Dear Sunday School teaching friends at FBC Richland…forgive the lack of a lesson preview for last Sunday, March 17.  Suffice it to say, I was swamped spiritually and emotionally during the entire month of February. Still recovering. Then, these two lessons from the Gospel According to Doctor Luke on the identity of Jesus and the death of Jesus are linked SO tightly that they almost deserve to be studied together. 

For example, the blood of Jesus was perfect, sinless blood.  Nobody else could ever make that declaration.  Remember, though, it wasn’t just the blood of Jesus that saved us…it was the fact that He willingly SHED that sinless blood for us, pouring it out to the very last drop on our behalf, in our place, to pay for our sins and redeem us. 

Nobody “killed” Jesus.  He GAVE His life on the cross of Calvary on the Hill called Golgotha.  Jesus WAS who He said He was.  His identity is irrefutable.  The Voice on the Mount of Transfiguration declared it. Peter made an admirable stab at it from Caesarea Philippi by stating, “You are the Christ of God (Luke 9:20).

Then, notice that there is a marked turn of events in Luke 9.  From Luke 9 to Luke 19, Jesus “set His face to go to Jerusalem.”  Luke 9:51 records that Jesus was aware that the countdown to Calvary and the resurrection and the ascension was nearing the end…the “Perfect Standard Timer Clock” having been started from before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).

In Jerusalem, Jesus would be “lifted up” (on the cross) to die by crucifixion.  Three days later, Jesus would be “lifted up” (out of the tomb) by the resurrection. Forty days later, Jesus would be “lifted up” (out of their sight) at the ascension.  So, from Luke 9-19, His next set of determined steps would be to head for Jerusalem. 

Luke 19 contains the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the week of His final Passover which He had been taught to celebrate every year of His life.  His “identity” was gospel proclaimer, healer, teacher, disciple maker, truth declarer, Satan defeater and friend.  All that and MORE!

Here is the other example of why these two lessons fit hand in glove.  We can study ALL DAY LONG about the facts surrounding Calvary.  In fact, we NEED to know them.  Each event along that path was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  It is very important that we know and understand all the salvation “dots” of prophecy that were being connected by fulfillment.  BUT, if we simply memorize the facts and miss the message and significance of the cross, we never fully plug into the power bank of God’s mercy and grace and His plan for our salvation. 

In combining all four of the gospels, we find seven “sayings” of Jesus from the cross. Doctor Luke basically shares three.  To His accusers and spike-driving crucifiers, Jesus is the Christ Who forgives (Luke 23:34), “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”  To the repentant thief, Jesus is the Savior of all who trust in Him (Luke 23:43) “Today you shall be with me in Paradise.”  To our Heavenly Father, Jesus was the faithful Son who willingly completed all that His Father sent Him to earth to accomplish (Luke 23:46) “Father, into THY hands I commend (give over, yield) My Spirit.” 

On a clear, full moon-lit Passover Thursday evening, Judas would leave the Upper Room with two clean feet to accomplish the betrayal of the Foot Washer.  His kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane would arrange the arrest of Jesus.  Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers would join in an unholy alliance to insure and assure the death of Jesus. 

Up all night, Jesus would endure the mockery of five fake “trials” and be condemned by conscripted false testimony.  By Friday morning, Jesus would have been tortured and scourged to the point of being basically unrecognizable.  Many “prisoners” never even made it through the scourging alive.  Jesus did.  Calvary was His place to give His life.

By 9AM Friday, Jesus was placed on the center sinners’ cross with spikes driven in His hands and feet.  At noon, the brightest part of the day, the sun was “darkened.”  At 3PM, Jesus turned Himself over to His Father, having finished all that He was born to do.  The Great Exchange, my sin upon the unblemished Son, had been made during a humanly and scientifically unexplainable three-hour period of darkness.  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world had been slain. 

Jesus was buried in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea with the assistance of Nicodemus.  The Passover lambs were being slain.  The High Holy day first observed by Moses and the children of Israel in Egypt would be celebrated from Friday evening to Saturday evening.  

Next week, our choir will present several songs to lift us to the Savior, musically interpreting the significance of His sinless life, His substitutionary death, His victorious resurrection.  One song is entitled, “Friday’s Here…but Sunday’s Comin’” and I cannot wait for my church family to experience the impact of these lyrics. 

For further study:  Genesis 3:15, Exodus 12:46, Psalm 22, Psalm 34:20, Psalm 110, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 53, Zechariah 12:10, Malachi 4:1-2. The four gospels.