passover – James G. Owen, Author

The Resurrection of Jesus: Is the Resurrection Real, or is it a Fable?

What does the word resurrection mean? It is the raising of the man, woman, or child from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is a person in the in the godhead (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) of the Father. God is a trichotomous God, yet he is One.

Is the resurrection real? In 1 Kings 17:17-24, I am reminded as I write this article of Elijah and the widow’s son. The widow’s son fell ill and died. The lady complained to Elijah saying she had to pay for her sin by her son’s death. I can imagine that Elijah was grieved by the complaint and learning of the boy’s death. He took the widow’s son to the bedroom and laid him there, and for three times he petitioned God the Father to raise up the boy. After the third time God permitted him to come to life, and the boy did live. Imagine the look on Elijah’s and the widow’s face. With Elijah it must have been the look of determination and of faith. With faith we can move mountains and in enacting our faith we have authority. Elijah’s authority at this time was with the Father, even though God’s Spirit raised the boy from the dead. Also, seeing is believing and the widow believed by sight, and by the word of God that came from Elijah which was truth.

“And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

1 Kings 17:24

In Ezekiel, we can read about the story of the dry bones coming together as an army to fight for the Lord. Many think this is a story of the Holocaust, and it could be, but as I have been thinking on my writings this week it could be the raising of an army to go forth to bring the gospel to every man on earth by those who believe in Jesus, the Church.

Also, the basis in the New Testament that the resurrection is not a fable, but truth lies in Jesus raising the body of Lazarus who was dead for four days. It is at this point in the degradation of the human body that it begins to have a stench. Jesus waited until this forth day to prove that the man was dead, I believe, for the people to believe. Jesus by the word of his mouth, just as in Elijah’s case, commanded Lazarus to come forth. Looking upon the sepulcher where Lazarus was laid the people watched as Lazarus came forth clothed in his grave clothes. Here, we see the Old Testament giving its account and the New Testament giving witness of the other.

On the third day after Jesus was crucified, he arose just like he told the disciples. On that same morning there is another account in the New Testament, and that is the saints in the graves of Jerusalem were resurrected and walked the streets. Imagine the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Father. In the Father there is all power and can do the impossible. Surely there were people who did not believe that Jesus was resurrected, but there were many who did because of his actions in his ministry prior to his death. Jesus, arose, folded the grave clothes as he came out of the grave with the gravestone having been rolled away by two angels. Was the sepulcher guarded? Yes, by Roman guards, but they fell asleep, being put to sleep by the angels.

“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:

And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,”

Luke 24: 2-6

Imagine the scene as Mary Magdalene and others came to the grave and saw his grave empty and wondering who took him. They didn’t believe at this time, but there were two men at Jesus’s grave site and reminded those present of Jesus’s words. Even telling the apostles they did not believe but came to believe after being reminded, and in the days forward of Jesus coming to him before his ascension. He was seen by many over the land of Palestine before the feast of Pentecost. It was important for Jesus to die for us, and to be resurrected. It is by his death and resurrection that Satan was defeated, and those who choose life through Jesus, death can no longer sting or take hold.

Resurrection is real. Jesus’s resurrection is real and not a fable. Even today, we see a form of resurrection in the hospitals where people are given a shock to get their hearts beating and through resuscitation. Being Pentecostal, I have heard many stories of people being resurrected by the Holy Spirit in church services. We have been given the power through the Holy Spirit given to us, and the Holy Spirit came after Jesus’s death. Remember, Jesus said he would be with us always, and he is through the Holy Spirit.

Note: All scripture used was taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.

Gethsemane: The Stone Anointed with Oil and the Treachery of Judas

The week of Passover is about the slaying of a lamb to shed its blood for the Hebrew people so that their first born would not die in the night that the death angel passed over. It is also a time of which the Paschal Lamb’ blood was spilt to provide redemption for all the people. Also, this story tells all mankind that the blood of the Lamb that was spilt during his time in Jerusalem before his blood was fully split at the hill of Golgotha on a cedar tree by the Romans so that all men, regardless of ethnic group which one belonged could have salvation from sin. In the New Covenant, which was prophesied in Jeremiah, this covenant was fulfilled on the cross that Jesus shed his blood for us.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Before he went to his death, Jesus prayed through the night at an old olive press among the grove of olive trees, which is located between Jerusalem and the Mount of Corruption (Mt. of Olives). He prayed in agony because he was a man. He was not afraid, had no fear, but knew his destiny was to be the sacrifice and die. His death was to come by the accusations, and the desire of the Judeans who felt threatened by his ministry and wisdom, because he confronted their sins and telling the people when asked if he was the Messiah, Jesus said, “I AM”. In parts of Palestine Jesus was rejected as he cast out demons from those possessed, and those who kept their possessions fled to their city, and those who came to meet him told him to leave. (Matthew 8:34) They would not accept him, yet even this rejection of the messiah was prophesied as well in scripture. (Isaiah 6:10)

“And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.”

Luke 23:2

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

John 1:11

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

I receive not honour from men.

But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”

John 5:39-43

Isaiah’s prophecy set the stage for Jesus to be rejected by the Judeans. During his time in ministry, the gospel was given to the Judeans by John the Baptist. Jesus had very little contact with the Judeans because the sought to kill him, and he knew if they were successful then his death was to too early. So, he went among the Hebrew tribes in the rest of Palestine in Galilee, and preached, taught, healed, delivered, and raised the dead.

“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

^“While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.”

John 12:35-40

All the rejection, and the sins of the world was upon his shoulders and grieved his spirit because of mankind’s sin, idolatry and pagan worship, sickness, diseases, mental disorders, demon possessions, the Law of Traditions, and their evil behavior. Every sin you can think of was all over the world, all in the region of Palestine. Therefore, he grieved, prayed, and sweated blots of blood over the millstone that was anointed by oil in a place called Gethsemane.

It was during this night after he prayed that Judas came with a band of people and Judeans. Here is the setting of Juda’s betrayal for a pittance of 30 pieces of silver. Every step of Jesus’s life was prophesied, and now being fulfilled. This is what happened during the first part of Passover, Jesus preparing for his death and being the last sacrifice for man.

Notes:

All scripture used was taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.

https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/gethsemane-and-the-olive-press

The Shadow of the Cross and the Messiah in the Old Testament

Throughout the Old Testament we see Jesus in the manner of shadows and messiah types. Today, I will spend my time on an example of the shadow in Leviticus 14.

“Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:”

Leviticus 14:4 KJV

In this scripture we see the keywords cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. The cedar being the tree, the cross that Jesus was placed on to die for our sins, and scarlet depicting his blood. Upon researching the hyssop, I found that it may not be the English mint, Hyssopus officinalis, but the Origanum syriacum which is known as Zaatar. Both plants are in the mint family. A prominent feature of any mint is its square stem. The Origanum syriacum is known to us as Syrian Oregano and is thought to be the biblical hyssop. The mints are aromatic. The Hebrew word that depicts the difference is the word ezob, and the modern Hebrew is ezov, thus rendering the English word hyssop. The Syrian Oregano, Zaatar is a prized herb used in their culinary dishes.

Where does the hyssop plant apply to in this shadow? The hyssop was used as a brush to apply the blood over the lintel and door posts of the houses the Hebrews were dwelling in Egypt during the Passover (Pesach, Pasha). The blood being placed on the doors of the homes and the people told to stay inside meant that their first born would survive. The blood being applied covered the indignation that was to come. The blood in this age covered. We think of the blood as covering our sins, but in the New Covenant it delivers us from sin because Jesus died on the cross to defeat sin and death, and to crush the head of Satan.

“And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.”

Exodus 12:22 KJV

As we look in John 19:29, we see the hyssop how the hyssop was used. While writing this devotional I am looking at this scripture to see its meaning as in symbolism being used in the Old Testament. In Exodus, it is used to apply the blood. The vinegar, which is a ruined wine would mean to me as a blood that was corrupted by sin. Man’s fall into sin affected his life, corrupted everything on earth and is a curse. This curse is generational and affects the blood of men spiritually.

“Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.”

There is another keyword in Leviticus 14 that is depicts what is to come. In verse 51 says,

“And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:”

What are the additional the keywords that applies to the Cross? Here we see the words running water. Water depicts the Holy Spirit and life. It was upon the Cross that Jesus would die for our sins but would always be with us through the sending of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 and fulfilling the prophecy of Joel. The Holy Spirit empowers and enables the Church to function and continue the ministry and works of Jesus. From the Crucifixion sin was defeated, yet life, strength, authority, and strength come from the Holy Spirit being with us and in us.

How do we know that Jesus was the sacrifice in the Old Testament? We see the symbolism above, and I will add another shadow keyword, that is red heifer. In Numbers 19:6 it says,

“And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.”

The red heifer, the shadow and symbolism of the blood and perfection. The red heifer in order to qualify must not have any dark hair on its body at all. All the hair must be red. The red heifer is symbolic of the messiah that comes to do the work for mankind forgiveness. The work of forgiveness only comes by confessing our sins to Jesus, the Intercessor between us and the Father.

So, in conclusion, we see the keywords, the shadows all coming together in the Numbers 19. The cedar, scarlet, hyssop, and the red heifer. In the running water, the Holy Spirit is to come later as a mighty rushing wind to fill the temples of men, women, and children. As I look upon this shadow and think on how it all came to be, I see beauty in the manner God works and how much he loves all of us. His love being shown in willing to die for mankind.

Notes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origanum_syriacum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Za%27atar

All scripture used was taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, Biblegateway.