Why Jesus Died, Part 4

This is the greatest week in the history of Christianity. We understand the implications of all that takes place some 2,000 years ago with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Traditionally, this is the Sunday in which people call Palm Sunday, where Jesus would come into Jerusalem to the praises of the people. We left off here last week by looking at the king coming to Jerusalem, helping you understand that Israel knew that Jesus was their king. And we've given you several points, 12 to be exact, they're on the screen behind me so that you can read them to understand where we have been and what we've studied, and trying to help you understand that those 12 points have pointed to the fact that Jesus is the king, and that they knew he was their king.

It began with the revelation in prophecy. They knew of what the Old Testament said concerning the arrival of their Messiah. And then it began, or went from there to the affirmation in his genealogy, to the recognition by the Magi. Everything was about the coming of the king of glory. Then we move to talk to you about the coronation at his baptism, when his father said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased in the spirit of God descended upon the Son of Man. Then the temptation of the wilderness, the proclamation of the gospel, the commission of the 12, the presentation of the kingdom parables, the transfiguration on the high mountain, the ambition of the Galilean Jews, the rejection of the multitudes, and then the acclamation in Jerusalem.

And this is just a brief snapshot of what Israel would have known about the Messiah. So let me just take you back to Luke 19 for a moment, because this is the day in which traditionally it's called Palm Sunday.

But if you have been with us for any period of time, you know that there wasn't an entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday before he was crucified. It was on Monday. Now I know that really upsets different churches who like to celebrate Palm Sunday, but you need to understand what the Bible says and the chronology of the last week of our Lord's life, when they claimed him as king on that Monday, he rode into Jerusalem.

How do we know it's Monday? If someone said to you, yeah, we went to church today and celebrated Palm Sunday. And you said to them, no, there is no Palm Sunday, it's Palm Monday. And they said, well, really, how do you know that? What would you say? Would you be able to explain to them the chronology of the scriptures? Some might say it really doesn't make a difference what day he came into Jerusalem. He came into Jerusalem. And that might be right, except, except there was a prophecy about the day of his visitation.

And if there's a prophecy in Daniel 9 about the day of his visitation, when Messiah will be cut off, then it's important to know the chronology of the last week of our Lord's life. So just to help you understand this, I think it's pretty important. If it wasn't, I wouldn't preach on it. So if you got your Bible, turn to John 12, John chapter 12, and help you understand the chronology of the week. John chapter 12 tells us about where Jesus was six days before the Sabbath, or before Passover, excuse me.

Six days before Passover would be Saturday, the Saturday before. So it says, chapter 12, verse number one, Jesus therefore six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

Jesus is in Bethany on the Sabbath before the Passover, six days before Passover. Now this is important. Why is it important? Because Bethany is two miles east of Jerusalem on the other side of the Mount of Olives. Between Bethany and the Mount of Olives is a place called Bethpage. We have no idea where that is today. But there was a little village called Bethpage because that's where they would get the colt for the Lord to ride upon. And that's where he would tell his men to go and tell them that the Lord has need of it.

If they ask you, and sure enough they asked, why are you taking the colt? They said, the Lord has need of it. And they untied the colt and took the colt to the Lord. But the Bible tells us that on the Sabbath day, he is in Bethany because it's six days before the Passover. And so they made him supper there and there Mary anointed him with very costly perfume. If you read through the story, and Judas is upset because he wants the money for himself. And so we know about that story in particular. And then the Bible says these words in John chapter 12, in verse number nine, the large crowd of the Jews then learned that he was there.

And they came not for Jesus sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus whom he raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. The question comes verses nine to 11, what day is that? For a large crowd of the Jews then to learn that he was there and they came to Bethany, they would not travel on Sabbath day because they couldn't. So it'd have to be the next day, which would be Sunday, because these are religious leaders and they wouldn't travel on the Sabbath day.

And then it says in verse 12, on the next day, the large crowd who came to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him and began to shout, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. That would be when? That would be Monday. Now think about it this way. If you believe that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a Sunday, people who believe that have Wednesday of that week as a silent day. That is everybody who believes that Jesus came into Israel, into Jerusalem on that Sunday.

They know the events then on Monday and Tuesday, but they have nothing on Wednesday. Why would there be a blank day in the life of our Lord on the most important week of his entire life? There is no blank day because what's recorded in the scripture fills every day of the week. If you understand the chronology that on the Sabbath, he was in Bethany on Sunday, the religious leaders knew he was there and they came to Bethany, not for Jesus sake, but to put Lazarus to death also. And then on Monday ride into Jerusalem.

And we know the chronology because on that day, he would ride into Jerusalem to the praises of the people, Hosanna. Okay. And we know that it was a coronation of the King simply because of the preparation to get to Jerusalem, which proved his authority by knowing about the cult and where the cult would be and how they had to untie the cult and what would be said. And then the adoration or acclamation of the people who called him the King of Israel, Hosanna to the King, as well as his condemnation, because he would pass judgment on the nation on that day as well.

So we know that he is the King based on his acclamation by the multitudes as he rode into Jerusalem. And he would ride down to the Eastern gate. He would preview what was going on in the temple, go back to Bethany that night on Monday night. On Tuesday, he would return. On his return, he would curse the fig tree and he would cleanse the temple on that Tuesday for the second time.

He cleansed the temple the first time in John chapter two. He cleanses it now the second time at the end of his ministry.

So he cleanses the temple in John chapter two. I mean, I'm sorry, on Tuesday of that week, based on the account of the Gospels. And in cleansing the temple, he also healed the lame and the blind. And on that Tuesday, the children, according to Matthew's account, sang Hosanna to the son of David, the King of Israel, which brought indignation to the religious leaders. On Wednesday, having returned back to Bethany on Tuesday night. And the reason he did that is because there was over two million people in Jerusalem.

And how do we know that? We know that because 10 years after Jesus died, we know that there's a record that there were 260,000 lambs slaughtered in Jerusalem at the time of Christ's death. The account goes that there's one lamb slaughtered for every 10 people. That would put you over two million people in Jerusalem during that time. And that would mean that people would live in tents and they would live all around the area of the city. And so Christ would return to Bethany, stay there, come back on Wednesday, which is not a silent day, because on Wednesday, there was a confrontation with the religious leaders and instruction in the temple all day on that Wednesday.

And then of course, on that Wednesday night, he had the great Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 and Mark chapter 13, where Christ would talk about his return. He'd spend the night there in Gethsemane. And then of course, then you have Thursday, which is when he would have the Passover, celebrate the Passover with his disciples. He would have that great discourse of consolation in John 13 through John 17. And then of course, you would have them going back to the Garden of Gethsemane that night, him being betrayed by Judas, then coming to get him.

And then he'd be crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday. Make sense? Of course it does. But there's more. See, the Mosaic law required that you would take the lamb and you would choose the choice lamb for Passover and you'd bring it into your home and you'd bring it in, okay, four days before you slaughtered it. And if Jesus is our Passover lamb, which was crucified for us, which he is, symbolically, he would have been taken in by Israel four days before the crucifixion, which would be Monday, not Sunday.

And they would acclaim him as their beloved king, show love and admiration for him. You see, in the Jewish Passover, you take the lamb in as a pet and you love on that lamb for three days, and then you slaughter it on the fourth day. So the Mosaic law required that to happen. And therefore, Jesus being our Passover lamb that was sacrificed for us would have then come into Jerusalem on Monday, not Sunday, because it would be four days before he would be slaughtered on Calvary's mountain. Now, does it even make more sense?

Of course it does. You see, the Bible makes things very simple if we just read it. So many times we conjure up all these traditional views because that's what we've always done. But think about it. There is no silent day in the Lord's life, the last week of his life. It's filled with every detail. If you were with us in our study of Luke, it took us five months to cover five days in Christ's life, five months, because there was so much details there. Now, think about this. Jesus comes into Jerusalem at the acclamation of the people.

They adored him, and they acclaimed him as their king in Luke's account, and in John's account as well, and in Matthew's account, and in Mark's account. But notice that when he comes in, these words are spoken, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

Remember I told you last week they praised him for the miracles that he performed, not the message that he preached. It's very clear there in verse number 37 of Luke 19. They praised God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles that they had seen. It was all about what Jesus would do. Now remember, Jesus had never allowed anything like this ever to happen in his three-year ministry until now.

When they wanted to take him king by force, we talked about this with the ambition of the Galilean Jews in John 6, they wanted to take him to be their king by force, but he escaped and knew what they were thinking, would not let that happen because it wasn't time. But now it's time. Now it's God's time. So now he allows the crowd to swell. He allows everything to happen on schedule, and for them to acclaim him as their king as he rides into Jerusalem on this day. And then the Bible says these words, and some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples.

But Jesus answered, I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out. And when he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, if you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, but now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side. And they will level you to the ground and your children within you. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.

You didn't get it. You should have. You should have known Zechariah 9, 9, where the king is coming to you. How? On a cult to the praises of the daughters of Jerusalem. It was prophesied. You should have known that. You should have known Daniel's prophecy in Daniel chapter 9, that 483 years from the time that Artaxerxes gave the decree, Messiah would be cut off. 173,888, 178,888 days from that time. You should have known, but you did not recognize the day of your visitation. You know what that tells me?

We think we know our Bible, but we don't. These are Jews. They're in a synagogue every day. They read the Bible every day, but they miss the king, even though they claim to miss king. And then they believe this is their time. That's why they said, Hosanna, glory to God. Why? To the son of David, the king of Israel. Why? Because they believe that now he's riding to the Jerusalem and he's going to overthrow Rome. And so on the next day, which would be in what I think is the right account on Tuesday, he goes in, but he doesn't go to Fort Antonia where Caesar, where Pilate is, and the Roman garrison is located.

Doesn't go there. Instead, he goes to the heart of Jewish religion. He goes to the temple and he begins to cleanse the temple. He begins to turn over the tables in the temple. He begins to run the money changers out of the temple. And as he does that, the children in the temple area are saying, Hosanna to the son of David. They are praising Jesus for his act of demolition, demolitioning the temple area, destroying it. And this is why people became so indignant. They expected Jesus to deal with political issues, but he didn't.

They expected Jesus to deal with social issues, but he didn't. He dealt not with Roman oppression, but Jewish corruption. And it began in the temple. He hit the heart of Israel where it meant the most, in their religiosity. And this is what was beginning to turn everybody from Jesus because he did not do what they expected him to do. He went after the heart and soul of Judaism. I would venture to say this. If Jesus did not come 2000 years ago but came today, he would never go to Washington. He wouldn't, but he would go to the church.

That's why Peter says, if judgment is going to begin, let it begin in the house of God. It's not that Jesus didn't care about political and social issues or military issues. No, no. But those are all service issues. He cared about not Israel's relationship to Rome, but Israel's relationship to God. It's all that matters. See, in today's day and age, we got it all backwards. We're so concerned about Washington. We're so concerned about the laws and they're going to pass or not pass and marching on this or marching on that or doing this and doing that.

It's all surface issues. The bottom line is man's relationship with God. And that's why Jesus had a spiritual ministry and preached the kingdom of God, because he wanted men and women to worship him in spirit and in truth. He wanted to be honored for who he truly was and is. Very, very important. It's not that the issues in politics and the issues in terms of our social issues of the day don't grieve us. They do. They do. But the bottom line is man's relationship with the living God. And Christ would deal with that.

So important. So I just wanted to introduce to you, I got eight more points to cover here in 20 minutes, so I got to really fly by them. But I wanted to let you in on that so that you understand exactly what was taking place on this day, because our next point simply is this, and that is his conversation with Pilate. So many things happened between Monday and Friday, but I'm going to skip all that because of time and go to his conversation with Pilate in Luke. I'm sorry, John 18 and John chapter 19 and John chapter 18.

He is brought before Pilate and Pilate says in verse 33, are you the king of the Jews? You don't look like a king. You don't smell like a king. You don't act like a king. Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, are you saying this on your own initiative or did others tell you about me? And Pilate answered, I'm not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priest delivered you to me. What have you done? And Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews.

But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. And therefore Pilate said to him, so you are a king. And Jesus answered, you say correctly that I am the king. For this, I have been born incarnation. And for this, I have come into the world. His eternality is pre-existence. To testify to the truth. What's the truth? I am king. I'm not just a king. I am the king. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Anyone who is of the truth that I am a king and I have a kingdom, hears my voice. And Pilate says what?

What is truth? That's the same thing we ask today. You see, nothing's changed in 2,000 years. Nothing's changed in 6,000 years. Everything's the same. If you've been with us on Wednesday nights in our study of Samuel, nothing changes. It's always the same. People are always questioning what truth is. Jesus is truth. His word is truth. And the conversation continues. And of course, Pilate wants to crucify our Lord. But in this conversation with Pilate, it's proven once again that he is the king of the Jews.

Israel did not want this king to rule over them. They would say, we have no king but Caesar. He says to them, behold a man. Now behold your king, Israel. Here is your king. We have no king but Caesar because this king did not do what we wanted him to do. If he was our king, Pilate, you wouldn't be standing there. If he was our king, Rome would be gone. So he must not be our king. We have no king but Caesar. So you move from this conversation with Pilate to the inscription on the cross, which says Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.

That's what Pilate wrote. The people, the religious leaders, were upset that he would say that. Say, he said he was the king of the Jews. And Pilate said, what I have written, I have written. The inscription on the cross proved that he was king of the Jews. Pilate, trying to be cynical, trying to mock the Jewish nation in all reality, Psalm 76, verse number 10, that God would use the wrath of man to praise his name. Even in Pilate's cynicism, there was the reality that Jesus is king of the Jews. So you move from the conversation with Pilate to the inscription on the cross to the next point, which would be the conversion of a criminal.

And that would be the thief on the cross in Luke chapter 23, the conversion of the criminal. It says, these words, one of the criminals, verse 39, who were hanging there was hurling abuse at him saying, are you the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered and rebuking him said, do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And he said to him, truly, I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise. What did the criminal see that the crowds didn't see? What did one criminal see the other criminal didn't see? Well, he saw the righteousness of Christ because he had done nothing wrong. We are here justly. He here is here unjustly. He has done nothing wrong. He saw the righteousness of Christ. What else did he see? He saw redemption in Christ for he calls him Jesus, which is how God saves his people from their sins.

For there's no other name in the heaven given among men whereby you must be saved. But the name of Jesus, you shall call his name, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. He calls him Jesus. So he sees redemption in Christ. He sees the righteousness of Christ. He also sees the resurrection of Christ. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Well, how is he going to come into his kingdom if he's dead? Unless he's raised from the dead. He sees the resurrection. He sees the royalty of Christ because he says, you're going to have a kingdom and I want to be a part of that kingdom.

This is what the man saw as he hung there on the cross. For those first three hours, he saw what others did not see the righteousness of Christ, the redemption of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the royalty of Christ.

And what did Christ say today? You shall be with me in paradise. Why was he converted? Because he saw Christ as king of glory. And then, then you have the confession of the centurion, which is our next point, right? There should be point number 16. If you're counting, if you're not counting, it's still point number 16. The confession of the centurion in Matthew 27, verse number 54, which says these words, now the centurion and those who were with him, keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, truly, this was the son of God.

Truly, this was a son of God. Now this centurion would have guarded Jesus from the time they took him from the garden of Gethsemane through the trials with Annas and Herod and Caiaphas and Pilate. He would have been through all those, seen everything that they did to Jesus, heard every word that Jesus spoke, and came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. What a powerful testimony to how God works in the lives of those who are his enemies. Because he would come to understand the truth about Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And then you have, of course, the resurrection of the Messiah. The resurrection of the Messiah proves that he is king of Israel. Hebrews chapter 1. See, we're still in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1, verse number 3, and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power when he had made purification of sins. What is that? Crucifixion. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. He was coronated as king of glory. Hebrews 2, verse number 9, but we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.

He was crowned with glory and honor. That's why the Bible says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The resurrection of the Messiah proves he's king because he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And when you read about him in the book of Revelation, it's all about his kingship as lamb of God. And then you move from there to point number 18, which is the explanation to the disciples of Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus. In Luke's gospel, the 24th chapter, you read about the disciples on the road to Emmaus wondering what was going on. It says, and behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem.

And they were talking with each other about all of these things that had taken place. So while they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself approached and began traveling with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He said to them, what are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking? And they stood still looking sad. One of them named Cleopas answered and said to him, are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?

He said to them, what things? And they said to him, the things about Jesus of Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word and the sight of God and all the people. And now the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucify him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.

But also some women among us amazed us when they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body. They came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said, but him they did not see. He said to them, oh foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them all the things concerning himself in all the scripture. They had no idea this was Jesus, but he had to suffer in order to enter into glory, in order to be crowned king of kings and Lord of lords. So he explained to them by taking them back to the Old Testament, law of the prophets, Moses. Can you imagine that conversation as he walked to Emmaus to understand these things? And when their eyes were finally opened as he broke bread that night, they both said, did not our hearts burn within us as he explained these things to us on the way.

In other words, before they ever knew it was Jesus, the power of the word of God burned in their hearts because they saw the reality of all that had taken place and that everything that had taken place was prophesied by the prophets of old. And so you have the instruction to the disciples and then after that you have what we call the instruction before his ascension. That's in Acts chapter one, Acts chapter one, verse number three says these words, it says to these, he also presented himself alive after suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

This is before the ascension. This is after the resurrection. This is 40 days in which Christ spent with his disciples, instructing them about things concerning the kingdom of God. Remember they were going to preach about the kingdom of God. So they had to understand the king and his kingdom. And so after spending 40 days with them, it says in verse four, gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the father had promised, which he said, you heard of from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.

In other words, he's taking them back to the eve of the crucifixion to tell them that they're going to receive another comforter, another of the same kind as he is the spirit of God, taking them, telling them, look, you stay in Jerusalem until you receive the promise. So when they had come together, they were asking him saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom of Israel? He said to them, this is not for you to know the times or epics, which the father has fixed by his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

You should be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria, even to the remotest parts of the earth. Lord, is it now you're going to do this? Christ says, it's not, not for yours to know.

You have a mission. That mission must be accomplished. Those things I taught you for 40 days, you must teach others. They must know about the coming king and his kingdom. And that's what they would do. Just got to read the book of Acts, read the epistles. And then you have the last point, the declaration of his return. And after he said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud receiving him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.

They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. He's coming again. This Jesus is going to return in the same manner which he just left. It doesn't say, listen carefully, he's going to return to the same place. He says he's going to return in the same manner in which he left. Why is that important? Because some people will tell you when Jesus comes back, he's going to come down to the Mount of Olives.

That's not what it says. He says he will come in the same manner. People say, well, where is he going to return? Well, we know the place because the Bible tells us in Isaiah 63, he returns to the wilderness, which is Edom, which is Bozrah, the ancient capital of Edom, because that's where Israel will be. According to Revelation chapter 12, Israel will be in the wilderness, which is represented in the Old Testament by Moab in Edom. So when you read Isaiah 63, Isaiah 34, the book of Haggai, the book of Malachi, you know that when Jesus comes again, he returns to Bozrah.

And that's where Israel will be because he's going to redeem Israel. And Revelation 1, 7 says that every eye will see him. And the Jewish people will look on him in whom they have pierced and realize he'd been there before. This is his second coming, not his first coming.

And then the Jewish people will be like us. They will know that he came already once to die. But it's coming again to rule and reign forever. Now, this is just a brief snapshot. There is so much more we could say to you about how Israel would know that Jesus was their king. But I'm going to leave you with this. One of the religious leaders during the time of Christ, a man named Nicodemus, came to him in the middle of the night. And Jesus said in John chapter 3, truly, truly, I say unto you, unless a man is born again, he will never enter the kingdom of God.

Everything about Christ's message concerned the kingdom. And Nicodemus was baffled by the words that he said. And Jesus even talked to him about that. How is it you are a leader of the Jewish people, a teacher of the Jews, and you don't know this? How do you not know this? Again, I'm going to take you back to this, that we don't think, we don't know our Bible as well as we should know our Bibles. Because Christ would indict the two disciples on the road to Emmaus because they did not know what the Bible said.

He would indict Nicodemus because he was a teacher of the Jews who did not know what the Bible said. And he would indict the whole nation because he kept going back to the Old Testament to prove to them once again that he is the Messiah, to show that he had all the credentials of the Messiah, everything that was prophesied in the Old Testament, which is a wake-up call to you and me today in modern day Christianity to say, you know what? We need to know what the word of the Lord says concerning Jesus Christ, our Lord, who he is and what he's done.

Because that's all that matters. Nothing else really matters. It's all about the Christ. It's all about spiritual issues. It's all about the kingdom of God and knowing those things because that's what people need to hear and know. And he would tell them, oh, unless you're born of water and born of the spirit, and he should know what that meant because that was right out of Ezekiel chapter 36, which was a new covenant promise. And Nicodemus should have known that. And being born of water is not water baptism.

It's the washing of regeneration by the word, according to Titus 3.5, and renewing of the spirit, according to Titus 3.5. And that's exactly what Christ said in Ezekiel chapter 36 as he gave the prophecy to Ezekiel concerning the new covenant and the coming of the Messiah, how he will sprinkle clean water upon them and put a new spirit within them. I wonder if you know the king. We're embarking on a week that is the most important week in Christianity. It's a week about the king. And we live in a world where people don't want a balanced objection to the king of kings.

And of all the people who should know about the coming of the king, it should be us. And all the events that took place throughout the week that would lead him on a precise timetable to make sure that he was sacrificed at the exact moment that the lambs in Israel were being slaughtered, because he was the lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. And while the veil was torn in two at that time, so all those priests who were offering those sacrifices would be totally astonished by what took place.

But he had to die at the right time. He had to be off the cross before sunset, because he had to be in the grave for three days. And so exactly as he died on Friday and raised on Sunday, it was all on a precise timetable. He was in complete control. But that's why he said, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down on my own initiative. Who can say that? Who can say, you can't take my life from me. I'll die when I want to die. No one can say that, except God, right? He can say it because that's exactly what took place.

That's why everything that took place on the cross, those seven incredible sayings that took place, and how it is our Lord bowed his head and gave up the spirit. He didn't die until everything had been accomplished. That's why he said in John 19, 30, it is finished. The price had been paid. Redemption had been accomplished. Now he could give up the spirit. Now he could die. But everything throughout the entire week was on a precise timetable because he's the king. And when you're king, you're in complete charge of everything.

And he was, and still is today. And I would pray that you have given your life to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today and the opportunity we have to be in your word for just a brief moment. We realize, Lord, the greatness of who you are and what you've done. Our prayer is that Lord, you would illuminate all of our hearts and minds to the reality of your kingship. And that Lord, as citizens of your kingdom, Lord, we would truly act like children of the king, live as children of the king, speak like children of the king.

So all who come in contact with us will know that we serve a king that is not of this world, that we serve the true king, Jesus Christ, our Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.