The Body of Jesus Christ: The Forerunner #3

About 2,000 years ago, a young man was brutally tortured and murdered. His body was placed in a stone tomb, and three days later, that young man came back to life. He was resurrected, but He came back in a totally different form, and that man was Jesus Christ. That event has changed the history of this world, which had already been foretold ahead of time.

Now if we turn to the Scripture we've looked at previously, Heb. 10:5, because this is what Christ said while He was still living in the flesh—God in the flesh—Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God; fully human, just exactly like you and me, He depended on the breath of life in order to continue His physical life.

Once He had been raised from the tomb, He no longer depended on that physical life, the breath of life. That tells us a story, and that story has to do with you and with me. It has to do with:

• What is the purpose of man?
• What is man?
• Where is he going?

Most people in this world don't have a clue that God has a Master Plan for the human race!

Some people, as Churchill said, might have a little glimpse of the Truth. In other words, they trip over the Truth and very quickly they pick themselves up and they continue rushing on their way, totally oblivious to the incredible future of what man is to be.

We'll come to know and have that knowledge. God has revealed it! No need for science. No need for sending rockets out into space. Rockets to land on moons or other planets. Waste of money, because that is a part of God's Plan for mankind in the future.

Heb. 10—here is what Jesus said when He was in the flesh. And this shows an attitude that He is the Perfect Example that God has given to us of how He wants us. God created all things, the entire universe, through Christ, His Son.

Here is what Jesus said in the flesh as a man. It was talking about the sacrifice of animals for the remission of sin, which never ever forgave sin that affected the conscience.

Hebrews 10:5: "For this reason, when He… [Christ Jesus of Nazareth, the Galilean] …'Sacrifice and offering You did not desire…'" Yet, God commanded the sacrifices!

Why didn't God desire the physical sacrifices? It's because they were only a type of what was to come. All those sacrifices were under the Old Covenant, and never saved anyone.

The New Covenant is the covenant that the old one foreshadowed, which is going to bring life; life eternal for:

• all those who agree with God
• all those who follow God
• all those who want to be in the Family of God

because they 'seek first the Kingdom of God!' But Jesus didn't end there, did he? He said, '…and His Righteousness.' And what is the righteousness that Jesus was talking about? He says, 'IF you love Me and keep My Commandments.'

A direct reference to the Ten Commandments that we can read about in Exo. 20 and throughout the other books, the first five books of the Bible. Plus all the rest of the Laws of God that are based and founded on those Ten Commandments. Every other Commandment in the Bible reflects back to the basic Ten Commandments!

Notably, the prime one in order to have our understanding open must be obedience. First understanding that the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, not the first day of the week, Sunday, that is the day that God has placed His presence in.

All those who are faithful keepers of the Sabbath day are in fact in the presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Verse 5: "For this reason, when He… [Christ Himself, Jesus the Christ] …comes into the world, He says, 'Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me.'"

That was his fleshly body, fully man. The only difference was He had the Holy Spirit from birth, and we can certainly thank God for that factor. Because now, after His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind IFwe choose to obey His Laws and His Commandments! And as a factor in doing that, we're actually building a relationship not only with God the Father and Jesus Christ, which is paramount, but also with all the children that he is calling today into His Family.

Verse 7—Jesus talking, as it's written here recorded by Paul: "Then said I [Christ], 'Lo, I come (as it is written of Me in the Scroll of the Book) to do Your will, O God.'"

He came in the flesh to do the will of God, to show you and me, and the rest of mankind, that that is why God made man in His image and His likeness, (Gen. 1). God deliberately made us in His form so that we look like Him.

When Jesus came to the earth, what did He look like? Some prehistoric monster? No! The flesh and blood of a man born of a woman by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God the Father did.

At that point, when Jesus was conceived in the womb of His mother, He became the Son of God in the flesh, fully man. After His death and resurrection, Paul tells Timothy, or writes to Timothy, about Jesus Christ being in the heavens above.

But He calls Him even in the heavens above as Jesus the man Who is with God the Father in heaven as a spirit being, a man that had become like God as His Son in the spirit with everlasting life!

So again, this is very important that we understand this. Of course, we know that all this was planned out ahead of time. This is the love of God, because it says:

John 3:16—everyone virtually can repeat this even though they may not understand it: "For God so loved the world that He gave…"

Jesus said He chose to give his own life in complete obedience and according to the will of the Father,

Verse 16: "For God so loved the world… [so did Christ, because He was God when all this was planned] … that He gave His only begotten Son... [the only one that this ever happened to] …so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish…"

But he has offered man the opportunity of having immortality, of living forever with God, with His Family, where God Himself is and where God Himself will be.

Most people who claim to be Christian don't even understand the meaning of that. It's well mapped out, particularly in our publication, which anyone can write in {truthofGod.org} and request the book: God's Plan for Mankind Revealed By His Sabbath and Holy Days! That opens up the future for mankind, which most do not have the slightest inclination or clue of what that is all about. But it's such an amazing story for those who know it and understand it.

So, the will of God was to give His only begotten Son for the salvation of man who are struggling with this problem of sin, and that's another topic.

What happened is that Jesus, after He was crucified, we know He was met by Mary Magdalene, He revealed himself to her, Then He went to the heavenly realm where God was present, and as we would understand on His Throne—meaning in His role as God, as the Creator, as the Ruler of the universe—and presented His broken body and His shed blood.

But now, of course, He's in the spirit! He presented that to the Father, which God said He gave Him to be crucified (Gen. 3:15). We're told that the Christ, and most recognize this, was going to be put to death so that you and I could live beyond this physical life. What an incredible opportunity!

Yet, those who stumble over this and pick themselves up and rush on their way, are missing out on an opportunity that God has given to mankind today. This opportunity is open to all humanity that God calls, and 'many are being called, but few are chosen' because they reject the calling that God has given!

But there are those who will and who are in obedience to God, who see the marvels, the wonders of God's Plan:

• accepting it
• delight in serving God
• delight in obeying God
• delight receiving the blessings that can only come from God

The major one, of course, is life eternal in the very Family and in the Kingdom of God! Because when this particular age comes to an end, the rewards are not going to be the same as they are today.

Again, if you read our book—God's Plan for Mankind Revealed By His Sabbath and Holy Days—you'll begin to understand that IF you keep an open mind!

We know in the Old Testament, God commanded Moses to build Him a tabernacle so that God could dwell with the twelve tribes that had come out of captivity, that God could dwell with them. We find in Exodus how that Moses was told by God:

Exo. 21:9—You can read the rest of this chapter, but it's just amazing when you think about this tabernacle. Here was Israel, the twelve tribes that had come out of slavery, and yet, God says, 'Tell the people to bring all these goods to Me, gold and silver and brass and acacia wood. Where did they get all that? They got it from the Egyptians!

You think about it, you stop, and you think of the wealth that God had given them, which they took from the Egyptians because the Egyptians wanted them out of Egypt because of the plagues that had destroyed the nation. All right, that's in the beginning of the chapter.

Exodus 21:7: "Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate…. [very precious items] …And let them make Me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments of it, even so you shall make it" (vs 7-9).

Of course, that included the Ark of the Covenant, which was to be placed in the second tabernacle, which was the Holy of Holies, as Paul calls it.

Verse 39—talking about various aspects: "One shall make it of a talent of pure gold…"

Not mixed with other metals, but absolutely pure. They had it, which they got it from the Egyptians. Heaps of it, when you read through the journey in the history of Israel, and particularly in the making of the tabernacle.

Verse 39: "One shall make it of a talent of pure gold, with all these vessels. And see that you make them after their pattern, which was shown you in the mountain" ( vs 39-40).

And that pattern is very important, because that pattern represented God's Temple as it is, or God's place of dwelling in the heaven above, where He exists. So again, this is all very important.

We understand also that God created a priesthood, and there was the high priesthood, and in ancient Israel, of course, Moses' brother Aaron was ordained as the high priest, the first high priest, and that priesthood was to follow down from father to son, down through the generations. So there was always to be a descendant of Aaron as high priest.

What's interesting, that in the Holy of Holies—where God's presence was going to be—no one except the high priest could go in there, and he could only go in there once a year to offer the sacrifices which are a part of the Day of Atonement.

And again, you can read that in our book, plus several others we have on this very subject. It's such an important subject that we need to understand it thoroughly, so that we can fulfill all the will of God regarding this.

The high priest went in once a year only, and it was under the threat of death. In fact, there's one place where it says before the priests go and do their service, that they were to wash their feet so they would be clean. God says, lest they die. This was serious business. You see:

• God is to be praised
• God is to be worshipped

and only God!

Man is to have a fear of God in the positive sense that he does not want to displease God, because that only is going to bring poor or bad results.

• obey God, receive blessings
• disobey God, curses

The people of Israel eventually became so rebellious and worshipping the gods of the nations around them, rejecting God

• Who had blessed them
• Who had delivered them to safety

They even started to do the practices of those nations around them—absolutely vile and perverted and polluted in all their ways—God sent them into captivity.

Of course, the descendants of ancient Israel, and particularly those of Ephraim and Manasseh, we see the struggles that they are taking on right now because of rebellion against God.

Sidebar: There's a little bit that would seem reprieve in the United States, which is Manasseh, where the people are beginning, many people are beginning to follow a way of life that is more in line with the Laws and Commandments of God than those who are not; those who are totally depraved.

Right now, God is watching, and the nations of modern Israel, which is Ephraim—basically the United Kingdom, the British people—and those British people are scattered around the world, and the nations of northwestern Europe; they're in great strife. Britain right now, I was reading where I think there are 70[transcriber's correction per LJ] schools in Britain where there is not one white student. Now this is not racial, but Britain, the descendants of Ephraim have all these schools where there is not one, virtually not one British person in that who is of the tribe of Ephraim.

This is what happens when we go against God and His way of life, and it's very clear that unless there is deep repentance, this is all going to change, and captivity is knocking on the door right now, particularly for the people of Great Britain.

So, once a year only was the high priest would go through the tabernacle. What I'd like to read is over in Heb. 6 and see what Paul writes there because this is a clue, this is a truth, a factor that we need to understand,

Whether you have been baptized or not, and perhaps a motivation if you are being called by God that there's some action you need to take if you want this to happen for you and in your life. So let's see that:

Hebrews 6:18: "So that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie…"

• one was the promise that God made
• secondly was the oath that God swore to prove that He was not lying

You can't swear. Nobody could swear by any greater oath than God swearing on Himself to show us that He's serious, to show us that He knows what He's doing and He wants us to understand that we can actually believe and trust in His Word.

"…we who have fled for refuge…" (v 18).

True Christians have fled from this world. We've cast off the ways of this world and we are determined to follow God in all His ways.

"…might have strong encouragement to lay hold on the hope that has been set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and steadfast, and which enters into the sanctuary within the veil" (vs 18-19).

So again, our hope is to enter into the sanctuary within the veil. But only the high priest under the Old Covenant could enter into that sanctuary. What God is offering for us today, and for those who are already converted and who obey God, we daily are in the presence of God! We don't have to go through any particular incantations to get into God's presence. In the spirit, by the power of God's Spirit and by our baptism in God's Spirit within us, we are able to go where the high priest only could go before! Anyone who wants to follow God can go through that barrier!

We'll talk about that in a minute, where it says, Jesus has entered for us as a forerunner! What is a forerunner? One who goes before. So, Christ has gone through that barrier, which was the veil that prevented everyone except the high priest going through before!

When Christ was crucified, that curtain that blocked or that kept everyone out of the Holy of Holies tore from the top down showing that the way into the sanctuary where God is had been opened! But there are conditions that God has placed for us to be able to go through that barrier, and that is:

• true repentance
• a true turning away from sin

all the corruptions that this world offers and that we had been a part of before God called us! Where Jesus has entered for us. Notice that Jesus on the day that He rose from the dead, presented Himself to the Father, gave His body, and was able to go through that barrier.

He presented Himself to the Father, gave His body, and Hs blood as an offering to God for the sins of all mankind, and now that way is open IF God calls, and when we respond to that call and obey Him!

"…having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec" (v 20).

Hebrews 10:19: "Therefore, brethren, having confidence to enter into the true Holiest… [talking about that Holy of Holies that only Aaron could go through or go into once a year] …by the blood of Jesus."

The blood of Jesus gives us access to the very Throne of God. Where only in symbol could Aaron, do that beforehand.

Verse 20: "By a new and living way… [this was not available beforehand] …which He consecrated for us through the veil (that is, His flesh)"—His body, which was torn apart in that crucifixion, torture, and then butchered!

That is the means by which we have access to the Father! So, we go through into the Tabernacle of God:

• the Holy of Holies
• God's presence
• His Throne
• through the veil

which is Christ, as it says that's Christ's body!

We go before God the Father and then we can confess our sins, we can make all our requests made known to Him. So, that is a very, very incredible Plan that God has for all those who respond to his call.

In closing, let's just have a look at Heb. 4, because here is what Paul had to say. This is a very well-known section of Scripture:

Hebrews 4:12: "For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of both soul and spirit, and of both the joints and the marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart"—of every man and woman ever to exist!

Verse 13: "And there is not a created thing that is not manifest in His sight…"

But what I want to show you here is what it says in v 14: "Having, therefore, a great High Priest, Who has passed into the heavens…"

His body, which is the veil, is our means of access to the very Throne of God, Jesus is the Son of God!

"…we should hold fast the confession of our faith. For we do not have a High Priest Who cannot empathize with our weaknesses…" (vs 14-15).

Where is He? Sitting at the right hand of God the Father, bringing everything that we need to have presented before the Father, even those things that we don't even know to pray about, presenting them to Him, and doing all that work on our behalf.

"…but One Who was tempted in all things according to the likeness of our own temptations; yet, He was without sin" (v 15).

This is the point I want to leave us with:

• because of what Christ has done
• because of what He has accomplished with His body
• which was flesh and blood
• which he offered up as the one and only sacrifice

that can deliver us from our sin and all our trials and problems!

Verse 16: "Therefore, we should come with boldness to the Throne of Grace…"

One in which Aaron and the high priest went into the presence of the physical realm with great trepidation, we can go with boldness because what Christ has done!

"…boldness to the Throne of Grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (v 16).

Thank God, let us all thank God for the body of Jesus Christ as well as his blood, because they go together, they're inseparable.

Scriptural References:

• Hebrews 10:5, 7
• John 3:16
• Exodus 21:7-9, 39-40
• Hebrews 6:18-20
• Hebrews 10:19-20
• Hebrews 4:12-16

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Exodus 20
• Genesis 1
• Genesis 3:15

Also referenced: Book {truthofGod.org}:
            God's Plan for Mankind Revealed By His Sabbath and Holy Days

LJ:bo/po
Transcribed: 6/22/25

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