04_03 Easter – The Rest of the Story

Document #04_03, Easter, The Rest of the Story, is actually a “Passover” study.
Through the sacrificial (for us!) death of Jesus, God can “pass over” our past sins, and lead us to new life in Christ. Just as the Passover Lamb was instituted in Egypt to save alive the people of God as the 10th plague destroyed the first born of every Egyptian,
and caused Pharaoh to release God’s first-born people from bondage, so, Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed to release us from bondage to SIN! Much more happened that fateful prophetic seventieth “week” (Daniel 9, vs. 24-27) that will illuminate your path to eternal, unending, wonderful life!

Title: Easter: The Rest of the Story!

Put yourself in the picture as I describe to you the most momentous weekend in human history, when Jesus became the Lamb of God!

It is Friday evening, A.D. 31. – the time of the Jewish Passover, now known to us as Easter. But this Passover, the lamb has not died in the Temple ritual for the Passover, for the Temple curtain between priest and the presence of Almighty God has been torn in two from top to bottom, at the death of the true Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Saviour. The true Lamb, which all Passover lambs pointed toward, has died upon a cross for the redemption of His Creation! (pause)

Now the picture progresses: darkness has fallen and it is the Sabbath, A.D.31. The Jewish Passover has begun, this time on the weekly Sabbath day. Jesus, the Christ, “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,” – John 1:29 – has been slain. He now rests in the grave. Here, through the Sabbath hours, He rests…from the travail of His soul.
He rests from the agony He had felt in Gethsemane, where He felt the anguish of the weight of the sins of all mankind being pressed upon Him, as the Substitute for all of us. Rest, from the indescribable terror of the lost sinner coming face to face with the Judgment of Almighty God!
And, yes, rest from the push and shove, the spitting, the whipping, the mocking…and the mock trials. Rest from the bearing of the cross of torture to Calvary’s hill. Rest from the horrific pain of nails being driven by a hammer through His hands and His feet. Oh, can you imagine such pain?
Rest from the torture of suffocation just beyond every breath taken at the cost of excruciating pain: suffocation caused by hanging from the cross-bar of the most horrible engine of torture devised by demons.
Rest, final rest, from the execution sentence from the Judgment bar of Almighty God…death, eternal death…separation for ever from life and the joy of knowing the wonders of the love of God!
All this He had suffered, by faith believing the Word of God from the Hebrew Bible, that beyond this eternal grave, He, if He is the truly innocent Lamb of God, would live again…that His sacrifice, as the Lamb of God which is substituted for us, would be accepted by the one called…Justice, when touched by the one called…Mercy. (long pause)

When He had created, at the beginning, Jesus our Creator, rested the seventh day, the Sabbath, from His labour of love. Now, this Passover Sabbath in A.D. 31, again He rests from an even greater labour of love, the redemption, by His substitutionary sacrifice, of all who would choose to receive Him; of all who would dare to take up their cross daily, (Satan’s oppression, trying to destroy them) and follow in His steps toward the heavenly goal. (pause) Friend, have you yet really received Him as your Saviour?

The Sabbath hours draw to a close. The Roman guard around the tomb have settled down in their long night vigil over a corpse.

Then, the record states, “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the soldiers did shake, and fell to the earth and became as dead men!” The angel speaks in trumpet tones: “Jesus, thy Father calleth Thee!” Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, who had made Himself the Lamb for the suffering of death in place of all sinners, took again His life unto Him, and arose from the dead!
“And the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened!”

“And certain of the dead, who came forth with Christ, went into Jerusalem and appeared to many in the city, declaring, “Christ has risen from the dead, and we be risen with Him! Christ the Lord is risen today; Alleluia, Alleluia!”

The record goes on, saying, “Now when Jesus was risen, early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.” You can find the record in John, chapter 20: At the end of the encounter, Jesus said, “Touch Me not, Mary, for I have not yet ascended to My Father in heaven.” Leaving Mary, Jesus ascended unto heaven, past the adoring angels, straight unto the very throne of God the Father Almighty!

Listen to these words penned by the messenger of the Lord: “Jesus refused to receive the homage of His people on earth until He had the assurance that His sacrifice was accepted by the Father. He ascended to the heavenly courts, and from God Himself heard the assurance that His atonement for the sins of men had been ample; that through His blood all might gain eternal life. The Father ratified the Covenant made with Christ, that He would receive repentant and obedient people from earth, and would love them even as He loves His Son.” Desire of Ages, p. 790.

Thus the first-fruit from the dead seed had been waved before the God of the Universe. (See John 12:23, 24) Jesus, the wave sheaf (Leviticus 23:19,11) the first
fruit of the great harvest of souls from the portals of death, was waved before God Almighty.
Then, Jesus returned to His followers in a world of sin, that He might impart to them of His power and the glory of His character.

Mark records the next events thus: “And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, the [rest] of the women came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, ‘Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?’ (for it was very great.)
But when they looked, they saw that the stone was already rolled away! And, entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a long white garment: and they were filled with fear of him.
But he said unto them, “Be not afraid: you seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen! He is not here: behold the place where they laid Him. …Now: on your way; go and tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall you see Him, as He said unto you.” (Mark 16:6,7)

Then, according to Acts, the first chapter, Jesus showed Himself alive unto His disciples by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

When Jesus ascended unto heaven for the final time, “He led captivity captive” (as was foretold in Psalm 68, verse 18). Those saints who had arisen from the graves and witnessed to His resurrection; and their part in it, their victory over death through Him; Jesus led them back to heaven with Him, as the wave loaves (made with leaven) the first fruits of His victory over death, by which they had been held captive till His resurrection! (Note carefully Leviticus 23, verses 11, and 15 to 17 – each feast is literally fulfilled as the Plan of Salvation unfolds!) The day that they were ceremoniously accepted in heaven was Pentecost, and immediately the gift of Holy Spirit was poured out in power upon the waiting disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem!
These final events of Jesus’ life upon the earth are the focus of Easter for the entire Christian world. …But the story of the work of Jesus on our behalf did not end there, rather it began there! By His sacrifice, the rest of His work for our personal salvation is made effective!
Holy Spirit revealed, through the Book of Hebrews, the rest of the story of redemption.

Please turn to Hebrews, chapter 8: verses 1 to 5. (read)
Also, chapter 9, verses 11 and 12; and 22 to 24. (read)
**Jesus arose from earth to minister in the Temple in heaven, of which the Temple on earth had been only a “pattern” or copy.

In the Temple in heaven, as our High Priest, Jesus has been daily mediating His blood sacrifice on our behalf, for forgiveness of the sins we confess. He has also been giving us the gift of Holy Spirit, to live in us, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Here it is in 1st John 1, verse 9: “If we confess our sins.” -referring to confessing our sins to Jesus, our High Priest – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Yet, through transgression by those who led the church into apostasy, the truths of the Sanctuary in heaven were trampled under foot for 2300 years; first by the Jews, then by apostate Christendom. At the end of those 2300 years, according to Daniel the prophet, the truth of the Temple in heaven would be re-established in a remnant people on earth. You are hearing it NOW!

At the time of the beginning of the Judgment hour, these people would be led to discover this new-to-them truth in the book of Hebrews. Daniel foretold that time as he wrote, “Unto 2300 days, then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.” Daniel 8:14. God Himself re-established the Reformation at that time, and both the law, by which all will be judged, and the truth of the work of Jesus in the Sanctuary in heaven, were re-established in the knowledge of His people!
Daniel’s book was unsealed, and the date of the end of the 2300 day prophecy was calculated to October 22, 1844.

But all Christendom misunderstood the cleansing of the Sanctuary. They thought it was the earth that would be cleansed by fire at the Second Coming of Jesus. They thought that the word “Sanctuary” referred to the earth. (a preconception!) They also thought that the Judgment would take one day, and then Jesus would come.

After the Great Disappointment, when Jesus didn’t come, Holy Spirit Himself revealed the true event for that day, from the book of Hebrews. Here is how it happened, the day after October 22, 1844:

Hiram Edson, a farmer in America, while walking with a friend across a corn field on their way to try to strengthen the few believers still clinging to God’s promises nearby, seemed to feel a hand touch his shoulder. He looked up to see – as if in a vision – the heavens opened, and saw Christ in the heavenly Sanctuary.

Jesus was not leaving the Most Holy Place, but rather was drawing back the veil and entering into the Most Holy Place, there to begin a work of ministry in behalf of His people; instead of coming forth from the Most Holy Place to cleanse the world by fire, as they had taught.
By the careful Bible study of this man, Hiram Edson, with F.B. Hahn, a physician; and O.R.L. Crozier, a schoolteacher, Holy Spirit revealed that the Sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 years was not the earth, but the Tabernacle in heaven, with Christ ministering in our behalf in the Most Holy Place!
As the book of Hebrews records, “Now when these things were first ordained, the priest went always (or daily) into the first Tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the High Priest alone, once a year.” Hebrews 9:6,7. “For Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Hebrews 9, v. 24.

Rather than once a year going into the second Tabernacle, Jesus, once in the end of the world, at the end of the 2300 years, moved forward into the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary in heaven, to judge and blot out the sins of His people, by the power of His sacrifice. This work is the cleansing of the Sanctuary, and this is where our Redeemer is presently working to complete our salvation!

The work of cleansing the Temple in heaven is a work of removing the record of confessed and forgiven sins of His people. At the same time, during the Judgment hour, it is to be a work of cleansing from sin within His living people on earth, accomplished by Holy Spirit! See Leviticus 16:16, 17, 21 and 30.

Therefore, “…work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12 and 13.)
Listen to this advice from Early Writings, page 48:
“Jesus is in His holy Temple and will now accept our sacrifices, our prayers, and our confessions of faults and sins, and will pardon all the transgressions of Israel, that they may be blotted out before He leaves the Sanctuary. When Jesus leaves the Sanctuary, then they who are holy and righteous will be holy and righteous still; for all their sins will then be blotted out, and they will be sealed with the seal of the living God. But those that are unjust and filthy will be unjust and filthy still; for then there will be no Priest in the Sanctuary to offer their sacrifices, their confessions, and their prayers before the Father’s throne.

Therefore, what is done to rescue souls from the coming storm of wrath must be done before Jesus leaves the Most Holy Place of the heavenly Sanctuary.”

Friends, Jesus has re-established Reformation. Let us do our part to carry it through unto its conclusion, the cleansing from sin of all of the true followers of Jesus, making straight the Paths of the Lord for His return in glory!
Let us also prepare our hearts, to truly celebrate His victory in our behalf, over sin and death. He lives, and is our High Priest in the Temple in heaven!

These are the real significance of the events of that Passover long ago, which, by the traditions of men, has been replaced by Easter.

Our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, all those centuries ago! Let us celebrate, not the Pagan festival of Easter, but truly Passover, by partaking of the Lord’s Supper together.

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