Bully's Blog

Sabbath - Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,

…..Passover - when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, 
…..for fear of the Jews,

……….Firstfruits - Jesus came and stood in the midst, 
……….and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
……….When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.

……………Pentecost – Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 
……………So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, 
……………I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, 
……………and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

……….Trumpets - ”If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
……….if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

…..Atonement - Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve,
…..was not with them when Jesus came.
…..The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

Tabernacles -  So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Sabbath - And after eight days His disciples were again inside,
and Thomas with them.

…..Passover - Jesus came, the doors being shut,

……….Firstfruits - and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”
……….Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands;
……….and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. 
……….Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

……………Pentecost - And Thomas answered and said to Him,
……………“My Lord and my God!”  

……….Trumpets - Jesus said to him,
……….“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.
……….Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

…..Atonement - And truly Jesus did many other signs
      in the presence of His disciples,
…..which are not written in this book;

Tabernacles –  but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Just as Thomas is the first of the Twin goats of Atonement, these twin events are the Atonement step of a larger pattern which begins at John 18:1, with John 21 as Tabernacles.[1]

What is John’s, or Jesus’ point here? The High Priest, on the Day of Atonement, made twin approaches to the Veil. Firstly, with the blood of a bull for his own sins and those of the other priests (Lev. 16), and secondly with the blood of the first goat for the sins of the people. Here, Jesus appoints the disciples as mediators for Israel, a holy priesthood, then he redeems Thomas, just as he excommunicated Judas as the scapegoat at the Last Supper. Those who have not seen (like you and me) were the ones outside the Tabernacle who never saw inside. But they did hear about it from the Torah (thus, Tabernacle worship was not a true mystery religion). See Jordan’s “The Handwriting on the Wall” for how this twin-pass pattern structures Daniel 7.

Note that these two “passovers” were seven days apart, which supports James Jordan’s theory that the seven sprinklings of blood towards the Ark on the Day of Atonement was to cover Adam’s corrupted work-week, ie. Adam sinned on the evening of the second Sabbath, Day 14 of the first year, the day of Passover.

The Feasts pattern also corresponds to the Creation week, and the Tabernacle (Ex. 25-31), so Jesus’ wounds are the fulfilment of the grain and fruit plants of Day 3 (bread and wine).

Finally, notice that, in the literary structure, Sabbath is now the first day of the week.

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[1] From what I can see, John 1-4 is one cycle, John 5-17 is the next, and 18-21 is the last. See Stirring the Waters for a description of the complete first cycle (noting that Days 1-3 within that cycle also follow the pattern, which often happens: the head has seven days, but this seven as Firstfruits, completes the first three days of the body).