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Bro. Bill Nichols
The purpose of this was to bring into focus the change that is about to take place.
But I couldn't resist reading a couple of those just to see what is revealed.
And the first one I'm going to look at is found in John chapter 2, verse 4.
But I'm going to start chapter 2, verse 1. And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.
Now that is interesting. Third day from what? Third day from the first day.
The first day was Sunday. The second day was Monday. The third day was Tuesday.
So this was a Tuesday. There was a marriage in Cana. It was traditional for Jewish weddings to be on Tuesday.
Do you know why? Anyone know why? That's the day of double blessing.
When God created the heavens and the earth, on the first day,
He created and He looked at what He had created and He said,
It is good. And He declared the evening and the morning the first day.
Then He goes to the next day where He separates the water from above from below. And He doesn't say that that one's good.
But He goes to the third day. And on the third day, He pronounces the third day good twice.
So the Jews took that as to be the day of double blessings. So they arranged to have all of their weddings on Tuesdays.
Now that's interesting. It's not of any value, but it's interesting. It has nothing to do with what we're doing today.
The mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and His disciples to the marriage.
And they wanted wine. And the mother of Jesus said unto him, We have no wine. And Jesus said unto her,
Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.
That's the first hit on the phrase, My hour has not yet come that I found.
Then I found another one in John chapter 7 verse 25.
And this one is worth reading too. Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is this not
He whom they seek to kill? They're talking about Jesus. But lo, He speaketh boldly.
And they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very
Christ? How be it? We know this man whence He is.
But when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is. The multitude is confused.
From observing His many miracles, they believe He's the Messiah. And yet they know the family of Jesus.
So the dilemma is this. How can each be true? They thought we were not supposed to know the family of Jesus.
We were not supposed to know the family of the Messiah. So they've got a dilemma.
Jesus then cried in the temple as He talked, saying, You both know me, and you know whence
I am. But He that sent me is true, whom you know not.
For I know Him, for I am from Him, and He hath sent me. Then they sought to take
Him. He really infuriated the Pharisees. He claimed that He came from God, His Father.
He claimed to be the Messiah, and they didn't like that. And they sought to take
Him. But no man lay hands upon Him, because His hour was not yet come.
And there's two or three more that I'm not going to read. But again, this is just to get a flavor for the number of times that it was said,
My hour is not yet come. Then we come to a section where my computer is acting weird.
Oh, we've got one more that I'd like to read. This is in Matthew 8, 28. And when it was come to the other side of the country of Garcinius, there met
Him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs exceedingly fierce, so that no man might pass that way.
And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God?
Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time? So they knew that there was a time when
Jesus was going to come back. They knew who Jesus was. They knew He was the Son of God. They were the demons that possessed the man.
So at least four times I found it referred to a time when it was said,
My time has not yet come. And then, at least four times, the time has come.
I will read this one, and then I'll go on, because I don't want to spend the whole time if I can get my machine to work properly.
Every one of these computers has a different system of moving through it. And once you learn one and you switch to another one, then the old one is you have relearned it.
So I apologize to you. This is John 12, 23. And Jesus answered them, saying,
The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. So now the hour has come.
Verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bring forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it.
He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there also shall my servant be.
If any man serve me, him my Father will honor. And I couldn't resist going on.
Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?
He's saying, Shall I ask my Father to save me? Father, save me from this hour.
But for this cause I came unto this hour. The very reason he was there to come to this hour to be crucified, that's the reason he came.
He can't ask the Lord to deliver him from it. Then he would violate the whole reason for him coming in the first place.
Then came a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
And the people, therefore, stood by and heard it, and said that it thundered.
Others said an angel spoke to him. And Jesus answered and said,
This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now the judgment of this world, now the prince of this world shall be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
And there are two or three more of these. But we're going to go on now into Luke chapter 19.
And we're going to drop back a couple of verses into what we finished last week to get a flow.
And we'll pick it up at Luke 19, verse 27.
Luke 19, 27. And it's instructive as we go forward to consider this.
Who set in motion all of the events that led to this change from Jesus' time not yet being ready and now being ready?
Mine hour is not yet come, mine hour is come. Who set all these things in motion?
As we go forward, we'll see, as you probably already know. Okay, verse 27 says this.
But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me.
And when he had thus spoken, he went before ascending up to Jerusalem, up to Jerusalem on his way to the cross.
And it came to pass when he was come nigh unto Bethpage and Bethany at the mount called the
Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples. Okay, you need to remember
Jesus has already told his disciples what is in store for him and for them.
But they didn't understand what he said. Moreover, it does not look like, at least at first, that that's going to happen.
Let's take a quick look at what Jesus said that they did not understand. And we'll find that in Luke 18, verse 31.
One chapter earlier. Then he took unto him the twelve and said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. The twelve is his twelve disciples. That much they understood.
They knew where they were going. They were going to Jerusalem. Now here comes the problem. And all things that are written by the prophets concerning the
Son of Man shall be accomplished. Now, written by the prophets concerning the
Son of Man, what's he talking about? What's Jesus talking about here?
Let me back up a step. In John 5, 39, it says this.
Search the scriptures. For in them ye think ye have eternal life.
And they are they which testify of me. Now, what scripture is
Jesus talking about when he said that? Is he talking about the book of Romans?
It's not been written yet. Is he talking about the book of Matthew? What's he talking about?
The entirety of the Old Testament. Everything in the Old Testament is what he is saying.
Search the scriptures. And if you read the scriptures, the Old Testament, you read that, you will find.
You think you'll find eternal life there? You won't. You won't find eternal life there. Eternal life is found someplace else.
What you will find there is me. Because everything there testifies of me.
That would be the entirety of the Old Testament. And that's what Jesus is referring to.
Okay. So, all things that are written by the prophets concerning the
Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered to the
Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted upon.
And they shall scourge him, and put him to death. And the third day he shall rise again.
And they understood none of these things. Now, who's the they? Who's the they are the 12 disciples.
The 12 disciples had been following for three years, didn't understand a word he said. And this saying was hid from them.
Neither knew they the things which were spoken. Of course, had they done what he had told them to do in John, they might have already known.
Had they studied the scriptures diligently? They might have already known.
Here's an example of something they might have already known. I'm going to start reading this, and probably you'll think it's from somewhere else.
But I'll tell you where it's from in just a minute. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Where do you think that's quoted? Where do you think that's from? I'm sorry?
Is it a trick question? Yes. It's always a trick question. There's two answers.
There is the place in the New Testament where it was written, and there's a place in the Old Testament from which it was quoted.
Now, when you go into the Old Testament and you read, you want to first of all think that this is David talking about himself.
This is in Psalms 22 verse 1. My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, were you to turn to Matthew 27 verse 46, it would say this, and about the ninth hour,
Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabbathanah. That's clear enough, isn't it?
That is to say, he's going to interpret it for us. My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, back to Psalms from which this quote came.
Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
O God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season am not silent.
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee.
They trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto me and to thee, and were delivered.
They trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised by people.
All they that see me shall laugh me to scorn. They shoot out their lip, and shake their head saying, he trusted in the
Lord, that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
Well, that could still be talking about David. But it's not, it's talking about Jesus.
So why did God not deliver Jesus? Because it would vitiate the whole plan.
If he delivered Jesus, that's what Jesus prayed about in the garden when he said, let this cup be removed.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. It was already predetermined. It was predetermined that Jesus was going to go up to Jerusalem and be in Jerusalem on the
Sabbath day to be on the Passover day, more than just a
Sabbath day. On the Passover day to be delivered as the son of God, to be crucified.
So God couldn't deliver Jesus and deliver us at the same time.
Verse nine, but thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was cast upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my
God from my mother's belly.
Be not far from me for trouble is near and there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me.
Strong bulls from Bashan have beset me. They gaped upon me with their mouths. As ravening and roaring lions,
I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. When did that happen to David?
When did that happen to Jesus? When he was on the cross, stretched out on the cross and his joints were all out of joint.
My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a posture.
My tongue cleaveth to my jaws. He is thirsty. Thou hast brought me to the dust of death.
For dogs have compassed me. That would be the Gentiles. The assembly of the wicked ones have enclosed me.
That would be the Jews and the Gentiles. They pierced my hands and my feet.
When did that happen to David? When did that happen to Jesus?
On the cross. I may tell all my bones,
I can't believe this.
I tell all my bones and they look and stare upon me. They part my garments amongst them and cast lots over my vesture.
And that happened to Jesus on the cross as well. Mark 15, 24 says, And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them.
What every man should take. Verse 19, But be not thou far from me,
O Lord, my strength. Hasten thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. I will declare thy name among the brethren.
In the midst of the congregation, I will praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him.
All ye see of Jacob, glorify him. And fear him, all ye see of Israel.
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted.
Neither had he hid his face from him. But when he cried unto him, he heard. That's a psalm chronicling
Jesus' experience on the cross. And it's written right there in the
Old Testament. And had the disciples read that portion, they would have known that this is
Jesus. And they would have known what Jesus was telling him when he said he was going to die and he was going to raise from the dead.
Now, you should notice this. Both the Jews and the Gentiles were involved in the rejection of Jesus.
Both the dogs and the assembly of the wicked, they were both involved. There was a time in the
Reformation period that some of our great leaders, in fact, one particularly,
Martin Luther, became very anti -Semitic and wanted to blame the
Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus. But it was not the Jews that rejected
Christ for whom Jesus died. Nor was it the
Gentiles that rejected Jesus. It was neither the Gentiles nor the Jews that caused the death of Jesus.
Jesus did not die for those that rejected him. He died for us.
He died for the elect. It was the elect for whom
Jesus was sent. He was sent to provide a way out of our predicament.
We were lost. We were dead in our sins. There was nothing we could do to change anything.
When you're dead, there's nothing you can do. And now the gracious Lord has intervened and has saved us from destruction.
Now, whom did he save? Did he save everybody? Did he save a few? Did he save many?
How many did he save? A remnant. A remnant. Matthew 7, verse 13.
Enter ye at the straight gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.
And many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the way and narrow...
Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life.
And few there be that find it. And then in John 14, verse 6,
Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. Okay. That's enough for background.
And when he had thus spoken, this is back in Luke chapter 19, verse 28.
And when he had thus spoken, he went before, sending up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass when he was come nigh unto
Bethpage and Bethany at the mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying,
Go ye into the village over against you, in which at your entering you shall find a colt tied, wherein never a man sat.
Lose him, and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, why do you lose him?
Thus shall you say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.
Now, Chuck Missler said this. Earlier in Jesus' ministry, they, the mob, the multitude, tried to take him and present him as a king.
But he refused, basically saying, mine hour has not yet come. That was in John 6, verse 15, when
Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king. He departed again unto the mountain himself alone.
So he refused to be made king. Then, on one specific day, on this day, he not only permits it, he arranges it.
You notice, he is also in control of the timing.
He was forcing the religious leaders to act. They were planning on acting, but not on a feast day.
We get that from Matthew 26, verse 1. And it came to pass, when
Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, You know that after two days is the feast of the
Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Now, Jesus already knows that he has already been betrayed.
Jesus already knows that he has already been betrayed. Then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders unto the palace of the high priest, who was called
Caiaphas. I can't get this thing.
There it is. Who was called
Caiaphas, and they consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him, but they said,
Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
So they planned on taking Jesus by subtlety, by entrapment, and killing him, but they said,
We're not going to do it on a feast day because there'd be a great uproar. But God had other ideas.
He had already ordained that his son be slain on the Passover as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Now, Jesus begins to set everything in motion, except my computer.
Verse 33, And as they were loosening the coat, the owners thereof said unto him,
Why loose ye the coat? And they said, Because the
Lord hath need of him. Okay, now it's working.
And that was all that needed, was needed to satisfy the owner of the coat.
But you might wonder why it was that the Lord had a need for the coat in the first place. Unless or until you read
Zechariah 9, verse 9. And it says, Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh.
He is just, having salvation, lowly, and riding on an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.
Jesus was deliberately fulfilling Zechariah 9, 9, and he was doing it on the very day that Gabriel had prophesied that he would do it.
Not a day early, not a day late, the exact day. And they brought to, they brought him, the colt, to Jesus, and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set
Jesus their own. Now, some of you guys are from Texas.
And if you're from Texas, and you know anything about donkeys, you know that donkeys are even more stubborn, more difficult to deal with than horses.
And the fact that they're going to take this donkey, never a man has sat on it. This donkey has never been ridden.
Throw some clothes on the back of that donkey. Set Jesus on the donkey, and Jesus ride off.
That is a miracle. If you know anything about donkeys, that is more than a miracle.
Just another of the minor miracles of Jesus. And as he went, they spread their clothes on the way.
And when he was come nigh, even at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise
God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen. Remember, they've been following Jesus around, watching raised people from the dead, healed sicknesses, cured leprosy, healed the blind, all kinds of things he has done.
They understand that he is a special person. And so what they're saying here is,
Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
They're singing Psalms 118, parts of it.
I'm going to read the relevant parts. This is the day the
Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the
Lord. That's what they're singing as Jesus is riding into Jerusalem, which in context was declaring
Jesus to be the Messiah, the King, as specified in Daniel 9 .25.
Verse 39. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him,
Master, rebuke thy disciples. For what?
For singing? No, for declaring
Jesus to be the Messiah. Chuck Misner said this, anytime we as Gentiles might miss the full significance of an event, it seems the
Pharisees will come to our rescue. When they're especially upset, we need to try to understand why.
The reason? They understood that this was the day, the very day that Gabriel had specified in Daniel five centuries earlier.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
I kind of wished they had held their peace so we could actually see the stones, hear the stones crying out.
You almost wish they'd held their peace. And when he came here, he beheld the city and he wept over it.
Now, here's the thing. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He knows what's waiting for him at Jerusalem.
He knows he's going to be crucified there. And he is weeping. He's not weeping for himself.
He's weeping for Jerusalem. And why is he weeping for Jerusalem?
Well, he's not only weeping. He's also saying something. He's saying this.
If thou hadst known, even now, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are hidden from thine eyes.
Jesus is holding them responsible to know that this is the day that he is to come and that he is the
Messiah. And because they didn't know that, the things which belong to thy peace are now hid from thine eyes for now, but not forever.
Paul tells us in Romans 11 that Israel will be blinded in part until the fullness of the
Gentiles be come in. Romans 11 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the
Gentiles be come in. And so all Jerusalem will be saved.
Now does that mean that every man, woman, and child of Jewish descent that ever lived will be saved?
No, it means precisely almost the opposite. From the time he said this until a time later when the fullness of the
Gentiles come in, that's a way of referencing the end of the church era. But Jerusalem will cease to be the instrument of God's relationship with man for a while, and it will go to the church, and the church will continue to be the main source until the end when the
Lord returns, and at that point in time the Jews will all then be redeemed, and every one of them will be saved, but not the ones earlier.
Now does that mean that no Jew that ever lived between this time, the time of the crucifixion, and the time when
Jesus returns, does that mean that no Jew can be saved? No. It just means they'll be saved like everybody else.
They'll be saved. A remnant of them will be saved, but at the end they'll all be saved.
As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them when
I shall take away their sins. Now Jesus is going to deliver a prophecy.
For in the days that shall come, this is verse 43, for the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and shall compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side.
Now, that was prophecy that Jesus delivered just before he was taken to be crucified.
Now, when was that prophecy fulfilled? Thirty -eight years later, in 70
A .D., Titus Laspatian had the 5th, 10th, 12th, and 15th
Roman legions lay siege to Jerusalem. Now at that time the Roman legion was about 11 ,000 men.
So we're talking about 55 ,000 men lay siege to Jerusalem.
In 143 days, they lay siege to Jerusalem. 143 days.
And in those 143 days, 600 ,000 Jews were killed by the Roman soldiers.
But historians estimate that over 1 .5
million men, women, and children died from the horrible siege and the disease and the famine that followed it.
Many more people died from the siege and the disease and the famine that followed than died from being killed by the
Roman soldiers. Okay. For the day shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, encompass thee round, and keep thee in on every side.
And they shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee. And they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another.
Why? Because they knew us not the time of thy visitation. That's why all of this is happening to them.
Now, Titus had hoped to retain the temple as a trophy. But during the battle, a torch was thrown in through a window, and the fire because the temple was made mostly of wood, the fire was exceedingly hot and melted the gold of which there was a lot of it in the temple.
And so Titus commanded the dismantling of the temple stone by stone to recover the gold that had melted inside.
And so this prophecy was literally fulfilled in 70
AD. And that's the reason that Jesus paused to weep for the nation.
I was just checking my time. I think I'm okay. And he went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold therein, and of them that bought, saying unto them,
It is written, My house is a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Jesus cleansed the temple twice, once at the beginning of his ministry, and again at the end.
And because of his role as the Messiah, his bringing ceremonial cleanliness to the nation was logical both at the begin and at the end of his ministry.
And Jesus quotes Isaiah 56 7 and Jeremiah 7 11 as he was driving out people who were selling in the temple.
Now Mark adds that the buyers and money changers were also driven out, as well as the people who were apparently taking shortcuts through the temple compound in their business dealings.
Now the money changing was done because only certain coinage was then accepted in the temple from those who bought animals for sacrifice.
And so the religious leaders made money, made a profit off the system of buying and selling animals.
And they sold them at an extraordinarily high price. And the money changing rates were not good either.
A pilgrim traveling to Jerusalem would go to the temple, buy an animal, offer it as a sacrifice without ever having anything to do with the animal itself.
That commercial system apparently was set up in the area of the temple, which had been designated for devout
Gentiles to pray. And so it was disrupting Israel's witness to the surrounding world.
Now verse 47. And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priest and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him.
And they could not find what they might do for all the people were very attentive to hear him.
Now even though the religious leaders tried to give the impression that they were simply ignoring
Jesus, they were actually plotting to destroy him. But not on a feast day.
We read this already, but I'll read it again. Then assembled together the chief priest and the scribes and the elders of the people into the palace of the high priest who was called
Caiaphas and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But they said not on feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
It was Jesus himself though that controlled the timing. He would force their hand by his own announcement during the last supper.
We find that in Luke 22 verse 1. Now the feast of the unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called
Passover. And the chief priest and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people.
Then entered Satan unto Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being a number of the twelve.
And he went his way and communed with the chief priest and the captains how they might betray him unto them.
And they were glad, and they covenanted with him to give him money.
And he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
So Judas is planning on betraying Jesus when he can get
Jesus alone away from the multitude so that they can come and take him without causing an uproar.
Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. And he sent
Peter and John to see Jesus, saying, Go, prepare us a Passover that we may eat. And they said unto him,
Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when you are entered the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water.
Follow him unto the house where he entereth, and ye shall say unto the good men of the house,
The Master saith unto thee, Where is thy guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?
And he shall show you a large upper room furnished there make ready.
And they went and found as he had said unto them, and made ready the Passover. And when the hours come, he sat down, this is
Jesus, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire
I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you,
I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said,
Take this divided amongst yourself. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come.
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto him, saying, This is my body which is given for you.
This do in remembrance of me. And likewise also the cup after supper, saying,
This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. But then he goes on to say this,
But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.
And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined. It was foreordained that the
Son of Man would be crucified on the day he was crucified. But woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed.
And they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing.
And now I'm going to pick this up. That was in Luke. I'm going to pick this up in the same event in Matthew because it gives one other little phrase that I want to end with today.
Matthew 26 starting at verse 19. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them and made ready the
Passover. Now when Eve was come, he sat down with the twelve and they did eat.
And he said, Verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me.
And they were exceedingly sorrowful and began every one of them to say, Lord is it
I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the
Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good for him that he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said,
Master is it I? And he said unto him, Thou hast said it.
Yes, it is you. He went out. He was forced to go out. That's on the
Passover day. He rounds up the chief priests, takes them to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is praying.
And it's there that they arrest him. Out of the sight of the mob.
And interestingly enough, by the time they have the trial and the time comes that Pilate is actually holding the trial and he says it's traditional that we release a fellow at this time of the year.
Do you want Jesus or do you want Barabbas? And they said give us Barabbas.
They as a mass rejected Jesus. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
Thank you for all our many blessings. Protect us and keep us as we go through the rest of the services.