And, on the third day, He rose again. In the Bible are many parables and teachings of Jesus Christ. Today, we will look at Luke 17:20-21. “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” This is a clue to spiritually understanding the Bible. In the free eBook, Crucified at Golgotha, we covered one prime example of this teaching, which even Paul taught. We will now build on this and see how on the third day, He rose again. Is it possible that when we awake from our sleep and rise from the dead, Jesus rises within us, even, on the third day? “The kingdom of GOD is within you.”

In Exodus 19, the Lord spoke to Moses and said, “Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.”

It goes on to say, “And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.” Now my friends and brethren, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” – 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.

And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives. – Exodus 19:14-15. Take a moment and consider this last verse. What could it possibly mean? What is, “come not at your wives about?” Why is Moses telling the people to abstain from sex? That is what he said. What difference does that make? The Bible also tells us, “Seek ye out of the Book and read, no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate.” That is two times in the Bible where we see abstinence being spoken about. How about others? “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

Are there more? “For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” “Abstain from fleshly lusts.” “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” The connections are quite endless when you walk with the LORD. “For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.”

Why did John the Baptist and Jesus both teach repentance to people who followed the Law? Why were the Prophets, Apostles, and Jesus persecuted and hated by nearly everyone? It is because they were teaching things that are contrary to what the world teaches us. And, it is no different today. One may claim to understand scripture by only knowing a few verses from the Bible. Or, they have been taught by their Pastors, and believe what they have been teaching them. However, the Bible tells us, “Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.”

That is the problem with our watered-down version of modern Christianity. No one has any fear of GOD. Believe in any version of Jesus Christ and all will be forgiven. “Well, He died for us, didn’t he? We have been redeemed. We believe the Bible.” Even the devils believe, and they tremble. If we are all facing an eternal torment of fire and brimstone, wouldn’t you think that each one of us individually did something to warrant this kind of everlasting punishment? Why did the LORD God have to come here in the “likeness” of sinful flesh to pay for us in such a manner as He did? Why does the Bible say, “And ye shall know the truth, and the Truth shall set you free?” What truth? What are we being set free from? What is it, that we all did?

Now, back to the Beginning and the LORD rising within us on the third day. The Bible tells us, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” We also learn, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” Let us tie it all together. “Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.” “And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.” Without understanding and believing the principle of complete Biblical abstinence, there is a very good chance that we haven’t been born again, and that we don’t have the Spirit within us.

For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 2:2-8. “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” How about 1 Corinthians 7? Go and read the whole chapter. Not just the first verse. The Bible also tells us to love as brethren, and to love “as” brothers. Just as we read.

We just learned together, “Seek ye out of the Book and read, no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate.” The truth bears out the Truth all day long. How about, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge?” Once again, only one verse. How many have we just looked at that say otherwise. Truly, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. However, once you begin looking at the original Greek using the Strong’s Concordance, you see that it talks about the cohabitation of the Spirit and our Marriage to the LORD. “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

A sister who I follow on WordPress just posted on the Marriage in Canaan. For sharing these verses, I thank you. Let us read it together, and I will make the connections for you with all of the previous information. “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom.”

First, who was called to the marriage? Or, more specifically, who is called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb? Jesus and His disciples. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Before our conversion, we need to be washed, or we need to be baptized. How does this happen? The Bible tells us, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word.” It has nothing to do with jumping in a bathtub or a river.

After we have taken hold of Biblical abstinence, and the truth, we begin further letting go of things in this world and self. “Be ready against the third day, come not at your wives.” And on the third day, the Spirit rises within you. Jesus awakes you from the dead. It is the same as Mark 4 when there was a great storm and the waves beat against the boat. Jesus was “asleep on a pillow.” I will get into that in another post. When they wanted the “wine,” His “mother” says to the disciples, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” What did Jesus say to us? “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Through self-denial, abstinence, and daily sacrifice, we become converted.

After we have received His Spirit, that isn’t the end. We are told this by the Messiah, “And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” – Luke 5:37-39. Here, we are presented with another choice. “If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” We are still faced with choices, daily. We have our flesh to subdue with all of its passions and desires. TV, movies, shopping, what we are doing with our time, how we are spending it, as well as, what are we doing for the LORD to further the Gospel and to share the Good News. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the “fatherless” and the “widows.”

These are all Gospel principles that have to do with teaching our brothers and sisters the way, the truth, and the life. These have to do with the acceptable fast and keeping the Sabbath, which we just covered in the past week or so. The more of the old man that we put off, the more of the new man is being put on. We will never be perfect while we are here in our present state. Although, we can strive each day to do better than the last because it is only the servants of the LORD that knew how the water was made wine.

Jonathan Heller – Lift Up A Banner