Worshiping Jesus
Palm Sunday

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Good to see all of you here! Good to greet you that are watching online as well. Today is Palm Sunday; it’s the first day of what Christians call “Passion Week.” It is called “Passion Week” because of the origin of the word from the Latin, passio, which means to suffer. We call it the “Week of Passion,” because it was the week that Jesus suffered on that cruel cross in our place and died for our sins.

In Passion week, it’s good to to think about each day of the week. There are two weeks in the Bible where God, instead of talking about things in broad strokes, talks about them day by day in a week. The first week is creation week, day by day, and then on the seventh day He rested.

The second week that the Bible zooms in on is Passion week; on the seventh day, He rested in the tomb. It’s an important week, because the first week He created the world and He created us. And then, in the second week, He redeems us.

As we are thinking about this week, I would invite you, as a believer, to look at each day. Meditate on what the scripture says about each day. You can summarize each day with a topic: Palm Sunday, triumphal entry Monday, cleansing the Temple Tuesday, teaching in the Temple Wednesday, resting and anointing in Bethany Thursday with The Last Supper and Betrayal in the Garden, Friday with the trial, crucifixion and death, Saturday in the tomb and then, next Sunday is Easter Sunday with His resurrection and empty tomb. It’s good to think through each of those days.

If you would like to follow along with us, in terms of the daily readings, you can go to garycombs.org and look at the blog I just wrote. It has daily readings from the Gospels. Today, you can go home and read about the triumphal entry. Tomorrow, you could read about the cleansing of the Temple and so forth. It’s a good, meditative experience as you go through the week.

Well, as we read that this first day of what was Passover Week, this week of passion is also in the Jewish calendar. Passover begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday and it ends at 6 p.m. the following Saturday.

Jesus is coming in on a Sunday. In the Jewish timekeeping method, it begins at 6 p.m. instead of 12 midnight, which is how our timekeeping works. Jesus is coming in on the first day of the week. It’s the first day, when all of the Jews throughout the Roman Empire have been traveling and they’re arriving on this first day. It coincides with Jesus’ arrival. There’s a great crowd of people gathered, coming into the eastern gate of Jerusalem. Jesus shows up, riding on a donkey, coming down from the Mount of Olives, through the garden of Gethsemane toward the Eastern gate. A great number of people were gathered there. They begin to wave palm branches and to shout “Hosanna!” They begin to take off their cloaks and throw them before Jesus, allowing Him to to come into the city. They greet Him on this Sunday like a king.

Perhaps, some in the crowd are part of that other crowd, who on Friday, will say “crucify Him.” On Sunday, they’re shouting, “Hosanna;” on Friday, they are a different crowd, who shout, “Crucify Him.” That’s the thing about crowds; they are fickle, aren’t they? If you follow the crowd, they could be one way on Sunday and another way on Friday. It depends on how the culture blows.

Did you know that your response to Jesus might be affected by the crowd? The way you think of Jesus today might be because of the way your parents brought you up or in the way your parents talked about Jesus? Okay, so that’s what I’m supposed to think about Jesus. Or, maybe you grew up going to church, and you’ve got a “Sunday school image” of Jesus; you’ve got a “coloring book” version of Jesus in your mind. Maybe, like some truck drivers I’ve met, you have a plastic version of Jesus sitting on your dash and it’s something that keeps you safe when you’re driving. Maybe, you’ve got some version of Jesus, through (Heaven help you) some movie you have watched, a Hollywood movie or social media version.

Maybe, you’re from a different religious background. We heard from Allen who gave his testimony. When he was growing up, they didn’t really go to church. They didn’t really have a relationship with Jesus. As a result, Allen was an atheist; he didn’t even believe in God.

Maybe, you came from another religion. I’ve got a Muslim friend that I’ve been talking to about Jesus for some time. When I press him on it and want to talk about Jesus, he’ll say, “Gary, you’re a Christian because you were born in America, but I was born in Egypt, so I’m a Muslim.” He thinks it’s about where you’re born; what crowd you were born into.

May I say to you, that it is important that you encounter what Jesus says about Himself and what the Scripture says about Him, rather than what the crowd says and rather than what your parents told you. You should listen to your parents, but encounter Him for yourself so that you don’t have your parent’s religion and you have your own belief in Jesus.

We’re going to be reading from the Gospel of Mark; the crowd welcomed Jesus as He came into Jerusalem with shouts of praise and worship. I believe that when we rightly recognize Jesus for who He is and that we can worship Him.

As we’re looking at the text, I think we’ll see three reasons why Jesus deserves our worship. Let’s look at this well known story; let’s ask the Lord to speak to us now from His word in Mark 11:1-11 (ESV) 1 “Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” 11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.” This is God’s word. Amen.

Three reasons why Jesus deserves our worship: 1. Because of the Scriptures He fulfilled.

Jesus deserves our worship . He fulfilled the scriptures. Jesus is coming into Jerusalem and He hears the people shouting; look in verse ten; He hears the people shouting, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” This is a Messianic praise. In other words, it’s a praise that says, We’re looking for the kingdom of the Messiah. They declare this as Jesus comes in.

Let’s talk about the geography of this passage. Any time I see places and names,what do I want to do? I want to look at a map, right? Do you love maps like I do? I love maps! Here’s a big map; let’s look at it for a second. Jesus was coming down from the Mount of Olives, so He’s coming from Bethany, where Lazarus,Martha and Mary lived. They were Jesus’ dear friends, so it’s normal for Him to stay in Bethany when he’s visiting Jerusalem. He’s coming from Bethany and probably around Bethphage, He says to his disciples, There’s a colt of a donkey tied here. Go untie it and bring it to me. This story is in all four gospels.

Why is it so important that we hear about a colt, this donkey colt that they untie? Why did all four gospels think it was so important that we needed to talk about this now before I moved from the map? We’ll answer that question. Here he is. He gets the colt and now he’s riding down from the Mount of Olives, which is at a higher elevation than the Temple Mount.

It was my privilege to be able to stay in Jerusalem for a month a few years ago. I would go as often as I could, as the sun was rising, I would walk up to the Mount of Olives and I would have my quiet time with the Lord up there and watch the sun come up. You can see into the Temple Mount area because the Mount of Olives is higher.

Here Jesus comes. He gets on the donkey and He’s riding down the Mount of Olives, down through the garden of Gethsemane, down into the Kidron Valley and then up into Jerusalem. That’s what the geography looks like. It was during this time that some of these crowds of people were coming from Bethany because they knew about Him. They knew He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days; Jesus raised him from there. These people had witnessed that and they’re following Him.

And then, there’s all these crowds coming into Jerusalem who have been hearing the buzz about Jesus. Here He comes, riding a donkey, into this area. Now notice in Verse two, it says, “…find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.” This is very specific information. The disciples are well trained at this point. They’ve been following Jesus for three years. They don’t say something like, How do you know there’s a colt? They know that there’s a colt; we don’t know how that they know. He’s already told Peter, Hey, it’s time to pay our taxes. Go pull a fish out and there’s a coin in his mouth.

Jesus told them to go get the colt. They go get the colt. They come along and they see a colt tied near a door. They take the colt and they tell the people there the very thing that Jesus told them to say. He says, Tell them this, that if they ask you why you’re taking the colt, say, “The Lord has need of it.” It all worked; it’s an amazing story. So, all four gospels tell this story. Why is it so important? It’s because it was prophesied, centuries before, that this would happen.

In the book of Genesis, chapter 49, Jacob is on his deathbed. He’s laying his hands on his twelve sons and he’s giving a blessing on each one. When he comes to Judah, he says this, Genesis 49:10-11 (ESV) “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet… Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine…” He was already prophesying that the Messiah would be born to the tribe of Judah. David was born to the tribe of Judah, and then, Jesus, the son of David, is born into the tribe of Judah. We, already, see a prophecy concerning the Messiah and something about the colt of a donkey, way back there, centuries before.

Zechariah the prophet, in Zechariah 9:9 (ESV) says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The prophet saw that the Messiah, when He comes as king, He will come riding on the colt of a donkey.

Jesus is the fulfillment of scripture. The whole Old Testament is talking about the coming of Jesus and preparing us for the coming of Jesus. Then, the New Testament talks about how He fulfilled it.

Jesus says, Go get My donkey. It’s time for Me to ride it in. Every other time He went to Jerusalem, He walked in. But this was a different week because He knew how this week would end. This is a different week. It’s time for Him to publicly say, “I am He. I’m the Messiah.” He comes in how kings would enter. If you read the Old Testament, anytime a king was entering or making his entrance, he would ride upon a donkey. Wealthy people or people of royalty would ride a donkey. They didn’t ride horses like the Romans did, because donkeys are more sure footed. If you ever go to Israel, it is a rocky, hilly place. Horses will tend to break a leg or step off a cliff, but donkeys are smart. They won’t do that. They have a high self-protection instinct; donkeys are really sure footed. It was normal for kings to ride on donkeys. So, Jesus comes, riding on a donkey, with His disciples. The crowds were throwing their cloaks over the path.

Jesus was very particular about this donkey. He didn’t want just any donkey; He wanted a particular donkey that had never been ridden, upon which no one had ever sa, as it says in verse two.

Now, I know a lot of you grew up in the city and don’t understand things like this. But those of you that grew up in the country, you know you don’t want to be the first guy who rides a donkey that has never been sat on. You don’t want to be the first one because the donkey is not ready for you and you’re not ready for him, either. This animal had never been “broken.” But Jesus says, “I want a donkey colt that no one has ever sat on.” What does this show? It’s not ideal to ride on an “unbroken” mount, yet it shows Christ’s authority over creation because this donkey knew who He was. This is the Jesus who rides on raging storms and unbroken colts. Not only this, this is the Jesus who entered Jerusalem on an unridden and borrowed mount and He exited Jerusalem to be buried in an unused and borrowed tomb. Jesus told His disciples, Just tell them the Lord has need of it, and tell them that I’ll send it back when I’m finished with it. That’s basically what He did with Joseph of Arimathea, who laid Him in his own tomb that no one had ever been in before. He rides a donkey that no one had ever sat on; a borrowed mount. Then, He borrows a tomb and He says, basically, to Joseph, if you will, I only need it for a few days. I’ll let you have it back after that.

You see, this is the Jesus we’re talking about. That no one had ever sat on shows His creation authority. But, it also shows His holiness, no one had ever sat on the colt. “The Lord has need of it,” in verse three.

Can you imagine somebody coming up to you and saying, Can I have the keys to your car? What? I’ve never seen you before. The Lord has need of it. Okay, well, here’s the keys to the car, since the Lord has need of it. Can you imagine somebody saying, I need your house, the Lord has need of it. That’s what happens here. It’s a small part of the story. We read this story every year . Let’s not just go by and not think about it for a second. I think it’s important to ask you; if the Lord has need of it, would you say, Go ahead? If the Lord needs your stuff, would you say, Yes, absolutely.

They brought the colt to Jesus and He sat on it. It was time for Him to announce who He is. It was time for Him to go face the hill called Golgotha. He sat on the colt of a donkey; He rode in and He accepted their praise, even though one of the other Gospels says that the Pharisees came to him and said, Lord, you need to tell these people to hush. They’re saying Hosanna and they’re throwing their cloaks down like You’re the Messiah. He says to them, I tell you the truth. If I tell them to be quiet, the rocks will cry out. He came in ready to accept their praise because He came in knowing He was about to pay a price . They threw down cloaks. They waved leafy branches as it says in the book of Mark; in the book of John, chapter 12 it says that they were palm branches. That’s where we get the idea of Palm Sunday. The book of John is the only one that reports that they were from palm trees. The other Gospels say branches. The book of Mark says it was leafy branches.

Someone might say, Well, why don’t all the Gospels completely agree and say the same exact thing? They say the same facts, but they have different perspectives. If three of us go to watch a football game or a basketball game, we’ll get the score right, but if my wife is at the football game, she’s looking at what the cheerleaders are doing. She’s gonna say, Look at that. If somebody hears a musician and enjoys the halftime show with the band, he’s going to say, Did you see that? I’m probably trying to watch the football game because I love football, but we would all have different ways of telling the story. We would all, hopefully, know how the score ended and we would get those details right.

The four Gospels give us four different perspectives on the same story of Jesus. And so each saw a different angle. In Mark’s gospel, it reports that they were waving leafy branches and shouting. The words they were shouting were, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. This is not something they just thought of at that point in time. They said this every year at Passover. Every year as they entered in, they would cut palm branches. Every year, they would say “Hosanna, blessed…” because that’s what you were supposed to say. Psalm 118 is what you’re supposed to sing when you came in for Passover; everybody knew that. Get out your hymnals and turn to hymn number 118. They’re singing this Psalm 118, Psalm 118:25-27 (NIV) Lord, save us! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession…”

The people brought boughs, limbs and palm branches in; they did this every year. Here’s what’s different this time; instead of looking up and and singing to the Father, they are directing it towards Jesus. That is different and it’s why the Pharisees got upset, Jesus, you’re accepting it like it belongs to you. He responds with, If they don’t, the rocks are going to do it. I would like to see what that looks like. So, this festivity was normal; what was not normal was that they directed it to a person named Jesus.

I’ll tell you something else that wasn’t normal. They took their cloaks off and formed a “red carpet entrance” for Him, like He was a king. They were crying out, Is this the coming kingdom of David ? Could it be?

You see, Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies and the Old Testament scriptures. He says in Matthew 5:17 (ESV) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” You won’t understand the Old Testament until you read the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus. You have to understand that it’s foretelling about Jesus. It’s a prophecy about Jesus.

Paul writes in Romans 1:2-4 (NIV) “… he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament predicting the coming of Jesus. He fulfilled everyone. There are details like He would be born in the city of Bethlehem. He would be born to a virgin. Details of little boys in Bethlehem, under the age of two, that would be murdered. There are over 300 prophecies.

In his book, “Science Speaks,” Professor Peter Stoner says this according to the Science of Probability, “the science of probability is applied to 8 of the over 300 messianic prophecies. Stoner says, “We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 1017.” Stoner illustrates this by supposing that “we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them across the state of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up the right silver dollar on the first try.” If you apply the science of probability ability to only eight of the 300 prophecies, he says, we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is one in 10 to the 17th Power. Unless you remember what, 10 to the 17th power is still, you know we probably took that in high school or something, but maybe you don’t remember. Stoner helps us. He illustrates it by saying to take 10 to the 17th power silver dollars and spreading them across the state of Texas. They would be 2 ft deep over the whole state of Texas. If you took one silver dollar and marked it with a black X and stirred it up in there and then put a blindfold on a guy and said, Okay, walk across the state of Texas. The first silver dollar you pick up, if it has a black X on it, is the probability that any person could fulfill eight of the 300.

But this man, Jesus, fulfilled all 300 prophecies. He deserves our worship because He is the long awaited one. He’s the Messiah, the Christ. The One that the Old Testament prophecy said was to come. The crowd may or may not have known what they were saying. I think some did know, the disciples knew, and others may have known, but many of them were just caught up in it. went. Is this Him? Is this the Messiah? Is this the son of David that we’ve been waiting for?

How about you? Have you understood that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and that He came as the Christ, the Messiah? That’s the first reason He deserves our worship. Here’s the second.

Three reasons why Jesus deserves our worship:

2. Because of the way he prepared.

Because of the way He prepared. He has prepared a way for us to know God. He is the only one Who has prepared such a way.

Look at verse nine, how the crowd calls to Him, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Blessed is the one who comes, representing God, as a representative between God and humanity. This is Jesus, the One who comes as our “go-between” our “bridge.”

I’m going to say something that will assault the senses of anyone who is caught up in the crowd today, the culture today. If you’re a young person, you, especially, have been completely caught up in this culture that says, Whatever you know, whatever you want, whatever is your way, whatever is your opinion, whatever… Burger King used to have this commercial that would say, “Have it your way.” You can have it your way. We have a “Burger King” culture now, whatever you want, have it your way.

Jesus comes saying this in John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Now that’s either the most egotistical claim that anyone has ever made or it’s the truth. If it’s the truth, then it goes against the grain of our culture that says everything is relative, that you can have it your way and that always it is acceptable. Jesus says, I’m it. There’s no other way to know God apart from Me. We just don’t like that. We like our own way. We are trying to be good by doing this and doing that. But Jesus says, “The only way to know the Father is through the Son.” The only way is to know Jesus.

Now listen, if you’re a younger person, you’re in high school or college, be aware of this: it’s going to be harder for you to cling to this because you’re gonna be going upstream against the culture that’s going downstream like a flood. May I say to you, young person, take a stand for Jesus. Don’t just follow the crowd; the crowd usually gets it wrong. Jesus is the only way to God. It says in Timothy 2:5 (ESV) “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” There’s one way; it’s Jesus.

I had signed up to go to college for my freshman year. I had picked my roommate. We’ve been talking since 11th grade of high school about being roommates. He was one of my best friends. We had decided that we were going to go to college together. We went and did the college visitation thing together and were going to room together. We had big plans; we were going to organize our dorm room and everything. That summer, before school started, my good buddy began to be afraid because his girlfriend was a year younger than us and he was afraid to go off to college because she might break up with him. And so, he stayed back to be with her. She broke up with him anyway. So clue clue to you young people. She broke up with him anyway, but he stayed back. So, I’ve got the dorm room to myself for a few weeks. And then, one day, there’s a knock at the door. I open the door, look down and there’s this short little guy. His name was Merrigan. He was from Iran. He says to me, “Hello, thank you very much. I am your new roommate.

Now, ladies, you don’t know this, but you don’t have the same space between each other when you talk. Women don’t mind being close when they’re talking. But American men need an arm’s length when we talk. We kind of talk loud to each other like that. Apparently in the Middle East, andI know this for a fact, they kiss each other on the cheeks.

My roommate came in and he was making me so uncomfortable, because his belly kept touching mine. He had me backed up in a corner, talking to me. He says, I am from Iran. My father is a doctor. We have a house on the Caspian Sea. This is my roommate; it turns out he’s a follower of Baha’u’llah. I had never heard of it before, but I learned a lot that year. I woke up the next morning to the sound of my roommate chanting. At 5 a.m., he’s sitting on the floor in the lotus position, rocking back and forth, holding up a prayer book from Baha’u’llah. We start talking. I asked my roommate, What do you believe about Jesus? He says, Oh, Jesus, he is a great prophet. He is in our holy book. He is, also, in the Koran for the Muslim. He’s in the holy book but he’s a prophet. He’s not the only way to God. Well, how do you believe in Him when He says in John 14: 6, “I am the only way…” Merigan says, “I don’t know. We worship him. But he is not the last prophet. The last prophet is Baha’u’llah.” So, that whole year we’re sitting together. We’re watching “Gunsmoke” on my 13 inch black and white TV. That was his favorite show. We are eating pizza together and hanging out all year long. This was where we kept getting stuck; “Jesus is the only way.” I wish I could find him. I’m online right now. People are watching online. What if Merigan is watching? I miss you. I miss you, brother. I lost track of you when the Shah of Iran fell. I don’t know what happened to all of my Iranian friends from that year in college. I wish I could find you. I wish I could tell you some more about Jesus. He’s the only way. I make no apologies telling you this. I would be lying to you; I would be sending you off with a lie if I didn’t tell you that He is the only way. There’s no other way.

The first two reasons are (1) Because He fulfills the Scripture and (2) Because He made the way. Here’s the third:

3. Because of the price He paid.

Notice that their shouting began and ended with “Hosanna. Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes representing the kingdom of David. Hosanna in the highest.”

“Hosanna” is a transliteration of the Hebrew word, “Yasha-anna,” which means, “Please save us.” It’s a cry of expectation. “Lord, please save us.” Dr. Gerald Barker says it’s a cry for salvation now. Save us now.

As we’ve said, the crowds were unusually large that year because, not only was it Passover, but there was this word going out that the Messiah could actually be coming to the city, and apparently He had raised this man, Lazarus, from the dead. John reports this, in John 12. The crowd that had been with Him, when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised Him from the dead, continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet Him was that they had heard He had done this sign. So, this is a bigger crowd than normal, and they’re crying out, “God save us; save us now.” Hosanna in the highest; save us to the uttermost completely.

Then he entered Jerusalem, it says in verse 11. He entered Jerusalem and He went up into the temple like a Passover lamb. He was delivered to Jerusalem the day before the day of selection.

Let me give you a little background. Nissan is the first month of the year in the Jewish calendar. On the tenth of Nissan was selection day for the Passover lamb. The Jews follow a lunar calendar, so the moon is what triggers this; the new moon. This is why Easter moves around. Some of you have asked, Why does Easter move around every year? Somebody make up their mind and put Easter somewhere. The date of Easter moves around and it’s because it follows the patterns of the moon, the lunar calendar.

Passion Week, for the Christian, always falls on Passover week for the Jew. The 10th day of Nissan was Passover lamb selection day. The Passover lamb was the one that God gave to Moses. He said to Moses, while they were still in Egypt, that everyone that’s of the house of Israel needs to kill a lamb that has no blemish, being careful not to break any of its bones. When you kill it, you must take its blood and put it around your door so that when the angel of Death comes, he’ll pass over your house. You must eat it that night. There’s a description of the Passover meal. You were to select the lamb on the 10th day.

Then on preparation day, which is on the 14th day of Nissan, you kill it. So, you have selected the lamb on the 10th. You put it to itself, away from all the other little lambs. You tie it somewhere separate. On the 14th, which, by the way, is Monday, election day. Friday is preparation day; and on the preparation day, after 3pm, which they would say, after the ninth hour, because Jews keep hours based on sunrise and sunset. At 3pm, you prepare the Passover lamb. You kill it and prepare it. At 6pm, Sabbath begins, and then, you eat it. That’s the pattern.

Why am I telling you all of this stuff about Passover lambs? Because Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He died, exactly at the ninth hour, which is 3 pm on Friday. He is our Passover Lamb. There’s no need for another one; He is the Passover Lamb.

Jesus came in on the first day of the week, He cleansed the temple on the second day of the week, He taught in the temple on the third day of the week on Tuesday. On Wednesday, He took a break and pulled back with his disciples and He was anointed by Mary, the younger sister of Martha.

On Thursday, Jesus knew it was going to be a big day. On Thursday, they had the Lord’s Supper. He’s praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He’s betrayed by Judas. Early the next morning, He’s before Pilot because there’s another kind of sacrificial system going on; there is the Passover Lamb that He fulfils. He, also, fulfills the daily sacrifice of the lamb.

I have a chart; it’s a big chart. Here it comes. My son, Jonathan, made this, so I have to use it. It’s really detailed so get your glasses on.

The first hour, for the Jew, is 6am, sunrise. We call that 6am. They call that the first hour in the Mishnah. The Mishnah, by the way, is like a commentary on the Old Testament that Jewish rabbis wrote. They talk about when and how to do certain things that the Old Testament prescribes. The Mishnah of the Tamid is the daily sacrifice, that’s a Hebrew word for the daily sacrifice, that the first lamb is to be brought out and tied to the altar at dawn. At the first hour, the little lamb is brought out and tied to the horns of the altar. In the first hour, the Bible tells us that Jesus was taken from the house of the high priest Caiaphas and He stood, tied, before Pilot for the trial. Then it’s prescribed, in the Mishnah, that the first lamb of the daily sacrifice is to be offered at the third hour, or 9am our time. At that same time, the book of Mark says it was the third hour when they crucified Him.

I’m showing you something here that may be you’ve never noticed before. Now, at the sixth hour, which is noon, the second lamb is tied to the altar. It was, during that time, that darkness fell over the land. The time was high noon, when the sun is usually at its highest place. The book of Matthew says, “Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness all over the land until the ninth hour.” In other words, until three o’clock.

Now I’ve done some study on this, and there have been reports during that time period in other countries, like Egypt, that this darkness was not just in Israel. In fact, an archaeologist in recent times has studied the Aztec writings about calendars and so forth and it seems to say that in 32 or 33ad, which is when Jesus was crucified, apparently they had a phenomenon of darkness at midday. This was a darkness that lasted for three hours at midday. This was the time when the second lamb would be tied. This was the time when the darkness fell.

Then, at the ninth hour, 3 pm, the second lamb of the daily sacrifice would be slain. It was that time that Jesus cried out, “Eloi Eloi lama Sabachthani.” “My God, My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” And then, He cries out, “It is finished. Unto Thy hands I commend my spirit.” He died. What a coincidence? He is the lamb of God. He fulfills the daily sacrifice. He fulfills the Passover. He is the one who paid the price. There is no other, no other like Him.

They were shouting, “Save us, save us!” He goes in; he enters the temple. The scripture says, {And when he had looked around at everything.” Don’t miss that. This is the high priest. This is the son of God. He’s looking at His temple. It’s His temple. He’s looking around.

I used to run drugstores; I used to be a district manager. I would show up in the parking lot and start walking towards the front door. As soon as the store manager would see me, he would get his clipboard down out of his office and follow me around because I’d look around. I would go up and down every aisle, making sure everything was “thumbs up.” You know what “thumbs up” means? Front and face; right to the edge. I have to watch myself now; that was a long time ago. I worked there for 12 years. Sometimes, if my wife’s looking at something and taking too long, I start front and facing. It’s weird because then people come up and ask me where stuff is. I did it so long: for 12 years. If you own the place, if you run the place, you look around, making sure they’re running it right, so don’t miss that.

He entered into Jerusalem and went up to the temple. He looked around. It’s getting late. Maybe, He made a note to self, When I get back tomorrow, I am going to clean up some stuff in here. But it is late, so they retired to Bethany with His disciples.

This is Jesus. He drinks the cup that we can’t drink. He dies the death so that we can have his eternal life. Do you recognize Who this is? It’s not the plastic Jesus on your dash. It’s not a cross necklace of gold around your neck. It’s not baby Jesus in a coloring book. This is Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of David. This is the King. He deserves our worship. There’s no one like Jim. There’s no one like Him. Bow down and worship Him. It is the only right response.

Have you given your life to Him? He gave His life for you. Thank You for Your word, for, by Your word, we understand Who you are. By Your Spirit, we encounter you, Lord. Right now, I pray that, whether people are watching online or are in this room, seated together, that You’re stirring people’s hearts and that You’re touching people right, knocking on heart doors. Do you know Jesus? Brother Allan said, not just know about Him, but know Him. Do you know Him? Do you have a relationship with Him? You can get one right now. You can get started right now. He’s ready. He’s ready to answer your prayer. Pray like this, Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I’ve been going my own way. But I want to go Your way now. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come live in me. I want to be a child of God. Make me the person You want me to be. I want You as my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer, right now, believing, He will save you. Others are here and, maybe, you’re encountering a friend or somebody at work or at school and you just don’t want to cause trouble. “To each, his own.” Right? Why not worship Jesus fully? Why not come out in the open with what you believe. Right now, say, Lord, forgive me for the way I’ve hidden You from others. You are the only way. Oh, Lord, help me to bear witness to that,especially this week, as we go through this week. Lord, help me to declare to everyone that You are the only way to know God. You are the fulfillment of the scriptures.You were the One who paid the price. We love You and we thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.