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WEEK SEVEN

Day Three

DAILY SCRIPTURE

John 20:11-14

LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS

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Know: Read John 20:1-18

Note: Mark keywords, including pronouns and phrases. (peace, believe, sins, rise, ascend)

Ask questions: (Use tools such as interlinear bibles to search the original meaning of words- free tool here) For example:

• Who witnessed the final sign?

• What was the final sign to prove Jesus was God?

• When

• Where was Jesus?

• Why

• How do the events in John 2:13-22 relate to John 20?

Observation: Read John 2:13-22

What: What does today’s study reveal to me about the nature of God? What truth do I need to apply to my life today? Where do you see Jesus in your reading?

The Ark

The Ark of the Covenant was placed within the Holy of Holies. Within the Ark were three items: The Tablets of the Law, which represents  Father-God, the Lawgiver; the Golden Pot of Manna which represents Jesus- the Bread of Life; and Aaron’s Rod that Budded, which represents fruitfulness and life- the Holy Spirit. 

The Ark was symbolic of the Godhead, with Jesus peripheral even in its design. Made with shittim wood and covered with pure gold, its design speaks of Christ, “God made manifest in the flesh.” 1 Tim 3:15-16, for wood represents humanity, and gold represents divinity. 

There were two cherubim on the two ends of the Ark with wings spread over the blood-stained Mercy Seat; faces looking at one another. The Cherubim represented the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the triune God. Covered with one piece of gold (representing One God), one Cherub represented the Father, the other, The Holy Spirit, with the Mercy Seat in the midst, which represented the Son. 

The very history of the Ark speaks of Christ- it is His Story; the journey speaks of His birth, anointing, life, ministry, death, resurrection, glorification, and second coming. 

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

The word propitiation is hilasterion which means “Mercy Seat.”

Mercy is when someone takes the punishment we deserve. Grace is freely and unconditionally given to a beneficiary without measure or earning. You will never be able to grasp the love of God if you have not grasped his Mercy and Grace.

In the Mosaic Temple, the only seat was the Mercy Seat. There were no places to sit for the priests because the work for the priests was never finished. There was never rest. Hebrews 10:11-” And every priest stands daily at his service, repeatedly offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.” 

There were three Inside the Ark of the Covenant: The tablets of stone, Aaron’s Rod, and Manna. Each one represented man’s failure. The stone represented the Law which revealed man's rebellion. Aaron’s Rod represented man’s rebellion against God’s appointed leadership, and manna represented man’s rejection of the Father’s provision.

The Cherubim, which stood watch with their eyes ever on the seat of the Ark, looked not on man’s failure but to the sacrifice sprinkled over the seat. The sacrifice was the animal's blood on the day of Atonement. The Priests would dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it once over the seat and seven times before the Ark. The blood over the seat would cover the items under the seat, and the blood in front of the Ark represents man’s approach.

Because of the law, sin was punishable by death. A sacrifice must be made to atone for sin so the sinner can live. The sacrifice was inspected and punished instead of the sinner.

When sin entered the world, death came with it. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin.” (Romans 5:12)

There are two people in this world; dead or alive. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins” Ephesians 2:1. Those that are dead are the ones who are separated from the life of God. When we had no idea we were on death row, Jesus died and was punished for our sins. He died so that we might live. The sword of judgment for man’s failure was permanently sheathed in Him.

After Jesus’ death, He still had work to do. He took His blood, carried it into the Heavenly Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it over the heavenly Mercy seat, one sacrifice forever. No more sin offerings need to be made.

At the tomb, when Mary Magdalene went to the garden after Jesus’ death, she found two angels sitting at the head and end of where Jesus’ body had lain (just like the Angels guarding the entrance to Eden and the Cherubim guarding the Ark of the Covenant). The judgment that sin brought to the world and the condemnation that the law brought because of sin were dealt with a the cross! Because of Christ, we have access to the Holy of Holies. There is no more separation and no more condemnation in Him.

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but be in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 10:14-16

Jesus righted all the wrongs and man’s failures because Grace is greater than man’s sin. Your sin has no power to swallow up God’s Grace.

" Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17).

Jesus was the only human born to die. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5)

He was fully God and fully man. He was the Son of man (David)- to die for us and the Son of God, raised to life. And now, we have imputed righteousness because Jesus' death was enough to raise us from death. 

Old covenant worshipers had a temporary cleansing of sin, but not in their consciousness. The sacrifice was never able to clear their consciousness of sin. In Christ, we receive a clean consciousness- a righteous consciousness.

" Therefore, brothers, since we have the confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,  by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:2:21