Chapter 4 - His Creative Works
His Death Brings the Captives Rest
“Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”[1]
In chapter two we learned that “man has been appointed mortal sorrow” and this mortal sorrow is death. Then in the last chapter we learned that “the blessed God comes down teaching”. This chapter we will focus on the fact that the Blessed God came down teaching His death brings the captives rest.
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Immediately following Jesus being tempted in the wilderness He went on the Sabbath to a synagogue in Nazareth. Jesus opened the scroll of Isaiah and this is a portion of what He read; “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent Me to proclaim release to the captives.”[2] Jesus came to preach a gospel which in essence says; “His death brings the captives rest.”
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Shortly after reading that passage from Isaiah Jesus went to the temple of the Lord for His first Passover during His three and a half year ministry. Upon arrival at the temple, Jesus began turning over tables of moneychangers and driving those who sold sheep and oxen out of the temple courts. When the Jews saw this they asked for a sign of his authority to do such things. Jesus gave them their sign when He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”[3] Of course the Jews looked at the beautiful temple that Herod had expanded and redone and said; “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”[4]
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However, Jesus “was speaking of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken.”[5] We are going to examine the words of Jesus that he spoke regarding His death and resurrection as well as the Scriptures. We are going to see how His death brings the captives rest.
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Teaching His Death Brings
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Some of the hardest things that Jesus taught His disciples had to do with His own death. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”[6] Jesus was that seed that was placed in the ground when He was placed in that tomb.
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Jesus even knew the method of His death, He foresaw the cross and said; “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”[7] The story where Moses places a serpent on a pole in the wilderness shows it is not enough to be sorrow for your sin. It shows there is a price for sin and the way to healing sometimes doesn’t make sense.
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This story is recorded in the 21st chapter of Numbers. The children of Israel had wandered in the wilderness for nearly 40 years and they only ate angel’s food, manna. The Bibles says; “And the people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.” And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.”[8]
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The children of Israel were sorry, they told Moses to intercede for them and tell the Lord; “we are sorry.” But God does not just remove the serpents, He tells Moses to make a serpent and set it on a pole, and tell all the people who are bitten to come and look on the pole and they shall be healed and live. Now this does not make any sense, but Moses just listened and did what the Lord commanded. I can imagine that some people, when they heard the message, did not leave their tents and go and look upon the pole. The text doesn’t say this, but I know people like this, the text says; “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live.’ And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.”[9]
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This was a prophetic picture that anyone today who will look on the Lord Jesus and believes shall have eternal life. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”[10] Jesus fully understood this when He said; “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”[11]
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The Sign of Jonah the Prophet
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Jesus will even give signs to those who shouldn’t need them. Matthew records that the teachers of Israel came to Jesus and asked for a sign and this is what happened; “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’.”[12]
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Jonah saw death in the belly of a great fish; however the Lord did not allow his body to see corruption, the Lord raised him from the depth of Sheol. Jonah, by his own words, spent three days and nights in the chains of death. He said, “I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but Thou hast brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.”[13] And in the same way the chains of death could not hold Jesus and after three days and nights He was raised from the dead.
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This is exactly what Jesus told His disciples in private. He said; “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”[14] Amazingly even the disciples could not understand that what was about to take place was the will of the Father.
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Jesus explained this over and over again to the disciples and they could not help fighting it. Once after asking His disciples who the people say He was, Jesus explained to everyone what should shortly take place. “From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block for Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s’.”[15]
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The wisdom of God is foolishness to men. God’s wisdom didn’t even make sense to Peter. Paul wrote about the mystery of God’s wisdom saying; “But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”[16] It is difficult to understand the wisdom of God, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”[17]
We were hoping He was going to redeem Israel
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Even with all the words that Jesus had spoken to His disciples they still didn’t understand or believe what needed to take place. Even on the very day of the resurrection we have this story of two disciples who leave Jerusalem and are walking back to their home in Emmaus. Now while they were downcast and walking Jesus came up and walked with them. The Bible says; “But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, ‘What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?’ And they stood still, looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, ‘Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?’ And He said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to Him, ‘The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel’.”[18]
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The disciples had hoped that Jesus was the one that should redeem Israel. But how could He couldn’t be. He was tortured and killed. So Jesus while still unrecognizable to them spoke; “He said to them, ‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”[19] Jesus explained all the scriptures said about him. The Old Testament was the only scripture in the days of Jesus. Jesus opened these scriptures up to His disciples and revealed that the Messiah should suffer and die to redeem that which is lost.
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What the ancient prophets saw of His death
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I can only imagine what scriptures Jesus might have open up to His disciples while He walked those seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. I would suppose that He opened the words of the prophet Isaiah to them. Isaiah describes the brutality of the scourging that Messiah would take saying; “So His appearance was marred more than any man.”[20]
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Isaiah describes the Messiah further saying; “And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He had no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”[21] The people who were at the crucifixion mocked him. Jesus was despised and the people shook their heads at Him.
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“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”[22] Line after prophetic line Isaiah recorded the last hours of our Lord Jesus. Isaiah saw Jesus pierced for our transgressions. He saw our judgment poured out on Him. Isaiah saw the brutal whipping that would lead to our healing.
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Isaiah prophesied further saying, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?”[23] Isaiah saw the Lamb of God going to the cross as a lamb to the slaughter, silent, not opening His mouth, all for the transgressions of God’s people.
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Isaiah even saw that, “His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”[24] Had Joseph of Arimathea not come forward for the body of Jesus, His body would have been thrown in the burning trash dump of the valley of Gehenna because that was the grave of wicked men. Instead Jesus was in the grave of a rich man in His death just as Isaiah foresaw.
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This may be the most amazing part of the prophecy. Isaiah saw that it pleased the Father to crush Jesus, if He would willingly offer Himself as a guilt offering. This is what Isaiah wrote, “But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering.”[25] Jesus willingly laid down His life. Jesus said, “No one has taken it [my life] from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.”[26] Jesus offered himself in exchange for others by His own knowledge.
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Isaiah isn’t finished yet, he prophesied, “He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify many, as He will bear their iniquities.”[27] There was a great exchange that took place in the heavenly when Jesus bore our sins.
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This is what John the Revelator saw in the heavens at the end of days, “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; For Thou wast slain, and dist purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”[28]
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Isaiah then sees the Father in heaven saying, “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”[29] Never forget that Jesus didn’t come to earth to make good people better or bad people good; He came to make dead people alive.
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Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani!
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Even while Jesus hung on the cross, He was still teaching. When He, “cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli Lama Sabachthani?”[30] Translated as, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”[31] Even as Jesus hung on the cross He was still teaching. Jesus was pointing everyone to the 22nd Psalm that they might see how prophecy was being fulfilled before their very eyes.
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The Psalmist records: “But I am a worm, and not a man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, ‘Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him’.”[32] (Psalm 22:6-8). This is exactly what took place at the foot of the cross. Matthew records, “In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him, and saying, ‘He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we shall believe in Him. He trusts in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’.”[33]
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The Psalmist even saw what was going on in the spiritual realms as he wrote, “Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me, as a ravening and a roaring lion.”[34] Evil spirits circled around the cross, falsely thinking that they had victory.
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Those who mocked the Lord surrounded Jesus like dogs. And here is what the Psalmist wrote, “For dogs have surrounded me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me.”[35] Prophecy after prophecy written nearly 1,000 years before His crucifixion reveal a manner of death not yet invented.
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Crucifixion literally wears out the heart to the point where it just gives out. The Psalmist saw this too when he wrote about Jesus saying, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me.”[36] Modern medicine now confirms that this is what happens when a person is crucified.
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Remember when Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”[37] This was to fulfill what the Psalmist wrote which says, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and Thou dost lay me in the dust of death.”[38]
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Finally, while Jesus hung on the cross right below Him four Roman guards where playing dice, they were literally gambling for the garments of Jesus. The Psalmist recorded it like this, “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”[39] The fulfillment of this prophecy shows that at the most important point in history people were playing games.
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One Should Tasted Death for All
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It is not a game and once your eyes are open then maybe you will utter words similar to what Paul wrote, “For the love of Christ controls us [grabs hold of us], having concluded [believing completely] that one died for all.”[40] Jesus died for each one of us. No one will enter heaven and say to God, “I was so good, you had to let me in.” Entrance is only granted by faith in the One who died for all.
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Jesus tasted death for everyone. The writer of Hebrews confirms this when he wrote, “But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”[41] It was by the grace of God that one should die that all who believe might have life.
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The high priest of Israel even unknowingly prophesied this event while they conspired to kill Jesus. John wrote, “But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.’ Now this he did not say on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”[42] Jesus is the one who should die for the nation, but not only the nation but those who will believe who are scattered around the world.
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The death of Jesus was prophesied on the eighth day of His life when Jesus went to the temple to make an offering at the Temple of the Lord. Luke recorded this event saying, “And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, ‘Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed – and a sword will pierce even your own soul – to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed’.”[43] His mother was there on the day of His crucifixion and I’m sure just as it was prophesied over Him, that it did pierce her soul.
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Now in the Law of Moses commanded us to stone
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We see a prophetic picture of this exchange between the sinless and the sinner in a story recorded in the 8th Chapter of John. The story is of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. The scribes and Pharisees dragged her before Jesus and they said to Jesus; “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?”[44] These scribes and Pharisees where looking for a way to accuse Jesus. Would Jesus break the Law of Moses? T.D. Jakes said about this, “It’s never good to challenge an author about His own book.”
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Now here is what is great. These men drag this guilty woman before our advocate and as an advocate for sinful man He could speak, but look at what the Bible says Jesus did. “But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground.”[45] Jesus, whose words could heal or bring judgment, said nothing; instead He stooped down. This is exactly what God did in the heavenly when He saw that man had been caught in the act of sin. God Himself stooped down.
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“But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst.”[46] Only God can bring judgment; only one sinless could point the finger. Jesus revealed to them that they were all guilty of something. Death was the just judgment that this woman had coming to her in the form of a stoning. But instead of bringing judgment against her He would take those stones on her behalf in the form of the cross.
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“And straightening up, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ And she said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more’.”[47] Jesus takes our punishment and says to each of us, turn to God and turn away from our lives of sin.
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Now to me the most amazing part is that this 8th Chapter of John begins with a woman who is about to be stoned, but it ends with Jesus being nearly stoned. John records: “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.”[48] And although Jesus would escape the stones that day, He would eventually face them when He went to the cross. The guilty is exchanged for the innocent.
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Daniel and the Lion’s Den Decoded
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What is even more amazing is that the death and resurrection where even hidden in a story I had learned as a small child and yet for most of my life I never saw it. As I read the Bible a couple of years ago, I came to the story in Daniel chapter 6 of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Many times I would read quite quickly and other times I would read slowly taking lots of notes. As I was reading this particular story, I was motoring along, when all of the sudden I got to this passage; “And a stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it.”[49] The Holy Spirit then spoke to me and said, “Where is the other place that a stone was brought?” I answered, “The tomb of Jesus.”
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I quickly turned to the Book of Matthew and read, “and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.”[50] Then, just a few verses after how Pilate sealed the tomb just like the king did in the story of Daniel, “And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.”[51]
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I am thinking, “Wow!” So now I turn back to the beginning of the story and see how many parallels I can find or if this is just some kind of strange coincidental anomaly. But, I knew this could be something amazingly hidden of God. So I started at the beginning of Daniel Chapter 6 this time I began reading with my spiritual eyes.
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As I began to read from the beginning of Chapter 6 I found “three commissioners”[52] (of whom Daniel was one) over the entire kingdom. Daniel was part of a three presidency, and Jesus was part of the Trinity. Then there were 120 providences in this kingdom and there were 120 in the upper room when Jesus kingdom began on earth 50 days after He was raised. Then it says, “Daniel began distinguishing himself… because he possessed an extraordinary spirit.”[53] Jesus had the Holy Spirit: remember He quoted Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners.”
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Then rulers began to conspire against Daniel, “but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him.”[54] This is exactly what happened with Jesus: corrupt men falsely accused Him yet there was no corruption found in Him.
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These corrupt men as then, “found Daniel making petition and supplication before God.”[55] So Daniel was caught praying and Jesus was caught praying in a garden. Daniel had “continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying.”[56] Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, prayed three times.
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Daniel was tried, “according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.”[57] Jesus was tried according to God’s Law, which is unchangeable. Jesus had even said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”[58]
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The king gave the order that Daniel was to be “cast into the lions’ den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.”[59] And the Father gave His word to the Son that He would deliver Him from death and Hades.
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“Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled him.”[60] I then saw a picture of what was going on in heaven as for the first time the angels did not sing and there was no entertainment before the Father. I do not have a Bible verse to back this up other then the parallel revealed in this entire Chapter of Daniel.
The stone was then rolled away and the king called into the den to see if Daniel was alive and Daniel replied, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.”[61] I then remembered that after Jesus was raised there were seen angels at the tomb.
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“So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.”[62] The prophets, “spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.”[63]
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“Then Darius the king wrote to all the people, nations, and men of every language who were living in all the land: “May your peace abound! I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel; For He is the living God and enduring forever, And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, and His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”[64] We have also received a decree to take to all the nations of the world.
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Peter spoke of this message on the day of Pentecost saying, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know – this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”[65] Jesus conquered sin and death in an act that made no sense to the powers of this world. The enemies of Jesus have a dreadful date with destiny.
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That date where godless men face judgment is paralleled in the story of Daniel. It says, “The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children, and their wives into the lions’ den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.”[66] This is where I heard the Spirit of God ask me, “If they never reach the bottom, then what is it?” Immediately the answer came up in my spirit, “a bottomless pit.” I then immediately remembered that in Revelation 19 and 20 those who go against Christ are cast into a bottomless pit.
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This may be one of my favorite hidden parallels in the Bible because most people have heard or read the story of Daniel and the lions’ den, however, few have seen the hidden parallel that God placed in that story some 2500 years ago. But God also hid the entire story of the gospel within the book of Genesis.
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Decoding the Genealogy of Genesis Chapter Five
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The genealogy of Adam through Noah may hold one of the greatest revelations. Genesis chapter 5 is almost an interruption of the story of the beginning. It’s almost a chapter that we want to skip as we start reading the Bible from the beginning. And yet a chapter that many of us have read over and over takes on new meaning once our eyes are opened. The key, or secret, to decoding the chapter is found in the Hebrew meaning of each of the names.
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The first name is Adam: he was the first man and that’s what his name means is man. In fact, the Hebrew word for man is “adam”. Adam had two sons in Genesis 4:1-2 who where Cain and Abel. One son, Abel, was righteous and one, Cain, was rebellious. We all know that Cain killed Abel, so it says in Genesis 4:25, “And Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel; for Cain killed him.”
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So Adam’s, man, son Seth’s name means appointed. And Seth had a son named Enosh, and his name means mortal. And Enosh had a son name Kenan whose name in the Hebrew means sorrow. So check out these first four names and there meanings, Adam, Seth, Enosh, and Kenan; which means in order man appointed mortal sorrow. And this is what happened when man fell in the garden, man was appointed mortal sorrow. There was a separation caused by sin. Isaiah says it this way, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.”[67]
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Now check out Kenan’s son, his name is Mahalalel whose name in the Hebrew means, the praise of God, the Glory of God, or the Blessed God. It is an amazing name with rich meaning. Mahalalel then has a son who name is Jared and his name means to descend, to go downward, to bring down or to come down. Jared then has a son named Enoch whose name means to beseech, to implore, to teach, or teaching (literally it is to teach with urgency or to teach as if begging you see 2 Corinthians 5:20).
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Enoch then has a son and names him Methuselah whose name also has rich meaning and like Mahalalel is a compound name with other words hidden within it. Meth or Met is the Hebrew word for death, and selah or shalach is a word that in the Hebrew means appoints, to bring, to initiate. So literally Methuselah means, his death appoints, his death initiates or his death brings. And if you add up from the year of the birth of Methuselah to the date of his death it brings you to the year of the flood, so his death literally initiated the flood or his death brought the flood.
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So the next four names in the genealogy recorded in Genesis 5 are Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah; which in the Hebrew translate to, the blessed God, comes down, teaching, His death brings. This is exactly what Jesus did; He was the blessed God who he came down to earth, teaching about His death.
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Methuselah then has a son named Lamech whose name means to be captive, to be under rule, or to be in despair. Lastly, Lamech had a son whom according to Jewish sources was hoped to be the messiah. “Now he (Lamech) called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.[68] So Noah’s name in the Hebrew means rest. So the last two names mean the captives or those in despair rest.
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Let’s read the names as they would translate from the Hebrew; Man appointed mortal sorrow, the Blessed God, comes down teaching His death brings [the] captives rests. This is the entire gospel hidden within the genealogy of Adam through Noah. And it is the Blessed God that saves us with his death on a cross.
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The Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World
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The first four chapters should have outlined the reason for the first coming of our Blessed God, Jesus Christ. It was always God’s plan that Jesus would go to the cross and pay our penalty for sin. In fact, Revelation 13:8 refers to Jesus as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”. There was no way for sinful man to reach into heaven and fix what was lost in the garden.
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Jesus the Son of God; “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”[69]
This is truly the greatest story ever told and it’s all true. Yet it is only part of the story because Jesus is coming back. To understand what is happening when Jesus returns we must fully understand what happen when He came the first time. I pray that you have grasped an understanding of who Jesus is and by this introduction you choice to believe and receive Him. The Bible promises, “But as many as receive Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”[70] Don’t wait another minute begin your relationship with the One True God today.
[1] Philippians 2:6-8
[2] Luke 4:18 Emphasis Added
[3] John 2:19
[4] John 2:20
[5] John 2:21-22
[6] John 12:24
[7] John 3:14
[8] Numbers 21:5-7
[9] Numbers 21:8-9
[10] John 6:40
[11] Luke 12:32
[12] Matthew 12:38-40
[13] Jonah 2:6
[14] Matthew 20:17-19
[15] Matthew 16:21-23
[16] 1 Corinthians 2:7-8
[17] 1 Corinthians 1:25
[18] Luke 24:16-21
[19] Luke 24:25-27
[20] Isaiah 52:14
[21] Isaiah 53:1-4
[22] Isaiah 53:5-6
[23] Isaiah 53:7-8
[24] Isaiah 53:9
[25] Isaiah 53:10
[26] John 10:18
[27] Isaiah 53:10-11
[28] Revelation 5:9-10
[29] Isaiah 53:12
[30] Matthew 27:46
[31] Psalm 22:1
[32] Psalm 22:6-7
[33] Matthew 27:41-43
[34] Psalm 22:12-13
[35] Psalm 22:16-17
[36] Psalm 22:14
[37] John 19:28
[38] Psalm 22:15
[39] Psalm 22:18
[40] 2 Corinthians 5:14 My inference Added
[41] Hebrews 2:9
[42] John 11:49-52
[43] Luke 2:34-35
[44] John 8:4-5
[45] John 8:6
[46] John 8:7-9
[47] John 8:10-11
[48] John 8:59
[49] Daniel 6:17
[50] Matthew 27:60
[51] Matthew 27:66
[52] Daniel 6:2
[53] Daniel 6:3
[54] Daniel 6:4
[55] Daniel 6:11
[56] Daniel 6:10
[57] Daniel 6:12
[58] Matthew 5:17
[59] Matthew 6:16
[60] Daniel 6:18
[61] Daniel 6:22
[62] Daniel 6:23
[63] Acts 2:31
[64] Daniel 6:25-27
[65] Acts 2:22-24
[66] Daniel 6:24
[67] Isaiah 59:2
[68] Genesis 5:29
[69] Philippians 2:6-11
[70] John 1:12
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