ANYONE ELSE RESURRECTED WITH JESUS (2)?
(Message by Tanny Keng)
0. Introduction
a) In Leviticus 23 God gave commands regarding one of his Feast days, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In verses 10-11 the Lord told Moses for Israel:
i) "'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf (margin: handful or omer) of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it . . .' " (Leviticus 23:10-11, NKJV throughout).
1. How can death produce LIFE?
a) Near his last Passover Jesus said:
i) "'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.'" (John 12:24).
b) Of course, Christ was speaking of his death and resurrection. Jesus was a "planted grain."
i) In his discussion of the resurrection, Paul also uses the grain analogy: "But someone will say, 'How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?' Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain - perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body." (1 Corinthians 15:35-38).
c) When we sow a grain of wheat, that grain disappears and dies; it becomes a root and stem. Its genetic code transmits so that the root goes downward to seek more constituent parts for new seeds, and the stem grows upward to make many seeds. (Isaiah 37:31.) An average stem may produce a head (fruit) with thirty seeds. However, the seeds are the same grain, wheat if wheat is sown, rye if rye is sown, etc. ". . . to each seed its own body" (verse 38). The bodies built look just like the sown seed! They are made of different parts, but the genetics made each of them look like a wheat seed, not like maize or grass seed!
d) Some people confuse as fruits the plant stem. The fruit is the multiple seed produced that looks like the original seed, not the stem or leaves. They are just the means, becoming the chaff and straw. You only get wheat from wheat seed, barley from barley. These people were skeptics. They did not believe in a resurrection! They were attempting to make fun of the resurrection by saying, "if you know so much, then what kinds of bodies will they possess?" Paul was telling them they were going to have a body that looked just like the human body they now had, except it would be composed of different "stuff", and most importantly, quickened by spirit instead blood. Paul was so amazed, because any farmer or gardener knew you get back the same type of seed you plant. Now notice carefully Jesus statement:
i) " . . . unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." (John 12:24).
e) The planted grain dies, but it produces multiple new grains. Jesus planted his flesh and blood body also in the earth.
0. Introduction
a) In Leviticus 23 God gave commands regarding one of his Feast days, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In verses 10-11 the Lord told Moses for Israel:
i) "'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf (margin: handful or omer) of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it . . .' " (Leviticus 23:10-11, NKJV throughout).
1. How can death produce LIFE?
a) Near his last Passover Jesus said:
i) "'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.'" (John 12:24).
b) Of course, Christ was speaking of his death and resurrection. Jesus was a "planted grain."
i) In his discussion of the resurrection, Paul also uses the grain analogy: "But someone will say, 'How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?' Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain - perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body." (1 Corinthians 15:35-38).
c) When we sow a grain of wheat, that grain disappears and dies; it becomes a root and stem. Its genetic code transmits so that the root goes downward to seek more constituent parts for new seeds, and the stem grows upward to make many seeds. (Isaiah 37:31.) An average stem may produce a head (fruit) with thirty seeds. However, the seeds are the same grain, wheat if wheat is sown, rye if rye is sown, etc. ". . . to each seed its own body" (verse 38). The bodies built look just like the sown seed! They are made of different parts, but the genetics made each of them look like a wheat seed, not like maize or grass seed!
d) Some people confuse as fruits the plant stem. The fruit is the multiple seed produced that looks like the original seed, not the stem or leaves. They are just the means, becoming the chaff and straw. You only get wheat from wheat seed, barley from barley. These people were skeptics. They did not believe in a resurrection! They were attempting to make fun of the resurrection by saying, "if you know so much, then what kinds of bodies will they possess?" Paul was telling them they were going to have a body that looked just like the human body they now had, except it would be composed of different "stuff", and most importantly, quickened by spirit instead blood. Paul was so amazed, because any farmer or gardener knew you get back the same type of seed you plant. Now notice carefully Jesus statement:
i) " . . . unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." (John 12:24).
e) The planted grain dies, but it produces multiple new grains. Jesus planted his flesh and blood body also in the earth.
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