The Second Coming

The Resurrection

There are some arguments on the day Jesus was resurrected. Firstly, we have to realize that the words days and nights were different in Hebrew than today. “Night” began at sunset, and “day” began at sunrise. To settle this we look to Ignatius, a bishop of Antioch. Ignatius was only a child during Jesus’ resurrection, but he personally witnessed it. He later was a disciple of John and died as a martyr in 107 A.D. It is also believed that Ignatius was the child Jesus called in Matthew 18:2. In a letter to the Trallians, Ignatius writes:

“On the day of the preparation [Friday], then at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath [Saturday], He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathea had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord’s Day [Sunday] He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, ‘As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’ The day of the preparation, then comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord’s Day contains the resurrection.” – Ignatius, letter to the Trallians, chapter 9

So according to Ignatius it was on the third day from His crucifixion (Sunday, April 5), not a literal 72 hours as we would think. Next, let us take a look at the law of the wave-sheaf offering:

Leviticus 23:11 – then he hath waved the sheaf before Jehovah for your acceptance; on the morrow of the sabbath doth the priest wave it. (YLT)

The law of the wave-sheaf offering states that the priest was to wave a sheft of barley up and down on the day after the Sabbath. The Sabbath was Saturday this year (33 A.D.), so this must be done on Sunday. Jesus fulfills this law by ascending on Sunday. How do we know he ascended? Look at these verses:

John 20:17 – Jesus saith to her, ‘Be not touching me, for I have not yet ascended unto my Father; and be going on to my brethren, and say to him, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and to your God.’ (YLT)

John 20:27 – then he saith to Thomas, ‘Bring thy finger hither, and see my hands, and bring thy hand, and put [it] to my side, and become not unbelieving, but believing’ (YLT)

In verse 17, Jesus does not allow Mary to touch him because he says he has not ascended yet. Jesus is talking about fulfilling the law of the wave-sheaf offering. Jesus represents the barley and his ascension represents waving. So he must ascend to fulfill this law. We know that this is not referring to his ascension forty days later (Acts 1:3-9) because he allows his disciples to touch him in verse 27, which is later that day. Therefore, Jesus must have ascended around the third hour, or around 9am. Why is this a big deal? This is important because it shows that God CANNOT break his own law. God follows all of his own laws, whether it be the law of the wave-sheaf offering, or the law of Jubilee. It also gives us a clue about the second coming which we will get to later.

The Day of Atonement

Let’s now switch gears to the law. Take a look at Leviticus:

Leviticus 23:27-28 – ‘Only – on the tenth of this seventh month is a day of atonements; ye have a holy convocation, and ye have humbled yourselves, and have brought near a fire-offering to Jehovah; and ye do no work in this self-same day, for it is a day of atonements, to make atonement for you, before Jehovah your God. (YLT)

This verse refers to the Day of Atonement. It is a day of fasting and repentance held once a year on the tenth day of the seventh month. However Leviticus 25:8-13, says that every 49 years the Day of Atonement was replaced by the beginning of a year of Jubilee. Go back to the Lake of Fire to review the law of Jubilee. The law says that a trumpet was blown throughout the land to declare this a time of rejoicing and restitution. Therefore, there is 48 normal years, followed by a year of Jubilee. So Jubilees gives us cycles of time. For example, 10 Jubilee cycles is 49x10, or 490 years.

The First 50 Jubilees

If we set the birth of Adam at year 0, we can add up the years to give us a timeline. Genesis 5 and 11 give us chronology, so it is just a matter of adding. The flood came 1656 years after Adam was born, or year 1656. Abram was born in the year 1948. Isaac was born in the year 2048. The Israelites exited Egypt in the year 2448. On the year 2449, Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan. They looked for 40 days (Num. 13:25), and returned in the fall of the year in time for the grape harvest (Num. 13:10), otherwise known as feast of Tabernacles. They gave their report on the day of Jubilee in 2450. This was 50 Jubilee cycles, because 49x50 = 2450. Ten of them said they should turn away because the land was filled with men that were strong and tall. (Num. 11:32) However, Joshua and Caleb said that with God on their side they would be able to win. (Num. 14:9) Note that Joshua and Caleb represent the barley overcomers because they had great faith in God, while everyone else did not. The Israelites then decided not to enter Canaan, siding with the other ten spies. Thus, God made them wait another 38 years in the wilderness (Deut. 2:14) before allowing them to enter Canaan.

We can see how the year 2450 (1445 B.C.) was like an ultimate Jubilee. If God’s people had faith, they would have received ultimate land flowing with milk and honey in addition to glorified bodies. However, because they rejected it that year, God only gave them an external land inheritance.

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