About eight years ago, I wrote a post on the triple nature of man, how we are made up of three parts (body, soul, spirit, see 1 Thess 5:23), and how each part is saved through the redeeming work of the Messiah. You can click here to read it.
When sin entered the world, so did death. The immediate death was spiritual - the severing of the bond that God had with man. It was a one time deal. Spiritual death.
Death continued to take a toll on mankind as people descended into depravity, their minds becoming more and more corrupt. Death of our souls. An ongoing death.
The final death to come to man is of course physical death at the end of life. Death of our physical bodies.
This threefold nature of death is reversed in the same threefold manner when we are redeemed by Yeshua.
Salvation of our spirit: this happens the moment we receive Yeshua as our savior. It’s an instant redemption, a one-time deal, and we are given the Holy Spirit as a downpayment. Justification.
Salvation of our soul (our mind, will, and emotion): this is an ongoing, lifelong process; walking with Messiah, taking thoughts captive, day by day becoming more like Him. Sanctification.
Salvation of our body: this happens on the day of resurrection. We get new, imperishable bodies (and I have come to believe that the Spirit of God that was breathed into Adam will be fully restored at this time as well... The fulfillment of that Holy Spirit down payment). Glorification. The final restoration.
Because Passover is upon us, I have had some thoughts swirling around in my mind this week. I’m just putting them down here in virtual paper.
I’ve been marveling how these the appointed times clearly demonstrate our complete salvation.
Passover, a one day feast, represents our justification. It is the appointed time of Messiah’s death as our Passover Lamb.
The feast of Unleavened Bread begins the day after Passover and lasts seven days. This appointed time points to our sinless Messiah, our Bread of Life, being buried in the ground - just as a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die before new life is possible. In the same way, the seven appointed days of Unleavened Bread represent our lifelong process of dying to self and becoming more like our Messiah every day as the sin (leaven) is rooted out of our lives. This feast demonstrates our sanctification. (Seven is the number of completeness).
The third appointed time takes place in the middle of Unleavened Bread, on the day after the sabbath. This little-taught Feast of Firstfruits was fulfilled on the most important day of human history... when Yeshua defeated death and rose from the grave. This glorious appointed time also looks forward to the day that Yeshua will return for his bride and we too will be resurrected with glorified, imperishable bodies. The Feast of Firstfruits foreshadows our glorification. On that day, our salvation will be complete.
These Biblical appointed times are so rich and full of meaning, and they all point to the Messiah. They are worth knowing.
