Category Archives: Passover to Pentecost

Passover to Pentecost – The Ascension Foretold

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Passover to Pentecost – The Ascension Foretold         Week 6 Day 4

I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. John 7: 33 (NIV)

This verse was spoken by Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles the year before His Passion.  At the same Feast He spoke John 8: 21, it was clear that He was preparing His disciples for His leaving earth.  John 8 started a controversy that was meant to shake and disturb those following Him.

Most of the verses about Jesus predicting His ascension were said at the Last Supper. They are John 13: 1 + 33, 14:28, 16: 5, and 17:11.  You have to wonder if they understood any of these at the time Jesus said them.  Some of these verses could also be considered to predict His death, which we know they were not expecting.  Jesus in John 14: 29 said that He has told them so they will believe when they see it happening.

Passover to Pentecost – Other Ascension Stories

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Passover to Pentecost – Other Ascension Stories         Week 6 Day 3

The Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind.  2 Kings 2:1 (NIV)

We will look at two cases where a man was taken into heaven while still alive:

Enoch – His story is found in Genesis 5: 21 -24.  It says he walked with God 300 years and God took him.  One creative preacher said that they spent so much time walking together that one day when they were close to heaven; God asked him to spend the night and he just never went home. J

Elijah – His story of being taken into heaven is in 2 Kings 2: 1 – 18.  This story has a backward connection to the Feast and Joshua’s Fifty Days.  Elijah and Elisha started in Gilgal then proceed down the list:

  • Bethel – House of God
  • Gilgal – (back to)Place of circumcision, first camp, held Joshua’s first Passover
  • Jericho – First city taken, it happened during the Counting of the Omer
  • Jordan River – “Baptism” for all those born in the wilderness
  • “The Wilderness”- Place where Moses died.

This is a reverse of the locations that Joshua and the Israelites took when they came into the Promised Land.

There is a third case in Revelations 11: 12 where the Two Witnesses will rise into heaven in a cloud.  This is after they had been killed by the Beast.  The powers of these witnesses match Moses and Elijah while they were on earth.  But Enoch and Elijah are the only two people never to die, and it is written that man is appointed once to die (Hebrews 9:27).

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Passover to Pentecost – Other Typologies

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Passover to Pentecost – Other Typologies         Week 6 Day 2

May another take his place of leadership. Acts 1: 20 (NIV)

There are two things in this Passover to Pentecost time period that I want to highlight.  Both have been mentioned before, but I think they are worth another look.

Jethro and Matthias

Jethro visited Moses and knew at once that he needed help to govern the people.  Between the Ascension and Pentecost, Peter (who was leading again) knew that Judas’ position needed to be filled.  The importance of this appointment is the process that was used to pick the candidates and then the Thirteenth Disciple. They took inventory of the candidates, and then let the Holy Spirit pick.

Amalekites

As I said before the Amalekites became enemies for many centuries (see separate post on Amalekites).  Even though the timing is off the typology is not when it comes to how Joshua defeated them in Exodus 17.  Moses had his hands lifted up (position on the cross) with a man on either side of him, this lasted until sunset. (Remember the sky went dark when Jesus was on the cross).

The Amalekites are descendants of Esau, who sold his birthright for soup.  This shadow can extend to Satan or to religious leaders who would rather have the position and power than Jesus.

Passover to Pentecost – Forty

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Passover to Pentecost – Forty         Week 6 Day 1

Acts 1: 3 He appeared to them over a period of forty days. (NIV)

This is the week that Jesus ascended into heaven.  We will look at topics related to this week.  The first one will be forty.

Jesus opened and closed His ministry time here on earth with a special forty-day period.  Jesus after His baptism by John went into the wilderness for forty days to fast and was tempted by the devil.  He also had a forty-day period after His resurrection that He spent with His disciples. Normally I would say that forty is the number of testing, but His second forty-day period was not a test.

So, I would like to add another layer to the number forty.  Many of stories that are told with a “forty” time period the person or group is being prepare/trained to go into something new.  Jesus fasted forty days to start His ministry.  His second forty was preparing the disciples for His going back to heaven.  The Exodus forty years prepared the Israelites to be an army and take the Land.  Jesus’ ministry time could have been forty months depending on when he started in His 30th year.

One interesting thing that also could be a forty-day period was with the Exodus.  We know Moses spent two forty-day periods on Sinai with God.  But forty days into the trip could have been when Moses struck the rock and water came out (Exodus 17).  All of these are shadows of Jesus.

Another forty-day story is when Elijah traveled forty days and nights while fleeing from Jezebel going to the Mount of God (1 Kings 19).  Once there he went into a cave and waited for the voice of God to call him out.  Another example of foreshadowing’s of Jesus.

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Passover to Pentecost – The Great Commission

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Passover to Pentecost – The Great Commission    Week 5 Day 7

Go. Matthew 28:19, Mark 16: 15; I am sending you. Luke 24: 49, John 20: 21; You will be my witness. Acts 1:8 (NIV)

The ionic phrase that is found in Matthew 28 has sent countless people to tell the Gospel, maybe it was in a foreign land or your downtown.  Four writers, four slightly different perspectives form one complete picture.

The disciples finally went to Galilee to the mountain He had directed them too (probably Mount Tabor).   If you are putting these appearances in a timeline think about it this way:

  • The meeting with Thomas at the end of the feast of Unleavened Bread
  • Peter and the catch of fishes
  • The 500 and the commission are the same meetings (maybe)

Matthew 28: 18 – 20 – Starts and ends with a promise (all authority has been given to me and surely I am with you).  Baptism and teaching lead to making disciples.

Mark 16: 9 – 20 – The NIV and other bibles give a note that this was probably added at a later date.  I don’t see this as a problem, but it is more like an explanation of what was happening.  If this section is a scorecard rather than just a commission it is easy to see that they were met with opposition when they went out.

Luke 24: 45 – 49 and Acts 1:7 + 8 – Both emphasize the promise of the Holy Spirit and waiting in Jerusalem until they have received Him.  Luke is where we get the idea that evangelism should start in your “Jerusalem.”

John 20: 21 – 23 – Shows a chain of command about going to preach and forgive people their sins.  Much has been written about Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit on them.  Please remember that they had a separate experience on the day of Pentecost, which Luke stressed that they had to wait for.  They needed the help of the Holy Spirit to retain all of the teachings Jesus was doing, but they received POWER on the day of Pentecost.

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