Jubilee

In Jesus' day, the annual Jewish Passover celebration meal is a commemoration or a reminder to the Jewish people that they slaves in Egypt and they were redeemed by God. The blood of the lambs were signed on the doorposts and the avenging angel pass over. In Jesus' day the Passover was celebrated only within the precincts of Jerusalem. Christians today celebrate the Lord's supper everywhere as often as they can depending on the denomination. For Christians the Lord's Supper is a memorial of Christ's death on the cross. It is to remind us of our redemption from the slavery of sin. Both celebrations are similar in the sense that they are both pointing to redemption from slavery. The difference between the two is that the Jews use unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Christians today use wafer, wine, juice.

The lambs on the first Passover protected the families of God's people (Exodus 12). The people signed the blood of the lambs on their doorposts so that when the avenging angel/angel of death sees it he may pass over the house. The blood of the lambs signified protection for the members of the household. As long as they stayed in the house they are safe from death/destruction. The primary point of comparison between the first Passover lambs and what Christ did for us as our Passover Lamb is that the blood of the first Passover lambs served as a protection against the avenging angel/angel of death. When the avenging angel sees the blood on the doorpost he will pass over. Christ is our Paschal Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the earth. He was slain for the redemption of the world and his shed blood protects us from eternal damnation. Christ is our new Paschal Lamb. Glory to God. Alleluia!!!

(1 Corinthians 15:58) Being steadfast and immovable have lots to do with the hope of the resurrection: we do not have to be discouraged, we do not quit. Everything we do should be based on the solidity of the resurrection to come. Our labor is not in vain in the Lord because our work is not empty, and not in vain. It is not our work, but the Lord's work. It is not our labors, but the Lord's labors. Glory to God!!!

The assurance we have that we will be physically resurrected rather than experience disembodied immortality is that Christ's resurrection is the focus of our own hope for eternal life. What it means that Jesus is the "firstfruits" (1 Corinthians 15:20) and "firstborn" (Revelation 1:5) from the dead is that his resurrection is the first, the prototype resurrection, and not to be the last. Jesus' resurrection opens up the way for the rest of us.

According to Romans 6:3-5 and Colossians 2:12 we see a kind of analogy to our spiritual life. Paul sees the act of baptism as a type of Jesus' own death and resurrection, and a vivid reminder of our union with him in both his death and resurrection. According to Ephesians 2:4-6, while being "raised with Christ" is a type of our own spiritual power. We share his power and privileges and being co-raised with him typifies the grace of God to us.

Christ's resurrection validates that we are saved and forgiven by God. By Christ's resurrection we put to death the old man of corruptibility and put on the new man of incorruptibility who is Christ the Lord. We become a new creation in Christ. If we did not believe Christ had been actually raised from the dead, we might have doubts about out salvation and forgiveness of our sins. We will be fussy about the truth of God which to choose and which not to choose according to our feelings of the moment.

Jesus' ministry would have no credibility if he had not been raised from the dead, especially when he predicted it ahead of time. As Paul said, our faith is meaningless if Christ had not been raised from the dead. We ill be miserable human beings on the face of the earth. The resurrection is God's seal of approval on him because God himself through the Holy Spirit during the baptism of Jesus announced to the whole world that Jesus is his beloved Son we should acknowledge him.

Jesus went to the slave market with one purpose on his mind, that is, to buy us back from the slavery of sin. Since we have been bought with a special price of his shed blood we are no longer under the slavery of sin. We are set free from slavery of sin. Satan is no longer our master. Jesus is our new master. His our Lord and Savior. We need the Holy Spirit to help us keep this freedom because we are still prone to the flesh. The Holy Spirit is smarter than we are and he knows the way. He will guide us through this valley of darkness so that we do not slip our feet into slavery of sin. He will teach and lead us into the Truth. He will counsel us when we go astray and will convict us of sin. He knows the way and the perfect tour guide in our lives. Holy Spirit, go to work on our behalf. Thank You Holy Spirit.

The empty tomb, the appearances of Jesus to many of his disciples and to 500 people are the resurrection proofs that seems most compelling to me. This is something beyond my imagination. It is supernatural activated by the mighty hand of God. If I had a friend who was not sure about the resurrection, I would explain from to him from scriptures starting from the Old Testament to the New Testament the prophecies about the Suffering of the Messiah. And how Jesus himself foretold his own death and on the third day he will rise from the dead.

According to the slave-ransom analogy, human beings are the slave. He is enslaved by deception and sin. Jesus offers the ransom. Even though Satan is involved in the enslaving process, the ransom was not paid to him because he does not own anybody. The only thing he is good at is to steal, kill, and destroy. The Bible authors drop the slave-ransom analogy in the New Testament because it is confusing since it is God paying the ransom to God.

They were downcast, depressed, and scared. They went into hiding for fear of the religious authorities. They put their faith, hope, and trust in Jesus and they thought that his death brought an end to their aspirations and dreams. Even though Jesus repeatedly told them that they were going to Jerusalem and the Son of Man has to suffered in the hands of the authorities died, buried, and rose from the dead on the third day they did not understand what he was telling them. They were not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. The women who saw him and reported to the disciples yet they did not believe it.

Before anyone accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior that person was under the dominion of Satan. Satan was his master and he serves him and was submissive to his authority. But once that person comes to Christ he becomes a new creation. He is now bought with the precious blood of Jesus. He is no longer his own. He surrenders to Jesus and he is his new master. This affects our living in the sense that we now have a new master who pays the ultimate price with his blood that we might have life to the full. Therefore we need to submit to his way of doing things and no longer living for ourselves.

God's Word supersedes the word of men. The moment we put man's word before God's Word that is the beginning of religions and all kinds of isms in the world today. Disobedience is a word I can use for this sort of thing. It happens in the Garden of Eden when God told Adam and Eve to eat all fruits in the garden except the one in the middle of the garden. When the serpent tempted Eve she went ahead and ate it and gave it to Adam to eat. That is disobedience. The people of Israel heard about the monotheism of the Ten Commandments that forbade graven images and yet they went contrary against it and did their own thing. That is disobedience. Under no circumstances are they allowed to make idols for themselves. Aaron facilitated their sin because he was under pressure. He wanted to please the people rather than pleasing God. Which is more important, pleasing God or man? Disobedience to God's Word is on display here too. Aaron should know better. The golden calf made God feels rejected, betrayed, and angry. The people of Israel knows how God always feels about idolatry which is coveteousness. Disobedience, pride, coveteousness, and **** for the things of the world are some of the idols Christian churches allow that lead them away from pure worship of God in our day.

The disciples have no motive at all. They went into hiding for fear of the religious authorities. They were afraid and disheartened. The Romans would killed a soldier who slept on the job while on duty. So for the soldiers to report to their chain of command that Jesus' body was stolen while they were asleep while on patrol will be too serious. The Jews wanted Jesus dead for calling himself the son of God and that is considered a blasphemous by the Jewish law. Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of Jesus who is ready to do anything for Jesus. He prepared Jesus' body for burial in his own tomb.

In the Old Testament the Kinsman-Redeemer is responsible for the upkeep of relatives who cannot afford the basic neccessities of life. For example when a husband dies and lives behind a widow who never gives birth the brother of the deceased man takes over by marrying his brother's widow in order to continue the family responsibilities. Jesus is our New Testament Kinsman-Redeemer. We owe a debt which we cannot pay and he came forward to clear our debt. He paid the penalty due us so that we might become the righteousness of God. Glory to God.

What motivates liberal Christian scholars to explain away bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is they lack credible evidence. They claim that it is unhistorical more than some other event in the first century because Jesus' resurrection cannot be examined with the normal tools of historical inquiry.

The various proofs for the resurrection that seems the most compelling to me is the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the grave clothes how despite the fact that Jesus rose from the grave they were still intact, Mary Magdalene and the other women's visit to the tomb, and the empty tomb. Why? Because to me this is supernatural act of God. I will explain to this friend basing my explanation on scriptural accounts why I am sure Jesus was raised from the dead. I will base my explanation on these scriptures: Luke 24:25-26; 46-49; Acts 2:41; 4:10,33.

The disciples' psychological state after the crucifixion provide excellent support for belief in the resurrection: They were in hiding, and disheartened. They did not at first believe the women's report of Jesus' resurrection. Only after Jesus appeared to them in person did they believe.

The disciples had no motive to steal the body of Jesus. According to Roman law a Roman soldier who falls asleep while on duty is to killed. The Jews wanted Jesus to die and to be buried never to be seen again. Joseph of Arimathea is a secret disciple of Jesus and his motive would have been for Jesus to still be alive.

Liberal Christian scholars explain away the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ because they think the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ lacks credible evidence. They claim it is unhistorical more than some other event in the first century because they believe that Jesus' resurrection cannot be examined with the normal tools of historical inquiry.

We are the class of humans that were freed by payment of a redemption price or a ransom. Jesus, Peter, and Paul used this analogy in this week's theme verses to remind us all of the price Jesus paid for our sins. The Christian life does help to explain in details how much Jesus loves us to pay for our sins.

We are powerless and there is nothing we can do to set ourselves free from the slavery of sin that is why we need Jesus to make the ultimate sacrifice and pay for our sins. We need the Holy Spirit to help us keep this freedom because he is our counselor, teacher, and standby. He will guide us and map out the road for us because he is smarter than we are. He will lead us into all truth. Thank You Holy Spirit for being our teacher.