THE THIRD DAY
Tuesday – April 24, 2018, Iyar 9, 5778
Welcome back to this wonderful faith building Bible Study from the Book of faith and the chapter of faith. Our picture today depicts Jesus being baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. We can see the dove representing the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus as He was Anointed for the ministry for which He was sent. Let’s take a minute and look at this baptism event.
John 1:29 (KJV)
29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Matthew 3:16-17 (KJV)
16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
At this event we clearly see the mission of Jesus declared plainly from the mouth of the Prophet John the Baptist. That mission was to take away the sin of the world. Next, we find the dove descending from Heaven as a representation of the Holy Spirit making it clear that this was the beginning of the mission, the ministry of Jesus. That is not to say He was not Anointed before this, this was when He was Anointed for the ministry we read and learn from in the gospels. This is His life demonstration (mode of living) which is to be ours as well. I want us all to specifically fix our attention upon Matthew 3:17. One is the number of unity (Matthew is the first Book of the New Testament), three is the number of divine completeness, and seventeen is the number of victory. This man in the water is the one who will make us one again with God, will restore all things, He is the victory. This is not the first time that Jesus exercised faith, He exercised it when He left Heaven and throughout His natural life to this point, anything else is sin. Scripture tells us that the turning of water to wine at the marriage in Cana was the first miracle (John 2:1-11). We can conclude that it is the first of the recorded miracles in His ministry otherwise what do we do with the following verse.
John 2:5 (KJV)
5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
How would his mother, Mary, had the faith to express this? Also look back to Matthew 3:17 where the Father says; “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. Just a few verses ago (Hebrews 11:6) we learned there is only one way to please God and that is with the exercise of faith. Mary had seen the faith of Jesus exercised in the home and perhaps other places for some thirty years. Now, let’s delve back into our primary text, let’s all read it aloud.
Hebrews 11:12-15 (KJV)
12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
I left off yesterday with a discussion of the sand and stars with the sand representing the natural children of Abraham to this day and the stars representing the spiritual children via Christ Jesus. We are also again looking at this term in verse thirteen of our primary text of “afar off”. We saw this phrase previously in the following Scripture when Abraham, Isaac, and two young men we on their way to the land of Moriah to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command.
Genesis 22:4 (KJV)
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
We learned that God had taught Abraham and perhaps Isaac about the coming Messiah who would take away the sins of the world who would raise His Son on the third day therefore Abraham had faith He would also raise Isaac from the dead. They were in an unbreakable Blood Covenant. Jesus speaks of Abraham seeing His day, the day when He would come to take away the sins of the world.
John 8:56-58 (KJV)
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
If you study Bible timelines you will discover that it is about 2000 years from the time of Abraham to the coming of Messiah, the Christ Jesus. In God time this is two days. I do not believe that in Heaven there is time however these are mechanisms that we can grab hold of for understanding in time. There is a mathematical formula that actually proves how 1000 years can be as one day. Let’s say a person moving at near (99.99999%) the speed of light in a spaceship would age one day for every 1000 years for a stationary person, on earth. Let’s look at the following Scriptures.
2 Peter 3:8 (KJV)
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Psalm 90:4 (KJV)
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Two days or two thousand days elapsed from the time Abraham was shown the ministry of Jesus and His arrival in the earth. Jesus arrived on the third day and was sacrificed on the third day at “the place” Abraham and others saw. Isn’t the Scripture so wonderful? Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
2 Peter 1:2-4 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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