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Articles 2021-2023
It was on the first day of the week that everything changed. When she saw the stone rolled away from Christ’s tomb, Mary Magdalene’s first thought was that people had stolen the body of Jesus. A logical thought perhaps, but of course, inaccurate.
When Peter and John arrived, they saw an orderly scene, and wondered. And even though it was not based on an understanding of scripture, seeds of faith were birthed in John’s heart (John 20:1 - 9). But not knowing what else to do, they went home.
Then Mary saw two angels. And as she interacted with them, she still did not understand what was happening. Any communication with angels that does not turn the human heart immediately toward Christ can only be darkness masquerading as light. But these were holy angels. So, Mary turned and immediately saw Jesus. And all He had to do was say her name. Suddenly, she had clarity (John 20:10 - 16). And then –
Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me (“Be not touching Me” – Youngs Literal Translation), for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”
Jesus had business in heaven that day. It was like He was saying to her, “Mary, I have to check in with My Father, but I’ll be right back.” Some hours later on that same day, His language to the disciples was not about keeping their distance like it had been with Mary but to come and check out the marks in His hands and His side (John 20:18 - 20). So, why did Jesus need to get to heaven on that Sunday?
I think the answer lies in God’s instructions to Israel on keeping the Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. Passover took place on their first month of the year. Before their first experience of this feast, they had been a people living in slavery. But after it, they came forth from Egypt having the beginnings of national identity. So, for them, Passover would always mark the beginning of their calendar year. In Egypt, God’s way forward for them was to apply the blood of a lamb that had no defect over the doors of their dwellings. Because they would quickly experience their release from bondage once they had partaken of the lamb, they were to eat in haste and be ready to travel. Sure enough, when the death angel saw the blood, he passed over the dwellings of God’s people, and all the firstborn of Egypt perished. Israel’s deliverance quickly followed.
Then in the ongoing life of God’s people, Passover was to be followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 23:14 - 15; Leviticus 23:4 - 8)). Today, we see fulfillment to this feast in how we respond to God. For example, Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers with grief in his heart because of their lack of mourning over sin in their midst. A man was immorally involved with his dad’s wife, i.e., his stepmother. And the church had boasted about their freedom rather than mourned over this evil.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Today, we walk in the fulfillment of the Feast of Unleavened Bread because the Lamb of God has shed His blood and we have responded by turning from our sins and partaking of Heaven’s truth with sincere hearts. Of course, our response is more than simply a one–time event; it can be nothing less than a lifestyle, a lifetime of responding with humility to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The reason is that we have all sinned (past tense) and we still fall short (presently) of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). And so, we daily turn our faces toward Him and partake of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
But once Israel entered the Promised Land, God intended to bless the labor of their hands with abundant harvests from their fields. Prior to each full ingathering, the priest was to take a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest and wave it before the Lord for the people to be accepted before Him (Leviticus 23:9 - 11). He was to do this on the day after the Sabbath, i.e., Sunday.
Of course, through resurrection, Jesus became the first fruits of all who had died – the beginning of God’s great harvest stemming from Calvary. Death had come through Adam, but resurrection from death had now come through Christ, the last Adam. And as all who are presently in Adam are spiritually dead, all who have been plunged into Christ now live and shall be made fully alive at the resurrection when He returns (1Corinthians 15:20 - 22).
But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming,
Two thousand years ago, at the beginning of the final resurrection, Jesus had to stand before the Father on that historic Sunday and wave the sheaf of its first fruits. Of course, He was both the priest doing the waving as well as the sheaf being waved.
Since that wonderful morning, the great harvest has commenced and will grow fuller and brighter until the final day. It is not insignificant that in our day, every Sunday, millions of people gather in church buildings, in homes, and even in open spaces to worship the Lord Jesus and to hear words both about Him and from Him. Every Sunday, these gatherings stand as a proclamation to the nations that Christ’s tomb is indeed empty and that millions upon millions of people have passed from spiritual death to eternal life.
Significantly, on that same day, Jesus did something unusual that has precipitated some debate among His people.
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Since Jesus intended to send them out in His name after the Holy Spirit was poured out on them (Acts 1:4) and the Holy Spirit would only be poured out after He had returned to heaven (John 16:7), what was He doing here? I give you my opinion. I suggest that He was prophetically demonstrating and defining to them that future coming of the Holy Spirit.
God often anointed prophets to both demonstrate heavenly reality as well as to foreshadow coming events by displaying in themselves a living parable. For example, God called Hosea to experience an unfaithful wife so that he and also those to whom he ministered could then to some degree gain insight into God’s grief concerning His people’s unfaithfulness. Ezekiel was to take a brick, inscribe the name Jerusalem on it, lay on his side next to it, and build a siege wall against it so that the people could gain insight concerning the judgment that was coming to their capital city. God even used Jonah in his rebellion to be a foreshadowing of the death and resurrection of Christ. Even as he was three days in the fish and from there came forth to make proclamation that changed a whole city, so the Son of Man would come forth from the heart of the earth to make ongoing proclamation that in our day is still changing the whole earth.
I would like to also give an example of a prophetic parable that I experienced in my own life. Some years ago, I was to speak at a church where many had moved in a measure of manipulative control and referred to it as spiritual authority. Prior to speaking, as I sat in the congregation, I looked to my left and saw a bearded man looking forward. But when he turned toward me, I saw that he had shaved off half of his beard. I thought, “Uh oh. What is this?” I then learned that he was one of the leaders in the church. During the time of corporate worship, he began to prophesy and confirmed what I had planned to speak about. But then as he was concluding, the Lord said that if there was not deep repentance, within a year half of the people would be gone. I found out later that the prophetic word did indeed come to pass.
I never forgot that particular meeting. One reason was the prophetic parable of the half–shaved beard to emphasize what the Lord had to say.
But in the above verse, it seems that perhaps Jesus was both speaking and also demonstrating a parable to His disciples.
Looking back from our vantage point, we can see the fuller story. When the Spirit came, it would be Christ breathing the breath of life into His followers. Remember the Garden of Eden when the breath of God came into a pile of dirt and man was brought to life. So also, His disciples would experience a whole new dimension of the indwelling and abiding life of God. It would be a noisy experience like the sound of a violent rushing wind. The place would shake. They would suddenly have the desire to speak in languages they didn’t understand. And any onlookers would think that they were drunk. But the breath of God would be blowing upon them and into them. And they would experience the power to both witness as well as to be a witness of Christ’s ongoing reign. So, in His parable, He was saying, “Make sure you are prepared in your hearts to receive the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God.”
I offer this perspective as one possible way to consider Jesus’ words and actions in the above verse. But what a powerful and strategic day that particular Sunday was. Again, to restate the opening thought of this article. It was on the first day of the week that everything changed.
Donald Rumble – May 2022
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