{"id":1085,"date":"2020-04-03T12:45:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1085"},"modified":"2020-04-03T12:45:57","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:45:57","slug":"reflections-and-prayers-for-palm-sunday-holy-week-and-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1085","title":{"rendered":"Reflections and Prayers for Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"

PALM SUNDAY\t\t\tLuke 22:63-71<\/p>\n

They all asked, \u2018Are you then the Son of God?\u2019 He replied, \u2018You say that I am.\u2019 (Luke 22:70)
\nWhy was Jesus crucified. Why did the Elders and Chief Priests conspire and pressure the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate to put Jesus to death. When he had cleansed the Temple, Jesus had said \u2018I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.\u2019 \u201d So why when Jesus was on trial before the High Priest did Caiaphas jump from that statement immediately to the question, \u201cTell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God?\u201d
\nThe issue was not destroying the temple. This was not a revolutionary threat. The issue was rebuilding the Temple. Because every Jew was waiting for the Temple to be rebuilt. Not by human hands, but to fulfil God\u2019s prophecies for the End Times. Every Jew was looking forward to the day when the Temple would be renewed, by God Himself.
\nMalachi 3:1 \u201cSee, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,\u201d says the LORD Almighty.
\n2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner\u2019s fire or a launderer\u2019s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.
\nEvery Jew was looking forward to the day when the Messiah God\u2019s chosen Saviour would come and God Himself would come and rebuild the Temple. So now we can understand the reaction of the High Priest to Jesus\u2019s words.
\n\u201cI charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.\u201d
\n64 \u201cYes, it is as you say,\u201d Jesus replied. \u201cBut I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.\u201d
\n65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, \u201cHe has spoken blasphemy!
\nBy claiming that He would rebuild the Temple in three days, Jesus was indeed claiming to be God and that he would fulfil the prophecy of Malachi 3. And then Jesus goes on to speak about being seated at the right hand of God and coming on the clouds of heaven. And that was a clear reference to the prophecies in Daniel 7.
\n13 \u201cIn my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
\nSo again Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah coming on the clouds of heaven. This is why the chief priests and elders were so angry. That is why they accused Jesus of blasphemy \u2013 because he was indeed claiming to be God. And that would have been blasphemy, except of course because what Jesus was claiming was true. He was God! And IS God! And always will be God! By that revelation, Jesus signed his own death sentence.
\nBut in fact Caiaphas had been planning to kill Jesus even before that. Back in John 11 we read how Jesus raised Lazarus back to life. When they hear of this, the ruling council of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, began to plot to murder Jesus. And Caiaphas had said this in John 11:50-52
\nYou do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.\u201d
\n51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.
\nSo we read that Caiaphas the High Priest had decided that Jesus had to die to protect the Jewish nation from the Romans. Caiaphas was ready to sacrifice Jesus to save the people. Caiaphas did not realize how true his words were. Not only would Jesus save the Jews from the Romans \u2013 more than that, he was the Saviour sent from God to save his people from their sins.
\nWe recall the duties of the High Priest in the Jewish system of sacrifices. We recall almost a thousand years of worship in the Temple at Jerusalem and hundreds of years of worship in the Tabernacle before that as laid down in the books of Moses. The most important duty of the High Priest fell each year on the Day of Atonement. On that day, just once a year, only the High Priest was permitted to enter that most sacred of places, the Holy of Holies, and offer the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. This year it would fall to Caiaphas as High Priest to offer the greatest sacrifice, the sacrifice of Atonement. Not on the altar in the Holiest of Holies in the Temple, but on the cross of Calvary. That sacrifice would be Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That was the mystery of God\u2019s salvation, God\u2019s cosmic masterplan.
\nHebrews 9:26 \u2026. But now Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. \u2026 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people;
\nBearing shame and scoffing rude. In my place condemned he stood.
\nSealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!<\/p>\n

Monday\t\tLuke 23:1-7<\/p>\n

Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, \u2018I find no basis for a charge against this man.\u2019 (Luke 23:4)
\nJesus was innocent. And Pontius Pilate knew it! Jesus admitted that he was King of the Jews. But that didn\u2019t worry Pilate at all.
\n4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, \u201cI find no basis for a charge against this man.\u201d
\nPilate tried to pass the buck. He sending Jesus to the Jewish King Herod, but that was a waste of time. Even Herod couldn\u2019t find anything that Jesus was guilty of. So Pilate had to face the Sanhedrin again.
\n14 \u2026 \u201cYou brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.
\nThat wasn\u2019t working. So Pilate offered the crowds the choice \u2013 to release Jesus or Barabbas. But the chief priests and teachers stirred up the people so that they called for Barabbas to be freed and Jesus to be crucified!
\n22 For the third time Pilate spoke to them: \u201cWhy? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.\u201d
\n23 But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.
\nSo the gospel records show that Pilate did try hard to get Jesus released. Sadly Pilate was the Roman Governor who would do anything for a quiet life. He just wanted to keep the peace. Pilate wanted so much to let Jesus go free, he tried every way he could think of to release Jesus. Perhaps Pilate didn\u2019t try hard enough to get Jesus released. Perhaps he didn\u2019t really try at all. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing! To turn a blind eye. To wash their hands of the whole affair, which is where we get that figure of speech.
\nMatthew 27:24 \u2026 he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
\nBut Pilate did recognise that Jesus was entirely innocent of any charges! Jesus had done nothing wrong. Pilate could not find any crime that Jesus had committed. Jesus did not deserve to die. Jesus was innocent.
\nEven Pilate\u2019s wife recognised this. Matthew 27:19 19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge\u2019s seat, his wife sent him this message: \u201cDon\u2019t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.\u201d
\nThe thief on the cross next to Jesus recognised Jesus was innocent. Luke 23:41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.\u201d
\nThe apostle Peter knew Jesus better than most people did. And Peter knew Jesus was innocent. In 1 Peter 2 we read this. 1 Peter 2:22 \u201cHe committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.\u201d
\nJesus was innocent. And Jesus had to be innocent. Because his death was much more than the death of a misguided martyr. Jesus\u2019s death was the very heart of God\u2019s cosmic masterplan for the redemption of the world. Jesus gave up His life to be the sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
\nIn the Old Testament system of sacrifices the sacrifice had to be pure, spotless, unblemished. And that was the kind of sacrifice Jesus was. Jesus died in OUR place, for us, so that we could escape the slavery of sin and the punishment sin brings. The innocent is crucified so that, just like Barabbas, just like the thief on the cross, the guilty go \u201cscott free.\u201d But for the blood of Christ to save us from all sins, for that sacrifice to be effective, Jesus Himself had to be innocent.
\n2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
\nTHERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY, Outside a city wall,
\nWhere the dear Lord was crucified, Who died to save us all.
\nWe may not know, we cannot tell, What pains He had to bear;
\nBut we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there.
\nHe died that we might be forgiven, He died to make us good,
\nThat we might go at last to heaven, Saved by His precious blood.
\nWould you take the punishment for somebody else? Give up your life for somebody else? I don\u2019t think I would. Perhaps for close family I might. But for a stranger? For an enemy?
\nMY LORD, WHAT LOVE IS THIS That pays so dearly,
\nThat I, the guilty one,May go free!
\nAmazing love, O what sacrifice, The Son of God given for me.
\nMy debt He pays, and my death He dies, That I might live, that I might live.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\t\tLuke 23:6-25<\/p>\n

(Pilate) released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will. (Luke 23:25)
\nPilate had said of Jesus, \u201cI find no basis for a charge against him.\u201d So Pilate himself knew that Jesus was innocent. But to give himself a way out without losing face he made the suggestion that he might pardon Jesus rather than Barabbas the convicted revolutionary. But that didn\u2019t work.
\nBut the whole crowd shouted, \u2018Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!\u2019
\nI am sure that Pilate was just as sad and angry about letting Barabbas the convicted revolutionary walk free as he was about condemning Jesus to death. Barabbas lived when he should have died. Jesus died when he should have lives. Truly Jesus took the place reserved for Barabbas on that middle cross. And that gives us a picture of the significance of Jesus\u2019s death for all of us. Jesus has paid the death penalty we should all pay.
\nJesus said in Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.\u2019
\nJesus\u2019s death was a ransom, the price to be paid to buy a person\u2019s freedom. And this was all in fulfilment of the prophecies of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53.
\n4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
\nyet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
\n5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
\nthe punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
\n6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;
\nand the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. \u2026
\n8 \u2026 For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.
\n10 \u2026 the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
\n11 \u2026 by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
\n12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
\nFor he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.<\/p>\n

Just as Jesus took the place of Barabbas, he has taken our place, suffering for our sin.
\n1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
\nGuilty vile and helpless we. Spotless Lamb of God was he.
\nFull atonement, can it be? Hallelujah! What a Saviour!<\/p>\n

Wednesday\t\tLuke 23:26-38<\/p>\n

There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. (Luke 23:38)
\nIn theory the Jews might have been allowed to stone a man to death for certain religious crimes. But they could not execute him by crucifixion \u2013 only the Romans could do that. And that was the death which the Jewish leaders had decided was appropriate for Jesus. The punishment of a revolutionary. But Pilate isn\u2019t convinced. As we follow the story across the four Gospels weu can see that Pilate went in and out no less than eight times between the Jewish leaders outside and Jesus inside as he tries to reach his verdict. And one thing is very clear from all these discussions. Pilate was convinced that Jesus was innocent and did not deserve to die. That was the reason he tried to pass the buck back to the Jewish leaders in the first place.<\/p>\n

In the end Jesus was crucified. But it is interesting what charge was written on the inscription on the cross. \u201cThis is the king of the Jews\u201d. Jesus was convicted for claiming to be king. But not the kind of king Pilate was used to dealing with, as John\u2019s Gospel shows.<\/p>\n

John 18 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, \u2018Are you the king of the Jews?\u2019
\n34 \u2018Is that your own idea,\u2019 Jesus asked, \u2018or did others talk to you about me?\u2019
\n35 \u2018Am I a Jew?\u2019 Pilate replied. \u2018Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?\u2019
\n36 Jesus said, \u2018My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Jewish Leaders had told Pilate that Jesus had claimed to be King of the Jews. The other Gospels tell us that that was what the trial in front of Caiaphas had all been about. If Jesus was claiming to be a king, that could be seen as a threat to the tight grip the Roman Empire had on Israel. So it mattered whether Jesus was actually a king or not.
\n36 Jesus said, \u2018My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.\u2019<\/p>\n

My Kingdom is not of this world. It is not like other kingdoms. Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God, which means exactly the same as the Kingdom of Heaven, more than 50 times in the Gospels. The kingdom of God does not refer to some place where God is King. Rather the Kingdom of God is talking about God\u2019s reign as King, the things God does as King, God\u2019s Kingly Rule. So Jesus is a King, but not the kind of king Pilate would recognize.<\/p>\n

But now my kingdom is from another place. Actually, \u201cfrom another place,\u201d in the New International Version is not a particularly good translation. What Jesus says is \u201cmy kingdom is not from this place.\u201d \u201cMy Kingly Power does not come from here.\u201d The Message puts it very well.
\n\u201cMy kingdom,\u201d said Jesus, \u201cdoesn\u2019t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn\u2019t be handed over to the Jews. But I\u2019m not that kind of king, not the world\u2019s kind of king.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact is that the question of what kind of King Jesus is was actually irrelevant, as Jesus goes on to explain.<\/p>\n

37 \u2018You are a king, then!\u2019 said Pilate.
\nJesus answered, \u2018You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.\u2019
\n38 \u2018What is truth?\u2019 retorted Pilate.
\nWhether Jesus was or was not a king in human terms was not the point. The important thing was that Jesus came to reveal the truth. In John\u2019s Gospel eternal life comes through knowing and believing the truth. The truth that it was Almighty God who created the earth from nothing. The truth that human beings have cut themselves off from God by rejecting him and rebelling against him. The truth that only Jesus Christ the Son of God can bring us back to God again. This is the truth. Jesus Himself was the Truth. He said, \u2018I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6).
\nJesus is the truth who brings us eternal life. John 8 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.\u201d \u2026. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
\nWhat is truth? asked Pilate. Jesus the Way the Truth and the Life became a human being. Jesus came to reveal the truth about God and about eternal life. But human beings rejected that truth, which is the whole reason why they nailed Jesus to a cross. The inscription was correct. Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews, and more than that, the Messiah, the Saviour that God had promised.<\/p>\n

MAUNDY THURSDAY\tLuke 23:39-43<\/p>\n

\u2018Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.\u2019 (Luke 23:42)
\nScourged and mocked, nailed to a cross, crowned with thorns, on the point of suffering an agonizing death, here we see Jesus speaking some of the most wonderful words he ever spoke. Not to the religious leaders, not to his own disciples, but to a complete stranger, the criminal hanging on the next cross. “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” ( Luke 23:43)
\nIs there anybody that God can’t forgive? Is there anybody that God won’t forgive? There are none so wicked that God would never forgive them. On the cross we see Jesus praying for those who were torturing and murdering him. Praying not that they be condemned and punished, but that they be forgiven. Father forgive them! However evil we are – however much we have hurt God and rejected God, however many of His laws we have broken, we can be forgiven. NO-ONE is too wicked. Our sins may be very great – but God’s mercy is greater! If those very people who crucified Jesus can be forgiven, so can we!
\nSome people think “I’m not good enough for God – I’ve nothing to offer God”. But none of us can earn or deserve our forgiveness. That thief on the cross had nothing to offer God. But forgiveness is NOTHING to do with anything we can offer God!! It’s not about repaying God by living a perfect life full of God works once we are forgiven. It’s all about GRACE, just grace!
\nAmazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
\nI once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see
\nWhen we sin – receiving the punishment we deserve would be justice. Not getting what we deserve would be mercy. But getting what we don’t deserve – eternal life, the hope of heaven, the gift of the Holy Spirit, getting all these blessings we dont deserve – that’s what the Bible means by grace.
\nEphesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no-one can boast.
\nAnd that’s what this thief receives – amazing grace! I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. A man judged unworthy to live amongst men is called to eternal life in the presence of Christ in glory. That\u2019s grace!
\nBut notice this. Jesus answered HIM. YOU (singular) will be with me in Paradise. The promise was only for that one repentant thief. Not for any of the others there. The thief could not do anything except repent, believe in Christ, and confess his faith in Christ to save Him from his sins. That is all any of us have to do. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
\nBut in fact we can see at least SIX things in these four short sentences which show us that this thief was repentant and did indeed have saving faith.
\n1 He feared God! \u201cDo you not fear God?\u201d It is absolutely right that we mere sinful disobedient mortals should bow before the eternal Holy God.
\n2. He recognised he had done wrong. We are getting what our deeds deserve.
\n3. He recognised he deserved his punishment. We are punished justly,
\n4. He recognised Jesus\u2019s holiness. But this man has done nothing wrong.’
\n5. He recognised Jesus as King! Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. This thief recognised what the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers refused to accept \u2013 that Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews, bringing God\u2019s Kingly rule to earth.
\n6. And this thief cries out for help. “Jesus, remember me.”
\nHere is the scandal of grace. That a prisoner on death row, or a lifelong sinner on his death bed, can cry out to God and find forgiveness and assurance of all the blessings of heaven. Today you WILL be with me in Paradise.
\nSo is there anybody that God can’t forgive? Is there anybody that God won’t forgive? Well, there is just one kind of person who God can’t forgive. It is the person who doesn’t want to be forgiven \u2013 who never asks for forgiveness! So which thief are you like? The one who never acknowledged his guilt and died condemned? Or the one who reached out for mercy in his dying hours and died forgiven?
\nNot the labour of my hands Can fulfil thy law\u2019s demands.
\nCould my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow,
\nAll for sin could not atone. Thou must save, and thou alone.
\nNothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling.
\nNaked come to thee for dress. Helpless come to thee for grace.
\nFoul I to the fountain fly. Wash me Saviour or I die.<\/p>\n

GOOD FRIDAY\t\tLuke 23:44-49<\/p>\n

The sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. (Luke 23:45)
\nWhy did Jesus die? We praise God for the forgiveness which Jesus bought for us on the cross. It’s so amazing that God should rescue us from the eternal judgment we deserved! But Jesus accomplished so much more on the cross than simply our forgiveness. “Forgiveness” wasn’t an end in itself. Rather it was the means to much greater ends. We read in Mark 15:38 that at the very moment Christ died, something else quite amazing happened. “The curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”
\nThe curtain, or veil of the Temple, was not a curtain of fabric. It was a great wooden panel over thirty feet wide and sixty foot high! It kept the people and even the priests out of the Holy of Holies, the central area of the Temple where God was believed to be especially present. The curtain of the Temple was there to keep people from seeing God \u2013 because the Old Testament is very clear that whoever sees God will die! Only one man, the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies, the most holy place. And that only happened once a year, on the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest offered a unique sacrifice for the sins of the people. (See Hebrews 9:1-7)
\nBut at the very moment that Jesus died, the curtain of the Temple, that symbolic barrier into the presence of God was broken open, not by human effort from the bottom, but by an act of Almighty God, from the top. As Jesus took away the sins of the world, so he removed the barrier which had stopped human beings since Adam and Eve from coming face to face with God.
\nBecause of course the real barrier keeping us all out of God\u2019s presence was not a wooden curtain or veil, but the barrier of human sin. A.W.Tozer wrote of our \u201cself-sins\u201d: \u201cself-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self- admiration, self-love, and others. Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us.\u201d And the cross of Christ indeed dealt with the problem of self \u2013 the problem of sin.
\nNow he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people (Hebrews 9:26-28)
\nRomans 323 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.
\nAt the very moment when Jesus was offering himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin, “The curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”
\nIt was as if God was from that point on inviting everyone and anyone into the Most Holy Place, to meet with Him \u2013 not just the High Priest, not just once a year, but everybody, always, forever. We can all experience a new closeness to God \u2013 a new intimacy with God. And the curtain in the temple wasn\u2019t just opened for a while then closed again. It was torn in two, broken open forever! \u201cThe way to God is open \u2013 with boldness we draw near!\u201d Jesus died so that we can come into God’s presence, so that we can become God’s children, so that the Holy Spirit of God can enter into our lives and share with us Christ’s resurrection life. Praise God!
\n“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,” (Heb 10:19-22)
\nWITHIN THE VEIL I now would come, Into the holy place, to look upon Thy face.
\nI see such beauty there, no other can compare; I worship Thee, my Lord, within the veil.<\/p>\n

Saturday\t\tLuke 23:50-56<\/p>\n

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. (Luke 23:55)
\nToday is Holy Saturday. Nothing happened today except that the followers of Jesus mourned his death and grieved together. So let us spend today quietly reflecting on their sadness. There is nothing more to say.<\/p>\n

EASTER DAY\t\tLuke 24:1-12<\/p>\n

\u2018Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! (Luke 24:5-6)
\nIs there life after death? Can we really go to heaven? Only somebody who has died and returned to life can answer those questions. And here is the glorious message of Easter! The wonderful good news that after dying on the cross on Good Friday, Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter Day! Jesus Christ is alive. And because He has died and is now alive again HE can show us the way to heaven.
\nOn that first Good Friday, Jesus was crucified. He was dead and he was buried. Sealed in a tomb by a great seven ton boulder! But then on the Sunday when a group of women went to the tomb, strange things were happening. The stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty! Dead men don\u2019t walk! But Jesus wasn\u2019t there! The tomb was empty! And then there were the two angelic messengers. \u201cWhy do you look for the living among the dead? What an amazing incredible wonderful statement! That Jesus who had died was alive again! 6 He is not here; he has risen!
\nThat had been God\u2019s plan from the beginning. Jesus had told his disciples he would return to life again. But they hadn\u2019t understood him. The truth was too wonderful to believe! But now, just as he had promised, the angels announced that God had raised Jesus from the dead!
\nThe tomb was empty. Jesus\u2019s body had gone. The disciples didn\u2019t take it \u2013 they were as surprised as anybody that the tomb was empty. The Roman authorities and the Jewish leaders didn\u2019t steal the body \u2013 if they had they would have just produced the body again and stories about Jesus rising from the dead would have ended before they started. Jesus\u2019s body had gone! But then we have more than the account of a few women about the message from the angels to assure us that Jesus was alive again. During that day Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and the the apostle Peter. He appeared to two of His disciples as they walked along the road to Emmaus. And that evening He would appear to all of the apostles.
\nJesus had died. Jesus was alive again. And so we don\u2019t have to be afraid of death. Because Jesus\u2019s resurrection opens the door of heaven for us! Listen to the wonderful promises Jesus made to His disciples.
\nJohn 14:1 \u201cDo not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father\u2019s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. \u2026. \u201cI am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.
\nWe know that there is life after death. We know what happens after we die! Jesus has prepared a place in heaven for everybody who believes in Him, so that we can be with Him in glory forever. We KNOW there is life after death \u2013 and we know how we can go to heaven. Jesus Christ is alive \u2013 He is risen from the dead. And because he lives, we will live also. That is the good news of Easter. \u201cWhy are you looking among the dead for one who is alive?\u201d<\/p>\n

THINE BE THE GLORY, Risen, conquering Son;
\nEndless is the victory Thou o\u2019er death hast won!
\nAngels in bright raiment Rolled the stone away,
\nKept the folded grave-clothes Where Thy body lay.
\nLo, Jesus meets us, Risen from the tomb!
\nLovingly He greets us, Scatters fear and gloom.
\nLet the church with gladness Hymns of triumph sing,
\nFor her Lord now liveth, Death hath lost its sting.
\nNo more we doubt Thee, Glorious Prince of life;
\nLife is naught without Thee: Aid us in our strife;
\nMake us more than conquerors, Through Thy deathless love;
\nLead us in Thy triumph To Thy home above.<\/p>\n

Monday\t\tLuke 24:13-35<\/p>\n

Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?\u2019 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:26-27)
\nWe cannot know why those two disciples did not recognise Jesus when he appeared to them on the road to Emmaus. I was not just the poor light of dusk \u2013 surely they would have known it was Jesus from his voice. Perhaps they were simply overcome with grief. Certainly they weren\u2019t expecting to meet Jesus again. But then Jesus calls them foolish and rebukes them for lacking in faith. They had refused to believe the testimony of the women that Jesus was alive. And then he opened up the Bible to them for them to understand all the prophecies foretelling his death and resurrection in the Old Testament.
\nBut if these prophecies were obvious, the disciples would have believed immediately Jesus when he rose from the dead and Jesus would not have needed to explain to his disciples on the Emmaus Road, and then again in the upper room, that the Scriptures showed it was necessary for the Messiah to die and rise again? Nobody had expected the Messiah to be the Suffering Servant, the servant King who would lay down his life as a ransom for many in fulfilment of Isaiah 53. And it is the same with all the prophecies concerning the resurrection. They are there \u2013 but nobody saw them coming.
\nThe one thing that the Old Testament does clearly promise about the Messiah was that his rule would be eternal. The reign of the Messiah would never end. He would rule forever. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
\nThe Messiah would be a priest like Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4) Hebrews 5:5 says Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, \u201cYou are my Son; today I have become your Father.\u201d And he says in another place, \u201cYou are a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.\u201d
\nMelchizedek was a mysterious figure who appeared out of nowhere and met with Abraham in Genesis 14. But Jewish mythology regarded Melchizedek as a very special priest \u2013 one who could not die but would live forever. And if the Messiah was a priest like Melchizedek, then the Messiah would live forever too.
\nThe expectation that the Messiah would never die was very clear in Psalm 16, a Psalm like many others which originally was taken to apply to King David, but then applied to the Messiah. The Messiah would not be abandoned to the grave \u2013 his body would never see decay. So Peter uses Psalm 16 when he preaches about Christ\u2019s resurrection on the Day of Pentecost.
\nActs 2:22 \u201cMen of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God\u2019s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him:
\n\u201c \u2018I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
\n26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope,
\n27 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.\u2019 (Peter is quoting Psalm 16:8-11)
\n29 \u201cBrothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.
\nThe apostle Paul uses the same argument in Antioch in Pisidia in Acts 13:32-37 quoting Psalm 2. The Messiah would not die \u2013 but he did die! The Messiah would reign for ever \u2013 but He died \u2013 so to fulfil the Old Testament promises it was NECESSARY that the Messiah should come back to life again. Because there was a death, there had to be a resurrection!
\nAnd that promise was also already there in Isaiah 53
\n10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
\n11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
\n12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors
\nAlong with the cross, the resurrection is also a wonderful fulfilment of so many Scriptures. What a wonderful plan of salvation \u2013 the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world, dies on the cross to the pay the penalty for our sin. Laid in a stone cold tomb \u2013 only to rise again to eternal life, victorious over death and all the powers of evil. Jesus is alive!
\nThis story reminds us that it is possible still to fail to recognise Jesus Christ when he is right there, right at hand, even in the same room! There can be times when we fail to recognise Christ when He comes up and walks along the road of life alongside us! Perhaps in the bad times when everything is going wrong and we feel that God has deserted us?
\nSome people today may be finding it hard to enter into the joy of Easter. It is hard to sing joyful hymns if we have sad hearts, grieving hearts, worried hearts, scared hearts. But the resurrection is not only good news when things are going well in life, when we are feeling strong and successful. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is even more good news when we are feeling weak and powerless. Those are the times when it is good to discover that Jesus is alive and risen for us.
\nFor Cleopas and his companion, in that one instant, all their lack of understanding and lack of belief and lack of expectation were swept aside. They didn\u2019t just understand that the Christ had to rise from the dead. They didn\u2019t just believe reports that Jesus was alive. We have seen the Lord. Those two disciples knew for certain that Jesus was alive! May all of us encounter the Risen Jesus Christ in our lives today!<\/p>\n

I serve a risen saviour, He\u2019s in the world today.
\nI know that He is living, whatever men may say.
\nI see His hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer.
\nAnd just the time I need Him, He\u2019s always near.
\nHe lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!
\nHe walks with me and talks with me along life\u2019s narrow way!<\/p>\n

Tuesday\t\tLuke 24:36-49<\/p>\n

Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.\u2019 (Luke 24:39)
\nSome people have suggested that Jesus did not really rise from the dead. They think that the accounts of the resurrection point to some kind of spiritual experience shared by the disciples, but they deny that Jesus was raised from the dead bodily or physically in any sense. They are not denying that Jesus is alive but they think that this new life of Jesus was spiritual rather than bodily.
\nIn contrast, Christians throughout the ages have wanted to emphasise the historical event of Christ rising from the dead and that this resurrection was physical and not just spiritual. But there are a number of Scriptures where it is very clear that the Risen Jesus had a physical body, which was in some ways the same and in some ways different from his previous physical body. We saw that in the way Jesus was revealed to the two disciples in their home in Emmaus.
\nLuke 24:30 As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. 31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!
\nIn his resurrection body, Jesus was able to break bread and pass it to his disciples. In the same way today\u2019s readying speaks of Jesus being able to eat.
\nLuke 24:42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he ate it as they watched.
\nBefore that Jesus had encouraged his disciples to touch him.
\nLuke 24:39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it\u2019s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don\u2019t have bodies, as you see that I do.\u201d 40 As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.
\nJohn\u2019s Gospel speaks of the occasion a week later when Jesus appeared to the disciples especially for the benefit of Thomas.
\nJohn 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, \u201cPut your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don\u2019t be faithless any longer. Believe!\u201d
\n28 \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d Thomas exclaimed.
\nAnd John 21 tells us how Jesus prepared a breakfast for his disciples by the side of the lake.
\nJohn 21 9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them\u2014fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.
\n10 \u201cBring some of the fish you\u2019ve just caught,\u201d Jesus said. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn\u2019t torn.
\n12 \u201cNow come and have some breakfast!\u201d Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, \u201cWho are you?\u201d They knew it was the Lord. 13 Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish.<\/p>\n

For the disciples, these were not merely spiritual experiences that Jesus was alive. They were encounters with Jesus in his physical, yet more-than-physical resurrection body. This distinction is important for two reasons.
\nFirstly, the bodily resurrection of Jesus contradicts any suggestion that the resurrection appearances to the disciples were all just hallucinations. People touched the Risen Jesus. He broke bread and handed them food. He ate food. Especially since a number of disciples shared the same experiences, those could not have been hallucinations.
\nSecondly, the bodily resurrection of Jesus tells us about the new life we have as Christians and our hope of heaven. Many people have a mistaken idea about what happens to us when we die. They think that when our body dies there is a part of us called the soul which lives on and goes to be with God in heaven. That is the picture many Christians have of life after death. Disembodied souls floating around on clouds with the angels. But that is not our Christian hope. Our Christian hope is much more wonderful than that! We believe in the resurrection of the dead. Because the Bible tells us that one day our own bodies will be like the resurrection body Christ had.
\nPhilippians 3:20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
\nThe apostle John says the same. 1 John 3:2 We are children of God now, and 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. This is our Christian inheritance and our Christian hope. Because he lives we will live also. And we will also have resurrection bodies like Christ\u2019s resurrection body.
\nPaul teaches the Corinthians about this glorious hope.
\n1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
\nThink about Christ\u2019s NEW resurrection body. It was physical \u2013 Jesus could touch and be touched and eat and drink and break bread. At the same time the Risen Christ was not limited by time and space. He could enter rooms through locked doors. His body was physical, but not limited by the physical. In the resurrection WE will also have bodies like that! Jesus\u2019s body was not merely brought back to life. That happened to some of the Old Testament heroes of faith at the hour when Jesus died. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus\u2019 resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. (Matthew 27:51-53). But the same had happened to Lazarus, and the widow\u2019s son. They just returned in the bodies they had died in. That was not resurrection. That was just resuscitation. Resurrection is different. Resurrection is being born anew to eternal life \u2013 with eternal bodies like Christ\u2019s resurrection body which will never die.
\nJust as Christ was raised from the dead, the new life we receive from him is like HIS new life. We will have bodies fit for heaven, not earthly bodies (1 Corinthians 15:35-41). Paul continues,
\n42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
\nThe new body will be free of the limitations of this earthly body. No tears. No suffering. No pain. No death. No decay.
\nIf there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: \u201cThe first man Adam became a living being\u201d; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
\nSo God will remake us in the image of Christ in His glorious resurrection body. Like we are now \u2013 but free of our limitations and imperfections. Free from the consequences of sin.
\n50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed\u2014 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
\nWe can only have picture language to understand this. We die and our earthly bodies may decay. But one day, God will raise us back to life. Same memories, same thoughts, bodies similar in many ways but actually more glorious bodies, transformed to be more like Christ. And to us in our new bodies, we will not be aware of time having passed. It will be as if we have blinked at the end of this life, and when we open our eyes we will be in God\u2019s presence, in glory, on the new earth God has promised to create.
\nTHIS is our Christian hope \u2013 the happy certainty of the resurrection of our bodies to eternal life. Our new bodies will be more like our present bodies than most of us imagine. And life in glory will actually be MORE SIMILAR to life in this world now than most of us expect! We have lived like Adam with the likeness of the man from earth. One day we will be transformed to share the likeness of the man from heaven. THIS is our glorious hope!<\/p>\n

Wednesday\t\tLuke 24:49-53<\/p>\n

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.\u2019 (Luke 24:49)
\nWhen Jesus spoke to His disciples just before his Ascension to glory he promised that they would be his witnesses. The gave them the commission to preach the Good News. And he promised them the power of the Holy Spirit, power from on high.
\nThe New Testament speaks around 100 times of power. The word we translate as power there refers not to the strength of men and women, but to the almighty power of the almighty God. And when Jesus promised to his disciples \u201cpower from on high\u201d THAT is the kind of power He was talking about. The Greek word in question is dunamis and from that root we get two significant English words. The first is dynamo \u2013 which generates electrical power. The second is dynamite \u2013 the explosive. Jesus promises to give his disciples the power of the Holy Spirit, dunamis, the dynamo and the dynamite of the Christian life!
\nAnd we see that power from on high expressed in at least three different ways in the life of the early church.
\n1. Power in miracles of healing and deliverance. In Luke\u2019s Gospel especially we see this aspect of the power of God at work in the ministry of Jesus and in his second volume the Acts of the Apostles we see those same miracles in the life of the Early Church.
\nActs 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles\u2026. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
\n2. Then in the early church we find power in proclaiming the gospel boldly and effectively \u2013 power to be witnesses for Jesus.
\n3. We also see power to live a victorious Christian life. This aspect of the power of God comes more obviously from the only Old Testament appearance of the phrase \u201cPower from on high\u201d in ISAIAH 32:14-18
\n14 The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland for ever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
\n15 till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.
\n16 Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field.
\n17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace;the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence for ever.18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling-places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
\nThe work of the “Spirit from on high” or the “power from on high” promised in Isaiah is the renewal of God\u2019s chosen people, rebuilding and restoring them. It brings the blessings of salvation: peace and prosperity, justice and righteousness. And it also brings repentance – refining and purifying God’s chosen people. And that is the work of the Spirit in the lives of Christians.
\nEph 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
\nLife won\u2019t always be easy for Christians. But we can be assured that God\u2019s power in us can accomplish immeasurably more than our human efforts ever could. We have God\u2019s power from on high at work in us!
\nSamuel Chadwick (1832\u20131917) wrote \u201cTo the church, Pentecost brought light, power, joy. There came to each illumination of mind, assurance of heart, intensity of love, fullness of power, exuberance of joy. No one needed to ask if they had received the Holy Ghost. Fire is self-evident. So is power!\u201d
\nThe dynamo and the dynamite of the Holy Spirit are God\u2019s gift to every Christian. A.W. Tozer wrote, \u201cBefore we can be filled with the Spirit, the desire to be filled must be all-consuming. It must be for the time the biggest thing in the life, so acute, so intrusive as to crowd out everything else. The degree of fullness in any life accords perfectly with the intensity of true desire. We have as much of God as we actually want.\u201d
\nSpirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
\nBreak me, melt me, mould me, fill me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.<\/p>\n

(c) North Springfield Baptist Church 2020 \u2013 peter@pbthomas.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALM SUNDAY Luke 22:63-71 They all asked, \u2018Are you then the Son of God?\u2019 He replied, \u2018You say that I am.\u2019 (Luke 22:70) Why…<\/span><\/p>\n

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