Jason (2:05)

That's what it says.

Al (2:07)

Did you know that?

Zach (2:07)

However, I did not know that. Well, Jason, you didn't know that till you looked it up, though, right?

Jason (2:13)

But you already know there was a re. No, I didn't know it, but there was a reason I didn't use it because I didn't know what it meant. What are we talking about? Paint some eggs, whatever. So I.

Al (2:23)

Which we didn't get into that with Melissa, but she talks a lot about it, apparently on her YouTube channel. But the idea that a lot of people, even inside Christianity, don't really understand that Easter is about the resurrection in Terms of.

Jason (2:39)

That's how we present it.

Al (2:40)

More about a traditional.

Jason (2:41)

According to this al. According to the 7th century historian Beatty, the name was originally given to the month of Easter month, April, before being adopted for the Christian celebration of the

Al (2:59)

Resurrection, the Resurrection Feast.

Jason (3:03)

So I call it Resurrection Day. But. But then I always say every day's Resurrection Day for a follower of Jesus.

Al (3:12)

Well, it's kind of. You get into the same sort of argument, and certainly we've had that. That from, like, about Christmas too. Like, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but it's not. And then you kind of have the same stuff because is it Santa Claus and the gifts, or is it the birth of Christ? What are we celebrating?

Jason (3:31)

Exactly. But we should be celebrating this every day. I'm not opposed to it because you do have some people who. Some people. I mean, I think the most attended day of a church gathering is Easter Sunday. More people come on that day than any other. Unfortunately, a lot of them never come back until next year. And that's just the way our culture is.

Al (4:00)

Yeah, they call it, what. They call it the Lily. The Lily Holiday. They only come on Easter Sunday or Holly and Lily on Christmas Eve.

Jason (4:08)

My take is coming from when I came to the Lord. Here I am, 14 years old, reading the Book of John. When I got to the death of Jesus part, I was like, oh, no, this is terrible. What are they doing? I mean, I read the whole book with an open mind. I wasn't in church. I was sitting on my bed. It was only when I got to the resurrection that then the cross made sense to me. I thought, oh, oh, it's like it went backwards to make sense of this act on the cross. And so that's what I find illuminating. It's like this guy, now he's making all these claims, he's doing all these things, but once he came back from the dead, to me, that was the

Al (4:58)

game, which I kind of do. Like the fact that the. The Resurrection Sunday is the bigger celebratory than, say, the Good Friday, even though the whole kind of three days go together. Because you can't, you know, they all. They all fit into the plan, but it is the bigger celebration that he raised rather than the fact that he died. Even though, of course, we honored by the fact he died or we still.

Jason (5:24)

Well, that's my point. You don't. That's why you can't detach that as far as. Because the resurrection then gave you a picture. There's something special about this guy who was on the cross, but it doesn't hit you until he came back from the dead. And you're like, oh, wait, how did this happen? Who is this guy that really made me want to dig deeper.

Al (5:51)

But you couldn't have the resurrection without the death, so obviously they go together. Is that where the eggs come in, Zach? Because where did the Easter eggs.

Zach (6:01)

I'm not sure where the eggs come in, but I. But I will say. I'll say this, that what's interesting about what you just said is think about the fact that if you say, well, where. Where is the tomb of Jesus? I mean, no, he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, who was a rich man's tomb and all that, but where is that tomb? And the answer is, we don't know.

Al (6:23)

Yeah.

Zach (6:24)

And the reason why we don't know is because we don't care. The reason why we don't care is because he ain't in it. He ain't in it.

Jason (6:31)

That'.

Al (6:32)

And there's probably been some other bones put in there over the interim that are there, but not him.

Jason (6:37)

I used this illustration before at some point, but if you just walk by, if you happen to be alive when Jesus was on the cross and you just walked by and was oblivious of who he was, you never met this guy. What do you see? It's something that they did all the time. The Romans crucified people. He. You saw three people on a cross. And what would you assume if. As you're walking by, well, those are criminals.

Al (7:04)

Yeah.

Jason (7:05)

They did something wrong and that's what happened. So I need to. I either need to not get caught

Al (7:11)

or, you know, or do something different.

Jason (7:15)

Yeah. You know, I need to assimilate to the Roman rule here. Because they'll kill you. Oh, yeah, that, that. That's all you're thinking now as you keep walking. You walk to a graveyard, and you go in their graveyards, they're just these rocks over little rooms. I've been to Israel.

Al (7:36)

Did you walk into the one that they do they claim this is.

Jason (7:39)

Well, they don't. They. They. I mean, they want you to pay your 15, $20 or whatever. So they're making a case. For now, we're not sure, but this is probably in the area. Yeah, yeah, but look, Al, that was the. I mean, I got goosebumps and my hair stood on because it was a

Al (8:00)

tomb somewhere around there that he walked out of.

Jason (8:01)

It happened when I came out because it's a. These. The way their tombs are set up, you're going through a small little rectangle I'm not sure.

Al (8:13)

I'm not sure I could do that.

Jason (8:15)

Well, I don't like it. I'm claustrophobic. But I'm glad I did, because when I. When I went in, no feeling, I looked around and thought, huh, that's a lot bigger than I would have thought. They have. They've carved out in the rock the place where they lay the body. It was crazy. The one I went in had two rooms, and you're down under the ground in a rock. When I stuck my head out, I got a feeling. I thought, this is what I believe. I believe he came out of this hole. Or something like that may not have been right here. And so what I'm saying, for my illustration, if you came by a tomb the way their tombs were and stuck your head in and there's no body. Now, I got a different feeling then, because on the cross, I'm thinking, okay, there's just a criminal. But then they're like, oh, the guy's body's not here. That's the same one that was on the cross. Well, now my perspective changed on when I walked by on the cross. I don't think he was a common criminal. Right. You've got this wrong. He came back from the dead. It's the only time this has happened in our history, human history. So that's why I think to minimize the resurrection in any way, even to name it from some sun goddess from wherever. Now I'm out on that. But now, look, I'm not going to make a big stink about it if the kids want to do some eggs. But I'm going to pull my kids off to the side and say, let me tell you something. This egg just should make you think that there was a human who claimed to be God, who, when they went to his grave site, body wasn't there. Which means we can live again. There's a way. We need to go find him, figure out who he is and go all in. That that's what I did with all my kids.

Al (10:08)

Yeah. No, that's good. And. And I've never been one to. Because some people say you shouldn't highlight the resurrection. You should do it every week or whatever. Same with Christmas. But I don't want to have business of not being celebratory. But at the same time, I think you're right. I think you always need clarity.

Jason (10:27)

Yeah.

Al (10:28)

And words get attached to stuff. You know, I never knew what Easter meant, the word, or where it came from. It's like Halloween is similar with the hallowed. You Know all that.

Jason (10:37)

Well, look, the bot is. People did that to make money in our culture because then you sell a bunch of whatever theme you. It's a branding thing and we just kind of like went along with it and.

Al (10:50)

Okay, well, I was, that's why I was wondering about the Easter egg. If that's just something that just. I don't know where that came from because, you know, bunnies don't lay eggs. So it wasn't a part of the same narrative. But I just thought if you were going to explain it, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Which is kind of the old question, you know, like the philosophical question. I think about that when I think of the resurrection and the crucifixion as we just described it. You can't have one without the other. So a lot of kids today, Jays hear about Easter and they only think about, you know, chocolate bunnies and candy and egg hunts. And these are fun traditions, but Easter is about God's love for us.

Jason (11:32)

I mean, I call it Resurrection Day. A good way to remind yourself is to read some about the resurrection and pour that into your kids.

Al (11:42)

Exactly. And that's why our friends at Brave Books, who we love, just released a new children's book called the Day that Made the Way. And it was written with the Christian apologist Melissa Dougherty. It helps families walk their kids through the real meaning of Easter, why our sin separates us from God, and how Jesus, death and resurrection opened the door for us to be saved forever. The story follows little creatures who live in darkness until light finally comes into their world. It's an easy way for kids to understand truths like sin, salvation, and why Jesus came for us. Melissa wrote it to help parents and grandparents start those gospel conversations early so the next generation grows up with a solid foundation in scripture. So we love these guys and we're wanting you to join in as well. When you join the Brave Book Club, you'll get the Day that Made the Way completely free. Plus a brand new faith based children's book every month to help families raise kids who know God's truth. Just go to bravebooks.com easter that's bravebooks.com easter

Jason (12:49)

well, that's what I'm saying, though. What came first? The chicken and the egg. When it comes to Easter, what came first is a chocolate maker saying, we'll make an egg full of chocolate and sell it if we can get them

Zach (13:00)

to celebrate this holiday, if we can monetize it. 19th century. The tradition of chocolate eggs began in 1870. In the 1870s, and wow, Easter egg roll started in 1878, but it goes back. This is from Maddie, our producer. She sent this over. Symbolism. Eggs have a long symbolized. They've long symbolized new life, fertility, and rebirth in ancient spring festivals and cults. And then the Christian tradition. Eggs were forbidden during Lent, so people decorated them to mark the end of the fasting period and celebrated by eating them on Easter.

Jason (13:42)

See, it's very interesting, but it's all a distraction from the resurrection of Jesus. When I think of an egg.

Al (13:48)

So you couldn't eat them, so you colored them. That was because they were taken off the 40 days to eat eggs, which.

Zach (13:54)

Yeah.

Al (13:54)

Oh, I would be in serious trouble because PhD died. I eat a lot of eggs, so I don't think I could go 40 days without eggs.

Jason (14:02)

I ate them every day.

Al (14:03)

I do love them.

Jason (14:06)

So there you go, Zach, are we all in agreement now? Have we found something we can agree on?

Zach (14:11)

We can agree on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and. And the coming resurrection of the dead, which would be us.

Al (14:18)

We kind of have our latest tradition here at our church, the last probably 10 years, is we kind of tie the whole weekend together, like they'll do. You know, Palm Sunday was like the week when Jesus came into Jerusalem, which we've talked a lot about. The idea of the king coming in that started, you know, a week prior to his death. And so we kind of start talking about it the week prior. And then there's something planned almost every day in different formats of people at our church, the children do a thing, and they've got a big thing walk through with Jesus. And then Friday night, which is kind of symbolic of the crucifixion, which is Good Friday, celebrate recovery meets on that night. And so there's a big thing they do about the idea of putting to death the old man and the old woman, which is really cool. And then Sunday, of course, we celebrate the resurrection in some format in terms of us being together. Specifically talking about this year. Mike and I are preaching together and we're going to. I want to talk about the. And I hadn't put it together yet, but I want to talk about the effects of the resurrection of Jesus to us, which we don't talk about a lot. We talk about his resurrection and what it means that we can live forever. But what does that mean for us? What is it going to look like for us, which we talk a lot about.

Jason (15:40)

You should go to 1 John, do it all.

Al (15:43)

That's what gave me the idea.

Jason (15:45)

1 John 3 when he appears, we shall be like him. What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Al (16:04)

Yeah, that's exactly. That's the scripture of the day. That's exactly what gave me that thought.

Jason (16:10)

Do you make a favor and work in him eating fish, Post?

Al (16:13)

Oh, it's going to happen, Captain, because I thought back to the things he did, and that's going to be the gist of the lesson, is that these are all things that, I mean, we're assuming that we will be able to

Jason (16:26)

do, because, look, he didn't just do it once. I actually had somebody say, why you keep bringing that up? But he ate some fish. Because people don't like where I go with that. Evidently, they brought it to my attention with about duck hunting forever. They're like, oh, no. I mean, that's because. What about the animals? They're all going to make it, too. And I'm like, well, he made a point. Point, because he organized the fishing operation in John 20. But he also, in one of the other accounts, they didn't believe out of joy and amazement. So he said, do you have anything here to eat? And they gave him a piece of fish. So that was twice that he ingested a fish for some reason.

Al (17:11)

Yeah.

Jason (17:12)

So I get it that they didn't think he was real. I mean, even though they're looking at him, it is beyond our comprehension. I mean, Al, if you pick somebody, I mean, like, if our dad walked in in five minutes and said, hey, boys, y' all got any fish around here? Well, you know, your first reaction as a human being would think, well, this is an impersonator, wouldn't you? Yeah, you wouldn't think, oh, he's back. You just wouldn't think that. And I think that's why the story is what it is. But what really intrigues me is him asking for that fish.

Al (17:59)

And you're right. On multiple occasions.

Jason (18:02)

Multiple occasions. So he was trying to get them to see there's a new body that has some Earth component. Because if you don't have that, you can't be eating any fish.

Al (18:16)

Because the assumption that you made earlier was people go back to the garden, and they're like, see, there was a relationship here. Because, remember, the animals are there. Adam names them, and you don't see anything until later about the dread of the wild animals.

Jason (18:30)

And that's Genesis 9, the birthplace of hunting when you use it. But he also says in that same chapter, there's going to Be an account for every blood that is shed. And he's like animals and humans. Which is why I'm always a respectful hunter. Because I've read that and I've used that with people who I think are hunting in a disrespectful way.

Al (18:51)

But you know, it doesn't say anything about fish from in the garden setting.

Jason (18:56)

I mean, well, they were part of the creation.

Al (18:58)

That's what I'm saying. I mean, they could have been eating fish at the very least. If we're assuming they were vegetarians, at least they were pescatarians.

Jason (19:05)

Now, I don't think they any. I don't think any animal died. Well, outside skins made when it says the covering. So you assume that there was some kind of sacrifice made there. I've heard people give a taste.

Al (19:21)

Zach, you made that point for it.

Zach (19:22)

That's post fall. I mean, so post fall you have.

Jason (19:26)

I know, but my point is, Zach, before you answer is Genesis 9. It seems to be a change in the animal world. Yeah, because then he said, from now on. Well, that means this wasn't happening. So here's a new beginning. Anything that walks, crawls, flies or swims, I'm giving you a paraphrase. He said. I mean, do you want to just read it?

Al (19:50)

Yeah.

Jason (19:51)

I mean, we're there. We're doing a Bible study here. I have quoted this verse so many times.

Al (19:58)

Well, there's different levels now. So you have vegetarians, you have vegans, which can eat anything but plant based. But then you got pescatarians, which I didn't know about that.

Jason (20:09)

This is going to answer all this till our show.

Al (20:12)

I'm just saying laying out for the audience. There are varying degrees of people's eating.

Jason (20:16)

So, okay, what happened right before Genesis 9? We have to get the context. There was a flood. The flood. Well, and give me some more details.

Al (20:27)

Well, then there was like a year on the ark.

Jason (20:30)

I know, but who was on the ark?

Al (20:32)

No, and his family and all.

Jason (20:34)

And all these animals.

Al (20:36)

And not just pairs, some were seven of them because some would be sacrificed later.

Jason (20:42)

So it seems like this is a. This is some kind of. I was going to say Walt Disney movie, but they wouldn't run that. So it seems like a cartoon, like where all the animals and the people, this family are kind of having a Kumbaya survival. Everybody's getting along.

Al (21:02)

And God obviously directed the animals to come for Noah to gather up.

Jason (21:06)

Something was going on here. So my point is they're not eating chicken on the boat. The two chickens are safe if. Whatever form of chicken.

Al (21:18)

But would they eat the eggs? Well, that's a good point of my philosophy.

Jason (21:23)

All right, I want to read this. So then God blessed Noah and his son, saying to them, be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. So now we're back to where this all started with the humans. But then this comes up. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hands. Okay, so.

Al (21:57)

So it almost sounds like nothing was until this moment.

Jason (22:00)

That's what it seems.

Al (22:01)

That's what it seems like.

Jason (22:02)

And there's four categories I've forgotten. It's a very hard read the way. I mean, this is niv. I don't know if there's a better read, but think about what it actually says. He says to human. The human family. The fear and dread of you will fall upon. And he lists four food groups. Now, I'm getting the cart before the horse. He's going to call them food in a second. But four animal clans. The beast of the earth. So I'm thinking elk. Yeah.

Al (22:41)

Buffalo.

Jason (22:42)

Mule deer. There's a what? A beast.

Al (22:45)

A lot of bees.

Jason (22:46)

Yeah, all these things. All the birds of the year. So that's another group. Anything that flies, that'd be your.

Al (22:53)

Your Bob White quail, your doves, you

Jason (22:56)

got walkers, you got flyers.

Al (22:59)

Yeah.

Jason (23:00)

Now here's where the. The Cajuns perked up upon every creature that moves along the ground. Anything crawling on crawfish?

Al (23:10)

Yeah.

Jason (23:12)

Lizards, whatever. Anything crawling.

Al (23:15)

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Jason (24:45)

then the fish of the sea. So there's all your. Anything that swims.

Zach (24:51)

That's just think swim.

Jason (24:52)

Oysters, crawlers, flyers, walkers.

Al (24:55)

Yep.

Jason (24:56)

Everything that lives and moves, let's say

Al (25:02)

that covers care of.

Jason (25:03)

Everything else will be food for you. You're like, this is in the Bible.

Al (25:11)

It's crazy.

Jason (25:13)

Just as I gave you the green plants. So there's your. I guess. Is that the pescatorians or vegetarians?

Al (25:21)

That's the vegetarians and the vegans. Yeah.

Zach (25:24)

All right.

Jason (25:24)

I now give you everything. Now then he. But then he says, but you must not eat meat that has the lifeblood still in it. So that's why we get into cooking and things. And for your lifeblood, I will surely demand an accounting. And I will demand an accounting from every animal. So that's why I said that. That's where I got that. What does all that mean? What it sounds like that's what society is.

Al (25:50)

Yeah.

Jason (25:50)

And so that was the birthplace of hunting, is what. What I.

Al (25:54)

And it is interesting, to your point, that a glorified, resurrected Jesus participated in the groups.

Jason (26:02)

Yeah. Now, I do believe, like Zach said, sin contributed to this and the fall of man. And there's an obscure passage in Leviticus 7 that. I mean, 17. 17 or 18. Read it in there. You'll see it. That when they gave the animal sacrifices that he called that gifts from God. And I think that's the same thing here. God made them. And he's like, I'm giving you gifts despite your rebellion against me, but you can hunt them. That's where I said the hunting is where it said the fear and dread will fall upon these. Now, we domesticate animals and everything, but if you take an animal and put him out in the woods and leave him alone for a. He's scared of humans. You're like, why? Because they're trying to eat him. And so I think it's an evidence.

Al (26:53)

And even a domesticated animal goes feral is what we call it if they're out on their own. Yeah.

Jason (26:58)

Well. And how did the author of this thousands of years ago know that?

Al (27:04)

Yeah.

Jason (27:04)

Isn't that something?

Al (27:05)

Yeah, it's fascinating.

Jason (27:06)

Yeah.

Zach (27:06)

I think it's amazing. But it is interesting that I Mean, I think one of the things I love about that picture of Jesus eating, though, is that, you know, in the last podcast, she was talking about the New Age movement, and she used a term called esoteric.

Jason (27:23)

Tell us what that means.

Zach (27:25)

It's like a hidden special knowledge for like a private person or private group. And then. And there's another term called Gnosticism that she'd mentioned, which is. We've talked about that on the podcast a lot. Which is kind of the view that everything's spiritual and the. And whatever's physical. Ah, that's all going to hell in a hand basket.

Jason (27:43)

That's.

Zach (27:43)

I don't worry about the physical.

Al (27:45)

Flesh is bad, spirit is good. But what.

Zach (27:48)

Yeah, but what you see in the resurrected Jesus, you see a couple things that are very important to the Christian faith. That the Christian faith alone has the highest view of the physical world than any other worldview. Nancy Piercey wrote a book on this called Love Thy Body. And her point in the book is essentially that, that Christianity actually holds a very high view of the human body and to the point where, well, one, God incarnated into a human body. Two, when that body was murdered and killed, God brought it back to life in a glorified way. So obviously, the physical body is extremely important because the center of the Christian faith is a bodily resurrection. And then more so that bodily resurrection still does things like eat. It still eats. And I think that is one of the most earthy, tangible things that we can hold on to. Because when I grew up hearing about heaven and I don't know, I don't think the church taught this. It's just what I heard. I imagined floating on a cloud somewhere as, like, almost like a ghost.

Al (29:06)

Ethereal.

Zach (29:07)

I tried. I do.

Al (29:08)

What eth real.

Zach (29:10)

That's how I imagine it. Yeah, I imagine we were just kind of floating or. And I. I just couldn't quite get an imagination for that. And so my, my.

Al (29:17)

You could only eat fluffy things that didn't really have a substance.

Jason (29:21)

Yeah.

Zach (29:21)

Like cotton candy. It's like, I don't. I try to imagine that world, and I was like, I couldn't imagine it. And so my mom.

Al (29:28)

And it didn't sound like, so awesome to, like, be there for eternity when

Zach (29:32)

you describe it, but it did sound. It did sign sound better than eternal conscious torment.

Jason (29:38)

Yeah.

Al (29:39)

Hell, yeah.

Zach (29:40)

And so the motivation was I didn't want to go to hell and that. That sounded a lot better than being tormented forever. But I never really had the motivation, like, honestly, for what is the. What is what Is heaven, What does it really mean? And that probably came later on in my, in my Christian walk as I began to understand the kingdom of God. I didn't. But I couldn't understand the kingdom of God until I first understood that bodily resurrection is the key to the whole thing. Jesus's resurrection is a key to the whole thing. So if Jesus is enjoying fish, what does that tell you about. About we're back to the garden. Now this looks a whole lot like the garden. I give you every seed bearing tree you can eat from any tree in the garden you guys can have. I want you to eat. I put you here to cultivate this garden and go eat. Go have a beast. And so what Christ does is in his and or what the Father does by resurrecting Christ from the dead, he's actually restoring us back to Eden. And Christ is, is a, he's the, a forerunner in that he's the firstborn of the new creation. And so we look at him as a proto not. He is not just a prototype. He's like the, he's the, he's that cornerstone. And we can, we can latch on to him knowing that this will be our future destiny.

Al (30:56)

But remember to say is the flood. It's kind of like we're talking about with the crucifix and the resurrection. The flood ties in to the garden because once you have a post sin world and we've also talked about this interaction between the other beings, angels, Satan, all that. And we know there was some cross pollination going on. And so the flood was six. Yeah. So the flood was an extinction event to change the results at least temporarily on the earth until Jesus got here of what happened because of sin in the garden. Don't you agree with that? So the fact he changes. Not only was it all these people died, I mean think about it. Whoever was alive at that point died except for one family. So it was a mass extinction I believe to get rid of the effects of this cross pollinization between the sons of God and the sons of man and this, you know, whatever was happening there with these Nephilim and whatever was happening on earth.

Jason (31:56)

But it did say in Genesis 6 when he talked about the Nephilim and the. We're getting kind of deep here.

Al (32:02)

I know, I know it did say

Jason (32:03)

that they would be there after.

Al (32:08)

And obviously there were still some genetic, there were still some genetic things because you still saw some of these giants. I'm saying there was a direct extinction event for a reason. So it makes sense to me that Then God would even change the way we view animals going forward, because it had changed. The garden was idyllic.

Jason (32:26)

Right?

Al (32:26)

I mean, without sin, it was an eternal setting in and of itself. As long as they keep eating from the tree of Life, they were going to live forever.

Jason (32:34)

All right, I got to read this. Well, we are just going down one rabbit hole.

Al (32:38)

I mean, it's just. It's charting its own course.

Jason (32:41)

Genesis 6, it says, when men began to increase in number on the Earth and daughters were born to them. Then this curious phrase comes up. The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they married any of them that they chose. If you go do a rabbit hole on sons of God, you'll see that it's in other places. It's translated angels and. Big debate over all that. We won't get into that right now. But the fact is, some kind of supernatural being has decided, which I can't

Al (33:25)

blame them, to mate with humans.

Jason (33:27)

How beautiful human women are. And they're like, you know what? And they were not supposed to do that. God didn't want them to do that, but they did. So then the Lord said, my spirit will not contend with man forever. So one thing he did is lowered their days of how long they could live on the Earth. So it says, for he is mortal, his days will be 120 years. So before this, there were people living seven, 800 years on the Earth.

Al (33:56)

Almost a thousand. Yeah.

Jason (33:58)

So let me keep reading.

Al (34:00)

Which I think was. Again, this is my opinion that that was still the echo effect of whatever was happening from that tree of life. That's what I think. But go ahead.

Jason (34:10)

I agree. The Nephilim were on the Earth in those days. So all of a sudden bring up this group of people and also afterward.

Al (34:20)

Yes.

Jason (34:21)

So see, that's why I said, because those were the giants. They were deemed the giant. Think Goliath and all that. So evidently, these supernatural beings mate with humans, women. And it produced these giants, which muddled the DNA line.

Al (34:38)

It had to have done that, which

Jason (34:40)

is why we got a flood going on. Because God was like, no, we've lost control. I've given these angelic beings a way to choose. They've rebelled against me. Humans have rebelled against me. They've gotten together and really produced a lot of evil.

Al (35:01)

Right.

Jason (35:01)

I think it had reached a level of.

Al (35:04)

And remember how thin the thread is here, because the thread line now of humanity is down to one man and his family.

Jason (35:12)

Yeah.

Al (35:13)

I mean, we're down to one man, his family. But. But God's going back to the promise he made in Genesis 3:15, that there would be a son that would crush the head of Satan. Jace we talk a lot about the body as we get older.

Jason (35:30)

Every day is a struggle.

Al (35:32)

Al as you know, when I was at the end of 2024, I decided I wanted to try to lose some weight because I needed to. I've tried Keto, Paleo, Weight Watchers, nutrisystem, about everything out there. Eventually, when it comes down to just you and your willpower, you're probably going to fail. And that's why you need to understand something. It's about your metabolism. Your body naturally wants to burn fat, so you gotta tap into why it's not. And that's what they do. And they do it very well and they walk alongside you. That's what worked for me.

Jason (36:00)

And at the resurrection now it won't be as much to raise.

Al (36:04)

Exactly. So here's a picture of me at the beginning of that journey. Here's me with much less to raise today. If you see the picture at the end of this journey and look, it's been great, all jokes aside, it's. My health is better. I'm off of almost all of my meds. I don't have a CPAP machine in. I want you to try it. This is going to be your year. If you call now, they'll give you two free weeks in the program and pay for your food, which is great, so you can finally see real results without more trial and error. If you're done with yo yo dieting and you want clarity, call Ph.D. weight Loss now and mention Al, yours truly. No more guessing, just answers. Call 864-644-1900 and say ow. That's 864-644-1900. Or you can visit them at my Ph.D. weight Loss. I mean, that's a thin line. One line of humans.

Jason (37:00)

I want to read the verse 5, because it says the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, I will wipe mankind whom I have created from the face of the earth. Men, animals, creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air, for I am grieved that I have made them. But Noah found favor. So that's kind of how the story goes. I mean, look, in the scholarly world, there are some. Because you're like, well, he wiped mankind out. Some believe that it was a localized flood. You know, I'm not going to claim to be a scholar, but we had a reboot of some sort, and God chose a new family. We had Adam and Eve, and now we have Noah. But look, when we get to Abraham, guess what happens? We have another family that he raises up. He keeps rebooting over and over to ultimately bring Jesus to save the entire family.

Al (38:15)

And what's interesting, Jason, you look at it when you get to Jesus actually gets here and is glorified and ate that fish and went back to the right hand of the Father. And then in the interim, they had all these food laws and all this stuff about food in the Old Testament, Leviticus and other places. But then you get to old Peter, who's about to be sent to include the Gentiles now into salvation as a whole with his trip to Cornelius. And how does he illustrate to him that it's time to go preach to the Gentiles? He does it with his dad would say, a movie screen coming down out of heaven. Acts, chapter 10, which, guess what, that same list you read in Genesis 9?

Jason (39:01)

Same list.

Al (39:01)

See it again in Acts 10. And the idea is that everything I make is good.

Jason (39:07)

Yeah. He actually says, arise, kill and eat. The point I wanted to make is, which very few people talk about in the spiritual world, the importance of family being God's family. He created Adam and Eve to be his family forever. You have the tree of life here. And the only place you see the tree of life specifically is in Genesis. Well, then you see it in Revelation at the end where he starts talking about a new heaven and a new earth. And here's the tree of life again. And then in Proverbs, it's used because that's the wisdom chapter. But I would say that the cross of Jesus became, in a way, the tree of life again because of who was on it. Because by his death, then resurrection, life is now available and the garden is restored. Gardens restore. Because I want to read this. You brought up the actual bodily resurrection, the eating of fish. Zach made his comments. So when you go to Romans 8 and you read. This is so interesting, the wording of this. It's kind of mind blowing. And for years, I never could understand one specific verse in here. But in verse 9 of Romans 8, it says, you, however, are not controlled by the sinful nature or the flesh, but by the spirit. So at this point, you think, oh, the flesh is bad. And we're back to this Gnosticism. We Go, oh, God. He sends his spirit because your body's bad. But just keep reading. And it says, you're controlled by the spirit. If the Spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. And here's a verse I couldn't understand for years. But if Christ is in you, talking about the Holy Spirit of Christ in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness, which is why this special knowledge thing took off. Because of that. They're like, oh, this body's worthless. Well, just hang on. I mean, your body is dead. You're like, no, I'm alive, Jay. Oh, it's just. Hang on. Just give it a minute. It's dead. That's why I couldn't figure it out. I'm like, oh, no, I'm doing good. No. Every day that passes, I wake up with a steady reminder that this body has a.

Al (41:55)

The resurrection looms large.

Jason (41:57)

Abraham had it put this way. It's as good as dead, remember?

Al (42:03)

Yeah.

Jason (42:03)

And he has a God enables him to have a child. But that's the way it depicted his body. It was pretty much as good as dead. Yeah, well, your body's dead. So you say, Well, a lot of people, they can't wrap their head around that. So they're like, well, it's just not a mortal body. But watch what it goes on to say. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you. He's repeated that twice. Now, he who raised Christ from the dead, well, that's the same one who, when he was raised from the dead was eating fish, will also give life. Now, look what this is to your. I'm going to do my Phil Robertson impersonation to your mortal bodies. That's this one that's dead. Now, this body, he's going to give life to that. Just like Jesus had life to his mortal body. They're like, it's him. It's him. No, we don't believe it. Give me some fish. Let me show you.

Zach (43:11)

Which is why he says that I consider the sufferings of this present time, the decaying of this mortal body and the universe for that matter, are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. That's the new body.

Jason (43:26)

Well, that's where I'm headed with this. But look, the third time he says he's going to give life to your mortal bodies. The third time in this paragraph, through his spirit who lives in you. I mean, what you should walk away from this paragraph saying is I need the spirit of God in me, the spirit of Jesus in me, in your body. I mean in my literal body, because this thing's dead. So then look fast forward to where you were headed. And he starts talking about the earth being liberated from its bondage of decay. So he goes from the human body to the body of the earth and where does he start? 22, verse 20. He says creation was subjected to frustration not by its own choice. Remember there was a flood there because there's a lot of frustration, what's going on, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be liberated. Look from its bondage to decay this dead body. News flash. The earth's not going to. It's dying. You're like, oh well it looks great. No, it's going to happen.

Al (44:45)

No, trust me, the doom scrollers will tell you every day.

Jason (44:49)

Exactly. So then he's like, we know the whole creation has been groaning. But then verse 23, there's a transition. Not only so not only the earth has some brokenness and some death to it, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit, there's the it's living in you groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons. Well, how do we become sons of God? There's a comma there. And then these five words, the redemption of our bodies. We get a new body like Jesus body. This thing's dead and it was dead. Whether you believe or believe it or not. We're just living in a delusion. That's why so many people are out there doing some stupid things because they're like, man, I ain't going to be here long. I got to look at what's out here, you know. But there's a way. If you trust God, you have his spirit, you image him, share Jesus message to other people and it's like, hey, we don't have to die. The tomb was empty.

Zach (46:02)

It's hard to know who to trust when it comes to your health because there's a lot of competing noise out there. That's why I love Texas Superfood because our friend Dr. Dennis Black, he invented Texas Superfood 25 years ago. He did it to help people get the nutritional value that they need. It's got 55 vine ripened fruits and vegetables, probiotics and enzymes. A lot of people don't like to eat their fruits and veggies. If you don't, I'm telling you, this product is for you. Customers feel the difference in just seven days. More energy all day long. Mental clarity instead of brain fog. Better sleep. Just feeling better about your health overall. I've been taking Texas Superfood now for several months, and it makes me feel much better throughout the day. It's the real deal. It's the original superfood. Matter of fact, Texas Superfood is super easy to incorporate into your daily routine. Jill and I take it every morning. You can mix the powder in a more morning smoothie, or you can take the capsules on the go. There have been over 1 million bottles sold. That's not because they have some fancy marketing campaign. It's because real results create loyal customers. And so you guys too can be a loyal customer. Go check them out. Go to texasuperfood.com use discount code. Unashamed. You get 35% off your first order. Plus there's a 100% satisfaction guarantee. That's texas superfood.com discount code unashamed. And you have a job. I mean, I think that this all intersects very beautifully in Romans 8 with Genesis 1:2 and 3, because Genesis 1:28, you get the vocation of man. So I got a body. I'm Adam and Eve, we got bodies. What do we do with it? Well, you cultivate the earth and expand it. You cultivate the garden. The fall happens. And then all of a sudden, what happens to that vocation? What happens to that work? You get the curse in Genesis 3. And it basically says that the actual ground itself is cursed because of you in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Now, that wasn't the case until the fall. Before, it was like cultivate the garden. It was paradise. Work was great. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread until you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and the dust your return. So as you think about the curse, at least from the perspective of the earth, the earth would now produce thorns and thistles. We say, what did Jesus wear on his head whenever he was crucified? A crown of thorns. Jesus wore the curse of Genesis chapter three. He took on that curse. And so when you get to Romans 8 and it says the creation is actually groaning, and it waits with eager longing for the revelation of the sons of God, what Does yalls verse 19 say? How does yours say it, Niv?

Jason (48:57)

Romans 8, Romans 8, 19.

Zach (49:00)

Does it say the Liberation.

Jason (49:02)

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

Zach (49:09)

Now, think about that phrase. I love the way the NIV says it. The creation itself is waiting, and it's saying, we cannot wait to see the sons of God be revealed. The question is, why? Why would the creation wait? What are they waiting on? What is it waiting on? It's waiting on Genesis 1:28. It's waiting to be cultivated into the Garden of Eden. It's waiting for the whole globe to be transformed into the new heaven and the new earth by the bodies of human beings who are filled with the Holy Spirit. So creation is saying, the creation, it doesn't like to be in a bondage to decay. And the thing that's going to liberate that is our vocation in the new heavens and the new earth. That, to me, is very, very, very earthy and visceral. Love it. Fires me up to think about it.

Jason (50:03)

Thank you, Zach, because you've led me to a PSA public service announcement.

Al (50:11)

We need, like, PSA music for the world.

Jason (50:14)

This is groundbreaking. I'm making. I just had an epiphany. We need to change the name for Easter. And I got it.

Al (50:33)

Jace has proposed a new name for Easter.

Jason (50:36)

It's time for a change.

Al (50:36)

Time for a change.

Jason (50:37)

This is going Back to when? 18, 15, 60, whatever. Let's change it.

Al (50:41)

Well, that was the Easter robe.

Jason (50:42)

You ready?

Al (50:43)

Yep.

Jason (50:44)

Eager. Eager. We're gonna go celebrate Eager. Because we have kind of like, eager expectation.

Al (50:54)

Yeah.

Jason (50:54)

For the sons of God to be revealed. What do you think?

Al (51:00)

Plus, I love that. That broad. I love the broad picture you said about the creation waiting. It reminded me of what Paul said to the Ephesians. Listen to this one. Because it's more than just the earth. This is Ephesians 3:10. His intent was that now, through the church, the bride of Christ, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose, which he accomplished in Jesus Christ our Lord. So it's not even just the earth is looking and eagerly awaiting, but even the heavenly realms are looking at the same thing and saying, oh, boy, look,

Jason (51:42)

what we could do is get a little bucket of water, get an egg, and we'll baptize the Easter egg, and it'll come up eager, eager, eager. We'll give it a new name.

Al (51:55)

Happy Eager.

Jason (51:56)

Look, the marketing people get on board. You now have Eager make this happen. Maddie, look, if you have an eager egg and then a kid says, why is it eager?

Al (52:07)

Yeah. I Wanted Easter eggs.

Zach (52:10)

You could even have an eagle. You could have an eager bunny. Because. Because a bunny is part of the creation. Well, yeah, the bunny's eager for the sons of God. He's waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. You can have an eager egg. The eager. What's he. Why is he eager? He's eager, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. Why?

Jason (52:25)

Hey, baptize that bunny too.

Zach (52:29)

Baptize them all.

Jason (52:31)

I turned that Easter bunny.

Al (52:33)

Now I know the tagline for this episode Jace has renamed Easter.

Jason (52:36)

That's gonna be. I think we should do it. Look, I'm gonna tell my wife I hadn't seen her in 10 days. When she walks in, I'm gonna say, we have changed the name of Jason

Al (52:45)

may have the title for my Easter sermon.

Jason (52:47)

Now you need to get me up and I will give you a five minute dissertation. We are celebrating eager eggs and eager bunnies because we are in eager expectations for the sons of God to be revealed.

Zach (53:04)

This is the part that gets left out though, right? Because you. Because we think of Easter, we talk about the resurrection of Jesus, but it just kind of like falls flat sometimes because it's like, what is it all for? Like, I get. I get a life, but what is the quality of the life? And the quality of that life is you're going to be cultivating. And so when Jesus is. So if Jesus dies and he's wearing the crown of thorns, he's wearing the curse from Genesis chapter three on his head. He takes that curse on, he dies. He suffers death on our behalf for our sins. And then that's the story. The Apostle Paul's like, we are to be pitied more than all men. If that's where it ends, if it just ends at that, then great. Thank. Thank you, God for dying for me. Thank you. But we were. And Paul's argument is, if only for this life we have hope, we are to be pity more than all men. And he makes the case that essentially like this is all you got. You better just go after and get after it because it's going to be over so fast before you know it. I mean, nothing matters. But if the resurrection is true, then what that means is, is that not only was the curse defeated, it means that there's liberation now to the actual universe itself. The universe itself has been liberated through the resurrection of Christ. Not just that the curse was defeated, but it's restoration back to Eden.

Jason (54:34)

That's what I'm talking about. Let me give you some legs to this where we've been.

Al (54:38)

You got about a minute, Jason. We're almost out of time.

Jason (54:41)

Hebrews 2:11 both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.

Al (54:51)

I love this text.

Jason (54:52)

You go back to the families Adam and Eve, Noah and his family, Abraham and his family. He kept raising up families, so gets to verse 14. What kind of family are we talking about? Since the children have flesh and blood, Jesus too, shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil and Zack and liberate or free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Al (55:30)

So, and to just wrap this up, we'll put the bow on it for the second half of verse 11, which you did not read, that says so Jesus is unashamed to call them family, brothers and sisters. So he's unashamed of us, which is why we're unashamed of Him.

Jason (55:46)

Hey, let me be the first to tell you.

Al (55:47)

Happy, eager, happy, eager, Zach.

Zach (55:50)

Happy, eager.

Jason (55:51)

I hope this catches on. I'm doing it for the rest of my life.

Al (55:54)

And I want to thank Melissa Doherty, because if she had not been on our previous podcast, this podcast would have never happened. So it burnt the whole podcast. Thank you, Melissa. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.