Category Archives: Bible Study

Passover to Pentecost to Persecution

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Over the years Acts 2 => 9 has been the picture of the early church and has been combed through very carefully for “how it should be done”.  I have always thought that Stephen was stoned and the Apostles were beaten because the Devil hated the Church. I have taught and heard sermons on “having everything in common”. I have also heard sermons on how those practices border on Communism, and God was just stopping the problem from growing.  It is truly amazing how we can turn a coin and see true stuff on both sides!

I will not argue either of those points but add this thought into the mix.  First, we need to

look at Acts 1:8 where Jesus reminded the disciples to witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the world.  Now, we look at Acts 8:1 when the persecution started and the disciples were scattered from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria. I am thinking that Jesus had to “turn things around” and get the disciples to go out and start witnessing. I have a feeling that the Church had gotten too comfortable with how everything was working and was not thinking about “going out”.

They had resources, Leaders, a power base to work from (Jerusalem), and the example Jesus had given them when they were with Him (they had a common purse). (See the topics in Week 4.) I think the Beta Program had and was working in Acts 5 and 6 but everyone was comfy and did not want to leave Jerusalem.

Jesus used what the Devil meant for harm to move the Church into spreading the Gospel.

Passover to Pentecost – Week 6

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This week we deal with the end of Jesus’ forty days on earth. The Ascension is a very important part of the Easter story.  Without the Ascension the Holy Spirit could not come.  Day Six is what I think may have happened when Jesus went to go take His victors seat next to the Father.

  1. Passover to Pentecost – Forty       
  2. Passover to Pentecost – Other Typologies        
  3. Passover to Pentecost – Other Ascension Stories       
  4. Passover to Pentecost – The Ascension Foretold
  5. Passover to Pentecost –The Ascension       
  6. Passover to Pentecost – After the Cloud!
  7. Passover to Pentecost –The Second Coming

Passover to Pentecost – Jesus’ Four

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The time period of Passover to Pentecost (Counting the Omer) is, was, and will be an important event in the history of the Jews but also for Christians!  It defined the start of the Jewish calendar and propelled them as a group to gain the “Promised Land.”  Jesus’ life and ministry were to fulfill the “type and shadow” of Passover and the meeting of God in the desert.  The work of salvation had to be finished at Passover!  Jesus, however, had other tasks to accomplish: send the Holy Spirit and birth His Church!

In Jesus’ life, there are four recorded Passovers in the Gospels.  John, in his Gospel, used the term “Passover” the most and records three of the four Feast.  Luke talks about two of them and Mark and Matthew cover the last one where He was offered up as our sacrifice. The four recorded Passovers and Counting of the Omers are:

  • Luke 2:11; He also writes the story of the Ascension to Pentecost.
  • John 2:13 to 4:43 (this ending story is a guess)
  • John 6:4 to 7:1
  • John 12 to 21 and continues into the Book of Acts. (See After the Cloud)

One thing that all four of these Passovers have in common is that Jesus returns to Galilee.

  1. In Luke 2 Jesus was twelve when He gave His parents a prelude to His ministry. A fun thought here is Nicodemus may have been present for that question and answer session.
  2. The second recorded Passover was the start of Jesus’ public ministry. Nicodemus was definitely part of this story and he was in a question and answer session with Jesus.  The time frame of John 2 to 4, I chose for the “Counting of the Omer” because of what happened in these chapters.  Jesus and the disciples were baptizing (in the Jordan) and going to Jacob’s Well in Samaria, this is where Joshua went during his “first fifty” days, and the “blessings and curses” were read on the two mountains.
  3. Jesus’ “second Passover” in His ministry period is not well defined. In John 6 and 7 more “shadowing and mirroring” is done: Jesus feeds the 5000, talks about manna and the true Bread of Life, and foretells Judas’ betrayal.  The group ends back up in Galilee and the next reference in the chapter is to the Feast of Tabernacles (7thmonth of the year).
  4. The third and final Passover is what Christians now associate with Easter. (See the Day of Preparation.)

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Passover to Pentecost – Week 5

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This week there are “second” chances that we are looking at.

  1. Passover to Pentecost – The Book of Ruth
  2. Passover to Pentecost – The Second Passover
  3. Passover to Pentecost – Hezekiah’s Passover
  4. Passover to Pentecost – John 21
  5. Passover to Pentecost – Moses and His Second Chance
  6. Passover to Pentecost – Ephesians 4:22
  7. Passover to Pentecost – The Great Commission   

Passover to Pentecost – Lord of the Sabbath

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Lord of the Sabbath

In Matthew 12:8, Mark 2: 28, and Luke 6:5 is the story of the disciples harvesting and eating grain on the Sabbath.  Jesus’ replied to those complaining, “The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.”  Then not much more is said about this passage/idea. In John’s story of the crucifixion that statement is made very clear!

John’s Gospel has the most references to Passover, especially the three that Jesus spent with His disciples, but the last one, John 12 -20, will be our focus for this blog.

  • John 12: 1 timestamps the action as “six days before Passover.” This is when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet.
  • John 13: 1 is “just before Passover” and it would have been the Thursday of that week.Jesus sends Peter and John off to prepare for the eating of the Passover meal.  But Thursday is before what the Jews would call the “Day of Preparation”, when they would kill the Lamb and paint the doorframe.
  • John 18: 28 is early on Friday morning the “Day of Preparation” and the Jews are trying to stay “Clean” so they can eat the Passover.
  • John 19: 14, 31, and 42 again mentions the “Day of Preparation.” Christians now call this Good Friday.  This is when the Jews would have killed the lambs and is when Jesus died.
  • John 20: 1 is “early on the first day of the week.” Christians call this Easter!

So why does this make Jesus Lord of the Sabbath?  Is our communion really the same as the Passover sharing of wine and bread?  Is Easter and Passover the same thing?

I will answer these questions this way: Jesus and the disciples broke tradition and ate the “Passover Meal” and shared communion twenty-four hours to soon. So even though these things happen around Passover they did not happen ON Passover!  Jesus did something new but He had to so that He could fulfill the requirementsof Passover.  It is probable that He died just as the lambs were being killed in the Temple for the Passover meal.

I see this as Jesus doing what had to be done to fulfill all things of the Law!  I am not sure that for us it should cause a major change in traditions, but it does show that Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath and all of our holidays.

SECOND THOUGHT – Did the disciples understand what was happening when they ate early?  If they did were they questioning Jesus as to why?

pic : http://clipart.christiansunite.com/1395312061/Communion Clipart/Communion005.jpg