Fifty Point Seven Days

By Joe Gladwell

At first glance, this book may appear, to many people, to be “an Easter book.” Although the author deeply respects these sentiments, the truth of the matter is that this is, in fact, a Jesus book. In addition to covering the most significant highlights of what ends up being the most important two months in the history of planet earth, the author also puts forth an implied riddle, as to the exact moment that the law of Moses gave way to Christianity. Author Joe Gladwell, quite late in the book, takes his very best guess as to when this moment came. Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781662404566

Book preview

PART ONEPart One:

Into Thy Hands

The phrase Into thy hands I commend my spirit appears not only in Luke 23:46; it also appears in Psalm 31:5. These were, in fact, part of Christ’s dying words on Calvary’s cross as he was at a point that many physicians refer to as perimortem, that word meaning at or near the time of death. It breaks my heart when I think critically of this moment in time because it is sad enough when a good person dies, let alone Jesus the Christ. It does seem apparent enough that this statement, as it appears in Psalm 31:5, has a double meaning, the second of those meanings being a spiritual device to point ahead in time to the dying moment of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.

I would like to take this opportunity to admit an honest mistake that I made in a debate that I had against Dr. Lloyd Olson on the subject of water baptism, this debate having taken place around December of 2012. I got into too big of a hurry with my typing (it was indeed a written debate) and ended up quoting Christ as having said, Into my hands do I commit my spirit, something to that effect. However, it is obvious that God’s Word teaches Christ to have committed his spirit to God the Father, not to himself. God is indeed the three-in-one Tri-unity (the Trinity); however, Jesus, at that incredibly important moment in time, did in fact commit his spirit unto God the Father and thus died for the sins of the world.

Is there anything other than this into thy hands statement that Jesus took it upon himself to utter, post-eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani, before giving up the ghost? Indeed there is, and this particular statement should be quite familiar to Bible students far and wide. This statement that we see coming from the mouth of our Lord and Savior at his dying moment are the three timeless words it is finished. Although this statement also, as with the into thy hands statement just discussed, clearly has a double meaning, the most apparent meaning of this three-word phrase has to do with the very familiar business principle of "paid in full. There is no serious doubt that when Christ uttered the three highly consequential words it is finished" (John 19:30), he was acknowledging two very important truths, as to what was occurring at that very moment: (A) Christ’s massive ordeal of suffering was about to end, and (B) although it would take some time to activate the benefits of the blood just shed (transitions always take time), the price of the world’s sins was indeed now paid in full. Praise be to the one true God for this fact. Christ’s suffering was now ending. Jesus had truly paid a debt that no one but he could have paid. Although Jesus was always more than human, he did take upon himself human form for thirty-three years and was thus the only human to have lived a truly flawless life.

At this dying moment on Calvary’s cross, the veil of the temple was rent in twain (Matthew 27:51). This was no less than a miraculous (and thus supernatural) occurrence, not only due to the fact that it occurred without human assistance of any kind, but the utter and sheer thickness of this curtain indeed required monumental force in producing any kind of a significant rip, let alone what actually did occur, along these lines (torn entirely in two). And clearly, even more important than this physical drama was and is the fact that the most apparent meaning behind the rending of this hugely thick veil in twain is the fact that the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile was in the process of being broken down, a process that is mentioned in Ephesians 2:14. (Sidenote: There is some likely numerical providence in place for at least some of us with this just-mentioned Ephesians passage, especially those who love football. Ephesians 2:14? Two touchdowns with their extra points equals fourteen points.) But getting back to that all-familiar veil of the temple: It is highly significant that the purpose of this veil was to be a deterrent to entering the holy of holies, to those who were not Levitical priests. It would thus serve as a keep out warning to those who had not the authority to enter into that truly holy and restricted part of the temple. This adds up to the vast majority of human beings who lived during the Mosaical dispensation of time, even the extremely late part of that period. And although this middle wall of partition would not be truly dismantled between the Jews and the Gentiles for approximately eight more years into the future (the events of Acts chapter 10), it is apparent enough to us today that this middle wall of partition was, in principle, well on its way out. It is also appropriate that the Christian dispensation began nearly a decade before the Gentiles were spiritually let into the mix. There is a very key and eternal principle at work here, with regard to the ripping of this well-known veil: sometimes a given thing occurs