What Did Christ Do in the 40 Days After the Resurrection?

Well, you know, we're here a week ago. A week ago, the Days of Unleavened Bread ended. Now, we talked about the many tremendous things that happened during the Days of Unleavened Bread, certainly the Passover, and it set the course for the rest of humanity. You know, Jesus Christ died, Jesus Christ was resurrected, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, and He completed the mission that He had as a human being during that time. It was done. But, you know, He ascended into heaven, He was accepted by God, and then after He was accepted by God, He stayed on earth, or He appeared to many people on earth for 40 days after the time He was resurrected, leading up into the day of Pentecost. And we're in that time period right now. So, if we go back to the time of Jesus Christ, the disciples knew that He had been resurrected, and He was appearing to them, and He was doing some things during that time. It was necessary for Him to be on earth during that time as He made His appearances for 40 days. The question is, what was He doing?

What was He doing? Why did He need to be on earth during those 40 days before He finally ascended into heaven, 10 days before Pentecost, not to return again until God the Father sends Him, and He returns to earth to establish His kingdom? Well, He had some real reasons for being here during those 40 days. There were certain things that He accomplished during that time that He couldn't accomplish when He was a human. And in one way, the mission that He had as a man was complete, but the rest of the mission and the rest of His commission was going to be was beginning at that time. Let's go back. Let's go back to John 2. We're going to spend quite a bit of time at the Gospel of John today. He was the last one to record his Gospel. He lived until the 90s AD. He remained true to Jesus Christ.

And in his Gospel, we find a lot of answers about a lot of things as John talks about the deity of Jesus Christ, what He was doing, and who He was, and why we should be following Him. But, you know, in Jesus Christ's life, there was a number of times that He said, I will. I will do this. But He didn't do it and couldn't do it while He was alive. He could do it after He was resurrected, after He had completed the human part of His mission. But let's look at John 2. In verse 18 here, this is after He was in the temple and had seen the marketplace there. He was quite irritated, the fact that they were having a merchandise thing affair right there at the temple. And in verse 18, it says, The Jews answered and said to Him, What sign do you show to us since you do these things? Upsetting, upsetting the temple cart and all these things that He was doing. Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. In three days I will raise it up. He couldn't do that while He was alive, could He? He had to die, He had to be resurrected, and that was when that was going to be completed. Now, while He was a human, but they asked for a sign and He said, You can destroy this body, and in three days it'll be raised up. And the Jews said, It's taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you'll raise it up in three days. But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

Therefore, notice when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the Word which Jesus had said. So they remembered after He was resurrected, and He came back and He was walking among them and appearing to them, it's like, you know, He said that.

He said that back then. Destroy it, and in three days it'll be raised up again.

It was open. They didn't understand what He was saying when He said that while He was on earth, but they understood having seen Him when He appeared to them. So it's something that had to happen after He was resurrected, and the Apostles, the Apostles were able to understand those Scriptures a little bit more because of Him appearing to them after the resurrection. Let's go forward to John 16. John 16 and verse 16. Christ in His message to His disciples then and now, after that last Passover that He was on earth, He says to them something else they didn't understand at that time. John 16 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. A little while you won't see me. They didn't seem to grasp that even though He told them several times, I'm gonna have to die, I'm gonna be resurrected. They saw that indeed He was going to die, and they would see Him again for a little while before He ultimately went up to heaven.

Some of the disciples 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 didn't understand it at that time.

But when He was resurrected, when He appeared to them, they remembered. They remembered just like Jesus Christ said they would. You'll remember these things that I said. It's another proof of who I am, what I'm here for, and what I'm doing.

They couldn't understand, and He couldn't do that when He was still alive, but while when He was resurrected, when He was among them, that was something that could be fulfilled and that they could understand. Let's go to Acts 1.

Acts 1, and verse 1, here after He's been on earth for 40 days, we see that He is ascending into heaven, and He gives us one in point blank, point blank, one of the reasons that He was here on earth during those 40 days, appearing to the disciples and others as well. Let's begin in verse 1. We'll read down to verse 8.

The former account, Luke writes, I made O Theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen. Notice He gave commandments during that time to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during 40 days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, you've heard from Me. For John freely baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So He was telling them things to do, wait here in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost to come. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said, it's not for You to know times or seasons which the Father has put into His own authority. You're not going to know everything at this time. God knows when it's going to be, but it's not for You to know everything now. Just like it wasn't for them to know everything that God was saying, or Jesus Christ was saying for them. They remembered, and there was a time when they understood, this is what He said, this is what He meant. But it was after the fact. It was a proof of who He was. And Christ says, no, not at this time, but it's not for you to know when. Just trust and have faith that God will send me back when it's time for me to come, but you don't know all the answers right now.

But you shall, He says, receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Well, they couldn't have been witnesses of His resurrection, of who He was, and that He was alive and that He was well and living, unless Jesus Christ had come and appeared to them, unless He had walked with them, unless He worked with them, unless He was doing the things that He came to do, there had to be witnesses. Not just Him, but He wanted people more than the apostles that would say, we've seen Him. He's resurrected. He is the man. We have infallible proof. He was dead. He was resurrected, and He walks among us, and He lives today. They had, and we have, infallible proof of who He was, and that's a monumental thing in the plan of God. Let's go back to Luke now.

Luke, you know, at the beginning here in Acts 1.1, Luke says, in my prior account, this is what I was talking about. Well, let's go back and see what his prior account was here in Luke 24. This is the period of time after Jesus Christ was resurrected. And at the beginning of the chapter here, you remember that there are some disciples on the road to Emmaus. Christ comes up along beside them. They don't recognize who He is, and He asks them some questions, and they keep talking along the way, and finally it thorns on them, this is Christ. But they didn't recognize His face. He didn't look, you know, maybe they didn't know Him, but they didn't recognize Him at that point. Let's start down in verse 36. They come, they tell the Apostles, you know, He's risen. We've seen Him, etc., etc. Verse 36 says, they said these things, these men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace to you. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. He didn't look the way they remembered Him looking, they were terrified. There was someone saying peace to you, but they were terrified.

And He said to them, why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see I have. You can put your hands in the holes of the nails where I was crucified. You can do that when they did it, says when they said this. He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still didn't believe for joy and marvel, He said to them, do you have any food here?

They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb, and He took it and ate in their presence. And He 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.

All these things had to be fulfilled. I told you these things when I was here before. Now you see me. Now you know it's me. Everything that the prophets, everything that Moses, everything that the Psalms say about me, it happened. I am living proof. I'm here before your eyes.

You can't deny it. It is there. You are witnesses of what has happened and who I am and that the Scriptures have been fulfilled. In verse 45, so if we look one of the reasons that Jesus Christ came, they were witnesses. Number two reason would be here in verse 45, and He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Seeing Him, seeing Him after the resurrection, they began to understand the Scriptures and He opened their minds. It is not us who opens our minds. It's God who opens our minds to understand the Scriptures. He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures, and He said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power on high. You stay here. You stay here until the day of Pentecost. You don't disappear. You don't just, you know, I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna go up to heaven. But you don't leave. You wait here because the day of Pentecost, which lies ahead of us.

The Spirit will come upon you, and something will begin that day. Jesus Christ was preparing them for that time, and the next part of what He was doing. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians of year 15. Paul, you know, who had Christ appear to him on the road and to Damascus, and he gave up his former life.

He repented. He turned to God. He sacrificed his life for God. He also talks about these appearances of Christ into how many people He appeared during those 40 days after the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 3. Paul writes, for I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also receive. I'm telling you what Jesus Christ revealed to me. I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

All those things happened and passed over in the days of Unleavened Bread, and that He was seen by Cephas, who is Peter, then by the Twelve. They actually saw Him. It isn't just a legend. It isn't just a rumor. They actually saw Him. He was seen by Peter, then by the Twelve.

After that, He was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remains to the present, but some have fallen asleep. Of course, this was written 20 years after that time. Five hundred people, more than just a couple, not just the people that He had walked with on earth. Five hundred people saw that He was there who could witness, this is the resurrected Jesus Christ, the man that we know died, the one that we know was buried.

He's resurrected and we've seen Him. After that, He was sent by James, and then by all the Apostles. James, you know, His brother, who also wrote an epistle that we have. Then, last of all, Paul writes, He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. And then Paul, in his simple way, says, "...for I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." But He turned from His way and turned to God with all of His heart, mind, and gave His life for it.

So, Jesus Christ had a reason that He was appearing to those people. Peter, James, 500 people, Paul. What was He doing? What was He doing during that time? Yes, He needed witnesses, or He didn't need them, but to have witnesses to say, yes, we've seen it. It isn't just folklore. It isn't just legend. It really happened. We saw Him. Yes, He wanted to open their minds to understanding the Scriptures. That was necessary. There was one other thing that He was doing during that time, too.

Let's go back to Matthew 16 and see another one of the, I will, statements that Jesus Christ made that didn't happen while He was a human. That was going to happen after He had completed His mission as a man in the flesh and broad. Let's pick it up in verse 16 of Matthew 16. Matthew 16 in verse 16.

Jesus Christ has been asking the apostles, said disciples there, who do people say I am?

And some answered here and there, but Simon Peter, it says, answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said to Peter, Blessed are you, Simon of Arjuna, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. It's God the Father who has let you know this, Peter.

Jesus Christ took note of that. And I also say to you in verse 18 that you are Peter.

And on this rock, Peter was the small rock, and on this rock, the major rock, Jesus Christ, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

He didn't start building his church. He started laying some groundwork for his church while he was alive as a human, but he didn't begin building the church while he was alive.

He did do some things. He did train apostles. We'll see some of that.

And he did lay the groundwork for it, but the church wouldn't be built until after he was resurrected. Verse 19, he says another, I will, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

And whatever you loose on earth will be loose in heaven.

They weren't given those keys while he was alive as a man, but they were given them later.

In verse 17, we see that Jesus Christ was preparing them.

Peter, James, John, you need a vision of the kingdom.

And in chapter 17, he gives them a vision of the kingdom, what it will be like.

So overwhelming to them, so gratifying to them, so motivating to them that Peter said, it's good for us to be here.

If we could have that same vision of the kingdom, oh, it's good for us to be there.

If only this would come. And that was a motivator to them.

He was showing them what is the end result of all this.

They will be in the kingdom. That's what the purpose of the church will be.

In chapter 18, we have the example of the little children that are brought to him.

And the disciples who have heard Jesus Christ say, I'm going to build my church.

You're going to be, you're going, I'm going to give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

They say, in chapter 18, in verse 5, he talks about the little children that were going to be brought to them. And he talks about the kingdom of heaven.

Well, in verse 4, he says, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

You know Peter, you know James, you know John, you know disciples in 2011, 2021, 2018, you're going to have to be humble if you're going to be in the kingdom.

I'm going to give you some power. I'm going to give you some authority. If you let it go to your head, then you aren't following me.

Whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me.

You must be humble. You must be teachable. That's one of the keys of the kingdom. Jesus Christ was teaching them, training them, putting these things in their minds that they would remember later.

And certainly as they began working in building the church under Jesus Christ's direction and what he was planning for them to do.

But you know, as he was going to build the church, those of you who have been in construction, there's one thing that has to happen before you can begin building.

You got to have a cornerstone, right? You got to have a cornerstone. You can't begin building until you're a cornerstone. While Jesus Christ was still alive, there was no cornerstone. He had to die. He had to die. He had to be resurrected. He had to be seen as the Savior of all mankind. Unlike any other, He would be the cornerstone.

Let's go back to Matthew over here in Matthew, Matthew 21.

Jesus Christ, many times when He talks, He's talking to His disciples. In this case, He's talking to the Pharisees, and He's just given them a couple of parables about how there was a master, and He had a vineyard, and He would send people to harvest it, and they would kill His servants, and finally He sent His Son, and they killed Him too. And He was speaking. We know what the prophecy is He's talking about there. He was speaking of Himself and the Jewish religion during that time of what they would do. Verse 42, then, as they're a little anxious, it says, Jesus said to them, Haven't you read in the Scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes. It's awesome in our eyes. It's unlike anything we could have ever thought to have that happen, and to have witness of it, and to have record of it, that Jesus Christ would become the chief cornerstone. He came to His own people, and they rejected Him. They rejected Him, and He said, I will build my church with Him.

Him being the chief cornerstone. Verse 43, Therefore I say to you, as He speaks to the people assembled there that day, not His disciples, but the Pharisees and those who have been listening to Him, who have always challenged Him, therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you. Now, if you're a member of the Jewish religion at that day, if you're a religious leader in Judaism in that day, and Jesus Christ, who they wanted to reject, they wanted to forget that He was God, they wanted to just absolutely eliminate Him as we know and kill Him, He said, I'm going to take the kingdom of God from you. It was delivered to you. You were supposed to follow Me. You were supposed to worship Me the way I wanted you to, and the way the Bible said. I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. They weren't bearing the fruits of the kingdom. They weren't the people that God was looking to. They weren't the true church. They had the basis. They had the Bible. They had the Torah. They had the Old Testament, but they had perverted the religion. They began to teach commandments of men rather than the commandments of God. They began to put this tradition more important than the Word of God. And He said, I'm taking the kingdom away from you, and I'm giving it to a nation. Now, nation there is an interesting word. And when you look it up in Strong's, it's Strong's 1484, probably more appropriately translated, people. People. I'm taking the kingdom of God from you and giving it to a people bearing the fruits of it. There will be a people who will follow what the principles were. Those people will bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Just like Jesus Christ talked about in John 14 or John 15. Your Father is glorified when you bear much fruit. The Jewish religion of that day wasn't bearing those fruits. Anything but. The opposite of it. But the church that Jesus was going to build would bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't just Judaism plus Jesus Christ. It was a religion that He began and that He was the chief cornerstone of when He was resurrected. When He lived.

When He was appearing to people. When He was working with the apostles. When He appeared to them during those 40 days between the time of His resurrection and the time He ascended into heaven. Oh, He was teaching them many things. Remember it said. He gave commandments to the apostles. He talked to them. He wasn't there just so they could see Him. Just so they could understand the Scriptures. Yes, that was important. He was instructing them.

He had instructed them during His lifetime. Now He was instructing them in what they were going to be doing for the rest of His time. He was the cornerstone. Unlike any other human who ever lived. Lived a perfect life, right? Ephesians 4 tells us He's our standard. 1 Peter 2, 21 tells us we should follow Him. He was the perfect example. We follow Him.

We follow the Word of God. We live the way that He lived His life. That was what He was starting. That was the church He was going to build Himself, being the chief cornerstone.

But now He was going to lay the foundation. Let's go back to Ephesians. Ephesians 2 and verse 20. Ephesians 2 and verse 20. Now, I'm sorry, the sentence begins in verse 19, so I'm going to read the whole sentence here. Ephesians 2, 19.

Now, therefore, Paul writes, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens, now you're a people. Peter talks about that, too. Here's Peter 2, 9. You are a people.

You are a special people chosen by God. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. He had become the chief cornerstone. I'm not going to talk long about it. I know you heard about it during the days of Unleavened Bread. The Old Testament waved chief offering, where the first of the first fruits was waved before God and accepted by Him before the harvest could begin. It had to be accepted by God and waved before God before the harvest could begin. That happened with Jesus Christ. He ascended into heaven.

He was accepted by God. Before that happened, the harvest couldn't begin. That had to happen first, and Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled it. Now the harvest could begin. Now the harvest could begin. He was the chief cornerstone. Let's go back again to 1 Corinthians 15.

First Corinthians 15. Paul is writing again. This is commonly referred to as the resurrection chapter, but we've been here earlier talking about the people that witnessed Christ and that saw Him while He was alive. Let's drop down to verse 20, 1 Corinthians 15. It says, Now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. He was the first man to die, the first one resurrected. He is the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man, Adam and Eve came death, by man, Jesus Christ, also came the resurrection of the dead. By His death, our sins are forgiven. By His life, we have the hope and promise of eternal life. For as in Adam, verse 22, all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. Verse 23, but each one in His own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward, those who are Christ's at His coming. He was the first to be resurrected and receive eternal life, but those who sleep in Christ at the time of His return will be resurrected next. They will be the ones who are resurrected at that time, and the rest sometime after that. Jesus Christ had become the cornerstone. He was the first of the first fruits. Now, since the cornerstone has been set, now He can begin laying the foundation, which was the apostles and the prophets. The Old Testament, the Bible has been here. It's still, as Jesus Christ said when He was on earth, I didn't come to do away with the commandments or the law and the prophets. I came to fulfill them, to fill them up. Let's go back to John 4. John 4. As Jesus Christ was speaking to His disciples well before they understood what He was talking about, He made this comment. John 4, verse 34. They thought He was talking about food and other things at that point, but Jesus Christ knew they would recall these words later. Verse 34, Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work. Well, He finished the work that He was going to do while He was a human. The rest of the work is still ongoing until the time that God sends Him back to earth to claim the kingdom, the kingdoms of this world as He owned. Verse 35 says, Don't you say there are still four months, and then comes the harvest? Yet the harvest is still a way off, He's telling them. They knew what He was talking about. There's the harvest, the spring harvest that is going to be coming up.

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they already are already white for harvest. It's already time. Harvest time is near. It's time to begin harvesting. He was talking about the time when He would be offered as the first of the first fruits, and the harvest could begin. It wasn't beginning at that time. It was still a ways off. He still had the rights of his physical life to live. But then, when it was done, and when He was resurrected, then the harvest of mankind could begin. Going forward to John 17 and verse 20, in His prayer on that last pass overnight that He was alive as a human, He said something else to the disciples, or in His prayer, that they might not have understood then. But He was showing what would happen down the road. It wasn't going to be about them. They were going to be the foundation. He was going to teach them. He was going to prepare them as He had during the three and a half years that He worked with them.

He says in verse 20, I don't pray for these alone. I don't pray for these that are with me today only, but also for all those who will believe in me through their Word. What they go out and preach, what they go out and teach, I pray for them too. Because there is a harvest. It's not just for today's people, but it's for the time all the time, until the time I return, until the time Jesus Christ comes and takes the kingdom and makes them His own. I pray for all those that they will teach.

And in John 6.44, He told them it's not going to be by their preaching. It's not going to be by their convincing that they're going to add to this body as time goes on. It'll be God the Father who calls them. Just like God the Father had put Peter, James, John, and the other apostles there and given them to Christ, so God the Father calls people today. We can talk until we're blue in the face about things. And if it's not God's will to open their mind at that time, it's not going to happen.

Because it's only when God gives that, and it would be the mechanism by which He would add and build His church, and those are the people that He is talking to at that time.

The apostles gathered there that day. Understood that a little bit. In John 20, John 20, after the resurrection, Jesus appears to the apostles. They're all there. Thomas isn't there, and he, when he hears about it, he goes, I'm not going to believe any of it. I'm not going to believe any until I see Him. And Christ comes, lets Thomas feel the holes in his hands, and then Thomas believes. In verse 28, he says, My Lord and my God. And Christ said to him, Thomas, because you've seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Because they could see that day Him. But the rest of the disciples said God would call down through the ages. They wouldn't see Christ in human form. They wouldn't have the opportunity to put their hands in the holes. He says, Thomas, there are those who believe and haven't seen. You saw and you believe, but blessed are those who, down through the ages, will believe because they believe the Bible.

Because they believe the infallible Word of God. Those are the people. Not just for 31 A.D. in that period of time in the first century, but down through the time until Jesus Christ returns.

And for all of us, we haven't seen. We know God exists. We know Jesus Christ exists. We believe the words, but He was telling them there will be more than you. Your job is going to be able to go out and preach to these people. And you're going to train other people who will continue preaching the gospel as Jesus Christ would build His church in chapter 21 and in verse 12.

We see Jesus Christ coming at another time to Peter and the disciples. They knew Jesus Christ well. They walked with Him for three and a half years. And in verse 12, after they're out fishing, they find nothing in the nets. And Christ tells them, just throw your nets to the right side of the boat. You're going to get some fish. And plenty of them come up. John immediately realized, oh, that sounds like Jesus Christ. Not audibly, right? But He understood His words. They dragged up the fish. And in verse 12, Jesus said to them, come and eat breakfast. Yet none of the disciples dare to ask Him, who are you? Well, He didn't look like it. If He looked exactly like He did when they walked with Him for three and a half years, they wouldn't have to say, who are you? I don't have to ask you, who are you? Right? But if I see you and you look totally different, I might think, man, it sure sounds like so and so. But you don't look like Him. He didn't look like it.

It wasn't just facial recognition that God was saying that you're going to know Me as. You're going to listen to My voice. You're going to know what I am talking about. You're going to understand to be able to discern who I am. Yet none of the disciples dare to ask Him, who are you, Lord, knowing that it was the Lord? Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise, the fish. You know, they didn't recognize His face. We'll be back to John 21 here in a minute. Let's go back to John 10, though. But they recognized what He was saying.

They recognized His words. That's why you sound like Christ. I couldn't recognize you by face, but you sound like Him. Back in John 10, I'm sure another series of events and words that Christ spoke here that the apostles would understand later. He talks about these very, very things in the shepherd that He was. Let's pick it up in verse 11 in chapter 10. He says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Oh, he's very concerned about them. He's very concerned to lead them. He loves the sheep. He would be willing to do anything for them. He wants them to lead them to pasture. He wants to lead them and protect them and lead them back to the master. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. He's afraid. He's not going to give his life for those sheep.

And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he's a hireling and doesn't care about the sheep. Christ repeats, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and I am known by my own. They know me. And we've talked before. I know it's been a few years. Sheep know their shepherd. You know, you can go into a flock of sheep and you can be very kind and you can have a very nice voice, but they're not going to listen to a word you say. They will listen to the one that they're used to following. They'll recognize his voice and they'll follow him wherever he wants to go. And that's what Jesus Christ likens us to. We must know his voice, that we are always following the right voice and following in the right direction. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and I am known by my own. As the father knows me, verse the theme, even so I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. It's not just for 31 AD. It's not just for 50 AD. That's not for 90 AD.

There's other sheep. And they, and I must bring them too. And they will hear my voice.

And there will be one flock and one shepherd. They will know my voice. When they hear, they'll know what I stood for. They'll know the chief cornerstone. They'll know the Word of God.

They'll know whether it meshes with the Word of God or whether it's a foreign element that is entered in there. Because some things can be very cleverly disguised. They can sound like truth, but when you really discern, the Spirit of God gives us that discernment, but the knowledge of what's in the Bible and understanding what Jesus Christ stood for, who He is, who He wants us to be, and what He says in life. If we don't know that voice, we can easily be led astray. Because it might not look the way we think it would look, but we know the voice. The sheep must know the shepherd's voice. And when the apostles were there in John 21, He didn't look the way they remembered looking, but they knew His voice.

They knew His voice, and they thought, how do we ask Him? But they knew. They knew who He was.

We must learn, you know, Christ's voice, that we listen to the voices and that we know who to follow, that we may be in that kingdom that He is leading us to. Let's go back to John 21.

John 21.

We'll pick it up in verse 14.

As He's working with the disciples, as He's laying the foundation, as He's getting that ready for the church to be built upon, as it says in Ephesians 2.20, built on the cornerstone of Christ and the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Verse 14 says, This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter. Remember it was Peter back in Matthew 16. He said, You are Peter, and upon this rock, referring to Jesus Christ, I will build my church. To Peter, He turned and He directed three questions, indicating to Him what He would be doing and the people who would be building the church under the direction of Jesus Christ would be doing.

Simon, son of Jonah, do you love, the Greek word agape, do you agape me more than these?

Peter responded, Yes, Lord, you know that I, and he doesn't say agape you, you know that I fill you, you know that I love you as a brother. And Christ said to him, feed my lambs. You make sure that they're well fed. You don't let them wander to and fro, you don't let them get hungry, you feed those young sheep that are coming in, you make sure you take care of everyone that God puts into my church. Feed my lambs. Christ said to Peter again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape me? Peter responded, Yes, Lord, you know that I fill you, you know that I love you as a brother. And he said to him, tend my sheep, take care of them. That's what my church will do.

It'll take care of the sheep that are there. It'll provide for them. It'll make sure that they are watered. It'll make sure that they are fed. It'll make sure that they can grow and they can flourish, that they can produce fruit and that they can be led to the master.

Verse 17, Christ said to Peter the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you fill me?

Peter just didn't get what agape was at that point. He didn't fully understand it.

But agape is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. At this point, Peter hadn't received the Holy Spirit.

That would happen on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples. Then he would begin to bear the fruit. And I'm sure he thought back, that's, oh, agape! It's a choice.

I will choose to do this for the sheep. I will choose to do this. Just like Jesus, Christ chose to sacrifice himself for us. Chose to come down and be born as a human and give his life for us.

He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you fill me? Do you love me?

Peter was greed because he said to him the third time, do you love me? They said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Christ said to him again, feed my sheep.

Take care of them. Make sure, make sure, Peter, upon this rock, referring to Jesus Christ, this church, you make sure that they're taken care of. You make sure you feed them.

And the apostles heard that. In verse 19, Jesus Christ says a word to them, the same thing that they heard back at the time he called them. When he called them, he said, follow me. Drop what you're doing and follow me. In verse 4, 19, as he closes his comments, he says, follow me. Follow me. I've set the example. I'm the standard that you need to follow.

I'm the standard that you need to follow. Continue to follow me.

Well, the apostles, you know, it wasn't the first time that dentists, you remember that Jesus Christ had sent them out two by two during his ministry. He had sent them out and he gave them powers and he said, you know, go, go out to the lost, go out to the cities of Judea, go out and talk to the people. Preach the kingdom of God. Preach the gospel of repentance. Don't take anything with you.

Go into a house and stay there if they'll receive you. And if they won't receive you, don't worry about it. Take the sand off of your sandals or the dirt off of your sandals and move on to the next place. And when he came back, he talked to them about what they had done and what they had learned during that time. He had prepped them during the time that he was on earth. Now they were going to do, they were going to be the ones to do what Jesus Christ had done when he was on earth. They would be out and they would be following the commission that Jesus Christ was going to give them as a church. Because he was going to build his church, and it was going to be built. Back in Hebrews 12, speaks to all of us who, and everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, should be looking for that church that Jesus Christ is building.

Hebrews 12 and verse 22, decades after Jesus Christ was on earth and then ascended into heaven to stay in heaven until the time that God the Father sends him back, says to us, You have come, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the loving God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, who are registered in heaven to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect. You have come to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn. Jesus Christ was the first of the first fruits. He was the firstborn, if you will, in that respect. God says to you and me, you have come to the Church of the Firstborn.

Now, if we remember back to the Old Testament, being a Firstborn carried quite a responsibility and quite a privilege with it, didn't it? So important that Esau, who was a Firstborn, didn't really count that important. He was willing to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup. What was happening in the physical realm of that day, he was just saying, you know what, that's okay, it's not that important to me. I'll sell all that that means for this bowl of soup.

Jacob understood the privilege it was to be a Firstborn. He understood the responsibility of it as well. And he not only received the birthright, but then later received the blessing. Esau, when he understood what he had left behind, he was sorely sorry. He never repented, but he was sorely sorry he gave it up. But in Israel, the Firstborn held quite a distinction, if you will. Let's go back and just review for a few minutes what the Firstborn meant and what God did with the Firstborn back in Old Testament times. Because in New Testament, he says, you've come to the church of the Firstborn. Well, back in Exodus 13, or Exodus 12, I guess it is, no, Exodus 13. In verse 11, as God is talking about the unleavened bread you eat during the days of unleavened bread, in verse 11, he also has something else that he says about when they're coming out of Egypt. In verse 11, he says, and it'll be when the eternal brings you into the land of Canaan, the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers and gives it to you, that you shall set apart to the Lord all that opened the womb. That is, every Firstborn that comes from an animal which you have, the males will belong to the Eternal. But every Firstborn of the donkey, you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you won't redeem it, you shall break its neck.

All the Firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. Those Firstborn, God says, belong to me.

They belong to me. Well, he had killed all the Firstborn in Egypt, right? But the Israelites, he had spared because they had followed him and obeyed, and they put the blood over the doorpost, and he spared their Firstborn. But God says, your Firstborn, Israel, belonged to me.

They belong to me. Let's go back to Exodus 34. Exodus 34, verse 20.

Again, revisiting this same thing.

So it's the Firstborn of the donkey, you shall redeem with a lamb.

And if you won't redeem him, break its neck. All the Firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.

And none shall appear before me empty-handed. He goes back to it again. He said it to him before they left Egypt. And here, as they are now wandering in the desert, he reminds them, that your Firstborn, they belong to me. In Numbers 8. Numbers 8.

Numbers 8, verse 5.

The eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them ceremonially.

Thus she shall do to them to cleanse them. Well, I'm missing a verse here somewhere.

God was going to have the Levites replace the Firstborn. He was going to consecrate the Levites for service to him in place of the Firstborn. Okay?

Let me look one place here before. Let's see if that's the verse.

Nope, it's not. Okay, Numbers 8, verse 5.

Take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them ceremonially.

Let's stop down to verse 9. And bring the Levites before the tabernacle of meeting, and ye shall gather together the whole congregation of the children of Israel.

Bring the Levites before the eternal, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites. And Aaron, remember, Aaron was the high priest. We know who our high priest is today, right? As we bring this into and bring it into the lives we live today.

Bring the Levites before the eternal, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites. And the high priest shall offer the Levites before the eternal, like a wave offering from the children of Israel that they may perform the work of the eternal. Offer them. Wave them before God. They're consecrated for the work of God. That's what they're going to do. They'll be separate from the nation of Israel. God said that's what their job would be. Verse 13.

And ye shall stand the Levites before the high priest and his sons, and offer them like a wave offering to the eternal. Thus ye shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. After that, the Levites shall go into service, the tabernacle of meeting. You will cleanse them and offer them like a wave offering. Present them before God. For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel. I have taken them for myself instead of all who opened the womb, the firstborn of all the children of Israel.

For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the lands of Egypt, I sanctified them to myself. I've taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel, and I've given the Levites as a gift to the high priest and his sons from among the children of Israel to do the work for the children of Israel in the tabernacle of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, that there be no plague among Israel when the children of Israel come near the sanctuary.

The firstborn sanctified to God to do the work of God, to serve in the temple, in the tabernacle, that he was building. Consecrated to him, he chose them out that tribe because all the firstborn were his. The New Testament tells us that as Jesus Christ begins his church, and he says, Judah or Judea, not you. It's not you that I've given the kingdom of heaven, the keys to the kingdom of heaven for anymore. I've taken those away from you, but I've given them to a new people who will bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 12 tells us that's the church of the firstborn, the called out ones that God would call, that he would place in service to him. The first fruits that we read about in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 23, the people that God would be would be bringing out his own special people, as he says in Matthew 21 and verse 42. And as Peter repeats in 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2 and verse 5.

Okay, to begin with a sentence here in verse 4. What God is doing today, what Jesus Christ was doing when he was on earth during those 40 days, he began to build his church.

Something that could happen after he was resurrected, something that he came back and he worked with the apostles on and set the standard to do as he is continuing to do today.

In verse 4 of the prayer 2, Peter says, coming to him, we come to Christ as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, he says, speaking to them then, speaking to you and me today, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Therefore, it's also contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.

Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. You know, Christ said, blessed is he who falls on this stone, he'll be saved, but when the stone falls on him, he'll be crushed. Blessed are those who are being raised up as living stones. They stumble, being disobedience of the word to which they also were appointed, but you, verse 9, are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. The Church of God, the called out ones, the body, the church that Jesus began that will bear fruits, the ones that God calls out of the world, puts into the Church of the firstborn with all the privileges he gives us as a gift to Jesus Christ. But you know the gift he has given us is beyond anything that we can even ever thank him for. When Paul says in Romans 12, 1, you know it is our reasonable service to sacrifice our life for him, even that doesn't pay back the gift he has given us by calling us out of this world and giving us a special privilege of being his people, of being part of his church, part of who he's working with, of who he is preparing, who he's given us a commission to, to follow him until the day that Jesus Christ returns. Because you know what? He is still overseeing his people. He's still watching over the churches. He's in heaven, but it tells us in Revelation he is still walking among the churches. The head of this church, the head of his church that exists, said that you and I are so privileged to have been called into. I hope we never take it for granted. I hope we never.

I hope we never abuse it. I hope we understand and I hope you feel, you know, there is nothing, absolutely nothing in our lives, nothing that this world has to offer, nothing that a company has to offer, nothing that a family has to offer, that we would ever, if we understand what God has done for us, ever put it before him. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And if you think there is something, then you need to think and you need to ask God to help you see the privilege and the gifts he has given you and me and the people down through the ages. Jesus Christ was on earth for 40 days. He was getting his church and laying the foundation and it continues today. It behooves all of us.

Let's look at the commission here that God gave the church. Matthew 28, 19.

Do you have a feeling we're going to start in verse 18? Yes, we're starting in verse 18 in Matthew 28.

Jesus came and spoke to them. This is, of course, as he is after his resurrection.

Before he was sent into heaven, Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven on earth. God has accepted me. I am the chief cornerstone. He completed his mission. Now he's doing the rest of the work. Go, therefore.

Church of the firstborn, go, therefore. Called out ones, go, therefore. The ones who God has given this special opportunity and this gift to be a gift to God in return, go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit and teach them to observe all things I have commanded you. Things that he did while he was on earth as a human and things that he taught them during those 40 days that he was with them and continues to teach us today. Teach them to observe all things I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.