Promissory Notes: Passover Series Part 4 of 4

Hebrews 9:15
15" And for this reason He {Jesus} is the Mediator of the New Covenant, BY MEANS OF DEATH, for the redemption of the TRANSGRESSION UNDER THE FIRST COVENANT, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."

(See also Hebrews 10.)

When Jesus cried out "FINISHED," the work of redemption was complete, no doubt about it.   But there were still a couple more things for Him to do.  Though He had fully paid for for every sin and reversed every curse, there was an innumerable company of saints who had died before Jesus came to earth.  They had been waiting so long for this day to come and now it was HERE!  HE WAS HERE!

  

You and I, Church, look back to a finished work.  The Old Testament saints looked forward to it.  Every lamb that was offered, every bull, every ox, every turtle dove, every grain and drink offering, all were like promissory notes, if you will, of a redemption that was future to them.  Well, Jesus was here to "cash them all in!"

Where were these saints of old white died before the cross? In paradise, which they also called "The Bosom of Abraham."  Jesus not only talked about this; the Holy Spirit did as well and documented it in the story of Luke 16 in the account of the Rich man and Lazarus.

(Rich man and Lazarus.)

You remember that the beggar, Lazarus?  He was being abused by the rich man.  Now, please understand, God has nothing against rich people.  Far from it.  What He is opposed to, however, is greed and selfishness.  Jesus began telling the story by saying "a certain man."  This is how we know it is not a parable but a real-live event.  

Let's follow the story.

Luke 16:22

"So it was that the beggar died, and was carried BY THE ANGELS TO ABRAHAM'S BOSOM."  The rich man also died and was buried..."

Where is "Abraham's bosom?"  Where Abraham was when he died?  The place Jesus called "Paradise."  There is no suffering there. All the Old Testament saints who believed the gospel story, the same one we believe, were all there, waiting for Messiah to come.  Paradise is in the same location as hell, somewhere "down there," below us; but there was a great gulf in between the two sides.  Paradise is there still, as a matter of fact.  It's empty, hallelujah, but it's still there.

Let's continue the story.
23"And being in torment in Hades, he {the rich man} lifted up his eyes {Ah! You have eyes!} and SAW Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."

Jesus mentions hell several times.  Why?  First of all, because He loves us.  It is a place that was designed for the devil and his angels.  It was never meant for man to occupy.  He doesn't want anyone going there.  It is a very real place where the worm dies not; a place of fiery eternal torment where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  

Likewise, heaven is a real place, not a "spirit-like," whispy, casper-the-ghost, ethereal world.  If it was, where would the real, flesh-and-blood body of our risen Lord Jesus go?  I say, if Jesus says he'll Isaac real a place we should believe Him.  He's THE MOST reliable witness I know!

God housed the departed spirits before the cross in either paradise or hades. Both are referred to in scripture as "Sheol."  Remember where the Bible says that "Jesus ascended up on high.  If He ascended, He also descended into the lowest parts of the earth," in Ephesians 4:9-10. 

Please understand, It doesn't say that Jesus went to hell.  THE SUFFERING ON THE CROSS WAS WAY MORE THAN ENOUGH!!!  When He "descended" He went to paradise to free the old testament saints who had been looking forward to Jesus' finished work!

The Holy Spirit says that "the rich man "looked," so obviously, in both heaven and hell, you still have eyes.  You can see and recognize other people. He saw and recognized Abraham and Lazarus.

...24" Then he {the rich man} cried and said. "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame"......

(The rich man cried out in torment to Abraham.)

So!  You are NOT a blob! Departed spirits have fingers, tongues.  They see, they can recognize!
Your physical body is actually just a reflection of your spirit.  It's just like you.  It looks like you except without the outer shell that hinders it now; and you either have an overwhelming sense of well-being....or you are in unrelenting, unthinkable torment that will never end.

Vs.25" But Abraham said, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received all your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
26" And besides all this, between us and you there is A GREAT GULF FIXED, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us."

In Sheol, those who are on the suffering side, hell, cannot cross over the gulf over that separates them from Paradise, nor visa versa, though they obviously can see one another, hence the "weeping and gnashing of teeth."  Those in hell could see those in Paradise and eternally know it's too late.

Jesus descended to Paradise and announced to those saints of old, "I AM HERE" to the great shouts of "HALLELUIA!!!! from these who had looked forward to His finished work.  He showed them His wounds to their wondering amazement and He cashed in all their "Promisory Notes!"

He also announced to the demons who refused to keep their place--you know; the fallen angels who fathered the Nephilim, Anakim and Rephaim--(YUK!!!) "I AM HERE!!!!!!!  They had tried to pollute the human race with demon seed seed in order to stop THE ONE, Jesus, from being born.  They knew The Champion was coming to crush the head of their "boss," that old serpent, the devil.  HALLELUIA.....THEY FAILED!!!

(For more info on the demon/human hybrids--Nephilim/Anakum/Rephaim--see my post on the days of Noah:  http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2015/01/as-it-was-in-days-of-noah.html.)

As Jesus rose from the dead, He took with Him all the occupants of Paradise; completely emptied it out.  Some of them had already been raised from the dead the moment Jesus died.  Though they had not yet emerged from their burial caves, they were alive inside their tombs, waiting for Him to emerge first, for He must always be preeminent!

When He walked out of the garden tomb that glorious morning, all those Old Testament saints then walked out of theirs and for 40 days made personal appearances all over Jerusalem!  It is recorded below in Matthew 27.  Awesome!
Matthew 27:53
53 " and coming out of their graves AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, they went into the holy city and APPEARED TO MANY." {More than 400!}
When Jesus ascended back into heaven, this is the "great cloud of witnesses" that accompanied Him. Some of their names are mentioned in Hebrews 11:  Great saints like Abraham and David.  It's a long and prestigious list.

In like manner as they saw Him go--BODILY--our precious Jesus will return--BODILY--at His second coming.  EVERY EYE ON EARTH WILL SEE HIS SECOND COMING. He will rescue Israel before she is destroyed by all the armies of the world that have converged on her to try and wipe all the Jews off the face of the map.  

THEY WILL UTTERLY FAIL!!!

(Jesus will return in like manner.)

You and I, Church, will be right beside Him, having been raptured earlier.  One day very soon the Church will suddenly just disappear.  Now you see us; now you don't.  The world won't see us go up.  It would freak them out!  Unlike the second coming, the world will not see Jesus.  He'll come mid-sky, shout for us and we will go up. 

Up to now we have been resurrected spirits in unresurrected bodies.  But at that moment in time, in an atomic second, He will give us our new, eternal, incorruptible, forever young, forever beautiful bodies!  No more sorrow, no more sickness, NO MORE DEATH.....FOREVER!!!  

............AND SO WILL WE ALWAYS BE WITH OUR LORD.  HALLELUIA!!!

(Jesus returns to rescue Israel with ten thousands of His saints.)

Because of Jesus' finished work, however, we no longer need to have Promissory Notes!