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Palm Sunday April 5, 2020 lesson #3
(Latest lessons are always on top)

On Palm Sunday past, Jesus was hailed by large Jerusalem-crowds with shouts of “Hosanna in the highest!” welcoming Him as a prophet and “the Son of David Who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt 21:6-9). Palm Sunday is the last Sunday in Lent. For centuries, Lent has been defined as a time of fasting and self-sacrifice—a denial of many of life’s basic pleasures.

Like Lent, the COVID-19 virus quarantine is a time of denial from the everyday pleasures and even the simple comforts of life, most of which we took for granted, including “coming together” for Sunday worship. We can only hope and pray that this threat passes sooner rather than later. But in the meantime, thanks to live streaming we may not be gathering together physically, but we can certainly “join together” each Sunday morning at 10:15 in worship and praise to Jesus our King and Redeemer—Hosanna in the highest! (Matt. 21:9-11)  --    http://covp.org

Because of His sacrificial death, Jesus paid the price for our sins so that “When we die, we go directly to heaven” …. which is somewhere up there. Right?

We know as a biblical truth that when we die, our soul passes out of this world to be with the Lord (2 Co 5:8), a place the Church refers to as heaven. It's heaven in the sense it’s not the world; but a place beyond this physical world.

So then, “Who are We?” and “Where are We Going?”

If we think about it, we will realize that we are not 100% complete after death in leaving our human bodies behind; which seems totally inconsistent with God’s original plan of creation as described in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, especially in knowing that God is immutable—He never changes (Mal. 3:6) (James 1:17). He is the same yesterday (before creation), today (during the time of the Fall), and tomorrow (after Jesus’ return and the final resurrection of the dead). Being immutable, we can be assured that God doesn't change His mind nor His plan of creation. God is not learning from and responding to us. He is God, the Almighty, unchanging and immutable in every way. His plan is the "The Plan" from the very beginning of time to its end (Isaiah 46:9-11). He doesn’t make it up as He goes along.

What is the difference between angels and man? I think we can safely conclude that God created angels as living souls with spiritual bodies, just as He created man as living souls with physical bodies. Genesis 2:7 describes the creation of man this way:

Gen 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. NIV 

Of course we don’t know what a spiritual body is composed of, but the Bible does tell us what man’s body is made of. Man being formed from the earth was created specifically for a physical world that was made for and totally suitable to his physical body. Jesus was born of a woman, also with a human body. He rose from the dead with His resurrected human body—being 100% God, and yet, 100% Man. He didn't leave His physical body behind to decay in the grave. He resurrected it in a glorified state; but still physical nevertheless. The Bible reassures us of this fact (john 20:27).

John 20:27 Then He said to Thomas , "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."  NIV

1 Cor 15:13-14 also assures us of our own, physical resurrection…

13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  NIV

Our faith itself assures us of the physical resurrection of our

bodies from the grave, to be united once again with our soul--there is no other definition for being human. We are not like the angels having only a spiritual body, which was not God's design for humanity.

In other words, we will definitely not spend eternity as disembodied spirits; but rather--it is worth repeating--we will be rejoined with our physical, resurrected bodies. When God gave mankind bodies formed from the earth, it wasn’t a temporary situation; keeping in mind that Jesus rose from the dead and grave with his human body. We can be certain of that because of Christ’s own resurrection with His own human body. He didn’t leave His body behind; it is the resurrection of His body and victory over sin and death that we celebrate at Easter; it is victory over the grave, which is the consequence and result of sin and the Fall. Since God is immutable and unchanging—being the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, He does not change due to outside circumstances, not even the Fall itself; but instead, He uses circumstances, just as He is using the Fall, to accomplish His will! So, what is His will concerning man and this universe we inhabit?  What is His will concerning the coronavirus? We can be certain He has a plan. So, don’t forget to invite someone to join us in worship this Sunday morning, at 10:15, via live streaming at www.covp.org/ 

We are also told in Acts 3:21...

Acts 3:21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. NIV

One again, think of the attributes of God: He is immutable (unchanging), omniscient (all knowing) and omnipotent (all powerful). Do we honestly believe Satan (a created being) could disrupt God’s plan of creation and force God (the creator) to change? Isn’t it more consistent with who God is that He always had a better plan in mind--not otherwise possible without the Fall, or specifically to deal with the Fall for a better outcome than otherwise possible? 

We see a vivid example of how God used the sins of

Joseph’s brothers, who sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt (Genesis 37). God used their sinful desires and actions to bring about His will. Gen 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. NIV

When Jacob’s small family of seventy settled in Egypt after Joseph became Pharaoh’s Prime Minister—second only to Pharaoh himself—they did so as shepherds and settled in Goshen, living apart from the Egyptians who held shepherds in low esteem (Gen. 45:10-11). There they grew into a nation of millions—having been shielded in Egypt for 400 years, from pagan tribes and their religious practices, not otherwise possible had Jacob’s family remained in Canaan. Had they stayed in Canaan they would have been exposed to intermingling and intermarriage with the pagan Canaanites, absorbing pagan customs and potentially losing their own identity as Israelites--God's chosen people.

Just as God did not cause Joseph’s brothers to sin, He did not cause Adam and Eve to sin. They did so of their own free will. And, in the same way, God did not enslave the Hebrews in Egypt, but He used the sin of slavery to compel the Hebrews to migrate to the Promised Land that He gave to their fathers Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Had it not been for slavery, they would not have had any inclination to leave the comfort of Goshen. Pause for a moment and think about the full implication of that. I believe the Fall clearly illustrates that no creature, no matter how perfect, could indefinitely sustain perfect holiness on their own merits. God’s plan wasn’t just to create man, but to adopt man to be united in Jesus Christ—not otherwise possible before the Fall. I have no doubt, that just as 1/3 of the angels rebelled and fell from grace, it was equally likely that mankind, left to their own merits, would have inevitably fallen, as well. Then what? Rescue us one at a time? God, in His wisdom, dealt with the issue "once and for all”--i.e., the final settlement.

God ordained the Fall to occur—but, it’s important that we don’t confuse that with causing Adam and Eve to sin (God is not the author of sin) (1 John 3:5; Gal 2:17). Because of His great love for His creatures, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Redeemer and Savior. Not just to die on the cross and return to heaven, but to spend eternity being spiritually united with us through the Holy Spirit, and physically united with us in the flesh with Jesus—being 100% God, and yet, 100% man as well--Christ our Lord, Savior and Redeemer.

We know God created the angels as spirit beings, having spirit bodies with both form and substance—described as being seen “like a man” in Daniel 8:15; 10:16-18. Just as man has distinct physical bodies, the Bible describe angels with distinct spiritual bodies. Angels, like man, are created beings. Why did God create angels if He planned to create man? So, trying to determine when God created the angels is somewhat tricky because anything God did "before the foundation of the world" puts the event outside of time itself. And it isn’t necessary for us to know when.

Jesus, the Son of God, before becoming man, resided in heaven as  pure spirit. Had there not been the Fall, there would be no need for a Savior or for Jesus to become Man.

This raises a couple of other basic questions: Would God have created us with physical bodies designed us to reside on planet earth, and then, because of the Fall, have us now

reside in a distant, none-physical realm forever? Since we are physical beings created out of the dust of the earth, why would God resurrect our earthly bodies only to relocate us to a distant spiritual realm? Why would Jesus, Himself retain His human body? It appears inconsistent with the creation account of Genesis. We know God is immutable (unchanging). If He relocated us to a spiritual realm, wouldn’t it imply then, that He changed His mind regarding the destiny of man? He created us from the earth and Jesus took on the very same body, why then would He transport us away from the earth as our new home? I believe the answer lies in the following Scriptural verses.

Isa 65:17-19…17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create,

for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.

19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people;

the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. NIV

... and 2 Peter 3:11-13…11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. NIV

Note: “Destroyed” can be described as: shattered, cracked, smashed, damaged, ruined. It doesn’t mean obliterated; which by contrast means: wiped out, eliminated, eradicated, annihilated, reduced to nothing. In the same way, our bodies will be resurrected and restored, being super-natural versus natural, but physical never the less, as demonstrated by Christ in His resurrected body. For as He is, so shall we be (1John 1:7). I believe the same is true for the earth.

John 20:27-2927: Then he [Jesus] said to Thomas , "Put your

finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." NIV

For an illustration of the “destruction of the heavens and earth” we can look at gold ingots thrown into a blast furnace being destroyed by the intense heat; where they are melted down and purged of all impurities, with only pure gold remaining. It would seem that the same is true regarding the “destruction” of the heavens and the earth. They do not disappear, but rather are purged and cleansed of all impurities—all traces of the Fall and sin that marred and contaminated God's perfect creation is totally eradicated. What then lies ahead? We’ll see in our next “Easter Sunday” lesson—for He has risen!   

The empty tomb is a promise of an empty grace and a new beginning!

End of Lesson #3