Jesus, The Ascended One, Part One

⁸ Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
 ⁹ (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? - Eph. 4

Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus first descended in the "lower parts of the earth".  While in hell, he not only tasted death for every man, fulfilling his role as the propitiation for our sins and thereby satisfying the wrath of God, but when sin was destroyed and his victory complete, he was able to succor the spoils of war by leading "captivity captive".    What does that mean?

We read in I Peter Chapter 3:

¹⁸ For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
¹⁹ By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
²⁰ Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."
Everyone who enters heaven must accept Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  But for those who were born before him, they never received an opportunity to accept him while in this life. 

⁶ For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. -  I Peter 4

Jesus preached in hell!  And those who accepted him followed him up out of the grave after his resurrection.

⁵² And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,    ⁵³ And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.  - Matthew 27

Perhaps we will deal with more of this at a later time should the Holy Spirit give insight, but the above scripture tells us that the bodies of the saints arose.  Obviously, these bodies had seen corruption or decomposition.  But the promise of the everlasting covenant is that we will have a body like his glorified body.   There is a company of saints that have already been raised as such... part of the fruitfruits of the firstborn. 

How long did they remain in the holy city and appear unto many?  We might speculate that, just like they could not be resurrected until after Jesus' resurrection, that neither could they ascend until after Jesus' ascension.   So, let's lay a foundation for understanding the importance of Jesus' ascension.

God revealed  the significance of ascension in one of the seven feasts of the Lord.   Turn to Leviticus Chapter 23 and read verses 10-15.  We want to highlight verse eleven:

¹¹ And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

The Sheaf  of this Feast of Firstfruits represents Jesus Christ.   The priest was to receive the first sheaf that came up in the field before the harvest was ready.  The act of waving the sheaf before the Lord represents the sheaf ascending before the Lord.  Why was this simple act so powerful?   Because once the sheaf was waved and received along with the blood sacrifice that was a part of this feast, the people were accepted.   In other words, if God accepted the Sheaf of the Firstfruit, He was obligated to bless the harvest that was to come.  So this feast must precede Pentecost. 

When you read further in Leviticus 23 regarding what happened on the day of Pentecost, you will discover that the priests were to prepare two leavened loaves of bread to be accepted before God.  Leaven represents sin and Jesus warned about leaven:

"And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod,"  Mark 8:15.      

"... Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy,"  Luke 12:1c

" Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" - I Cor. 5:6

In the above scripture, Paul was rebuking the church for not judging the sin of fornication that was "commonly" reported among them.  He was basically saying that, if you tolerate even a little sin, it will soon infect the entire church; and in fact, fornication was becoming "commonly reported".

"Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." - I Cor. 5:8

Jesus is Unleavened Bread.  The Feast preceding the waving of the sheaf offering was the Feast of Unleavened Bread that was held for seven days.  NO leaven was to be found in the houses of the children of Israel.  No leaven was to be eaten.  If they ate any leaven, or allowed strangers among them to eat any leaven during those seven holy days, they were cut off from Israel, with no hope of restoration being given [ref. Exodus 12:15,19,20].

Seeing that leaven was such an abomination, it doesn't initially make sense when we read the following in Leviticus 23:17,

"Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD."

How can that be?  How can leavened loaved be firstfruits made holy and acceptable before God?  Because Jesus ascended!  And because Jesus was accepted!   And now, WE are ACCEPTED in the beloved (ref. Eph. 1:6).  

Yes, on the Day of Pentecost, two loaves, representing Jews and Gentiles, would now be accepted as the harvest of the Lord.  Are we perfect?  No.  Are we sinless?  No.  Is there leaven in our lives?  Yes.  But, because of Christ alone and no goodness of our own, we have been accepted.  Praise God.

Leviticus 23:6 lets us know that the children of Israel were commanded to eat unleavened bread during those seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Read what Jesus had to say about his flesh and his blood in John 6:32-58.  

⁵⁰ This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
 ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
 ⁵³ Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
 ⁵⁶ He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

I see a great danger in the Body of Christ today.  Many churches have started using leavened bread during Communion to represent the Body of Christ.  They erroneously believe that the leaven in the bread represents Jesus "rising" from the dead because leaven makes things rise.  But we know from scripture that leaven is used to symbolize sin, not resurrection.  If they understood the Feast of the Sheaf of the Firstfruits and how the wave offering represents the Ascension, they would not err.  I know of one church that started this practice and before long, sin was rampant even among the elders to the point where they all had to be released from the ministry.  Jesus is not leavened!  The Bread of Communion represents HIM!  During the Feast of Unleavened bread, the children of Israel were commanded to eat unleavened bread for seven days (seven being God's number of completion or perfection).   We are perfected in Christ.  Because we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we have life.  And although we start out as leavened loaves, He will perfect that which concerns us.  He will love the leaven out of our lives.

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," (I Cor. 5:7).

All of these things had to be right if Jesus were to be able to ascend.  Was he an acceptable sacrifice? Was he indeed unleavened?  How would we know that His ascension gained the power and authority to cause us to ascend?   We'll have to continue this next week.

























































 

Jesus, Our Resurrected Lord

"Now 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. ² Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
³ Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. ⁴ So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. ⁵ And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. ⁹ For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went away again to their own homes," (John 20:1-10, NKJV)

The first person to see our Resurrected Lord was Mary Magdalene.  Reading further down in St. John chapter twenty, when Mary's eyes were opened to recognize that it was Jesus and not the gardener with whom she spoke, she wanted to embrace him, but "Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God," (vs. 17, KJV).

As we continue in this series of teachings, Deeper Look into the Death of Jesus, we see here that He is no longer dead.  He said to the apostle John on the isle of Patmos, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death," (Rev. 1:18).

As amazing as it seems, not all Christians, including many leaders, believe in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Look at Psalm 16:10 in several different translations:

"I am your chosen one. You won’t leave me in the grave or let my body decay" (CEV).

 

"because you will not leave [abandon] me in ·the grave [or the underworld; Sheol].
    You will not let your holy one [saint; loyal one] rot," (EXB).

 

"For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay."(NASB).

 

"because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful one see decay," (NIV).

 

"For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (KJV).

 

When Jesus appeared to Thomas he said, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have," (Luke 24:39).

 

Jesus had walked with his disciples in public ministry for three years.  They knew him; yet, there was something much different about him after his resurrection.  

 

- They did not recognize him until he opened their eyes (Luke 24:15-16; John  20:14; 21:4).

- He supernaturally appeared among them inside locked rooms (John 20:26).

- He was able to do so many works that John testified, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen," (John 21:25).

 

Something was different about Jesus.  He rose from the grave victorious.  Whenever we win a spiritual battle, we are changed.  Certainly Jesus, who is referred to in scripture as the "last Adam" was changed; that is, he was rewarded. 

 

^44" It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

⁴⁵ And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

⁴⁶ Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

⁴⁷ The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven," (I Cor. 15:44-47).

 

THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD DWELLS BODILY WITHIN THE GLORIFIED MAN, CHRIST JESUS! (Col. 2:9)  He is still one hundred percent God and one hundred percent Man.  The One who received the Spirit without measure imparts himself into you and me out of his own fullness (John 1:16); and yet his own fullness is not diminished. 

 

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOUL OF JESUS?  Jesus was the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died in order to produce a harvest.  He is the firstfruit among many brethren.  The Son of Man...the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.  How this transition took place may only be revealed in glory.  All souls belong to God (Ezek. 18:4).   Jesus sowed his body and his soul.  He gained our bodies as temples of the living God and he gained our souls which he died to save.  After Jesus' resurrection we never hear mention of the soul of Jesus ever again.   Everything we inherit as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ is all spiritual:

 

- the gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. 12; 14).

- the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23)

- "...he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit," (I Cor. 6:17).

- "God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of a sound mind," (2 Tim. 1:7)

 

In other words, we are not to be "soul-tied" to our God, but rather, joined to Him by the Spirit.  Many Christians walk with God out of their soulish realm... out of their feelings/emotions, their mind or will, etc.   Then, when things don't go their way or they get their feelings hurt or offended, they backslide until they need God again.   We're to be joined to the Lord by the Spirit of Truth and we're to walk by faith...according to His word... not by sight or feelings or our own opinions, thoughts, ideas or plans.

 

Something about the resurrected Lord was different.  His name now carried power in heaven, earth and beneath the earth.  He now held the keys of hell and of death.  He could now shift into his ministry as our High Priest and release the Holy Spirit into the earth to be with us.  Yet when Mary saw our Resurrected Savior in the body that had been whipped, beaten and crucified, (but now glorified), he restrained her from embracing him, stating, "...for I am not yet ascended to my Father...".

 

Jesus was obviously resurrected, but there was something more that had to happen.  He still had to ascend!  We know that the Spirit of Jesus had been committed into the hands of the Father when Jesus breathed his last on the Cross.  It was the soul of Jesus that had gone into hell, was risen back into the body that did not decompose, rot, decay or "see corruption", but had never stood before the Father in his glorified body.   After telling Mary not to touch him, we only have to read down ten more verses to ready what He said to Thomas when he reappeared in the midst of the apostles,

 

²⁷ Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing," (John 20).

 

Ten verses later Jesus invites Thomas to touch him!  So... what happened between the time Mary saw him and his appearance to Thomas?  Surely he had "ascended".  But, he's back on earth among his disciples!?!  What's going on here?  What does this mean?  Let's dig a little further next week. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus, Our Burnt Offering

 

  

"Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it," (Acts 2:24).



 



"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man," (Heb. 2:9).

 



"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father," (John 10:17-18).

 

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," (Matthew 12:40).



 

The thought of Jesus being sent to hell to suffer in the flames has been so controversial that it has been laid aside.  What Jesus accomplished on the Cross has become so magnified until some believe that the victory of Jesus is tied to the Cross alone.  They cannot see beyond it. The New Testament records so little of the life of Jesus.  He disappears from our view between the ages of 12 and 30.  So, we are silent.  He also disappears from our view for three days while His Body lays in the tomb.  In this instant, however, scripture is not so silent.

 

Interestingly enough, even though Jesus commands his disciples to follow him (e.g., Mt. 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:24, 10:21; Luke 9:23), a point in time comes when He says, "Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come," (John 7:34).   The apostles questioned among themselves, "What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?" (vs. 36).  Antiquity records that many of Jesus' disciples died as martyrs; Peter was even crucified upside down, stating that he was not worthy to die as his Lord had.  We can follow Jesus to the Cross; he tells us to take up our cross and follow him.  We know that He has gone to prepare a place for us in heaven and that we're to be with him eternally.  So, we can follow Him to glory.  The only place we could not follow was hell.   There would be no one to witness the price that He would pay in that place.  And perhaps that's why we are so silent.  There is nothing but the testimony of scriptures to give us at least a glimpse of what may have happened in the "belly of the earth".

 

Here is my perspective.  Jesus became sin.   The sin of the world was upon him and had to be destroyed in the fires of hell.  I believe He felt the tormenting flames and because of that his soul travailed until the ultimate penalty for our sins and the wrath of God was satisfied.  ("He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied" - Isa. 53:11).  The flames could not destroy Jesus, only the sin.

There is an obscure scripture that I believe holds the revelation of what happened to Jesus.



 

"Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water," (Numbers 31:23).



 

 

I am of the opinion that when Jesus went to hell with our sin, he had to stand in the flames to destroy the sin; yet he himself came out clean.   I believe that as long as sin was upon him, he was "tasting" the death that he never meant for mankind to experience.  Afterward, I believe he was "loosed from the pains of death" according to the scriptures.  I believe he won the victory over death, hell and the grave and those keys were brought up with him when he came up out of the grave. The flames held no more power against him and now the "second death" cannot harm us.

 

 



"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power..." (Rev. 20:6).

 

 

The story of Jonah was a prophetic picture Jesus used to show how he would be three days in the hell.  I believe the story of the three Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace is a prophetic picture as well.  He was showing us that when we walk with him, the fire will not harm us.  

  

We Go Through Water

 

Numbers 31:23 tells us that whatsoever cannot endure the fire, must go through the water.  God in His great mercy allows us to identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ by going through the waters of baptism because we could not endure going through the fires of hell.  After we have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we are spiritually transformed.  We then receive not only water baptism, and Holy Spirit baptism, but a baptism of fire! (Mt. 3:11; Lk. 3:16).

 

 

 



 





 

 

 

Note:  For those interested in a live discussion regarding these blogs, we have a weekly Monday night conference call from 8-9PM.  The conference number is 530.881.1200 and the access code is 448699#.

Jesus, Our Scapegoat

  This blog is dedicated to peering more deeply into the Death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  In our previous blog, we showed from scripture that Jesus indeed went to hell in our place. 

"He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption,"  (Acts 2:31).

 The Soul of Jesus Typified in the Old Testament

 

You may want to read the entire sixteenth chapter of Leviticus, but let us point out the key verses here: [some words are emboldened for emphasis]

 

 ⁵ And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

 
⁷ And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
⁹ And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
¹⁰ But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
 
²⁰ And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:
²¹ And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
²² And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
 
³⁰ For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.


 The work of salvation accomplished by our blessed Savior was of such magnitude that it took two goats to make one atonement.  In addition, one ram had to be offered as a burnt offering one the Day of Atonement.

Jesus is our Scapegoat.  A scapegoat is one who bears the all the blame for others and suffers in their place.  In modern-day vernacular he may have been called by synonyms such as our Fall Guy, or Whipping Boy, or Laughingstock. 

 Of course the goat that was chosen by lot to be slain represents the death of Jesus' body which died upon the Cross of Calvary.  But the scapegoat was presented ALIVE before the Lord. 

The work of the slain goat alone did not COMPLETE the atonement!  Read verse ten again.   The success of the scapegoat was necessary to complete the assignment of atoning for the sins of God's people.   In other words, those who believe that the work of salvation was completed at the Cross, have missed the significant contribution required of the scapegoat.   Compare Leviticus 16:21-22 above with this verse from Isaiah:

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,"(Isaiah 53:6).

It's curious that the end of Lev. 16:21 states that, once the sins and iniquities of the people had been laid upon the scapegoat, it was necessary for it to be led away by the hand of a fit man [a man who had been appointed and was standing by...ready and able to handle the goat].  Can you imagine what that goat must have gone through when the sins of the nation were spiritually transferred to it?  Not one of us can understand what it must have been for Jesus to bear the sin of the world [the sins of all mankind in all generations from Adam to the last soul that will ever be born].

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," (2 Cor. 5:21).

I pray that you're beginning to sense how much more Jesus truly suffered... beyond what happened in His Body, but in His soul as well. Jesus' soul was three days in hell.  He wasn't there idly waiting to be resurrected.  He was on an assignment! In a later blog we'll take a look at scriptures that reveal  what He accomplished while He was there.

 Our Lord was resurrected; meaning, He arose from the dead.  He was raised.  Remember he had commended his spirit back to the Father?   So, if his spirit were to return to his body, he would have to descend from above.  

"Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell..."  (Ps. 16:10a).

Jesus' soul had never been separated from his spirit, but the Word of God was so sharp in his life, and his death was so thorough, that in dying, his spirit returned to the Father, his body lay in a tomb, and his soul went to hell.  All his earthly life, the soul of Jesus had been continuously under the tutelage of the Spirit; and the Son  had to learn obedience by the things he suffered  (Heb. 5:8).

Try to see the Son of God (Jesus' spirit) and the Son of Man (Jesus' soul) as two unique entities that lived as One.   ^"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit..." (Heb. 4:12)

 Jesus always spoke and acted in accordance with the Father's will.  In other words, his spirit man maintained control and dominated his earthly walk.   The soul of Jesus - his human mind, will and emotions -  suffered and learned obedience.  Anything that the Son of Man may have wanted to say, think, or do that was outside of the will of God, the Son of God overruled.   He couldn't have a girlfriend.  He couldn't just be a carpenter, get married and live a simple life.  He couldn't drink too much or allow himself to do many of the "natural" things we do; yet he suffered being tempted in all points like as we are... yet, without sin (Heb. 4:15).  Indeed, he was a living "sacrifice".

After learning obedience, the soul of Jesus had to pay the ultimate price:  "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," (Mt. 26:38).   He had to pour out his soul unto death (Isa. 53:12). 

It's the body that experiences death when the soul and spirit leave it.  Jesus' body died on the Cross. But, how does a soul die?   The soul that sins shall die [Ezekiel 18:4,20].  Recall that death is separation.  A soul dies when it is separated from God.   Perhaps the greatest agony for Jesus' in Gethsemane was the knowledge that he was going to be separated from the Father as he became our sin offering.  "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt. 27:46).  It would be the first time the Son of Man would ever be on his own:  the piercing word (will) of God would divide or separate the soul from the spirit.  Only the spirit would return to the Father when Jesus breathed his last breath.     Alone, the scapegoat would have to enter hell, fulfill the will of God, and return with the keys of hell and of death.  So, let's answer the question,

Why Two Goats?

 

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sins (Heb. 9:22).   "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins," Matthew 26:28.   The word "remission" means "the cancellation of a debt, charge or penalty".  The wages or penalty of sin is death.  Jesus paid the debt and cancelled all charges against us!  We overcome by the Blood of the Lamb.  Amen.   The work of the slain goat signified our sins being FORGIVEN.

 

However, God knew it would not be enough for us to just be forgiven.  We also needed to be CHANGED.  Our sin nature needed to be removed.  The scapegoat was led away to an uninhabited, wilderness place [what else could symbolize or typify the soul going to hell?].   John the Baptist saw Jesus in his role as our scapegoat and declared, "Behold, the Lamb of God who TAKES AWAY the sin of the world," (John 1:29).   To this the psalmist agrees:  "As far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12).    

 

Jesus had to dispose of sin in order to truly liberate us from it.   Next week,  as we continue to take a deeper look into the death of Jesus, I want to share with you a revelation on Jesus, Our Burnt Offering.



The Soul of Man

     In my first blog last Sunday morning, I made the statement that Jesus didn't just go to Gethsemane to pray; He went there to die.  Read last week's blog for our scriptural foundation to back this truth.

     This morning, I want us to spend a little time understanding the soul of man, since this is the part of  Jesus that died in the Garden.  Our Lord only took His three closest disciples - the ones we call His "inner circle" who had been privileged to be the only three who had witnessed Jesus' transfiguration when He spoke with Moses and Elijah (Mt. 17:1-9).  Obviously there was something to be witnessed in this experience as well; but, as we will see in a later blog, Peter, James and John failed.
    

The Soul of Man

 

The soul of man is comprised of his mind, will and emotions.   With his soul, a man is self-conscious.

The soul tells you that you are a unique individual with your own personal preferences, likes, dislikes, etc. because you have self-awareness.   When God breathed into the lifeless body of the first man, Adam, he became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).  Actually, the original language declares that God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of "lives" (plural).  Why?  Being a tri-partite being, man has, as it were, three expressions of life:

 

1.     Bios - physical life, or the life of the body/flesh.  The five basic senses of your biological being (sight, sound, touch, feel, smell) make you consciously aware of this natural, physical world. Without a body, you would have no contact with this earthly realm.

 

2.     Psuche - life of the soul.   You have a soul;  you live in your body.You are self-aware.

 

3.     Zoe - life of the spirit.  This is the essence of God's spirit that "lighteth every man that cometh into the world," (St. John 1:9).  Your spirit makes you conscious of the spiritual realm.  Your spirit knows that there is good and evil, right and wrong.  When Adam ate from the knowledge of the Tree of Good and Evil, he lost his spiritual sensitivity to discern good from evil (cp. Isa. 5:20).   Nevertheless, "they that are joined to the Lord become one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17). 

 

When a man dies, his body returns to dust and his spirit to the God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7).  However, a man's soul hangs in the balance.  Souls can go to either heaven or hell, depending on

whether or not salvation was received by repenting of sins and accepting Jesus Christ as Savior.  Look at the words of Jesus found in Matthew 10:28,   "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."  Jesus does not state that the spirit is destroyed in hell, only the body and the soul can be.

 

 

Jesus' Soul - the Propitiation for our Sins

 

There are those who do not understand scripturally that Jesus not only went to hell, but that He suffered the wrath of God against all sin and ungodliness.  They believe that the full expression of God's wrath was met at the Cross, probably because that's what we've mostly been taught all our life.  Yet, every time a sick person confesses, "by His stripes I'm healed", they're not referring to Jesus' work on the Cross, but rather, the price He paid at the whipping post.  Healing is a part of the work of salvation, but it occurred BEFORE He got to the Cross. 

 

Some believe that when Jesus said, "It is finished," that He was referring to the price He needed to pay to bring us salvation.  I do believe that much was accomplished by our precious Lord in the suffering He did for us in His Body; nevertheless, I suggest to you that when He said, IT is finished, He wasn't saying, I am finished!  He's still working on our behalf.  His current ministry on behalf of His Body is that of our High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us (Ro. 8:34, Heb. 7:25).



"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins," (1 John 4:10).  In other words, Jesus was the offering that satisfied God's wrath against sin.  It's interesting that the Holy Bible says God "made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin..." (I Cor. 5:21).   "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" is stated in Ezekiel 18:4 & 20.  Had Jesus been guilty of personal sin, he would have never resurrected from the grave.  He took our sin into hell and there he experienced the wrath of God against sin. 

 

 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man," (Hebrews 2:9).

I submit to you that when Jesus "tasted" or experienced death for every man, this was speaking not only of His physical death on the Cross [because the vast majority of us to experience our own physical death, although there will be an end-time company of saints who are raptured], but was speaking of His experience in hell, suffering separation from the Father and feeling the wrath of God against what He had become - sin.   I believe Jesus had to experience the torment of the flames of hell for several reasons:

 

1.     To fulfill O.T. types and shadows. 

 

  "And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD," (Exodus 29:18).

 

"And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy," (Ex. 40:10).

 

"And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him," (Lev. 1:4).

 

Old Testament animal sacrifices only typified the Lamb of God who would one day come and take away the sin of the world.   If Jesus, as the anti-type, was not to be "burned", then why does the type and shadow of a burnt offering exist?

 

2.  To fulfill prophecy.  Isaiah states that the soul of Jesus must be made as an offering for sin (Isa. 53:10).

 

3.   To bring forth our new nature [2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15, Eph. 4:24, Col. 3:10].   This will take an entire teaching, but understand this:  On the Day of Atonement, two goats were required to make one offering for the Atonement (Leviticus 16).  One goat was slain (representing the Body of Jesus that would die and give His Blood); the other goat - the azazel or scapegoat - represented the soul of Jesus.

 

Why two goats?  We'll answer that in detail on next Sunday Morning's Blog.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



What Happened to the Soul of Jesus

 

Jesus was the Son of Man as well as the Son of God.  Like all men, he had lived in a body, and possessed both a soul and a spirit.

 

We know that Jesus' died on the Cross for the sins of mankind.  Before dying, he prayed, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Lk. 23:46 NKVJ).  We know that the Father is in heaven, so when he breathed his last, Jesus' spirit went to the Father in heaven.  His body was taken down from the cross, wrapped in gravecloths and laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea where it remained until His resurrection three days later.  [Note:  Ecclesiastes 12:7 teaches us that the body returns to the earth and the spirit of man returns to God.]

 

This is what we have heard of the suffering of Jesus Christ in a nutshell.  However, there has been a missing link throughout Christianity that the Spirit of God is now bringing to light.   There is fresh revelation that is echoing into the earth out of heaven.   He who has an ear to hear, let him hear!

 

BEFORE Jesus goes to the Cross, he first agonizes in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, simultaneously fulfilling many O.T. prophecies, types and shadows and revealing to us the vital role his soul had to play to secure our salvation.   The eagle-eyed prophet foresaw this moment and wrote, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, He shall prolong his days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹ He shall see the labor  [or travail] of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. ¹² Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors," (Isaiah 53:10-12  NKJV).

 

Listen carefully to Jesus' word to the only three disciples he permitted to accompany him to this place: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Mt. 26:38; Mk. 14:34). 

 

 

Jesus Didn't Just Go to the Garden to Pray; He Went there to DIE!

 

Jesus died in the Garden!  That is, his SOUL was poured out unto DEATH, according to the scriptures.  You see, every part of Jesus' being had its role to play;  and we have greatly undermined the role of His soul, as we will soon learn.  We will spend some time with Jesus in the Garden and we will also go with him beyond the grave.  That's right.  BEYOND the grave, all the way into the very depths of hell, for that is the journey of his soul.  While his body lays in the tomb and his spirit communes with the Father in heaven, it is the soul of Jesus that experiences the ultimate wrath of God against sin in hell.  Consider the testimony of the Messianic psalm, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Palm 16:10) to which the New Testament bears witness that this was speaking of Jesus (cp. Acts 2:27).

 

No wonder when he was victorious over death, hell and the grave, he was given a name above every name in heaven, in earth and beneath the earth.  All three parts of Jesus' were simultaneously occupying all three realms of existence:

 

- His Spirit in Heaven ("Father, into thine hands I commit my spirit")

 

- His Body in a tomb (Mt. 27:59-61)

 

- His Soul in hell (Psalm 16:10)

 

Jesus was as dead as dead gets.   A simple definition of physical death is "separation".  When the spirit and soul leaves, departs or separates from the body, when the blood stops flowing...life stops flowing (the life of the flesh/body is in the blood - Lev. 17:11).   There are those who are alive in the body but dead in their human spirit and soul because they are living apart from the Father.  Being separated from Him brings spiritual death. 

 

To have all three parts of himself separated and disbursed to all three dimensions at once was for him to be as separated, or as dead as anyone could possibly be.  Jesus experienced TOTAL death for you and I.  Yet, He had to all pay the price for our sin by taking on the penalty in terms of agony.

 

In our next blog, we'll take a further look into what the soul of Jesus suffered while in hell.  We'll begin to show the O.T. scriptures that typify what he was going to have to go through to bring us salvation.   There are those who do not believe Jesus went to hell or that He suffered there if he did go.  We will look at what they believe is their  biblical basis and give understanding as to why their interpretations are misconstrued.  This is not for the sake of controversary or argument within the Body of Christ, but for clarity.   Every Christian should have all the facts and allow the Holy Spirit within them to bear witness to truth.