[Throughout this document, words in bold type and words underlined mean they are stressed for their importance to the idea being discussed.]

The mystery of Melchizedek, the mystery of the priestly garments, and the mystery of the priesthood of the believer are topics that are rarely explored or discussed in the church today. When you tie these mysteries in with the more oft teached topics of the blood of Jesus Christ, his death and his resurrection from the dead, new dimensions of the Word of God are revealed that birth an illumination of God's ancient plan of redemption of you and I. Why aren't the topics of Melchizedek, the priesthood and the garments not taught more often? Because it requires a thorough understanding of our Hebrew roots, and while that area is improving in believers, it is still severely lacking for the most part.

Our study of these mysteries begins with an exploration into the life of a man named Melchizedek, about which the Bible has relatively little to say. An introductory passage from Hebrews will introduce this man and Jesus' relationship to him:

Melchi - zedek: Melchi is Hebrew for king, and Zedek is Hebrew for righteousness, so this is a title "King of Righteouness".

Three beliefs as to who Melchizedek was:

In heaven, there is a temple:

Angels worshipped God in the beginning, prior to Adam being created, in the mountain of the congregation. Lucifer led angels in worship of God in heaven, but he was the originator of sin in the universe, not Adam. The following passages from Ezekiel and Isaiah describe Lucifer prior to his fall:

Lucifer took with him from heaven one third of the angels in the rebellion:

The heavenly temple of God was defiled by sin BEFORE man fell and the world was defiled by sin. The heavenly temple, therefore, ALSO had to be purified:

Blood was the secret weapon of God that would conquer sin and Satan, and he kept this hidden from Satan from the foundation of the world:

So, the heavenly temple and the articles therein had to be purged of sin with blood. Articles such as:

1. the ark of the covenant (Revelation 11)
2. the golden altar (Revelation 8)
3. the golden candlestick (Revelation 1)
4. the table (Hebrews 9)
5. the shewbread (Hebrews 9)
6. the golden censer (Hebrews 9)
7. the mercy seat (Hebrews 9)

After the fall of Lucifer and one third of the angels in heaven, God decided he wanted to make a being in his own likeness: man. But man was created with a special substance that angels and spirits do not have: blood. Man was made with a body, soul and spirit, and the soul and spirit are eternal just as the angels are. But the human body is unique to human.

The first man Adam and the first woman Eve succumbed to the temptation of Satan, the serpent, so the plan of God from the foundation of the world was set in motion. The first blood atonement for sin was instituted when God killed the two animals from which the skins for covering Adam and Eve were taken. This skins covered the nakedness and shame Adam and Eve suddenly felt when they had sinned: they knew something was different.

There is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood, and the life of the flesh is in our blood:

Blood, therefore, became the central issue with God. This is because spirit beings never have and never will have blood, but we have human flesh and bones, a human body, because of our blood. No wonder Satanism is so focused on blood and blood rituals: Satan greatly desires to have a body and to have blood, the substance with which he was defeated.

We don't understand why, but blood is so powerful that it is the source of life, and it is able to provide remission of sins. Blood even has a voice that cries out to God:

We see, therefore, that the theme of blood sacrifice, and blood being the atonement for sin, did not originate with the tabernacle of Moses and the Levitical priesthood, but in the garden of Eden. Several occurrences of blood sacrifice before the priesthood are recorded in Genesis:

God wanted to have a family with which to have fellowship. Several different entities have been called the son of God throughout scripture:

1. Angels:

2. Adam:

3. The nation of Israel:

4. Jesus Christ:

5. Believers in Jesus Christ:

Angels, Adam and the nation of Israel all failed and fell into sin, but JESUS DID NOT FAIL. Because of Jesus, Christians are now the sons of God.

Here is a key point: God chose the patriarch Abraham to birth a nation, Israel, and through this nation a priesthood would be raised: the Levitical priesthood. Through this nation and this priesthood, the Messiah would be birthed, Jesus Christ.

God called Abraham from the land of Ur, and he went into Canaan, the Promised Land. In Canaan was a city named Salem, which would later be known as Jerusalem. In Salem, Abraham met a king and priest with a title of Melchizedek, which means King of Righteousness. Interestingly, this man brought bread and wine, and he was a priest of God:

So, Abraham had the bread and wine communion with Melchizedek, just as Jesus instituted at the Passover supper with his disciples and Paul instructed us later in Corinthians. This is incontrovertible parallel between the actions of Melchizedek and the action of Jesus Christ:

The important point to understand about Melchizedek is that he was BOTH a priest and a king. There were many priests of other nations already that had priesthoods, yet Melchizedek was both priest and king to the most high God. Also, the Levitical priesthood established later with Aaron were only priests, not kings. This is why Jesus was to become a priest after the order of MELCHIZEDEK, not after the order of AARON - because Melchizedek was both priest and king:

The quotation from verse 17 above is an important quotation from the book of Psalms, chapter 110, not just ramblings of the writer of Hebrews:

Back to the temple in heaven, we need to examine Lucifer and his covering before he fell. This is found in Ezekiel 28:

The priest after the order of the Levitical priesthood had a breastplate covering which had twelve stones, and we see above that Lucifer had only nine of these twelve stones on its breastplate covering. The twelve stones on the priests breastplate corresponded to each of the twelve tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob:

Comparing the two lists, we see the three stones the priest had, but Lucifer did not:

The three stones missing on Lucifer's covering was the Ligure, the Agate and the Amethyst. Which three sons of Jacob did these three stones correspond to, and what was the meaning? Again, we saw from Exodus that each of the stones on the breastplate of the priest correspond to one of each of the twelve sons of Jacob:

The order of the sons of Jacob is established in Genesis 49, and the order of the gemstones is established in Exodus 28:

In Genesis 49, Jacob was prophesying over each of his twelve sons. The three stones missing from Lucifer's covering, as seen above, correspond with Gad, Asher and Issachar. Looking at the prophecies spoken over each of these three sons, we see something amazing regarding WHY Lucifer was PURPOSELY not given these stones:

1. Gad:

So, from the description in Ezekiel 28, it appears that in the beginning, Lucifer was created as a priest offering a sacrifice of praise and worship through the tabrets and pipes created within his physical structure. He would come before the presence of God in the holy mountain, walking among the stones of fire, bringing the angels and giving God glory, praise and honor. Because of his beauty, however, he was lifted up with pride, and he fell.

Therefore, as was said before, sin originated in the temple of God IN HEAVEN. Paul told us that the things in heaven needed to be PURIFIED WITH BLOOD. When God created man, and he fell like one third of the angels fell, God wanted to redeem man back to himself because:

1. Man was made in the image of God
2. Man was given life with a special substance that angels do not have: blood

God's plan was to get back into the earth, develop a covenant relationship with man, and redeem man back to a personal relationship with him, just as it was in the beginning with Adam and Eve. The overview of the plan was told to Satan after he fell, and after man fell in the garden of Eden:

From that moment on, God began to raise up a dwelling place for himself on the earth. Three major dwelling places have been:

1. The tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness
2. The temple of Solomon in the Holy of Holies
3. The rebuilt temple of Solomon after the Babylonian captivity in the Holy of Holies

In the tabernacle and temple, there were three divisions:

1. The outer court: containing the altar and the laver
2. The inner court: containing the golden candlestick, the table of shewbread and the golden altar of incense
3. The Holy of Holies: containing the ark of the covenant

There are three priesthoods referred to in the Old Testament, prior to the priesthood of the believer:

1. the priesthood of Melchizedek
2. the priesthood of Aaron
3. the future priesthood of Zadok during the millennial reign of Christ (Eze 48)

Under the Aaronic priesthood, when Aaron died, the office of priesthood was handed down from son to son to son. This is what occurred up until the time of the occupation of the Roman empire in Palestine. Around the time of the birth of Christ, the priesthood had become corrupt, and the Roman empire had even begun to appoint men they wanted to be in the priesthood, who were not necessarily Levites. The book of Malachi, written approximately 400 years before the birth of Christ, shows how corrupt the priesthood in Jerusalem had become:

As we see above, the priests were offering polluted bread and blind or lame sacrifices upon the altar. With these profane sacrifices, God was not pleased. What was God's plan as a result? This is found in Malachi chapter 3:

God said that he was going to send a messenger of the covenant, a person who would prepare the way for Jesus Christ: John the Baptist. We see a prophecy in Isaiah which John himself declared as he preached and baptized in the wilderness:

In the book of Luke, we read that this person indeed was John the Baptist, living in the wilderness and baptizing at the Jordan River:

So, the Lord lays down the law in Malachi, declaring he was going to send a messenger to prepare the way for the Lord. There was a period of approximately 400 years of darkness, in which there was no prophetic voice in Israel. From the book of Malachi to the book of Matthew, there were no persons receiving visions or revelations from the Lord.

The Lord says, "I'm going to get me a new priest, a faithful priest. I'm going to get a priest that can make intercession for the people. I'm going to get priest to redeem the people so we don't need to do these animal sacrifices any more. I want a priest that will allow access directly to my throne, and I want a temple set up not in Jerusalem, but in the body of a believer. No longer will they need to enter the Holy of Holies once a year to offer a sacrifice, the blood of bulls and goats and lambs. I want a priesthood where the people can go past the veil and enter my presence. I am going to change the priesthood into a new covenant priesthood."

Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, was that faithful high priest. Remember, the priesthood had to be handed down from father to son, and the ORIGINAL temple was NOT on earth, but in heaven. The tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon were only types and shadows of what is in heaven. And God is in heaven sitting in the true temple.

Therefore, since God is sitting in the temple in heaven, he had the right to pass on the priesthood to his Son, Jesus Christ, to become the new high priest in the temple in heaven. With this new priesthood would come six specific changes:

According to Old Testament Hebrew prophets, the Messiah must come out the lineage of King David, and Joseph earthly father was of the lineage of David:

Recall earlier that we established God put blood in the first man Adam, and the life of our flesh is in the blood. The word "life" is "nephesh" and it actually means "soul", and is translated as such in the verse below. So, the real meaning is the soul or lifeforce of our flesh is in our blood (Hebrew words in brackets):

This may be THE most important verse in the Old Testament, because it explains the importance of blood - that mystery substance that Lucifer and the angels do not have. That mystery substance that Satan now does not have but DESPERATELY wants. He wants a soul, and the soul of the flesh is in our blood, therefore he can't have a soul without blood!

There is something about blood, not just the DNA or white and red cells, that brings life to the human body. It's a medical fact that oxygen is carried in our blood, and remember God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul, or nephesh - lifeforce:

But we must also understand that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins:

Animal sacrifices were therefore introduced under the first covenant to cover the sins of the people. To temporarily cover the sins, NOT to redeem them:

So, in order to do two things:

1. Redeem mankind once and for all where there would be no necessity for an animal offering, and
2. Raise up one person to be offered once and for all who could also enter heaven and purify the articles of the heavenly temple that were tainted by the sin of Lucifer

God had to have pure, sinless blood. This required Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin. Why? Because the blood type of a child comes from the FATHER, not the mother. Therefore, God, through the Holy Spirit, supplied the blood TYPE for Jesus Christ in the conception with Mary, not the earthly father Joseph. NOT THE BLOOD, but the blood type, because God is a spirit and has no blood. Since sin is passed from father to son, Jesus had no sin due to his Father being God himself. This is why the virgin birth was necessary: the seed of any other man on earth would have been tainted with the sin curse of Adam. God put his seed of the Word through the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary to bring forth Jesus Christ, one born of royal, sinless blood. The virgin birth was a necessity, since every man's blood would have been born into the sin curse, and the perfect blood type that was in Jesus Christ was from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. The secret is in the blood!

The Bible tells us that the Word, which WAS God, dwelt among us:

The word "dwelt" in John 1:14 means "tabernacled" or "built his tent", and means that the Word, which WAS God, came down to earth and made a tabernacle among us: his body. Just as in the tabernacle of Moses, David and Solomon, God came down and dwelt among us:

The Bible tells us Jesus was born very similar to an animal. How so? First, because he was born in a stable where animals feed and sleep. Second, because his body was placed in a manger, or feeding trough for animals. Third, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, which are used to wrap up animals just after they are born to keep them warm:

This shouldn't surprise us, because Jesus is described as a Lamb many times throughout the Bible:

Yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrificial lamb. The changing of the priesthood was underway, and in order for Jesus to be the high priest of the priesthood of Melchizedek, he first had to suffer according to God's plan.

Under the Aaronic priesthood, a Levite had to be thirty years of age before he could become a priest:

In Luke, we read that John the Baptist was 6 months older than Jesus Christ, as he was born to Elizabeth and Zechariah just before Jesus was born. Speaking to Mary, the angel Gabriel said the following:

Later, we read that Jesus was about 30 years of age when he went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John, so that would make John over the age of thirty as well:

Therefore, Jesus began his public ministry at the age of thirty, the same age that is required in the Torah for a Levite to become a priest. But that priesthood had to be passed on from father to son, and that is where John the Baptist comes into the story.

John the Baptist was born to parents Elizabeth and Zechariah, and the book of Luke tells us that Zechariah was a priest at the temple, and his mother Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron:

So there's no question that Elizabeth was in the lineage of Aaron, but what about Zechariah? We are told he is of "the course of Abijah", and this man was also a Levite and son of Aaron:

This proves that both Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, were of the house and lineage of Aaron. Therefore, John the Baptist, supernaturally brought forth from the barren womb of Elizabeth, was a true priest of the lineage of his forefather Aaron.

As Zechariah is burning incense on the golden altar in Herod's temple, the angel Gabriel appears to him on the right side of the altar. Being on the right side of the altar is significant, because according to Jewish tradition, the right side of the altar was reserved for God, and since the angel Gabriel was there, he thought it was God that he was going to die:

But the angel comforted Zechariah, told him he was going to have a son and to name him John, and that he would come in the spirit and power of Elijah:

Compare this verse to the verse in Malachi, and it is almost a direct quotation, except that John would come in the SPIRIT and POWER of Elijah, not the man Elijah himself:

John the Baptist was primary fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi, but not the total fulfillment. As we read later in Luke, John the Baptist said he was NOT Elijah. There will be a coming of Elijah at the beginning of Daniel's 70th week, to again prepare the way for the coming of the Lord: his second coming. Next, we read that Zechariah, because he doubted the message of the angel, was made so that he couldn't speak during the entire nine month pregnancy of Elizabeth.

As John the Baptist preached and taught, probably in the area of Qumran, the people wondered if he was actually Elijah, but John said he was not. Instead, he said he fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, quoted earlier, that he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

It has long been a question why these people thought John was the prophet Elijah. John did no miracles like Elijah did, and he was eccentric, living in the wilderness and eating locusts and wild honey, unlike Elijah. An interesting idea has emerged that may explain why the people thought John the Baptist may have been Elijah. Mark chapter one reveals John was wearing a girdle:

Elijah had a mantle that he wore, and Elisha picked up the mantle after Elijah was taken to heaven in a chariot. It is believed that the mantle was eventually placed inside the altar of incense to be saved for Elijah when he returned:

The idea is that Zechariah, who ministered at the altar of incense, when John was born, took the mantle out of the altar of incense and gave it to his son John. This legend may have been the reason the people, who saw John wearing a girdle, may have thought this girdle WAS the mantle of Elijah.

Continuing with the story of John the Baptist, he begins his ministry at the Jordan River, in Betharaba, in the wilderness area. If John was a priest, why wasn't he ministering in the temple in Jerusalem like the rest of the priests? Could it be that the priesthood was corrupt, according to the book of Malachi discussed earlier? The priesthood was corrupt, appointed by Rome, controlled by Rome, and illegitimate. Yet, John WAS a true priest, a member of the priesthood, over the age of thirty.

John the Baptist was called to minister in the wilderness and baptize at the Jordan River because he was to prepare the way for the transfer of the priesthood from the order of Aaron to the order of Melchizedek. He was to introduce the new high priest, Jesus Christ and symbolically transfer priesthood of Aaron to Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek! This is the CRITICAL point of the ministry of John the Baptist.

Jesus came to be baptized of John at the Jordan River when he was about thirty years of age, as shown above, and John was 6 months older than Jesus, so he was at least thirty years old:

So, for Jesus Christ to become a priest after the order of Melchizedek, there had to be a transfer of the priesthood. This is what happens in the story of the baptism of Jesus. John the Baptist represents the true priesthood, bestowed upon him by his father Zechariah of the house of Aaron, while the priesthood in Jerusalem was corrupted and appointed by Rome.

The area in which John the Baptist was baptizing is extremely interesting. We find this place mentioned as follows:

In this same area many hundreds of years earlier, Joshua brought the children of Israel into the Promised Land. The Lord parted the Jordan River, just as he parted the Red Sea, and let the Israelites cross over on dry land:

After the people were crossed over and the priests had carried the ark of the covenant across the Jordan River, Joshua told the people to pick up twelve stones and place a memorial near the river:

It's very possible that in the same spot the ark of the covenant was crossed over the Jordan River by the priesthood of Aaron, John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ and the priesthood was transferred to Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek.

Now, we move to similarities between the consecration of a priest of Aaron in the Old Testament to the consecration of Jesus Christ at his baptism in the transfer of the priesthood from the order of Aaron to the order of Melchizedek. In the Torah, a priest had to undergo two things:

1. be washed with water
2. be anointed with oil:

We find this same thing happening to Jesus at his baptism: first, he is submerged in water by a legitimate priest, John the Baptist, and as he came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit of anointing came down in the form of a dove and landed on him:

At this point, Jesus Christ was set apart and anointed at the beginning of his ministry, and for the next 3.5 years, preached to, teached, and healed the people who believed in that ministry.

There were some interesting things that began to happen at the temple at the EXACT same time that Jesus was baptized and began his ministry: when the priesthood was transferred to the order of Melchizedek and Jesus was made the high priest. These interesting things are recorded in a Jewish historic writing called the Talmud, in section Yoma 39b. This is not Holy Spirit inspired material, but is reliable historic information.

What began to happen is this: all the sudden, the miracles stopped happening at the temple. What miracles? The Talmud records the following:

The chart below details the four miracles mentioned above in the Talmud, as well as the statements of Jesus Christ, after the priesthood had been transferred:

What was happening here? God was removing his glory from the Aaronic priesthood, and transferring it to Jesus Christ, and all these things began to happen in 30 AD as Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan River and began his public ministry after 40 days of fasting and the temptation in the wilderness.

Now, Peter in Acts chapter two told the people to both repent and be baptized for the remission of sins:

But Jesus had no sin and therefore did not need to be baptized. He told John the Baptist he needed to be baptized of him in order to fulfill all righteousness, NOT BECAUSE HE HAD SIN. This was part of the process of transferring the priesthood by the washing of water and by the anointing of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.

Under the Aaronic priesthood, the high priest had the power to remit sins by the offering of a sacrifice. If you committed a sin, you could bring a lamb or a ram, or a turtledove or pigeon, and the priest could offer the sacrifice and then declare you to be free of your sins.

Jesus Christ, after his ministry began, started to do and says things that got the priests that were appointed by Rome extremely upset. They were upset because they had no idea that their priesthood was no longer valid, and had been replaced by the Melchizedekian priesthood. What did Jesus begin to do that upset them so much? He began to declare lepers clean, and they were instantly made whole. He looks at a man with cerebral palsy and tells him his sins are forgiven. He tells a prostitute her sins are forgiven.

What was going on here? Jesus was showing the Pharisees and priests that their priesthood had become corrupt and was no longer valid, and that the priesthood had been transferred to him. As the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, JESUS had the power to forgive sins AND heal:

Jesus had power both to heal and to forgive sins, and the ritual that was going on at the temple was not amounting to anything. Jesus Christ was becoming the high priest of the new covenant.

If you grasp this, you are going to be so happy! Those who say Jesus Christ was breaking God's laws under the Aaronic priesthood by touching a leper, by healing on the sabbath day, etc., fail to understand that Jesus was not under the Aaronic priesthood and was therefore not subject to those traditions. He was under the Melchizedekian priesthood, which had the power to heal and to forgive sins.

The transfer of the priesthood to Jesus Christ can also be seen in the priestly garments as commanded and prescribed by God in the Torah. In Exodus, we read the following:

All the priests, including the high priest, wore a linen coat, a linen miter, linen pants and a linen girdle. The high priest, though, had two extra garments: a blue garment and an outer garment. The neckline on these robes were very strong and double reinforced so they would not tear. The garment was to be completely seamless and there was a single hole in the garment with a band around it so it would not be able to be torn easily:

This robe was not to be torn, because if it was, the high priest could die and God's wrath could come on the people, as the passage below indicates:

We can see from these three verses that it was very important for the priest to never have his robe torn. Why is this important? Because in the Old Testament, it is recorded several times that men would reach up and tear their clothes and put on sackcloth when they were very upset and they knew God was unhappy with them. Here is one example:

The priestly robe was double reinforced because if it was torn, it was a sign that he had lost his priestly authority.

Why is all of this important? Because if we go into the New Testament, to the time when Jesus was on trial at the end of his ministry for calling himself King of the Jews and blaspheming, we find something VERY interesting. Caiaphas was THE high priest, appointed by Rome, in the city of Jerusalem. Jesus was brought before him, and we read the following in John chapter 18:

Up until his answer above, Jesus had not opened his mouth in answer. But when Caiaphas told Jesus to give an answer "by the living God", he was invoking a law in Leviticus which states that if a man knows the truth, and is asked to tell it but keeps silence, he is guilty of what he is being accused of:

This is called the oath of swearing. When Jesus is confronted with this, he knows he must answer, because not to do so would be a sin. He gives quite an answer, because it CAUSES THE HIGH PRIEST TO TEAR HIS ROBE!!! As we read above, this was a VERY serious event: the tearing of the high priest's robe. Jesus answer to Caiaphas, the high priest of Jerusalem, so angered or infuriated, or maybe CONVICTED, Caiaphas that he tore his priestly garment. The question Caiaphas asked was interesting to, because he was asking him directly if he was the prophesied Messiah, the Christ, and the Son of God. Now the answer Jesus gave we must explore, because it is earthshattering in its importance:

This isn't just an answer off the top of Jesus' head, but it was an Old Testament prophecy from the book of Psalms! The high priest demanded an answer as to whether he was the Christ, and Jesus was quoting from the following prophecy of David in the Psalms:

When Caiaphas heard that answer, he knew that Jesus was quoting a Messianic prophecy. As the high priest, he KNEW the book of Psalms. But he had to also know that in that same Psalm is another verse of the utmost importance:

Again, Caiaphas reaction to this was that he tore his robe, something that the high priest was NEVER TO DO. Something so serious that the robe was crafted such that it would be extremely difficult to tear. Yet Caiaphas did it.

You may be thinking: but how do we know Caiaphas was thinking of Psalm 110:4, and that is why he tore his priestly robe? How do we know Caiaphas knew that Jesus was the one that would take over the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek? Friends, we find an INCREDIBLE passage earlier in John's gospel, straight from the mouth of this same Caiaphas:

Yes, Caiaphas knew MUCH MORE than what you may think if you were asking that question. Caiaphas "prophesied that Jesus should die", and he understood that one man was going to die for the sins of the people! Did he understand that Jesus was the one? Did he understand that this mysterious, tall, sun-tanned Nazarene that was standing before him going to take over the priesthood? According to this passage, YES! Look again at the question he asked him at the trial:

He was asking him whether he was the Messiah, whether he was the one that they were waiting for. We he heard Jesus' answer from the Messianic prophecy in the Psalms, and knew that passage also said that the Lord said he was also a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, Caiaphas knew this was the man. He immediately TORE HIS PRIESTLY GARMENT. He knew the charade at the corrupt Jerusalem temple was over! He knew he was being replaced, and Jesus Christ was going to be the new high priest after he offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the nations on the cross:

Again, Caiaphas' reaction to Jesus answer was:

As the high priest, he had to be dressed in his priestly garment! He didn't just pull something out of the closet and wear it that day. He was wearing the robe that was not to be torn, and based on the scriptures from Leviticus and Numbers shown earlier, this meant the priesthood was taken from him, AND judgment and wrath will be coming on the people. Symbolically, by reaching up and tearing his priestly garment, Caiaphas was saying that the priesthood had been taken from him, and he knew that Jesus was going to die for the people as shown in John chapter 11. He knew this was the man that was going to be the Messiah, the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Since Jesus trial and crucifixion were at the feast of Passover, Caiaphas, as high priest, was supposed to be inspecting the lambs that were to be killed at Passover. But he just tore his priestly garment, signaling that he knew the priesthood had been taken from him. The types and shadows in the Old Testament, and Jesus' fulfillment of them, prove that Jesus was the final sacrificial lamb that needed to be offered. That is what is to be next explored.

In the book of Exodus, the Passover feast is ordained by God, and in it, we see Jesus Christ fulfilled as the Passover lamb. The Jews who came to Jerusalem every year brought a lamb, and marked their lamb with a nameplate of some kind. God also marked his sacrificial lamb with the inscription by Pilate. The Passover lamb was killed between the evenings, and Jesus Christ was crucified between the evenings as well:

In the book of Exodus, the ashes of the red heifer is ordained, which is also a perfect picture of what Christ accomplished on the cross:

As we read in Numbers chapter 19, the ashes of the red heifer are added to the water in the mikvah and the people who were unclean had to be washed in this mixture of water and ashes, then separate themselves. As we know, Jesus Christ's sacrifice provides for us the way to be sanctified and separated after sin.

The blood of the red heifer was to be sprinkled seven times onto the door of the tabernacle, and Jesus Christ, who said "I am the door", shed his blood seven times in seven different places on his body:

1. His face:

2. His head:

3. His back:

4. His left hand:

5. His right hand:

6. His left foot:

7. His right foot:

Another interesting parallel from the Old Testament with the New Testament transfer of the priesthood to Jesus in the order of Melchizedek is the theme of the seamless garment. As we read earlier, the garment of the high priest was a seamless one:

Jesus himself, believe it or not, was given a seamless garment by the Romans who were crucifying him. How could the Romans know they were fulfilling a type and shadow of Jesus Christ becoming the high priest of a new priesthood, providing him with a seamless robe just as the Aaronic high priest wore? They were going to tear his garment and divide it among themselves. But instead, they decided NOT to tear the garment, but instead cast lots for who would get to keep it:

As the high priest of Jerusalem, Caiaphas, tore his seamless robe and lost the priesthood, yet Jesus Christ's seamless robe was not torn, we see further evidence of the transfer of the priesthood to Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek.

Another element to add into the story occurs when Jesus actually died on the cross. At the moment Jesus died and his soul and spirit left his body lifeless, something happened at the temple:

Many overlook the significance of the veil of the temple tearing from top to bottom. This is the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the inner court of the temple. The veil was a curtain from floor to ceiling that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. The Veil represented the flesh of Christ, or, his humanity. This veil was 60 feet high, 30 feet wide and 3 feet thick. It was no ordinary feat to tear it in two. Hebrew customs tell us that the veil was actually called the "hem of God's garment".

The veil was replaced every two years, because the sun and wind would diminish it's beauty, and it was blood-stained which required it to be cleaned occasionally. According to the Talmud, 82 virgins would weave a new veil every two years, using 72 cords and 22 threads each.

That the veil is called the "hem of God's garment" is fascinating because, when Jesus died and the veil tore in two, God tore his garment at the temple, signifying the rending of the Levitical priesthood. Yes, God tore his garment, just as Caiaphas tore his robe rending the Aaronic priesthood. God was declaring that the Levitical priesthood was forever fulfilled by the death of his Son, the perfect high priest:

The veil represented the flesh of Jesus Christ, and as his body was torn and beaten for us, so the veil was torn away. This symbolized that, as children of God, we are NO LONGER separated from our Creator God and the Holy of Holies, and Jesus Christ was the forerunner into that holy place:

You may wonder how the writers of the gospels knew that the veil of the temple was torn. During certain feast days, the door of the temple was left open and one was able to see inside the temple. When the veil was torn, the Aaronic priesthood was officially severed from existence, and a new covenant through the blood of our new high priest, Jesus Christ, was established.

The final words of Jesus Christ on the cross included, "It is finished":

If you were to study Hebrew customs, you would discover that these same words were said by the high priest when offering a sacrifice at certain feast days, including Passover. The high priest would stretch out his arms and say "Naghid", which in Hebrew means "It is done". Jesus also had his arms stretched out, and as the perfect final sacrifice, he cried "It is finished". Yet more evidence of the transfer of the priesthood to Jesus Christ.

When Jesus Christ died and was taken off the cross, Joseph of Arimethea was given permission to take his body and put him in a new sepulcher that had never been used before. Nicodemus also went with Joseph, and he brought spices and linen clothes. These men took and wrapped the body of Jesus in the linen clothes as was customary for the Jews, and laid him in the tomb:

A large stone was rolled in front of the tomb, and guards were placed at the tomb to guard it. In the book of Matthew, we are told "a watch" was set up at the sepulcher. A watch is a group of Roman guards or soldiers:

Three days later, the two angels and a resurrected Jesus appearing at the opening of the sepulcher, and those watching the tomb were extremely frightened. Obviously had nothing more to watch, so they went running back into the city to tell the chief priests what had happened:

We also read that Mary Magdalene was the first to speak with the risen Jesus Christ. This occurred in the garden where the tomb was, and Mary turned around and thought he was a gardener. Obviously, Jesus was clothed, and probably clothed as a gardener:

We also read that the disciple whom Jesus loved looked into the tomb, and when Simon Peter went into the tomb, he saw the linen clothes lying on the ground, and a head napkin folded in a place by itself. Jesus had shed his graveclothes:

Let's look at the parties named in this story again:

1. Mary Magdalene

2. Simon Peter

3. Nicodemus

4. Joseph of Arimethea

5. the disciple whom Jesus loved

6. the guards

7. the two angels

8. Jesus

Here's the mystery to be explored: where did Jesus get the clothes he was wearing when Mary Magdalene met him in the garden? Which of those parties listed above could have given him the clothes he was wearing when Mary saw him? Unless he was standing there naked, he had to have been clothed, and Mary mistook him for a gardener. We know from the previous verses that Jesus was NOT wearing the clothes which Joseph and Nicodemus had wrapped him in. Nor are we told that Joseph left behind a change of clothes for Jesus in the tomb, thinking he would need them after he raised from the dead.

The prison guards didn't flee back to the priests naked, so Jesus did steal their clothes from them. Peter and the other disciple came after Mary Magdalene saw him clothed in the garden, and Mary saw him clothed. So, the only possible explanations of wear Jesus got his clothes are:

1. He just got them supernaturally, from God, or

2. The angels brought him the clothes

In Jesus time, the gardeners of those days dressed very similar, in linen, to how the high priest on Yom Kippur would when he entered the Holy of Holies once a year. It is very possible that the angels brought him his NEW HIGH PRIESTLY GARMENTS FROM HEAVEN, and Jesus was dressed as the high priest would be dressed on Yom Kippur. Why? Because, again, the priesthood at this point was completely transferred to Jesus Christ, and he was now functioning as the high priest of our profession:

Moving to the most important and interesting section of this teaching, we will now explore the statements Jesus made just after his resurrection when appearing to Mary and to his disciples. When Mary saw Jesus, but didn't recognize him, in the garden, he said something very interesting to her:

Jesus told her he could not be touched, because he hadn't yet ascended to heaven. Well, the casual reader would think Jesus was talking about his public ascension from the Mount of Olives forty days later. But this was NOT what he was referring to. How do we know? Because a few verses later, we read that Jesus appeared to the disciples only eight days later and said the following:

Now wait a minute: eight days earlier, Mary could NOT touch Jesus because he had not yet ascended to his Father in heaven. Eight days after the encounter with Mary, he tells Thomas to touch his body. Apparently, it is all right to touch him now, and he MUST HAVE ascended to his Father. This is how we know that he was NOT referring to his public ascension from the Mount of Olives forty days later! Sometime, during the eight days between the encounter with Mary where she could not touch him, and the encounter with the disciples where Thomas COULD touch him, Jesus SECRETLY ASCENDED to heaven!

But not only to heaven, but down to hell! Is there any proof of his descent to hell elsewhere in the scripture? Most definitely. But first, let's explore what he did when he ascended to heaven. In the book of Hebrews, we read the following:

An explanation of the importance of these verse is necessary. Verse 12 tells us Jesus "entered . . . the holy place" after he had obtained eternal redemption. As has been shown, the holy place in Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies was NOT what was being referred to. God tore his garment in tearing the veil, and the priesthood as completely transferred to Jesus on Calvary. No, this "holy place" was the one that is in heaven. Remember above we listed several verses that tell us there IS CURRENTLY a temple in heaven.

Jesus said in his Father's house were many mansions, and that he was GOING TO PREPARE A PLACE for us. This "place" was NOT the mansions - they were already there! The place Jesus was referring to was access to the throne of God through the new temple on earth: our physical bodies, the temple of the Holy Ghost:

Note the word "purified" in verse Hebrews 9:23 above? This is telling us that the heavenly articles of the tabernacle addressed earlier - the table, the altar of incense, the censer, the shewbread, the ark of the covenant, the candlestick - had to be "purified" by the blood of Jesus in heaven. Things that are already PURE do not need to be "purified". It follows, then, that those articles were defiled somehow, and stood in need of purification! Yes, the actual sacred furniture in heaven were DEFILED and required purification - not God or the angels, but the furniture of the tabernacle. When were they defiled? Recall the discussion of Lucifer's rebellion, and the sin of pride, that defiled the tabernacle in heaven. Jesus pure, sinless, royal blood was shed, not only to cleanse the sin of mankind, but also to purify the articles of the tabernacle in heaven of Lucifer's sinful pride! There is an interesting passage in Hebrews 12 that actually tells us there is "blood of sprinkling" in heaven, and there is no possible way this is any other blood than that of Jesus Christ:

Again, this blood is in the HEAVENLY JERUSALEM where Jesus Christ purified the sacred furniture of the tabernacle in heaven. This blood speaks better things than Abel's blood. Jesus himself said Abel's blood was RIGHTEOUS:

So, if Jesus himself calls the blood of Abel "righteous", and the blood of sprinkling in heaven speaks better things than that of Abel, what other blood than Jesus Christ's could this be? The actual blood of Jesus shed on Calvary, therefore, MUST have been collected somehow - possibly by the angels or by Jesus himself - and taken to heaven.

This also explains why the soul and spirit of the righteous people of God, when they died, could NOT enter heaven when they died. They went into a place called Abraham's bosom, a place in the heart of the earth, where they were able to see hell, till the heavenly throne room was cleansed with Jesus' blood. This is explained to us in the account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16:

Separating hell and Abraham's bosom was a "great gulf" over which you could not pass. Those in Abraham's bosom could see the people burning in the torment of hell, and vice versa. So, Jesus' purification of the heavenly things not only gives those living the power and boldness to come to the throne of grace with our prayers, but it opened up the heaven throne room to the souls and spirits of the righteous who died in covenant with God PRIOR to the death and resurrection of Jesus. As you may recall, Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be with him in paradise that same day. Paradise is another word for Abraham's bosom:

Next, we need to explore the proof elsewhere in scripture that he not only ascended to heaven to purify the heavenly articles of the temple in heaven, but that he also descended and went down into the earth. A controversial subject? Yes, but completely biblical. Here are the pertinent passages:

Special mention is necessary of the passage from Acts 2. Peter, full of the Holy Ghost, brilliantly expounds on what the psalmist was referring to when he said the Holy One would not see corruption. Peter explains that David, since he is dead and buried, and didn't rise from the dead, saw corruption. Therefore, the psalmist couldn't have been referring to David. Peter convincingly explains how the passage is most definitely referring to Jesus.

Clearly, we see that Jesus spent some time, specifically three days and nights, within the heart of the earth, preaching to the spirits in prison. When did this happen? This happened prior to Jesus ascension to heaven to purify the heavenly temple, prior to his visit with the disciples 8 days after his ascension, when Thomas touched his side - definitely prior to his resurrection from the dead into a glorious, incorruptible body. According to Jesus' own words, in the resurrection, we have bodies like angels:

And we also know that angels can transform themselves to look like human beings:

This will help to explain why Mary Magdalene may not have recognized Jesus in the garden after his resurrection from the dead. Another reason she didn't recognize him was because he may have had white hair. Jesus is described by John in his Revelation of Jesus Christ on the isle of Patmos as having this white hair:

During the three days Jesus physical body was dead in the grave, he descended into the earth, into hell, preached to the spirits in prison, and took the keys of hell and death from Satan. He had not yet, though, ascended into heaven to purify the heavens with his blood when he met Mary in the garden, which is why she could not touch him. But eight days later, after he had ascended to heaven to purify the temple articles, Thomas WAS able to touch him. Praise God for the revelation of his word!

Have you ever wondered why Jesus, after his resurrection and in his resurrected body, still had the scars on his hands and feet, and still had the hole in his side from the spear of the Roman soldier? If we think back to the covenant men of the past, the sign or mark of the covenant was a cutting of the male foreskin - a mark on the body through which the seed of the man passed when conception began to create a new life in the womb of the mother. Well, Jesus Christ was God's new covenant man, and he will bear those marks on his side for ETERNITY, as proof for any potential doubters in that eternal state, that he DID go to the cross, that he DID suffer and die for all of us. No one will be able to say Jesus did not suffer and die for us at Calvary:

Jesus, the new covenant man of the Melchizedekian priesthood, will bear the marks of the covenant for all eternity as evidence of his precious and holy sacrifice for you and I. If you haven't accepted Jesus Christ's new covenant sacrifice for your sin nature and prepared for soul and spirit for eternity, please do it NOW, today! Your never know whether today will be the day you breathe your last breath:

These prophetic insights and ideas are extremely interesting, and pertinent to the future of mankind. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, written by men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:21), therefore, I believe that all events prophesied in the Bible WILL come to pass.

The main reason for my presentation of these prophetic insights is to have readers understand that a time is coming when the righteous will be removed from the earth, and the wrath of God will be unleashed on those who did not accept his Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for their sins. Eternity is too long to spend away from God, in eternal hellfire instead of eternal paradise. Please don't delay....click the links below: