Resurrection

We have entered the season of the resurrection of Jesus! There are several occasions in scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments, when the dead were raised. However, the resurrection of Christ is different from these other events, which is why He is called the First Fruits of those who are raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Something extremely powerful in the spiritual realm was achieved by the singular event of the resurrection of Christ. We assume that the others who were raised from the dead in scripture went on to finish their natural lives on the earth. Christ, however, was a Door to the eternal through His resurrection. He said, "I am the door of the sheep...I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." (Jn. 10:7-9). Notice that Jesus said the sheep shall go both in and out. He is a two-way Door. Jesus showed this to His disciples after His death. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples at different times. On one occasion, although He could be physically touched (solid), and told His disciples that He was not a spirit, Jesus could mysteriously enter a room where doors and windows were shut (Jn. 20:19, 24-29). Jesus became the Door by which eternity and natural space and time existed in the same place. The Greek word anastasis is translated into the word "resurrection" in English. It means what we would expect: raising up, raising from the dead, raised to life again. The root word, anistemi, also includes the meaning: of those who leave a place to go elsewhere, of those who prepare themselves for a journey, to cause to be born, to cause to appear. It also means "to stand, as the foundation of a building". The most basic meaning of the Greek words used for "resurrection" here is "to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything". Resurrection comes from a place of absolute authority and power. It was by this absolute authority and power, and even by God's glory, that Jesus was raised (Acts 2:22-24, 3:14-15, 4:10, Rom. 6:4, 1 Cor. 6:14). The only faiths that include resurrection as a doctrine are those that have an all-powerful Creator as their center. We associate resurrection with going to heaven, and this is a blessed destination for those in Christ. However, the goal of the authority, power, and glory of God does not end at heaven. The resurrection accomplished through Christ ultimately brings the eternal to the earthly realm. As we will see, I hope, the Resurrection is not just about where we will end up, but what we are to be now. This principle of the intermingling of eternity with the earthly realm is also found in this week's Sabbath reading portion. The title of the Sabbath reading is "Sh'mini", meaning the 8th. The 8th day in this case refers to the ending of Passover and the beginning of the 49 days until the next feast, which is Pentecost. The Jewish concept of the number 8, or 8th day, also means going beyond the measurement of natural time, which is represented by the seven days of creation, and into the eternal. In Lev. 9, Moses called the priests, Aaron and his sons, on the 8th day to begin offering sacrifices to "make atonement for yourself and for the people" because "...today the LORD will appear to you...the glory of the LORD will appear to you." (v. 4, 6-7, 23-24). This also serves as a prophetic picture of the sin offering, the grain offering and the peace offering, which was embodied in Christ, that allowed the presence and glory of the God of eternity to be seen by all men. It is also recorded in scripture that at the same moment of Christ's sacrifice, the separating veil in the temple was also torn, and allowed men to see into the Holy of Holies, containing the Mercy Seat, or the Throne of God (Mt. 27:51). Even after showing Himself before Israel on the 8th day, the LORD had to teach a necessary but sad lesson to the priests regarding His absolute authority. This is the same authority involved in the resurrection of Christ, and the melding of the eternal and the natural creation. Two of Aaron's sons decided to offer to the LORD burned incense from their priestly censers. However, the LORD called this offering a "profane (to be strange or foreign, as opposed to Jehovah) fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them." (Lev. 10:1). Aaron's two sons died that day when the LORD sent out fire and devoured them. The thing that made their offering offensive is that God had not instructed them to do it. Moses explained this shocking event to Aaron by relating what the LORD had told him: "By those who come near Me, I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people, I must be glorified." (v. 3). It was and is vital for the people of God to understand His absolute authority, and have complete confidence in it, because it would be by that same authority that God would bring about the resurrection of His Son and His Kingdom to the earth. His priests undermined that authority that day by doing something that God had not commanded them to do. How many times have we decided what we will do before the LORD, when He has not instructed us to do it? How many words have we spoken in His name that He never gave us to speak? This undermines His (resurrection) authority before the people. In another example, this time from this Sabbath's haftarah reading, David decided that he would build a temple for the LORD, because God should have a house instead of a tabernacle of tents (1 Chron. 17). David tells his idea to Nathan the prophet, who also thinks it is a wonderful and appropriate idea. God, however, has other ideas. Nathan, after having a dream, had to go back to David, and explain the LORD's thoughts: "Go and tell My servant David, Thus says the LORD: "You shall not build Me a house to dwell in. For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought up Israel, even to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another." (v. 4-5). God then, however, began to prophesy to David about the eternal throne and house to be inhabited by one from David's natural line (1 Chron. 17:11-15). Here again, there is promised an intermingling of the eternal with the natural or physical time and space of the earthly realm. This promise made by God to David was concerning the coming Messiah. In another haftarah Sabbath reading, Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that man has no satisfaction, no fulfillment, no completed purpose without the assurance, the knowledge and the experience of the eternal. Life without eternity is like "grasping for the wind...For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?" (Eccl. 6:9, 12). Solomon knew that there had to be an intermingling of the eternal with the natural for a man's life to be an effective life, a life of meaning. This Sabbath's reading, as well as dealing with the importance of "the 8th", is also dedicated to the re-birth of the nation of Israel in 1948. Because of this anniversary, this Sabbath is also called "Atzma-ut" in recognition of this event. The nation of Israel, as well as should be the case for all of the people of God, is a living testimony to the intermingling by God of the eternal and the natural. God showed this prophetic pattern to Moses, and commanded that it should be told to the priests and the people. On this special Sabbath of Atzma-ut, Isaiah 60 is read. Knowing now what we have discovered regarding the plan of God to intermingle His eternal realm with the earthly realm, as we read Isaiah, this becomes very apparent: "Arise (qum: to rise, be raised up, be established, to make binding), shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD has risen (zarah: arise, rise up, come forth, break out, shine, appear, irradiate-to shoot forth beams of light) upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise (again the use of zarah) over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising (zerah: dawning, shining, a rising of light)...Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy...They (those who come to these "risen" ones) shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory. Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts?...I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations...You shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob...you shall call your walls Salvation (Yeshuah: the name Jesus), and your gates, Praise (tehillah: adoration, thanksgiving to God; root meaning: to shine, to flash forth light)...the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory...I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time." As we see in the prophecy of Isaiah, those who understand the full implications of the resurrection of Christ, and the opening of the Door into the eternal for those here on earth, will have tremendous impact even on those who are in thick natural and spiritual darkness, because of our qualities of eternal "light". Daniel also prophesied that those who know God will be "wise": "Those who are wise (sakal: understanding, wisely understand, have insight, to look at or behold (a figure, a likeness), to put his hands across) shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever (olam: perpetual time, time out of mind) and ever (ad: forever (of God's existence), also to put on (as an ornament)." (Dan. 12:3). This also is the plan of God which is fulfilled through the resurrection of His Son, and our understanding of all that the resurrection accomplished. The Living Door of resurrection, Jesus, not only opens the gates of heaven to us, but opens the gates of earth to heaven. Our Father, by His authority, power, and glory, has united eternity and earth by raising His Son, Jesus, from the dead. If you would like to know Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life, you can pray: "Lord Jesus, I believe that You died to cleanse me from my sin. I believe that You rose from the dead. I believe that You have opened the door of heaven for me, and made earth and eternity one, which is the Kingdom of God. Baptize me, Lord, in Your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and teach me to be the radiating light of Your resurrection, and the eternity of God, even in the middle of darkness here on earth. I ask this in Your blessed Name, AMEN."