True Life Story of Christ, Pt. 8

Ronald Weinland

June 13, 2020

This is Part 8, and it is the final segment of the series entitled True Life Story of Christ, and we’ll pick up from the last area there we were covering in the verse in John 19 in Part 7 of last week.

We’re at the point where timing is becoming more important. It’s recorded as being more important at this point in time because of the events that are taking place. You don’t find this in the same manner in any way in other scriptures in the Bible about other events. This one here you do, because why? Well, because it’s becoming more important as to how these events transpired, what took place on Passover, what led up to the time he died, what time he was put into the tomb, what time he was actually resurrected, what time he fulfilled what we understand is the wave sheaf. Things that traditional Christianity don’t have a clue. They don’t understand because they haven’t been taught properly. Things that started way, way back two hundred, three hundred especially, in the early 300 A.D. there.

Anyway, nothing but mass confusion in some of these things, and sometimes I’m kind of dumbfounded going on the site and watching some of the comments that people have made about different videos that have been put out there. It’s like people willingly want to be uninformed. I’m trying to find some nice words here to describe some of this. Others are just way out in left field and don’t want to know anything at all and it’s obvious they haven’t even listened to what was said.

So again, it’s a crazy world we live in and it’s getting a little crazier, but especially when it comes to religion, when it comes to the truth about what has happened through time, and the sad story is that in traditional Christianity people, as a whole, have not had a desire whatsoever to understand the Old Testament law and because of that it causes a lot of problems, because then the New Testament is read in a way that isn’t good, it isn’t sound, it isn’t based on something that was previously revealed by God, and it’s like all of a sudden we just have the New Testament. What happened to the Old? Well, there are some nice stories back there. But people don’t understand it led into how the disciples lived their lives, what they were doing in their life, and so forth.

If people had more knowledge of those things it would get rid of a lot of ignorance, a lot of inability to know and understand things that they have been taught that are wrong by supposed scholars and ministers and religious teachers and so forth. It’s really a number that’s been done on people. I look so forward to the time here when everything is opened up and minds are opened up and people can begin to see and say, “Oh, I wondered about that. Now, this makes sense.”

In John 19:12, simple, simple little things at times you read through and you think, “Wow. Just a little more knowledge and you’d be able to so clearly see why it’s important.” Like the three days and three nights. It’s like, “Why does that matter? Because the fact that he died for us, isn’t that enough?” You think, “No, it’s not enough!” Because the very fact of what you believe, if you just listen to everything and you think it could happen in a day and a half that he was in the tomb, disproves the fact that Joshua is the Christ. The very thing he said that proved he was the Messiah is the very thing you reject! So, yeah, I kind of think it’s rather important.

If we have so much confusion today in the simplest of things when you watch TV and see some of the news and the way people are and the way things are going, how can you reason? You can’t reason with a lot of people. I mean, it’s like, “Get rid of all the police.” Well, that’s really a logical thing to do. You know, when something gets bad out there and you have a particular need? You know, set up your own little government, and then when you’re in trouble you call for the police or fire department? I only have one word for it all. It’s just dumb. Dumb. How can you reason with that kind of a mind?

John 19:12—From then on Pilate sought to release him. So in this part of the story he had been told, Pilate had been told, in essence, that he had heard that he’d claimed that Christ, in this respect here, of some of the things that were said, and Pilate was dealing with him and so forth, basically he was saying to Pilate there is nothing you can do to me unless it’s given to you from above.

At this point here then it says, Pilate sought to release him because, as it goes on to say, but the Jews cried out (you know the story flow) If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. Logical because this is the very thing they finally had the reason to be able to have him put to death as they wanted him put to death, the Jewish people. Pilate really didn’t want to do anything with him, in that respect. He did beat him to a pulp, had him beat to a pulp, if you will, and thought that would satisfy the Jews, but it didn’t. They wanted him to die and so this is the story we’re going through.

It says, Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he brought forth Joshua. So, they had him, in that respect, because there wasn’t much that he could do at this point because he knew that if he didn’t go ahead and go through with this this is what they’re going to claim all the way to Caesar, if you will, that you have someone out here ruling that isn’t backing you up because this person here claims he’s a king and he’s not doing anything about it. So anyway.

So, he sat down, it says, in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now, it was the preparation of the Passover… Just like this here. People don’t understand. They think it’s a good Friday because they read “preparation day” and their minds go a little bit whacky so this has to be on a Friday. But it says right here what was it was, it was the Passover day, preparation for the High Day, the first day of Unleavened Bread.

… and it was about the sixth hour. So, it was about 6:00 am— Again, this is Roman time. Again, all these things become important as you go along. —on the Passover day of the 14th. So, incredibly early in the morning for all this rumbling to start. It doesn’t address here why Pilate was up that early and dealing with all this. But it was obvious that they came to him, because there was such an uproar of the leaders at that point in time, that he had to address this.

…he said to the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him! So, the next expression here, similar to a crying out here, Hang him to a tree! Hang him on the pole, if you will, Nail him to the pole! Whatever it was that the actual words were here, expression here, but meaning the same thing.

So again here, this is how they cried out. He says, Should I hang your King on a pole? And the chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. So again here, putting it back on Pilate here, “You have a job to do. There can only be one king.” Again, “Our ruler is Caesar.” So…?

Verse 16—Therefore, he then delivered him to them to be nailed to a pole. So giving his authority of the Roman Empire he’s to be put to death. And they took Joshua and led him away. And then went forth carrying his pole to what is called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they nailed him to a pole, and two others with him, one on one side, and Joshua in the center.

So again here, a process here of time that was taking place. It covers some of these things in different areas.

I’m going to read Mark 15 now and plug that in. Mark 15:22—Then they took him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, the Place of a Skull. And they offered him wine to drink mingled with myrrh. So again here, we’d read this earlier talking about a type of medicine, if you will, to give a bit of a numbing effect because of what was going to take place.

It says, But he did not receive it. Then, when they had nailed him to a pole, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them for what every man should take. The different ones there, a part of the Roman centurions, they went ahead and did this, as it were, and deciding who could have what. Some people might ask why. Well, because there was one garment there that most all of them wanted and it was valuable, so that’s what this was all about in large part.

Verse 25—Then it was the third hour… Now this is 9:00 am in the morning. 6:00 Pilate had him. By this time they had gone out to Golgotha now, nailed him to a pole, as it talks about, 9:00 am, and they nailed him to a pole. And the writing of his accusation was inscribed as THE KING OF THE JEWS. Now, some people have argued about why different ones here who gave the account of what was taking place here, two actual witnesses, two who came along later but they took the witness of other people and wrote it, and so here we find some discrepancy in what is translated, and the reason being is because it was in different languages.

Here it’s talking about, this particular account here it said KING OF THE JEWS, and with him also they nailed, as it says here, to the pole two robbers, one on his right hand and the other on his left. So the scripture was fulfilled… Over and over again it talks about scriptures that are being fulfilled out of the Old Testament. This one said, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

So again, one on each side of him, Christ in the middle. This had an effect on people’s minds then because of how this was done and what took place and how they looked upon him even more so. Because human beings tend to judge quickly about certain things, and so because there was a robber on each side it’s like he had to do something really bad, he had to be bad for them to do this – and that was the purpose of this being done as this comes out as we go along here.

Those who passed by, as it says here, derided him, “criticize, condemn, looked down upon,” as the word means, shaking their heads and saying, Oh, you who could destroy the temple and build it again in three days… So, by this time they’re stretching it a little bit more, taking it beyond what was said in order to find fault with, in order to criticize, in order to deride, as it talks about here. And they were shaking their heads and saying, Oh, you who could destroy the temple and build it again in three days, save yourself and come down from the pole!

You think of human being, how ugly human nature really is and how people can become, what they’re like when it comes to something like this, the mob mentality. Well, we see that a lot in the news, don’t we, the mob? There’s a mob mentality sometimes that happens in people. Sanity, sound thinking kind of goes by the wayside at a moment like this. This is what had taken place here at the point of the time when they wanted him to be put on a pole in the first place and they were crying out. If the chief leaders and different leaders there that are looked up to are saying this then the rest join in and it’s a mentality.

But there is also something else that takes place at times like this and it’s called a spirit world. That’s why to understand that kind of a mind is rather difficult. But they enjoy this kind of thing. They enjoy those things as they’re taking place in life – especially when it has to do with the Church, when it has to do, in this case, with Christ.

The things that are taking place today, there is a lot of that going on. That’s why you see such far-out things, strange things taking place, because a mind that is given to certain things can be magnified in what they’re feeling. They don’t understand where this is coming from and so they will act out in a magnified way of what they might normally do because it’s like being pushed in their thinking. Something is becoming worse to them in their thinking and they can’t think straight. The more they give themselves over to that the worse they can become. And candidly, that’s where a lot of the violence sometimes can come from. It can just be magnified and get worse and worse and worse.

So, for some time now this country has been going through things that other parts of the world may experience at different times, but we just keep going through various things that are taking place. If you look back at what was taking place January, February and some of that that was going on, a desire to overthrow, if you will, to get rid of someone that a nation, a large group of people don’t want in office in the first place, and trying to find something whereby they might be able to remove them, and then COVID-19 comes along, and now we have these types of things that are taking place throughout the country. It’s just going from one thing to another. How long this will continue, whether it’ll be magnified as we go along? You know what we think. There is a desire to see us get through this and to get on with everything, and perhaps we’re in that stage by what’s taking place. Hopefully, in many ways we are.

So again, they mocked him, made fun of him, “Save yourself and come down from the pole!” Likewise, also the chief priests mocked him and said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others, but he can’t save himself. Amazing. Let Christ, the King of Israel, now descend from the pole so that we may see and believe.

So again, this is all mocking that’s taking place. They got him where they wanted him. They wanted to see him suffer. They wanted to see him die. That which was inside of them because of jealousy, because of envy, that’s the primary root of how that began and how it grew.

Those who were on poles with him derided (spoke) against him. They got caught up in some of this as well, found fault with him.

And when the sixth hour, so it’s talking about 12:00 noon here in this case, right at the sixth hour, had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. So, when you read about the case where Pilate was there at the sixth hour you understand there is some discrepancy here. It doesn’t take much to find out that’s how the Romans told time. There’s a reason why that was accounted as it was – because of Pilate and so forth, his judgment, and now we’re talking about how, in that respect, the Hebrew, the Jewish people were keeping time. It was their time.

…the sixth hour, being twelve noon had come; there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. That’s 3:00 pm. It says, Then at the ninth hour Joshua cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is to be interpreted, My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?

Now, how the rest of this gets translated in the way it does is rather confounding, but there are things that people just don’t understand. People who translated the scriptures, especially in the beginning whether it was Latin and then later those who went on and translated more when it came to the Old Testament about Greek, and then certain things in the first four books to Greek, there was much they just didn’t understand in the Old Testament and so they really messed things up.

So even here ought to have given a clue when they know when what’s being said here, what he’s saying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” he wasn’t crying out to Elijah at that point. He wasn’t saying “Elijah, why have you forsaken me?” They had enough sense to know that this is something that he’s saying toward God.

We learn from this then. Why would he say such a thing? “Why have you forsaken me?” So much of what Christ had to say, and so much of what he had to do was written for us. It was written for the Church. And candidly, this is about a process here of something that’s revealed, that is an awesome thing when you understand it, that he had to die for the sins of all mankind. His blood at this point in time was being spilled to the earth, 3:00 there in the afternoon, if you will, in mid-afternoon. This was what was being fulfilled, “Why have You forsaken me?” God can’t be around sin and so it’s like what’s being said is, in that respect, at this moment in time, “You are by yourself. You’re suffering. You’re going to go to the point of death.” Well, we understand why he died and why he would speak these words – so that we can think about what he was fulfilling. That’s what it’s about.

It goes on to say here then, Then some of them who stood by, when they heard it said, Look, he is calling on—Think, where did you get that? — Elijah! Common sense ought to tell you, why would Elijah even be pulled into the story? But this shows how far out sometimes people can go. Because people who read this in traditional Christianity it’s like it has no meaning then. He’s calling for a prophet? That doesn’t make sense when the Hebrew just means, “My God Yahweh.” So, he was calling on his God when he said, “Why have You forsaken me?” And so, their reaction, their response was, this is who he’s calling on, His God Yahweh.

Then one ran and filled a sponge with vinegar and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink… Because that’s what Elijah means, “My God Yahweh.” They’re talking about his God, Yahweh, he’s calling on Him.

…and gave him to drink, saying, Leave him alone; let us see whether his God Yahweh will come and take him down. Then Joshua cried with a loud voice and gave up his life. So, people read through this and, again, in traditional Christianity they don’t know what took place at this time. These things aren’t taught. You think, why did he die at this moment in time? Do you not know? Do you not understand what he fulfilled? And the answer is no, they don’t understand the importance of Passover, what it means, how he was to die, what he was fulfilling as the Lamb of God. Because it all has meaning and makes sense when you understand those things in the Old Testament, that he’s fulfilling the role of the Lamb of God at this time. His blood has to spill to the earth. A lot of them don’t even know the rest of the story of what took place.

John 19:32—But when they, speaking of some of the soldiers who were there, came to Joshua and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. So, this is talking about a little bit later here now in the story on the same day there after he had died. We know the account of how the Jews didn’t want the three of them being on a pole when their holy day began so they wanted the bodies taken down and taken care of.

They wanted all three of them dead, so they wanted to speed up the process, which we understand is, as it talks about here, to break the legs. They broke the legs of the two, and then it talks about coming to Christ. The reason they broke the legs of the two (over and over again), is because of the fact that they will suffocate because their arms are above them, not off to the side, but above them and you can’t, they can’t push themselves up any longer to breathe so they die, they suffocate quickly. This was the object then when the soldiers came around to put them to death.

But it says here, When they came to Joshua they saw that he was already dead and didn’t break his legs, again, fulfilling scripture, as we understand, not a bone in his body was to be broken.

Then it explains why, verse 34—But one of the soldiers, in other words, this had already taken place, that’s why he was dead. But one of the soldiers with a spear, not just “pierced” but had pierced, because this is past, had pierced his side. When? Right at 3 o’clock when he cried out like he did. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Because he was fulfilling the role of the lamb of God, that he’s giving his life for others, for all of us. Sin; taking on the sin of all mankind, if you will. It says, and right away (immediately) there came out blood and water. That’s why he died.

And he who saw it bear record, and his record is true; and he knows what he said is true, so that you might believe. Now, I love the way John writes because he doesn’t say it was him. He doesn’t speak of himself in this case. He expresses it in a way that “I know,” that’s what it says here, he says, “And he who saw it bear record.” Who saw it? John. “And his record is true. And he knows what he said is true, so that you might believe.”

For these things were done so that the scripture might be fulfilled, Not a bone in his body shall be broken or not a bone of his shall be broken. And again, another scripture says, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

So again, such important parts of the story, of things that most people don’t, just aren’t aware of, of what took place and how it took place. Only in recent time have some of those things begun to come out. But as a whole in traditional Christianity it’s something that they don’t hear about each year when they have their Easter.

John 20, going on. Well, before we get to that point I do want to mention here is what follows is the timing of the three days and the three nights that we’re not going to go into because of the video that goes into that in great length, extensive, if you will, of the things that took place concerning the importance of a count of three days and three nights. The only sign he said that would prove he was the Messiah, that he would be in the heart of the earth as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish. He said three days and three nights. To us, something that’s quite simple. To the world of traditional Christianity, not so simple because they talk about him dying on a good Friday.

What I find amazing is they even had to change the year of his death (that they teach) because of what they believe, how this could have possibly been what they call a good Friday. Passover had to have been on a Friday. So, they had to find a year, have a year, if you will, that Passover was on a Friday, and so this is a part of their teaching. So not only would they not accept that because they want so much of a Sunday morning resurrection, that this here as well, because they didn’t understand what a preparation day was.

You think, isn’t that sad? It really is sad that you don’t have enough knowledge of scripture to know that every day before an annual Holy Day is a preparation day. It’s a preparation for an annual Sabbath just like Friday is the preparation for the weekly Sabbath. Things we take for granted. How blessed are we to understand things that are so basic and so simple? That’s why we so look forward to a time when the rest of the world will begin to have their eyes opened up. Because the reality is when you have those things taught to you for so long, you’re in bondage to it and you can’t shake out of it, you can’t come out of it. So, when people hear these things they don’t see the importance of “Well, why are you mentioning three days and three nights?” and “Why are you mentioning whether he died on a pole or on a cross? He died for us! Isn’t that sufficient?” Think, no. But they don’t understand that. They can’t help it. That’s what’s amazing about all that, to understand they can’t help it.

So, how much do we long for people around us to be able to see these things, to understand these things? Kind of brings up some sermons that are coming. Because it’s really a part of our thinking. It’s something that should be very much a part of our thinking and a part of our prayer life. Not every day, but it should be something that comes into our minds on a regular basis about those around us and their ability to see and understand. I want to go into the sermons. I got to stop.

So, three days and three nights, we understand, becomes very important, and if they could just see that one thing, believing he died in mid-afternoon on Friday, put in the tomb just before sunset on Friday. It boggles the mind that there’s not much thinking that goes into this.

It’s like people thinking they want to get rid of the police now. There’s really not too much smarts involved there. There’s really not too much thinking involved there. The same thing is true here. There’s not too much thinking involved here because if you think about what it says about those who got together to go and buy spices, to prepare the spices, and so forth, and it talks about a time that they go to prepare them and to do them, and you know that they didn’t do these things on the Sabbath (because they think it’s the weekly Sabbath), when could they have done these things? It had to be some time late, mid, sometime Sunday. It doesn’t fit. Over and over again, things that don’t fit.

John 20:11. This is when they first came to the tomb Sunday morning. It says, But Mary, speaking of Mary Magdalene, stood outside the sepulchre crying. So, we know the story here of how they begin to come before the sun had come up. It was yet dark, as it talks about, all the four different accounts, you put them together, some of them started earlier, others followed behind, other of the women followed behind. So, you find a story here that seems difficult for some people to put together and it’s not. It’s an easy story.

So you have some, if you take the account, that began to come early while it was yet dark, it says, then you have some others that are going to bring all the spices and everything with them. You’re talking about quite a bit of weight of product here that they had prepared. They were going to bring all these to put with the body. It wasn’t a small thing that was done. It wasn’t just like, “Oh, I’ve got one little container.” You’re talking about quite a bit of weight.

They’re going to bring all this with them to the tomb so they’re not moving as fast, so they come a little bit later. So, that’s why the other two, it talks about, arriving here earlier. They get there at a point in time when it’s light starting to come out, it’s beginning to be light for the first two that are there. Not difficult to understand.

But Mary Magdalene stood outside the sepulchre crying, so this is when they first got to the tomb, first two that got there. …and as she cried, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. So, it wasn’t something that you just walk into that’s straight ahead of you. You have to get down into it because this was dug out, as it talks about, and so had to get down in there to look into it. …and saw two angels in white sitting.

Now, to know that they were angels, it shows that this was what was taking place, but they didn’t grasp that. Oftentimes you’ll find in the New Testament when they talk, when it’s spoken of that there are angels there and they’re dressed in white, yes, they have white garments on, but people get this idea that they’re shining, and it’s like you go into this room and it’s all shining, and that’s not the case. They’re bright. That’s what it’s talking about. They’re bright; it’s bright, white clothing. To have that in that society at that time does stand out because so often then they didn’t know they were angels. They don’t expect things like this. This is not a daily occurrence. Their faces aren’t bright to where you could stand back and be in shock.

Now, what the ones who were guarding the tomb there, what they saw, and soldiers there, they did see more. More was revealed to them. More was given to them of what took place at that particular time.

So, what is manifested sometimes is different. But as a whole it’s just normal but with white garments, bright white, which is unusual.

…and saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Joshua had been lying. So, he wasn’t even there. Here the sun is just starting to come up as far as the light in the outside is concerned. It wasn’t dark anymore like it was when they first left. Now it’s getting light out but the sun still isn’t up, and so Sunday morning worship, Sunday morning sunrise, a resurrection in the morning when the sun is coming up. And you think…? People have been so lied to and swallowed things hook, line, and sinker, and have no basic knowledge of things in the Bible. Sad.

…and they said to her, Woman, why are you crying? And she said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him. Again, understand they don’t know they’re talking to angels. They have no idea, or they would respond differently, obviously.

And when she said this, she turned herself back and saw Joshua standing, and didn’t know that it was Joshua. So, whether it was because it was still dark… there was some light coming but you’re down in a dark area, you’re looking back and a little bit of light in a sky now, the sun still isn’t fully up by any measure, so for whatever reason she didn’t recognize him at that point. Most likely had to do with that.

And Joshua said to her, Woman, why are you crying? Whom do you seek? She thought he must be a gardener. It’s the only thing that made sense. That’s the only thing that came into her mind. He must be a gardener working in that area there. She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away from here, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. Why would you think that? Well, he’s gone, he’s not here. Why would somebody do something like that? But we want to find him. Who would do such a thing? Maybe he saw something. Maybe he did it.

And Joshua said to her, Mary! Can you imagine? Incredible! That voice, the voice you understood. You may not have recognized him right there because of where the sun was and a dark figure, in that respect, and you’re looking out, whatever.

She turned herself and said to him, Rabboni! (which is to say, Teacher [Master]). And Joshua said to her, Do not touch me. I marvel that we understand this as a Church, as God’s people, having our minds opened up to the truth and why this is important. But again, what a sad story when people don’t receive more out of it. Because there is so much here, and they don’t understand the significance of why he would say such a thing and yet it’s exceedingly important in the story.

Do not touch me, for I have not 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. His God. His Father. Yet this idea of him eternally existing? Some of these things sometimes are just so foreign to the mind, of what we can believe, and we don’t understand. How long as a part of the Church did we believe that because God hadn’t revealed it yet? Part of the trinity was taken care of in the sense of the holy spirit and understanding it’s not a holy ghost, as it was translated in English. Ghost, because it gives it a semblance of being a being and trying to perpetuate that concept, that it’s a being, that there are three in the Godhead. They have to perpetuate that. Mr. Armstrong was given to understand, no, it’s the power of God and yet the world doesn’t understand that so it has to be a being when they see something like this.

Clearly, he is calling him his Father and His God. So, a God can have a God? A God can have a Father? Anyway, sometimes logic can escape us, soundness of mind can escape us. When you don’t know the truth, you don’t know the truth, and the reality is God has to show it. If He wants something to remain hidden, concealed from the mind He’s able to do it. That’s an incredible thing to understand, that there are things of the mind we think we know and see and can make decisions and understand everything that comes into it, or that we can experience in life, and the reality is when it comes to God, no, you can’t. When it comes to the truth, no, you can’t. Again, coming sermon; things that the Church of God lost during Laodicea that we’re going to cover.

Matthew 28:9. Now, speaking of Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James. These are the two that are being spoken of through these accounts here. Then, as they were on their way to tell his disciples, behold, Joshua met them. So, he’d just seen them at the tomb, just spoken to Mary, and she heard his voice, knew right away that it was him, and that incredible account, he’s alive. Because they had no concept of what was going to take place. They had no idea.

Again here, Then, it says, as they were on their way to tell his disciples, behold, Joshua met them saying, Greeting! And they came and held (seized), means “to hold fast,” held him by the feet and worshiped him. So, before he said “Don’t touch me,” and now all of a sudden here they’re going back to Bethany, which is about a two mile walk. This is where they came from earlier in the morning, started their journey in the dark and it was getting lighter as they were coming, and now they’re heading back to tell the disciples what they had experienced. They’re in a hurry.

Now, the other women, it doesn’t talk about whether they met them or doesn’t tell about any encounter there, but they were still coming to the tomb. Here they are, they’re rushing back and to tell them they’ve seen him, they’ve talked to him. He’s revealed himself to us. And here not just too much longer—this is not a long time—all of a sudden here he is again. To me this is fascinating to understand even this.

So, they grabbed him now and he didn’t say, “Don’t hold me. Don’t touch me.” They came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. Then Joshua said unto them, Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me. So again, more instruction being given.

But the importance of what took place here is incredible, of what he fulfilled. Because it doesn’t take a long time, just as it doesn’t take the priest a very long time to wave the sheaf. It didn’t take him a long time to be received for what he was accomplishing. Hence that very short period of time between the time they were there and the time they were already on their way back. Probably going at a fairly good pace. It doesn’t say they were running, but they were excited. Adrenaline had to be flowing. And so, the movement definitely wasn’t slow and just kind of meandering along talking.

Leviticus 23. It’s important to include this in the account so that people do, are able to have a bit of an understanding here of what he was fulfilling that is important. Leviticus 23 gives the run down of all the Holy Days of God, the weekly Sabbath, the annual Sabbaths, including Passover which is not a Sabbath, but it begins before the Holy Days, starts before the Holy Days, the first day of Unleavened Bread that it speaks of in Leviticus 23.

When we come down to it, it says, Leviticus 23:9—And the Eternal spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say unto them: When you have come into the land which I give to you, you shall reap the harvest thereof. So obviously, when they were in the wilderness they didn’t have a harvest. They had manna. Forty years of manna. Many ways to prepare it. That’s kind of mind boggling in itself, to realize their main sustenance, their main portion of food, if you will, being this for that length of time.

He’s telling them, “When you come into the land that I promised to you, you shall reap of the harvest thereof.” There’s going to be a harvest. You know they had to be excited about whenever they get to get to go, that this was what they were going to be able to do, to have the harvest again, to be able to reap of the things of the land. Because where they were out in the wilderness you didn’t find these things just readily available and growing. It was a wilderness for a reason. It was desolate, desolate as all get out.

I’ve seen some of those areas across the valley along, I guess that’s the Jordan down there as well in that portion. I’m not sure about running south there, if it’s the same river or they call it a different river. But from the Dead Sea on down… and that sea isn’t coming to my mind either. The Gulf of Aqaba, it’s coming down through there. It’s the river Jordan but I’m not sure about from that point on.

But anyway, one time when we had the opportunity of being over there and driving down from Tel Aviv in the back way and going through the Negev Desert. Pshew! It’s desert. It’s hot. There is nothing there, basically, a lot of rocks. Every once in a while in the beginning of it you would see different ones out there herding sheep, goats, whatever it was out there, a little bit of distance off the highway, because it’s a long way between a little bit to eat here and a little bit to eat there. They couldn’t just let them go so that’s what they do. They herd them out there.

You go down a little bit farther and you don’t see anything. It just gets worse and worse. Then when you come back up by the river there on the other section there then going back to the north, if you’re going over along that river that goes up toward the Dead Sea you can see over to the mountain there, that’s where Petra is in Jordan. Because that’s Jordan on that side of the river and it’s desolate. There is nothing growing out there.

This is the kind of region they were in, out there in the region of Petra, if you will, and it’s just flat desolate. They didn’t have crops until they got back down to the lower areas where you could grow crops around the Jordan River again between the area of Galilee and down to the Dead Sea.

They came across in that particular area of Jericho, which again, a little bit of knowledge sometimes of some of these things give more meaning to things. You see why God did what He did and how He worked with them and brought them to a certain area that was plush at that time and where crops ripened even earlier than they did when you get up into other areas of Israel. Because it varies a lot depending on, again, the topography, if you will. This is a lower area. That sunlight, the ripening of things took place faster than they do up in higher area and elevations. Just like going from south to the north type of thing. The same thing happens with different elevations as to how fast, because it has to do with the heat and the cold and so forth how fast plants grow.

So, again here, this is a part of the story here, of what’s taking place. He says, “When you come into this land, you’re going to reap the harvest of it.” God knows when He’s going to take them to this part of the land. It’s going to be around the period of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. It’s all planned out. What’s incredible to understand is that was planned out before mankind was ever created. The kinds of things that God was going to do and how He was going to do it. They’re not last-minute thoughts and ideas about “How am I going to do this?” “Mankind has gotten so bad.” “Let them live for several hundreds of years.” It was all for a purpose. To see how bad man would become after that length of time, different story. I’m talking about before the flood. But it’s like how did these things take place? Why did they take place? God had it all planned out.

You think the flood just came along at a time that it wasn’t planned that God was going to do certain things with mankind to reveal to mankind how bad mankind can become when he lives for hundreds of years? It’s like God hitting himself in the forehead and saying, “This is too much! We’re going to have to start all over!” You think Noah wasn’t predetermined long before all this took place?

We need to understand these kinds of things, that God works with a plan, that He works with human beings in a specific way – His order and His timing of things. I think sometimes in the Church we don’t grasp the magnitude of that. All this was planned out to teach mankind important lessons of life indeed, and just what we’re like. “Okay, the life span is going to be a lot shorter now,” for a purpose and a reason that He’d intended long ago. It’s not like God hitting Himself in the forehead and having to change His plan. He wasn’t surprised by what Adam and Eve did.

The reason I’m telling you these things is because I remember sitting in classes in Bricket Wood and people talking about some of these kinds of things, like Adam and Eve, and then they sinned and it’s like the thinking is, well, God must have been shocked. He made us that way for a reason, to sin, made us susceptible to, not just susceptible to but ruled by lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That’s how He made us, so we would be of that nature, so we would learn the greatest of lessons of life ever to learn, to come to a point in time that when God began to work with us, began to draw us, that then we could compare it with something different than what we are, something much, much, much, exceedingly better, if you will. God. His being. His mind. His thinking. Something that’s not selfish at all.

Because we have to learn the lesson of what the demonic world did, what Lucifer did when he sinned against God, when he turned against God. God let us as human beings have the same kind of mind – a selfish mind. A mind that can be envious. A mind that can be jealous. Not can be but is. Anybody that doesn’t think they don’t have an inkling of that in their life deceives themselves. Because that’s how we judge as human beings. We can’t judge righteous judgment as God does. We learn it, we’re to come to understand it more and desire that with all of our being and begin to change how we think and judge others.

Now, that should become more and more refined as you go along to where it doesn’t have an impact in your life, but there is judgment that still has those things that come out in it and so when people are first called especially, sometimes there can be just large doses of these things in the mind because that’s what we are. The same mind as Satan. That’s right. He’s a selfish, selfish being. The demonic world, they’re all selfish beings. We were made to be selfish beings so we can learn to loathe that spirit, that mind, that attitude that lacks the mind and the giving and the love of God that can only come from God Almighty.

So, sometimes that’s hard for us to grasp and comprehend, even within God’s Church with God’s spirit. That doesn’t mean we’re bad, as bad as Satan, but it means we have that kind of thinking in our being – selfish, judgmental, unfair, unloving.

Do you grasp that you have in you much unloving still as a human being, and you always have it as a human being? Because you can’t love yet like God all the time by any measure. We’re incapable of it. Why? Because you have lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life living and dwelling within you. It’s just a way of life. It’s what we are. The more I mature, the more I grow, the more I understand that. I don’t have near the kind of love that I want to have. I don’t. I truly don’t. I can’t. I want and I pray to God to grow in that.

That’s why we pray in those veins – because we recognize how lacking we really are. To be able to judge all people the way God does is not a natural thing for human beings. It takes God’s spirit to learn those kinds of things. Then one day we’ll have that kind of ability and mind because we’ll no longer have lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life dwelling within us. It’ll be gone, thank God.

So again, Leviticus 23:9, Speak to the children of Israel… When you have come into the land which I give to you, you shall reap of the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf… So, they cut a small portion, wrapped it, kept this thing of sheaf with the grain on top, the bundle of the stock of it. That’s what a sheaf is. They would wrap it, keep it together.

It says, You shall bring a sheaf of the… Not the word for “firstfruits.” Not even about firstfruits. Well, it is, in one sense, and that’s why I guess some translated it this way, because they don’t understand. So, again, this is not a word having anything to do with fruit. It doesn’t mean fruit period, exclamation mark. It’s a word that simply means the beginning, or the first of your harvest unto the priest. It’s about the beginning of a harvest.

There has been a lot of misunderstanding, things misunderstood as far as the Church is concerned and what this is about and what people see and what they think this is all about.

So, this sheaf, people would get into arguments about, well, what time of the harvest was it down, and when was it cut? And you think, it’s whenever harvest starts. It doesn’t start after Passover. It starts before Passover. People will get into arguments about these things.

It just says when you start harvesting you can’t partake of that harvest until a specific time, but you have your harvest that begins ahead of time and you save a sheaf at the beginning of your harvest. So, at some point when they start their harvest they would have a ceremony where they would go out and cut a small portion to be kept as the beginning of the harvest. What a beautiful picture about God and the plan of God, that Christ is the beginning of God’s harvest, that there are many more to come along who are indeed all referred to as firstfruits of God’s plan in time here, those are the terms that are used. But this one here just making it clear it doesn’t mean that it’s the very first of it; it’s a part of it.

I think of 4,000 years – wasn’t the very first of it. Came a whole lot later but it was a part of something in the midst of everything that was taking place.

They would take a beginning of the harvest to the priest. And you shall wave the sheaf before the Eternal, to be accepted for you. What a beautiful picture, again. Everything that God has given, it has so much meaning to it.

That’s why it’s so inspiring the more we come to see the smallest details; everything has incredible meaning to it. It all has purpose and design. And you shall wave the sheaf before the Eternal, to be accepted for you, on the morrow, or the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. We recognize that the wave sheaf is a vital part of the days of Unleavened Bread. This is something that has to happen within the Days of Unleavened Bread.

The reason I mention those things is because there are many who were part of the Church who lost track of this, who didn’t understand this, who left this basic truth, and because of that became confused about when Passover should be observed and other things as well, that they become confused about Pentecost, that the wave sheaf, again, is a vital part.

It goes on in verse 12 here and says, And you shall offer that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb without blemish. Here we go again. Why always this? Because it constantly keeps in mind when you have these different Holy Days and the things that are there, Christ, our Passover, what he fulfilled. This is always a part of the story. You can’t have all the rest without this, so continually reminded of something on a regular basis of what had to take place.

A male lamb without blemish. Without sin. That’s what Christ fulfilled. He had no sin in his life. That’s what this symbolizes. Over and over again, that’s why these things are so important. …of the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Eternal.

Again here, the Passover is observed in a specific way. God gave that to us, to mankind or even to the Israelites, if you will, through time, of something that they were to have. But there are those that are things that are sacrificed as well that have the same kind of meaning contained in it. We should understand all that simply, simply so.

So, awesome to understand that at first when they wanted to embrace him – that’s the natural reaction, “You’re alive!” That’s what you want to do.

It’s like right now with this pandemic thing, can’t even shake hands. Well, we could but… the hugs and everything else. You might breathe some air and catch it. Anyway. Some of this stuff. And I know, God blesses us.

But anyway, what an awesome thing, here they want to embrace him and he says, “Don’t touch me because I haven’t ascended to God, to my Father, your Father,” and so forth as it talks about here. And so, the reason? Because he hadn’t been waved before God, the Wave Sheaf. He has to fulfill that first.

By the time then that they meet him just a little bit farther down the road, whatever that was, it wasn’t very long, here he is and he doesn’t say anything and they embrace him, grab him around the legs and worship him, bowing down. What an experience that they had! Just ought to, kind of send chills up and down your spine to think about it.

Again here, because he was waved to be accepted for us, God received him. It’s a formality of something to show us a process here of things that have great meaning to it, that God wants things, does things in a very specific manner, all of it having meaning, and it all fits together in a beautiful way that we’re to learn from and be inspired by.

Hebrews 9. Going to be concluding some of these things of this entire story now of his life. The purpose he came the first time, to be our Passover. The second time, to return as the Lion of God. Something that people aren’t taught.

When I do some of these videos and talk, some that are coming as well and some of the things we focus on at times, and you think about the world and what they don’t understand, what they don’t see, it’s really difficult. There is such blindness out there and there is so much that we look forward to, their ability to see, not to long from now. Because there is coming that point in time where God’s going to begin opening up minds and giving people the ability to see and to know and to understand things. That’s going to be an awesome thing, an awesome event, an awesome transition from this age to a new age.

So anyway, back to the story here of the flow of Hebrews 9:11—But Christ being come a High Priest of good things to come… Because that’s what took place when he was accepted.

So, when this event takes place, of the Wave Sheaf being offered up, when he was received of God the Father, he came back, they grabbed him then, he fulfilled the role of the wave sheaf offering. He became our High Priest. Because once accepted by God Almighty this is what he became for us. “To be accepted for you.” What is that all about? It’s about him becoming our High Priest. The old sacrificial system, everything about it, the Levitical system all done away now because he at that point in time became our High Priest. It’s a beautiful picture, it really is.

But Christ being come a High Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. Again, these expressions. God does it. It’s making it clear not accomplished by man but something worked with, accomplished by God Almighty. That’s the point.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the Holy Place. So again, when did he do this? The Wave Sheaf. He entered in once into the Holy Place to fulfill what it’s talking about here, to do away with the entire system of the Old Testament in the sense of the Levitical system, the sacrifice and offerings, the Passover lamb, and on it goes.

…not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats… It is about the blood but it’s also about the formality of these things and what God wants mankind to learn from it. That’s why the extra is given about a wave sheaf and what this means and what the purpose is of him becoming High Priest, and on and on it goes.

…for if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh… It’s just a physical thing to a nation of people to be able to continue as a part of that people in physical beliefs and physical worship, if you will. It wasn’t a spiritual thing at all. …how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal’s spirit offered himself without spot to God… So again here, all this has meaning.

What do you mean, “through the Eternal’s spirit offered himself without spot to God”? Because he was the Son of God he was given the mind of God, the being of God, the Word of God that became flesh, and that unity, that oneness that existed there, it’s by that power that lived within him in ways that we have access to but don’t live in the manner that he did. He had that from the very beginning. He didn’t sin – by God’s power. That’s what it’s showing here. He didn’t have within him, in that regard, that mind, that being that had the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ruling him. Awesome to understand. He was unique and different as the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh.

…how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal’s spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? It gives us the ability then, the blessing of being able to be forgiven of sin. Because we do have sin. He didn’t. Beautiful, all these things and what they picture.

Acts 1. I’m going to complete here just by Acts 1 here, first part of it here. It says, Acts 1:1—The former account I, it’s Luke, in that respect, saying, I made, O Theophilus, of all that Joshua began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up, after he through the holy spirit had given commandment to the apostles whom he had chosen. So again, a story we’re very familiar with but all this is about something that leads up to a point in time between the time that he was our Wave Sheaf and the time that God’s spirit was poured out to mankind, the beginning of the Church. Beautiful time, in that respect, of counting up to that point.

…to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs. We can read through it and see all that he did, and yet the world wasn’t able to believe it. There were those whom God was drawing in order to be worked with, some who come on into the Church on the day of Pentecost, but primarily beginning first of all with the disciples and the training they received, by the instruction that Christ gave to them.

Young men. This is a marvel too. Very young men who as soon as Pentecost started, this experience they had had by being with Joshua all this time, being molded and fashioned by him by the training he had, still not understanding it spiritually, but all these things that they had received. Then when God’s spirit came the power that was there to do something quite miraculous. They became apostles right away.

So, when God has a plan and a purpose He gives the ability of whatever it takes to accomplish what needs to be done. Much more to the story than that but anyway, it’s beautiful. It’s an awesome thing to understand, how God can separate people, how He separates us at different stages in our lives, begins to actively work with us. Not that He didn’t for a long time before, but whatever happens in our life that leads us to a certain point and God begins to draw us and work with us and open up our minds and prepares us, works with us in different ways throughout the Body.

That’s why it’s such a beautiful thing to understand we’re not all the same. We’re not all yellow pencils. God doesn’t want a bunch of yellow pencils. I think of having a conversation with that not too long ago about some of that, that God doesn’t want us all to be the same because we all fit in different places in His plan, in the building that’s being constructed. We don’t know what those are but by the experiences we’re going through as long as we are in God’s Church that’s what’s taking place. As long as people don’t quit the fight.

Because I think of what it says in Revelation to those of Philadelphia. Now, it’s to all during all seven eras. It’s to anyone who’s ever called. But it’s basically the comment, “Don’t let anyone take your crown.” Don’t let anyone take your crown. When God begins to work with us it’s just a matter of continuing to go forward. It’s a matter of continuing to repent of sin.

That’s one of the greatest of things we’re given through our Passover, the ability to repent. You just don’t quit repenting no matter what you’re going through, what battles you have in life. If you keep fighting, it’s amazing, God keeps working with us. He has a purpose for us. He loves us. He has a place for us. He’s molding and fashioning things within us. To give that up to me is mindboggling. It’s something we can begin to lose sight of.

As long as you know the truth, as long as you agree with the truth. The day you begin to disagree with the truth that God has given to any moment in time is the day you begin to lose, because you begin to quench God’s spirit, and that can lead to quenching more and more to a point in time where a person is either asleep or totally dead spiritually and comes to a point in time where sin can begin to enter into a person’s life where they either separate themselves by choice because they don’t think that way anymore or can’t agree with that. Just like after the Apostasy, they will actually go back to things that they had proven already were wrong and go back to different groups that they had been brought out of. Its mind boggling what can happen to the human mind.

But you should be encouraged. If you see the truth, you know the truth, thank God, because it reveals you’re still fighting. It reveals something that God is able to continue to work within you. To have that ability to see it and to know it is an awesome thing. Most of that goes back to the process then of your continually repenting. Every time you repent it’s behind, it’s gone. God doesn’t hold it there.

Sometimes we have a hard time forgiving ourselves. But it’s gone. You’re clean—what a beautiful thing to understand—by the blood of Joshua. There is no freer thing, no freer feeling and knowledge and knowing than to have that in your life.

So after that he had, through the holy spirit, had given commandment to the apostles, whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering, by many infallible proofs. So again, things that continue to be given even beyond that. …being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

Now, what I’m looking forward to is learning why. Now, forty I understand to a point. We understand that, the importance of that. Because there is importance. But the other ten? Anyway, the questions we sometimes have. We all have different questions. I’m looking forward to learning all that, why a specific segment of time. There’s some meaning in the forty there about God’s judgment and things He does, but anyway.

Verse 4—Then, being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water… So again here, incredible things that he was telling them.

Just like before his death, he was telling them about that, but they didn’t see it, they didn’t get it. But they continued to follow him. Then after his death? Even as he died, they didn’t know what they were going to go do. What are we going to do now? Go back fishing? Go back to whatever you had before, whatever you knew, whatever you could? What are you going to do? Because all their dreams, all their thoughts and ideas about him establishing the kingdom of God at that time and removing the Roman rule over them disappeared.

Now he brings up about John: John baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now. You’re going to be immersed in the holy spirit of God. That’s what he was telling them, “John immersed people in water; you’re going to be immersed in God’s holy spirit.” Awesome! It’s not a big thing to wait around until Pentecost. They had a focus, something he told them to do.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying… Notice what was still on their mind. It has been for the last 2,000 years and everyone that’s ever been called into God’s Church. Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Then he said to them, It is not for you to know times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. Awesome.

So, even in this there is that which I have had to learn, which we have had to learn. There is a process of when God let’s us see something clearly and how we’re able to see it. This is a powerful one here. Not in Christ’s power. He’s letting them know, it’s not in his power even. It’s in the Father’s power. For whatever purpose and for whatever reason this is all working out according to what He gives when He gives it.

There have to be reasons for all of this that we don’t comprehend, that haven’t been revealed. This is a powerful verse that I wish had stuck out a lot more loudly a long time ago, but there was a purpose for what we have gone through as well.

Verse 8—But you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witness to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. So through time God has had a purpose in doing what He’s done in different regions and for different purposes. The greatest of this was accomplished during Mr. Armstrong’s time, candidly, because God gave great power as far as a telecast, a broadcast, The Plain Truth, The Good News, and there was a mass, in that respect, as far as the world is concerned, of truth that went out to the world. Again, to fulfill verses in Matthew in a very powerful way that God was going to accomplish.

Toward the end, a little bit different here in what we’re going through and why we are the size we are. When God makes it very clear He’s going to make it very clear to everyone, “Not by might nor by power,” but by His spirit He accomplishes everything He is going to accomplish. That’s going to be made very, very clear to the entire world as well as to God’s own Church. But I look for the segment of time just before he returns, speaking of Christ.

And while they steadfastly looked into heaven… Well, back up here. I don’t know if I read this verse here. “Unto the end of the earth.” Verse 9—Now when he had spoken these things, while they yet watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. So again here, something I can’t comprehend. Try to imagine it. Try to picture it. Here he is going up in the air. How far can you see him? Then, all of a sudden, a cloud and he disappears in a cloud.

And while they steadfastly looked toward heaven, up in the heavens, the sky, it says, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Joshua, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.

So, we understand parts of the story there and things about his return and his coming and some who will see various things at different times here.

But again, what an incredible story, a true-life story of things that we’re blessed to see. I hope we’re moved by that as we’ve gone through the story, of things we can see that the world is blind to. Again, they can’t help it and that’s something that we need to keep at the forefront of our mind. They can’t help it until God opens their mind to the ability to see things, just like He did to every one of us or we wouldn’t be here either.

Not only that, but because of an awakening, showing that even in God’s Church with God’s spirit, by falling asleep spiritually, until God awakens someone they can’t see either. Because we’re going to witness some of those kinds of things as well more so as we go along.

So, again here, what an incredible story leading up to this point in time here of something we immensely look forward to, his second coming.