Entrusting Faithful Men

April 2, 2010 (Good Friday): Rick Warren began his bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life, with these words: “It’s not about you.” But for Jesus, His purpose was all about you and me. He came to restore us to a right relationship with God/Himself. He came to give us abundant life (John 10:10) – to restore to the access to the Tree of Life lost in the garden. And to accomplish that He had one principle plan: to die. Contrary to much popular belief, Jesus did not come to teach us how to live a good, moral life. He came to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins (Romans 3:23) that we might meet the demanding standard of God – sinless perfection, which no amount of good, moral living can begin to measure up to. He didn’t come to teach us how to live because that could never solve our problem (Romans 8:3-4).

In the Gospel of John, we see Jesus telling those around him that “his hour had not yet come” as he went about ministering in Galilee (John 2:4; John 7:6-8). He successfully avoided those who were seeking to kill Him (John 7:1; John 8:59; John 10:39-40). So you’re thinking, “Wait a minute. Sounds to me like Jesus was really trying to avoid death.” He fled and hid, not because He didn’t come to die, but because continue reading…

Today is Maundy Thursday – celebration of the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples eating the Passover meal (Seder) on the eve of the crucifixion. Passover, one of the most significant Jewish holidays, celebrates God’s deliverance of Israel from the slavery and bondage of Egypt. In a demonstration of His power before both Israel and Egypt, death struck the first born child of each household, except for those who had chosen in faith to slay an unblemished lamb and brush the doorpost of the house with its blood (Matthew 12:1-27).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread took place on Nissan 15 of the Jewish calendar. The 14th was “the day of Preparation” in which an unblemished lamb would be slain at the temple for each family in the afternoon between 3:00 and 5:00 PM and eaten that night as part of the Passover Seder dinner. The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all record the Last Supper as being the Passover meal (Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-8; Luke 22:13-15). But there is a problem in John’s Gospel. John clearly states that Jesus crucified on the “day of Preparation” (John 19:14) and that the Jews asked Pilate to remove the bodies from the cross that afternoon so as to violate the holy day (John 19:31). Matthew 27:46-50 tells us that Jesus died about 3:00 PM (the ninth hour), interestingly at the same time that the lambs would be sacrificed for the Passover that night. Jesus was the ultimate Paschal Lamb! Here is the problem . . . How could Jesus celebrate the Passover on Thursday, when John clearly states that the Passover was Friday? Is the Bible incorrect? continue reading…

Much has been preached and written about the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus praying there the night before His crucifixion. But last week as I was preparing to conclude a seven week study of the “I AM” statements of John with a focus on “I am He” in John 18:5, I came across a detail in John’s eyewitness account of the events that caught my eye and took me off on a fascinating rabbit trail. The Biblical writers, under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, provide details for specific reasons. No detail is irrelevant and no relevant detail is omitted. II Timothy 3:16 tells us that “all scripture is inspired and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness”. Often times amazing insights can be gathered from the details – gold nuggets can be found if we just turn over a few stones!

In John 18:1 we are told that Jesus went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley to the garden. Where is the Kidron Valley? Gethsemane is positioned on the slopes of the Mount of Olives directly west of the Temple and about one-fifth of a mile from the Temple. The Temple was the highest point in Jerusalem and it would be very much in view from the Garden. Between the Temple and the Garden was the Kidron Valley – a wadi ( a wash that was dry except for the heavy winter rains, when it could become a pretty wild river).

So what is the significance of Jesus walking through the Kidron Valley? The Old Testament tells us that during the period of the divided kingdom, there were continue reading…