Eight Days That Changed the World
Pastors: Quint Pitts and Steve Felder
Easter 2009
Masterpieces (Quint)
On May 10, 1508 Michelangelo began a project that would become his masterpiece. His canvas was a rounded ceiling 134 feet long and 43 feet wide stretching over the Sistine Chapel. Pope Julis II wanted Michelangelo to paint the ceiling, and theme it around Christ and his apostles with a large picture of Jesus over the special door Pope Julis used. However, Michelangelo had a different vision for the Sistine Chapel.
Run images of Sistine Chapel
Panel by panel, he captured the drama of man’s creation, his sin and alienation from his Creator, and God’s promise to reunite men and women to Himself through a Savior. It took Michelangelo four years, using 336 human figures to tell his story, but on October 31, 1512 Michelangelo took down the tarps, dismantled his scaffolding and unveiled his masterpiece to the world and we have stood in amazement for 500 years.
Three thousand years before Michelangelo began the Sistine Chapel God began painting a story on the canvas of human history using men, women, and an unblemished lamb. He called his masterpiece The Passover; scene by scene it captured the drama of men and women, once separated from God by their sin, now being united to Him by a Passover lamb. It took Michelangelo 4 years to complete the Sistine Chapel, revealing his work only when the project was finished. But it took God 1400 years to complete The Passover; unveiling its beauty a piece at a time until he was ready to paint its final scene. That’s where our story begins today with God painting the final scene of his 1400 year masterpiece. It will take Him eight days to complete His work. In eight days God will finish His masterpiece, angels will stand in awe, and eternity will be altered… Because these are the eight days that changed the world!
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Enter door on speaker’s right… (Steve) – Trench Coat
Day One: Your King Comes
Day Marker on screen: Sunday…Day One
The eight days that changed the world began on a Sunday, we call it Palm Sunday. Thousands of Israelites made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Passover. The city inns and homes quickly bulged to capacity and overflowed the walls of the city. Tents and makeshift shelters popped up on every available space along the roads leading into Jerusalem. Jesus came to celebrate Passover as well. He and his disciples stayed with friends in Bethany, two miles east of Jerusalem. Sunday morning Jesus sent two of his disciples into a nearby village to secure a young donkey that had never been ridden. When they returned, the disciples placed their coats on the donkey’s back and as if he understood the importance of the event, the unbroken colt willingly carried Jesus down the road towards Jerusalem.
When Jesus emerged, riding on a young donkey, heading towards the eastern gates of the Jerusalem, the crowds camped along the road immediately recognized who he was and connected the scene before them with an Old Testament prophecy. Zechariah 9:9 foretold that when God’s promised Savior appeared, he would offer himself as Israel’s king, not astride a magnificent war horse, leading a glorious army, rather he would come in humility riding and on a young donkey.
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zech. 9:9
The crowds surrounded Jesus, and began honoring him by snapping off palm branches and laying them before his donkey. Others could not find a palm, so they stripped off their coats and laid them down before Jesus. A growing chorus of voices began proclaiming Jesus as God’s promised savior and king.
The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!" Matthew 21:9
The thunder of the crowd rumbled ahead of Jesus and burst into the city as the procession rode through the eastern gates. The sentiments of the crowd were unmistakable…This Rabbi that ignited their hearts and minds with fire when he taught… this miracle worker that walked on water, healed the sick and raised the dead… this man who was riding an unbroken donkey into Jerusalem was their messiah…their promised savior…their King.
These praises had been locked up in the hearts of Israelites, for hundreds of years. Generation after generation waited for the day that their Messiah would appeared and they could crown him with these words of adoration. When the religious leaders saw the procession and heard the crowd lavishing these sacred praises upon Jesus, they were incensed. They immediately rebuked Jesus and commanded that he silence his followers. But Jesus told them:
"I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Luke 19:40
Jesus passed through the city and made his way to the Temple. They city swirled around him. His name was on every person’s lips. The blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple and he healed them. The crowd continued proclaiming Jesus as God’s Messiah and King, children ran through the temple shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matt 21:15), even doubters wondered if the crowd could be right. His enemies simmered in anger …muttering under their breath; “the whole world has gone after him” (John 12:19)
But as Jesus stood in the temple he looked beyond the crowds and the critics and saw a cancer eating away at the heart of the nation. He determined to return tomorrow with a scalpel.
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Enter the door on the speaker’s Right (Quint) JPA sign covered
Day Two: The Dark Blot
Day Marker on screen: Monday…Day Two
The eight days that changed the world were marked by a series of triggers and momentum shifts. The second of those triggers came on Monday when Jesus returned to the temple with a scalpel. There was a cancer in God’s house and Jesus meant to remove it.
Roll Jesus of Nazareth Clip #2 (DVD Disc 2 start 50:40—end 51:15)
Last night when Jesus was in the temple he saw Annas’ Bazaar in full swing. The High Priest and the spiritual leadership of Israel had set up shop in the temple and were preying upon worshippers as came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. They systematically abused their office, misrepresented God’s laws and extorted money from unsuspecting worshipers in the name of God.
Since the first Passover 1400 years ago an unblemished lamb has been at the center of the Passover Feast. Each household was instructed to cluster into groups of 10 people, and bring a lamb without spot or blemish to be sacrificed for that group. Many pilgrims brought a Passover Lamb with them from their flocks to be used in the sacred feast. But the priests required that all lambs must pass their inspection before they qualified as a Passover lamb. God required that the Passover Lamb be unblemished, because it was a picture of a sinless lamb that would someday come and die for the sins of all men and women. What God intended as a central picture in his masterpiece, the priest twisted and distorted into an ugly blot on God’s canvas.
Animal sound effects …
When worshippers brought their own lamb for inspection, the priests would find a trumped up blemish in the lamb and disqualify it as an acceptable sacrifice. Of course the worshipper still needed an approved Lamb, and the priests were more than happy to provide one at an inflated price. When the worshipper tried to buy the new lamb with Roman denarius, he was informed that Roman money was no good in the temple; it was defiled. To purchase one of the approved lambs, they would need to use temple currency. They were then directed to a money changer who exchanged Roman denarius for temple coins at exorbitant exchange rated.
JPA sign and Mastercard Clip
The very people charged with the spiritual welfare of the nation were using their position to extort money from the people they were supposed to be serving. The curators of God’s masterpiece were marring it with their own greed and hypocrisy. Jesus said:
"My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers. " Matthew 21:13
Roll Jesus of Nazareth Clip #3 (DVD Disk 2 start 51:29—end 52:15)
With that he took out his scalpel and began to cut out the cancer. He drove the barkers and charlatans that were selling animals out of the temple and flipped over the tables of the money changers, scattering the profits of their hypocrisy across the stone floor of the temple. He drove out the animals and reclaimed the temple as a house of prayer and worship for his Heavenly Father. He used his scalpel to scrape this dark blot off of God’s masterpiece. And then set a guard to prevent their return.
Heaven smiled, the people applauded, but the charlatans Jesus had just exposed were unrepentant. Rather than receiving this rebuke and recommitting themselves to serving God and his people, they resolved to kill God’s SON. They didn’t know how and they didn’t know when but they promised themselves that Jesus would not live to further complicate their lives. The one thing that stood between them and their murderous desire were the crowds. They hung on his every word and would mob anyone who tried to arrest him. Their only hope was to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people. If they could confound him with questions, or get him to incriminate himself in a public debate, then his credibility would be tarnished, the fickle crowds would turn on him and they would be free to exact their revenge.
They left the temple to gather their allies and design their traps. Tomorrow will be a big day!
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Enter the door on the speaker’s Right (Steve) Gavel/ block and
large coin
Day Three: Case Dismissed
Draped Stand to right of pulpit
Day Marker on screen: Tuesday…Day Three
Politics create strange bedfellows. Normally, Pharisees and Sadducees, Priests and Zealots, Teachers of the Law and Herodians spent their days despising and debating each other. But now they had a common enemy in Jesus. Each group wanted to discredit him for their own purposes, but all of them viewed Jesus as a threat. On Tuesday, each group in this army of self interest converged on the temple, intent on exposing some flaw in Jesus that would sabotage the wave of popularity he was enjoying and incriminate him in the court of public opinion.
The Priests and teachers of the Law tried to draw first blood by questioning his right to shut down Annas’ Bazzar. When Jesus returned to the temple on Tuesday they immediately cornered him and asked by what authority he cleansed the temple. Jesus knew their intentions, so he said,
I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. Mark 11:29
Jesus made it a simple quid pro quo, you answer my question and I will answer yours. Jesus posed this question; as long as we are talking about authority, did John the Baptist gain his authority to baptize from God or from men? The priests and teachers stepped aside and discussed the question. They reasoned it was too risky to say John’s baptism was from God, for then Jesus would ask them why they did not receive John’s baptism. But if they said his baptism was not from God, that it was concocted by men, then the mob would turn on them because they believed John the Baptist was a prophet from God so they turned to Jesus and said:
We don’t know. Jesus said, neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. Mark 11:33
Bang Gavel…. Case Dismissed
With the priests and teachers of the law silenced by a single question, the Pharisees and Herodians stepped up to take their shot. Their strategy was to place Jesus in a catch 22 by asking him a politically charged question. His answer would either bring Rome’s wrath down on him or turn people against him.
They asked Jesus:
Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we? Mark 12:14-15
Jesus saw the trap immediately and asked them to bring him a Roman coin. He held up the Denarius and asked them who’s whose portrait is inscribed on this coin. They replied, “Caesar’s of course”. Then Jesus said:
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and (give) to God what is God’s. Mark 12:17
His answer stunned and silenced them. In one sentence Jesus had told them to pay their taxes as good citizens of earth and give their lives to God as citizens of kingdom of heaven.
Bang Gavel…. Case Dismissed
A teacher of the Law thought he had the unanswerable question that would baffle and silence Jesus. The teachers of the Law had reduced the Old Testament to 613 commandments. All of them, they reasoned, were from God and therefore, all must be equally binding and important. So he posed this question to Jesus. Of the 613 commands of God, which one is the most important? Jesus responded as if he had asked him to name the first book of the Bible. Without hesitation Jesus said:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it; Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
In four sentences Jesus answered the unanswerable question and gave this arrogant young man a profound theology lesson. Walking with God is about two things… Loving God like you love no one else and loving your neighbors as you love yourself. Every other command or prohibition from the mouth of God is simply a sub-point to help us do these two things.
Bang Gavel…. Case Dismissed
One by one the religious leaders tried to discredit Jesus and reveal some fatal flaw in him and one by one Jesus answered their questions and left them speechless. The Old Testament law said that the Passover Lamb must be examined and found flawless. These religious leaders came to discredit Jesus, but in the end, unwittingly, they examined God’s Passover Lamb from every angle and found him without flaw and without blemish. Those that wanted to kill Jesus left the temple that day empty handed, frustrated, and unaware that the person who would deliver Jesus into their hands would not come from their inner circle, but from His.
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Enter the door on the speaker’s Right - (Quint) Vial of colored
water & bag of coins
Day Four: Two Hearts
Day Marker on screen: Wednesday…Day Four
After Jesus silenced his critics in the temple, he left Jerusalem to enjoy supper at Simon the leper’s home in Bethany. Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead just a week earlier was invited, along with his two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha was an exceptional host and helped served the evening meal. But Mary appeared at the table, not holding a plate of food, but a 12 ounce flask of expensive perfume, valued at a year’s wages, roughly $40,000.00 in today’s currency. Jesus was reclining at the table, resting on his left hand and eating with his right… his feet angling away from the table. Mary approached Jesus with the oil, broke its seal and poured some of its contents on his head and anointed Christ’s feet with the rest of it.
Mary’s gesture shocked everyone; it was an amazing display of devotion. This was an extravagant gift, one normally reserved only for kings. Most would have been amazed at an ounce of such perfume poured over Christ’s head and an ounce on his feet, but the whole flask, $40,000.00 of perfumed oil poured out as a gift to Jesus. Even Christ’s disciples raised their eyebrows and whispered their concerns. But it was Judas who spoke up and suggested that Mary’s gift was misdirected. He was the treasurer for Jesus and his men and he regularly lined his pockets by stealing from the gifts given to Jesus. None of the disciples had a clue what Judas was doing, but Jesus knew that Judas had a thief’s heart. When Judas saw $40,000.00 being poured out on Jesus, he immediately took issue with the extravagance of the gift. He suggested that the money might better been given to him so he could give it to the poor. But he cared nothing for the poor, he saw dollar signs and began to imagine what he could do with a skim off from that prize! Jesus immediately confronted Judas… and said
Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. John 12:7-8
Anointing Song
When ever you find Mary of Bethany she is always at Jesus feet… being taught …asking a question… worshipping him with a gift. She is always in a posture of devotion. And there at Jesus’ feet she heard and believed what others refused to hear. Jesus was going to die, he was going to be buried and he was going to raise the third day. Mary understood that she would never have an opportunity to anoint the lifeless body of Jesus, so she decided to anoint him before his death. She anointed him in life because she believed he would be resurrected before she could ever make her way to him in death. The disciples heard Jesus predict his death, but refused to believe it because they were busy arguing over who would sit on Christ’s right and left side in his kingdom. Judas heard Christ predict his death but it never registered with him because he was busy scamming his savior to build his own kingdom. But Mary saw and believed what those closest to him missed because Mary spent time at Jesus’ feet. For that Jesus said…
I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told, in memory of her. Matthew 26:13
The contrast between Mary and Judas is stark. Mary responded to the pain of Jesus’ impending death by running to him, kneeling at his feet and worshipping Jesus with her most precious possession. Judas responds to the sting of Christ’s reprimand by swearing that night to get even. Wednesday morning came and Judas made his way to Chief Priests. There he bowed at the feet of his god and sold his Savior for 30 pieces of silver. The only thing Judas and Mary had in common, was that Jesus saw both of their hearts clearly but only one of them knew it.
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Enter the door on the speaker’s Right (Steve) Towel
Place two matzo bread, flask of grape juice and cup covered on table
Day Five: Come to the Table
Day Marker on screen: Thursday…Day Five
At six o’clock Thursday night the sound of a temple trumpet announced the beginning of Passover. Jesus and his disciples retired to an upstairs room to celebrate the Passover meal together. When the 12 disciples came to the upper room, the meal was prepared, but they were not. The disciples sensed Israel was at a tipping point, the crowds were clamoring for Jesus to be their king. Everything was building to a crescendo; this could be the culmination of three years of hard work. What better day for Jesus to be crowned KING and establish his kingdom than on Passover? The only piece of uncertainty in their mind was who among the 12 would sit at Jesus’ right and left side in HIS kingdom? Who would Jesus chose to be his prime minister and secretary of state? Each man was polishing his resume in his own mind, waiting for his chance to make his case to Jesus in private. Jesus knew a crown was coming, but wasn’t the crown his disciples were imagining. In just a few days Jesus would call upon these very men to lead his kingdom in his absence but they could never do it with a scheming heart that lusted for power and privilege. They needed to be reminded how kingdom leaders lead, so Jesus gave them a lesson they would never forget.
Jesus took off his outer garment, wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water in a basin, knelt at the first disciple’s feet and began to do for them what their scheming hearts would not allow them do for each other. He began to wash their feet. One after another he became their servant, rinsed the dirt from their feet and dried them with His towel. The message was clear, kingdom leaders lead from their knees… kingdom leaders lead with a servant’s heart…Kingdom leaders imitate their KING.
Every disciple was humbled, speechless… well all except one. Peter never let, not knowing what to say, get in the way of speaking. When Jesus brought the basin to Peter’s feet, he looked down at Jesus and could not wrap his mind around the up side down scene that was playing before him… so he said, “No…No…. you shall never wash my feet!” Jesus looked up at the man he knew would soon lead the disciples in his absence and said: Unless I wash you Peter, you have no part with me. The words pierced Peter’s heart and he said, Then Lord, don’t wash just my feet, wash my hands and head as well! Jesus must have smiled as he saw Peter’s heart change before him. He told Peter:
A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean… (John 13:10)
Then he turned to the disciples and said, all of you have been bathed clean; except one! And Jesus was about to give him his last chance for a bath.
Clean feet and humbled hearts reclined around the table at the Passover meal. Mid meal the talking stopped abruptly when Jesus said, I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me. John was reclining to Jesus’ immediate right, Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus who it was. John leaned back and whispered, Who is it, Lord? It was customary for the host of the Passover meal to honor one guest by dipping a piece of unleaven bread and meat into a dish of bitter herbs and giving it to him. They called it “the sop”. Jesus whispered to John, the one to whom I give the sop. Jesus then dipped the bread into the bitter herbs and honored Judas. It was a final offer to stop and change his heart. Judas took the sop, and instead of letting Jesus into his heart, the Bible says, Satan entered his heart. He left the upper room without comment to betray Jesus to the Chief Priests. The disciples didn’t connect the dots.
Uncover bread , wine and cup…
With Judas gone, Jesus took bread and wine from the Passover meal and used them to sketch in the dark scene that would happen tomorrow. He took the bread and broke it and said… this is what will happen to my body. And he took the flask of wine and poured it into a cup and said… this is what will happen to my life blood. And through that broken body and through my life’s blood I will establish a New Covenant that will take away the sins of men and women. Then he prayed over these elements and gave each person at the table a piece of the bread to eat and asked each man to drink from the cup and to remember it’s lesson. What they saw that night depicted in bread and wine in an upper room, they would see in shocking reality tomorrow at a place of execution called Galgotha … The Skull.
When the Meal was ended Jesus and his disciple left the upper room and headed for the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas would earn his 30 pieces of silver.
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Enter the door on the speaker’s Right (Quint) 2-3 Spike Nails
Day 6: The Final Sacrifice
Day Marker on screen: Friday…Day Six
Thursday night, Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a traitor’s kiss. He was arrested by the religious leaders who had been plotting his death and he was tried by a court that would only accept one verdict. His trial lingered through the night and ended early Friday morning with a call for crucifixion. Jesus was beaten with fists, whipped with a cat of nine tails, mocked with a crown of thorns, beaten with a club and shaved by angry hands that ripped his beard from his face before he ever made it to Galgotha for execution.
Friday morning at 9:00 am Jesus was stretched out on a Roman cross and the hammer began to fall.
Hammer Sound Effects
Blow after blow the nails pierced his flesh and affixed him to the cross. The Roman soldiers, hardened to suffering, lifted the cross erect and let it drop into a hole, then gambled for his clothes. The Romans reserved the crucifixion for their most hated criminals. It was an execution intentionally designed to maximize suffering and to make it last a very long time. Because of the way the body hung on the cross, in a short time you could not breath without lifting yourself with your arms and pushing yourself up with your legs. Once you gasped in a breath of air your body would slump again and hang from the nails. In crucifixion death didn’t come from loss of blood, it came from shock and the loss of air. As the hours lingered on, lifting for air and slumping in exhaustion, your strength would fade until your limbs betrayed you and you could no longer pull yourself up for a breath. Then the cross had done its grissly work and you would die from suffication. Roman soldiers often broke the prisoner’s legs to take away his ability to push up with them to get a breath. The arms then give out quicker and death came faster. God intervened and Christ’s executioner’s spared him this fate. He was God’s Passover Lamb and none of his bones would be broken.
All of the physical anguish that Rome brought to the cross and all the emotional pain that the religious leaders heaped upon Jesus as they mocked him, paled in insignificance as the earth turned dark at twelve noon on that Friday. At twelve o’clock God the father signaled that a new phase of the cross was beginning. The sky turned black as sins of the world, past present and future were laid on Jesus’ shoulders. Just as lambs had died for 1400 years, in the place of the one who had sinned, so now on this cross Jesus, God’s Passover Lamb would die for your sins and mine. The Bible say: He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. (1 Peter 2:24). By becoming our sin bearer, he became the object of His Father’s wrath, punishing him for our sins. As the full weight of that agony fell upon Jesus, he cried out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 24:46).
While religious leaders mocked him, his followers withdrew from him and the Roman soldiers gambled for his clothes, Jesus transformed this Roman instrument of shame and injustice into an alter where the sins of the world could be laid. Friday was Passover; it commemorated the historic deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage through the death of a lamb and the application of its blood to the door post of every person who wanted to be free. The yearly Passover was a way to remember what God had done in the past but it also predicted what God would do in the future. The Passover looked forward 1400 years to a day when God would send his own Passover lamb, and give men and women, wanting to be free from the bondage of sin, a way to experience their heart’s desire. That day had come, John the Baptist saw shadows of this day forty two months earlier when he looked at Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Good Friday had come, and the sins of every man, woman and child were laid upon Jesus, our Passover. In Three hours he drained the cup of God’s wrath against our sin; and at three o’clock in the afternoon he proclaimed, “It is finished” and died. Our sin debt was “Paid in Full”. Our sin bearer died so we could live.
Just as Jesus had depicted the night before with bread and wine; his body was broken, his blood was poured out, and a New Way for men and women to find God was made. Only one more brush stoke remained and God’s masterpiece would be finished. Jesus’ lifeless body was taken down from the cross. It was late, the Sabbath was about to begin so a hasty tomb was prepared, his body was quickly wrapped in grave clothes and a cloth laid over his face. As Mary of Bethany had predicted Tuesday night, there was no time to anoint him and care for his body properly. Jesus’ limp body was quickly laid inside the tomb and a large stone was rolled in front of the entrance. A Roman guarded was stationed outside the tomb and a Roman seal placed upon its entrance to insure his remains stayed in the state sanctioned grave.
The day men and women had been waiting for since Adam and Eve’s first sin was coming to a close, but neither demons, despots or disciple understood the dark colors God had used to paint this scene. The demons and despots couldn’t believe their good fortune and the disciples couldn’t believe it was all ending like this!!
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House Lights and Platform Lights down
Guitar and Trio sing: Were you there? While Scenes play on screen
Song ends… fade to no lights only spot over podium
Enter the door on the speaker’s Right (Steve) – No Props
Day 7: Dark Glee
Room and platform dark…only overhead spotlight on podium
Day Marker on screen: Saturday…Day Seven
Friday night, Saturday and early Sunday morning passed in silence. Those with blood on their hands were sure they had won, Jesus was dead, his message had been silenced, and his followers were hiding behind closed doors. The forces of hell danced in glee over their coup. They rehearsed again and again how the leaders of Israel handed over their messiah to Roman hands and begged them to crucify their own Promised Savior. It was hard for hell to imagine a better day. The enemies of Christ remembered he had promised to raise from the dead in three days, so they stationed Roman soldiers at his grave sight to insure none of his followers could creep in under cover of darkness, steal away his body and claim a his promise had come true. The enemies of Jesus remembered the promise of a resurrection, but his followers could not muster the faith to even consider such a promise. Their hopes died with Jesus. They just shook their heads in dismay, we thought he was the Christ… we thought he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). Death grinned, holding its prize in a cold tomb, savoring its victory…but then…then Sunday came and everything changed!!!
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Transition music
Rise house lights slowly like dawn coming
Enter the door on the speaker’s Right (Quint) 2 Cards for Epilogue
Day 8: SonRise
Day Marker on screen: Sunday…Day Eight
The first rays of sunlight breaking over the Mount of Olives unleashed an
earth quake that shook Jerusalem from its slumber.
Sound Effect… Stone Moving
The massive rock in front of Christ’s tomb moved, unassisted by human hands. Battle hardened soldiers, guarding Jesus’ tomb, fainted dead away as the scene unfolded before them. The body lying in state within the tomb disappeared…only a collapsed empty shell of linen strips that once wrapped Jesus’ body was left behind. The cloth covering his face was neatly folded and set aside. Hell’s rejoicing came to an abrupt end and two angels took their post at the empty tomb because visitors were coming and the angels had a mission for them.
Mary Magdalene and two other women had set out for Christ’s tomb Sunday morning while it was still dark. Jesus’ body had not been properly anointed for burial on Friday and these women were intent on correcting that dishonor. They arrived at the tomb just after sunrise and found the rock moved and Jesus’ body missing. Their first thoughts were that Christ’s enemies had stolen his body to further disgrace him. But when they stepped inside the tomb the two angels greeted them. The women were terrified but the angels said to them:
Do not be afraid. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he laid. Then go quickly and tell his disciple that Jesus has risen from the dead. Matthew 28:5-7
These three women became the first heralds of the resurrection… telling the disciples and everyone they met that the tomb was empty because Jesus was alive.
Throughout the day Jesus appeared again and again…First to Mary Magdalene, then to Joanna and Mary the mother of James. That evening he appeared to two men walking to Emmaus and showed up unexpectedly in the room where ten of the disciples were hiding.
Epilogue: The Doorpost (Quint) – Two Cards..Ace of Hearts & Joker
The resurrection changed everything! It was God’s final brush stroke on his 1400 year masterpiece. The eighth day dawned; Easter was born and the repercussions of that day began to reverberate around the world. Men and women who trembled behind closed doors on Friday, became fearless on Sunday. Demons and Despots who danced in the street on Saturday, faced their worst fear on Sunday. Death’s icy hand was pried open, and Jesus conquered death, not just for himself, but for anyone that would bet their soul on God’s Passover Lamb.
Whether you’re in South Korea, South America, or West Virginia the message is the same. Jesus is the Passover Lamb and for the merits of his death and the power of his life to be applied to you… you must to make a choice. You must make a wager.
You can bet your soul that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic and dismiss everything you’ve just heard.
Or you can bet your soul with millions of others that Jesus Christ is exactly who he says he is… the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
I’ve made my wager…. I’m betting on Jesus. If I’m wrong and there is no heaven, and there is no hell… I’ve lost nothing. I’ve had a great life serving Jesus.
But if you bet against Jesus, and you’re wrong….well… You’ve lost everything.
It’s a simple bet to me… place your faith in Jesus…. place the blood of Jesus on the doorpost of your heart and ask him to forgive your sins and give you new life. He’s waiting… there is room in God’s masterpiece for you. If you would like to make that wager today, I’m going to ask to you to pray this prayer with me…
Salvation Prayer Together..
