Category: Easter

Dr. Chris’ Easter Blogs 2023

Week 4

Good Friday to Easter Sunday

Good Friday (continued)What was it like for the Jews on that day when Jesus died on the cross for them? The high priestwould have offered up the Passover lamb as an atonement for their sins. When the sacrifice wascompleted, the trumpets would have sounded and the smoke from the offering arose to heaven.Then he would have uttered the words “It is finished” which signified that Israel’s sins wereatoned. For 1200 years, they had practiced it exactly this way. Millions of people were inJerusalem at this time for the Passover sacrifice. This was being done at the exact time Jesusuttered His same words and died. The true Passover Lamb died for them that day, and theymissed it, just like they missed seeing the Messiah be revealed to them on Palm Sunday (LambSelection Day).Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earthquaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of thesaints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after Hisresurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So, when the centurionand those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that hadhappened, they feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’ (Matthew27:50–54; author’s emphasis).When Jesus died and the rocks were split and there was so much power of God present thatpeople were raised from the dead, just like had occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane. At theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem over Calvary, you can actually see the large rockthat split. I have seen it.After Jesus died, the veil of the Temple was torn in two. This signified that Jesus had opened theway for all men to be able to enter the Holy of Holies and into the presence of God. This rendingof the veil of the Temple from top to bottom when Jesus died has incredible significance. Theveil separated the priest from the Holy of Holies in the Temple where the presences of Goddwelt. When the Temple veil was split in two, it opened up the pathway between man and God.At the same time as Jesus was dying on the cross, the High Priest Caiaphas was making thePassover sacrifice. He was about to step past that veil. He was planning to offer the blood of thePassover lamb. Rick Renner explains that just as he was about to enter the Holy of Holies, theveil was torn by the divine hands of God.Imagine how shocked Caiaphas must have been when he heard the ripping sounds abovehis head and then watched as the veil was torn in half, leaving two sides of the oncemassive curtain lying collapsed to his right and his left. Just think about what must havegone through this evil high priest’s mind when he saw the Holy of Holies was opened –and that God’s presence was no longer there!

You see, when Jesus was lifted on that Cross, the Cross became the eternal mercy seat onwhich the blood of the final sacrifice was sprinkled. Once that sacrifice was made, it wasno longer necessary for a high priest to continually make sacrifices year after year, forJesus’ blood had now settled the issue forever!For this cause, God Himself ripped the veil of the temple in half, declaring that the wayto the Holy of Holies was now available to everyone who came to Him through the bloodof Jesus! (Renner. 2003, 274)Pastor James Ward in his “The Blood Covenant” message at Family Harvest Church (nowInsight Church in Tinley Park, IL) explains more about the precious blood of Jesus. He explainsthat the father’s blood is in the baby and not the mother’s blood. Because Adam’s blood passeddown the sinful, tainted, guilty and defective blood to all his children, God needed another planfor Jesus. It was like God said “For my Son to come as the Redeemer, there can be no earthlyman to pass along the defective earthly blood to My Son. Jesus was conceived of the HolySpirit. It was God’s DNA that conceived and sired Jesus Christ and not the defective blood of aman.” The breath and life of God was flowing in Jesus’ veins to sustain His life. Jesus’ blood issupernaturally powerful because it contains the life of God Himself. It is the most powerfulsubstance in the world.John Hagee explains it this way in his CD series Prophecy of the Seven Feasts. CD #3 is on the“Feast of First Fruits” and he states in minute twenty that “Jesus only had the blood of God andnot one drop of Mary’s blood. If He had it, the blood would not be worthy to cleanse our sins.God put His seed in Mary’s womb, blood included.”I pose this for consideration. The authenticity of the Shroud of Turin as Jesus’ burial garmenthas been questioned for centuries. The proof of authenticity would be to sample the stains andanalyze the blood. It would prove that it is not the blood of man. But who on earth is evenworthy to touch the blood of Jesus? No one.Holy SaturdayWhen Jesus’ body was lying in the tomb, He was really in Hades taking back the keys to theearth from Satan (Revelation 1:18). During this time, the Jews were oblivious to what wasoccurring, and were celebrating the Feast of Unleaven Bread. The Feast of Unleaven Breadbegan the day after Passover and lasted 7 days. It was a celebration remembering the Israelitesand how they fled Egypt so quickly that they did not have time to let the leaven bread rise. In theBible, leaven symbolizes sin. Jesus was the only sinless person. He was the Unleaven Breadand fulfilled this Feast Day. When Jesus’ body was in the tomb it did not decay according toPsalm 16:10. That is because He had the life of God in His blood, which was still in His body.Easter SundayThen on Resurrection Sunday, when the Jews were celebrating the Feast of Firstfruits, Jesus rosefrom the dead. The Feast of Firstfruits occurs on the second day of the Feast of Unleaven Bread.Thus Passover, the first day of Unleaven Bread, and the Feast of First Fruits occur onconsecutive days. The barley harvest was beginning to ripen. The first fruits of the barleyharvest were harvested and presented to the Lord in a ceremony at the Temple. During the

celebration of the Feast of First Fruits, Jesus was raised from the dead. He was our First Fruits.Mary Magdalen was the first to see Jesus after He had risen from the dead.Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go toMy brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to MyGod and your God.’” (John 20:17; author’s emphasis)This was because Jesus had to first present His blood before the Father in the Tabernacle ofHeaven before He could be touched again on earth.At the same time that the High Priest was presenting the Firstfuit barley offering to God, Jesuswas presenting His blood to the Father. Jesus fulfilled another Feast Day on this very day. Hewas the fulfillment of the Feast Day of Firstfruits, and again the Jews missed it.After forty days, Jesus ascended into heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father. Heremains THE Lamb of God but is coming again soon as both the Lamb of God and the Lion ofthe Tribe of Judah. AMEN!!

Please read my book “The Lamb Eternal” for more in-depth information onthese teachings.

Wishing all of you a Happy Easter. May you experience it with a deeperunderstanding.

Dr. Christine Van Horn

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Dr. Chris’ Easter Blogs 2023

Week 3Good Friday

I want to highlight some key points about Jesus on Good Friday.The soldiers led Jesus from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem to the house of the High Priest,Caiaphas. His house has been discovered in recent times, and you can see the “pit” where Jesuswas probably held overnight and whipped. I have been there to see it and it is a humbingexperience to think of what Jesus suffered there.Jesus let them lead Him like a lamb, as Rick Renner explains in Sparking Gems from the Greek.Jesus demonstrated that they were not able to take Him by force, but that He allowed Himself tobe led. He explains that they led Him away, in the same way that one would lead a lamb with arope around his neck. This is probably what the soldiers did with Jesus – put a rope around Hisneck and led him down the path, just as Isaiah had prophesied (Renner. 2003. 232). Jesus onceagain acted as a lamb.Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of theBlessed?’ Jesus said, ‘I AM. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand ofthe power and coming with the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothesand said, ‘What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy!What do you think?’ And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death (Mark14:61–64).When Jesus answered, He said that He was God, and they said it was blasphemy. Jesus was notcondemned to death because of anything He did. It was because of Who He said He was!He was then taken to Pilate. So, Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault inthis Man” (Luke 23:4). Pilate found Jesus guiltless and in doing so, he actually declared Jesus asa spotless lamb – THE Spotless Lamb. His declaration made the proclamation for Jesus to bedeclared without fault or defect – just like what was needed for the Passover lamb. What Pilatesaid was prophetic. If Pilate had ordered the crucifixion of Jesus, it would have been anexecution. Instead, the Jewish priests asked for Pilate to give Jesus to them, which he did. Thismade Jesus’ death a sacrifice because the priests offered sacrifices. This is a key fact inunderstanding the sacrificial death of Jesus.They beat Him, whipped Him until near death, mocked Him and injured Him until He wasterribly disfigured. They put a crown of thorns on His head. But through it all, He remained as alamb. His reaction to all the punishments He received was prophesied in the Book of Isaiah.He was oppressed and He was afflicted,Yet He opened not His mouth;He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,So, He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:7; author’s emphasis).

In fact, all of Isaiah Chapter 53 is a prophesy about the death of the Lamb of God. Psalm 22does also. Here are a few verses from Psalm 22 that show the accuracy of this prophesy. Thewords Jesus spoke on Calvary are from Psalm 22.Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. Andabout the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lamasabachthani?’ that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Some of thosewho stood there, when they heard that, said, ‘This Man is calling for Elijah!’Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on areed, and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, ‘Let Him alone; let us see if Elijahwill come to save Him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up Hisspirit (Matthew 27:45-50).Before Jesus died, there was great darkness over the land. Jesus experienced a great separationfrom His Father. One man (Adam) created this separation, and one man (Jesus) had to win itback.These words “it is finished” are recorded in John 19:30 in the Greek accounting term –“tetelestai.” This is a declaration that everything has fully been accomplished. This debt wasaccomplished between God the Father and His Son. It was a perfect covenant. Jesus was thePassover Lamb that was slain. He was God’s perfect substitute.Jesus chose when to die and at the precise moment that the Passover Lamb was slain in theTemple. Jesus was the perfect substitute at the perfect time. God came down to earth andbecame the Passover Lamb on exactly the same day and at the same time when the sacrifice hadoccurred – for centuries. Those past Passover lambs simply foreshadowed Jesus. The ninth hour(3:00 in the afternoon) has had a long-standing meaning in the Jewish faith, so they should haveseen this as another sign that Jesus was the Messiah. This was at the same location of MountMoriah (and the exact time of the ninth hour), where centuries before, Abraham was willing tosacrifice his son, Isaac, at the direction of the Lord.

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