The Little Book that John Ate  ©1997

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All rights reserved The Body of Christ International, Inc. @1998

Amos 3:7 "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."  

          "If Ye Have Ears to Hear...the Little that John Ate"  © 1997

This information is provided by The Body of Christ and may be shared freely without charge.  

All rights reserved The Body of Christ International, Inc.  © 1998

Revelation 20:1-8

1) "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

3) And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

4) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5) But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6) Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

7) And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8) And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."

Slowly, I read it several times, then asked, "Dear Lord, You haven't given much indication that I can see on whether the thousand years are yet to come or have passed. Have I missed something?"  And while just sitting there and waiting on the Lord, these words came into my mind:

"YOU KNOW CHRIST'S RESURRECTION WAS THE FIRST."

This was not my thought! It was, "YOU" know not "I" know.  The shock almost jarred me off my chair.  "Yes Lord, I know Christ's resurrection was the first."  Immediately I went over Revelation 20:5 again, on the "first resurrection" and began to realize the Holy Spirit had just pointed me into the Gospels on Jesus' resurrection. Praise the Lord.

Matthew's account is found in chapter 27:51-53. This is one of the verses marked in my original notes as being very important, though I had no idea why.

Matthew 27:51-53

51) And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

52) And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53) And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

"YOU KNOW CHRIST'S RESURRECTION WAS THE FIRST."

  These had part in the first resurrection!  These of the first resurrection came out of the graves after Jesus and went into the holy city and were recognized by many!  There were no pictures by which a person could be identified, so only those of the contemporary generation could be recognized.  What excitement when they were recognized.

During the course of this study, if I couldn't have shared from time to time, even just fragments of this, I think I would have exploded.  So I told a Christian friend about this and was disappointed that he did not share my excitement.  He said, "What about the dead that Jesus raised before this time, like Lazarus, and the others?"

Well, of course, I didn't know.  So I immediately asked my Father these things. And while reading of the little girl that Jesus raised, these words came to me: "HE HEALED THEM".  Yes Lord, Jesus healed each of them.  He restored them to their loved ones.  They were part of His healing ministry.  There was no indication that He raised them to eternal life at that time.  I had to marvel at how well the Holy Spirit of God does his teaching job!  Praise God for His wonderful Holy Spirit.  Hallelujah!

It would not then be controversial to say all these who were part of Jesus healing ministry lived out their lives and died later.  Here again, in this instance, God had proved His word.  Our Savior's resurrection, in truth, was the fist resurrection.

Now when the Lord first told me YOU KNOW CHRIST'S RESURRECTION WAS THE FIRST, it was shortly afterward that I asked Him for the exact scripture on this.  I waited for it.  I knew He did not expect me to put down this piece of pivotal truth the scriptures backing it up. Some time later, He gave several.  The first was Acts 26:23.

Acts 26:23

23) "That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles."

These details must have even greater significance that He has allowed me to envision. Oh, praise you, Jesus!  As the Lord was ready to go ahead then, it became clear there was more on the dead who came out of the graves after Jesus.  These people who had died and were buried, were seen of many friends and relatives whom they had known in their lifetimes!  However others of these saints coming into the crowded city could pass among the people unnoticed as there were no pictures to pass on by which they could be recognized by later generations.

But just imagine how the people felt who could recognize their own, whose funerals they had attended!  As the Lord was giving me this insight, two other scriptures came back to mind on which I had prayed, asking Him earlier.

One question concerned I Corinthians 15:29. This is where Paul mentions that they were baptized for the dead.  This seemed incredible to me, for I had read several other scriptures, which speak against such a thing. Ezekiel 14:14,20 both indicate that no man can deliver the soul of another. Jesus said, "No man cometh to the Father but by me." John 14:6b.  But what better justification could there be for this than that Jesus brought them out of their graves with Him?  For by this, the people knew their loved ones who had died while awaiting their Messiah, were saved already. Praise God!  So having this assurance, they diligently carried out the commandment to baptize.  They performed this in love and obedience.  Those first century Christians didn't play church. They lived and died it.

As the Lord gave this study I asked Him about the part where Paul admonished the two in II Timothy chapter 2.

 II Timothy 2:18

18) "Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some."

Paul is rebuking the teaching of two, Hymenaues and Philetus:

II Timothy 2:15

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

It is just as false to teach only part of the word of truth, without viewing it in the light of the rest of the word. For the Word of God is of no private interpretation.  The Bible interprets itself.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to teach all truth from the Holy Bible. Any prophecy that is not consistent with the Bible is not from God.  Jesus gave Himself to pay our debt so He could present us faultless before His Father.  We can be faithful to Him only by doing His word, not just the part we like.

The Lord taught me to read all around the original scripture He gave.  So at this point I was reading backwards from Isaiah 30. And when I came to this part, the words leaped out at me almost.

Isaiah 26:19

"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."

Oh what a song they must have sung, when Jesus said, "Awake and sing!"  These people had part in the first resurrection, which was Jesus'.  Praise the Lord!  This is the original prophecy of the event, which actually took place and is recorded for us in       Matthew 27:51-53.

But there is much more depth to the matter, for we are told that Jesus went down into hell and preached to Gospel to the dead which are counted from the days of Noah.

I Peter 3:18-20

"18) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19) By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20) Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."

Yes, Jesus literally went down into hell and preached the Gospel to the dead, I Peter 4:6, again tell this.  There is no figurative connotation that can obliterate this scriptural truth. It is written.  Praise the Lord! Immediately upon receiving the baptism in the Holy Ghost, Peter understood not only that Jesus had gone down into hell, but also that His resurrection was prophesied.   (Acts 2:31).

Sweet Spirit of God, help me now to write this precious discernment just the way you give it. Jesus had a human body only once, that could die.  Never again will He go into hell as a dead human and preach the Gospel to the dead.  The whole job was done when the only Son of God lay down His life, shed His blood for our sins and became a ransom for those already held in the prison of the devil.  Never again will the dead be allowed to hear the word of the Lord. For, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Matthew 22:32.  Jesus led them out of hell in victory.

Since Jesus was God incarnate, and God cannot die, He had to lay down even more that His life to get into hell to retrieve those saints.  For He was perfect.  He had to take on all the filth and depraved sins of the whole world.  Otherwise, He could not have gotten in. Because to come, as He would now, in full power as God, hell would be consumed before Him.  And the saints not yet being raised incorruptible, would therein be destroyed also.  This whole thing was God's plan from the beginning.  Hallelujah!

No wonder Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood when he was praying over this! (Luke 22:44).    He had more to do in hell than we may know.  It was work to gain victory over death, to ransom many and pay for the sin of all men even to the end of the world. And during the final work, He had to do it without the fellowship of His Father. But, Praise God, He led captivity captive.  And through it all He did not lay down His resurrection power.

God paid this great price for us even as one would for a precious pearl. Let the realization of His great redeeming love nourish and fill your heart with praises for Him.

When Jesus went up on the mountain, He took Peter, James and John with him.  He met with Moses and Elijah in the transfiguration.  We are told of this in Luke 9:31.35.

31) "Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

35) And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him."

In this great summit meeting Jesus discussed with Moses and Elijah his crucifixion and death.  In verse 35, the voice of God instructed us very clearly to listen to Jesus.  God said of His beloved Son, "Hear him." Therefore all the theories and teaching of men are commanded by God that they must be validated by Jesus' words to be accepted by God.  And Jesus said:

Matthew 16:28

"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

Jesus was speaking to his disciples of which Judas Iscariot was one.  We know that Judas was dead when Jesus arose.  The same prophecy concerning himself is recorded in:

Luke 9:27

"27) But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God."

And further in:

John 5:25

25) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live."

THIS IS THE FIRST RESURRECTION! Jesus came out from hell and brought many out from hell with Him.  Those who had gone on before Jesus manifested himself, heard Jesus preach the Word to them. He said, "And they that hear shall live."  This event was recorded in Matthew 27:51-53.

Matthew 27:51-53

51) "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

52) And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53) And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

Go back and read these verses again if it is not clear.  This is His word, not mine.  So Jesus went into hell and preached the Gospel to the prisoners.

I Peter 4:6-7

6)"…that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

7) But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."

Only one time could the Word of God be preached in hell.  It had to be done by the Son of God.  For He is the only man who went into hell with power to come out also.  No mere man could carry the Word and preach it in hell.  For a certainty Jesus is the only one who could do that work.  Only those who heard the Word could come out of the grave with Him.  Those who did were saved!  Jesus said:

John 10:9; 15-17

9) "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

15)"… As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

16) And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

17) Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again."

Note that the sheep of the other fold 'shall hear my voice'.  Truly part of Jesus' work was to preach the Gospel to these Old Testament saints and cover them in the NEW TESTAMENT IN HIS BLOOD.  They came out of the grave with Him, making from them ONE fold and ONE shepherd.

The first Easter morning when Jesus came out of the grave he found Mary Magdalene weeping because she couldn't find his body.  When he said, "Mary", she turned.

John 20:17

17) "Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."

Notice Jesus would not allow her to touch him as he had not yet ascended to his Father. There was something yet to happen to him.  Because eight days later he appeared to the disciples.

John 20:27

27)"Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing".

Jesus ascended to his Father and received whatever completing or transfiguring was necessary.  This time Jesus allowed Thomas to touch him.  After that first ascension, He THEN RETURNED TO EARTH and was with his apostles for forty days, teaching them and doing many other great signs in their presence.  THEN HE ASCENDED AGAIN and is NOW the one:

I Peter 3:22

22) "Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."

As the Holy Spirit of God said:

YOU KNOW CHRIST'S RESURRECTION WAS THE FIRST.

Yes, indeed.

Excerpts from:

"If Ye Have Ears to Hear...the Little Book that John Ate"  © 1997