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Father, among thy mercies, of which we have been singing, our ability to read.
Be in countries where we are allowed to come together without fear, to live close enough together so that we can have meetings like this.
To have thy word. We know for a long time there were many that didn't have easy access to it. And we do. We have to bless the work of getting the Bible around the world. And now for the meeting before us, we ask you for help.
That Lord Jesus would be glorified and directed to us who didn't force us for our needs, we pray, and alone, worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
00:05:01
I wonder if we might take up in our reading meetings the Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection as we get Him in the last two chapters of John's gospel.
Just know if any other problems have got a thought on that.
Maybe that'd be nice, brother. Those two chapters crossed my mind earlier, but I've enjoyed them so much I sort of put it out of my mind because I thought, well, you know what? What?
Johns Gospel, chapter 20.
The first day of the week come with Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre, and see if the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together.
And the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre, And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying. Yet went he not in. Then come a Simon Peter following him. And when went into the sepulchre, and see if the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself, then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulchre.
And he saw and believed, for as yet they knew not the scripture.
That he must rise again from the dead.
Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and see of two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had leaned. And they say unto her, Woman, Why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back.
And saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She's supposing him to be The gardener saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni, Which is to say, Master 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. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Then the same day, evening being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, Even so send I you.
And when he had, he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails.
And thrust my hand into his side. I will not believe.
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, reach, Hit her thy finger, and behold my hands.
And reach, hit her thy hand, and thrust it into my side. And be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.
00:10:07
The Son of God and that believing he might have life thru his name.
What we have in this chapter is fundamental to Christianity.
It thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God has praised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Paul said, If Christ be not raised, you're still in your sins. And so when we, shall I say, compare Christianity to other religions, we should ask ourselves, well, where's confusion? Oh, he's dead.
Where's Mahomes? What do we have, brethren? We have a risen, glorified Christ. We have an empty tomb and a risen, glorified Christ. And uh, umm, the words that we hold in our hands would have no more authority than, say, the Koran if it wasn't for the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified.
Was laid in the tomb. He rode from the dead.
And God hath now seated him with his own right hand in heavenly glory. We get that in.
Acts.
17.
End of Act 17 where?
That's 31 because He has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained were obvious, given assurance unto all men in the air, praised him from the dead.
And so in this chapter or these chapters, we see the Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection.
But we also see him.
With a care for his own and he introduces them into a new relationship with himself.
Uh, perhaps I can refer.
5 16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh? Yeah, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we Him no more. And so we see him with his own, with Mary, the disciples, Thomas, Peter, John.
Bringing them into that new relationship with himself, and that's the same relationship that we enjoy today.
It's interesting in that regard that when you read through the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
You'll find that different aspects are brought before us in each gospel as to the person and the work of Christ. And there are some things in one gospel that you don't get in another gospel, in keeping with the aspect of things that the evangelist by the Spirit of God is bringing before us. But I believe in connection with what Brother Dave said, it's very significant to realize that there is one thing that is stressed in each of the four gospels.
And that is the resurrection. So vital is it for us to get a hold of this truth and not miss it, that each one of the four evangelists, at the end of their gospel by the Spirit of God, take a number of verses or even chapters to confirm in one way or another that the Lord Jesus did not merely rise from the dead in spirit, as some have taught through the ages, but that He bodily rose from the dead.
As it says in Luke, the Lord said to the disciples when he appeared to them on one occasion, Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone as ye see me have. And we need to tenaciously, brethren, hold on to the precious truth of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus. When Paul summed up the gospel that he preached, he said that he preached Christ, that he died, he was buried.
And he rose again the third day, according to the scripture. Let's tell a little story that's often been told that helps us to understand the importance.
And significance of what we're saying. Remember some years ago reading about two missionaries that were working and serving the Lord in one of the busy cities of India. And one day they were startled by a large procession coming down the road. And they made inquiries of what was happening. And they were told that supposedly a bone of Buddha had been found and it was being carried in an ornate box down the road. And the followers of Buddha were rejoicing.
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That this phone has supposedly been found. Well, the missionaries, they watched this for a time and later on when they got to their quarters and talked over the matter, they were impressed with that. And as they said, the contrast in Christianity because they concluded that if if a bone of the Lord Jesus were found, it would not have caused great rejoicing amongst the Christians, it would have caused great sorrow. But brethren, thank God, a bone of the Lord Jesus will never be found in this world.
He rose bodily from the dead, and remained on earth between his resurrection and his ascension long enough to give complete and ample testimony to his own of the fact that he had risen from the dead, appearing even to about 500 brethren at one time.
Might think that why is it that the Lord goes to so much detail in connection the Spirit of God goes to so much detail in connection with the appearing of himself to different ones and paragraphs and paragraphs go by in the word of God and he gives exquisite details to how he appeared to Mary Magdalene and it was the first day of the week, the resurrection morning and so on. But he find in the scriptures laced throughout the book of the Acts. The reason why is in chapter 2.
Of Acts verse 32, it says this Jesus hath God raised up whereof we all are witnesses. And so God by his Spirit has raised up those that were witnesses and he documents what the witnesses saw and heard. Now to have a good witness, a a bona fide witness that can corroborate, uh, an event that took place generally needs to have seen something.
Needs to have heard something. And so you have as brother Jim as being, uh, just quoting out of, uh, first Corinthians chapter 15. And it's a good thing perhaps maybe just to read that passage just before we begin.
Taking this up First Corinthians 15 and.
1St 3 For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received. Paul wasn't there at the resurrection. He received the vision from heaven itself from from the Lord Jesus as the risen man in the glory. He says, uh, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, there's a witness.
And he that he was buried, that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
And that he was seen of Cephas or Peter, and then of the 12. After that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, and then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time, for I am the least of the apostles. Well, God goes into great detail to tell us.
Of these different ones and it's a wonderful privilege as well for those of us that do know the Lord Jesus as savior to.
Be witnesses of the resurrection.
By faith, by grace, the sovereignty of God to be witnesses of the truth to resurrection.
And all of the 12 but John.
Paid for that witness with their blood.
They sealed their testimony with their own blood rather than to give up what they knew and what they had seen.
Not every time, but almost every time that you have a record in the book of Acts that Paul was preaching the gospel and he came to the point of the resurrection. Oftentimes there was a riot or there was an absolute rejection of it. And brother Umm just mentioned it in Acts chapter 17.
It's good to understand this so that when we read through the book of the Acts or read.
What Paul was preaching in the epistles that this was the dividing point.
This was the point that hit the nerve with the Jews, and it hit the nerve with the idolatrous, uh, uh, Gentiles as well. Acts 17 and verse 32. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.
00:20:06
Others said we will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clays unto him and believed so wonderful that umm, we see the work of the Spirit of God and then evidence in creation of resurrection as well. God using that everlasting gospel. The springtime comes, the trees look dead, but the leaves come on those trees and there's there's light. The SAT flows, we get Maple syrup. There's evidence that God has in creation that witnesses to the truth of the fact that the resurrection does exist.
In the Hebrews chapter 2.
Blessed Words Verse 14 As much then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to *******.
Well, this speaks of his death, but his resurrection speaks of his victory over it. And.
Death is is that which all of this creation experiences and has no power over and every time.
A human being dies, or even a a an animal or or one of our pets dies.
There is this undeniable feeling in everyone who witnesses it that this just isn't right.
You just get this sense deep, deep down in your soul, this just, this isn't right. This shouldn't be happening. And so there's a witness in every human being that death is an anomaly. It is something that just isn't right. And uh, and so that is why it hits a nerve when you speak of the resurrection of the dead. I mean, that's the ultimate. I mean, that's resurrection from the dead is the ultimate victory. And that's what the Lord.
Uh, accomplished and, uh, I don't wanna tell stories, but just briefly. I, I was with a man one time. I was looking for a house many, many years ago and uh, we were riding along there. He was a realtor and I said, do you believe in Jesus?
He said yeah, and where, Of course the question took him off guard. He said yeah.
And then I, I kind of knew what, what he meant. So I said, do you believe he rose from the dead? And at that point he said, well, that I, I have a problem with that. I, I believe in his teachings. Well, see, the problem is that when the Lord was teaching and they wanted a sign from him, you know, where are you getting the authority to say these things? Who are you? We wanna sign every time he pointed to what?
I'll rise from the dead.
That's what he every time, as if to say, listen, if I don't rise from the dead, you can just discount everything I've said.
He hinged everything on that one point that he would rise from the dead. And so it's not just a, a, an essential aspect of the Christian faith, as we say it is the Christian faith.
Brother Dave, could you, I've, I've heard you had some thoughts before privately, but could you help us a little with, uh, Acts 23 and uh.
Verse six and the truth of the resurrection that Paul preached.
Sorry, you say at 23 and verse verse 6.
I'll read the verse, but but when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council. Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question.
I think it's important to notice and.
If we go back to Mark Nine, first of all, where I first noticed it.
There the disciples have been with the Lord on the mount of Mount Transfiguration, and they come down, and the Lord speaks of his death and resurrection.
And the disciples were cuddled. He said they couldn't understand. Now what you have to do is you have to look at Mr. Darby's translation there because the Lord was not Speaking of the resurrection from the dead, but the Lord in Matthew nine. I think it is the end of Matthew. Mark 9 rather speaks of the resurrection from among the dead. And that's something quite different, the Old Testament Saints like Martha, Mary.
00:25:31
Mary said to the Lord, I know he'll rise up the last day. Or was it Martha? I'm not quite sure, but anyway, I'll know you're right at the last day. And that was all they knew. They knew of a resurrection at the last day, that what the Lord Jesus Christ introduced was a new truth, and the new truth was a resurrection from among the dead. And that resurrection is.
Divided into two resurrections.
The resurrection of first resurrection in three parts. The person of the Lord Jesus Christ as the first groups of that resurrection.
The first fruits of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary with his resurrection from the dead. The next part is of course when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to take all the through his own to be with himself.
That's the second part of the first resurrection. Then we get the.
The third part of it, and I believe it's loading the 6th, and I think we get them mentioned again in the 20th of Revelation where those who are martyred during the great tribulation, they come into heavenly blessing too.
But so we have the first resurrection, a resurrection from among the dead as we get in Revelation the rest of the dead, all those that run sight, all the price reject us, will not rise again for another thousand years, and then they will be rise for judgment before the great White Throne now.
I think we get in this 23rd chapter of Acts.
Pause failure because we know that Paul was in the wrong place.
We know that the if you'd a fan, shall I say the guy and the Holy Spirit, he wouldn't have been in Jerusalem. We find that once we've taken the wrong step, a series of disasters followed and they fell followed with Paul because he he reviled God's high priest and he had to apologise for it. And it was a bit of a mealy mouthed apology too. But then he L looks at this company Arkansas arrayed against him and he found that some of them were Sadducees and some of them were Pharisees. Now the Pharisees believed in resurrection and the Sadducees. There's there's no such thing as resurrection.
And so Paul decides what he'll do.
And you know, sad to say, he'll try and divide the company against him by mentioning resurrection, but it's significant that he mentions in that verse.
Of the hope of the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question. He does not mention the resurrection from among the dead because if he mentioned the resurrection from among the dead, the Pharisees would have been against him just as much as the. And so it was a device by Paul to try and divide the company. Well, of course it didn't achieve its objective. It caused a riot, But so that's the situation when we get away from the Lord. But what Paul did there, he didn't measure mention that everywhere else he would get it in the ACT where resurrection is mentioned, breathe. Mr. Derby's version, it's the resurrection from among the dead.
And Paul then Acts 23, he didn't mention that.
It just says resurrection as a general subject in order to try and divide the company that was accusing him. It's hard to say it was a failure by Paul, I think quite a bad failure. But it's interesting. Of course. What does the Lord say? Did you come in and rebuke him? Just look at the end of the.
Where is it says he he he, he the Lord comes in and encourages Paul. He says, you've been testimony to me in Jerusalem. You're gonna be a testimony in Rome too. So the Lord as he deals, deals graciously with those that are his own in the chapters that we had before us. So he felt very graciously with Paul in in in Acts 23, verse 11.
That'd be lovely. Is it? Yeah. Yes. Let me see there how gracious the Lord is and Paul and perhaps made a series of bad mistakes. And yet the Lord is gracious to him. And he didn't have to tell for you. You messed it up, You. He didn't have to review Paul. Paul knew that. But then he could come in and grace and say I'm gonna turn this circumstance to my glory.
00:30:16
It says chapter opens, there's brought before us immediately that it's the first day of the week. And that's another thing that is brought before us in all four gospels, confirming that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. Because the resurrection brings before us a new order of things, the resurrection from among the dead. And so again we have different aspects of what took place.
On the resurrection morning and subsequent to it in different of the gospels, keeping with their character, but the spirit of God has been pleased to tell us in one way or another that it was the first day of the week, and as we go on in the.
New Testament, we find that that is the day that is unique to Christianity. In fact, in Matthew and Mark at the beginning of the chapters that bring before us the resurrection, there's a comment to the effect that it was the end of the Sabbath and, uh, showing that the Sabbath unique to CR, to, uh, Judaism, to the law and to Israel and will again be taken up for them in the coming day. But it has to do with Israel.
Those today who make much of the Sabbath keep the Sabbath in one way or another. Whenever somebody comes along and says they keep the Sabbath, my first question for them is what tribe do you belong to?
Because the Sabbath, as it says, was assigned. God said it was assigned between me and the children of Israel. It is not our day in Christianity. And so the Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the week.
It was on that day that the Spirit of God descended on the day of Pentecost. And it was on that day that the the early believers came together, as we get in Acts 20, to remember the Lord. They came together on the first day of the week to break bread. It very quickly became the exercise and the joy of the early believers to come together on that day to remember the Lord. And it was that day called the Lord's Day.
In Revelation chapter one, where the apostle John himself was on in the Spirit on the Lord's day.
And He was given that blessed revelation that we have for us in that book. But again, I think it's important to stress that it is the first day of the week that the Lord rose from the dead, and that which was of the old order was now going to be set aside for a time.
Interesting in the Old Testament how the Spirit of God uses that Sabbath day, the last day of the week, and measures everything as it were from that last day. If you just look at the Leviticus chapter 25, just as one example in verse 8, thou shalt #7 Sabbath of years unto thee 7 * 7 years, and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee 40 and nine years. Everything was measured.
By the Sabbath, and it really meant arrest. It was given of God a day that was hallowed of himself that his people might rest. And it was a picture of how the Lord Jesus had rested in creation and that there would be a rest for his people in a future day. And it speaks of the Millennium, the time when the Lord Jesus would reign as king over his own people. And but when you come to this chapter, things are measured, so to speak, from the first day of the week. It's a blessed thing.
And the day, the first day of the week, was not a day of rest.
It was a day when the Lord labored, as it were, among his own, and umm, I have never counted it, but I've wondered sometimes how many there were that the Lord Jesus appeared to on that very first day of the week.
When he had risen from among the dead, how many did he appear to and encourage? That seemed to me like he was busy all day encouraging his own and, umm, just seeking to, uh, confirm them in their faith.
And so the Lord's Day is not a day of rest, even for those of us that know the Lord Jesus as Savior gathered to His precious name. It is a day that we are at liberty to be busy in His labor in one way or another.
But we find that in the day that we live in, the difference is not understood. The Sabbath day is for the Jews, was a part of the Jewish era, and God has superseded that day with a better day.
00:35:01
A day of resurrection, a day of the first day of the week, and it's the day I would add to what you said, Brother Jim, in verse 19. He stood in the midst and says unto them, peace be unto you.
It's the first time that he could say to them peace, and he says it twice. What a wonderful ring it must have had in their ears. Peace was no longer labor on their part to make themselves acceptable to God or labor and the sacrifices, but it was peace on the first day of the week.
I'd like to take up an appointed, our brother Portland, TA touched on.
Regarding that scripture in Hebrews 2.
Part of verse 14 through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death for all their lifetime subject to *******.
Now what we have there is that the devil has power we know, over sin and death, So even that is subject to God's control as we get in job one and two. But the devil has power of sin and death. God reserves him to himself, and only God has the power of resurrection.
Now we got.
When the Lord said.
If I call a week, fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. And he takes the example and I call it God's everyday.
Miracle we take seeds that are dead and we put them in the ground and a little bit of warmth and a little bit of moisture and they become alive again. It's a picture as as a a brother mentioned as resurrection.
And if we go back to the 23rd chapter of John's of Leviticus.
We find there, there was the Feast of the First Ones.
1St 10 Of the 23 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you come to the end which I give you, and shall reap.
Of the harvest thereof. Then you shall bring a sheet of the first roots of your harvest under the priest, and the priest shall wave the sheath before the Lord to be accepted for you.
Now what is that? Well.
The seed having been put in the ground.
God having given it life.
There was this first sheath that they were able to harvest from the field.
And what did they do? They took it to the priest. And what did he do with it? He waved it.
What do people do when the home team wins the championship?
A week or two ago the Italians won a match in, in in in Europe and I guess our meeting room at Pine Grove is in a very Italian area and the flat, the cars were decked with flags and Tooting on the hall and making a lot of noise all through. You could hear it all through prayer meetings. Well, what we have there is a picture that God has given us of the victory that the Lord Jesus Christ has got achieved over death, sin and death on the cross and his resurrection. And that resurrection speaks of the power of God. Satan cannot.
Produce resurrection. Its a power reserved alone for God if there's anything that Satan would have most liked to do.
It would have been to retain the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in the grace, but God got that victory.
And so we see that petrol in in chapter 23 of Leviticus, they take that sheaf which speaks of resurrection and they waive it. It's almost, shall I say taunting statement because say it looking cool death, but only God has the power of resurrection.
So even in the Old Testament under the law, there were things that had to be carried out on the moral after the Sabbath, or as it sometimes says, on the eighth day. And the priests and the Levites must have wondered why there were certain things that they had to leave over to the Sabbath, certain rights that they couldn't carry out on the South on the Sabbath. They had to leave over to the first day of the week. But we see as we look back in the light of what we have in the New Testament.
That those things had to do with resurrection and those things that had to do with what was really in the mind and the heart of God in the establishment of Christianity, showing us again that that was really what was before God.
00:40:10
And that's what's introduced to us. Just say 2 before we pass on from this first verse, that the stone was rolled away, not so the Lord Jesus could come out in resurrection. It was another testimony as to the empty tomb. I say that because later on we find that the Lord Jesus came and stood in the midst of the disciples, as it says, when the doors were shut for fear of the Jews.
Those four walls and those closed doors were not a hindrance to the Lord Jesus coming and standing in the midst of the disciples, even though he had risen bodily from the dead again, He had, He confirmed that. But those walls were not a hindrance. And so the stone, though it had to be, rolled away at the grave of Lazarus. When many of the Saints arose at the when the Lord rose from the dead, the graves were opened. They had to be. They came out with those same bodies that they went in.
But with the Lord Jesus it was different. He had a body and resurrection that was not subject to physical hindrances, but it was so that there would be testimony, so that Peter and John, so that Mary and others who came early to the sepulchre could look in and have that witness. That testimony. As Robert said, they not only heard, but they are not only saw heard, but they saw what had taken place with their own eyes, and so that they could go away and confirm it to others.
For us, today is going to the Lord. Terry is going to end in the evening. Saturday we'll end this evening. But in Genesis it says the evening and the morning were the first day, because with God everything ends in a burst of light. And so if we looked at Matthew 28, we'd find that the women went to the sepulchre at the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn, Mr. Kelly says, as it began to grow dark, In other words, the twilight situation, without identifying whether it was morning or evening.
But it was the end of the Sabbath. The Sabbath ended at 6:00.
Our Saturday evening and they were free then to go. They had rested on the Sabbath day and they came to the tomb. They saw it, and then they visited again later and they see the stone rolled away, and the message is given to them of the Lord to go to the disciples. Here we get it specifically with Mary. And somewhere in between that time the Lord was raised from the dead. We have no idea what the point was, but it was early.
On the Lord's day, God was, uh, I don't know if it's the right word, but anxious to raise His well beloved Son from the dead. And it was not far into that first day, perhaps even what we would call our Saturday evening, that the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. But it was the first day of the week. Two went on the road to Emmaus. Why? They were free from the Sabbath day. Now they could journey and they went to Mass and the Lord met them and they returned to Jerusalem.
And in between there the Lord had, uh, that message had come to the disciples and some of the accounts we have in this chapter, God was anxious to raise him from among the dead. But I just want to give a brief outline because it would be nice to move on in this chapter. First with Mary, we get the hopes of Israel, you might say, after the flesh and the Lord and the Lord refuses that they had refused him and put him on the cross, and a new thing was going to unfold then.
We get them appearing, uh, in the midst of those in that upper room, and we get the true and proper privileges of the church. Then we get with Thomas and we see the, the relationship of the Lord and resurrection with Israel, having rejected the Lord the first time, missing out on the church's blessings.
What Thomas has brought into then in the next chapter we get the Lord in resurrection appearing again on the shores of Galilee to the disciples. And so many things from the synoptic gospels are replayed there, the boat and the fishing and, and the net and so on. And really it's a picture of the Lord in, in, uh, in the dawn of the Millennium coming in and bringing blessing into this world and using that faithful remnant that had come through the tribulation for that blessing.
And so there's this, there's a series of things here, as well as the personal and very, uh, helpful applications to ourselves with these different ones. There are, are, are different views of the Lord and resurrection, whether with Israel. And those hopes are put aside for now, the church's proper blessing, Israel in the coming day being brought into blessing, and then the whole earth and the millennial, uh, reign of Christ, the resurrected Christ.
00:45:30
So, brother Steve.
Part of John's gospel, you would say is prophetical. There is a prophetical element to some of John's writings. The other thing that we might, uh, clarify is that, umm, we hear and it's uh, stated in the scriptures that he was in the grave for three days and in the type of Jonah, 3 days and three nights. Well, it wasn't actually 3 literal days, uh, 24 hour days. He was, uh, betrayed on Thursday night and, uh, he was taken and, uh, had that mock trial and several different occasions was.
Drag from one place to another. And then he was crucified on Friday and then, umm, so he was in the grave part of Friday night. He was in the grave Friday night, all day Saturday, their Sabbath.
And then, just as the Sabbath was over and the first day of the week began to dawn, he rose from among the dead. So part of Friday, all Saturday, and then part of the first day of the week, the Lord's Day. And so.
We need to reckon these things that God has told us these details because the Lord Jesus was, uh, going to be in the grave and he was going to rise again that very first day of the week and as you say.
We're not told exactly when, but he wasn't in the grave one second longer than he needed to be.
That that the Scriptures might be fulfilled and that God's heart might be satisfied. And the resurrection is God's Amen to the work of Calvary. God hath raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand. And so if I can just again say it like this, the resurrection, the ascension, and the glorification of Christ are God's Amen to the work of Calvary. They are the proof that God is satisfied with what it was accomplished. The Lord Jesus in John's earlier in John's gospel said.
I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work that Thou gavest me to do. And if we want proof of the truth of that, then what we need to do is look up and see where God has placed him, raised him from the dead, and placed him at his own right hand. But brethren, we don't want to miss the beauty of what we have. In these ones that are specifically mentioned that came early to the sepulchre, we often speak about Mary Magdalene and.
Mary Magdalene, as we often have meditated, is a beautiful picture of devotion. She wasn't intelligent in divine things so much, but she had such affection for the Lord Jesus that she desired to be close to His, His to his person, even if it meant being close to his dead body. That was the affection, because later on when she sees the Lord and supposed him to be the gardener, she says.
If you've taken him away, tell me where he is and I'll go to him, even if it meant being close to his dead body. Brethren, I covet that to my own soul. Do you and I have that kind of affection for Christ? But I'd like to just say this too, in connection with Mary of Bethany, because we often take up these various Marys, and they are, they are beautiful in their proper place and character. Mary Magdalene we find.
Both at the foot of the cross and at the empty tomb, and rightly so. She's there as a picture of devotion and affection to Christ. But I believe, in contrast, it's interesting to notice that Mary of Bethany is neither at the foot of the cross nor is she at the empty tomb. You say, why didn't she have affection for Christ? Yes, she did. But it says of Mary, or the Lord said of Mary, she hath come before.
To anoint me to the burial. If Mary Magdalene is a picture of affection, Mary of Bethany is a picture of intelligence and divine things. She entered in even more than the disciples, I believe.
Into what was taking place in the life of the Lord Jesus. And when she came and anointed Him in the 12Th chapter, she had understanding and came before to anoint him to the burial. And it would have been very out of character for Mary of Bethany to be either at the foot of the cross or at the empty tomb on the resurrection morning. Now when we put those two Marys together, that is what God desires in each believer. He desires affection in divine things.
00:50:23
Mary Magdalene, But he also would have us to be intelligent in divine things. That's Mary of Bethany. But Mary Magdalene certainly is a beautiful picture here of affection to the person of Christ, even though she didn't enter into what was taking place.
I'd like to make the point too that each one of these ones that the Lord is appearing to are believers, and although the resurrection is one of the most, if not the most established fact of history, yet we cannot take it.
Except by faith. And so when we're listening to what we have here today, we have to enter into these things by taste. We refer to 1St Corinthians 15 and about those ones who saw the Lord, the apostle Paul Speaking of himself.
Last one out of two times.
But every one of those who are believers and to go back to John 14.
And through 19, the Lord Jesus says he had a little while.
And the world seeth me no more. But you see me because I live, you shall live also. And so the world does not see him. Talk to people in the world, they say, how do we know that he wrote from the dead? We didn't see him. It's true they didn't, and they won't until he comes again in judgment. But here at these meetings, perhaps just to say something for those who don't yet know him, we have to believe what he says.
What the word of God says about him and when we do these things that we get.
That we're enjoying today. The resurrection will become.
Very clear to us and vital truth. We'll see in them all the power of God and we've had brought before us in Ephesians one, we know it speaks about the power of God there according to His mighty power. And then it says, what about creation? No, it talks about how He breathed the Lord Jesus from the dead. And so for us who are believers, we read about this and we enter into it and we enjoy it.
And this is tremendous, but if you don't know him, it will mean nothing to you.
You need to come and listen to what he has to say about you. You've got to come to the cross and accept Him there and then you too can enter into this with us.
OK, Tim, you might say in a way that's illustrated with the disciples that went into the tomb, it says they believed. In other words, they saw the fact that the body wasn't there and they believed he's not there. But they still hadn't believed his word by faith that he was going to rise from the dead. So they still didn't understand.
And they were satisfied to see an empty tomb. They were satisfied with the linen clothes, but not Mary. Mary wasn't satisfied to see an empty tomb. She wasn't satisfied to see everything laid in order. The only thing that would satisfy Mary's heart was the Lord Jesus himself. And so again I say, she's a picture of divine, of affection in divine things.
We've mentioned the different characteristics of John's Gospel as compared to the Synoptic Gospels.
And in Mary we get perhaps that illustrated. We know that several others went to the tomb that morning, and yet Mary's picked out. And that if we go back to the first chapter of John's Gospel, we get.
1St 11 He came unto his own, which is really, I believe, his own things.
And his own likes his own people.
Primarily the Jews received enough, but as many as received it to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them to believe on His name. And so we find that from the very first chapter of John's Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ is rejected.
By the mass of the Jews.
00:55:00
But that important word but, and what we find in John's gospel is a series of buffs.
The third third chapter starts, but there was a man of of of the Jews named Nicodemus. And we find that the Lord deals with individuals. It's all the law dealing with individuals in John's Gospel, dear Sir Nicodemus, there's the woman woman of Samaria, there's the blind man, there's the woman taken in adultery. The Lord deals intimately with individuals and often with quite long discourses which we don't get in other gospels.
And so here it's true that there are other others that went to the grave, but John picks out Mary. John picks out Mary because the Lord's got a special interest in Mary, and the Lord's got a special interest in you and me today.
And so we see that special interest being exercised when we read John Scott. Well, it's very, very nice to see that bus and the and John's Gospel takes up lots of ducks all the way through John's Gospel, we get a bus.
So we get the **** here with Mary. Its contrast to the other disciples. They went to their own home.
But for Mary, there was no home to go to because the Lord was not there. And I was a boy. We lived in Ethiopia and my father used to drive us every morning to school. And we went through the city of Addis Ababa. And there was a hill in that city that we had to go around, and it was a graveyard. And on that hill there were little shacks, little lean throughs, just enough to curl up under. And there were women on under those little shacks or next to them.
They were widows. They were widows who maybe had no sons. They had nothing. And the one who was everything to them, who took care of them was dead, and they just camped on their graves because they had nowhere else to go. And I thought of that a lot in connection with Mary. There was no home for her here to go to. I don't know that she didn't have a home, but there was no home for her to go to. The Lord was everything to her. He was.
All to her and what a beautiful picture in that way of devoted her.
But even the angels didn't satisfy the heart of Mary, did they?
But she does receive this wonderful revelation from the Lord Jesus himself. And it's interesting that I believe Mary Magdalene in the message that she has given to take to the disciples.
Referred to us by the Lord as my brethren, she is the fulfillment of the blessing of Nabilai that we have in the end of Genesis. When Jacob said not the lie is a hind let loose, and full of goodly words.
The reason I say that is because if you look on a map, you'll find that Magdala, from whence Mary came, was within the boundaries of the tribe of the the inheritance of Nabilai. And I say I believe she was that Hind let loose and full of goodly words. What goodly words she had for the disciples. And who was it that was given these words? It was a woman that loved him. It was Mary who wouldn't even be satisfied with the angels, but wanted to be. As we've been saying, she wanted the person of Christ.
Even if it meant being close to his dead body. But I would like to make a practical comment, just an application in connection with what she thinks when the Lord reveals Himself to her. Because when she first saw the Lord Jesus, she supposed Him to be the gardener. And I believe, brethren, that there are many believers today who suppose the Lord to be the gardener in this dispensation.
You know the Lord Jesus had to answer Mary in a way to show her.
That he was he was no longer going to be in this world and she was number longer going to be associated with him in this world. Again, we quoted henceforth know we know man after the flesh he had to he brought before her the fact that not only was he risen, but that he was going to ascend and the Lord Jesus is not the gardener today. They rejected the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus and his.
Is not the gardener and what the reason I say that is because as many people feel like.
The Christian is a moral force to dress up and change this world today. The Lord Jesus was not going to dress up this world.
01:00:05
A gardener comes in and he dresses the garden, He takes the property, maybe a property that's in complete disarray. I have a friend who's a landscape artist, a landscape architect, and he was hired by his, uh, wife, Sant, to take over a property and to bring some order out of the chaos because it had been let go for many years. And he went in and he did a beautiful job. He dressed that property and it's a beautiful garden today.
But we're not here to dress up the world. The Lord Jesus was not the gardener. He wasn't sending his fourth, his own 4th, to go out and be a moral force to change the world.
He later gives them before he ascends back to the Father. He later gives them the Commission to go into all the world.
And not make it a better place, but to preach the gospel, to tell others how they could be associated with himself.
In resurrection and ascension. And so I say that just as a practical application, Mary supposed him to be the gardener, but she quickly learned that he was not the gardener, not here for the betterment of this world. He was going to leave this world, and that his own were going to be associated with him not simply in resurrection, but in ascension as well.
I'd like to make a a comment on the two angels.
The interesting thing is the angels are sitting down.
The angels are God's servants and a few head servants. Would you pay them to sit around? No, you wouldn't.
In fact, the angels are continually in God's service.
But here we see two angels.
We go back to Genesis three. We find that God.
Place angels. We don't know how many, but more than one.
Cherubims in the.
Garden of Eden to so that man did not.
Access the free of life and live forever and your sins.
We see those cherubims again, I believe in the mercy seat. The marriages were told to make two cherubims of gold, one on each end of the mercy sink and they their faces were one towards another. It says towards the mercy feature, their faces, feet.
What were they doing? What were they looking for?
I were looking for the blood to be put on the mercy seat. Was that blood the blood of a spot you slipped him? Was that blood good enough for God's purposes of of of atonement as it was in those days? That's what occupied those angels. And I believe we see the same 2 angels at the tomb, but what's the difference?
The difference is those angels had seen the Son of God become man and be born in a Manger to a virgin.
They've seen his perfect life here on Earth without fear.
They seen him typing and nailed on that cross.
They seen the three hours of darkness.
They heard the cry. My God, my God, why are thou frustrated me?
It's feeling put in the tune.
And they seem to graze himself for Canes.
And lay aside the graves clothes in an orderly manner.
And exit that too.
Was there anything more for them to do? They were guardians of God's holiness, looking for the blood that was on the mercy seat. They've seen far more than the blood on the mercy seat. They've seen the blood of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ fully accomplishing God's purposes in love and grace. And so they can sit down in Worshipful wonder and all that God had accomplished through the person of the Lord Jesus.
We don't want it backed up, but I would like to just say this too in connection with what follows. When the Lord Jesus says to Mary, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, my God, and your God.
I believe it is pictured in what David just alluded to and that is the linen clothes in the way that they were in the empty tomb. It shows his brother Dave said the order and resurrect even in resurrection.
But I believe it pictures something else, and that is that, as the Lord said to Mary, that He was going to be physically separated from His own for a time in ascension. And so you find that which was wrapped about His head lying in a separate place from that which was wrapped about His body. And so we know later on after He had remained on earth long enough to give complete and ample testimony to His own.
01:05:19
That he had bodily risen from the dead, as we've said, even appearing to about 500 brethren believers at one time. Then his feet left the Mount of Olives, the cloud received him out of their sight, and they saw him no more.
Physically, the head was separated from his own here on earth. Then on the day of Pentecost, something very wonderful took place. The Spirit of God was sent down to link the believers who became the members of the body on Christ of Christ on earth to their living head in glory. And so we are physically separated from the Lord Jesus, waiting for the rapture when we're going to be.
Caught up there with changed bodies to be ever with the Lord. But in the mean time we have that inseparable link of the Spirit of God.
But I say again, that which was wrapped around his head was in a place separate from the body, and then confirmed by the Lord that for a time He himself was going to be physically separated from his own. Although we have that wonderful link so close and so near to the Lord, we cannot nearer be.
The Lord has to reach Mary.
By calling her by name. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. He calls them by name. And the first one he says, woman, why weep this out? There's not a response on her part of recognizing him as the Lord, but then he says Mary.
Immediately, she recognizes that voice.
And you know the Lord has to.
Uh, do the same with us at times.
Because when we go through Soros, our tears can get in the way of seeing the Lord.
And he has to reach in.
And get a hold of us. Our tears can kind of cloud our occupation with our sorrow can cloud our sight of seeing the Lord in it. And he has to get through that. But he does it by calling his sheep by name, Mary.
The first Mary was running in verse one and this other Mary turned herself.
With the God that we turned ourselves to see him.
Maybe we could sing 119?
119.
01:10:22
Right now, let's see if they're going to uh.
Give me a number and I have anything to do with anything.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Umm, the boy said.
Umm.
Augusta girl and loving father.
Comes to her in New York. I said someone, you know, Tabernacle that.
Yeah, just go looking for the emergency.
Witnessing that last.
And now we see there's all two Angela, the two side, uh, where Jesus lay that they were, uh, satisfied. He, he's seen the last we think of Mary and Magdalene.
Does she?
She saw the angels, but she was occupied with the Lord in her yard. We we cleaned the portion. I worked today.
Rephrase these things.