The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Importance of the Resurrection Appearances to the Disciples

These resurrection appearances were not for the nation, but for the disciples. They confirmed those major truths that have engaged us. Jesus of Nazareth was:

(a) Israel’s true Messiah,

(b) and God incarnate.

(c) He is the lifted up One, as physically demonstrated not only by His crucifixion but also by His ascension.

(d) He has the serpent in subjection. His presence at the right hand of power by the throne of God confirms this.

(e) He has the authority to forgive sins, because

(f) He paid the price. The ‘blood on the ground’ was His.

(a) The truth that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah.

To the two on the road to Emmaus, Jesus, as a travelling Rabbi, explained from the T’nach the prophecies of Messiah’s suffering, and then connected those prophetic Scriptures to the life of their Master. He explained that the Jesus whom they saw crucified, was in fact ‘Messiah the Prince’ of Daniel, and that the resurrection that they found so difficult to believe, was a part of God’s great plan: “Ought not the Christ (Messiah) to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26) Later that day, when He visited the gathering of the disciples in Jerusalem, He repeated the discourse; and said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me…Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ (Messiah) to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day” (Luke 24:44-46).

(b) The truth that Jesus is God incarnate.

The resurrection appearances of Christ are in harmony with the truth of His deity. The ones that John records are consistent with the view that Jesus is the Memra/Logos/Word, and as such is divine, the visible representation of God while remaining distinct in Himself. If that is so, then there must be elements in His appearances and ministry during the six weeks after Easter Sunday that point to Him as the agent of creation, revelation, salvation and the signatory to the New Covenant.

In the first resurrection appearance, the Messiah’s words to Mary carry certain implications. He instructed, “go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’” (John 20:17). He did not say, ‘Our Father and our God’. Many of the Church fathers called attention to this expression, as expressly designed to differentiate between what God is to Him and to us - His Father essentially, ours not so: our God essentially, His not so: His God only in connection with us: our God only in connection with Him.

Then again, when He miraculously arrived among the disciples in the locked room where they were hiding, Jesus gave them amazing gifts suited to their immediate needs and only available from God Himself. First, He granted them peace (John 20:19). It can only be imagined all that was happening in Jerusalem at that time. The disappearance of the body of the Messiah, with all that that implied, must have invigorated an investigation of the Messianic movement with the design of silencing any that remained loyal to Jesus of Nazareth. If they remained in hiding, there was an element of safety; but if they began a public ministry, their lives would be in jeopardy. After Pentecost, some did pay with their life for their loyalty to the Messiah. In such circumstances, peace was the best gift that Jesus could have given them, a peace that did not depend on circumstances, a peace that only the God of peace could provide, a peace that surpassed all understanding, a peace that would guard both heart and mind.

Then they were given, the Spirit of God. They had a relatively short period to receive instruction from the resurrected Messiah, during which time they had to master facts about His death and resurrection. These were to be the foundation for mighty truths and principles that were, in turn, to be the foundation of Christology for the Church. A set of facts, and a body of truth, which would have to last Millennia, for the Messiah would never write a book. He would only pass on the information verbally. Accordingly, they needed the Spirit to lead them into all truth, and take the things of the Messiah and bring them to mind. The truths that they would disseminate would forever be the life blood of the Church and essential ingredients in evangelism and teaching. Jesus Messiah “breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’” adding “if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:22-23) The deity of Christ is the baseline here, since only God can dispense the Spirit of God and give the authority to bind and loose sins.

The miraculous catch of fish at the Sea of Galilee, must have reminded them, that all nature belongs to Him. As John remarked: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made”. (John 1:3)

(c) The truth that Jesus is the ‘lifted up’ One.

To Mary, in the very place where both Israel and Rome tried to keep Him in the tomb as the ‘cast down’ one, He spoke of a continuing ascent, which commenced with the resurrection but would only cease when He reached the ‘highest place that heaven affords’ - the throne room of God. “Jesus said to her, … ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’.” (John 20:17) Mark wrote, “He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). The actual ascension, witnessed by the disciples, demonstrated the reality of this truth.

(d) The truth that Jesus had the serpent in subjection

The resurrection of the Messiah, returning from Hades, and appearing in a fashion that demonstrated the future, eternal character of the resurrection bodies of the saints, indicated how complete His victory over Satan was. Never before had the Devil, who had the power of death (Heb.2:14), lost one from the tomb. There were those that had been raised from the dead before, but they always returned to the grave. But this time it is different. The new body is incorruptible, immortal, glorious, and spiritual (1 Co 15:43,44,53). It is not subject to natural laws - it can pass through walls - travel at the speed of thought - and clothe itself. In fact, although flesh and bone, it has the Spirit as its engine, not the flesh. ‘Walking in the Spirit’ is a true description of the activity of the resurrection body. The Messiah “abolished death”. Such was His mighty victory over Satan.

(e) The truth that Jesus can forgive sins.

He exercised this prerogative of deity when He included them in the ministry of salvation, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” (John 20:23 NASB) While He does not abdicate His divine position as the forgiver of sins, He allows the Apostolic band to be associated with Him in this vital ministry. The main purpose in this delegated authority is to lay the ground rules for the dispensing of spiritual blessing in the new entity, the Church

Next Time: Further thoughts on the importance of the resurrection/ascension of the Messiah

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

THE RESURRECTION OF THE MESSIAH

The sign of Jonah required a resurrection from the grave. Jonah returned from the dead. “You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God” (Jonah 2:6). Therefore, Jesus must return from the dead. A Messianic Psalm says, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption” (Ps.16:10). Paul quoted it in Antioch, and applied it to the resurrection of the Messiah, and had it in his mind’s eye when he wrote to the Church at Corinth, “Christ … rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor.15:3,4).

Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead. A mighty movement in the earth’s crust attended the ascent of the Messiah from Hades: “Behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it” (Matt.28:2) There were multiples of the sign of the prophet Jonah, i.e. saints returning from Hades (Abraham’s bosom): “Graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matt.27:52,53).

The Sadducees who denied the doctrine of the resurrection must have been much perplexed. In life, Jesus sent them multiples of the leprous ‘living dead’ who had been restored from their pitiable condition. Now in death He sent them multiples of those who had been actually dead but were now living again. Jesus, the Messiah, gave the Sadducees, who knew neither the power of God nor the Scriptures, one unforgettable lesson.

The disciples, during their time with Jesus, struggled to understand the teaching of His personal resurrection. For example Mark tells us: “He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what was the rising from the dead” (Mark 9:9,10 (NASB)). But it was clearly important that they should grasp it. On several other occasions He prophesied: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again” Matt.20.18,19; cf 16.21; 17.22,23). In another place He speaks of His resurrection as taking up His life again; “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (John 10:17,18). Here He separated two of the aspects of His rising from the dead: (i) He had the freedom and the ability to return from Hades; (ii) He had a charge from the Father to make that choice: “This command I have received from My Father”. The harmony that is in the Godhead is emphasised here, and those Scriptures that state that God raised Him from the dead are further illuminated by the Messiah’s own teaching. The Father gave the Son to death and the Son gave Himself. The Father would raise the Son and the Son would raise Himself.

“But now Christ is risen”, for: “He … presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). There are ten recorded resurrection appearances over a period of almost six weeks.

(i) To Mary of Magdala. (John 20:14 ff)

(ii) To others of the women. (Matt.28:9,10)

(iii) To Peter on his own. (Luke 24.34; 1 Cor.15.5)

(iv) To the two on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13 ff)

(v) To a group of disciples when Thomas was absent. (Luke 24:36 ff)

(vi) To the disciples when Thomas was present. (John 20:26)

(vii) To the seven disciples by the Lake. (John 21:1 ff)

(viii) To a company of more than 500, in Galilee. (1 Cor. 15:6)

(ix) To James, the half-brother of the Lord. (1 Cor. 15:7)

(x) To those who witnessed the ascension. (Luke 24.50,51; Acts 1.9)

Post-Ascension Appearances

(i) To Stephen: (Acts 7:56)

(ii) To Paul: (Acts 9:3 ff)

Next Time: The Importance of the Resurrection Appearances to the Disciples

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

THE BURIAL OF THE MESSIAH

Events had reached their predicted end: “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him” (Luke 23:33). It was Joseph of Arimathaea, who went to Pilate, and obtained the body of Jesus: “He took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before” (Luke 23:50-53). Note the change of emphasis, “they crucified Him”, but “he took it down”, not ‘Him’ but ‘it’, the body of the Messiah. The burial of Jesus was the burial of the body of the Messiah only. Jesus no longer occupied it. He was away somewhere else. He had descended into Hades. Paul wrote, Jesus: “also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?” (Eph.4:8-10) And again: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Rom.10:6-7). Jesus had prophesied: “for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” . Jesus described his destination as “the heart of the earth”; Paul, the great expositor, calls it, “the lower parts of the earth” and “the abyss (the deep)”. The garden tomb does not fit these descriptions. The Bible tells of Jonah’s experience in these words: “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth with its bars closed behind me forever”, and: “You cast me into the deep”. In keeping with this context, an earthquake marked the descent of Christ into Hades.

The descent of the Messiah into Hades is used to emphasise at least two important truths in Scripture. (i) That total victory over Satan would not be accomplished until the kingdom of the dead was under the control of the Lord of life. (ii) The second truth suggests the height of the exaltation of the Messiah was in direct contrast with the depth of His humiliation. The Bible states, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) (Eph.4:8-10) William Kelly writes ‘He led those captive who had led the Church captive. We were led captive of the devil, and Christ going up on high passed triumphantly above the power of Satan’. Paul also wrote, ‘And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to … death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ (Phil.2:8-11) 

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Significance of the Death of the Messiah (Continued)

Purification.

The death of Christ provided both blood and water, as John witnessed, “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34). John, emphasised the miracle of this divine provision with a threefold affirmation

(i) “And he who has seen has testified, and

(ii) “his testimony is true; and

(iii) “he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe”. (John 19:35)

Blood and water are the two cleansing agents under the Mosaic dispensation. The Tabernacle and the Temple, the two centres where the principle of substitution was a daily occurrence, both had two pieces of furniture outside the Holy Place. A laver containing water for cleansing, and an altar which incorporated the shedding of blood, the primary cleansing agent. During the Temple period, the lambs brought for sacrifice were first washed in water, in the Pool of Israel, and then their blood was shed.

Again, the Law required the leper to be purified by the use of blood and water before he could be pronounced ritually ‘clean’. He would bath in water, and sacrifices would be made, the blood of which would be applied to his right ear, his right thumb and his right big toe.

Moses ratified the first covenant with blood and water. “For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water … and sprinkled both the book, and all the people.” (Heb.9:19)

The second covenant was similarly ratified. At His last meal, the celebration of the Passover, the Messiah took the third cup, the cup of blessing and gave it a new significance. He said, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). The cup that He drank that night was not only wine but mingled wine and water, symbolising the sacred fluids that would pour from His side at the time of His execution.

While both blood and water are cleansing agents, those major passages that deal with the subject clearly indicate that blood is the primary cleansing agent. The passage that states that the first covenant was ratified by the use of blood and water continues, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you. Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Heb.9:20-22) Jesus, while declaring the cup of mingled wine and water to be the symbol of His sacrifice, identifies the cup as “the new covenant in My blood”. When Moses took the water of the Nile and poured it out, it became blood on the ground. Blood is clearly the cleansing agent incorporated in a substitutionary sacrifice. John wrote, “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) It is most clearly stated in the songs of Revelation. “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Rev.1:5,6) An elder described the martyrs of the tribulation. “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev.7:14)

The propitiatory nature of His sacrifice is appropriated, “through faith in his blood” (Rom.3:25 (KJV)). Individuals are “justified by His blood” (Rom.5:9). Paul wrote, “We have redemption through His blood” (Eph.1.7; Col.1.14; 1 Pet.1.19; Rev.5.9), and “have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph.2:13). Reconciliation and peace come through “the blood of His cross” (Col.1:20). It is the blood of Christ that purges the conscience. It is the blood of Christ that gives access to God. Sanctification comes through the blood of Christ.

While seemingly subordinate as a cleansing agent, water is not totally overlooked by the New Testament writers. John recorded the symbolic action of the Messiah in the upper room when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. The mysterious word of explanation related to a secondary cleansing. Simon had protested and refused the foot washing, to which Jesus reacted, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”  (John 13:8)Simon, missing the point asks for an additional cleansing. Jesus answered, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you. For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, You are not all clean.” (John 13.:10,11) Clearly, the washing with water was symbolic and was perhaps connected with the requirement that priests in the Temple were not allowed to participate in sacrificial duties unless their feet were washed.

The figurative cleansing nature of water is emphasised by the rite of baptism. Ananias instructed Paul, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16) Paul referred to the symbolic washing with water in Ephesians, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph.5:25-27) The writer to the Hebrews does not overlook it. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb.10:22)

Next Time - The Burial of the Messiah