Last week is what many Christians around the world consider “Holy Week.”  It began on Palm Sunday and ended with Resurrection Sunday.  On Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem as we see recorded in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 21:1-11.  Prior to entering Jerusalem Jesus told some of His disciples to enter a village named Bethphage and to bring to Him a donkey and her colt.  He also told them what to say to the people who may question them as to why they were taking the animals; they were questioned and they answered them what Jesus told them say.

Verses 4 and 5 tell us that this fulfilled what Zechariah 9:9 prophesied.  “This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”  Thus begins the last week of life for Jesus upon the earth before His death at the end of the week.  He enters Jerusalem to the pomp and circumstance of the public crying out; “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”

Of course this stirred the people up in Jerusalem and many were wondering what was going on and wanted to know who it was riding in on this colt.  “And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.’”  This was definitely an understatement, which would be proven at the beginning of the next week.

Jesus’ final week on the earth was filled with tidying things up a bit in the temple along with miracles and continually teaching the disciples about Himself and His Father’s kingdom.  And in the gospel of Matthew we see a long instruction on the end of the world and who will be in the kingdom of His when all is done here upon the earth.

In the second half of Matthew 26 we see Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, betrayed and arrested, tried and denied.  Much of this was foretold by Jesus earlier in  chapter 26 when He told the disciples that He would be deserted by them according to the Old Testament prophecy Zechariah 13:7; “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.”

Matthew 27 does not get better for Jesus or His followers.  Jesus is taken to Pilate the governor of that area and demanded that He be put to death.  Pilate is baffled both by the reason the religious leaders brought Jesus to him and that Jesus doesn’t defend Himself against all their accusations.  Just before Pilate released Barabbas, an accused felon, back into public life Pilate’s wife sent word to him that he ought to do nothing to Jesus because she was haunted by a dream she had the night before.  It would have been wise at the time to listen to his wife but he was more concerned about his public image than listening to his wife.

After Pilate was swayed by the now contrary crowd; now this was probably the same crowd that hailed His entrance into Jerusalem earlier in the week.  My how crowds are fickle.  The crowd now wanted His death and that death would be done by crucifixion.  So Jesus is now in the hands of His accusers and He is lead away to be further mocked and then brutally crucified.

The Lord Jesus Christ was nailed by spikes upon a wooden cross that was not smooth as our culture makes it but more like the hymn, “The Old Rugged Cross.”  He hung there on our behalf for about six hours then He gave up His Spirit for His work was done.  Jesus shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary so that our sins could be washed away.  The only way that a person can have their sins washed away by His blood is to receive Him as Savior.

Then Jesus was laid in a borrowed grave for over a period of three days and then the most marvelous activity took place.  Jesus Christ rose from the grave just as He said He would.  Read carefully from the following passage from the gospel of John 10:14-18: “I am the good shepherd.  I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd.  For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.  I have authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again.  This charge I have received from My Father.”  There it is!  Jesus certainly has all authority because He voluntarily laid down His life in place of man and then He had authority to raise Himself from the dead.  Why?  Because that is what His Father wanted and directed in eternity past.  Not only did the Father want this but so did the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So Jesus lies now in the grave of Joseph of Arimethea and the disciples go into hiding for they are scared of what might happen to them also.  Peter is probably in the worst shape for he denied he even knew Jesus.  This was also taken into account and Jesus reconciled Peter to Himself before the others.  (On a side note: I cannot even imagine the emotional pain Peter was in following his denial of Jesus.  I often wonder if I would have felt the same way Peter did.)

Then the most magnificent event takes place three days after Jesus was crucified.  He rose from the dead!  Here is the most important fact of Christianity and what separates Christianity from all other religions – the resurrection.  Resurrection simply means that one was raised from the dead never to die again.  Jesus was the first and then His Church will be at the end of time.  Praise be to God!  Jesus arose from the dead victorious over the grave and sin.  No other major religion in the world has a crucified and risen Savior!  Christianity is unique in this regard.  People may argue it until they are blue in the face but nothing can change the historical fact of Jesus rising from the dead!  He is not only a “prophet,” but He is also Savior, King and ultimate Priest.

For God so loved the world that He went to the extent of sending His one and only Beloved Son down to an earth that wanted nothing to do with God, let alone His Son.  He knew this from eternity past but He sent Jesus so that humankind would not be condemned, but be reconciled to God through believing in the finished work of Calvary where Jesus hung and shed His blood on our behalf so that we could be righteous before a holy God.

So during this most holy season and holy week will you not receive His gift of eternal life?  Do it now and be eternally saved and blessed.

 

Thanks to our Guest Contributor:

Pastor Ray Peters

Harvest Alliance Church

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