An Aerial View of the New Testament - Part 4

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Well, as we continue our study of the New Testament and getting sort of an overview of it, I thought it would be appropriate tonight for us to look at the final week in our Lord's life. We have been looking at the gospel accounts and sort of flying across at 30,000 feet of all that's there, but just trying to present it in a way where you have your arms around the big picture of what's going on in the life and flow of the ministry of Jesus Christ. And I thought there would be no better way to end this Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, than sort of walking our way through that last week and seeing if we can learn some things that perhaps have not been so obvious in the past.

So, with that in mind, I want to begin by just reviewing for you that last year of our Lord's life beginning with Passover of 29 A.D. through Passover 30 A.D. when He was put to death. This is the third full year of public ministry – you remember, there was a half-year or so with His baptism and His temptation, up to the first Passover of His ministry, and then there were three full years – this is the third full year of His public ministry. This was, for about a month, the end of the Galilean ministry that had been going on for about eighteen months, and then the rest of this year, the bulk of this year, He spent about six months training the Twelve, and then about six months, the last six months of His ministry, in and out of Jerusalem for three great feasts. This final year was, for the most part, a time of sinking popularity and constantly avoiding the Jewish areas, because He had become a pariah to the Jewish leadership. So, for the final six months of Jesus' ministry, He was in and out of Jerusalem several times for three different feasts. This period is described in John 7:30 like this – "they were seeking to seize Him, and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come." That really summarizes this period of Jesus' ministry – He is dictating the terms and the time when He will die, and no one else.

Now during these months, Jesus enters Judea three separate times, and really, the city of Jerusalem, although the final time He doesn't actually enter the city itself. First of all, He goes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles – this is in John 7 through 10, and it was in November of the year before His death, so November of 29 A.D. He returns to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah, and that's recorded in John 10:22-39 in December of 29 A.D. So, mostly out of those areas, but He comes back in for these two feasts. And then, He comes one last time before the Passover near Jerusalem to Bethany. Bethany was just over the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem, only about two miles away, and there, He raises Lazarus. As I told you last time and I mentioned again this morning, this miracle was carefully calculated to supply the entire nation with one final great proof of Jesus' claims to be their Messiah. No one had raised the dead, and at the same time, said that that was evidence of His being the Messiah, and so this was proof positive, and that occurred about six to eight weeks before Passover. So, kind of get that in your mind, that timeframe, about six to eight weeks before Passover, Jesus comes to Bethany, two miles away from Jerusalem, and raises Lazarus from the dead. As a result of the raising of Lazarus, the Sanhedrin made its decision – I touched on this passage this morning, but I want you to turn again to John 11, I want to read a little more of it to you, because this is foundational for what's going to happen. As a result of Lazarus, here's what happens, John 11:45:

Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what Jesus had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. Therefore, the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council (this is an official meeting of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel under the Romans), and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

If this continues, we're going to lose our position, we're going to lose our power, we're going to lose our nation, the Romans are not going to allow us to have the autonomy we now have if this keeps gathering momentum. "But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, 'You know nothing at all'" – basically, he says, listen, just calm down, let me tell you what needs to happen here. Now, understand that the high priests, these were Sadducees, these were ultra-conservatives, embraced only the first five books of the Old Testament – they did not believe in an afterlife. In some senses, they were liberals; in other senses, they were conservative – they're hard to put into a box. But essentially, these are politicians more than they're anything else – don't think of the high priest as some sort of deeply spiritual man. These were the movers and shakers in Jerusalem culture – they were the power brokers, the religious lay people who were the founding members of the church, if that gives you some sort of context, if you've been in churches like that – that's what these people were like, and so they have an agenda to protect their power base. And therefore, he suggests this in verse 50: "nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." That sounds pretty amazing, coming from the lips of this man, and the next verse explains why. "He did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation." He meant it one way, that this would be a good thing for their power to survive, but in reality, he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the nation as their Savior. "And not for the nation only (John writes), but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" – in other words, Gentiles as well. So, verse 53: "From that day on (this is sometime between the raising of Lazarus some six to eight weeks before the Passover, and the Passover when Jesus dies, sometime in that window they make this decision), they planned together to kill Him. Therefore, Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but He went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with His disciples." Jesus goes into seclusion in a city just north of Jerusalem until it's time.

As the feast of Passover then draws near – that, by the way, was in February, I think I told you that – as the feast of Passover draws near, several things happen; remember Lazarus, six to eight weeks before. As the Passover comes near, first of all, the Jewish leaders have made this decision to kill Jesus, but secondly, they've also demanded that anyone who knows of His whereabouts turn Him over to the authorities. Look at John 11:57 – "Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him." And the third thing that happens in this timeframe – in light of this, the people begin to wonder, is He going to come? Is Jesus the rabbi, the teacher, going to come for the Feast of Passover? Look at verse 55:

Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. So, they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think, that He will not come to the feast at all?"

Now remember, no one knew where Jesus was at this point – He's in seclusion in a small town a few miles north of Jerusalem, but He became the chief topic of conversation in all the marketplaces and among all the political pundits as they gather for the Passover season. So then, when the time for Passover actually comes, He makes His final journey to Jerusalem for what will be Passover number four; it's here in John 12:1. "Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead." Now, John doesn't give us as much detail as the synoptic gospels give us of what happened here. It's a very interesting thing, because Jesus takes an unlikely route to Jerusalem – a very unlikely route, but He does so for good reason. Let me show you the route Jesus takes on this map. You'll notice down here is Jerusalem – He was in Ephraim, which is up here in the hill country near the wilderness – obviously, it's a very close journey to Jerusalem. If He wants to go to Passover, all He has to do is go those few miles back to Jerusalem. Jesus does not do that, however – He travels all the way up through Samaria, He goes just into Galilee and joins a group – that's the yellow area up there in the north – He joins a group of pilgrims coming south to the feast, and He and His disciples connect with those pilgrims. They cross the Jordan Rift – this is the Jordan Rift Valley right here, this low point between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea – they cross over the Jordan Rift, come down through Perea to Jericho, and then up through Jericho to Jerusalem – a very interesting route for Jesus and His disciples to take. Instead of the few miles to Jerusalem, they go up and around. Why is that? Well, along the way to Passover, Jesus again becomes highly, purposefully visible – He's been in seclusion, almost in hiding for a while, because of the animosity of the Jewish leaders. But on this journey, if you read the incidents that happen along the way here, He makes Himself highly visible with His teaching, with His miracles. He confronts the Jewish leaders again head-on as He travels with this band of pilgrims, if you will, coming to the feast at Passover.

When He gets down to Jerusalem, just before Jerusalem, on the other side, as I told you, of the hill of the Mount of Olives, just a couple of miles away, a few miles away from – two miles actually, from Jerusalem – is the city of Bethany. Now, He apparently – He does stop in Bethany – and apparently, Jesus and the Twelve stopped at Bethany late Friday afternoon, before the Passion Week. There are a couple of ways we get there, but John 12:1 says it was six days before the Passover. If you use the Galilean method for calculating days, which was sunrise to sunrise essentially, trust me, it means that Jesus got to Bethany probably on Friday afternoon. But the rest of the group of Galilean pilgrims that Jesus was traveling with did not have a place to stay in Bethany. Bethany was a small village; Jesus was going to stay with friends. Most of these pilgrims He was traveling with would have made arrangements in the city of Jerusalem, where they were used to people traveling three times a year to the feasts, and therefore, there were accommodations, there were places to stay. So, most of the pilgrims would have wanted to get into the city because Sabbath would have started at sunset Friday night, and so, they're in a hurry – they leave Jesus in Bethany, they move on to the city of Jerusalem.

Now, why is this important? Because, as these crowds arrive in Jerusalem that Jesus has traveled with, that Jesus has worked miracles among – He's taught openly, He's confronted the Jewish leaders head-on as they've journeyed to Jerusalem – these crowds get to Jerusalem ahead of Jesus, and they bring two important, very important news items with them. Number one, Jesus is definitely coming to the feast, there's no question about it. Secondly, He stopped at Bethany. Now, with the travel restrictions on the Sabbath, that means it's very likely that Jesus will enter the city on Sunday morning. You see, what's setting up here is the triumphal entry – this band of pilgrims, and I think Jesus knew this, I don't think He's being manipulative – I think He's simply using this circumstance to do exactly, to see the fulfillment of prophecy step into line. You have these pilgrims, now, are building anticipation in the city of Jerusalem – Jesus is coming. He can't come on the Sabbath because you can't travel that far on the Sabbath, but He'll be here Sunday morning.

Now, there's one other thing that happens while Jesus is in Bethany, before He arrives in Jerusalem – at some point after Jesus' arrival in Bethany, He's given a feast. It's hard to know exactly when that feast was – it was either Saturday night, or it may have been the following Tuesday night, we can't be absolutely certain. But somewhere in here, an event occurs that figures into the Passion Week in a big way. At this feast for Jesus, at this supper, Mary anoints Jesus with a perfume – you remember the alabaster vial, and she breaks it open and she pours the perfume on Christ? It was valued at 300 denarii – that's about a year's wages for a common laborer – this was an extremely costly gift to our Lord. And all – if you read the parallel accounts – all of the disciples, without exception, rebuked Jesus for doing that. They said, look, this perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor – this is a year's worth of wages! But Judas was especially incensed by this act, and John tells us that it wasn't because of his concern for the poor, but what? Look down at verse 6: "Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it." Judas was a common thief, stealing money from Jesus and the disciples, and his concern here, when he saw the huge amount of money that could have come into his care, was he was now shortchanged his cut, the money he would have pilfered – that was what was really in Judas' heart. At some point, we'll study Judas – it's a tragic story, but one that has a lot to teach us. But this is what is going on in Judas' heart. So, Jesus then, in turn, rebukes Judas and the disciples for rebuking Mary. Judas had already decided to deliver Jesus up, but this event merely adds fuel to the fire and makes his betrayal a certainty.

Now that brings us up to the events of the Passion Week, and I want to just briefly step you through the events of what we call the Passion Week. It begins on Sunday, we've got Jesus to Bethany – on Sunday morning, He leaves Bethany, travels the two miles to Jerusalem, and the triumphal entry occurs. You've read and heard about the triumphal entry all of your life, but the question is, why, what was its purpose? Let me say that it was not to offer Himself as king and therefore immediately set up His kingdom. You may have heard this – this is classic dispensationalism, that Jesus offered Himself as Israel's king; if they had accepted Him as king that day, He would have stopped everything and set up His kingdom. I reject that, I reject that for a couple of reasons – one, Jesus Himself made it very clear that He came with one purpose in mind: "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and (to what?) to give His life a ransom for many." That's why He came – the cross was not plan B, the cross was plan A. And so, He was not offering Himself as king and if they had received Him, He would have immediately set up His kingdom. A second reason I don't believe that is, on the way to Jerusalem for this feast, Jesus had taught the parable of the pounds, and the lesson behind that parable was to correct the idea that the kingdom of God would occur immediately. If you look at Luke 19 – we won't turn there, but Luke 19:11 – He makes that very point. They were confused and they thought the kingdom was coming immediately, and Jesus gave this parable to tell them, no, that's not going to happen.

So, if that wasn't the reason for the triumphal entry, what was? Well, I think there were two essential purposes – one, to make an unequivocal claim to be Israel's Messiah. Zechariah 9:9 put it like this: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey." This was a Messianic prophecy. Jesus, by entering the city of Jerusalem that morning with all of the pent-up anticipation – the crowd had arrived Friday night, had told them Jesus was coming – they all gathered to see if the prophet is coming in. He comes in, and He comes in, basically, in fulfillment of this prophecy, claiming this prophecy to be speaking of Him. When a ruler was coming in war, he came on a charger; when a ruler was coming in peace, he came on a donkey. But essentially, He is a ruler, He is a king, He's Israel's king, He is claiming to be her Messiah. There's a second part of the claim that's related, and that is, He's also claiming to be the fulfillment of the Passover. If you were to look at Luke 19:37-39, you'll find that the multitudes at the triumphal entry cite Psalm 118:26. Now, that was not without significance, because Psalm 118 is part of a group of psalms, Psalm 113 to 118, called the Hallel Psalms, the praise psalms – these psalms were part of the Passover celebration. The first two psalms, Psalm 113 and Psalm 114, were sung before the Passover meal; Psalms 115 to 118 were sung after the Passover meal. In fact, when we get to the Passover meal, it says they sang a hymn, and they went out – it's very likely that they sang those hymns that are part of the Hallel. Jesus was claiming to be her Messiah and to bring salvation, to be the perfect fulfillment of her Passover celebration, and the people understood that and that's why they cited these passages – His disciples understood that.

However, understand that not all of the people there that day were Jesus' disciples – there were many there for the triumphal entry who were just curious, like are at anything where something's happening – look at John 12:18.

For this reason also (because of Lazarus and everything) the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him."

All these people said, He's coming, we heard on Friday He's coming, we just heard He's coming into the city from Bethany, let's go see what's happening. So, there were many there that day who were merely curious onlookers and not true disciples, but they saw their Messiah coming in, claiming to be their Messiah, and claiming to be the perfect fulfillment of the Passover that they were about to celebrate – that was Sunday.

On Monday – we could call it the day of authority – two things happened that are recorded in the Biblical record for us. One is the cursing of the fig tree – now, if you've read anything about this, you know that Jesus, that that was not the time for figs to be on this fig tree. Jesus knew that; He's simply going to use the fig tree as a symbol of Israel – in the Old Testament, Israel is often pictured as a fig tree. Jesus comes, sees a fig tree has leaves, but there's no fruit – this was a powerful picture of the religious system of Judaism. It had all the outward signs of life, all the outward signs of fruit, but no fruit, no genuine fruit at the heart level, no real righteousness, and so, Jesus curses this fig tree as an emblem of His curse of Israel, and it withers. He also cleanses the temple for the second time in His ministry; you'll remember He did it at the very beginning. He goes in again to the temple and drives out those who were money-changers and others who were making the house of God, He says, a house of robbers. And essentially on Monday, think of it like this – on Monday, Jesus essentially takes control of the Temple Mount. In the area of the temple where He resides, He's taking questions, He's teaching His disciples, He's chased out the money-changers – He is exercising His authority, this is His Father's house, and He has all right to do whatever He chooses there. You have to get that picture in your mind.

By the way, just to give you an idea of what the temple complex looked like, this is a reproduction in Israel today, a scale model of it that you can see if you go there, and you'll see that there is the entire Temple Mount which is the large, bricked area. And then within that, there is the temple proper – in fact, this area would have been the inner courts, the courts you read about, the various courts you read about in scripture. And this large edifice here is the temple proper – that would have been where the Holy of Holies was, and in the back of that, a small cube would have been the Holy of Holies. So that's the temple – you can see that there was huge room for people to gather, for the hundreds of thousands that came for the sacrifices and for the various feasts. The altar would have been in here, and so you get an idea of what that entire edifice was like. It was a huge Temple Mount that Herod had enlarged to accommodate massive crowds, and then the temple grounds proper were within that – that's where Jesus, here in this area, is where Jesus takes up court, if you will, during Monday – and on Tuesday, He goes back.

He goes back to Bethany in the evening, two miles away, so that He can't be taken by the Jewish authorities, and then comes back into the city on Tuesday. This is a day of conflict – this is recorded in all the synoptic gospels, and several things happen. Jesus' authority is questioned, and He responds to that – there are parables He gives that attack the Jewish leaders. He gives the parable of the two sons – you know, the one son who said he would obey but didn't, the son who said he wouldn't obey, but then comes back and obeys? This was an attack on the Jewish leaders, of their treatment of God's will. You had the parable of the vineyard – you know, the workers who are, the vineyard is rented out to them, and the vine owner, the vineyard owner sends his workers – they kill the workers. Finally, he says, I'm going to send my son, surely they'll respect him – and they kill the son. This was a rebuke of the Jewish leaders on their treatment of God's Son. And then there's the parable of the wedding feast; you remember, where the people are compelled to come in and there's somebody there without a wedding garment. The wedding garment was provided by the host, and so it was absolute rebellion against the host, and it was a picture of the Jewish leaders' treatment of God's salvation – they wanted their own righteousness, as Paul says in Romans 10. And so, Jesus just absolutely confronts them head-on, and while it was in parables and while they certainly didn't get everything He said, often you will find little expressions like "and they understood that He was speaking of them." So, imagine, on their own turf, in the temple grounds, Jesus holding court and rebuking them openly – this is what's happening. They come to Him with a variety of questions; the question of tribute – do we pay taxes? And that's responded to by Christ. The question of the Sadducees, about how ridiculous is this whole idea of a resurrection? What happens if a man has all of these wives, or rather, a wife has all these husbands – whose wife will she be in the resurrection? There's the question of the greatest commandment, and there's a question Christ poses about "the Christ, whose Son is He?" and puts them in a predicament where they don't ask any more questions.

Then comes – this is still Tuesday – the denunciation of the Pharisees. Jesus – again, understand where this is happening, understand the context, He has taken up residence in the temple grounds, their turf – and there, He denounces them in the most violent terms. Read Matthew 23 – "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees … you vipers, you snakes!" – and on and on it goes. "You make proselytes twice the child of hell that you are." So, you can see what was happening as the week goes on. By the way, the widow's mite – there's an interesting point, if you have a chance to listen to John Macarthur's sermon on Wednesday night at the Shepherd's Conference (we need to get that set here in our library so you can if you haven't been able to listen online), but he preached a message on the widow's mite, and I think he's right. It's always bothered me that, first of all, that's just thrown into the context in a very strange place – you know, the story of the widow's mites? And it's also a situation where it never made sense to me biblically, because God is always urging us to take care of the widows, and God takes care of the widows by telling people to do that in a variety of ways. But then, Jesus is often taken in that story as praising this widow for giving in everything she had to live on – I don't think that's what Jesus was doing at all, I have to agree with John on his interpretation of this passage. I think it was a further denunciation of the religious leaders – if you look at that story in its context, the verses right before it and the verses right after it are judgment on Israel's leaders, and essentially, Jesus was saying, here is a system that has become so corrupt that it takes the last pennies a poor widow has to live on. And He finishes the day with the Olivet Discourse, where He describes the destruction of Jerusalem and His second coming – He goes back out to Bethany.

Wednesday is a day of silence – by the way, that's da Vinci's drawing of Judas Iscariot – Wednesday was a day of silence. Jesus rested, as far as we know, because there's nothing in the biblical record about His interaction with anyone. But the Jewish leaders plotted – they get together, and they decide, essentially, we want to take Him, but we can't do it during the feast time because it will cause a riot. Now, they overestimated the people's loyalty to Jesus Christ, but that was their assessment. If we take Him during the day, during the feast with all these hundreds of thousands of extra people here from Galilee where He's from, then it's going to cause a riot, so we're just going to have to wait till after the feast is over. But in God's providence, if you put together the text that I've presented here, it appears that just as they're meeting, Judas shows up. Judas shows up and he says, what's it worth to you for me to give you Christ? And they offer him 30 pieces of silver – the price of a slave, several months' worth of income – and he takes it, and the deal was struck, and Judas betrayed Jesus on Wednesday. Then it's just a matter of looking for the right time when the crowds are not around and when they can seize Him, as it says in the record, by stealth, so that there's not the risk of riot.

That brings us to Thursday, and Thursday is a day of preparation – first of all, Passover preparations by Peter and John. Jesus – and as you read this record, it's a really interesting record, because Jesus says to Peter and John, look, you go into the city and when you get to the city, you're going to run into a guy with a water pot. Now, first of all, men didn't carry water pots in the 1^st century – I hate to tell you that, ladies, but that's just the way it was – and so, this was unusual in and of itself. And He said, when you run into this guy, follow him, and when you get to the house, tell him that the Teacher needs room – it sounds like a spy novel. Well, it is in a sense – Jesus is purposefully keeping the location of the Last Supper from Judas, because Judas, He knows, is looking for a time when He and the disciples will be alone, and there would be no better time than that. Everybody across Jerusalem will be celebrating the Passover, they'll all be minding their own business, eating their own sacrificial lambs with their families, with their extended families – there's no better time than that. And so, Jesus knows that, and so He purposefully keeps the location secret from everybody. We don't know if He had previously arranged it with this follower of His, or if He sovereignly knew it in His omniscience – we don't really know, but it doesn't matter. In the end, He was doing what He did to protect the disciples, so that He could actually celebrate the Passover with His disciples, so that He could then, on His own timetable, be arrested and not on Judas's. So, He sends them secretly, they go, they get all the necessary ingredients; the bitter herbs, the unleavened bread, the wine. They take a lamb to the temple, and during the time of the sacrifice after 3:00 on Thursday afternoon, only two men – by the way, only two people were allowed to go to the sacrifice because, obviously, if all the family went to every sacrifice, it became much too busy a situation there at the place of sacrifice – so only two, according to the Jewish law, were allowed. So, Peter and John go, they take the lamb, it's sacrificed, and the parts that they are to eat are given back to them. They take them and they prepare the meal, Jesus arrives then with His disciples sometime around sunset on Thursday night, and they celebrate the Passover. You remember all of the wonderful interchanges that happened there – they eat the Passover, Jesus institutes the Lord's Table, He predicts who it is that will betray Him, He predicts Peter's denial, those wonderful passages in John 13 and 14 about the foot-washing incident, and also the teaching about love – all of those things occur in the upper room as a part of the Passover celebration.

They then leave – if you notice John 14:31, Jesus says, at the very end of the verse, "Get up, let us go from here." At the end of John 14, they apparently leave the upper room, and they go toward Gethsemane – Judas has already left. Jesus has already dismissed Judas and said, go do what you do and do it quickly. But Judas was so respected, and apparently was at the place of honor on the other side of Christ at the Last Supper, that they thought Jesus was simply telling him, go and make whatever preparations you need, give to the poor – they thought there was some other intended meaning, but Jesus was releasing him to go betray Him. So, Judas is gone, he knows where Jesus and the disciples go, where they will go, and so all is now ready.

On the way to Gethsemane, Jesus, in John 15-16, talks about the true vine and the ministry of the Spirit, as they travel to Gethsemane. Somewhere near Gethsemane, when they get across the Kidron Valley to that garden area, somewhere over there in the olive groves, Jesus gives His high priestly prayer; He prays in the hearing of His disciples. But when they get to Gethsemane, there's a second prediction of Peter's denial. There's, of course, the prayer in agony over the coming separation from the Father – and understand, that's what it was. Jesus was no wimp; He wasn't being less of a man than many martyrs who have gone to their death and suffered horrific physical pain for Christ. This was about being separated – God being separated from God, enduring the wrath of God, for sin – that was the struggle that Jesus was in. And the disciples, of course, sleep – and unless you're too hard on them, one of the gospel writers says the reason was because of their utter sadness over the news Jesus had given them at the Last Supper. That's Thursday night, leading up to midnight.

Somewhere around 12 a.m. on Friday, beginning – as we would count it, Friday, the day of crucifixion – 12 a.m., shortly thereafter, is the betrayal by Judas. He brings the soldiers, both from the high priest and the guard at the temple, as well as the Romans, and He is forsaken by His disciples except for John and Peter. About 1 a.m., then, on Friday morning, there was the first Jewish trial. Understand that there were three Jewish trials – sometime around 1, and again these times are all approximate, I'll give you some sort of stabilizing points as we go through that we do know for sure; these are sort of guesses, in terms of specifics. But about 1 a.m. was the first Jewish trial – this was at Annas' request. Annas was the former high priest, and he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the current high priest, and it was in the court of his home. There was a brief time for him to find out what Jesus was thinking, what Jesus' perspective was, and to make accusation.

At 2 a.m., or shortly thereafter, was the second Jewish trial – it was an illegal trial. It was at the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, and it was Caiaphas and a large portion, if not the entire council of the Sanhedrin. Jesus, at this council, is condemned, He's mocked, He's struck. It's at this trial, or shortly thereafter, as Peter leaves the courtyard where he was warming himself by the fire and moves toward the entry gate, that he makes his denial. And by the way, Jesus said he would deny three times – He didn't say he wouldn't deny Him more than that. If you put all the counts together, I think you have to say there were probably at least four denials, but they took place before the 3 a.m. cock crowing. I say that because we know from various sources that the third of the four night watches from 12 to 3 – the night was broken up into four watches – the third one, from 12 to 3 a.m. was called the cock crowing; you can see that in Mark 13:35. Typically, a cock would crow near the beginning of this period and toward the end of that window of time. So, apparently, and we can't be dogmatic about this, but apparently, that's the time the gospel writers have in mind. Sometime before 3 a.m. was the end of the second Jewish trial, and Peter denied his Lord.

We don't know between that time and dawn, but shortly after dawn, and we can't be, again, absolutely sure when dawn occurred – say 5 a.m., 5:30 a.m. – comes the third Jewish trial. This trial is where the formal verdict is reached about what to do with Jesus – He needs to be put to death for His blasphemy, for His insurrection. Those are the three Jewish trials, and they're followed by Judas' regret and suicide – you remember, he comes in when he realized Jesus has been condemned, he says, I don't want the money, I realize I've done something I shouldn't have done. And they said, "See to that yourself," there's nothing for us to do. And Judas goes out and hangs himself, and eventually, the place where he did it is purchased with that money, becomes the potter's field.

Continuing on Friday, the three Jewish trials are followed by three Roman or civil trials. Sometime between daybreak – about 5:30, let's say – and 9 a.m., several things happen: the first Roman trial before Pilate, the second Roman trial when He's sent to Herod. You remember, when Pilate hears that He's a Galilean, he sends Him to Herod, and so He's before Herod. There, there's mocking and He's treated with contempt. They put a gorgeous robe on Him, and Herod sends Him back to Pilate. And that's the third Roman trial then, before Pilate. At this trial, Pilate has Jesus scourged and mocked and beaten, the soldiers put a crown of thorns on His head, a purple robe on Him. Pilate declares Him innocent and tries to release Him, you remember, instead of Barabbas. But at the pressure of the Jews, he surrenders Him to be crucified. After that, sometime between that time and 9 a.m., the Roman cohort mocked Jesus, they beat Him, they prepare Him for crucifixion, and they march Him outside the city.

Just to give you a little feel for what happened that morning, late Thursday night and early Friday morning, this is a sort of map that doesn't show specific routes, but rather shows sort of general routes and directions. The upper room, we believe, is over in this portion of Jerusalem. This is the Temple Mount area, here's the Kidron Valley, over here is Gethsemane. And so, the upper room, we believe, was in this upper portion. So, Jesus and His disciples travel after the supper, the Last Supper, over to the Garden of Gethsemane, and over in this area is where He would have prayed. Then He is taken, arrested there where the number 5 is, and taken to Annas' house and to Caiaphas' house, and then, He's taken, eventually, to Pilate's, which would have been probably a residence here near the Tower of Antonia. Eventually, then, He's taken outside the city – number 10, arrow 10 here – and crucified, we believe, at the traditional site just outside the wall of the city – that gives you sort of a feel. I left out, by the way, Herod – the visit to Herod's, which is what this number 8 here is – the palace of Herod, and then back to Pilate. So that was the second Roman trial – number 8 and 9. So, that gives you sort of a feel of the flow of what happened that night and that morning.

At 9 a.m. was the crucifixion itself, we're told that happened. Between 9 a.m. and noon, several things happened – the first saying: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," the soldiers gamble for His tunic, the soldiers put that charge above His head, He continues to be mocked by all the people present – all the groups represented there mock Jesus, and it's supposed to show that whoever you were, whatever category you would have fit in if you had been there that day, you too would have mocked. That's why we sing that song, "Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice cry out among the scoffers," because the gospel records show us that every category of person there mocked Jesus – from the lowest criminal, the thieves that were crucified with Him, to the religious leaders of the nation and everybody in between – it was universal hatred of Jesus Christ. Then comes the second saying: "Today (He tells the repentant thief sometime late in this time period), you will be with Me in paradise." And then, the third saying, just before noon, He says to John, "This is your mother," and to Mary, "Woman, behold, your Son," He takes care of Mary. By the way, that's an interesting thing, because the implication is, if Jesus had known in His omniscience that His brothers, James and Jude, were going to come to faith in Him after His resurrection, He probably would not have done this – at least, that's an assumption we can make. It may not be a correct assumption, but it's possible that Jesus, remember, didn't use His omniscience at His own will, He only used it when He was led by the Spirit to use it – He sacrificed the independent exercise of His attributes. So, it's possible that Jesus died not knowing that His family would believe in Him, and so He cares for His mother as He's dying.

At 12 noon, there is supernatural darkness over the entire land of Israel from 12 to 3. From 12 to 3, it's interesting, nothing is recorded during most of those hours, there's very little record – in fact, there's nothing from 12 noon when it goes dark until just before 3. Near 3:00 in the afternoon, several things happen – you have the fourth saying of Jesus where He cries out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?", the fifth saying: "I am thirsty," and the sixth saying, "It is finished," and the seventh saying, then, as He closes out His life: "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." Those sayings come in sort of staccato fashion near 3:00 in the afternoon. At 3 p.m. or around that time, Jesus gave up His spirit at the very time that the Passover lambs were being slain at the temple just a few hundred yards away. The veil in the temple is torn, there's a great earthquake, the tombs are opened, and the centurion and his fellow soldiers, I believe, are converted, all there, at 3:00, around that time.

Now, as you move on through the rest of Friday from 3 p.m. to sunset, the Jews ask that those that had been crucified be killed and taken away, so the soldiers come, and they break the legs – you understand that crucifixion is a death by suffocation, and it's a slow death. The prisoners would pull against their wounds, if they were nailed, or the ropes, if they were tied, to get air, because the weight of their body would crush the air out of their lungs. They would pull up and get air, they would let themselves drop because of the pain, until they needed to breathe again – they would pull themselves up and get air, and so forth. This was relentless for hour after hour, in some cases day after day – it was a death of suffocation. It would be impossible to die in six hours from crucifixion, normally. And so, they come to break the legs – why? Because, when they shattered the legs with a steel bar, the person would no longer be able to push up to get air, and it would bring very quick suffocation – that's what they did with the other two, including the repentant thief who that day was with Christ in paradise. When they came to Jesus, He was dead because He gave up His own life, He yielded up His spirit, He called the shots of when He died. But just to make sure, the soldier takes a spear – now, you see these drawings of Christ where there's this little, tiny nick here, in His side – that is not the picture of what this soldier did. Essentially, he was there to make sure Jesus was dead – he took the Roman spear and thrust it up into the chest cavity of Christ to make sure that the vital organs were pierced and that there was no way He was still alive – it was to ensure that He was in fact dead.

Joseph of Arimathea then comes and requests Jesus' body for burial, and Joseph and, wouldn't you know it, Nicodemus hurriedly prepare the body for burial with about 100 pounds of spices. Joseph then places Jesus in his own new tomb nearby. Joseph, by the way, was a member of the Sanhedrin, a member of the council, who didn't consent to Jesus' death and who was a secret follower of Christ until this time, and I find that utterly fascinating – I want to study this someday in more detail, because why would you come out for Jesus after His death? Most of the disciples didn't believe He was going to be raised from the dead – I just look forward to asking Joseph what he was thinking. Joseph places Jesus in his own new tomb nearby, it's in a garden near the place of crucifixion, a tomb hewn out of the solid rock. Several women were there and watched and hoped to return after the Sabbath with additional preparation of the body.

Saturday was the Sabbath – nothing really happened, except the Sanhedrin requested that a Roman guard be stationed at the tomb. They said they were better than the disciples, they said that deceiver said that He would rise from the dead after three days, so they said, station a guard. And so, the tomb is inspected to make sure the body is still there, a guard is put in place and a seal is set so that His body cannot be stolen.

On Sunday, the day begins with a severe earthquake. An angel descends and rolls away the stone, not to let Jesus out, but to let us in. It's possible that the resurrection was in conjunction with that earthquake, we just don't know. There were five appearances of Jesus as you go through the day of the resurrection. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, gave her a message to the disciples, then to the other women who had come with Mary. In the middle of this, the commanding officers of the Roman guard leave the tomb to report to the Jewish authorities and that's when the conspiracy theory is put together. That afternoon, Jesus appears to Simon Peter, and late in the afternoon, as we saw this morning, to the two Emmaus Road disciples, and about 9:00 that evening, to the eleven minus Thomas. That is the Passion Week of our Lord.

There are two great lessons that I want you to leave with tonight, as we think about the passion of our Lord, and what we've celebrated this week. The first is His majesty and sovereign control of all of the circumstances – do you see that? Do you see how, as the week went on, even leading up to the Passover, He was in complete control – why? Because He must be the perfect fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies. He must die at 3:00 on Friday afternoon on Passover on the 14^th of Nisan, and there were only two years in the period of His life and ministry when that could have happened – it had to be this time. It had to be now because He was the perfect Passover lamb offered for us – see Jesus not as the hapless victim, but as the sovereign Lord in control of everything. The other thing that strikes me from this account is what we owe Him – I was thinking this week of Hebrews 13; turn there with me, as we close our time together. After the writer of Hebrews explains Jesus' perfect fulfillment of all of those Old Testament sacrificial types, notice where he ends. Hebrews 13:12:

Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Notice the implications the writer of Hebrews gives here – in verse 13, he says we have to be willing to acknowledge that if Jesus was reproached, if He was insulted, if He was treated with such contempt, then so will we. We have to be willing to identify with Christ, even when it's unpopular – at the workplace, in school, in our neighborhood, wherever it is, we've got to be willing to bear His reproach. Verse 14 says we've got to have an eternal perspective in light of what's done. "Here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city to come" – don't live like this life is all there is. Verse 15 – offer the sacrifice of praise, giving thanks to Him. Let your life be a constant sacrifice – Jesus sacrificed Himself for you, you sacrifice praise to Him continually. And verse 16 – "do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Live a life that honors God. Those are the implications of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us – bear the reproach of your Lord, set your eyes on eternity and not on the stuff here and life here, sacrifice praise to God constantly, giving thanks to Him for what He's done, and live a life that reflects well on the sacrifice our Lord has made for us. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank You for our Lord Jesus Christ, for all that He did for us and continues to do even now in Your presence as our great Intercessor. Lord, help us to remember that it's only in Him we have righteousness, that it's only in Him we have forgiveness. And help us to live, Father, in a way that honors that sacrifice that He made for us – help us to bear His reproach, help us to live as pilgrims here, realizing that this isn't what matters. Father, help us to sacrifice praise constantly to You and to Your Son. And Father, I pray You would help us to live in such a way that our lives are sacrifices to You. We pray this in Jesus' name, and we thank You for Him. Amen.