LUKE 21-24 WHERE JESUS WALKED PART 52014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 21-24 Where Jesus Walked Part 5

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

And we're going to be looking at Luke chapters 21 through 24 this week as we continue to work through the chapters that we read this week going through the Bible in three years. We are finishing up the Gospel of Luke tonight and I don't know about you but it's always kind of like exciting like it's like a sense of accomplishment to finish a book of the Bible and so we're excited to finish up the Gospel of Luke.

in the reading today and now to start the Gospel of John. And it's going to be exciting, fresh new insights from John as he shares really an entirely different perspective on the life of Christ, focusing on different events and teachings.

that aren't included in the other gospel accounts. And so lots of exciting stuff ahead for us in the Gospel of John. And so we'll be spending the next few weeks looking at that. And I would encourage you as you're reading, you know, day by day through the Gospel of John to have an eye out for the references to Jesus Christ being God throughout the Gospel of John. Because as we've talked about the different emphases of the different writers,

Matthew focusing on the Messiahship, that Jesus is the fulfillment, the promised Savior in the Old Testament. Mark focusing on the servant that Jesus is. Luke focusing on the humanity of Jesus. And then John focuses on the deity of Jesus. And so you're going to see a lot of references and a lot of good reminders that Jesus Christ is God. And so we'll be looking at that over the next few weeks.

But as we look at the Gospel of Luke and finish it up, we're looking at Luke's account that he gathered and put together around 55 through 60 AD. Somewhere in that time frame, he compiled these things after researching and interviewing and understanding. You know, he said he has a perfect understanding. He researched it well, the life of Christ, and recorded these things for us.

Now Luke was writing kind of in general to the Gentiles, specifically to a man named Theophilus, who was probably a Roman official. And so he was writing, you know, specifically to him, but he's writing with Gentiles in mind. And as I said a moment ago, he focuses on the humanity of Jesus. And so throughout the Gospel of Luke, we've been seeing, you know, the emotions of Jesus, the frailties,

the need for and the filling of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus, his time in prayer. And you can really see that reliance upon the Father and the Holy Spirit to be able to complete and fulfill the ministry that he was called to do. And so you see the humanity of Jesus, not that Luke doesn't say that Jesus is God, but he's just highlighting for us the reality that Jesus also is a man.

Now as we finished up the chapters last week, we were looking at Jesus' last trip to Jerusalem. And as we finish up the chapters this week, we're going to be spending our time pretty much all in Jerusalem. But we walked with Jesus on that final journey as he went through different towns of Galilee and Samaria, then crossed over the Jordan, went down through the region called Perea,

There he counseled the rich young ruler. Then he crossed back over, went to Jericho and ministered there and then went on unto Jerusalem in Luke chapter 19. And that was the, where we...

what we know of as the triumphal entry where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. And so the rest of the gospel of Luke is really focusing on that last week of Christ. He rode into Jerusalem on Sunday and

And the following Sunday is when he resurrects from the dead. And so these chapters that we're looking at, starting in chapter 19, all, you know, are regarding this one week time period as Jesus is ministering in Jerusalem.

Now, we also showed you last week this diagram, this drawing of the city of Jerusalem. And so this is, you know, an artist's rendition of what Jerusalem would have looked like back then. We have some details, you know, from some of the walls that remain and from some of the descriptions of Josephus and the scriptures. And so this is what Jerusalem most likely looked like.

And this is where we're going to be focusing this evening as far as where Jesus walked and what he was doing in and around this area. And so there on the top, you see that big platform. That's the Temple Mount.

And that Temple Mount still stands today. The Temple's not on top of it, but the Mount is still there. And that's where the Dome of the Rock is built currently. And so this is where the Temple was and the people would be there to celebrate the Passover because this final week in the life of Christ is the Passover feast as well. And so the people would be gathered there to sacrifice their Passover lambs and to feast together and fellowship together.

And so Jerusalem is going to be jam-packed at this time as everybody comes down for the feast. Now right across from Jerusalem, I'm going to throw up some labels here. So right across from that Temple Mount is the Mount of Olives. And so Jesus spent a lot of time on the Mount of Olives. And during this final week, this Passion Week,

He would stay on the Mount of Olives at night and in the morning he would go across the way into Jerusalem to the temple area. He'd be teaching there all day. Then he'd go back to the Mount of Olives in the evening and stay the night there.

The Antonio Fortress is at the top end of the Temple Mount, and that is where Pilate would be, and this is where when Jesus goes before Pilate and his tribe, that's going to be happening there. Herod's Palace is over on the left here, and so Herod...

Antipas would be in town for the feast. And so that's probably where he was staying. And then, of course, Golgotha is up there just outside the city walls. And that is the place where Jesus was crucified. So that's a quick look at Jerusalem. We'll come back and revisit some of those places as we follow through in these chapters the different things that Jesus was doing day by day. So we start, though, in Luke chapter 21. Verse 37 is the key verse.

It says, and in the daytime he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet. So that's what I was just sharing about. He was on the Mount of Olives. He would stay the night there. Then he would come the next morning into Jerusalem to the temple area, and he would be teaching there and ministering to the people.

In verses 1 through 4, Jesus observes a widow who gives two mites. So he's there at the temple and they had these receptacles set up for people to give donations and offerings to the Lord. And so he watches this widow put in two mites or two very small coins. He's also watching all the rich people bring their great, you know, we talked about this a few Sundays ago, you know, their buckets of coins that like go into the coin star and you hear that...

You know, in the same way, they're bringing their buckets of coins and giving these big offerings. But then you have this widow who gives two little small coins, the smallest coins that she could give. And Jesus says in verse 3, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all. And so we understand from this that God measures giving quite a bit differently than we measure giving. Because often what we measure is just the amount.

And the Lord, of course, does see the amounts, but what's more important to him is the cost. And so he measures what did that cost? Because these guys, he says, gave out of their abundance, but she gave in all that she had to the Lord. And so it cost her much more. And so she gave much more.

And so God measures giving much differently than we do. Well then in verses 5 through 19, Jesus goes on to talk about the signs of the end of the age. Here Jesus is answering their question about the temple being destroyed. They're observing the beautiful stones as they're looking at it. Jesus says, you know, that's not going to be there much longer. They're going to be cast down. All the stones will be cast down and not one will be on top of another.

And they're like, well, when is this going to happen? What are the signs that this is about to take place? And so Jesus goes through some signs here and he uses this idea of the temple being destroyed as a foreshadow of the judgment that will come upon the whole earth during the tribulation.

And so it's kind of in parallel. Jesus is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the signs that precede it. And those same signs precede the destruction that will come upon the whole earth during that seven-year tribulation period. Well, then he talks about and focuses specifically on Jerusalem in verses 20 through 24. And he says specifically, when you see Jerusalem surrounded, then you know that its destruction is near.

And so Jerusalem experienced this about 35, 40 years after the life of Christ when Rome, led by the general Titus, laid siege to Jerusalem.

And conquered it. It took about two years for the siege to work. And then they penetrated the walls. And then the temple was destroyed as it was set on fire. And they had to take it apart piece by piece. In order to get all of the gold out of it.

from the temple. And so it was fulfilled exactly the way that Jesus said that it would be. Now we also see though that he's not just talking about that one time, you know, event that has occurred because in verse 22 he says, for these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. And so the all things have not yet been fulfilled.

So the destruction of Jerusalem has been fulfilled, but there's a lot more that has yet to be fulfilled, which will be fulfilled during that seven-year tribulation period, and then with the return of Jesus Christ immediately following. And so those are all going to be fulfilled. They're yet future as we read these things.

Well then in verses 25 through 28, he talks about the signs that proceed immediately before redemption. Now these signs seem to be specific to the actual tribulation period. He says we might see the beginnings of these signs and so keep an eye out. But really the climax of these signs will be taking place during that time of judgment. And so he says as he's giving all these signs in verse 28...

When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.

And so he says, there's going to be these signs, but when they begin to happen, so you're going to see the beginnings of them, then look up and know that your redemption draws near. And so don't get freaked out and downtrodden and depressed and anxious over all the tragedies and, you know, difficulties that are going to come upon the earth. Yes, that's all true, but you need

Look at eternity. Your redemption draws near. And so look up and lift up your head. Take courage. Have joy. Because you will soon be with Jesus. Verses 29 through 33, Jesus gives the parable of the fig tree. And he actually says also, and all the trees. And the point here of this parable that he's giving is that you can tell what season we're heading into by what stage a tree is in.

So when you see a tree and its leaves are changing colors and falling on the ground, you know that we're heading into the winter. Or when you see the tree, you know, it's blossoming and the fruit's beginning to bud, then you know we're heading into the summer and so on and so forth. And so Jesus is saying, you know, just like you can look at the tree and see what stage it's in and understand, you know, what season we're in and what season we're heading into, you

He says these are the signs that you can look at... And you can understand what season we're in... And what season we're heading into... And so as you see the increase... And the frequency and intensity of these signs...

We talked about the wars and rumors of wars, the disasters that will be taking place, the persecutions, and so on and so forth. And so these things, as they continue to increase, indicate that we are closer and closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ and heading into that final season.

Well, Jesus closes this whole topic of the signs and looking at the future and those things. And he tells us to watch and pray in verses 34 through 38. In verse 36, he says, watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. So here's what Jesus wants you to do.

He wants you to watch and to pray that you would be counted worthy to escape.

He wants you to watch. Now, some people wrestle with this. Some people think, you know, oh man, we don't really know if Jesus is going to come in our lifetime or not. And, you know, people have thought that and so they've made foolish moves before and I don't want to fall in their footsteps. And so some people wrestle with this, whether or not, you know, or how focused we should be on the return of Jesus Christ. But here's what Jesus says. Here's what I want you to do. He says, watch therefore. He wants you to be alert.

To be anticipating, to be expecting that when he returns, that it not catch you off guard. So you should have regularly, aside from me saying something or aside from, you know, other people telling you, you should have an expectation in your heart that

that the Lord is coming back. You should have a watchfulness as a part of your life. It should be a regular part of your day that you are looking up knowing that your redemption draws near. That's what Jesus desires. He wants your heart to be there. And so I'd like to encourage you, you know, to remind yourself and stir up yourself with the reminder of the return of Jesus Christ regularly.

Don't let it be just, you know, when time, you know, happens and prophecies are given forth, you know, from the scriptures or messages are given about the future. Don't let it be just that. But as you read the headlines, as you see the signs, as you hear about persecutions, as you feel the earth shake or the earthquake, then let that be the reminder to you.

To look up. To watch. And I think it's interesting that Jesus says, pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape. The implication, of course, being that there are those who are not worthy. And what qualifies or disqualifies a person from being worthy to escape all these things that come to pass, it seems to be tied to the watchfulness. Right?

It seems to be tied to paying attention. Because if you think about the parable that Jesus gave in Matthew 25, it goes along with, you know, he was teaching that same thing in Matthew 24. And then he gives the parable of the talents and then the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins. Or if you read from Jake's version, it's the silly virgins. Um...

No, that was Dave Burnt. Yeah, I knew something was wrong. It just took me a while. It was Dave Burnt on Sunday evening. He was referring to this. And he read from the Message Bible, which calls them silly virgins. Which, you know, I don't really like that much because I'm pretty silly. And so then that implies, you know, hey, if you're silly, you're not going to make it in, you know, to heaven or the rapture of the church. But anyways, so the foolish virgins, they weren't ready.

They weren't prepared. And so they missed out when the bridegroom came, the prepared virgins entered in. The wedding party that was ready, they entered in with the groom. But the ones who weren't prepared didn't enter in. And so it's a call to us. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5, listen, you're not of the darkness that this day should overtake you like a thief.

No, you're sons, you're daughters of light. And so you should be expecting this day. This day should be, you know, something that you're looking forward to and prepared for. And so Jesus says, watch and pray. This is what Jesus wants you to do regarding his return, regarding these signs. Watch and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape.

Now all of this is taking place as we look here on the chart or the diagram of Jerusalem. In verse 1 of Luke 21, Jesus was watching the different people give their gifts. And so he's there at the temple. He's watching the donations being given. But then he crosses over the Kidron Valley and goes up on the top of the Mount of Olives. And from there...

the disciples are looking down at Jerusalem and they're able to see, you know, just the beauty that the temple was. And they're commenting about how beautiful it is. And Jesus says, hey, not one stone will be cast upon another. So here's a quick look at the hills of Jerusalem. So you can kind of get a sense of, you know, the view that they had. This is kind of if you took like a slice

You know, right down the middle of the city of Jerusalem. And so you can see the Mount of Olives there on the right is a couple hundred feet higher than where the temple actually is. The temple mount there is about 2,400 feet. And so they would have had on top of the Mount of Olives this perfect view of

to overview and to look at the city of Jerusalem and specifically the temple. And so that's where they're at. And Jesus, you know, is telling them and explaining to them these things there on the Mount of Olives.

And so they're hearing from him about these future things, the signs, as they look at this amazing temple that is built that they have this great view of. And so two weeks ago on Sunday, we talked about how to respond to the signs as we were looking at Luke chapter 21. And so this is just a quick reminder that as we see these signs coming, Jesus says, pray that you're worthy to escape and

Because the escape is the rapture of the church. That he will come to catch up his bride to be with him in the air. And then at some point after that, then there's going to be that seven year tribulation period. And so he says, you want to be part of the escape. You don't want to have to go through the tribulation.

So be praying, be alert, be watching, be, you know, paying attention to what's going on so that you're ready for Jesus to return. He wants you to have that anticipation and expectation in your heart. Well, now we move on to chapter 22 of Luke. Verse 7 is the key verse. It says, "...then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed."

In verses 1 through 6, we see that Judas agrees to betray Jesus. Now, this is what we're going to actually be looking at on Sunday morning. So I'm not going to get into too much detail here. But the religious leaders are very fearful of the people.

And so they're upset with Jesus and they want to get rid of Jesus, but they don't want to upset the people. They want to do it secretly. They want to do it without anybody knowing so that, because they don't want to lose their position. They don't want to lose their power. They don't want the people to turn against them. And so Jesus,

Satan enters into Judas and Judas approaches the religious leaders and says, you know, I can point out to you when Jesus will be alone and that'll make it really easy for you to come and get him while the crowds are not around and then, you know, you can do with him as you will.

And so they agree that it's a fair price to give him 30 pieces of silver. We learned that in Matthew 26. And so Judas looks for an opportunity then to turn Jesus over at a time when the crowd is not around. Well then in verses 7 through 38, Jesus and his disciples partake of the Passover together. He sends Peter and John ahead.

to prepare the Passover. And this is going to be happening in the city of Jerusalem. And so the Passover was something that they celebrated every year. It was in the first month of the year, which corresponds with our March and April time frame, right about now where we're at. And it was to remind the people, this feast was to remind the people of God's deliverance from Egypt.

And you can read about that back in Exodus chapter 12. And so as God brought them out of Egypt, the idea of Passover was that when they put the blood on the doorpost, that the angel of death passed over their house. And so the firstborn sons of all the rest of Egypt were killed.

but their firstborns were spared and the angel passed over and would not you know put the the firstborn within their home to death and so that's what God you know told them to do and told them keep this feast and remember all the time how I delivered you out of Egypt in this way

Now as they're partaking of this Passover meal and remembering that deliverance from Egypt, Jesus now goes on to give this meal new meaning. And he tells them, as he breaks the bread, he said, this is my body which is broken for you.

Now when they would celebrate the Passover, they would talk about the bread of affliction and how they were afflicted in Egypt. And so they would partake of the bread and remember the affliction that they had in Egypt. But Jesus says, okay, new meanings here. Instead of thinking about the affliction of Egypt, think about this is my body that will be afflicted on your behalf, that my body will be broken for you. And then as he took the cup, he said, this is my blood.

which will be shed for the remission of sins. And so Jesus here is ascribing new meanings to this meal, and it's what we continue to partake of together regularly as communion. The remembrance, not of the deliverance from Egypt, but the deliverance from sin that was accomplished by Jesus Christ with his body being broken and his blood being shed.

Well, as Jesus gives this meal new meaning, it prompts the disciples in verse 24 through 30 to talk up and bring up this discussion once again about which one of them is going to be the greatest. And so they have this discussion once again and Jesus reminds them, listen, we're not to be like the world. It's not about exercising lordship, but it's about serving one another.

In verses 31 through 34, we also see that Jesus tells Peter at this Passover meal that he's going to deny the Lord. And Peter says, no way, that's not going to happen. But Jesus says, no, before the rooster crows, you're going to deny me three times. So then in verses 39 through 53, Jesus is arrested in Gethsemane.

He goes there to spend some time in prayer. And it indicates to us that it was somewhere that he would go regularly. And so it was a place that he frequented often. And he would spend some time there in Gethsemane in prayer.

As he's in prayer, he has Peter, James, and John with him. The other disciples are a little bit farther off. He says, hey guys, pray with me. He says, I'm in agony. Like even to the point of death, there was a great intensity to this time of prayer for Jesus. In verse 44, it says, in being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

This verse is often highlighted and pointed out because it's a detail here that only Luke provides. And Luke was a physician, he was a doctor, and so it seems to indicate here that Jesus actually experienced this medical condition

hematidrosis or hematidrosis or something like that. You can ask Colleen or Lizette or one of the ladies later. But the whole idea of this is that there's this burst of the capillaries in your glands and it mixes with the sweat and so it's referred to as sweaty blood. And so this idea of his sweat becoming like great drops of blood or the blood becoming part of the sweat indicates that there was this

intense, severe stress and pressure that was going on. And so when Jesus says that he's in agony and he's praying earnestly, it's not just saying, you know, that he went an extra 15 minutes. I mean, there's a real intensity here as he is praying to the Father and

I don't really want to do this, Father. But not my will, but your will be done. If there's another way for people to be saved, then let's do that. But there wasn't. And so Jesus here, it's often said, you know, the cross, the victory of the cross happened here in the garden when Jesus determined, I'm going to do my Father's will. And no matter what, he knew what he was getting into. And so he prayed in agony.

And it wasn't the endurance so much of the physical, but here it was here, you know, at this moment in the garden as he prayed that he really had the victory of the cross. Well, as Jesus is arrested then, immediately following this time of prayer, Peter follows Jesus for a little bit and it ends up in verse 54 through 62 being the occasion for Peter to deny the Lord. As Jesus is taken to the high priest's house,

for his trial. Peter is kind of following along. It says from a distance. He's wanting to stay close to find out what happens, but not to be so close as to be associated with Jesus. And when they start asking him about, you know, where he's from and, hey, aren't you one of his disciples? It happens three times that Peter says, no, I'm not with Jesus. I don't know Jesus. I've never met that man.

Well, then in verses 63 through 65, the Jewish soldiers mock and beat Jesus. And so the Jewish soldiers are abusing Jesus. In verse 64, it tells us they're blindfolding him and then beating him and saying, hey, prophesy. Who was it that struck you?

You know, can you call out the guy? Can you name the name? Who was it that struck you? And so they're mocking and beating Jesus in this way while they're waiting for the morning to happen when they can, you know, really do the trial and take him before Pilate. In verses 66 through 71, then the Jewish elders gather for another trial and they ask Jesus, well, they demand that Jesus tell them whether or not he is the Christ.

And he agrees. Yes, I'm the Christ. And so in verse 70 they say, so are you saying you're the son of God? And he says yes. And so they determine at that point, see, he's worthy.

to be put to death. The religious leaders wanted Jesus to be put to death. Their accusation of Jesus was blasphemy. That he, being man, declared himself to be God. I know a lot of people try to take that phrase, son of God, and make it mean something less than God. But the Jewish people understood that

When Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, he was claiming to be God, to be equal to the Father. And as God's equal, or as the Father's equal, having that very nature, that same nature of deity. And so as he...

declares himself to be the son of God that's what they turn him over to be crucified for now it's not what they tell Pilate because it wasn't a Roman crime but but that's what causes them to say we don't need any further witnesses we don't need any more testimony Jesus is deserving of death because he claims to be the son of God

Well, all of this was taking place again in and around Jerusalem. He was partaking of the Passover meal in the area known as Upper Jerusalem. And so this would be more on Mount Zion. And it was...

a home. We don't know exactly all the details about where exactly the, you know, the upper room is. Now, if you go to Israel and you go on the Israel tour, they'll take you to an upper room and say, this is the place, this is the upper room. But there's not a whole lot of certainty that that's the exact location. But we know it was in this general region that Jesus was. And it was there that they partook of the Passover together.

And it's very possibly also the same upper room where the disciples were in Acts chapter 2 and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And so that seems to be what it's indicating, but again, the certainty of the exact locations is unknown. Well, from the Passover meal, then he heads out the gates of Jerusalem just across from the Temple Mount to the Garden of Gethsemane. And it's there that he spends this time in prayer.

And then Judas leads the army out there to arrest Jesus. And they bring him back in the city, back to the home of the high priest, which also would have been in the upper area of Jerusalem. And that's where they're holding him. And that's where they're trying him and asking whether or not he is the son of God.

Gethsemane is an area we haven't looked at. So just a couple points about Gethsemane. It was a garden of olive trees that was located right across from Jerusalem at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The name Gethsemane means oil press. And so it's where they had these olive trees and they would make olive oil.

And so it's often been correlated in the same way that, you know, at the olive press, that's where Jesus was pressed. And that's where, again, being in agony, he prayed before the Lord and accomplished that victory of the cross as he determined to be faithful to the Father's will.

Gethsemane is still around today and it's home to some of the oldest olive trees in the world. Right around 900 to 1,000 years old is many of the trees there in that area. So when you go, you'll get to see trees like this. They're olive trees. They've been there for a really long time.

And it's a, you know, kind of a neat time to just spend some time in prayer and reflect on what Jesus was going through as he wrestled with, you know, that time right before being arrested and being led off to be crucified. So chapter 23 now, verse 46 is the key verse.

It says, and when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last. So we're heading into the final stretch here before Jesus is crucified. And we're going to see all of that fulfilled here in chapter 23. So first off, Jesus is taken to Pilate in verses 1 through 5.

The religious leaders having tried Jesus. Now he's gone through several times of questionings by the Jewish leaders. But this third time, this final time is when he says yes I am the son of God. And they say that's it. We have everything we need. And so now they take him to Pilate.

This is going to be very early in the morning as soon as it's sunlight or sunrise. Then they bring him before Pilate and they present him to Pilate with these accusations that he's perverting the nation, that he's forbidding to pay taxes, and that he is declaring that he himself is king or he's the king of the Jews. Now Pilate interviews Jesus. He finds no fault in him, but he's...

Trying to kind of wiggle his way out of having to deal with the situation. And so as they talk with him, he realizes that Jesus was from Galilee.

Now Galilee was the upper area of Israel and that was the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. And so he realizes, oh that's Herod's territory where Jesus is from. So I'm going to send him to Herod because Herod was there in Jerusalem for the Passover as well. And so in verses 6 through 12 you see that Jesus is sent to Herod. Now Herod was excited about this because he'd been wanting to meet Jesus for a long time it says in verse 8.

Because he'd heard about all the miracles. He'd heard about the teachings. And so he wanted to see some miracle done by Jesus. He wanted to see something, you know, radical happen. And so he was hoping that Jesus would go and put on a show for Herod, you know, at this time. But as they're interviewing him and asking him, it tells us that Jesus answered nothing. And so they mock him there at Herod's complex and then send him back to Pilate.

Then in verses 13 through 25, Pilate delivers Jesus to be crucified. Again, he tries to get out of it. He says, look guys, talking to the religious leaders, I didn't find any fault with him. I sent him to Herod. Herod didn't find any fault with him. So I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to just chastise him and then release him. I'm just going to beat him, even though I find no fault with him, you know, just to kind of make you happy. I'll beat him and then I'll let him go. And, you know, let's just call it a day with that.

But the crowd cries out in verse 18, no, release Barabbas to us. Now we know from other accounts that it was Pilate's custom to release one prisoner at the time of the feast. And so being the Passover feast, he was prepared to release one prisoner anyways. And so he says, you know, hey,

Pick one, Jesus or Barabbas. You know, I think it's reasonable to release Jesus. He hasn't done anything wrong. So I'm just going to let him go. And they say, no, give us Barabbas and crucify Jesus. Now Pilate tries to reason with them. In verse 21, it tells us that they shout even louder, crucify him. In verse 23, it goes on to say, but they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified.

And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. And so Pilate's trying to, you know, get out of it and not make a decision or just let Jesus go with a beating. But it says that their loud voices and their call for him, their demand for him to be crucified prevailed. And so he gave in to what the crowd desired, what the chief priests desired, and handed Jesus over to be crucified.

Verses 26 through 49, Jesus dies upon the cross. They take Jesus out from there. They find Simon of Cyrene and they compel him to bear the cross for Jesus up to Calvary. In verse 33 it says, And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

And so there's three crosses, three people being put to death, two criminals and Jesus at this place called Calvary. Now, Calvary is a Latin word. It means the place of the skull.

It's also, you probably have heard the name Golgotha. That's the Aramaic version of Calvary in Latin. It's just, you know, the different languages call it by a different name. But it's the same place. And so at Calvary, at Golgotha, Jesus is crucified.

Now Luke includes here in verses 39 through 43 some interesting details from one of the or both of the thieves that were on the crosses alongside of Jesus. And how they were ridiculing Jesus but when one of them is ridiculing the other one rebukes that other thief and says look we deserve this but he hasn't done anything wrong.

And the thief then speaks to Jesus and say, Jesus, you know, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And so at that point there on the cross, that guy gets converted. He becomes a believer. And Jesus tells him, today you'll be with me in paradise. And so we see this beautiful work of the Lord even at that last moment, you know, there upon the cross that he's reaching out, he's ministering to people, and this happens.

sinner, you know, he was always accused of and guilty of associating with sinners in order to, you know, bring the gospel and bring salvation to them. And so even here at the cross, this thief on the cross gets saved and Jesus gives him the hope and the promise of eternity. Today, you'll be with me in paradise.

Well then in verse 44 it tells us that there was darkness upon the whole area from the 6th hour to the 9th hour. So that would be from 12 o'clock p.m. noon to about 3 p.m. So you can think about it this way. The 6th hour, it was 6 hours from noon.

from sunrise. So sunrise is about 6 a.m. Six hours later is about 12 p.m. noon. And so this is the time when Jesus dies upon the cross. From noon to three, that's when there's darkness on the earth. And it's probably right around three o'clock that Jesus, in verse 46, breathes his last and dies there upon the cross. Well then in verses 50 through 56, we are introduced to a man named Joseph who

Joseph of Arimathea, he comes, he requests for the body of Jesus and he buries Jesus in his own tomb, which is nearby. And so Joseph comes. It says that Joseph did not agree with the rest of the Sanhedrin, the rest of the Jewish leaders.

He didn't agree with them about the decision to put Jesus to death. He believed in Jesus and so he shows this kindness by taking the body of Jesus off of the cross and then putting it in this tomb that he had dug out which was his own.

So this is all happening, of course, in and around Jerusalem. There's a few things going on here. In verse 1, the multitude leads Jesus to Pilate. And so this is going to be happening at the Antonia Fortress right on the north end of the Temple Mount. This is where Pilate would be. This is where the trial would go on. This is where the Roman soldiers would be to mock Jesus. That would all be taking place there. So this is all happening.

But Pilate sends Jesus over to Herod. And so he sends him across town and to Herod's palace. And from there, you know, he would be mocked yet again and interviewed and questioned once again.

He stays silent at that time. And so Herod sends him back to Pilate. So back across town. Back to the Antonia Fortress. And there continues the trial. And then Pilate sentenced him to be crucified. And so he's led out from the Antonia Fortress up through the

out the walls of Jerusalem up there to Calvary which would be in that general area kind of north end of the city of Jerusalem there and it was there that he would be crucified and then Joseph of Arimathea he had a garden tomb nearby and as he collected the body of Jesus that's where he laid him to rest in that tomb that was nearby Golgotha or Calvary where Jesus was crucified

Here's a quick look at kind of an estimation of a timeline for the final hours of Jesus. So just to give you a sense of what that last day was like for him. So around 6 o'clock in the evening would have been his last supper, the Passover meal.

From there, he would go out to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, estimating, you know, a couple hours for dinner and spending time with the disciples. So around 9 o'clock, maybe 10 o'clock, he heads out to the Garden of Gethsemane. He spends a couple hours in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. We know that from the different accounts. And so it would be probably around midnight, right?

when Judas leads in the soldiers to arrest Jesus and he's arrested there in Gethsemane. Then he goes into a couple of trials. He is led before Annas who was kind of the high priest but not the official high priest and so he's a prominent Jewish leader though and so he's led to Annas and

And there's some questioning there. There's some accusations that are given there. Then they take him over to Caiaphas, who is the high priest at that time. And so he's, you know, questioned there and on trial there. He's mocked and beaten by the Jewish soldiers who are holding him. And then at daybreak, so around 5 a.m., he goes into his third trial. And so

they called together all the Sanhedrin, all the elders, and they tried Jesus once again. They questioned him. Tell us if you're the Christ. Are you saying that you're the son of God? Yes, I am. Okay, you're worthy of death. And so then they lead him over to Pontius Pilate. And so this would be happening maybe around six in the morning.

And there he's questioned and interviewed by Pilate and sent over to Herod. He's mocked by Herod's soldiers and interviewed there, sent back to Pilate, mocked and beaten.

scourged. Barabbas is released and then Jesus is mocked and beaten and then around nine in the morning Jesus was led over to Calvary to the cross to be crucified and he was upon the cross for about six hours. About noon that's when the darkness came upon the earth and then around three o'clock is when Jesus breathed his last breath

It was soon after that that a soldier pierced Jesus' side. And then in the evening, but before it was, you know, sunset, Joseph collected the body of Jesus and laid it in the tomb so that it would not be on the cross for the Sabbath. And so he took Jesus' body off of the cross before the Sabbath would have began at around 6 o'clock in the evening.

So that's a quick run through of the timeline for that final day in the life of Christ. Now one of the things that's interesting about this is you can kind of see how quickly it all happened. And that was by design. Because again, as I mentioned earlier, the religious leaders feared the people.

And so they were trying to get this to go on, to happen, before people really knew what was happening. And so at nine in the morning, Jesus is being crucified before the multitudes. There was a crowd there who were before Pilate and shouting, crucify him, crucify him. But that wasn't the whole city. It wasn't the general population. In fact, many scholars suggest that the group that was there was a group who has gathered their people

To request for Barabbas' release anyways. Because Pilate always released a prisoner at the time of the feast. And so it's likely that that was a group of people who wanted Barabbas released to begin with. And so they're, you know, joining up with the high priest in this. Because it's, you know, to their advantage. It's fulfilling what they desired. And the high priest convinced them, yeah, tell them, you know, to give you Barabbas like you want. And we'll have Jesus crucified like we want.

So this all happens very quickly. Jesus is arrested. He's tried a few times. He's beaten a bunch. He's scourged. And then he is crucified. Now as he is led out from the Antonia Fortress to be crucified, they find Simon of Cyrene. Now Cyrene is quite a bit away from Jerusalem, about 800 miles across the Mediterranean Sea.

But he is in Jerusalem for the feast. And so it seems that, you know, he was a believer in God. He believed. We don't know exactly all the details about him. But lots of studies and theories, you know, have been placed, you know, around this man, Simon of Cyrene. And he got this unique opportunity. Maybe he considered it a privilege later on to bear the cross of Christ over to Calvary.

All right, chapter 24 now. We'll finish it up. Verse 6 is the key verse. It says, He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee. So in verses 1 through 12, you have the ladies who were followers of Jesus. They go to visit the tomb and find, in verse 2, the stone is rolled away. And angels appear to them.

And declare, He is not here. He is risen. And then they say, remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee? And you might remember from last week, you saw three times Jesus told them,

Hey guys, I'm about to be betrayed and then I'm going to be beaten. I'm going to be spat upon. Then I'm going to be crucified. And then I will rise again the third day. And he told them this a few times. And so now the angels remind them, hey, remember how Jesus told you that? That's what's happened. He's not here. He is risen. And so they go in verse 9 and tell the things that they saw, the things the angels said to the 11 disciples.

And verse 11 is interesting. It says that it seemed like idle tales to them. They just thought...

These ladies are talking foolishness. They don't know what they're talking about. Peter runs and he checks it out for himself and he walks away marveling like, I wonder what's going on. And so they're perplexed. They're not sure. They're not yet convinced that, you know, what Jesus said was going to happen has happened. They're confused about this. Well, then in verses 13 through 35, Jesus appears to two disciples. They were on the way to a place called Emmaus.

And as they're walking along the way, Jesus approaches them. And it was a pretty normal thing, especially, you know, as you think about around the Passover feast, as the people would gather from all different parts of the area and they would travel to Jerusalem to partake of the feast. Then after the feast was over, then they would, you know, make their way back.

And it would be often, you know, normal for them to gather together, to caravan together. And so for someone, you know, walking alone to just join up with a couple other guys who are going, that'd be kind of a normal thing. So they're walking back to Emmaus and Jesus joins up with them and they begin to have this conversation. Now, verse 16, I think is kind of essential. It tells us that their eyes were restrained.

Their eyes were restrained. They didn't recognize Jesus because, well, there was a restraining that went on. They were prevented from realizing who this was. And so Jesus is having this discussion with them, but he's withholding the revelation of who he is to them.

And so they're explaining to him what was going on. And there was this guy, Jesus. And man, where have you been? You haven't heard about these things. And verse 21, they say, we were hoping he was going to redeem Israel. Their expectation, their hope was that the Messiah would overthrow Rome and establish Israel as its sovereign nation once again. And so they were saying, that's what we were hoping for. We were hoping he was going to redeem Israel.

And so they're depressed, they're saddened because what they hoped for, what they expected was not what happened. But it's actually what happened. He did redeem Israel. Not just Israel, but all humanity. And so their expectations were not in alignment with the will of God. And Jesus says, you guys...

You're slow of heart to believe. And verse 27 says, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the thing concerning himself. This would have been an awesome Bible study. I mean, Jesus himself explaining all the law, all the scriptures, all the prophets, how he would come and deliver the people from their sins. And so they're blown away. But they're not

realizing yet who this is. And so then as they get to the where they're going it says Jesus kind of pretends like he's going to keep going further and they say no no no come join us for dinner. And they break bread together and as he breaks the bread their eyes are open. That restraining is removed. They realize that it's Jesus and then boom he disappears. And so they run back to Jerusalem and tell the other disciples hey

Those ladies weren't just telling idle tales. It's for real. He appeared to us. He walked with us on the road and then he ate and broke bread with us. And as they're talking with the disciples...

In verse 36 through 43, Jesus then also appears to the gathering of disciples there. So the 11 that are gathered together. So the other two, can you imagine? They're telling, hey, we really did see Jesus. And the guys are like, are you serious? Come on, no way. And then, boom, Jesus is there. And he appears to them. He says, guys, check it out. Here I am. Let's eat together. Let me convince you that I really am here. I have raised from the dead.

Well, then in verses 44 through 49, Jesus opens the disciples' understanding. It says in verse 45, he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. There's a lot of things that Jesus said that the disciples didn't understand until after Jesus had resurrected. And it's because it's at this point that he opens their understanding.

Now, I believe that this corresponds with John chapter 20 verse 22. When Jesus, as he's appeared with his disciples, it says that he breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit. Remember that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. And so when Jesus breathes on them and they receive the Holy Spirit, it's at this time that they're born again.

And as they're born again, they have the Holy Spirit indwelling within them. Then they have this new and fresh understanding of the scriptures that they didn't have before because that's what the Holy Spirit came to do. Remember in John 16, Jesus said, here's what the Holy Spirit's going to do. He's going to remind you of all the things that I said. And he's going to teach you the things that you're not ready for me to teach you yet.

And so they received the Holy Spirit at that time. Their eyes are opened. Their understanding is open. And now they're able to comprehend the scriptures in a brand new way as they have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. But then in verse 49, he says, Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. And so you see the distinction between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit

you know, he breathes on them, they receive the Holy Spirit, they're converted, they're born again, but then they're baptized or empowered with the Holy Spirit. Later on, we'll get to that in the book of Acts on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

And so there's this distinction of being, you know, born again and having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and then the baptism of the Holy Spirit that happens later on. But Paul tells us that, you know, spiritual things must be discerned by spiritual people and that carnal minds can't understand the things of God. And that's what we're seeing here, that the disciples, although they had been with Jesus for a long time, their understanding was limited, right?

Until they received the Holy Spirit. And it's something we need to keep in mind. As we're talking to and ministering to people. That the things that seem very plain to you as a believer. Because it's like, well it's just so clear. Can't you see? Can't you see what the scripture says? Can't you see what the Bible says? But remember that without...

the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there's a darkness and that understanding is very limited. And it requires the work of the Holy Spirit for us to be able to understand the scriptures. And that's one of the reasons why when we get into the word of God, we, you know, we'll spend a moment in prayer because what we need God to speak to us and to reveal to us what his word says and what it means. We need our understanding to be opened as the Holy Spirit speaks.

dwells within us well then in verses 50 through 53 jesus ascends into heaven now luke doesn't tell us how much time is passing but we know this is later on it's about 40 days later that that he is at the mount of olives and he's ascending into heaven at that point and so he is at the right hand of god and there he remains he's there to this day at the right hand of the lord

So just a couple quick locations here. You have Emmaus there at the top. In verse 13 they were traveling to Emmaus. It tells us it was about seven miles from Jerusalem. That's not an exact location. It's kind of a general location. There's several different places that are referred to as Emmaus.

in different writings and such. And so that's kind of a guesstimation of where it was. Of course, Jerusalem, we know where that's at. They returned to Jerusalem after they realized that they had been with Jesus. And then in verse 50, Jesus leads them to Bethany, which is on the Mount of Olives. And it's from there that he ascends to the Father.

And then I want to close with a couple images for us to consider. This is the garden tomb that is very nearby Golgotha or Calvary. In fact, you can see, you know, the location of Golgotha from this tomb. It's just, you could throw a rock and hit it. It's very close.

And this is where it's believed that Jesus was buried. You can see, you know, there's the open door. Now, where you see the bricks, that's kind of the restoration because it was kind of falling apart and so they had to fortify it a little bit. But the rest is original. And you can see there's that trench like right in front of the opening where the rock would have been rolled in front of the door.

And so the ladies were on the way to the tomb to, you know, anoint Jesus' body. And they're like, who's going to roll away the stone? And they get there and they find that the angels have rolled away the stone. And they say, he is not here. He is risen. Now this tomb, this is a picture of a diagram that's there on the tomb when you go to Israel.

And so this tomb was laid out this way where you had the entrance. That's where the opening was we just saw. And then immediately inside you had this wailing chamber. This is where people would go to mourn and to weep for the people who had died. And then where the number two is there, there would be this opening that would be low. And so you'd have to stoop down to enter into the next section. And

And in there, there was a place for two bodies to be laid, one on the left and one on the right. And so the top one was completed. The bottom part wasn't completed. So it was in the process of being worked on, being carved out.

when all of this happened and Joseph decided, you know, I'm going to use this instead of, you know, whatever plans I had for it, I'm going to use this to lay the body of Jesus in. And so Jesus would have been laid there in that upper portion and then the tomb was not used again after that, after Jesus resurrected.

And so just in case you're curious or concerned, here's a picture inside that inner room. And indeed, the tomb is empty. Jesus Christ has risen and he is alive and well at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that as we lift up these things to you, as we consider these things upon our hearts, and as we come to you this evening,

That we can rest assured that you are alive. That you are not dead, but that you have risen from the dead. You have conquered sin. You've conquered death. You've poured out your Holy Spirit. And so, Lord, we desire for more of you. We desire for you to reign on high. We desire for you to reveal yourself more and more to us. Because you can. Lord, speak to us. I pray that you would draw us near to yourself. I pray, Lord, that you would empower us. That we would be witnesses to you.

That we'd be effective and able to testify to the world around us that you are alive. That you have risen from the dead which proves and authenticates that you indeed are the Son of God. That you are God who became man to die on the cross for us. And Lord, that salvation is found in you alone. So Lord, help us to grasp these realities more and more and to proclaim it as you give us opportunity. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.