Believing the Resurrection

And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them, and greeted them. But the whole group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost! 
Luke 24:36-37

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This incident happened shortly after Jesus was raised from the grave. I can't feel too critical toward these guys. After all, in their minds, a dead guy just walked in. Still, why was the resurrection such a surprise to them that they were filled with fear?

It's not like they were never told...

Clearly, Jesus was curious as well. He said, “Why are you frightened? Why do you doubt that it is really I? Look at my hands! Look at my feet! You can see that it is I, myself! Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost! For ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do!” 

Well, actually...sometimes seeing is NOT believing...

Then, Jesus made His point. “When I was with you before, don’t you remember my telling you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true?” 

In fact, if they had been listening for the past three years this should not have surprised them. It had been written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. Even so, some truths are difficult to absorb. I once had to fire an employee. I had taken great pains to document everything, counseled with her several times and clearly warned her. Yet, she was entirely surprised when it happened.

Some people simply don't listen...

So, we're told that Jesus "opened their minds to understand at last these many Scriptures!" And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem filled with mighty joy, and were continually in the Temple, praising God.

An important truth contained in this passage is the fact that we often hear things but don't understand them. I might be riding in the car with Mali and she suddenly asks "so, what did he say then"

Huh? I heard the words but they didn't compute. She's continuing a conversation from a couple of hours ago. After sounding quite dull, she helps me make the connection and...I comfortably join the conversation.

This is what Jesus is willing to do for us...connect the dots. It's not necessarily our fault that we have trouble understanding. It is our fault that we refuse to ask for clarification. I believe many people would be willing to follow Christ if they could just figure Him out. Yet, they never ask for help.

Their fault...

Jesus said "seek me and I will be found...if you seek me with your whole heart". If we haven't found Him, maybe we should ask for a little help. I still ask...all the time.

Live boldly out there today...

Saved forever? Believe it!

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38, 39

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Psalm 51:5 says I have been evil from the day I was born; from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful. Scripture clearly informs us that we are born infected by sin...and will die apart from God because of that stain. Humanity's state of sin results from the fall of man, stemming from Adam and Eve's rebellion in Eden, namely the sin of disobedience in consuming from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And, since God cannot live in fellowship with anybody who is not holy, we have been dismissed from His company…with all the attending consequences.

 God however, desiring fellowship with us, designed a means of purification from our sinfulness and it is defined in the Book of Leviticus.

 Leviticus 16:29-34 tells us “The following regulations are to be observed for all time to come. On the tenth day of the seventh month the Israelites and the foreigners living among them must fast and must not do any work. ³⁰ On that day the ritual is to be performed to purify them from all their sins, so that they will be ritually clean. ³¹ That day is to be a very holy day, one on which they fast and do no work at all. These regulations are to be observed for all time to come. ³² The High Priest, properly ordained and consecrated to succeed his father, is to perform the ritual of purification. He shall put on the priestly garments ³³ and perform the ritual to purify the Most Holy Place, the rest of the Tent of the Lord's presence, the altar, the priests, and all the people of the community. ³⁴ These regulations are to be observed for all time to come. This ritual must be performed once a year to purify the people of Israel from all their sins”.

This single day, YOM KIPPUR (Day of atonement), is foundational to everything we believe about our salvation. So, what does this mean? The word KIPPUR is a form of two words used in combination. The Hebrew root word kappar which according to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament means to make an atonement, make reconciliation, purge. The other word, kapporet, refers to the mercy seat…the golden “lid” covering the Ark of the Covenant located in the inner shrine of the Tabernacle of Moses…which in Hebrew is the the place of atonement or the place where atonement was made.

In other words, there is only one spot on earth where atonement can be made…in the holiest place within the tabernacle.

 The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament defines what happened at the kapporet as follows: “It was from the... Mercy Seat that Yahweh promised to meet with the men of Israel (Num. 7:89). The word, however, is not related to mercy and of course was not a seat. The word is derived from the root ‘to atone,’ sufficiently expressing the fact that the lid of the ark was the place where the blood was sprinkled on the day of atonement.

 So…because Yahweh loves us and wanted to redeem a lost relationship, He established an annual ritual to accomplish both forgiving sin and removing sin. Chapter 16 begins: "The Lord said to Moses, warn your brother Aaron not to enter into the Holy Place behind the veil, where the Ark and the place of mercy are, just whenever he chooses. The penalty for intrusion is death. For I myself am present in the cloud above the place of mercy[1] ”.

 To begin with, atonement involved the High Priest entering directly into the presence of God...on God's terms...to intercede on our behalf. This intercession involved an elaborate ritual that included critically significant symbolism. God continues: “Here are the conditions for his entering there”:

The Role of the High Priest is central to the entire ritual of atonement. In particular, it was the High Priest who would bring a bull and two goats as a special offering to purge the temple from the defilements caused by misdeeds of the priests and their households. He would sprinkle the blood of the bull inside the veil of the Holy of Holies upon the kapporet. Then he would draw lots and select one of the two goats to be a sin offering on behalf of the people (this goat was designated L'Adonai – "to the LORD"). He would likewise enter the Holy of Holies sprinkle the blood of the goat upon the kapporet. Finally, the High Priest would lay both hands upon the head of the second goat (designated for Azazel – "absolute removal”) while confessing all of the transgressions of the people. This goat was then driven away into the wilderness, carrying on it "all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited" (Lev. 16:22).

YOM KIPPUR, although the most significant, was only one of a whole system of sacrifices that was implemented to assuage God’s wrath against sin. And, except for YOM KIPPUR, where the sole officiant was the High Priest, the role of the people was also important. It was their responsibility to identify with the sacrificial lambs by laying their hands on the lamb’s head while it was being slaughtered…in recognition of the fact that they deserved to die for their sins but God, in His love, was accepting the death of this lamb instead. This lamb was distinguished from the YOM KIPPUR goat in that it only atoned for the sins of the individual who offered it. The Goat atoned for the entire nation.

 Unfortunately, as is true with all things that involve humans, this atoning system began to lose its value as people started viewing it more cynically and no longer expressed remorse and repentance as they made their offerings. It got so bad that God expressed His anger through the prophet Amos:

 “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings (Amos 5:20-22). God even allowed the Temple to be destroyed so there could be no more offerings at YOM KIPPUR. Now what do we do?

So…what does all this have to do with us, and atonement?

 All of the Old Testament is intended as prelude to the New Testament. Many of the events and people are considered “types” (or metaphors) for truths contained in the New Testament. For this reason, we simply cannot appreciate, or comprehend the Messianic events surrounding Jesus unless we study the correlative passages in the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Gentile believers in Colossae that the Feasts of Yahweh were a shadow of things to come to teach us about Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). The writer of Hebrews (Heb. 9:11ff) describes the importance of blood in Tabernacle/Temple ceremonies of ancient Israel, how it relates to the remission of sins and how it pointed to Jesus’ shedding of his blood on the cross for the atoning.

 God…if He was going to maintain His relationship with us…needed an offering that mankind could not defile. An offering that would eternally ensure peace between God and mankind. Isaiah 52 alludes to this. Go now, leave your bonds and slavery…for the Lord will go ahead of you…my Servant shall prosper; he shall be highly exalted. Yet…they shall see my Servant beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know it was a person standing there. So shall he cleanse many nations.

But, of course, as the chapter begins…Oh, how few believe it! Who will listen?

Isaiah continues in the following chapter: But in our eyes there was no attractiveness at all, nothing to make us want him.  We despised him and rejected him—We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. Yet it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, for his own sins!  But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed—and we were healed...God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us...But who among the people of that day realized it was their sins that he was dying for…He was counted as a sinner, and he bore the sins of many, and he pled with God for sinners.

Who is this divinely ordained sacrificial Lamb...who could permanently obliterate our sin problem?

Let's move forward in history to the earthly ministry of Jesus. We get a clue when we see the incident when John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching.  This incident took place at Bethany, a village on the other side of the Jordan River where John was baptizing.  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin!  He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Soon a man far greater than I am is coming, who existed long before me!’ (John 1:28-30). And, through His crucifixion, death and resurrection, He became our Lamb (forgiving sin) and our Goat (removing sin).

Not only did John the Baptist recognize it but, Jesus Himself proclaimed it. In John 10, He said “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”. A hired man would run when he saw a wolf coming and would leave the sheep but…not Jesus. The hired man runs because he is hired and has no real concern for the sheep. Jesus continues by saying “The Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may have it back again. No one could kill Him…He laid it down voluntarily. The Jewish leaders surrounded him and said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Christ’s response was crystal clear; “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me…The proof is in the miracles I do in the name of my Father. To ensure there was no doubt, He closed the conversation with this pointed statement; ^“I and the Father are one.”

And…the Apostle Peter sums up precisely what the work of Christ was intended to accomplish. “Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹ who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and ^agave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God”. (1 Peter 1:18–21)

Even if we believe Jesus died for our sins 2,000 years ago, how do we know His offering had eternal benefits? Well, here’s the exciting part…

Hebrews 7-10 outlines the amazing assurance that Jesus is also our High Priest. Remember, while the High Priest was performing the sacrifices on YOM KIPPUR, all sin was obliterated. In fact, one ancient Hebrew scholar described it this way: “For three hours, Satan could not condemn man before God” …alluding to the interval of time when the High Priest was in the Holy of Holies interceding for us.

Allow me to summarize these chapters in Hebrews…

Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of the Highest God. He met Abraham, who was returning from “the royal massacre,” and gave him his blessing. Abraham in turn gave him a tenth of the spoils. “Melchizedek” means “King of Righteousness.” “Salem” means “Peace.” So, he is also “King of Peace.” You realize just how great Melchizedek is when you see that Abraham gave him a tenth of the captured treasure.

The Melchizedek story provides a perfect analogy: Jesus is, “a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek,” not by genealogical descent but by the sheer force of resurrection life. The old priesthood of Aaron perpetuated itself automatically, father to son but God intervened and called this new, permanent priesthood into being with an added promise: God gave his word; He won’t take it back: “You’re the permanent priest.” This makes Jesus the guarantee of a perfect way between us and God—one that really works! A new covenant.

God, appointed His Son, who is absolutely, eternally perfect. Unlike the other high priests, he doesn’t have to offer sacrifices for his own sins every day before he can get around to us and our sins. He’s done it, once and for all: offered up himself as the sacrifice…and is now conducting worship in the one true sanctuary built by God…heaven.

Remember…As I outlined, the first plan contained directions for worship, and a specially designed place of worship. A large outer tent was set up. The lampstand, the table, and “the bread of presence” were placed in it. This was called “the Holy Place.” Then a curtain was stretched, and behind it a smaller, inside tent set up. This was called “the Holy of Holies.” In it were placed the gold incense altar and the gold-covered ark of the covenant containing the gold urn of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, the covenant tablets, and the angel-wing-shadowed mercy seat.

Only the high priest entered the "Holy of Holies", and then only once a year, offering a blood sacrifice for his own sins and the people’s accumulated sins.

But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy of Holies—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all.

Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As our High Priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God…in the eternal “Holy of Holies…and is constantly interceding for us. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.

So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God…the “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.

“For three hours Satan could not condemn man before God”. For the entire time the High Priest was performing his duties on YOM KIPPUR, the people were without sin! Think about this…our High Priest is constantly and eternally performing His YOM KIPPUR duties before God in heaven. We are without sin. We are pure and holy.

Our part? Romans 10:9 promises "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved".  When I proclaim Jesus as my Lamb it's like putting my hand on His head while He was being crucified...acknowledging He died for my sin. When I believe He was raised from the dead I'm believing the threat of sin has been forever broken.

Live boldly out there today…

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