Bible Study: March 31, 2021

Well, we're in the middle of the days of Unleavened Bread.

And, you know, as we have gone through the events of the past four and five days, we've, you know, we've remembered and commemorated an awfully lot. We, as we, you know, took the Passover, we remembered and commemorated the death of Jesus Christ, and we've been rehearsing that over the last, you know, several months here as we've been in these Bible studies. Just what the sacrifice of Jesus Christ meant.

It certainly meant the forgiveness of our sins, but so many more things that God opened the door for us through Jesus Christ's life and His death and the example that He set for us. As we've begun the days of Unleavened Bread, we've learned the lessons of God washing over us, and as we've seen the example in the Old Testament, seeing that God, no matter what trials we're going through, no matter what's going on in our lives, knowing that He has a watchful eye on all of us, and that He is faithful to keep His covenant and the promises that He's made to us.

So those are all comforting things to us, and as we're in the middle of the days of Unleavened Bread, we learned that as what we're doing here is not just physically eating Unleavened Bread, but understanding the need to eat the spiritual Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth for the rest of our lives.

That's what God has called us to. He is in the process of perfecting us and bringing us to perfection.

That's what His goal is for all mankind, so that we could be part of His kingdom and serve Him in the way He wants.

So I thought tonight, given the fact that this is in God's calendar, this is the 18th day of Abib.

So the 18th of Abib and the time when Christ was alive was a very notable day. In that week, in that week, it was the Sunday, the first day of the week, was the 18th of Abib, and as you know, some notable things happened on that Sunday and during the days of Unleavened Bread.

Now, no matter what I say here today, it's the 18th of Abib, so it just happens to be the same day.

But we know that we know that always in the midst of the days of Unleavened Bread, it's the first day of the week that something significant happened, and that we use that first day of the week occurring during the days of Unleavened Bread to mark the count toward penny cost. So don't let anything I say tonight confuse you.

We're going to look back at Leviticus 23, but I thought we would start someplace else tonight as we look at what was going on here during the days of Unleavened Bread and bring it back home right here to where we are. So if you'll turn with me to John 16.

You know, when we're at Passover, we read after we do the foot washing service, after we take the bread, after we take the wine.

We go through the scripture reading and we read through most of John 14, 15, a little bit of John 16 and John 17, but there's a portion of John 16 that we don't read. And I don't know exactly why we don't read it. It doesn't particularly apply to the Passover when we're reading these things, but it does apply to where we are today. On how we would read John 16 verses 16 through 24, because in it Jesus Christ tells his disciples that evening things that are going to happen to them happen shortly. And as you remember, as we took Passover, John 13, John 13 around verse 7, you know, Jesus Christ says he's introducing the foot washing service. He tells the disciples, what I'm doing now, you don't understand, but after this you will understand. And certainly years down the road or even the next year, they understood more.

And what we're going to read here in John 16, 16 to 24, would fall into that category too. And he said these words that night, they didn't understand what he meant, but they would understand, and they would even understand a little bit as they went through the days of Unleavened Bread here in the few days ahead. So let's pick it up in John 16 and verse 16. He says, A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me, because I go to the Father. I knew that. He kind of tells him, what is going to happen here in just a few days? He's going to die that night. He's told them that. They don't fully understand that. But he says, you're going to see me, and then you're not going to see me, and I'm going to go to the Father. So all these things are going to occur during the days of Unleavened Bread and at time just ahead of them. And some of his disciples in verse 17 said among themselves, What is this that he says to us? A little while and you won't see me, and again a little while, and you will see me, and because I go to the Father. They said, therefore, what is this? A little while? We don't even know what he's saying. So Jesus knew that they desired to ask him, and he said to them, Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said? A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me? Most assuredly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice, and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. Again, he was letting him know, even later on that night, and by the end of the 14th of Abib, when he was arrested and crucified and died all in the 14th of Abib, they would be sorrowful beyond what they could have ever even imagined. Even though he warned them that he would die, they just didn't get it. And so as they entered into the days of 11 bread, as it began the 15th of Abib, that year is Christ's death, they were, I'm sure, confused, but a lot sorrowful, because the Savior, the Savior who they saw as the Savior, had been put to death, and they didn't understand it. But he tells them, your sorrow is going to be turned into joy.

That was going to happen just a few days down the road that they would that they would see God's plan in action that they would understand more fully as the as the years went by.

He said, he explains it a little bit in verse 21, he says, A woman when she is in labor has sorrow, because her hour has come. But as soon as she is given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

Therefore, you now have sorrow. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask me nothing.

Most assuredly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you. Until now, you've asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

So he was about to be glorified as he says in John 17 in the prayer. He was going to die. He was going to lay in the tomb for three days and three nights. He was going to be resurrected to eternal life and sit at the right hand of God for eternity.

So as the apostles heard these things on that night, and as they went back to wherever they went on the evening of the 15th when the Days of Unleavened Bread began that year, they might have been thinking about some of the things that he said. They may have just been completely engulfed in sorrow at what had happened, completely confused, but later on they did recall these things. You know, John was the last of the apostles to record his gospel. He was well aware and remembered the things that Jesus Christ said, and certainly over the 20-30 years that it was between the time of these events and he wrote the gospel, he remembered well what Jesus Christ had said. So we know what went on during that time of Jesus Christ's death.

We know that he died on the 14th. That is a given. On the 14th of Abib, he became the Passover lamb. He was arrested. He died, and we just commemorated that last Friday evening on the evening of the 14th of Abib. There are some things that coordinated during the Feast of Days of Unleavened Bread.

We think of the unleavened bread that we eat and the meaning that is associated with that.

But the Days of Unleavened Bread have a lot of meaning and significance beyond that. That's the primary thing God wants us to know is we need to be eating the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth following Christ's example explicitly if indeed we believe in him, believe in God's promises, and want to be part of his kingdom in the way that he is promised. So we know that that happened on the 14th. That evening of the 15th began, Jesus Christ was laying in the tomb. Now later on in the Days of Unleavened Bread, something else occurred. Let's go back to Leviticus 23.

And just look at the command because besides eating unleavened bread for seven days and the significance that that has, God indicates another non-holy day that is mentioned here in Leviticus 23. In verse 5, we have on the 14th day of the first month is the Lord's Passover. We know that, but that's not a holy day. That's not a day we're commanded not to work. We gather together. We observe the Passover in the evening, but the next day during the daytime, that's a work day. There's another such day that's mentioned here in Leviticus 23. Let's pick it up in verse, well, let's just read, begin at verse 7. On the first day, it says, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. That was this past Sunday when we observed the first day of unleavened bread. And you shall offer an offering made by fire the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. That's this coming Saturday, Sabbath, happens to be the last holy day of unleavened bread as well. And then God talks about this other event during the days of unleavened bread that is notable. It says in verse 9, if the eternal spoke to Moses, say, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land which I give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. Now we know this is the wave sheaf offering.

And I'm just going to read through it, and then we'll come back and talk about it.

He shall wave the sheaf before the eternal to be accepted on your behalf. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. So always the wave sheaf offering in ancient Israel was always on a Sunday. They didn't call it Sunday back then, but it was always on the first day of the week. It was always on a Sunday. That year of Christ's death, that happened to be the 18th of April, it happens to be the day we're on today, but it's always on a Sunday. The month day makes no difference. It's always the Sunday that occurs during the days of unleavened bread. You shall offer on that day, on verses 12, 13, and 14, I just wanted you to see how much work they had to do and put into this wave sheaf offering. Here it was in Israel. The barley and the wheat were the first fruits. Barley was usually the thing that came up first, and the people were supposed to cut a sheaf off, bring it to the temple, and it was going to be way before God for him to accept. They did this pretty much, I guess, as gratitude to God, recognizing him as the provider of everything we have, asking his blessing on the harvest, and honoring him in this offering, taking him for the harvest that they had. So it says here that you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the eternal.

Its grain offering shall be two tenths of an ephah of pine flower mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, for a sweet aroma, and its drink offering shall be a wine one-fourth of a hen. So along with the way the first fruits that they were going to weigh before God, they had these other offerings that had to go as well. So it took some preparation for this this event that was going to occur on the Sunday, on the first day of the week, during the days of unleavened bread. Verse 14, he gives them, you know, the coming in, you shall eat either bread, you shall eat neither bread nor parched grain, nor fresh grain, until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God.

It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Now remember those words in verse 14, you shall not eat bread, you shall not eat parched grain, nor fresh grain, until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God. So you must weigh through the wave sheep offering first, then the harvest can begin, then you can eat of the fruit of the land. And we see how important this first day of the week is in the counting because Pentecost is determined as you count from the wave sheep offering during the days of unleavened bread to come to Pentecost. Pentecost is the only day that's always on the same day of the week every single year.

It doesn't go by calendar date, it goes by southern Sabbath from the time of the wave sheep offering. So during those five verses, God says a lot. He says a lot. So I thought we would go over to Joshua and look and see what happened as Israel crossed into the Promised Land. God said in verse 10 there, when you come into the land, I promise you, you shall keep this every year, every year from then on out. So of course in Joshua we have Moses who has died. Joshua is now the leader of Israel.

As we pick it up in chapter 5, they cross the Jordan River miraculously. We're going to see the first few verses of chapter 5. The nations around are in terror of Israel. They've heard the stories about Egypt and God delivering the Israelites from Egypt. They know the power of God. Let's see how what this chapter 5 tells us about this wave sheaf offering and what happens as God brings Israel into the Promised Land here. Joshua 5 and verse 1 says, so it was when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the eternal had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over that their heart melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

Well, you can imagine if you were one of them what you would have felt like seeing Israel come into your land and knowing what God had done to Egypt totally dismantle them and totally destroy that greatest country on earth at that time what they knew was in store for them. At that time the eternal said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. So Joshua did as he was commanded, he made flint knives for himself, and he circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

So as they come into the Promised Land we learned that for some reason Israel has not followed God's command to have the male children circumcised while they were in the wilderness. We don't know exactly why, but in verse 4 it tells us this is the reason. This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt.

And we know the reason for that, right? Because when God sent the spies into the Promised Land, 10 of the 12 came back and said, the people are too, the people are too tall, the people are too tall, it's too difficult, we can't do it. What God has promised us is good land, but we're not able to do that. So God said, fine, if you don't want what I promised you, go ahead and you'll just perish in the wilderness. They did, and all that generation died in the wilderness because they didn't take God for his word, they didn't trust that he could do what he said he could do, bring them into the Promised Land. Well, now here they are the Promised Land, but we learned that the people who have been born in the wilderness, apparently, were never circumcised. So let's read down to verse 5 here. For all the people who came out had been circumcised in accordance with the covenant that God made with Abraham, and the sign of the covenant in the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, between God and his people. All the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised for whatever reason. You know, perhaps, you know, we don't know where they just laxed, did they just forget, did they just think it wasn't necessary? Was it because they broke the covenant with God when they denied him and rejected the Promised Land, and so they just didn't keep up with the covenant? And God, you know, in that broken covenant? But now, as they enter in the Promised Land, God says, you know, now we have to have a sign of the covenant back. You have to be circumcised before we go any further. Now, keep your finger there in Joshua 5. Let's go back to Genesis 17 and see what God said to Abraham. And notice the words that he said as he told, gave Abraham the promises that he gave them, told him he would become a nation, told him that he would become a great, well, a great people, and that he would give them the land of the Canaanites and these nations that were around there. In Genesis 17, verse 7, okay, see in verse 6, he promises Abraham, I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you. This is an everlasting covenant. Still exists between God and the descendants of Abraham today. I will give you, verse 8, I'll give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

God said, that's what I promised to you. And then he said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. It was a physical covenant back there in Old Testament times, a physical sign of their agreement that they would follow, follow God. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised every male child in your generations. He who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And then notice verse 14, and the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. So as the Israelites stood there with God bringing them across the Jordan miraculously, bringing them into the promised land, the land that he promised Abraham back all these hundreds of years before, we have a group of people who have not kept God's covenant. They were not circumcised and by definition they were cut off, they were cut off from God's people. They were cut off from God, I should say.

So we're going to see here in a little bit that as Israel was coming into the promised land, it was in the spring of the year. They were going to be observing the Passover. You know, we just talked last week or the week before at at Sabbath services about the requirements for observing Passover. In the old covenant it was you had to be circumcised. Exodus 12 verses 43 to 48. Makes that perfectly clear. God says no, no foreigner shall take it with you and if he wants to observe the Passover with you, he must be circumcised. We know that in New Testament times it's not circumcision of the flesh but circumcision of the heart. That is our covenant with God. As it says in Romans 2, 28 and 29, when we're baptized and we sacrifice and yield our heart, minds and soul to God, we sacrifice our lives to him and it's in that covenant with baptism and his Holy Spirit in us that we are circumcised in heart, not in flesh. But let's keep it in the old covenant for right now and see how God works because we learn a lot about the new covenant from the old covenant and we see God's plan just so beautifully brought about as we look at that. So we are refreshed on what the covenant is between God and man in the old covenant. It is circumcision. We go back to Joshua 5. We know now God is looking at all the men who are born in the wilderness. None of them have been circumcised for one reason or another and God says they must be. If they're going to be my people and if I'm keeping my covenant with you, then you need to keep your covenant with me. All these men need to be circumcised.

Now remember how many people came out of Egypt and how many people were there wandering in the wilderness? It wasn't just a handful. Hundreds of thousands, 600,000 males besides men, women, or besides women and children came out of Israel. A huge number of people this is going to be. So this wasn't any small task to to circumcise all these men who needed to be circumcised as part of the covenant with God. And so we see there in verse 3 it talks about the hill of the four skins.

It literally was a hill of the four skins by the time they got done because of the number of people who needed to have that sign of the covenant in them. Okay, verse 6. We're back in Joshua 5 now.

So we know this and so before God is going to take them into the promised land or deliver that land to them, they need to have this covenant in them. Verse 6, for the children of Israel walked 40 years into wilderness till all the people who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed because they didn't obey the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord swore that he would not show them the land which he had sworn to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Well, we talked about that. God said if you don't want it, if you're afraid of it, you don't need to see it. So Joshua, verse 7, Joshua circumcised their sons whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they hadn't been circumcised on the way.

So it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. So some days, some days passed by, people healed up and then in verse 9, the eternal said to Joshua, this day I have rolled away their reproach of Egypt from you.

Egypt is far behind you now. I have taken you out of Egypt. There is no going back. I brought you to the Promised Land and now, now you have you are in covenant with me again. You've renewed the covenant with me. We're going, we're going forward. Therefore, the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. Verse 10. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. So we have the setting of the time of the year. It's Passover. There's no way the children of Israel could have taken Passover being uncircumcised. So they had to be circumcised before they could participate in that Passover according to what God had said in Exodus 12 verses 43 to 48. So that had to happen. So they did take the Passover there during that time. Raises the question, perhaps in your mind, well, what did they do those 40 years that they were wandering in the wilderness? Were they keeping the Passover at all during those 40 years? They were uncircumcised during that time. A good number of the males. What was going on with them? Well, let's go back to Exodus 13. Just an interesting verse, you know, an interesting verse that's there in the beginning of the chapter there.

Savior, did you have something you want to say?

Okay, okay. Now I just saw a yellow light go by, so I looked at it.

She was saying, and I say, he's going there. Okay, Exodus 13.5, right? Okay, Exodus 13.5.

God tells Moses, or Moses tells the people, remember this day when she went out of Egypt, verse 5, and it shall be, when the eternal brings you into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, the land that they are now in, as we're reading in Joshua 5, when God brings you there, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep the service in this month. So, whether they did or did not keep the Passover in any way during the years in the wilderness, God said, when you come into the land, you will keep this Passover. You will be observing this annually. So, as they're there in Jericho now, in order to keep the Passover, they've had to go through this ritual of circumcision to enter into the covenant with God. God is preparing the people here, and what they are going to do, for 40 years, they have been in the wilderness. 40 years, he's been feeding them, he's been bringing in water from Iraq, he has provided everything that they need.

He has been with them day and night. They've seen him in a cloud by day, pillar of fire by night. They've known God has been with them, and he has provided everything that they need, even to the extent that their sandals and their clothes, nothing wore out during those 40 years. But now they're going to enter the land that he promised them, and now they're going to begin doing the things that God had said they would do when they enter the land. One of them is Passover. So now they're ready to keep the Passover, and they did that, as it tells us in verse 10.

In verse 11, it tells us that they did something else as they entered into the Promised Land. They ate to the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread, and parched grain on the very same day. So, the day after the Passover begins the days of unleavened bread. They were eating unleavened bread, it tells us there. But also they ate the parched grain on the very same day. What does that tell us that they did as they were in that Promised Land, that God had told them they would begin doing when they entered that Promised Land?

Well, they began doing the chief offering, right? Yeah, yeah.

Just to rewind a little bit, there's only the second year that it shows that they kept the Passover in the wilderness. Second in the wilderness, yeah, good point.

So here they are, they've kept the Passover. And in verse 11, we see they're eating unleavened bread, exactly as they should be. And it says they ate parched grain on the very same day. Those are the same words that God used in Leviticus 2314 when he was talking about the way she fought for it. Offer the way she fought for it before me. You won't eat any parched grain until this, well, you'll eat it on the same day that you offer the way she fought for it, and the first fruits are accepted by God. So it tells us, as we look at those words, Israel was doing, as they came into the land, exactly what God told them they would begin to do. Now they were in the Promised Land, and now Leviticus 2310 through 14, whatever the verses we were at, were back there. Now they are going to begin to do that. So year by year thereafter, they would be on the Wave Sheep Day, the Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread, during the Christ time it was the 18th of Abib that we are on today. They would be doing this as a ritual, that they would be waving the first fruits before God, and they would do that. They would do that. As you see them begin to eating the parsed grain, as they began to eat the fruit of the land on the very same day, in verse 12, it tells us the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. Now they were going to live off the land. No longer did God need to provide the manna, He had brought them into the land, floating with milk and honey. The land would be able to provide for them as they worked it. The manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. Now verses 13, 14, 15, it's a again remember we're here in the in the spring holy days, the same time of year that we're in right now. They've done the Wave Sheep offering on the day that God had commanded them to do that. He was directing them through the whole process. And in verse 13, it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold a man stood opposite him, with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him and said, Are you for us or for our adversaries?

And he said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant?

Now who who is this man that Joshua is encountering here? Would you think?

Well, in all likelihood, it was the one who became Jesus Christ.

And we know that because of what it says in verse 14. What about verse 14 would tell this, this just isn't an angel, it's not just a man, but it is the one who would become Jesus Christ.

It's because he worshipped him. He worshipped him, right. When you see angels coming down, right, like in Daniel, whenever Daniel or anyone else would fall down before an angel, they'd say, Stand up, don't worship me, worship the Lord. But here, here in verse 14, as Joshua worships the commander of the army of the Lord, he doesn't tell him that. He accepts the worship. So we know, we know that this is Jesus Christ, the one who became Jesus Christ, who was appearing to Joshua here. And he's come, he says, as the commander of the army of the Lord, I've come as the commander of the army of the Lord. You know, we talked in Hebrews about names of Jesus Christ. You know, one of them was, he's the captain of our salvation. He's the leader. He's the one who we follow into, you know, follow into the kingdom, follow his example, follow in his steps. You know, later on, we're gonna talk a little bit about, he was the forerunner. He was the one who went before us. And as we see his example in his life and his death, and even his resurrection, we know what God has in mind for us because he was the one, he was the one who set the example, and we could look at the pattern in his life to see what it is that God has in mind for mankind to yield to him.

So, verse 14, I've come as commander of the army of the Lord. Joshua fell on his face of the earth and worshiped. What does my Lord say to his servants? And the commander of the Lord's army said, take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. Same thing that he told the Moses at the site of the burning bush. Take your sandal off your foot where you're standing is holy. So here it is, as the children of Israel have followed God's command, they've been circumcised, they've taken the covenant, they've entered into a covenant with God, as the way it was in the old covenant, or the Old Testament times, they've kept the Passover exactly as God said they should. They've done the way of chief offering, it's been accepted by God, and they've begun to eat of the fruit of the land, and now they are about to enter into the Promised Land. They've done what God has said, and he's going to begin to deliver the cities of those nations into Israel's hands. And so the very next chapter, we won't go into it, talks about Jericho, the most fortified city of that time, and how God would begin to deliver those cities of that land into Israel's hands, as long as they obeyed him. Many lessons, many lessons Israel learned along the way, many lessons we learn as we read through Joshua and see, you know, what it was and the mistakes that Israel made and some of the people individually made that cost, you know, the whole nation some harm, but we'll go into that, we'll go into that another time. So we see here God's commands at work as we see this wave chief offering, and as he does exactly what he says, and even the manna stops as they begin to as they begin to eat to the fruit of the land.

Now before we go to the New Testament, let's look at Exodus. Exodus 23.

Exodus 23.

And verse 19, I believe it is.

And verse 19, I believe it is.

2319.

Here, you know, you see God talking. Verse 17, he talks about three times of the year, your mail shall appear before the Lord God. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until morning. Verse 19, the first of the first fruits of your land, you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. So there he's referring to this wave chief offering. He calls it the first of the first fruits. You take this first of the first fruits, you bring it to the temple, the temple priest is going to wave that before God.

It'll be accepted by him, and then the harvest can begin.

Now before we go to the Old Testament, or New Testament, let me pull up something here just so that we have a chance here to look at what, again, it was what it would have been like in Old Testament times during this wave chief offering that's talked about in Leviticus 23.

As I mentioned, there was a lot going on during that wave chief offering, you know, and this gets lifted out of, I don't know where I copied it out of, I didn't write down my references, but in it I copied it down because the author had put all these references of where he came up with his conclusions.

He says, though, Scripture specifies the day the wave sheaf was to be waved, it gives no specific time of day to cut it. It was on the first of the, it was on the first of the, the first day of the week that occurred during the days of Unleavened Bread, but it doesn't say exactly when you have to cut it, this is when you need to wave it before God.

Jewish history from the second temple period gives an interesting insight. The second century Mishnah affirms that when the Sadducees controlled the temple, and they controlled the temple when Jesus Christ was alive, when the Sadducees controlled the temple, the sickle was put to the grain just as the sun was going down on the weekly Sabbath. The book Biblical Calendars states the bothhesians, the bathusions, those are the temple priests, reaped the first fruit sheep at the going out of the Sabbath. And so he concludes there too. The New Testament never says that this was a wrong practice. Christ never spoke against it. So this is what was happening, and this is what was going on at that time.

So as we look at the New Testament, and we look at 31 AD when Jesus Christ, you know, we believe it was the year that he was arrested, crucified, died, was resurrected, and ascended into heaven to be accepted by God, and then ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God for eternity, we look at what was going on with the Jewish priests.

And on that, on the Sabbath that occurred during the days of Unleavened Bread, as the Sabbath was ending near the end of sunset, the priests would have had an awfully lot going on. They would have been consumed with the wave sheep offering the very next morning. They were going to be waving this before God. They had to have a lamb ready. They had to have the other parts of that offering ready.

And as you read some other places, it says it took them, it took them quite a bit of time. That's why they began the process on Saturday evening, so they were ready by an early morning waving of the sheep, because the harvest couldn't begin until the wave sheep had occurred, and then the harvest could begin, and the people could eat of the fruit of the land that day. So that's notable, because Jesus Christ is dead at the time this is this is going to occur during the year 31 A.D.

when Christ has died. So we know on the 14th of Abib, which, and we could go through this in detail if anyone wants, but I think you all kind of know the timeline we have here. You should look into the Bible and know that there's a holy day during that period. There's two preparation days during that period of time between the time that Jesus Christ was killed, crucified, and laid into the tomb, and the first day of the week when Mary and the others came to the tomb and found it empty.

So we know that Jesus Christ died on the 14th of Abib. As you go through the whole thing, that was a Wednesday, and he died on a Wednesday, the 14th of Abib. At sunset, that day began the days of Unleavened Bread. It was holy time for the Jews. It was important to remember that they would have Jesus laid in the tomb before the 15th began because they could not bury someone as the Sabbath began. He died at three o'clock in the afternoon. Joseph of Arimathea came. They laid him in the tomb, wrapped him in the cloths that they wrapped them in, and he stayed there until the ladies were going to come back on Sunday morning.

They didn't call it Sunday, of course, at that time, the first day of the week, to prepare his body with all the spices and anointings and everything that they did back in that day. So Jesus Christ was dead and buried by the 14th.

So we know that on the evening of the 15th, remember God's day begins on the evening, so the evening of the 15th, 16th, and 17th, Jesus Christ laid in the tomb. Before we go any further, let's go back to Matthew 12, or forward to Matthew 12. Just to refresh all our minds on this, Jesus Christ gave one sign only, only one sign that he was the Messiah.

And he gives that back in Matthew 12, 39. He repeats it again, I think, in Matthew 26 briefly. But here in Matthew 12, 39, he says, the only sign I'm going to give you, he says, to the Pharisees, is the sign of Jonah. Let's read that. 38, the Pharisees come, they say, give us a sign. Christ, Matthew 12, verse 39, says to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

He makes it crystal clear, the only sign that Jesus Christ was not in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. He is not the Messiah that they were waiting for and that we look to as the Messiah today. So let's count it back. So on the 14th, he died. So on the evening of the 15th, 16th, and 17th, that would have been the Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, he would have been in the tomb. That's three nights. The daytime portion of the 15th, the daytime portion of the 16th, the daytime portion of the 17th are three days. The 17th in that year was the Sabbath day, the Saturday Sabbath. The 18th was Sunday, but on the 17th was the Sabbath.

Three days and three nights would have ended at about around sunset on that Saturday evening, just at the time three days and three nights prior that Jesus Christ was laid into the tomb.

And so as we look at Jesus Christ and as we look at the sign that he gave us, we look at this and say, okay, if he's the Messiah, then he was resurrected sometime on that Saturday Sabbath, right before the sun went down, exactly three days and three nights after he had been laid in the tomb. Let's go to John 20. John 20, as you're turning there. Remember that on that Saturday evening then, as that sun was going down on the 17th, the priests and the priests of the temple, they would have been very busy with the with the wave sheaf offering and preparing it for the next day. They would have been, I don't know if all the people of Israel would have brought their first fruits to them, or they went out and they cut down some of the first fruits that they were in a wave, but they had to do that. They needed to get the offerings prepared because they were ready for an early morning Sunday wave sheaf offering before God so the harvest could begin. So on that evening, they had plenty of things going on in that temple as they were preoccupied with this annual ceremony that God had commanded them as part of the old covenant.

So let's pick it up in John 20 and verse 1. It says, on the first of the week, that'll be Sunday, I'm going to call it Sunday, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

So while it was still dark. So we talk about Easter sunrise services, Jesus Christ rising at sunrise. We know that's not the case, but because before sunrise, Mary Magdalene was there, Jesus Christ was already resurrected. So we know as Sunday morning was there, Jesus Christ was no longer in that tomb. Okay. Brother Shaby. Yes, sir. This specific translation shows from the Greek that is not just the first day of the week, but the first day of the weeks.

Oh, we have seven weeks. Yes. Oh, interesting. Seven weeks toward Pentecost. Yeah, it's been to come. Okay. Everything ties back. Everything ties back to the Holy Days. Yeah. Okay. I hadn't heard that before. Very good. Okay. So the first of the weeks. Okay. Went to the tomb early. Okay.

So she goes there. Jesus Christ is gone. She's there ready to anoint Him. He's been dead for three days and three nights. She's there to do what, you know, to do with Him what they did with people who had died. At stunned her, she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, that would have been John, where in his gospel, and said to them, they've taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they've laid Him. Didn't even occur to Him that He'd been resurrected, even though He said, you won't see Me, yet you will see Me, but, you know, and your sorrow will be turned to joy. Didn't even occur to her. They've stolen the body. They've taken Him someplace we don't even know where He is. So Peter, verse 3, Peter goes out and the other disciple, and they were going to the tomb. They both ran together and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there. Yet He didn't go in. Well, He knew, wow, the cloths that He was covered with, those are laying on the floor there. If they moved Him, they would have taken the cloth. They wouldn't have just taken the body and left the cloth behind, so He didn't go in. But then Simon Peter came, following Him, and He went into the tomb, and He saw the linen cloths lying there. And He saw the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. I'm going to pause there for a moment, because, you know, we read that, you know, maybe every year as we're in, as we are in this time of year, and there's always little details in the Bible that God makes sure are there that tell us something about the culture of that day. And we learned something about the culture of that day, because it's a little insight into why John would have remembered the detail that as they looked in, the linen cloths were laying there on the floor.

But this napkin that they used to cover the face of the dead person was neatly folded, all alone by itself. One of you, one of you sent me something back a few weeks ago that I thought was very interesting, and I think, I think probably explains this a little bit. It was an interesting video where someone had looked back into the culture of the times to see, you know, what it was like, and what was it about this napkin and these linen cloths and whatever, and indeed, you know, that's exactly what they did. They would cover the dead potty with a linen cloth and put a napkin over the head, you know, even though that from the occasion of Christ resurrecting Lazarus. When he came out of the tomb, he had this, he had this cloth over his head. And as the video went on, it talked about, it talked about masters and servants, and it talked about how, how masters would relate to their servants at dinner time. You know, we might use linen cloths for coverings, and we might use napkins, and it said that, it said that in that day, a master knew well what his servant wanted, or a servant knew well what his master wanted. And as he would prepare supper for the master, he would get the table set exactly the way the master wanted it, and everyone would have a full napkin by their plate. Servant would come in, he would serve the meal, they would use the napkins, and the servant would just go away. He never entered, he didn't enter the room again, until everyone was gone, it was time to clean up. So as, as he watched them eat the meal, and as he watched what went on, his signal was always from the master. The master was the one who gave the signal of what was going to happen. When the meal was done, the master, like you and I, like I would do, like we would do, we have a napkin on our lap when we're done, we just take the napkin off, and we lay it on the table. Now we walk away. And the master, if the, if the, if the, if the master laid his, just took the napkin and laid it on the table, everyone left the room the servant knew they're done eating. I can come in, I can clean everything up, and be on my way.

But if the servant folded his napkin and put it, if the servant folded his napkin and laid it back down on the table, that the master did, the servant would know, that's his signal, don't clear off the table, the master is coming back. And so when Peter saw this napkin being folded together in a place by itself, the inference was the message there is, I'm coming back. I'm coming back. So, you know, I, I, that may or may not be exactly what happened, but for God to put that little detail in there, and then have this insight into what it was like back then as servants served their masters, and they indeed be exactly what Jesus Christ did. And when Peter looked in and saw that napkin folded by itself, he had the message, he's coming back. He's coming back. Well, let's go on. I just thought that was an interesting insight into this little detail that's there in the Bible. In 1st Saint, as we go on, it says, the other disciple who came to the tomb first, that would have been John, went in also, and he saw and believed. He went in and saw the same thing Peter did, perhaps had exactly the same message as he looked at that napkin and the linen cloth laying there, and they believed. But they apparently didn't know what to make of it. They didn't tell anyone. In verse 9 it says, for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. And then they went away to their own homes. Well, all this, all this was happening around Mary, who is standing out. She's watching them in the tomb, and then they just, they just leave.

Mary is standing there in verse 11. She stands outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And there she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, because they've taken away my Lord, I don't know where they've laid yet. And when she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and didn't know that it was him. So he said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking? And she supposed him to be the gardener and said, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid him and I will take him away. And then he speaks in a way that Mary immediately knew her shepherd's voice. Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say, Teacher, you can imagine, you can imagine the emotions that went on at that moment when Mary turned around and saw him, heard his voice and knew that Jesus Christ was alive.

Whatever sorrow she had immediately had disappeared. As she saw Jesus Christ standing there alive, we can only imagine what that must have been like to be at that time and to know the Master that you knew was the Son of God, the Messiah that was promised on the earth that had died and you didn't understand why. And here he was alive again. That all happened during the days of Unleavened Bread.

You know, on the Passover before the beginning of the days of Unleavened Bread, we commemorate Christ's death. It was a sorrowful night for those disciples and for all of mankind and for us as we recall what happened to Jesus Christ and how he suffered at our hands really because our sins, he bore upon himself that we could be forgiven. He shed his blood, he gave up his life. But here, but here now, four days into the feast, on the 18th of the Sunday during the feast of Unleavened Bread in that year, now Jesus Christ has risen. Now he's alive again. So in these four and five days that we have, we have death and we have life. Let's go to Romans. Romans 5. Paul puts it very succinctly in one verse as we look at Jesus Christ's life and death and how that impacts us and what it means to us. Romans 5 and verse 10, he says, if when we were enemies and we were all enemies of God, right, we all, Romans 8-7 tells us that our carnal mind is enmity against God. We resist him. We don't want to do what he says. We think that we can do it our way and he's okay with it. We can make all the excuses in the world. We can justify everything we do. Bottom line is, God says, do it my way. Do it the way you say it in the Word. If you're not doing it the way I said in the Word, then you're following your own will and you're following your Father who is not God, but the God of this world who is Satan. So he says, if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, I remember Jesus Christ, he opened the door to reconciliation. Before that, there couldn't have been reconciliation. Jesus Christ opened the door for us to be reconciled to God. If we believe in him, if we accept his sacrifice, and if we want to be reconciled to God, we have no choice but to follow everything that Jesus Christ did. We have to follow his example, follow his Word, live our lives as he lived. So we are reconciled to God through the death of his Son because he paid the price for our sins. Much more, having been reconciled will be saved by his life. So in this festival that we're in, God didn't command, nowhere did he command that we keep this 18th of April or the Sunday that occurs during the days of Unleavened Bread. It's holy time. It's notable time. It's a special time. We don't stop work. We don't gather together, but it's something that important that happened during that time. It's not a holy day, but it is noticeable that in these days of Unleavened Bread, life came.

Jesus Christ, you know, he read it on Passover. Jesus Christ said, I am the bread of life. Whoever takes of this bread will live forever. And so we learn in the midst of these days of Unleavened Bread, as he's brought back to life by God after he's laid in that tomb for three days and three nights, that if we eat the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth for the rest of our lives, as the seven days of Unleavened Bread signify, that he too will bring us to life. Remember, as we read John 14, I guess John 6 it was, where he said, whoever eats of this bread, I will raise him up at the last day. I will give him life, but he needs to eat of the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth. He needs to eat of the bread of Jesus Christ, eat of his flesh, as we talked about. So we were there, but let's go back to John 20 here. John 20 here. Mary has seen Jesus Christ. They have this emotional, I can only imagine, and you can imagine what Mary was feeling like. And she would have run to Jesus Christ when she recognized who he was, but Jesus Christ in verse 17 of John 20 stops her. He said to her, don't cling to me, Mary, for I have not yet ascended to my father. I have not yet ascended to my father. Don't touch me yet. Don't touch me now. I have to go to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father and to my God and your God. So hold off, Mary. Don't touch me. I haven't yet ascended to the father. I need to go up there and go and tell your brethren, my brethren, that this is what I'm going, this is what's going to happen. Now, as we go through that 18th of Abib, that would have been in the morning. Remember, this is early in the morning that they're at the tomb. Peter and John have been there. Mary is there. She sees Jesus. Jesus says, I haven't yet ascended. For those who are newer, remember Jesus Christ, he didn't ascend into heaven while he laid there in the tomb for three days and three nights. He was dead. He was asleep, just like when we die, we're asleep until we hear the words of Jesus come forth, as he says in John 5. So, he says, don't touch me. Later on in the day, we'll go back to Matthew 28.

Now, we see clearly that later in that same day, it's perfectly fine for people to touch Jesus. Matthew 28 verse 9.

Okay, so here we are. It's after the Sabbath, the first day of the week. Mary, Magdalene, and them came to see Christ. He's not here. He's risen. Verse 6. Anyway, and then verse 8 and 9 says, they went out quickly for the tomb with fear and great joy, ran to bring his disciples word. Verse 9, and as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them, saying, rejoice. So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. So here on that same day, when he comes to them and says, rejoice, they all fall at his feet. They're all touching him, and he doesn't say, don't cling to me. What's happened between the time that he told Mary, don't touch me, and later on that same day, when the people, the apostles come to him and they fall at his feet, touching him, the answer is he ascended into heaven. He was accepted by God as the first of the first fruits, and now he came back to be with them for 40 days until he would be resurrected or ascended into heaven again. Let's go back. One thing I didn't, let's go back to 1 Corinthians 15. I think we we did go to Exodus, didn't we? Didn't we go to Exodus 23, 19 to talk about the first of the first fruits? I think we did that. I wanted to tie Jesus Christ to the first of the first fruits to show how the Bible, you know, and the physical aspects of the Old Testament are fulfilled with the spiritual things of the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 15, we see Jesus as Christ being referred to as the first fruits. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20. Paul says, not Christ is risen from the dead. He's become the first fruits of those who had fallen asleep. So God takes this wave sheep offering where the first of the first fruits, the first fruits have to be offered to God and accepted by Him before the harvest could begin and before they could eat of that harvest. And here God is talking about Jesus Christ and referring to Him as first fruits. Christ is risen from the dead. He's become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man, capital M, also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in I Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits, He is the one who lived this flesh and blood, a human being. He died just like all human beings do, and He was the first to be resurrected to eternal life. First resurrected to eternal life.

Jesus Christ was the forerunner I mentioned. We read that in Hebrews 6 or Hebrews 8. He's the forerunner. He's the one who paved the way for us. What happened to Jesus Christ, He set the pattern for all of us. We live as flesh and blood human beings. We will die. If we die in Christ, as it says here, we will be resurrected to eternal life. Exactly the pattern that happened with Jesus Christ. He's the first fruits, the first of the first fruits, but then the rest, the rest of us in our own order at His coming, which is at the seventh trump that it talks about in Revelation, and that Jesus Christ talks about in Matthew 24 as well. At that time, the dead in Christ.

So for those of us today, when Jesus Christ was resurrected, the harvest could begin.

The harvest of the first fruits could begin. And that's you and me. All that God calls, all that God opens our minds to the truth. And that's not everyone. That's not everyone in the world, as we know. John 6 44 says, no one can come to Me except the Father who sent Me calls Him. God has to open our minds. We have to understand the Bible, and then we have to commit and follow it judiciously throughout the rest of our lives, yielding ourselves to God. So He is the first of the first fruits, but we're first fruits. Revelation 14 verse 4 talks about the first fruits and who will be resurrected. We could go back to Revelation 14 for just for a moment. And it'll tell us who the first fruits are. Jesus Christ was the first of the first fruits, but in Revelation 14, verse 4, it says, these are the ones who are not defiled with women.

Now we know that in the Bible here in Revelation, women can talk about other religions, can talk about the church and other churches, refers to as the women. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, nor are they, for they are virgins. They have become perfect through the course of their lives. God has led them to purity, as it says in 1 John 3 3. They have become virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. They keep the commandments of God. In verse 12, it says, here's the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith and the faith of Jesus. Now that's you and me, and everyone who understands what God is doing and understands the Word of God and hears His voice and understands that plan.

He's given us a tremendous calling to be first fruits and to promise us eternal life, promise us His kingdom, promises that we know He will keep. He's faithful. We absolutely know He will keep His end of the bargain in the covenant. The question is, will we? Will we keep our end of the bargain? Will we be faithful to Him through the course? Will we be willing to give up everything in our lives to become the way He wants us to become? That's part of what our mission is and our training in this life is, to become like Christ as we go through the rest of our time here.

But as we look at Jesus Christ and the timing, then, understanding that on that day in 31 A.D., the Jewish priests, they were on Saturday evening getting ready to prepare for the wave sheaf offering on Sunday morning. We know that Jesus Christ, early in the morning before sunrise, was already away from the tomb. He had already been resurrected. We know that Jesus Christ said, the only sign you have that I'm your Messiah is that I will be three days and three nights in the heart of the tomb, just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish.

Three days and three nights from the 14th of David when Jesus Christ was late in that tomb would have been Sabbath, the Saturday evening of the 17th. Three days and three nights at the time that the priests were likely out cutting the first fruits to prepare for the wave sheaf offering the next morning, when they were preparing the lamb and preparing these other things that had to had to happen at that point, Jesus Christ would have been resurrected if he's the Messiah on that Saturday evening. No one would have seen him, the Roman guards that were sitting there at the tomb. You know, who knows what happened when that stone was rolled away? Did they run and tell Pilate?

They probably figured that, you know, their lives would be over if they ran and said, he's arisen and he's gone out. Jesus Christ was resurrected and then he spent the rest of that evening and that whole night until the morning of the first day of the wave came.

And then he ascended into heaven at the same time that the priests were waving the first fruits before God to be accepted, Jesus Christ, at the same time that that was happening was ascending into heaven. The Bible shows us to be accepted by God to be accepted by God as the first of the first fruits. Now we could talk about that in more detail. I think most of you know it, but I think it's good for us to think about that during these times that we're in. You know, it's notable, too, as we look at Jesus Christ and his resurrection. You know, he was resurrected and there he was on earth for the rest of the evening of the 14th through the evening of the 17th through that night time until he appeared to Mary. You know, some people ask, what was Jesus Christ doing during that time? If he was resurrected on Saturday evening and he didn't ascend to the Father in heaven until Sunday morning, what was he doing? The Bible doesn't tell us what he was doing. He might have been preparing himself for what he knew he was doing.

What he knew he needed to do is he presented himself before God.

And as we think about what he went on there, he was resurrected on earth and he was on earth for a while before he ascended into heaven to be accepted by God. He's the forerunner.

To pay says the pattern for us.

So as it happened to him, it would happen to those of us who, you know, are called and chosen.

Imagine on the 18th, that Sunday morning, when Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, the joy that must have been in heaven at that time.

As Christ ascended to the Father, as the angels in heaven saw him come up, as Jesus Christ, who had sacrificed his life, who completed his mission as he came to earth, that he would live a perfect life, that he would die a horrible death, that he would bear all of our sins on his shoulders, and that he would lay in that tomb for three days and three nights.

What he, what he had accomplished, changed the world. What he had accomplished gives us hope and a purpose and a reason to live. We literally do owe everything to Jesus Christ.

But imagine the joy as the Father received him, as Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. Imagine what the scene would have been like to know the plan of God was going forward. Jesus Christ had sacrificed literally everything for you and me. The joy up there must have been indescribable, but the plan of God was going forward. The plan of God, you know, that includes you and me and everyone who has ever lived, because Jesus Christ just didn't die for a few people.

He died for all of mankind who, in their order, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15, will have the opportunity to accept him as Savior and have the opportunity to repent and follow him and live by his way. Just kind of a monumental thing when you think about it and when you realize what happened during these days of unleavened bread and what the overriding issue or the overriding message that God wants us to remember from all this is there's life. There's life that comes from him, the promises that he's given. There was the death that opened the door and the access to God's throne, as we talked about in Hebrews, when Jesus Christ died and the veil was torn in two. There's the redemption, there's the opportunity, there's God's Holy Spirit that could be brought to us and that he would make his home with us and build his temple in us as we would yield to him, and he would give us the power to overcome self, overcome the world, overcome the lust of the flesh and the eyes and the pride of life by that same power that Jesus Christ had in him. Had to be a monumental thing and as we think about things, but the overriding thing for us is eat the unleavened bread of life for the rest of our lives. If we want what God has offered, if we have that hope in us, if we believe in God, then we eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth for the rest of our lives. Let me let me pause there and open it up for any comments, questions. I mean, I didn't remind you, but I know that you all know anytime you have a comment through the course of these things, you can you can ring in at any time. So, I'll reference in John 5 that you mentioned, yes, and what Christ, one of the things that it seems evident from the scripture that he did, the word he was resurrected, was those people that came out of the tombs when they gave them life. Because it says everyone in the grave must hear his voice, but after the father resurrected him, he had to go give those people life. So, maybe that's one of the things that he did, because they said they didn't come back to life and told themselves until after he was resurrected. Very good.

Mr. Shavey, I think it's interesting where you were just talking about when Christ has sent into the father and how Daniel 7 verse 13 talks about that, you know, it almost is like the description of him being presented as it says, you know, it says, I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him. And like you said, I mean, I was just thinking about that. Rob and I were talking about it. It's like, you think about the agony that Christ went through when he was crucified, but also imagine the agony God the Father went through, allowing that to happen and seeing that happen, but knowing that it was for their plan.

And then the family reunion that it would be when Christ was resurrected, you know, and he, you know, and ascended to the Father. I could just imagine the big bear hug that God the Father gave Jesus Christ, you know, I'm sure there's just such a great celebration, you know. I just, I can't even really comprehend how awesome that that that's the problem he was.

Yeah, I think the scene would have been unbelievably joyous. And what you said, Davis, we know we know how God felt because as our children suffer, how many times do we think I would just I would rather do the suffering when they're sick and when they're hurt than them, right? And he had the same feeling toward Jesus Christ. And so he, but he endured because it was part of the plan that had been ordained from the foundation of the earth. So they both suffered, and they both did all that for all of us. So. Hi, Mr. Shady. Well, the question was, what Jesus did after he came out from the tomb and before he met Mary, I don't know what you think about 1 Peter 3, 18 and 19. It seems to talk of the same sequence. And verse 19 is curious that he said he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. So he could could we could we could we think of that way that during that time that he was empty. One of the events that he did was to preach under the spirits in prison.

That's that's an interesting thought. We've talked about that first before. I don't think we have time to talk about that. But that's an interesting that is an interesting thought, because at the time he was resurrected, the plan of God was indeed complete. Satan's faith had been determined. All the demons faith had been determined at that point. So that's interesting. That's interesting.

Yeah.

Well, that would be a whole Bible study itself to talk about. Well, maybe not a whole Bible study, half a Bible study to talk about 1st Peter 3 18 through 20. We've done that locally before. We could do it again if people wanted to. But yeah, that's an interesting that's an interesting thought. When did Christ do that? Because it does indicate for Christ also suffered once for sins by whom he also went. Okay, there we go. Something that's something for us to think about. Contemplate.

Can I say something about that? My understanding of that is that Christ preached to the demons during the time that Noah was preparing for the flood. That's what I've been taught in years past. I don't know. Yeah, I'd have to. I'd have to go back to my notes and look at that again.

But what you say rings true. I would just have to spend more time looking at that first. So I think that I hear what you're saying. Yes. Okay. Oh, Mr. Shami, something else I was thinking was when you're talking about how the napkin was folded and the cloths were all there and everything. Well, remember, it wasn't that didn't they? I think it's Matthew 28 where the chief priests were like saying, you know, go out and say that his disciples came and stole his body. You know, well, the fact that everything was laid out like that, it completely disproves that someone stole the body. Because why would robbers come in and, you know, quickly come in there and fold a napkin nice and neat and set it there? You know, it just they would just take the whole thing. They wouldn't be so concerned with taking a napkin, taking the thing, folding all up and setting it neatly. So, you know, also that kind of disproves what the chief priests tried to, you know, they're lying too. Exactly. And then Mary who thought, you know, well, when Peter and John looked in, they knew his body hadn't been stolen. Yeah.