Sabbath During the Days of Unleavened Bread 

Fred R. Coulter - March 30, 2002 

And greetings, everyone. This is the regular Sabbath during the feast of Unleavened Bread. And it’s very unusual how this sequence in the calendar runs. It’s in a five-year period. We had two years with the Passover in the middle of the week, and then we have one year with the Passover on a Tuesday. And then two more years where the Passover is in the middle of the week. And that’s all according to the calculated Hebrew calendar. And I’m happy to report that Carl Franklin and Dwight Blevins have been working on the calendar situation, and they are ready to answer Frank Nelte. And we have absolute, unequivocal, historical, and scriptural proof that the calculated Hebrew calendar is the calendar that God gave to His people, and the one that we should use.

And we need to understand this: just like the Scriptures are of no private interpretation to any man, so likewise, any man who takes upon himself to change the calendar that God gave for his own version of the calendar, is taking upon himself, very presumptuously, something that God never gave them to do. So you can be happy, you can be reassured; you can have full confidence that the calculated Hebrew calendar is the calendar that God has given to His people. Now it just stands to reason when you think about it, would God commanded us to keep the holy days and not provide a means, or a method, whereby we know when to keep them?

Now, you see, with even all the calendars in the world, God made it absolutely clear that Saturday, the seventh day, is the Sabbath. Now men are trying to change some of those things by trying to portray Sunday as the seventh day of the week. And as a matter of fact, in Europe they portray Sunday as the seventh day of the week. So it’s going to be very hard for some of those people when they start coming to understand about the Sabbath, to realize that it’s not Sunday.

But you see, that’s how sneaky that Satan the devil is. He will twist, he will turn, he will malign, he will destroy, all to get the people of God confused. And the reason that he wants them confused is so that they will not meet on the days where God puts His presence. And if he can accomplish that, then he can gradually wean them away from God. Because the whole lesson of the feast of Unleavened Bread is what? A little leavened leavens the whole lump. And I’ve seen it happen over and over again. When you start messing with the calendar, then other things take place. Other difficulties come in. Sooner or later false doctrines follow. And that’s just the plain result of going against God - to be presumptuous, to do human will instead of the will of God.

Now on this Sabbath, we’re going to cover the things concerning this Sabbath and also the Wave Sheaf Offering day, which is tomorrow. But let’s begin first on the Sabbath before this Sabbath in the chronology of the life of Jesus Christ, leading up to the crucifixion. Now let’s come to John 12:20. And we’re going to read some things here, and as I have it outlined in The Harmony of the Gospels, this is on Sabbath. And this Sabbath it is the 10^th of Nisan. And the 10^th of Nisan is the day in which God commanded the Israelites to select their lamb for their Passovers. And to keep it up until, that is, the beginning of the 14^th, and then to slay it. So here then on the 10^th of Nisan, we find that God selected Jesus Christ as the Passover lamb, with a special message from heaven.

Let’s begin in John 12:20 (Harmony of The Gospels, Authors Translation, p. 221), “Now there were certain Greeks…” And these are really Hellenistic Jews. “…Certain Greeks among those who had come up to worship at the feast. And these [they] came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee; and they asked him, saying, ‘Sir, we desire to see Jesus.’ [And] Philip came and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The time has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit’” (John 12:20-24, AT). That is, it grows and produces the fruit.

“‘The one who loves his life shall lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life.’” Now, I’m reading out of my translation from the Harmony, so that we can follow along in the time sequence here. Verse 26 (p.221), “‘If anyone will serve Me, let Him follow Me;…’” Now that’s very important. We have to follow Christ wherever He leads us. And following Him means walking in His footsteps. Following Him means going through the trials and difficulties that we’re confronted with. Following Him also means that we may have to follow Him unto death. Because we’re going to see that He’s talking about His crucifixion. So this is a very profound thing. And that’s why when we die the death at baptism, as we covered on the first holy day, that our lives are dead and they’re hid in Christ. And so therefore, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. So whatever God has in store for us, whatever the circumstances may be that confront our lives, we must follow Christ. Regardless of what it is.

Now continuing in verse 26, “‘…And where I am, there shall My servant be also.’” And of course, Jesus Christ, we can say, comes spiritually, and Christ is with us on the Sabbath. So therefore He is here. We ask His blessing, we ask His presence, and Christ is dwelling in us. Now also, we have this that wherever Jesus is, there will His servant be. And they will be teaching the way of God. Verse 26, “‘…And if anyone serves Me, him shall the Father honor. Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this very purpose I have come to this hour’” (vs. 27-27, AT).

Now, verse 28 (p.223), “‘Father, glorify Your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.’” Now, this is a message from God the Father, as we will see. Because He says, “Father glorify Your name,” and then comes the answer from the Father, which then was probably communicated by an angel.

Verse 29, “Then the people standing there, who heard it, said, ‘It thundered.’” And of course, thunder - remember when God gave the ten commandments at Mount Sinai? There was thundering, there was lightning, there were the dark clouds. And so the thunder here is indicating that this comes directly from God. “Others said, ‘An angel spoke to Him.’ [And] Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice did not come because of Me, but because of you’” (vs. 29-30, AT). Because He was going to die for their sins. This is His selection to be the Lamb of God. Now let’s see, because He goes right on showing here in the context that He is going to be crucified.

Continuing now, verse 31, “‘Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to Myself.’ But He said this to signify by what death He was about to die.” In other words, that He would be crucified on a cross. “The people answered Him, ‘We have heard out of the law that the Christ lives forever, and why do You say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?’” (vs. 31-34, AT). Because they understood that being lifted up means that you were nailed to the cross while it’s down here and then the cross is raised up, and you are lifted up. So they didn’t quite understand what was going on. So here we have on Nisan 10, we have Jesus selected by God the Father as the Passover lamb.

Now let’s understand something very important. Now this is not a doctrine, but it’s very interesting concerning numbers. Now we know that we have, with the Feast of Tabernacles, we have seven days and then one more day, which is the eighth day, don’t we? Now we know the eighth day pictures the second resurrection. So number 8 signifies a resurrection. Now when you count from Sabbath, Nisan 10, inclusive counting, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, you have eight days. And Christ was resurrected on the eighth day after He was selected.

Now another thing - we’ll just jump ahead just a little bit to Pentecost to show you how number 8 and the resurrection are connected. Now we know that in counting for Pentecost, which will start tomorrow, the Wave Sheaf Offering day, will be day number one. And remember, to count Pentecost, it’s always beginning with the first day of the week during the days of unleavened bread. So you count seven weeks and then you come to the 50th day. But when you look at that last week, and you count the seven days for the week, then you have the 50th day. You also have the eighth day of that last week. And since Pentecost pictures the first resurrection, here we have number 8 associated with it. Now this is not a doctrine, or it is nothing cast in stone. But it’s just analyzing the numbers and figures that God has, so it’s interesting that number 8 is associated with new beginnings. Number 8 is associated with the resurrections, and let’s look here at Christ’s resurrection again.

We know that Christ was crucified on a Wednesday in the middle of the week. He died at approximately the ninth hour. Now let’s go ahead and see this. Let’s look at this and let’s look at the scriptures. Let’s come to Matthew 27:46. And what we are going to find is that Jesus died at the ninth hour, being about 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. And we know, as we’ll see, He was not put in the grave until just right at sunset. So Jesus was dead three hours before He was put in the tomb, then He was in the tomb three days and three nights. So here we have three full days and three full nights, plus three hours. Which means that from the time Jesus died until He was resurrected, that happened on the fourth day. Which is one-half of eight. Which may be significant, because Christ being the Son of man, would be resurrected in, as we would say, in half the time. But those are just interesting things to look at in the way that the calendar falls.

Now let’s begin here, Matthew 27:46 (p. 304). “And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ That is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” Now we’ve already covered that, Christ and the Passover, and so we’re just reviewing here just a little bit. “And some of those who were standing there heard and said, ‘This one is calling for Elijah.’ And immediately one of them ran and, taking a sponge, filled it with vinegar and put it on a stick, and gave it to Him to drink. But the rest said, ‘Let Him alone! Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.’ Then another took a spear and thrust it into His side, and out came water and blood. And after crying out again with a loud voice, Jesus yielded up His spirit. And suddenly the veil of the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom…” (Matt. 27:46-50, AT). And of course, we know that that was a tremendous event to take place. We’ve already covered that, so I’m just reviewing it here.

“…The earth shook, and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had died arose. And after His resurrection, they came out of the tombs and entered into the holy city, and appeared to many. Then the centurion and those with him who had been keeping guard over Jesus, after seeing the earthquake and the things that took place, where filled with fear, and said, Truly this was the Son of God!’” (vs. 51-54, AT, p. 305).

Now I’m sure they could see the effects of the earthquake. You could hear the effects of the earthquake. Now I know what that’s like, because I live in earthquake country down in Hollister, California. And just before the ground shakes, there’s a tremendous “pop.” Sometimes it’s like a loud bang, and then you see everything move. And I remember one time I was driving down the street and there was an earthquake. I didn’t know it was an earthquake at the time. But my car started going like this, and I thought, “Boy, I’ve got a flat tire.” And then I looked up and I saw the electric wires that were going from pole to pole were swaying back and forth. And I knew that it was an earthquake. So he saw the earthquake. He saw the veil rent in two, tore from top to bottom, as well as heard it. So this was a tremendous thing, indeed, that took place.

Now here in Mark 15:39, he said the same thing, that “Truly this man was the Son of God.” Now isn’t this interesting - isn’t it interesting the Jews rejected Christ as the Son of God. Here is this centurion guarding Christ, the soldiers there. Their mission was to kill Him. Crucify Him. And yet, they testified that He was the Son of God. Very interesting, isn’t it? That God would have a Gentile do that for the Jews.

Ok. Let’s continue on here. So Jesus was dead three days, three nights, plus three hours, being a total of 75 hours. And that brings us into four days, which is half of eight. Now let’s come down here to John 19:31. Were going to go ahead and just carry it forward to the burial of Christ, and with Him being put in the tomb. Verse 31 (AT, p. 305), “The Jews therefore, so that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, because it was a preparation day (for that Sabbath was a high day),…” Just like we had this week. We had Passover, we had Night Much To Be Remembered, we had the holy day. The holy day is the Sabbath. Same sequence of time during the week when Jesus was crucified and was buried. Then we have the Passover day here, the day portion of the Passover, was the preparation for the high day, or the Holy Sabbath. Being the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread.

“Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first one, and the legs of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers had pierced…” Because that’s an error - it’s past tense in the Greek, “…had pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water had come out. And he who saw this has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that what he says is true, so that you may believe.” Now that’s a very interesting thing, isn’t it? Because this is part of the canonization of the New Testament. John was the only apostle to stay and witness the whole thing. All the others left. All the others fled. All the others went to take care of themselves. But John stood there and watched the whole thing. Verse 36, “For these things took place so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken.’ And again another scripture says, ‘They shall look upon Him Whom they pierced’” (vs. 31-36, AT). And so we have the death of Jesus.

Now let’s continue right on in verse 38 (AT, p. 307), “Now after these things, Joseph (the one from Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but having concealed it for fear the Jews)…” Now it’s a political thing. He undoubtedly decided at this time, now’s the time to get rid of being political. So he made himself openly known as a disciple of Jesus, “…Asked Pilate that he might take Jesus’ body away; and Pilate gave him permission. Then he came and took away the body of Jesus.” Now I’ve often wondered what it must have been like for him to take the body of Jesus. Now we don’t know how the cross, if the cross were put down on the ground again after He died, or whether he had to get a ladder to climb up there and take Him down or what. I would assume that the cross was down. So he came and took the body.

Verse 39, “And Nicodemus, who had came to Jesus by night…” Also a little political, wasn’t he? He didn’t want to come in the daytime and be seen. So here now with the tragedy of Christ dying, politics comes to an end. And I think it’s interesting that John mentions both of these, because I think later that they become very important in preaching the gospel, either in Jerusalem - and we know Joseph of Arimathaea, if the traditions are true, was an importer of tin from England. And he also had a residence there in the British Isles. There’s even a lot of tradition which says Jesus went there, and there’s even more tradition which says that the apostle Paul went there. Now we don’t know if the apostle Peter went there, or the other apostles, but it’s very likely that they did. Because that was one of the ways they could get around quickly and to getting into Europe. So just a little side-note here.

So Nicodemus, the one who came by night, “…also came, bearing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds [weight]. Then they took Jesus’ body and wound it in linen cloths with the aromatics,…” (vs. 39-40, AT). Now the way they would do the bodies was this: they would have the aromatics, or whatever the herbs were, and then they would start winding at the feet, and as they would wind it, they would put the aromatics in and so it was wrapping it with, I would say, about this wide of linen cloth. And wrap the body. So this absolutely precludes that there was ever a shroud.

Have you ever heard of the Shroud of Turin? Well, the Catholics claim that that was Jesus’ burial cloth. That is a hoax; that is a fraud; could not be. Because Jesus did not have one big piece of linen laid over the top of Him. He was wrapped. It says right here - He was wrapped and wound in linen cloth, so they wound it around Him, all the way around Him. We’ll see a little later on that He also had a napkin, which was a separate covering for the head.

“…As is the custom among the Jews to prepare for burial. Now there was a garden in the place where He was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. [And] Because of the preparation of the Jews, they laid Jesus there; for the tomb was near” (vs. 40-42, AT). And that ends the Passover day. The first day of Unleavened Bread begins, and Jesus then begins His three days and three nights in the tomb. So we find, just this little review, because this will help us understand the events that will take place on the Wave Sheaf Offering day.

Now let’s also understand something very important. The death of Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Because as we have seen, as the Creator, He came and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, the sins of the world, died. Now then, it is not sufficient just to have a death. Because there is more that needs to be done. There is more that needs to be accomplished. Yes, you have your sins forgiven. But what has to happen after that? You have to be put in right standing with God. So Christ had to be resurrected to present Himself as that sacrifice. And He had to become the High Priest in heaven above so that we can have our sins not only forgiven, but be made justified before God the Father.

Now let’s come to Romans 4, and let’s see this. Let’s see how it talks about here concerning Abraham, and how righteousness was imputed to him. Now we’ve already covered that on the first day of Unleavened Bread, about the imputed righteousness that God gives to us; which He makes us in right standing before Him. And everywhere in the New Testament where Paul is talking about righteousness, this is the kind of righteousness that he’s talking about.

Now let’s come here to Romans 4 please, and let’s pick it up here in verse 21. Now again, I’m going to read out of my translation. And this is talking about Abraham. “And he was fully persuaded that what He had promised, He is also able to do. As a result, it was also imputed to Him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:21-11, AT). Now this is very important for us to understand. When you go before God and repent and ask for your sins to be forgiven, do you believe and know they’re forgiven? Do understand that they are forgiven? Now, when you’re done praying, don’t get up off your knees and say, “Well, I wonder if God forgave me?” Because, see, that’s not belief. That is doubt.

Now we have a High Priest in heaven above, Jesus Christ, Who came to this earth to be the perfect sacrifice, Who rose and ascended to the Father, was accepted as that sacrifice, and now is seated at the right hand of God as our High Priest to propitiate, or bring forgiveness, of our sins. So we need to believe as Abraham believed, and then that is imputed to us for righteousness.

Now, verse 23. Here’s the key. “But it was not written for His sake alone, that it was imputed to Him; rather, it was also written for our sake, to whom it shall be imputed; to those who are believing on Him Who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, Who was delivered for our offenses [for our sins], and was raised for our justification” (vs. 23-25, AT). That’s why He was raised. He is a living Savior, a living High Priest. And we have a living relationship with God. And we have a living justification that we have imputed to us. And therefore, therefore as chapter 5:1 says, “Therefore, after having been justified by faith,…” Because we believe in the sacrifice of Christ, we believe in the resurrection of Christ. “…We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by Whom also we now have access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we ourselves are boasting in the hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2, AT).

And so this is meant to let us know that we have the greatest, absolutely the greatest relationship that can be. We, brethren, have a superior covenant, as we are going to learn, as we finish up the series on the book of Hebrews. We have a superior covenant, a superior High Priest, a superior way of worship, of faith, of truth, of love. Not of religious works of law of “Do this, do that, and don’t do the other.” But faith in the living God. Faith in His Son Jesus Christ as our living Savior in heaven above, Who is there to intercede for us, as we have seen. And it’s really a fantastic and marvelous thing that Jesus has done to make all of this possible.

Now we know that when Jesus prayed, just before He was arrested, He said, “Father, give Me the glory that I had with You before the world existed.” And so when He was resurrected, He ascended to the Father. Yes, He came back to the earth and was here for 40 days showing many miracles and signs to the apostles. And then when He ascended back into heaven He was fully glorified, and now is our High Priest sitting at the right hand of God. And so we’re going to see the Wave Sheaf Offering day is a most profound and important day for what took place.

Now we know that He was in the tomb three days and three nights. And we know the first part of Matthew 28, that the women went down just as the weekly Sabbath was drawing to a close to look at the tomb. Now they went down there to see if anything had happened. They went down there to see if, maybe the soldiers took the body away, or whatever. Because they were going to come the next morning, and they were going to, again, anoint the body of Jesus and put spices and so forth and take care of the body of Jesus even more.

Now when Jesus was raised from the dead toward the end of the weekly Sabbath, He was raised just right as the Sabbath was ending, but before the first day of the week began. Now let’s look at some scriptures which give us an indication of some of the things that Jesus thought when He was raised from the dead. Now we know that He could not have stayed in the tomb very much longer after He was resurrected; but rather He had to leave as quickly as possible, otherwise He would of been in the heart of the earth more than three days and three nights.

Now let’s come to Psalm 16 and let’s see, maybe these are the words of Christ. You know, because He went and did what He did. Christ divested Himself of being God to become a human being, because He trusted in the Father. They made a covenant. One of them would become the Son, and one of them would become the Father. And the two of Elohim had this agreement. Now if you don’t have my series, “The Prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament,” by all means write for it. We’ll be happy to send it to you. It’s about 12 or 13 tapes. But there was a day when one of Elohim became the Father, and the other of Elohim became the Son.

Now let’s come to Psalm 2 just to cover this, just to show that Christ believed and trusted in God the Father. And they had this covenant. That, since He was going to become human and die for the sins of the world, because He was the one Who created mankind, He was the one Who gave them the law of sin and death within every human being so that we have human nature, He took the same thing upon Himself. He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary by God the Father.

Now let’s read it here in Psalm 2, and let’s begin in verse 6. “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” That is, Christ. Christ is the king. “I will declare the decree:…” And so God the Father decreed it. “…The LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” And that was literally fulfilled on the very day that Jesus was begotten in the womb of the virgin Mary. Now then, it goes in and shows how this is going to result in the Kingdom of God coming to the earth when Christ comes a second time. So it moves on ahead very rapidly. Verse 8, “Ask of Me [that is, ask of Me, God the Father], and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,…” He’s going to rule the world, right? Yes. “…And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” And of course, that’s exactly what it says in the book of Revelation that Christ is going to do. He’s going to rule them with a rod of iron. “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings:…” That is, when Christ returns. Don’t come and fight Him. “…Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Psa. 2:6-10, KJV).

Now this was the covenant that they had. Christ died, and He willingly went. We know in the book of Hebrews that “…He endured the shame of the cross for the joy that was set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2, paraphrased). Now that’s something. And it also says there in that same chapter of Hebrews 12, that none of us have resisted sin unto the shedding of our blood, yet. And I think that that is a truism we need to understand.

Now let’s come to Psalm 16. After Jesus died, now He’s resurrected. You know immediately He’s going to communicate with the Father. You know immediately He’s going to thank God. You know immediately that these things are going to be on His mind. Now, I am sure that He praised God for this promise that we find here in Psalm 16. Now let’s begin here in verse 5. “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” And so He could look forward to everything now because He came back to life.

Now let’s come down here to verse 9. “Therefore my heart is glad…” And I imagine so. I imagine that there was such joy when Christ was resurrected, not only joy of God the Father and the angels, but also of Christ after going through all of that. “…And my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.” Because this was the promise, the hope that God the Father would resurrect Him. He had to believe that. They had to have a covenant. And of course they could believe that, because you see God never lies. So that covenant was sure and true.

Verse 10, “For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither will Thou suffer [allow] Thine Holy One to see corruption.” Now when Peter preached the sermon in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, he quoted this and applied it directly to Christ. So I’m sure that Christ claimed this promise and thanked God that He fulfilled His promise. “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy;…” And of course there would be, being in the presence of God the Father after being resurrected. Great joy. “…[And] At Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (vs. 10-11).

Now let’s look at Psalm 17, because here it gives us another indication of maybe some of the words of Jesus Christ after He was resurrected. Let’s pick it up here in verse 13. “Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down; deliver my soul from the wicked, which is Thy sword.” Now this is talking about the crucifixion. And did God cast them all down? Yes. Boy, He sure confounded them, didn’t He? You know some of the things that took place right after the resurrection, and then right after Pentecost, and the things that the apostles preached, and how they stood right before the Sanhedrin and just told them things right to their face, that “Christ is the only one, Whom you crucified.” So yes, that’s a fulfillment of it.

“From men which are Thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness” (vs. 14-16). Now these had to be some of the words of Christ after He was resurrected, claiming the promises, thanking God, praising God, coming before Him and just… I’ve often wondered this: where did He go after He left the tomb? See, He didn’t have to have the stone rolled away to get out of the tomb. Because He could walk through matter.

Now we know He did not ascend to the Father until about 9:00 in the morning on the Wave Sheaf Offering day. So where did Jesus go? Well, it doesn’t tell us. But perhaps, we could say, do you suppose that He went back to the garden of Gethsemane where He prayed, the same place where He prayed the night before He was arrested, or the night that He was arrested, rather? Because He resorted there often for prayer.

Now you can be sure it was desolate that night because the disciples weren’t there. And no one else would be there, so it would be interesting to contemplate that Jesus probably went to the garden of Gethsemane. And when He went there - let’s come to Psalm 23 now. And I’ve likened this Psalm to the “Resurrection Psalm” because Psalm 22 is the “Crucifixion Psalm.” Now Psalm 23 is the Resurrection Psalm. And I wonder if His prayer followed along the lines of Psalm 23. So let’s read it with that in mind. Christ is there in the garden of Gethsemane, maybe by that ancient olive tree that we have a picture of in the Harmony of the Gospels. It is well over 2000 years old. So it may have been right there. We don’t know. But it’s possible. And let’s look at this as the prayer of Christ.

 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” That means, “I shall not lack anything.” Of course He wouldn’t, because He now has fullness of everything, doesn’t He? Yes. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul...” Which He did through the resurrection, didn’t He? “…He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psa. 23:1-3, KJV). And of course, Jesus was righteous and faithful to the Father in everything that He did. And remember, twice the voice came and said, “This is My Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil…” And yes, He did. He walked through the valley of death. He died. “…For Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies…” Yes indeed. Right in front of their face, He was resurrected. They didn’t see it. They didn’t believe it. They didn’t know it. Yet He came back and showed Himself to the disciples, you see. “…Thou annointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (vs. 4-6). And of course, yes, Jesus will. And the house of the Lord is in heaven above. And that’s what’s going to be brought to the earth when Jesus returns.