Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners from Apple and Spotify and also our viewers on YouTube since we have this now in video podcast format. On today's episode, we're wrapping up the Easter series with a journey through Holy Week. So you can be thinking and meditating on Christ and all that he endured in the days leading up to the cross and most certainly Resurrection Sunday. One of my favorite narratives on this is a synthesized summary from Russ Ramsey. He pastors Christ Presbyterian in Nashville and is a very gifted writer on these sorts of narratives, having one on both Advent and Jesus' life and death and resurrection. And so I want to walk you through his narrative as a journey through Holy Week. Maybe you come from a church background and you've never thought really deeply about what is happening from Palm Sunday through to Resurrection Sunday, or maybe you're newer to the faith, or you've never really studied this, and this can be a very helpful way for you to meditate on Christ and make the most out of Holy Week. First up, Palm Sunday. For a full account of the events that happened on this day, you'd go to Matthew 21, 1 through 11, Mark 11, 1 through 11, and Luke 19, 28 through 44, and then John chapter 12, verses 9 to 19. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, perched up on a colt on Palm Sunday. It was the first time since raising Lazarus from the dead that he'd shown his face in the city. The story of Lazarus' resurrection had circulated so that even those who only heard about it later regarded Jesus as a celebrity. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus. They went out to meet him. They received him like a king because they had heard about all he had done. Jesus said Lazarus' death would end in the faith of many and in the glory of God that the Son may be glorified through it. And that's John 11 4. But the glory he had in mind was even more glorious than his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In fact, he wasn't referring to the glory these people gave him at all. Lazarus' resurrection would steal the resolve of the religious leaders to hand Jesus over to a death he would freely accept, and a death he would conquer. That was the glory he meant. As he rode into Jerusalem, the people cried, Your king is coming, your king is coming. They praised his victory over Lazarus' death, but the irony was that he wasn't coming to claim his crown on account of Lazarus' death, but on account of his own. On Monday, you can find the full account of these events in Matthew 21, verses 12 to 22, Mark 11, 12 to 19, and Luke 19, verses 45 to 48. If Jerusalem was a beehive with his triumphal entry the day before, Jesus had hit it with a stick, and you could hear the buzz grow as the anger within got organized. With that kingly arrival, he made a strong declaration about his authority over all the conventions of man. On Monday, he returns for more, this time to declare the failure of his own people to live up to the covenantal mandate God had given them to be a blessing to the world. Much of what the gospel tells us about Monday centers on the theme of Jesus' authority. That's what the gospel writers were trying to drive home, both over the created world and in his right to pass judgment over the created world. Everything Jesus did, he did with authority. So when he woke his disciples Monday saying he wanted to go back to Jerusalem to teach, as risky as it sounded, it wasn't surprising. But everyone sensed something stirring, as if Jesus had rounded a corner and his end was coming fast. He was a marked man. Tuesday. If Monday's arrival in the temple was marked by Jesus' all-inclusive, living parable of cleansing God's house, Tuesday's entrance is marked by a direct verbal confrontation with the appointed leadership. After Jesus makes the point that he refuses to regard these leaders of having any authority over him, he elects to spend the rest of the day right there in the temple so that he would teach the people the word of God. But Tuesday afternoon would be the last time Jesus would publicly teach in the temple as a free man. His words on this day would be his closing argument, his manifesto. When Jesus left the temple that Tuesday, the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him in Mark 14, chapter one. But they couldn't take his life from him solely on the strength of the charges they meant to bring, not if he defended himself, but he would not. Instead, by his silence, he'd offer up his life for a world of blasphemers and traitors and liars who so desperately needed to be upset. This was what he had come to do. And as he left the temple that Tuesday afternoon, he knew it would be soon. Wednesday. For the full account of the events of Wednesday, you'd go to Matthew twenty-six verses six to sixteen, Mark chapter fourteen, three to eleven, and Luke twenty-two, verses three to six. The past several days have been a rush of tension and anger for Jesus' opponents and of unflinching resolve for Jesus. Words have been his currency, and he has spent piles of them, but on the Wednesday before his death Jesus was still. He was in the home of Simon the leper, a man known by what was wrong with him. During their meal together, Mary of Bethany, Lazarus' sister, in John 12, verse 3, came to Jesus with an alabaster flask of perfume. She had been saving this perfume worth some years' wages for this very occasion. She began to pour the perfume on Jesus' head and his feet, which required breaking open its container, which we see recorded in Mark 14, verse 3. Like popping a cork on a $20,000 bottle of champagne. This was a very intentional act. She was there to deliberately offer Jesus everything she had. By giving Jesus her most valuable possession, she was expressing that she knew what he was about to give of himself and how that was for her. What Mary did was beautiful, and Jesus wanted everyone to know it. She was preparing him for burial. There was honor and kindness in her gesture. He returned the honor by saying, History would never forget her act of beauty, and still we haven't. Thursday. For the full account of the events that took place on Thursday, you go to Matthew 26, verses 17 to 75, Mark 14, 12 to 72, Luke 22, 7 to 71, and John 13, verse 1, all the way to John 18, verse 27. The Thursday prior to Jesus' crucifixion fills many pages in Scripture. It begins with John and Peter securing the upper room. There Jesus washes his disciples' feet, explaining to them that he was there to make them clean. As they begin to eat, Jesus announces one of them is about to betray him. Each wonders if he means them. Then he dispatches Judas to do what he intends. During this Last Supper, Jesus sets apart the Passover bread and the cup and reassigns, or better said, perfects their meaning. The bread is his body, the cup his blood. This meal will no longer primarily remind them of God's deliverance from the external tyranny of Pharaoh, but rather from the internal tyranny of their own guilt and their sin against God. Jesus prays for these, his friends, and those who will come to know Christ through them, that his father would make them one. This is the essence of the high priestly prayer in John seventeen. And then Jesus and his friends leave for the Mount of Olives to pray in Mark 14, 33. But he isn't there only to pray. He is also there to wait. Soon a line of torches will snake their way towards him in the darkness. This is what he has been waiting for. Good Friday. For the full account of what took place on Good Friday, Matthew 27, 1 to 61, Mark 15, 1 to 47, Luke 23, 1 to 56, and John 18, verse 28 to John 19, verse 42. On Thursday night in Gethsemane, Jesus was arrested. He was betrayed by one of his own disciples and abandoned by the others. The chief priests and the Sanhedrin called for secret trials in the dead of night, and the verdict handed down was that Jesus would be crucified. This was something the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate would have to execute, and reluctantly he did. After a severe beating, Jesus was nailed to a cross where he'd remained for six hours until dead. Never before and never since had more been lost and gained at the same time as at Jesus' crucifixion. The world gained the atoning sacrifice of Christ. But for those present, either the significance of the moment was lost on them or their hearts broke because the one they believed to be the Savior of the world was dying at the hands of Rome. They couldn't stop it, and they did not realize it was for them. They'd hoped in him. And though he had told them he would suffer many things and rise three days later, how could they have possibly known that this on the cross is what he meant? Saturday. For the full account of what took place on Saturday, as found in the Gospels, Matthew 27, verses 62 to 66 give us a glimpse. The Saturday following Jesus' crucifixion might be the most unique and overlooked day in the history of the world. The day between Jesus' death and his resurrection. Less is written about this day than any other in the scope of this week. Yet what makes it so unique is that this is the only full day in history where the body of the crucified Christ laid buried in a cave. The day before he was crucified. The following day, he rises from the grave. But what about Saturday? Though we may not make much of this day, when we look at the few verses the gospels give us accounting for it, we find this was by no means a forgotten day to the chief priests who had handed Jesus over to death. During his earthly ministry, Jesus said many times that he would die in Jerusalem at the hands of the chief priests, but on the third day, he would rise again. He said it in Matthew 12 40, in Mark 8:31, in Mark 9.31, in Mark 10.34. And of course, the chief priests scoffed at this, but they did not forget it. On the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Jesus' prediction preoccupied their thoughts such that they simply couldn't leave it alone. They knew a resurrection was coming. Matthew 27, verses 62 to 66 tells us the strange story of how they couldn't seem to just simply dismiss out of hand the possibility that Jesus might have known something they didn't. The passage says, Now on the next day, that is the day which is after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and they said, Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, he said, After three days I'm rising, therefore, give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day, otherwise his disciples may come and steal him, and say to the people he has risen from the dead. And the last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, You have a guard, go make it as secure as you know how. And they went and made the tomb secure with the guard, sealing the stone. Oh the fear that crippled them as they faced the inevitable resurrection of the true king. Their act of so called security only revealed the depths of their insecurity. Resurrection Sunday. For the full account of what took place on Resurrection Sunday, go to Matthew 28, 1 to 20, Mark 16, verses 1 to 8, Luke 24, 1 to 53, and John 20, verses 1 through John 20, verse 1, and then through John chapter 21, verse 25. Early on this Sunday morning, some of Jesus' friends set out to his grave to anoint the body of their friend and teacher. But when they arrived, they were greeted by what one of the gospel writers calls a man dressed in lightning. He tells them Jesus is not here. As he said, He is risen. In the week leading up to his death, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, went out to meet the wolves of judgment, sin, and death, and he did so with all authority. One might wonder, what good has it ever done anyone to die for some cause? This is the glorious beauty of the gospel. Jesus didn't die as a martyr for a cause. He was never in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was never at the mercy of anyone. He lived, died, and was buried because he meant to be. No one took his life from him. He laid it down. For who? For his flock, for his people. And he laid it down only to take it up again. The point of the cross was not to die, but to die and rise again, defeating the prowling wolves of sin and death themselves. He said, I have authority to lay my life down, and I have authority to take it up again. And this is just what he did. Easter says of Jesus, he meant it. He meant to lay down his life for you. And as sure as he is taking it up again, he knows you if you are a believer. This holy week, I pray you are once again reminded of the victory you have as a Christian in Jesus Christ. That he was the king, he is the king, and he's coming back one day to rule and reign forevermore. Until that day, we proclaim his gospel and we call on all men to bow their knee and confess him as Lord. I hope this Easter series has helped and will continue this week to stir your heart and stay focused on Christ. Easter is all about him. Better said, Resurrection Sunday is all about him. For free video teachings, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel or go to forthegospel.org. If you want to learn more about our ministry, take advantage of free resources there. Or if you want to partner with us through a one-time or ongoing gift, you can do that there on our give page as well. Thanks for your support. Thanks for sharing these resources, and we praise God that we've been able to continue to serve you in this way. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.