And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
The title, Matthew 28:17 & 18, is telling of when the disciples went into Galilee, into a high mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and then saw Him. The name Galilee tells of the inner circle, those closest to the LORD, who came to understand, from the LORD’s words, that He would rise in them, and when He did (when they saw, understood) they would go forth teaching, which is baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28
10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.
12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
13 Saying, Say you, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Friends, today is a massage that points to even our ignorance, blindness, doubting the LORD has truly risen in this manner. The LORD is risen in me, and until we truly believe this is His resurrection we deny Him and ourselves. “At that day [this day] you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” This quote, John 14:20, is the LORD telling of this teaching, explaining the living God, the Father in us, which makes us His sons (children), and by this, He makes us in His image and likeness. We then go forward teaching, the LORD in us as the Holy Ghost, His Spirit unknown to those who hear Him, until they see it is the Father in the Son, and knowing Him they become His children, going forward and reproducing after their own kind. “But some doubted.”
The deeper theology in the title is the LORD telling the disciples that, until they understand His resurrection, they themselves are guilty of His death, unknowingly keeping Him dead as they remain dead in their ignorance of the manner of His resurrection.
Verse 16 above is the LORD directing us to see Joshua 20, where the LORD, through Joshua (Jesus), tells us of the ignorance of His death and resurrection.
Joshua 20
1 The LORD also spoke unto Joshua [the Father speaking through the Son, who is His salvation personified], saying,
2 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you by the hand [writing] of Moses:
3 That the slayer that kills any person unawares [shgagah – ignorance] and unwittingly [bliy – without {knowledge}] may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
4 And when he that does flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
5 And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbor unwittingly [bliy – without knowledge], and hated him not beforetime.
6 And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment [in this time, here, now, at the judgment seat of Christ], and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.
7 And they appointed Kedesh [sanctuary] in Galilee [in this inner circle] in mount Naphtali [where we wrestle with the LORD], and Shechem [where the burden is removed] in mount Ephraim [in this second blessing from the LORD – raising us from the ash heap – pulling us from death and hell], and Kirjatharba [where we lie in our graves], which is Hebron [under deaths spell, by the association with the gods of this world], in the mountain of Judah [who sit in the seats of God, leading and teaching His people ignorance].
8 And on the other side Jordan [of what has carried all the world into descending into death] by Jericho [until the fall of the wall they’ve built, between God and man, keeping man from seeing the sun (son) rising] eastward, they assigned Bezer [making God inaccessible through the ignorance they have learned] in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben [until they see the son], and Ramoth [in the high places] in Gilead [in the heap of this testimony] out of the tribe of Gad [sent to masses], and Golan [and brings again their captivity, and rejoicing] in Bashan [and they again become fruitful] out of the tribe of Manasseh [and remember God who they have forgotten].
9 These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourns among them, that whosoever kills any person [by keeping from them the true word of God, this teaching, by which only does man live] at unawares [shgagah – ignorance] might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.
The word shgagah, rendered above as “unaware,” means an inadvertent straying (from God and His truth). It appears in Ecclesiastes 5:6 and 10:5, both describing this “error,” and in context all referring us to Leviticus 4:2 & 22. These Leviticus uses of shgagah tell us the cost of this ignorance is the LORD’s blood, which refers us to Hebrews 12:24 where we understand this teaching, the LORD correcting us, is by His voice, in me/us here and now, which is shaking heaven and earth.
Ephesians 2
1 And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
1 Corinthians 2
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained [proorizo – predestined, arranged in advance] before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew [because they are ignorant]: for had they known it, they would not have crucified [stauroo, stauros – exposed to death] the LORD of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.
10 But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judges all things [as it is now, here at the judgment seat of Christ], yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who has known the mind of the LORD, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
Ecclesiastes 5
1 Keep your foot when you goes to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
2 Be not rash with your mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few.
3 For a dream comes through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
4 When you vow a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you have vowed.
5 Better is it that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.
6 Suffer not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; neither say you before the angel [God’s messenger], that it was an error [shgagah – ignorance, they falsely claim they didn’t know, when in fact the rejected, refused to hear, God’s message – they are willingly ignorant]: wherefore should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear you God.
8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regards; and there be higher than they.
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.
10 He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt [these true treasure from God, given to us to give].
14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begets a son, and there is nothing in his hand [understanding perishes when we refuse to teach our children as we have been taught].
15 As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit has he that has labored for the wind [the false teaching of man]?
17 All his days also he eats in darkness [ignorance], and he has much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
18 Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him: for it is his portion.
19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answers him in the joy of his heart.
What we see here is what Peter describes as the perdition (apoleia) of ungodly men, who wrestle with the word of God, to their own destruction (perdition).
2 Peter 3
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [apoleia] of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements [stoicheion – rudiments of this world, these men’s corrupt ideas and ways] shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements [stoicheion – these men’s corrupt teaching] shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrestle, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction [apoleia – perdition].
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Ecclesiastes 10
1 Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor: so does a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor [the self-appointed “experts” of this world].
2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.
3 Yea also, when he that is a fool walks by the way, his wisdom fails him, and he says to every one that he is a fool.
4 If the spirit of the ruler rise up against you, leave not your place; for yielding pacifies great offenses.
5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error [shgagah – ignorance] which proceeds from the ruler:
6 Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich [those possessing God’s wisdom] sit in low place.
7 I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
8 He that digs a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaks an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
9 Whoso removes stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaves wood shall be endangered thereby. [These last two verses are speaking of the worthless and counterproductive works of ignorant men.]
10 If the iron be blunt, and he does not whet [sharpen] the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
11 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness [strong delusion and insanity, denying reality].
14 A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
15 The labor of the foolish wearies every one of them, because he knows not how to go to the city. [Psalm 127: “Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he gives his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”]
16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!
17 Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
18 By much slothfulness the building decays; and through idleness of the hands the house drops through.
19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry: but money answers all things.
20 Curse not the king, no not in your thought; and curse not the rich in your bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.
Leviticus 4
1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance [shgagah] against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:
3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he has sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.
4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the LORD.
5 And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:
6 And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary.
7 And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Leviticus 4
22 When a ruler has sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance [shgagah] against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty;
23 Or if his sin, wherein he has sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:
24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD: it is a sin offering.
25 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering.
We know from Habakkuk 3:4, the brightness of the LORD’s light is His understanding shining as rays of light from His hand, meaning this written word, which is His manner. The horns, the rays of light coming from His hand, is the blood spoken of in Leviticus 4 above, His word written with the finger of God, given to us to be given.
Hebrews 12
22 But you are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Habakkuk 3
1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
2 O LORD, I have heard your speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman [the Theophany – the manifestation of God, according to the scriptures, as in John 14:23], and the Holy One from mount Paran [giving us understanding]. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
4 And his brightness was as the light [understanding]; he had horns [rays of light] coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan [darkness – ignorance] in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian [strife – endless argument] did tremble.
8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was your wrath against the sea, that you did ride upon thine horses and your chariots of salvation?
9 Your bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even your word. Selah. You did cleave the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw you, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of your glittering spear.
12 You did march through the land in indignation, you did thresh the heathen in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation of your people, even for salvation with thine anointed; you wounded the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
14 You did strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15 You did walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he comes up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
1 Corinthians 15
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand;
2 By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he has put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Psalms 147
1 Praise you the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
2 The LORD does build up Jerusalem: he gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.
4 He tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names.
5 Great is our LORD, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
6 The LORD lifts up the meek: he casts the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
8 Who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow upon the mountains.
9 He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delights not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.
13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders, and fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends forth his commandment upon earth: his word runs very swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool: he scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.
17 He casts forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them: he causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He shows his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
20 He has not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise you the LORD.
