumped into the
sea and headed for the shore. The other disciples came in the
boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not that far
from land, about a hundred yard's away.
When they got onto the land, they saw a charcoal fire there,
with fish lying on it, being cooked, and bread to one side. Jesus
said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have caught." So
Simon Peter went aboard the boat and hauled the net of fish
ashore, full of large fish, in fact there was exactly a hundred
and fifty-three fish, and though so many, the net was not torn.
Peter no doubt was either given strength from God to haul
this net of fish from off the boat to near where the fire was, or
the inspiration of the moment shot his natural adrenaline up sky
high.
Jesus said to them, "Come, and have some breakfast." None
dared as Him who He was, because they knew it was indeed the
Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so
also with the fish. It is recorded that this was the THIRD time
Jesus appeared to the apostles, after He was raised from the
dead. The first was to them, when Thomas was absent, then 8 days
later, when Thomas was present, as we have seen. The third time
then was this time here, at the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
WORDS FROM JESUS TO PETER
After they finished eating breakfast, Jesus said to Simon
Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you LOVE me more than these others
here?" Peter said to Jesus, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love
you."
"Then feed my little lambs," Jesus answered.
A second time He said to Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you
LOVE me?" Peter replied, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Christ then told him, "Tend to my sheep."
Jesus said to Peter the THIRD time, "Simon, son of John, do
you LOVE me?" Now Peter was grieved because He said to him the
THIRD time, "Do you LOVE me?" And Peter answered saying, "Lord,
you KNOW EVERYTHING, you KNOW that I LOVE you." Jesus said to
him, "Then FEED my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you
were young you clothed yourself and walked wherever you wanted
to; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and
another will gird you but not with clothes, and carry you where
you do not want to go."
Jesus said this to show in parable language that Peter
would, when older, be taken by the authorities and led to
execution. And history tells us that is exactly what happened
to Peter. He was finally put to death by crucifixion. Peter is it
claimed asked to be crucified up-side-down, saying he was not
worthy be to crucified like his Lord was.
After Jesus said this to Peter, He ended by saying, "FOLLOW
me."
Maybe it was deliberate on Jesus' part to ask Peter THREE
times if he LOVED Him, for Peter had DENIED Jesus THREE times,
you will remember. Peter was to be a LEADING apostle, not head
apostle as some claim, but certainly a leading one, and so
it was fitting that Jesus told him three times to take good care
of the sheep of Jesus' fold, the ones who would come to believe
IN and ON Jesus the Christ, as their Master and Savior.
Peter turned around and saw following Jesus and himself,
John, to whom Jesus had a special kindness towards. John was the
one who leaned across Jesus' chest at the Passover supper meal on
the evening of the 14th of Nisan, and had asked, "Lord, who
is it that is going to betray you?" When Peter saw John, he said
to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man, what is going to happen to
him when he gets older?" Jesus replied, "Look, if it is my will
that this man remains until I come again, what is that to you? It
is really none of your business. You follow me and do the work
I've given YOU to do."
After these words from Jesus, the story went around and was
spread among the followers of Jesus that John was NOT to DIE!
But, Jesus did NOT say to him that he was not to die, but only,
"IF it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to
you?"
Jesus was just pointing out to Peter that it should be of no
concern what other apostles and disciples were doing per se, or
how they would end their lives in death, the kind of death they
would die. Peter was told what HIS would be like, from Jesus
Himself, and that was ALL that he was told. Jesus never told any
other of the ten apostles how they would die, and so He never did
say that John would remain alive until He would come again to
earth from heaven. I guess not, for if that was the case, then
John would still be alive today, and be over 2,000 years old
(John 21: 1-23).
JESUS APPEARS TO THE ELEVEN ON A MOUNTAIN
IN THE GALILEE AREA
Jesus told the eleven to go to a certain mountain and stay
there until He would appear to them. They did, and in due time
Jesus did exactly as He said He would. He appeared to them, and
when they saw Him they worshipped Him. But it is recorded that
some of them doubted. They were still in "shock" mode so to
speak, for it had never be known that any human person ever rose
from the dead INTO IMMORTAL GLORIFIED LIFE!
Jesus came close to them and said, "ALL authority in heaven
and earth has been given to me. I want you to go therefore and
make disciples from all nations of the earth, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I
want you to TEACH them to OBSERVE ALL that I have COMMANDED YOU;
and I will be with you always, even to the END of the age."
It is fitting that people be baptized INTO the Father, He is
the Supreme one, the one who is the HEAD of all, even of Christ
(see 1 Cor. 11: 3). It is fitting that people be baptized INTO
the Son, for He is our SAVIOR. It is fitting that people be
baptized INTO the Holy Spirit, for it is with the Holy Spirit
that God leads, guides, directs, inspires, and gives power and a
sound mind to all His children. The Holy Spirit is the very
divine nature of God that imparts the germ of ETERNAL LIFE to all
who come to the Father through Jesus.
We baptize by the name of, by the AUTHORITY of Jesus, but we
should baptize people INTO the Father, then Son, and the Holy
Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ.
We also notice Jesus was here making it very clear that
OBEYING the commandments, all that Jesus commanded, which was
also the commandments of the Father, for Jesus had said He spoke
nothing that was not given to you from the Father, and Jesus made
it clear that man was not to live by physical bread alone, but by
EVERY WORD that came from the mouth of God, which is the WHOLE
Bible - see again Matthew 4: 4 (Mat.28: 16-20).
It was time for the disciples to return to Jerusalem. For
Jesus told them He would ascend back to heaven from that area and
that they needed to be in Jerusalem to wait for the promise of
the Father, for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them in a
mighty and in a great POWERFUL way.
John the apostle, says in his Gospel that Jesus throughout
His ministry did MANY OTHER signs in the presence of the
disciples, which have never been recorded by anyone. So many
other thing Jesus did and said that, John says, if they had all
been written down he supposes that the world itself could not
contain the books that would be written (John 20: 30, 31; 21: 24,
25)
Now of course John uses a figure of speech here, and means
that the amount of books needed to contain all that Jesus did and
said, would be larger than any Library on earth, maybe as large
as all the large famous Libraries of the earth put together. But
God has given us enough of the life and ministry of Jesus the
Christ for our knowledge and for our salvation at this time. Who
knows maybe in the age to come the New Testament Gospels may be
increased in size and contents to contain much more of what Jesus
did and said while on earth as a human being.
BACK IN JERUSALEM
After the disciples were in Galilee and Jesus appeared twice
to them (at least two times that is recorded for us), it was time
to return to Jerusalem, for Jesus would say His final goodbye to
them, as He went back to heaven to sit at the Father's right
hand. He also instructed them for the last time in a personal
way. By the time 40 days had passed from Jesus' resurrection to
His ascension back to heaven, the disciples were fully and
finally convinced that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead to
glorious immortality. All of this and Jesus' ascension into the
clouds and then back to be with the Father, we shall cover in the
next chapter.
THE APPEARANCES OF JESUS AFTER HIS
RESURRECTION THAT ARE RECORDED
In or around Jerusalem
To Mary Magdalene (Mark 16: 9; John 20: 11-18)
To the other women (Mat. 28: 8-10)
To Peter (Luke 24: 34)
to ten disciples (Luke 24: 36-43; John 20; 19-25)
To the eleven including Thomas ((Mark 16: 14; John 26-29)
At His ascension (Mark 16: 19, 20; Luke 24: 50-53; Acts 1:
4-12)
To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus
(Mark 16: 12, 13; Luke 24: 13-25)
Twice in Galilee
(Mat.28: 16-20; John 21: 1-24)
To five hundred all at once
(1 Cor. 15: 6)
To James and the apostles
(1 Cor. 15: 7)
To Paul on the road to Damascus
(Acts 9: 1-6; 18: 9, 10; 22: 1-8; 23: 11; 26: 12-18; 1 Cor.
15: 8)
.................................
Written February 2003
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment