Passover to Pentecost – Galilee and the Mountain

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Passover to Pentecost – Galilee and the Mountain         Week 3 Day 3

The disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. Matthew 28: 16 (NIV)

Part of the message of angels to the women on Easter morning was “tell My disciples to go to Galilee.”  Jesus in talking to the women repeated those instructions to them.  These verses are in Matthew and Mark, John and Matthew actually place them in Galilee, but why Galilee?  There was one particular mountain in Galilee where Jesus wanted them to meet with Him, why?

The Book of Matthew may hold the answers.  In Chapter 4 he quotes a verse from Isaiah 9 about Galilee, this verse just adds to the rich prophecies from Jacob and Moses about the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali.  Their lands help to make up the area around the Sea of Galilee.

In Matthew 28 there seemed to be urgency in the reminders to leave Jerusalem and go to Galilee.  I think that Jesus knew Jerusalem was not a healthy place for them to be.  Them going to a place of relative safety mirrors when Father God had Moses change routes out of Egypt (Exodus 13:17).  After all, this was home territory for them and there were still disciples in the area.  (For more see Galilee.)

Mount Tabor may have been the mountain they were called to go too.  It may have been where Jesus was transfigured.  It is in the area where Zebulun, Naphtali, and Issachar’s territories come together.  It has a place in the stories of Deborah and Barak, and Gideon; plus it is mentioned in Psalms 89, Jeremiah 46, and Hosea 5.  Tabor, the city, was a Levitical city, but the Tabor in the story of Saul and the donkeys was a plain in Benjamin.   So this mountain would have been a great place to give the Great Commission so that “people living in darkness could see the light.”

∞ Jesus, thank You that You look out for us, and send us out to the nations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tabor

Passover to Pentecost – At the Start of Counting the Omer

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Passover to Pentecost – At the Start of Counting the Omer         Week 3 Day 2

He will bind up our wounds.2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Hosea 6: 1+2 (NIV)

‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ Luke 13:32 (NIV)

This “second day” in these passages would be Saturday in Passion Week.  This day is

Pumpkin seed and Wheat

tough to get excited about because Jesus was “dead” (See Easter 2015- Saturday) so people really are not sure what to do with it.  Jesus was busy, just not in a realm that we can see.

There still are important dates in these fifty days that I will highlight.  So we will spend the rest of the time thinking about Jesus’ actions and teachings that lead up to Pentecost, the birthday of the Church.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/pumpkin-seed-and-wheatdried-cereal-

Passover to Pentecost – The Third Day

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Passover to Pentecost – The Third Day         Week 3 Day 1

Go tell that fox, I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.  Luke 13:32 (NIV)

Okay, there is not a lot of difference between the word “three” and “third” in the original languages.  But using https://www.biblegateway.com/ and doing a search on “third day” answered some questions I had.  It is a good study, do it if you have time.

Food

We have seen the connection with “three” and food, this one was interesting.  The third day of Creation was “plant” day.  A much more profound connection with food, in particular manna, is Jesus rose from the dead early in the morning.  Manna showed up every day early in the morning as the dew was going away.  A take away here is look for Jesus in the morning, pick up as much as you need for the day, and get more the next day.

Old Testament “Third Day” Scriptures

The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. Luke 24: 46 (NIV)

Basically the same statement is in 1 Corinthians 15:4.  Have you ever looked for those scriptures?  We will have to look for them in the “types and shadows” of the Old Testament, which by the way was the “Scripture” Luke and Paul were referring to in the above passages.  Here are some scriptures to “pick-up and eat today.”

  • Genesis 22:4 Abraham and Isaac
  • Exodus 19:11 the Lord coming to Mount Sinai (the end of the fifty days)
  • 2 Kings 20:5 Hezekiah wanting a sign that he would be healed and going to the Temple
  • Hosea 6:2 a prophecy about the mission of Jesus and His death at Passover

Passover to Pentecost – Three Days

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Passover to Pentecost – Three Days        Week 2 Day 7

After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers.  Luke 2:46 (NIV)

I have done many number studies just because they are interesting.  This number related study came as a surprise; the term “three days” has been several places in connection with the Exodus and Counting the Omer.  The ones that caught my attention have been:

  1. “three days” to go to worship in the desert
  2. same time after each of the first two Passover’s, with no water or complaining about the food
  3. the story in Luke of Joseph and Mary looking for Jesus
  4. the plague where the sun was darkened for three days
  5. Joshua moving the people into the Promised Land, they had a three-day notice
  6. The three days Jesus spent in the tomb

Pre-Exodus stories include the sacking of Shechem by Jacob’s sons and Joseph with Pharaoh’s servants and their dreams.  Shechem is where Joshua read the blessings and curses to the people, and the dream helped get Joseph into the position to help his family.  Post-Exodus stories include Jonah in the whale which is a shadow for Jesus being in the tomb three days (Passover).

To help you study use https://www.biblegateway.com and search “three days.”

The number three maybe associated with God (triune).  But this “three-day” period seems to be a waiting period and frequently there is a test at the end of it.   In Exodus 15 (three days after the first Passover) God talks about testing the people, and in Numbers 10 (2nd Passover) God said they had tested Him ten times and it was over!  I view the story in Luke as a test for Mary and Joseph in their understanding of who Jesus really was.

Passover to Pentecost – Food

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Passover to Pentecost – Food        Week 2 Day 6

Your children will be shepherds for forty years. Numbers 14: 33 (NIV)

Food has been a reoccurring topic so I thought we needed to put these thoughts together in a post.  Israel and the rabble with them did a lot of complaining about the food they had and the food they remembered.  Their diet was probably simple compared to many of our daily meals, but the thoughts of food carry powerful emotions.

The three main elements for the Passover meal were unleavened bread (no yeast/sin), bitter herbs to represent slavery, and the lamb (the sacrifice and the protector).  The typology of the unleavened bread and lamb points to Jesus our sinless sacrifice.

After the second Passover, the people that came with them out of Egypt got the people all worked up about food.  They remembered the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic they had in Egypt.  And it was free!  I guess they forgot about slavery, plus the rabble could have left and gone back to Egypt.

Quail is mentioned twice in Scripture as the meat that God gave the people – Exodus 16 and Numbers 11.  It is interesting that both of these were in the days right after Passover in the time of the Counting of the Omer.  Even today there are large migrations of quail over this general area.

Exodus 12 talks about the large herds of livestock they brought with them as they left Egypt.  So they would have had milk (cheese) and meat as a regular part of their diet.  Since God (the cloud) could move at any time planting crops would have been useless.  This lifestyle was part of the burden the children were to carry because of the complaining of the parents.

Manna, the “what is it” food of the Bible; it looked like dried tree sap and tasted liked olive oil and coriander seed.  It would not keep overnight and had to be picked up fresh every day.  This miraculous food is a shadow of Jesus.  It is referred to as manna and the bread of Heaven in several places in the Old and New Testament.  Some references for this are found in Psalm 105:40, Nehemiah 9:15, and John 6.  In Hebrews 9:4 an omer of manna is mentioned again as being in the Ark and then in Revelations 2:17 manna will be given to those who overcome.