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Chitu Okoli chitu.okoli.org

Posted on Apr 5, 2010 in Rivers of Living Water

Ascension is in the Spirit we have received

The Recovery Version footnote on Lev 23:44 note 1 is a helpful summary:

Lev 23:44 – And Moses declared to the children of Israel the appointed 1feasts of Jehovah.

Lev 23:441  feasts
  The seven feasts in this chapter are in two groups, with four in the first group and three in the second. The four feasts in the first group all took place in the first half of the year, signifying the time when Christ died, resurrected, and ascended to pour out the Holy Spirit. The three feasts in the second group took place in the seventh month of the year, signifying the time of Christ’s second coming. According to their dispensational fulfillment, the first four have taken place already, and the last three will take place in the future. The Feast of the Passover was fulfilled on the day of Christ’s death (Matt. 26:2, 17-19, 26-28; 1 Cor. 5:7). The Feast of Unleavened Bread is being fulfilled in the church age (1 Cor. 5:7-8). The Feast of Firstfruits was fulfilled on the day of Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20), when the members of Christ were produced for the formation of the church (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6). The Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled fifty days after Christ’s resurrection, on the day of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4; cf. Acts 1:3), when the resurrected and ascended Christ as the consummated, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit poured Himself out on His members to form the church. …
 

In brief, the Feast of Firstfruits typifies Christ as the firstfruit offered to God in resurrection. However, from John 20:17 note 1, we can see that this type includes Christ’s secret ascension after His resurrection:

Joh 20:17  Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet 1ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

Joh 20:171  ascended
  On the day of His resurrection the Lord ascended to the Father. This was a secret ascension, the ultimate fulfillment of the going predicted in 16:7. It occurred forty days prior to His public ascension, which took place before the eyes of the disciples (Acts 1:9-11). On the day of resurrection, early in the morning He ascended to satisfy the Father, and late in the evening He returned to the disciples (v. 19). The freshness of His resurrection must be first for the Father’s enjoyment, as in the type the firstfruits of the harvest were brought first to God.
 

Thus, when He breathed Himself as the Spirit of life into the believers in John 20:22, that Spirit included the aspect of His secret ascension, in which He ascended as a pleasing and acceptable offering uniquely for the Father’s satisfaction. This aspect of Christ is in the Spirit that we have received at our regeneration.

The Feast of Pentecost typifies Christ the firstfruit being multiplied into the two loaves that are the two sections of the Body of Christ (Jewish and Gentile). This was accomplished by the outpouring of the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ consummated as the Spirit. This Spirit includes Christ’s visible ascension in which He is exalted with all power and authority. This aspect of Christ is in the Spirit that is poured out upon the Body of Christ.

Thus, that’s the typology that shows that ascension is included in the Spirit that we believers receive.

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