His Torturous Death
Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey
Matthew 27:62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, (I puzzled over with these verses. It finally dawned on me they had “worked” on the Sabbath to ensure no one could say Jesus rose, ensuring the tomb would be guarded and sealed. Okay for them to run out and beg to have guards stationed and body not stolen, but not okay for a cripple to be healed on a Sabbath, and carry his mat home.)
Mark 11:15-18 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a den of thieves.’” And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.
Mark 15:42 Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
Luke 23:54 That day was the Preparation and the Sabbath drew near
John 2: 14-16 In the temple courts He found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords, and drove them all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said, “Get these out of here ! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
John 11:47-53 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
John 12:12-15 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him and cried out: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!” then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
John 12:17-19 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”
John 19:14,31.42 Now, it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”. . . therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a “high day”), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. . . . So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.
On the Sunday before His death, many gathered and cried out, “Hallelujah! Our King is coming. Yay! He will beat back the Romans and help us get back to a sense of freedom, no more oppression and being unable to walk about our city freely. Probably He will reduce our taxes and continue to heal and feed us! Look! Here He comes surrounded by His friends and many others. A cause to rejoice!” This happy crowd who seemingly adored Jesus was cheering and so happy to witness Him coming into Jerusalem. He had healed many, ousted demons residing within some, had even raised back to life the only son of a widow, and a twelve-year-old girl, and finally, His friend, Lazarus, who had been dead for four days.
Their desire is clear. They want a King who can master death; death by heavy taxes, unable to afford bills and pay taxes so they are jailed, death from being oppressed by the Romans. However, it is their understanding that is still lacking. They do not realize Jesus must die before he can defeat death. They somehow thought this soft spoken, mild mannered Man would fight, develop an army and defeat the oppressors.
The next day was Monday, and on this day, Jesus bearing a whip and anger entered the temple courtyard, yelling for them all to leave the area, furious that the temple, His Father’s house was being used as a cheap marketplace to expand the pockets of the religious leaders—both Pharisees and Sadducees. (John 2:14-16). People were selling birds, some lambs, oxen, exchanging money and making the temple seem more like a marketplace for livestock animals for sacrifice and a gambling hall. The religious leaders were willing to sacrifice the sanctity of the temple to line their pockets with more money.
Did these people not know the first three commandments to love God, to not blaspheme Him in any manner, and to honor the Holy Day? Anger, dismay and the knowledge that He had only hours before He would be brutalized and killed had Jesus showing His fury at the disrespect to His Father; to the trinity, of which He was an equal member. Had His life all been for naught?
But His anger and temper display encouraged the religious leaders to grab and kill Him sooner than later. His shouting and demanding respect for His Father’s house was causing some to question perhaps He was right, and thus maybe the religious leaders were taking advantage of them. Afterall the temple was supposed to be for all people to experience God’s presence and forgiveness. And they had heard Him call the temple His house. They already recognized He had awesome powers—healing the sick, curing the lame, the blind, the deaf, the lepers, freeing people from demons, and raising some from the dead.
And Jesus announces He is restoring the temple to its original purpose—a place of worship, a place of sacrifice, and thankfulness for the awesome works of God for the past several centuries. He wants them to realize He will be the final sacrifice, and the old covenant is broken. He is the new covenant; if one will heartily repent and follow Him, they will have eternal life.
Now, Judas planned to turn Jesus over to the religious elite. He is given a miserly pittance for the life of another, promises to arrange a time to meet and deliver the Messiah.
While Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus is pouring fragrant spikenard on his feet and drying them with her hair, Judas slips out and arranges to betray His teacher, the Man he has chosen to follow for the past several months, for 30 pieces of silver.
On Thursday, Jesus and His disciples have their last meal together. I found some speculation that this may have been like a graduation celebration before Jesus met His death; and His apostles would then be alone, but with their knowledge. After His death, the coming of the Holy Spirit would come to them, and they would now be the ones to spread the Word, to show the Way.
I don’t agree with that supposition. The first Passover after fleeing Egypt, was originally directed by God to Moses to be on the 14th day of Nisan, the first month. I believe that Thursday evening was the 14th of Nisan, therefore, was truly Passover. The next day would have been the Preparation Day for the Sabbath meal which would begin at sundown on that Friday.
Passover was the first day of the weeklong celebration of Unleavened Bread. Thus, the Passover began on Thursday, 14 Nisan, and Jesus was tortured Thursday night through early Friday morning, then scourged, tormented and humiliated, then told to haul a heavy cross on His beaten back, shoulders, and body, and minutes later, nailed Him to that wooden cross. Being so badly beaten, He hadn’t the strength to carry out the Romans orders, and Simon of Cyrene was taken from the crowd and he lugged it instead.
Reaching the top of the hill, He was strapped down, pierced with huge spikes into both wrists and both ankles, the cross and body lifted, and there He hung. He was separated from His Father, and was suspended into a darkness and place of putridness while He defeated Satan and ended the time of believing that that sacrificial lambs, oxen, goats and so forth would be able to forgive their sins.
Jesus was going to be the blood sacrifice for all. There was going to be a new covenant — that if one believed Him to be the Son of God, and the Sacrificial and Final Lamb, He was the last Atonement for ALL sins—mine, yours, and for all. One only needs to be sincere, repentant and walk to follow Him, then gains forgiveness and is washed and will have eternal life. Physical death will come, but to live with God’s glory around you for all eternity, within the love of God, the Father, His Son, my Savior, Jesus, and the Hoy Spirit, that is a resounding win to me.
Father, I praise You and thank You that long before I was a thought, You arranged for the salvation of people so they would not forever be separated from You. Thank You for all the blessings You have given and blessings bestowed to me and ‘mybellaviews.’
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