“that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption”
(Acts 2:31, NKJV)
Last week’s teaching largely concluded the subsection on Jonah, and drew the next exciting typological parallel between Jonah, Jesus and Paul. The latter is important not only because he, like Jonah, was called as an apostle to the heathens (a completely strange concept for the Jews at that stage – Acts 10:45; 14:27; 28:28; Rom. 3:29; Gal. 2:15; 1 Thess. 2:16), but especially because he was also the apostle who had to bring the revelation of the Christ to the heathens. In Col. 1:27 it is made clear that he was called to preach this mystery: “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
It is important that you realise what the larger context is within which we find ourselves at this juncture of our trajectory of teachings. Within an overarching context we are examining the spirit of perversion, and in the process reached the important conclusion that this spirit often works within believers, perverting their calling and spiritual authority, in this way misleading them to not move within the fullness of Christ’s resurrection power. It brings about a “garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 1:23), that can only be removed by true spiritual authority. This true spiritual authority becomes manifest over time, and concerns handling various aspects of your everyday life, as well as your spiritual functioning. It brings about that these believers who, like Saul, “have forsaken the right way and gone astray” (2 Pet. 2:15), are brought back to “the street called Straight” (Acts. 9:11).
It is thus finally only a true spiritual mantle that protects you from the spirit of perversity. In order to gain a better understanding of spiritual mantle formation, we made an extensive study of the mantle of Elijah, and this illuminated various aspects of the manifestation of mantles in general. As part of this we discussed the spirit of Jezebel, and how she established particular prophets at her table. As prototype, Elijah also needs to deal with these Baal prophets WITHIN himself, especially those who sit at his spiritual table.
Next we took a slight detour to find out more about the symbolic meaning of tables in Scripture, and flowing from that, of communion as tradition in the Christian church. We briefly also looked at the wider typological understanding of the wine/blood of the New Covenant. A discussion of the typological meaning of bread led us to John 6, a remarkable chapter in the Bible. This entire chapter is concerned with the establishment of a new concept Jesus is trying to explain to his followers – the wonderful mystery of the rhema-words. Everything that John has carefully worked into chapter 6, in a strictly literary manner of various interwoven narratives, guides the reader to noticing this. Within the complex perspective the chapter offers on the manna from which the Israelites lived in the desert, and Jesus’ statement that man cannot live from bread alone, but rather from every rhema-word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4), the increasing of rhema-words is also a theme that is foregrounded in John 6, specifically around the miracle of the multiplication of the bread and fish.
Despite the Israelites initially following Jesus based on their desire for seeing and experiencing signs and wonder, He started telling them about this “bread of heaven” (Ps. 78:24), or then: “angels’ food” (Ps. 78:25), or as the ACV translates it: “the bread of the mighty”. Based on the ABP‘s trans-testament translation, we can refer to it in New Testament terms as “the bread of the sent ones”! Selah.
The categorical statement Jesus makes about humanity who will not be given any further signs, except for the sign of Jonah, was the topic of a handful of teachings the last couple of weeks, in which we explained in detail that each rhema-word now becomes a sign of wonder. The focus thus shifts from supernatural elements that can serve as signs and wonders, to Spirit-filled believers who move within their unique identity in Christ, and manifests His resurrection life here on earth (Rom. 5:10)! They are the wondrous signs of which Jonah is the typology! Like Jesus who came “down from heaven” (John 6:38), the rhema-words also descend from the heavens, the spiritual realm, to the physical realm. The only sign the world will be given after Jesus, is the resurrection body of the Son of man, Christ Jesus. If the believer has been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), it necessarily implies that he/she will also be resurrected with Christ, with immense implications for the body of the believer: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” This mystery makes every person who dies in Christ (not Jesus), and is resurrected within Christ (Eph. 2:6), a sign of wonder.
In the least teaching we drew a very exciting typological parallel between Jonah, Jesus, and Saul of Tarshish. The typological link between them is, amongst other elements, the darkness in which they found themselves in the ‘realm of the dead’. From the Scriptures it is very clear that the two concepts of ‘darkness’ and ‘realm of the dead’ are derived from one another throughout. It is clear that Jonah and Saul were thus merely in a symbolic realm of the dead (the one in a fish, the other struck with blindness), but it absolutely requires pondering Jesus spending time in the realm of the dead.
The assumption is obviously that one is dead when you are in Sheol. From the teaching of Day 689-691 we know a few specific things about the realm of the dead:
- “The dead do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence.” (Ps. 115:17).
- 9:5 notes that “the dead know nothing”.
- In Greek, the realm of the dead (= Hades) means: “unseen, or imperceptible” – by definition it is impossible to see there, or to understand. Ps. 146:4 (BBE) – “Man’s breath goes out, he is turned back again to dust; in that day all his purposes come to an end.” Ecc. 9:10 makes it clear – “there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going”.
- There is also no noise or sound in the realm of the dead – “let them be silent in Sheol”, states Ps. 31:17.
- Are the dead aware of what’s happening on earth? No, in the realm of the dead there is no consciousness – the dead are resting (1 Sam. 28:15).
If this is the case, why are there Scriptures in Paul’s first letter that speaks of Jesus spreading the gospel whilst in the realm of the dead?
- “being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” (1 Pet. 3:18b-20).
- “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Pet. 4:6).
The general explanation is that Jesus descended to the realm of the dead to bring the gospel to everyone who lived before He walked the earth (in other words before He died on the cross and was resurrected), those who “were without Christ … having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). In Acts 4:12 it is stated explicitly: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” If Jesus could thus not save anyone before His death and resurrection, and there “is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Tim. 2:5-6), and they lived BEFORE this time, what then of their salvation? That there is no other way of salvation, except through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is undeniably true:
- “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12)
- “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)
- “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6).
Seen in this light it is a fantastic outcome, the gospel being brought to those in the realm of the dead [and this includes all people, as no one had been able to receive “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ”]. In this way they could thus choose whether they wanted to be saved or not, which had not been possible earlier. This then points to the absolute grace of God “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4)!
But there are a couple of problems with this view, and we need to examine these before we can absolutely accept it as truth:
- The complete gospel of Jesus Christ does not only include his death, but also his resurrection! It is the resurrection which is the crux of his death – otherwise He would never have defeated death. We know that Jesus “died and rose and lived again” (Rom. 14:9) and through that “abolished death and brought life and immortality” (2 Tim. 1:10) for humanity.
- Scripture is clear about the fact that Jesus physically died, in other words the complete experience of what we understand as dying, and death. But God resurrected Him, from there Jesus’ triumphant status in Rev. 1:18: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” How does this rhyme with the verses from 1 Peter, quoted earlier?
In the next teaching these problematic aspects are discussed further.
- Selah: Try to explain the opening Scripture in the light of this teaching.
- Read: 7-13; 2 Tim. 1-4.
- Memorise: 12:22.
