Join us as we explore the profound implications of Jesus’ resurrection from the perspective of faith and prophecy. This episode delves into the often overshadowed significance of the wave sheaf offering and its symbolic importance in the narrative of Christ as the firstfruits from the dead. Experience the paths of discovery walked by early Christians as they encountered the risen Christ and see how their stories resonate within contemporary faith.
00:00:01 The Testimony of Witnesses and The Resurrection
00:02:51 Significance of the First Day of the Weeks
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
The whole Christian world believes in the resurrection of Jesus. They believe it because of the testimony of the witnesses. But did you know that no one saw Jesus rise from the tomb? Oh, they saw him alive afterwards, so they knew that he was risen, but no one actually witnessed the event. They knew there was an earthquake that opened the tomb that rolled back the stone, and there was, I guess, an assumption that Jesus arose at that moment, but no one really knew because no one saw him come out. Now, there’s another interesting fact about the resurrection of Jesus that you don’t hear mentioned very often. You’d have to, in fact, be a pretty serious student of the Bible to even notice the distinction. But when the Bible says that the women came to the tomb early on the first day of the week, the expression, first day of the week, as normal as it is to us, was a rather unusual expression at that time. What do I mean by that? Well, normally, if you’re going to talk about what would then be Sunday, you would have said, well, on the day after the Sabbath. And if you read along in the context with them hurrying to get Jesus into the grave before the Sabbath, with the women going out after the Sabbath and buying their spices and then resting the Sabbath according to the commandment, you would sort of expect the account of the men who wrote the Gospels to say, well, on the morning after the Sabbath, the women came to the tomb. Not one of them does. Every single one of them uses this rather curious expression, on the first day of the week’s Notice the plural, weeks, not the first day of the week. This was the first day of the seven weeks leading up to Pentecost. It was a singular day of the year, not just merely a day of the week, and that’s generally speaking overlooked. Well, what’s significant about this day? Well, what is significant about it is that the law required that Israel eat nothing of the spring’s barley harvest prior to a certain event. The grain grows up, the grain gets ripe, and the grain is prepared for harvesting. But nobody can actually start the harvest, and you certainly cannot eat anything of this crop until a sheaf has been cut, has been prepared, and has been presented before God as the first fruits, the first of the first fruits, because really the whole harvest is called the first fruits. But this is the first of the first fruits that’s presented before God, and that is the signal. Then the harvest can begin. Now, this day was always done on the day after the Sabbath because it was a work day. In other words, you actually, in going out to cut the first sheaf of grain, you are doing work connected with harvest. And then through the night, you prepare it with all the things they did to prepare it, beat it out, thresh it, and then present the grain before God the next morning. So the first day of the weeks is the day of the wave sheaf offering, the day when the first fruits are presented before God. It’s an important day because it’s a day we all go to work. We all get out in the fields and start gathering in the barley. It’s an exciting time in the spring. New life is here. New crops are here. Our income is now being established for that part of the year because we sell our barley to others. You know how it goes. It’s the whole agricultural economy. So each one of these people keep coming back to this, not on the morrow after the Sabbath, but on the first day of the weeks. And it was a highly significant statement to them because they saw Jesus, by the time they wrote this, they saw Jesus as the firstfruits from the dead. It’s really fascinating how the festivals of the Bible tie in with the life, the work, and the ministry of Jesus Christ. I don’t think very many Christian people are really aware of this because they observe Christmas and Easter and this type of holiday, and they don’t observe Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and so forth. And what is interesting is that there is a Christology, there is a study of Christ, and a study of salvation history connected with every one of these days. If Christians actually observed the festivals of the Bible, they would probably be far more aware of the connections between things like this first day of the weeks, day one of the spring harvest, when they come to it, and would understand the Bible better than they do. Now, upon the first day of the weeks, very early in the morning, the women came to the sepulcher bringing the spices which they had prepared, and there were certain others that were with them. This is Luke 24. And they found the stone already rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and they did not find the body of Jesus. Now, you have to realize that the events of the resurrection of Jesus were so – I’m tempted to use the word traumatizing, but that has a negative connotation to it. But in a sense, they were. They thought Jesus was dead, and they’d been terribly traumatized by that event. And now, all of a sudden, the body is gone. And later on, as they sit down to write this account, there is more confusion, I think, in their minds, in their memory and their recollection regarding these events than in many aspects of Jesus’ life and his work and his ministry because they were so traumatized by the events of this time. Other Gospels differ. For example, they have Mary Magdalene coming early while it is still dark. And then they have the other group of women coming about the time the sun comes up while it is light. And Mary kind of hangs around the tomb by herself while the other women run off in another direction. All these things, it’s not that difficult to put them together if you study it carefully. But it is fascinating that when you look at it in the harmony of the Gospels, there are a number of differences of opinion about who was where and when they were there. Well, they found the stone rolled away and they went inside and the body of Jesus was gone. And it came to pass that they were much perplexed about that. And all of a sudden, two men stood by them in shining garments and they were frightened. They bowed their faces to the earth and they said, why are you seeking the living among the dead? It’s a couple of angels appeared to them and they asked the people who’ve come there. They said, what are you looking in here for? You’re looking for the living, that’s Christ, among the dead in a tomb. He’s not here. He’s risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words. You know, it’s so easy looking back on this from a 20th century perspective to think, how could these people have been so dense? Jesus told them plainly what he was going to do, and they didn’t get it. Well, it’s common, I think, to human beings that when people try to tell us something that we have no way of relating to, we don’t get it. They didn’t get it until they showed up in the tomb, and he was gone. Well, they returned from the sepulcher, and they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and all the other women with them that told these things to the apostles. But it’s interesting to know that Mary Magdalene, although she ran and told them, stood apart from the rest at a little later point. Peter, therefore, switching to John’s account in chapter 20, went forward and all that other disciple, and they came to the sepulcher. So they ran both together, and the other disciple ran faster than Peter, and he got there first. And he, stooping down, looked inside and saw the linen clothes lying, but he didn’t go in. And about that time, here comes Peter running up, and he doesn’t even slow down. He goes straight inside and sees the linen clothes lie in the napkin that was about his head, lying neatly folded in a place by itself. It’s interesting, isn’t it? The things that print on people’s minds, the clothes are there, and the napkin that had been around his head was not lying with the other things. It had been wrapped carefully and placed off to one side. Peter noticed that. John noticed that. And it’s a part of the permanent record. For as yet, they did not know the scripture. They really didn’t understand that he had to rise from the dead. The other disciple came in, saw it, and he believed. Then they went away to their own home. But Mary, Mary Magdalene, There was something very special about this woman. She had been a woman who had been possessed with seven demons, totally insane, stark raving mad. Jesus had healed her and given her back his life. And she quite naturally loved him. And she stood outside the sepulcher just weeping her heart would break. And as she stooped down and looked inside, then she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said, Woman, what are you crying about? And she said to them, Well, they’ve taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him. She didn’t believe he’d been risen from the dead. She thought he was dead and somebody had stolen the body. And when she had said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing there. And she did not even know it was him. This is truly fascinating because the very first person that Jesus appeared to after his resurrection from the dead was a woman. It was Mary. It was Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven demons. She loved him, and he loved her. But it was a spiritual love. No other kind is suggested anywhere in the scriptures. Jesus spoke to her, and he said, Woman… why are you crying? Who are you looking for? And she thought it was the gardener. And she said, sir, if you have carried him away, would you please tell me where you have laid him? And I will take him away. And then Jesus called her by name. He said, Mary. And she turned herself and recognition flooded over her. And she said, rabboni, which is to say master. And then he said, don’t touch me. for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and to your Father and to my God and to your God. Then Mary went and told the disciples she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. Later in the day he will meet his disciples and he’ll say, Come here, touch me, put your hand in my side. He wanted them to be sure that they understood that he was real and not just an apparition. sometime between the time that Jesus appeared to Mary and the time he appeared to the others, he ascended to the Father and was presented to him. And I expect it was at the very same moment that that first wave sheaf of the first fruits of barley was presented before God in the temple. Stay with me.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll be right back after these words. You were not born to lose. God has no intention of spending eternity with a loser. You can know what God is doing and why. Drop us a letter or give us a call, and we will send you a free CD introducing the series called Making Life Work. Our address is borntowin.org. Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44.com.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, the events of this day are a little confused and confusing, actually, in the harmony of the Gospels. And the reason is not hard to come by. As I said earlier, this was a really exciting period for these people, and their recollection had to be prompted by the Spirit to be able to get some of this stuff down. In Luke, the 24th chapter, and apparently this was during the afternoon, before He appeared to all of them in the evening, There were two of them who were walking, two of the disciples were walking that day to a village called Emmaus, which was about 60 furlongs from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all the things that had happened to them. And it came to pass that while they were talking and reasoning, Jesus himself came up alongside and walked along with them. but their eyes were withheld that they should not know him. Now this, and also Mary not recognizing him in the morning, is curious in a way. Obviously there had been some change in Jesus’ appearance, but it wasn’t total. I think if you understand the fact that they did not expect to see him, they thought he was dead, they thought he was buried, they thought they were never going to see him again, that this person who has appeared to them, who may be a little bit like him, well, it doesn’t occur to them that it could actually be Jesus. And he is somewhat changed. As they walked along, he said to them, what were you talking about as you were walking along? Why are you standing there looking so sad? I mean, their faces were as long as this, you know, as it could be. And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, and something later leads me to think that the other one was Simon. He said, are you only a stranger in Jerusalem and you haven’t heard what’s happened here these days? And he said to them, what things? And they said concerning Jesus of Nazareth, he was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. We had trusted that he was the one that would have redeemed Israel. And besides all that, today is the third day since these things were done. It’s not exactly clear what they meant by that, but basically they seem to be saying, you know, it’s been three days since all this happened. Yes, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher this morning, and they didn’t find his body, and they came and they said that they’d seen a vision of angels that said that he was alive. Now, plainly, they didn’t believe it. Otherwise, why were they walking along the road with such long faces? And certain of them that were with us went to the sepulcher, and they found it like the women said, but he wasn’t there. And then Jesus said to them, O fools and slow of heart to believe, all the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them all the scriptures and things concerning himself. So they’re talking all the way down the road about this, and he’s going through the scriptures and explaining the whole thing to them. As they drew near to the village where they were going, he made as though he would have gone further. But they said, No, no, stay with us. It’s evening, and the day is far spent. So he went in to wait with them a while. And it came to pass as he sat at food with them, he took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. And that moment their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished. This is really a strange story. As Jesus walks along the road and talks to them, explains the whole thing, and they don’t even know who he is. And then finally, when he breaks bread, blesses it, and hands it across, it dawns on them, who’s talking with us? And they said to one another, didn’t our heart burn within us when he talked to us by the way and opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour and went right back to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them. And they said, the Lord is risen. He has appeared to Simon. And they told all the things that were done in the way and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. Switching back now to John 20 and verse 19. Then the same day, at even, 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 their midst and said to them, Peace be unto you. Now you can’t know for sure from the account, but it sounds like they had gotten into a room, closed and locked the doors because they were afraid. And then without a door opening, suddenly Jesus was standing there in the midst of them. And he said, Peace be unto you. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them, Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, even so send I you. And then he does a very strange thing. He breathed on them and said, Receive you the Holy Spirit. Now, there’s sometimes been some discussion about when do the disciples really receive the Holy Spirit, and the presumption is they received it on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on them and they all spoke with tongues and prophesied. But right here it says he breathed on them and said, Receive you the Holy Spirit. There’s every indication that these men received the Holy Spirit right then, right there. What happened on Pentecost was that they were empowered with the Spirit on that day. And then he said this, Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. Upon these eleven men he bestowed at this point in time rather what seems to be a great deal of power. But what really is happening here is not as remarkable in a way as it may sound. In the Old Testament, you’ll find this back in Deuteronomy, the 17th chapter, there was a provision made for a judiciary. Obviously, when you’re living together as a people in a community, there are a lot of questions about law that are going to arise from time to time because a lot of aspects of God’s law affect one another in the way we live our lives and the things we do. and we will have a dispute about whether this is right or this is wrong. Well, Moses set up a judiciary. These were the priests, the Levites, and the judges that existed in that day, and they rendered decisions based upon the law. All right, when it came, Jesus comes, and during his earthly ministry, he made a curious statement again. He said, whatever the Pharisees bid you do, do that, but don’t do after their works. These men, he said, sit in Moses’ seat. What he meant by that is in the community of Israel, The Pharisees actually had that judicial authority that was conveyed back in the book of Deuteronomy to the judges in Israel. They were the people to whom you went with your court cases, as it were. They were the ones who made the decisions about how things were going to be done by the community. And Jesus acknowledged that. He said they have that right, they have that authority. This is the moment in time where for his disciples, he takes that authority away from the Pharisees and hands it to the 11 remaining apostles. The church then from that day forward was no longer bound by the authority of the Sanhedrin. They were no longer bound by the normal Jewish authority. They were no longer bound by that group of Pharisees who sat as judges and made all the decisions about the law of God. They were now, the church was now bound by the decisions made by the apostles. And so that they were the ones who were to interpret the law of God and to explain to God’s people how that law might be observed by the disciples of Jesus. Stay with me.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll be back after these words. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, The Words of Jesus, number 46. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
When all this was going on, one of my favorite people was not there. His name was Thomas. His last name was Didymus. You know him as Doubting Thomas. In fact, if he had been there, the expression Doubting Thomas would never have made it into our language. The other disciples told him, we’ve seen the Lord. And he said to them, huh. I’m not going to believe that. I’m going to have to see in his hands the print of the nails. I’m going to have to put my finger into his side and thrust my hand in there. I’m not going to believe this thing. You know, it’s important in a way. And you might wonder, well, why when Jesus was raised from the dead, did he not just heal those things? Why wasn’t he whole? Why did he still carry around the nail holes in his hand and the hole in his side that Thomas wanted to stick his hand into? Well, the answer to that is pretty simple. It was proof positive that this is the man and that he died. After eight days, the disciples were there again. This time, Thomas was there. And the doors were shut. Jesus came in and stood in the middle of them and said, Peace be unto you. And he turned straight to Thomas and he said, Stick your finger over here and put it in my hands. Feel the nail holes. and put your hand over here and stick it into my side, and don’t be faithless, but believing. And Thomas, it doesn’t tell us whether he actually put his hand over there or not, but he said, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and do believe. And The fact is that an awful lot of people down through history didn’t get to see what Thomas saw, and yet they do believe. You believe maybe? I certainly believe. And I believe it because of the testimony of all these men who have told us about Jesus. In the passage of time, the disciples went back to Galilee. They normally would have done so because that’s where they earned their living. And they didn’t have any particular instructions to the contrary, except that they did need to be back in Jerusalem for Pentecost. Anyway, Simon Peter said, well, I’m going to go fishing. And they said, well, we all might as well go along. And so they went forth and got a ship and went out fishing. Fished all night and caught nothing. Then morning came up, and as they got close to the shore, they could see a man standing there. It was Jesus, but they didn’t know that. And Jesus called out to them, boys, have you got any meat out there? And they said, no. He said, well, put the net on the other side of the ship. You’ll find it over there. Now, if you’re a fisherman, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but they did it. And as soon as they got it over there and worked the net around, they suddenly couldn’t get it back in the boat because it was full. And about that time, John, standing next to Peter, said, that’s the Lord. That’s Jesus. When that registered on Peter, he grabbed a piece of clothing because they work naked out there in the night. And he dove into the sea and swam to shore, and the others drug the nets ashore with the fish. And when they got there, there was a fire of coals, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus had already fixed them a meal. And there’s a funny little dance that they almost do with Jesus and with one another. They’re afraid to ask him, who are you? They know that it’s him, but nobody even acknowledges it. When the meal is over, Jesus took Simon and went walking down the shore. And he said to him, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? Now what’s happening here is truly fascinating. There will never come a time When Jesus will ever mention to Peter, why did you betray me? Remember, he told him before the crucifixion, when Simon said, oh, I’ll go anywhere with you, I’ll die with you. And Jesus said, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. Not once, not twice, three times. And Peter did. And he knew it. And Jesus knew it. Well, Jesus never mentions it. But it’s on Peter’s mind. You know that it is. And so to clear the air, Jesus walks along the shore and asks him this question, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And Simon said, Lord, yes, of course, I love you. He said, feed my sheep. Now there’s a little play on words here because Jesus asked Simon Peter if he loved him above all others. And Simon said, Lord, you know I have affection for you. And so Jesus, as they walked along, he said the second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Really love me? He said to him, yea, Lord, you know I love you. He said, feed my sheep. And then he said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said this to him the third time, do you love me? And he said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said, feed my sheep. He did this three times. Do you suppose there’s any connection between the threefold denial of Jesus by Peter and Jesus requiring three times the affirmation that Peter loved him? Oh, I think so. I’ll tell you the truth, Peter. When you were young, you put your own clothes on and you walked wherever you wanted to go. But when you’re old, you’re going to stretch forth your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you don’t want to go. And he spoke this, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, Follow me. Then Peter turned about and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, John. And he said, Lord, what shall this man do? And you know, this is pretty characteristic of us when we feel like we’re kind of on the griddle. We’re on the hot seat and we’re feeling the pressure. We look around and we find somebody else and we try to divert attention to someone else. And Jesus said, what difference does that make? If it’s my will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you? You follow me. The losers in this life are the people who are always looking around at someone else, who are always worried about someone else and how someone else is doing their job. The winners stay focused. Until next time, this is Ronald Dart.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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