3We can't just read what the Bible says on the surface by looking at it with our natural eyes. Wehave to read with our spiritual eyes, to see the spiritual significance of what God wants us tounderstand. You see, when Jesus taught from the Scriptures, He brought forth His ownteachings, taught by example, used prophecy, used parables, and He taught by acting out insymbolic representation.In the 14th chapter of Matthew, we find the story of Peter walking on the water– for ashort time. He was okay as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, but when he looked around andsaw the wind and the waves, he began to be afraid, and sank. When they got into the boat, theBible says that "the wind ceased." In our natural mind, we can't fathom being able to walk onwater, even though it did happen. But when we read this with spiritual eyes, and with the mind of Christ, we can see that Jesus was teaching a spiritual concept of dwelling in safety, when wekeep our eyes on Him.Now, getting back to the Book of John, in Chapters 20 and 21, we see more resurrectionfacts and details than in the other Gospels. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, we see eventspresented with a broad stroke, but in John, we are given details not found in other accounts, thatseemingly add nothing to the narrative.When Mary Magdalene goes back to tell the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead,Luke wrote that Peter ran down to the sepulchre; but John writes that both He and Peter bothran to the sepulchre. But John added the fact that he outran Peter. Of course– nothing wrongwith a little gloating, after all, it is his book. Remember, it was John who wrote four times that Hewas the disciple who Jesus loved.Now, here we have John winning the race to the tomb, and looking in first; however, itwas actually Peter that went in first to see that the head covering was laying separately from theclothing. The original Greek language seems to indicate that when Jesus arose, he passedthrough His clothing without disturbing them. The fact that they were still there indicated that Hisbody was not stolen, because thieves would not have carried around a naked body; and also,had graverobbers broken in, they would have taken the grave clothing. After Peter saw this,then John went in. Afterwards, Peter and John went home, but Mary remained, and saw twoangels, one at the head, and one at the foot, where the body of Jesus laid. Mark writes thatwhen the women first saw the empty sepulchre, there was an angel sitting inside on the "right"side. There is a reason that this location is given.Mark also mentions that Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Savior, but it isJohn that gives us the details of the two angels in the sepulchre– one on the right, and one onthe left. The reason this fact is so important is that it illustrates a concept of spiritualinterpretation called "Twice Speak." This concept has come under fire for some of its extremeand unscriptural interpretation, however, in its purest form, I believe it has some credibility.In Job 33:14, it says:"For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not."The"Secret of God" in Job 15:8 is that when God speaks once, this is the type, how it played out thefirst time, which is always an "imperfect incomplete representation of a bigger truth." When Godspeaks twice, this is the anti-type, or how it will play the 2nd time. The type changing to the anti-type is teaching last day prophetic truths. One primary example of this, are the prophecies inDaniel, which are duplicated, and have long been accepted to not only be prophecies for thattime, but also refer to the Antichrist of last day prophecy.
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Things are duplicated for a reason. When a word or phrase is duplicated, it signifies thatit is very spiritually significant. For example, 25 times in the book of John, Jesus uses the term,
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Asperen, W. Thomas Van.
Selected Quick Reference Code Words
. Topeka, KS: The Prophecy Club, 1998, 4pgs.
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