SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2023 9:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The End of the Pilgrimage”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 21:1a
Message of the
verse: “1 And
when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, to the Mount of
Olives,”
I have been studying the gospel of Mathew since
November 17, 2019 and in yesterday’s and today’s SD I have finally come to the
end of the ministry, or as John MacArthur calls it “The End of the Pilgrimage”
of my Lord Jesus Christ. Now I am not
nearly at the end of Matthew, but have come to a dividing point in the
book. Jesus Christ climbs the hill from
Jericho to getting very close to Jerusalem as before he enters Jerusalem He
will stop at the hamlet of Bethphage. I
have mentioned that not much is known about this little place, but it is famous
because Jesus stopped there on the way to Jerusalem.
In the gospel of John it can be seen
that Jesus visited Mary and Martha, and also Lazarus which is in Bethany “six
days before the Passover” (John 12:1-3).
This was probably Saturday, which was the Jewish Sabbath. Jesus was about to face the most difficult
week of His life and so it was good to stop and see the very dear friends of
His to be comforted.
John MacArthur writes “But even in
that brief time of respite, the stabs of hell continued to afflict Him. While Mary anointed His feet with costly
perfume and wiped them with her hair, the traitor Judas, who was also a thief,
made a hypocritical objection to that beautiful act by feigning concern for the
poor. No doubt with deep anguish of
heart for Judas’ hardened unbelief, Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Let her alone,
in order that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For the poor you always have with you, but
you do not always have Me” (John 12:3-8).’”
When it come to the last days of Jesus’ life I have
heard some differences from different people that I have a lot of respect for
as far as their knowledge of the Bible.
There are some who believe that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday, and
the reason is because of what Jesus said in talking about Jonah who He stated
was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Others say that He was crucified on a
Thursday, and I don’t remember why this was said. Most people believe that He was crucified on
Friday, and say that the Jewish people believe that partial days count as days,
so if He was actually crucified on Friday, and thus died on Friday this counts
as a day. I am going to go with that as
this is the way the John MacArthur teaches it in this section of Matthew. The point is that He died, died for my sins
and for the sins of the world.
So if Jesus visited Mary, Martha and
Lazarus on Saturday then the next day would be Sunday, the first day of the
week. Let me quote John 12:9 “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.” This also happened during this time that we
are talking about, which Matthew does not mention.
MacArthur then writes “It was
therefore probably on Monday, the next day after the crowd visited Him in
Bethany (John 12:12), that Jesus came to Bethphage, and prepared to enter
Jerusalem through the East Gate of the city.
According to this chronology, the triumphal entry was on Monday, rather
than ‘Psalm Sunday,’ as Christian tradition has long maintained.” I have mentioned that there are different
ideas of how this last week of Christ’s life unfolds.
MacArthur goes on “This chronology
also eliminates the problem of what is often referred to as ‘silent Wednesday,’
so called because the gospel accounts would have no record of Jesus’ activities
on Wednesday if the triumphal entry had been on Sunday. In what was by far the most momentous week of
Jesus ministry, such a gap is difficult to explain.
“Additional support for a Monday
triumphal entry is found in the Mosaic requirement that sacrificial lambs for
Passover were to be selected on the tenth day of the first month (originally called
Abib but after the Exile called Nisan) and kept in the household until
sacrificed on the fourteenth (Ex. 12:2-6).
“In the year Jesus was crucified (whether
taken as A. D. 30 or 33), the tenth of Nisan was Monday of Passover week. If Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphally on
Monday, He was received into the hearts of the Jewish people as a nation much
as a family received the sacrificial lamb into the home. In so doing our Lord would have fulfilled the
Passover symbolism even in that small detail, being received by His people on
the tenth of Nisan. Counting that
perfect fulfillment, He was then crucified on Friday the fourteenth of Nisan,
as the true Passover Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world.”
I have to be honest and that is I
have never heard of all of this before.
I have heard that Jesus was crucified in the year 29 A. D. My thoughts are that Jesus did die and was
buried and was raised from the dead, and He did it for me and for all those who
have trusted in Him for their salvation.
5/29/2023 10:26
AM
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