What
Spiritually Happened on the Cross Rewritten
3/20/17
The 5 gifts of salvation
Jesus gave us by conquering the cross
A. How our sins are forgiven; our spiritual
being is made Holy
B. Christ’s crucifixion
B1. What physically happened
B2. What spiritually Happened
B3. Christ’s Victory
*5 Spiritual gifts of salvation from
Christ’s victory on the cross*
1. Old Covenant spiritual beings brought to
Heaven
2. New Covenant believers’ spiritual beings
brought to Heaven
3. Assurance we will be given glorified
bodies
4. Spiritually come into the Kingdom of God
while physically living on earth
5. Be taken with glorified bodies to Heaven
with or without physically dying
Understand Jewish
celebrations, days and time: Specifics Christ’s Death and
Resurrection -- Jesus Born Tishri 10, 5BC –
Died Nisan 14, 30AD
Understand: Hades; Abyss; Hell; Tartarus -- Understand physical story: Physical Death and Resurrection of Jesus
Understand: Soul and Spirit; Body and Mind –- Resurrection Week; 7 Days Salvation Completed
A. How our sins are forgiven; our spiritual
being is made Holy
Faith has always
been the way our sins have been
forgiven. In the Old Covenant Abraham was made righteous by faith. In the New
Covenant the way our sins are
forgiven, the way we are saved is through faith.
*Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as
righteousness. Gen 15:6 NIV+
*Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not
upright in him; but the righteous shall
live by his faith. Hab 2:4 ASV
*For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; Eph 2:8 NASB+
We are forgiven by
a faith which enables us to love our God above all things, and our neighbors as
ourselves. God is love, God has an unfathomable love for us, and any who will
love their God back, love Him above all things, have their sins forgiven,
become children of their Heavenly Father.
*Now the purpose of the commandment
is love from a
pure heart, from a good conscience,
and from sincere faith, 1Ti 1:5 NKJV+
*For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision has any value. The only
thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Gal 5:6 NIV+
Our Heavenly
Father would also require a means, a
sacrificial work by which He could forgive our sins. Our Father would have His
only Son, become a physical human man, and 33½ years later shed His blood, give
His physical life on the cross, and then endured the torment of Hades. As the
only sacrifice our Father would accept as atonement for our sins; the only
means by which our sins can ever be forgiven.
*But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his
blood, how much more shall we be
saved from God's wrath through him!
Ro
5:6-9 NIV+
*Here is a trustworthy
saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. 1Ti 1:15 NIV+
We are made holy
by the means of the sacrificial
blood and death of Jesus on the cross. The way
we become spiritually holy is by faith; when we believe in Jesus our sins are
forgiven, and we will have everlasting life with our Savior.
*And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice
of the body of Jesus Christ once for
all. Heb 10:9-10 NIV+
*For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jn 3:16 NKJV+
B. Christ’s crucifixion
Jesus was born on
the Day of Atonement, Tishri (Sept/Oct)
10, 5BC, and would begin His ministry 30 years later. He would teach us about
our great God for 3 1/2 years. Then He gave His physical life on the cross for
our sins, on Passover Day Nisan 14 (March/April), 30AD.
Jesus was
crucified on Passover Day for He has always been symbolized as our Passover
Lamb; who would give His life as a sacrifice for our sins; so He could forgive
us, take away the sins of the world.
The
next day John saw Jesus coming
toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world! Jn 1:29 NIV+
*Get rid of the old yeast that you may be
a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1Co 5:7 NIV+
Passover Day on
this year would be on a Friday and at daybreak Jesus would be condemned by the
Chief Priests and elders of the Jewish Sanhedrin; who were scared Jesus was
leading people away from their teachings. They did not want riots between their
soldiers and those who followed Jesus to break out in Jerusalem; and have
tougher sanctions put on them by the Romans who ruled over their nation. Yet
they did not have the power to put a man to death; so they sent Jesus to the
Roman Governor Pilate who could order Him put to death.
*At daybreak the
council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. Lk
22:66 NIV+
* It was the day of Preparation of Passover
Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king," Pilate said to
the Jews. Jn
19:14 NIV+
Pilate had Jesus
severely whipped; and because a crowd of Jews demanded Pilate crucify Jesus, he
did; for he did not want an uprising of the crowd. Around the third hour, 9A.M.
Jesus was nailed to a wooden cross to die an agonizing death.
*Now it was the third hour, and they crucified
Him. Mk
15:25 NKJV+
There is some confusion
about the time Jesus’ crucifixion started. Mark has the crucifixion starting at
the third hour (9 AM). John has the crucifixion starting at the 6th
hour (12 PM). It was highly probable John was referring to the Roman 6th
hour (6 AM) as it was the time Jesus appeared before Pilate. For proceedings
against Jesus began with the High Priest at daybreak. Then the crucifixion
would begin at Mark’s time of 9AM.
B1. What physically happened
Since Passover Day
was on Friday, was the the eve of the regular Sabbath held on Saturday; the
slaughtering of the daily sacrificial lambs would be moved up to begin at 12:30
PM, and be presented at 1:30. Then the Passover lambs would begin to be
slaughtered. Jesus was on the cross during this time; for He had replaced the
need for any more animal sacrifices to be used. Virtualreligion.net/iho/Sabbath.html
Darkness came over
the land from around the 6th hour (12 PM) until the 9thhour;
the same time the daily sacrificial lambs began to be slaughtered. Showing
Jesus was replacing them as the only sacrifice our Father would accept for sin,
our Father’s final judgment upon sin.
*Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until
the ninth hour. Mk 15:33 NKJV+
The Lord God
Almighty hates sin, and we all have sinned, are under His curse of eternal
death in Hell. Jesus redeemed us from this curse, because He became a curse for
us; as all are cursed who are hung on a tree; the cross. Your sins, my sins and
the sins of the world, where now laid on Jesus.
*Christ redeemed us from
the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for
it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree "—
Gal 3:13
NASB+
*For He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2Co 5:21 NKJV+
*and He Himself bore our sins in His body
on the cross , so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 1Pe 2:24 NASB+
When Jesus had the sins of the world laid on Him about the
ninth hour (3
PM), He had to endure the greatest torment and punishment of all;
being forsaken by His Father. Our Father is holy and our unforgiven sins were
now upon Jesus, separating from His Father. Jesus shed His blood on the cross
to atone for our sins; so He can forgive our sins, so we will never have to be
separated from our God again.
*And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My
God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" 15:34 NKJV+
*God
made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God. 2Co 5:21 NIV+
It was my sins,
your sins, the sins of the world which would take the physical life of Jesus.
For Jesus physical body and mind could not have died if He did not carry our
sins; for sin alone causes people to physically die. And Jesus was sinless, did
not inherit Adam’s sin, nor commit any sin; only our sins which were laid upon
Him took His physical life.
*Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin,
and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— Ro
5:12 NASB+
*"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." 1Pe 2:22 NIV+
Jesus’ physical
body and mind would die around the ninth hour (3 PM). When Jesus said “It is
finished”, he was referring to the pain and anguish His physical body had
endured which soon would come to an end. Then Jesus gave His spiritual being
into the hands of His Father; for He knew later this day His soul and spirit
would come into Heaven to be with His Father, after He had deposited our sins
in the Abyss. Then Jesus’ human body and mind died.
*When Jesus
had received the sour wine, he said,
“It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Jn 19:30 ESV+
*Then Jesus,
calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed
his last. Lk 23:46 ESV+
B2. What spiritually Happened
Christ’s physical
being was dead, yet we all have an eternal spiritual being (soul and spirit)
which goes either to Heaven or Hades when our physical being dies. And because
Jesus’ eternal human spiritual being was still carrying the sins laid upon Him
on the cross; His eternal spiritual being would descend into Hades when His
physical being died.
* For you
will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption. Ac 2:27 ESV+
*he foresaw
and spoke about the resurrection of
the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh see corruption. Ac 2:31 ESV+
There Jesus would
have to suffer the torment of Hades in our place, to redeem us from our sins. This
was symbolized by the Passover lamb having to be roasted over flames, the same
flames the rich man had to endure in Hades; for not loving God, His neighbor as
himself.
*Do not eat it raw, nor
boiled at all with water, but roasted in
fire--its head with its legs and its entrails. Ex 12:9 NKJV+
*And he cried and said,
Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that
he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. Lk 16:24 KJV
Jesus died around 3pm,
there would only be 2-3 hours left before Passover Day ended at sundown (around
6pm); then He would be in Heaven greeting the thief. This means Jesus could not
have suffered in Hades more than 3 hours in our time. Remembering there is no
time in the eternal world; in either Heaven or Hades, a day is like a 1,000
years (2Pe 3:8); making our hour over 40 years. So we really do not know how
long Jesus had to suffer in Hades, until His Father accepted His sacrifice for
our sins.
Here our Father would accept Jesus’ sacrifice as
atonement for the sins of all believers; after His soul and spirit were made an
offering for sin; suffered in Hades.
*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. Isa 53:10 NKJV+
*[He
will see the results of the suffering
of his soul] and be satisfied;
by [knowledge of him] my righteous
servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Is 53:11
NIV+
Then Jesus’
spiritual being would descend into the deepest part of the Abyss [Tartarus],
to the prison where the spirits (angels now demons) who disobeyed God were chained. Here Jesus
would deposit all the sins of the world which were laid on Him; as symbolized
by Jesus being the scapegoat who would
bear all of our sins (iniquities) into a solitary land; the Abyss.
*For if God did not spare angels when they
sinned, but cast them into hell [Tartarus] and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness
to be kept until the judgment; 2Pe 2:4 ESV*
*and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land: Lev 16:ptn22 ASV
Tartarus is used only once
in the Bible, we believe it refers to special prisons in the deepest part of
the Abyss where these demons who were once angels are now chained; is the 1st
death for them. Hell refers to the 2nd death, when at the White
Throne Judgment the demonic beings in the Abyss, and the human spiritual beings
in Hades which is above the Abyss, will be thrown into Hell, the Lake of Fire
forever. Should use NASB+ or NKJV+ they are correct in their use of Hades,
Abyss (bottomless pit, prison, etc.), and Hell; we only differ with them on
Tartarus, which we believe is a special word for the Abyss; which both
interrupt as Hell.
*Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake
of fire. This is the second death,
the lake of fire. Rev 20:14 ESV+
B3. Christ’s Victory
Christ’s spiritual
being (soul and spirit) would then proclaim victory over death,
over satan, to all the
demons present at the prison in the Abyss; especially those spirits (angels now demons)
who disobeyed God in the time of Noah (Gen 6:4).
*For Christ
also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in
which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who
once were disobedient, when the
patience of God kept waiting in the days
of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight
persons, were brought safely through the
water 1Pe 3:18-20 NASB+
*But the righteousness based on faith says,
“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring
Christ down) or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that
is, to bring Christ up from the dead). Ro 10:7 ESV+
Jesus was our
eldest brother, was the first to complete everything in His Father’s plan of
salvation which was needed to save us from our sins; to show us how we are
saved.
*For those
whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of
his Son, in order that he might be
the firstborn among many brothers. Ro 8:29 ESV+
*He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He
is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Jesus would now be
the first person born of a woman, whose spiritual being would ascend into
Heaven after His physical being died. His Father
had accepted Jesus’ sacrifice in Hades to forgive the spiritual sins of all
believers, He had deposited the sins He bore in the Abyss; and His spiritual
being was now holy. Though
Jesus’ physical body which had died, could never come into the Kingdom of God
until it was glorified; made holy and eternal. For once flesh and blood have
sin, they can never become righteous again, can never enter the Kingdom of God.
*I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 1Co 15:50 ESV+
*But if Christ
is in you, your body is dead because
of sin, yet your spirit is alive
because of righteousness. Ro 8:10 NIV+
1. Old Covenant spiritual beings brought to
Heaven
Jesus’ spiritual
being would now ascend into Heaven; coming up through Hades, into the earthly
heaven which is still part of satan’s
domain and outside of our Father’s Heavenly Kingdom. Here Jesus would pick up all the Old Covenant believers whose spiritual
beings (souls
and spirits) were waiting in Abraham’s Bosom; to confirm the promises given to them
by God. For only Jesus’ sacrificial death could redeem those who followed His
Father before His grace on the cross had been completed. Jesus would bring
their spiritual beings like a train behind Him into Heaven.
*But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high, he
led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." (What does "he ascended" mean except
that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens,
in order to fill the whole universe.)
Eph 4:7-10 NIV+
*For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of
the eternal inheritance. Heb 9:15 NASB+
*For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the
circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, Ro 15:8 ESV+
Until Jesus atoned for our sins no one spiritual being was perfectly
holy; no one born of a woman had ever come into the Kingdom of God. Our
Father’s plan of salvation would always be first for the Jews then for the
Gentiles; that is why after Jesus spiritually ascended into the Kingdom of God (Heaven, Paradise) on Passover Day (Good Friday);
the
spiritual beings of the Old Covenant of Israel in Abraham’s Bosom would be the
first to come into Heaven.
*For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of God to
salvation for everyone who believes,
for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Ro 1:16 NKJV+
*If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Jn 3:12-13 ESV+
2. New Covenant believers’ spiritual beings
brought to Heaven
Jesus would draw
all believers, spiritually and physically, to Him after His victory on the
cross. The blood Jesus shed, His sacrificial physical death upon the cross and
His suffering in Hades are the only means by which our sins can ever be
forgiven; our spiritual being can be made perfectly holy as we are sanctified
by the Holy Spirit.
*But I,
when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to
myself." He said this to show the
kind of death he was going to die. Jn 12:32-33 NIV+
*knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your
aimless conduct received by
tradition from your fathers, but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of
a lamb without blemish and without
spot. 1Pe
1:18-19 NKJV+
*For by
one offering has perfected for all time those who are sanctified Heb 10:14 NASB+
The criminal on
the cross might have been the first person whose soul and spirit (spiritual being)
would come into Paradise (Heaven, Kingdom of God), under Jesus’ atoning sacrificial grace on
the cross. Because Jesus died on the cross before this criminal, His atoning
sacrifice on the cross had been accepted by His Father; Jesus could now provide
the means by which the criminal’s
sins could be forgiven. And this criminal believed Jesus was God, had faith in
Jesus, which is the way his sins
were forgiven. When the criminal’s physical body died; his spiritual being (soul and spirit)
was taken to be with Jesus in Paradise.
*But the other
rebuked him, saying, “Do you not
fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we
indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done
nothing wrong.” Lk 23:40-41 ESV+
*Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You
come into Your kingdom."
And Jesus said to him,
"Assuredly, I say to you, today you
will be with Me in
When Roman soldiers came
to break the legs of those on the cross so they would die before the Jewish
Sabbath; Jesus had already physically died around 3 PM. The other 2 criminals
would have their legs broken sometime later so they would not be able to hold
themselves up to breathe and die so they all could be taken down around 5PM,
and be buried before sundown.
*Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day
was to be a special Sabbath. Because
the Jews did not want the bodies left
on the crosses during the Sabbath, they
asked Pilate to have the legs broken and
the bodies taken down. Jn
19:31 NIV+
*but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Jn 19:33 NASB+
The thief asked Jesus to
remember Him in His Kingdom; Jesus’ Kingdom was not Abraham’s Bosom, but His
Father’s Kingdom in Heaven, Paradise, where Jesus would sit at the right hand
of His Father.
3. Assurance we will be given glorified
bodies
3 days later Jesus
physically arose from the dead; on First fruits Sunday Nisan 16 (March/April),
30AD, Our Resurrection Day, Easter Sunday.
*And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he
took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we
are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief
priests and scribes, and they will
condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day.”
Matt 20:17-19 ESV+
*And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.' Lk 13:32 NKJV+
See above verse; we know
Jesus as well as the Jewish people, counted the day when they said or started
something, as the first day, no matter what part of the day it was. Jesus
referred to the
1st day as Passover Day Nisan 14 (Good Friday); the day Jesus was
delivered over to the Gentiles, was crucified and His physical body died
2nd day as First special Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
Nissan 15
3rd day as Firstfruits Sunday Nisan 16
(Resurrection Day, Easter Sunday); Jesus’ physical body arose from being dead,
was glorified, given life once more
The Holy Spirit
brought down Jesus’ human spiritual being, His soul and spirit from Heaven;
resurrected Jesus physical body from the dead, from the tomb, and glorified it.
Then the Spirit reunited Jesus’ spiritual being with His physical being which
had been glorified; giving life to our Savior’s holy, eternal, glorious
physical body and spiritual being as one.
*But if the Spirit of Him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit
who dwells in you. Ro 8:11 NKJV+
*knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again;
death no longer is master over Him. For the death
that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Ro 6:9-10 NASB
*who will transform our lowly body that it
may be conformed to His glorious body,
according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to
Himself. Phil 3:21 NKJV+
On Sunday the day
of Firstfruits Nissan 16, the first day after the regular Sabbath;
the Spirit presented Jesus as a firstfruits offering
to His Heavenly Father. Jesus was the firstfruits,
the first person to physically die, and then be resurrected to life with an
eternal glorified physical body.
*"Speak to the
children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give
to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest
to the priest. He shall wave the
sheaf before the Lord,
to be accepted on your behalf; on the day
after the Sabbath the priest
shall wave it. Lev
23:10-11 NKJV+
*But now Christ has been raised from
the dead, the first fruits of
those who are asleep. 1Co
15:20 NASB+
4. Come into the Kingdom of God while
physically living on earth
Our Savior had
atoned for believers’ sins with His sacrificial offering on Passover Day, could
now make believers’ spiritual beings holy; so the Spirit could dwell within
them.
*But this He spoke of the Spirit,
whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jn 7:38-39 NASB+
*So, when he had gone out, Jesus said,
"Now the Son of Man is glorified,
and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in
Himself, and glorify Him immediately. Jn 13:31-33 NKJV+
Jesus first gave
the indwelling of the Spirit to some of His disciples late on the afternoon on
Resurrection Day, Easter Sunday (Day of Firstfruits);
before this day would end at sundown. Jesus wanted to share some of the glory
His Father had given Him after His resurrection from the tomb, with some of His
disciples.
*“I do
not ask for these only, but also
for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may
be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may
become perfectly one, so that the world
may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Jn 17:20-23
ESV+
*Then, the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the
Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." Jn
20:19 NKJV+
After Jesus
greeted some of His disciples, He gave them the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (born again; baptism or renewing of the Spirit). He breathed on them and said, “Receive the
Holy Spirit.”
*And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Jn 20:22 NASB+
*In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to
teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving
instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. Ac 1:1-2 NIV+
*even the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will
be in you. Jn 14:17 ESV+
Believers could
now spiritually (soul and spirit) could come into the Kingdom of God while
physically living on earth; when we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
For the Kingdom of God now is within our spiritual being; as Jesus now
spiritually lives in our hearts; and we spiritually live within Him.
*For the kingdom of God is not a
matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Ro 14:17 ESV+
* In that day you
will know that I am in my Father,
and you in me, and I in you.
Jn 14:20 ESV+
And when Jesus
lives in our hearts, we are spiritually one with Him; are raised up with Jesus and
seated on the right hand of the Throne of God with our Savior. Though our
physical being keeps us from seeing, knowing about Jesus, what is in Heaven;
until they die. Then our spiritual being is set free
to see Jesus face to face. Then we shall know all things about our God, about
Heaven; as we are fully known by our God, and now all in Heaven also.
*But God,
being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved
us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated
us with him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, Eph 2:4-6 ESV+
*For now
we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1Co 13:12
ESV+
Jesus spent time
on earth appearing to many people, to over 500 people
at once. He explained the Scriptures, the Father’s plan of salvation, to His
apostles. Opening their mind through the Spirit to the truth.
*and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the
twelve. After that He was seen by
over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the
present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all
the apostles. 1Co 15:5-7 NKJV+
*Then He
opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, Lk 24:45 NASB+
5. Be taken with glorified bodies to
Heaven; with or without physically dying
Jesus was once
again the firstborn, the first physically born to come into the Kingdom of God,
Heaven; with a perfect spiritual being, living within a perfect glorified
physical body.
*But each in his own turn:
Christ, the firstfruits; then, when
he comes, those who belong to him. 1
Co 15:23 NIV+
*and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the
firstborn from the dead, and the
ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who
loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood, Rev
1:5 NKJV+
Jesus forty days
after His resurrection, would ascend into Heaven,
Paradise, the Kingdom of God.
*to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty
days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Ac 1:3 NKJV+
*And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were
looking on, and a cloud received Him
out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing
stood beside them. Ac 1:9-10 NASB+
In the same place Jesus was taken up to Heaven in the clouds,
He will return for us in the clouds; with all the spiritual beings of believers
from Heaven coming down with Him. Jesus will call these believers’ bodies up
from the dead, glorify them, and then unite them with the believers’ spiritual
beings. Giving all believers who have physically died, a holy eternal glorified
physical being in which their holy, eternal, spiritual being lives.
Jesus will take all believers still living on earth, alive up
into the clouds; while glorifying their physical bodies (make them holy, eternal,
and perfect), in which their holy eternal spiritual being will now live;
without them physically dying.
And then Jesus will take all believers with glorified bodies,
those who have physically died and those who have not physically died; up to
Paradise to live with Him forever.
*They also said,
"Men of
*And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
And where I go you know, and the way you know." Jn 14:3-4 NKJV+
* For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 1Thess 4:16-17 ESV+
The true meaning
of Christ’s death and resurrection is love.
Jesus was not killed, He freely gave His life, endured Hell to save us, to give
us eternal life in
*This
is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1Jn 4:10
NIV+
Birth-Death-Resurrection of Jesus
Copyright
2010 amended 2011, 2012; rewritten 2017 by Ron Borkey
+
ESV “Scripture quotations marked [ESV] are from The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version,” copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a
publishing ministry of Good New Publishers. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.”
+
NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (1995 Update)
Copyright © 1981, 1998 The Lockman Foundation, A
Corporation Not for Profit,
+ NIV Scripture taken from
the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984
International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights
reserved.
+ NKJV "Scripture
taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved."