However, we also know that Jesus died on Passover, as the Passover Lamb, and we know that the Passover was observed on the 15th day of Nissan each year, regardless of which day of the week the fifteenth fell on. The Jews observed every seventh day as a Sabbath day but there were also certain days of the year that were designated a Sabbath day. The day after Passover was such a day. Each year the Jews observed Passover on the fifteenth day of Nissan, one of the months of the Jewish calendar, then the day after was observed as a Sabbath day. It was the day the Jews were thrust out of Egypt.
Jesus, Himself said, “I will be in the earth three days and three nights. I don’t care how hard you try; you cannot get three days and nights between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. Either Jesus died on Wednesday or He lied, or perhaps He didn’t know what He was talking about.
The only conclusion I can come to is; the fifteenth of Nissan occurred on Wednesday. This was the Jewish Passover. Jesus said that He had greatly desired to eat the Passover meal with His disciples. The only way this would be possible is for them to eat the Passover meal together one day early. I don’t believe they observed a complete meal; Jesus was the lamb and He could not be crucified (killed) until the Passover day.
Since the day after Passover was a Sabbath day, called a high day by the scriptures, and Friday would have been a day of preparation for the regular Sabbath day, which occurred on Saturday of each week, Sunday morning would have been the first opportunity for the women to return to the tomb. Jesus was in the tomb Wednesday night, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and rose from the dead a great while before day on Sunday, three days and nights.
Now, it seems like a big deal to me that the Church has something as fundamental as the day Jesus died on wrong and it makes me question what other falsehoods the Church has been deceived into believing.
Ephesians 2:8-10 and Philippians 2:6-12 Revisited
“For by grace are you saved, not of works lest any man should boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works."
“Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more so in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Every entity expresses its authority by commandment. Parents express their authority over their children by commandment. Governments express authority over its citizens by commandment. Corporations and all employers express authority through commandment. Even dog owners express authority over their dogs by commandment. Jesus was given the ultimate authority; all power in heaven and in earth, a greater authority than any one entity has ever wielded before.
So, when Paul states, “For by grace are you saved, not of works lest any man should boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works," the second word, “for,” indicates authority. “We are His workmanship,” indicates a need to submit to authority and “created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” reveals what that submission should look like.
The first phrase, “For by grace are you saved,” indicates the connection between the saved and the one who did the saving. A child is subject to its parents because it belongs to its parents. A workman is subject to its employer because it is owned by the employer. Likewise, Christians belong to the Saviour; the one who saved them, because they were created (and recreated) by Him. “For by grace are you saved,” is the mechanism by which salvation (from sin) occurred. Having been saved, the saved owes a debt to the Saviour. Thus, the saved are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” good works the Christ defines by commandment. Again, every entity expresses its authority by commandment. The good works we were created in Christ to perform are defined by commandment.
Again, Philippians 2:12 states: “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more so in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”Paul is writing the Church at Philippi. The word, “wherefore,” speaks to the authority Jesus was granted by being “highly exalted.” We might say, “Since Jesus was highly exalted, given a name above every other name, as you have obeyed in the past, continue to do so much more in my absence.” Again, to obey, means, to submit to; it means to submit to authority and again each authority is expressed by commandment. Therefore, Jesus expressed the “all authority” granted to Him by His Father and the Holy Spirit by giving commandments, commandments that define the good works we were created in Christ to perform, commandments the Philippians had been in the habit of keeping.
Authority is submitted to by the keeping of the commandments the authority expresses. A child submits to its parents by keeping the commandments the parents hand down. To be in rebellion is to not keep commandments. A child who rebels against its parent’s authority fails to keep its parent’s commandments either by omission or commission. A citizen of a country rebels against the authority of that country by breaking its laws, which are commandments. Paul is encouraging a continued submission to the authority of the Lord by the Philippians, more so in His absence than in his presence.
Thus, we know Jesus expressed commandments with the authority conferred on Him after His resurrection by His Father and the Holy Spirit, commandments the Philippians kept at one time. Otherwise, why would Paul encourage obedience? Paul encouraged Christians to keep the commandments and since Christians are citizens of the kingdom established by Jesus, these commandments and the keeping of them are the most important works Christians can perform. Moreover, these commandments, because of the level of importance conveyed on them, should be prominently displayed in the scripture. Where would one look to find the most important commandments for Christians to keep?
If Jesus issued commandments in conjunction with the roll out of the new covenant, commandments that defined the behavior of those who were washed by His blood, commandments delineating the good works of those in Christ, one would expect to find them at the beginning of the new covenant; written into the record of the scripture at that time period. You would expect that Jesus would have issued them at this critical juncture of time. They could not have been issued earlier because Jesus was not Lord of Lords earlier. No one can issue commandments with authority they don’t have.
Moreover, one would expect the most important commandments of the new covenant to be issued in a dramatic fashion, as in, just before Jesus’ ascension into heaven. The picture of Jesus slowly rising from the earth to be enveloped by a cloud as those He has just commanded look on is as dramatic a fashion as one could imagine.
The gift of tongues, then, becomes the mechanism whereby the Christian submits to the authority and Kingdom of Jesus. Each and every day, the Christian should submit to Jesus’ Lordship by allowing the gift of tongues to flow from their mouth. By so doing, they bring the Kingdom of Jesus, the new covenant, to earth. Paul, in Philippians 4:19 said, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory,” but that statement assumes obedience of the Lord’s Commandments, spoken of in Philippians 2:12. John said, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments” (1John5:2).
The keeping of Jesus’ commandments is what brings the kingdom of heaven to earth, whereby God (Jesus) meets all the needs of His children. If we love the children of God, we will keep God’s commandments, whereby the kingdom of God will be brought near to all needs.
However, it is important to note the commandments of the Lord are impertinent to those seeking forgiveness of sins. Every lost sinner can be found, washed from their sins, and set apart unto God without the commandments of Jesus entering in to the picture at all. The commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ only come into focus to those who seek everlasting life.
The Saviour, who hung on the cross to pay the price for sin and iniquity, was transformed at the resurrection. In order to live forever in the Kingdom of the Lord, one must acknowledge the authority of the Lord to command. Again, all authority is exercised, expressed, through commandment.
When Jesus said, “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth” Matthew 28:18, it was not a play on words. The word, “all,” means, all. It was a simple statement. The problem is the modern Church does not understand the concept of God. The fact that Jesus could lay aside His Godhood and come to earth as a man to die for all mankind and have all power conferred on Him at His resurrection indicates “God” is more of an authority than it is a person. All power is the complete Godhood. Three persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have shared this authority through the eons of time but Jesus humbled Himself so thoroughly, so completely, the Father and the Holy Spirit were so impressed and felt so strongly that Jesus should be honored beyond all honor, they stripped themselves of their Godhood to confer all power onto Jesus. How does mankind attain the title, son of God? Jesus, the all powerful, shares some of the authority that makes Him God with human beings. He does this through obedience of His commandments. It is by obedience that Christians submit to the authority of the Lord and become His Children.
Let’s go back. Children submit to the authority of their parents because they recognize a relationship between them and their parents. Moreover, Children do not typically submit to the authority of strangers because there is no relationship. Those who consider themselves citizens of a country abide by the laws (commandments) of that country. Thus, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The invitation is to those who love Jesus, indicating a relationship, and thus, the instruction is to obey, as in; to submit to authority. Christians have the open invitation to insert themselves as Children of God. They can adopt God as their Father by obedience of His commandments and God extends this invitation to them. Even though this submission and obedience is the reasonable service (Rom.12:1); there is no law that requires it.
This privilege of sonship is not just given to anyone. The lost soul can come to Jesus and receive Him as Saviour from sins freely, with no expectation of obedience. The privilege of Sonship is given to those who choose it. Those who honor the one who humbled Himself so completely, so thoroughly, to suffer and die a sinner’s death for others, when He, Himself, was guilty of absolutely nothing worthy of suffering or death, not even worthy of a paper cut. This was Paul’s point in Philippians 2. If God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were impressed enough to strip themselves of their Godhood, the very authority that made them God, then those Jesus died to save, those who clothe themselves with His righteousness, should be able to honor Him by keeping His commandments. That’s obedience. It is honoring the one who died to save you.
When Paul states: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service,” (Rom.12:1) he is referring to this obedience, the obedience of the Lord’s commandments, the submitting to the Lord’s authority, the only reasonable thing to do by those washed by His blood. We are a living sacrifice to God when we put our agenda on hold each day to saturate ourselves with the Spirit of God. This sacrifice of our time makes us acceptable to the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed only Potentate (1Tim.6:15), and only wise God (Jude 25), and He adopts us as the Children we appear to be; His brothers and sisters. Just as He was obedient unto death, our presenting ourselves to Him in obedience, a living daily sacrifice of obedience makes us brothers with Him. It is His authority, bestowed on Him by His Father and Holy Spirit, which issued the commandment to wait for the baptism with the Spirit. Obedience of this commandment, by those He died to save, pleases Him.
Thus, Paul states: “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more so in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Paul’s appeal is endearing, plaintive. His heartfelt desire is for those He has worked to get to this point, to continue. The word, “obey” is stated once but inferred twice more. The phrase: “now much more so in my absence,” refers to the obedience spoken of earlier. Further, the phrase, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” refers to the obedience spoken of earlier in the verse. And again, the obedience is encouraged in response to the exaltation of Jesus.
The contrast painted here by Paul should be evident. Jesus went from being the second member of the Godhead, clothed in glory and power, to being an ordinary man, born in an animal stall in a small town in Israel and laid in a feed trough for a crib. He grew up as a human being, with none of the benefits of royalty, wealth, or honor, and took on Himself the call of God. He humbled Himself before His creation as they ridiculed Him, laughed at Him, and shamed Him; then, He humbled Himself further to take on the suffering and death of the guilty though innocent. Jesus could not have humbled Himself any further than He did.
The contrast of the opposite should be just as evident. Jesus then takes those men He died to save and cleanses them from their sin, completely and totally, even delivering them from the definition of sin. He clothes them in His own righteousness and through obedience of His commandments; He transforms them from mankind to God kind.
Earlier I asked the question, “Since the Church’s teaching on what day Jesus died is wrong, what other falsehoods have they embraced?” It seems to be a huge deal that the Lord’s Church would discount the testimony of the Lord concerning how long He would be in the earth, to hold to a falsehood and therefore it makes sense the Church would also discount the most important commandments for Christians to keep. No other commandments of the scripture were issued with all power in heaven and in earth because at no other time in history has one entity wielded all the power of God. Jesus does now and did then when He commanded the Church to wait for the baptism with the Spirit and preach this gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and disciple the converts but the Church teaches that the disciples fulfilled the first commandment, having perfectly obeyed it.
Let me ask you a question, “Just when does one man’s perfect obedience fulfill a commandment for all men?” The commandments of the Lord are only pertinent to those seeking citizenship in heaven. To ignore the authority of heaven is not wise if you seek citizenship there. Jesus issued commandments as Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the blessed only Potentate, the only wise God; shouldn’t you consider keeping them?