In Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, 9, Luke 24:1, and John 20:1, the phrase “the first day of the week” is coupled to the Lord’s resurrection.
The first day of the week, or the day after the Sabbath, signifies a new beginning, a new age. In Lev. 23:10-11, 15, a sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest was offered to the Lord as a wave offering on the day after the Sabbath. That sheaf of the firstfruits was a type of Christ as the firstfruits in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20, 23)…By His all-inclusive death He terminated the old creation…In His resurrection He germinated the new creation with the divine life.*
The new beginning points to New Jerusalem, a city of resurrection. Everything about this city is in resurrection; it has no part in the old creation and there is nothing old in it.
Thank the Lord for this new beginning which He accomplished for us! It was on the evening of that same day, “the first day of the week”, that He came to His disciples (John 20:19), showed them His physical body, and “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). This completed His promise to them in John 14:17.
The Spirit breathed into the disciples is the Spirit as life for our regeneration (John 3:6), renewing (Titus 3:5), and more. This is inward, whereas the Spirit as power coming as a wind in Acts 2 is outward, upon the disciples. It is the Spirit as life for our eternal newness that is pictured by the river of life flowing from the throne in New Jerusalem.
Republished with permission from Blogs.crossmap.com, featuring inspiring Bible verses about A New Beginning in Resurrection.
