John 20:7

  This is a portion of scripture that I have heard taught in many ways. I agree with some and disagree with others.
  This is how I preached it in my home church and taught it at another I visited. I have also posted it on a few websites as follows. Decide for yourself.

John 20:7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

  This portion of scripture has been used to teach that the Lord will return for his servants using Jewish customs. I really can't say as I was not there in that day and I am not Jewish. At least not carnally.
  What does intrigue me is that when the Lord told the parable of the seed on four types of ground he was speaking primarily to poor people that were probably husbandmen. They probably walked away from the mountain thinking that Jesus taught them how to plant a seed in truth.
  Those who chose to forsake everything to follow Jesus as a disciple he took aside privately to explain the parable farther and deeper. They knew the carnal aspects as those who heard and left and then heard the deeper spiritual things revealed to only them.
  That is where the baptism of the Holy Ghost becomes so important. We can hear the carnal things by the spirit of man or we can go farther into the spiritual things by the Holy Ghost which seeks and reveals the things of God. The spirit of man will only seek the things of man sort of like the carnal sense of the parable of the seed.

  We know that Peter, James and John went with Jesus up into the mount when he was transfigured.
  Matthew 17 shows us that his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as light.
  The disciples were blessed to see the Lord as he appears in glory. Something many of us will have to wait to see. Something we will only see if we endure unto the end. In verse 9 Jesus told them to tell no man until he be raised from the dead.

  When Moses came down from the mountain we see that he covered his face with a veil so that the children of Israel could not see the glory of God upon him. In like manner we see this prophet like unto Moses who was veiled in flesh as a meek and lowly servant. The scriptures bear witness that his flesh is that veil. It hid the glory of God just as the badger's skins hid the gold within the temple and the veil his the glory upon Moses' face. Stephen bears witness when they saw his face as an angel. The angels of course are listed as being in the presence of God and being glorious.

  Bearing in mind that Jesus told the pillars of the church not to tell what they saw until Christ was raised I do believe that the Lord wants us to know that he does nothing for vanity or foolishness. He had a distinct purpose for laying that napkin aside in a place by itself. A spiritual reason that he knew Peter would recognize. That it was time to tell what he beheld on the mount as the glory of God was now revealed in the ressurrection of His Son.

  2 Corinthians 4:6 says that For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

  The Glory of God is that light of life whereby all who believe on the only begotten Son of God shall have eternal life. That very Spirit of Life in Christ that has made us free from the law of sin and death. Not to all. But to those who walk after the Spirit as Romans 8:1 says.

  I guess Israelis could see the carnal aspects of a master folding his dinner napkin to shew a servant he will return but I don't exactly like to teach that which the Spirit hasn't revealed unto me.
  When I see that Jesus folded that napkin he was telling the very one who denied him three times that it was time to declare what the glory of God is!

  It is important to note that Jesus showed that to Peter. Under the law three witnesses established a matter. When Peter denied the Lord three times I imagine satan has a field day with him reminding him that he sealed his fate. The Lord said those who deny Him he would deny before his Father and the angels.
  What a testament to the mercy of the Lord!
 
  It is also worth while to note that when Peter stepped into that sepulchre he stepped out in faith again like the others would not. The boat was the first time. I wonder if he hadn't stepped out if the Lord might have just passed them by!
  When Peter stepped into that sepulchre there wasn't a priest around that would have offered a sacrifice for him if the Lord's body was laying there dead! They hated the Lord and they hated all who truly followed him!
  Like Abraham, Peter showed a faith that makes me ashamed. In a sense they were tried to the point of taking their very promise of salvation and throwing it away while trusting the Lord to save them anyway.
  It sure makes my stepping out in faith seem small. But it also makes the "seed faith" of the prosperity word of faith movement seem all the more blasphemous!
 
  I truly believe that the Lord shewed more than His return. I believe He shewed something that cannot be seen unless revealed by the Spirit.

  May God bless,

  Tiffany