A Focus on Easter
From FirstTullahomaWiki
by Jim Johnson
In April 2010, as I was preparing lessons for the Bible course I was teaching at First Baptist, I was looking at the satellite image below of Jerusalem and came to the realization that all we know about the events surrounding "Easter" (except for those events at Emmaus and Bethany), occurred within this square mile in Israel.
I also realized that I had made pictures of most of the locations where either we believe the events occurred, or tradition holds that is where they occurred.
I decided to match up scriptures that describe these events with the pictures I had made on my three journeys to Israel, and create a medium to help us visualize, and perhaps deepen our understanding and appreciation of these "Easter" events.
Hence, I decided to call this experiment....."A Focus on Easter".
Many times in this series, I will use the phrase "traditional site". I use that phrase, because in many locations we cannot exactly pinpoint the spot on the earth where an event occurred. That however, does not negate the certainty that the event did occur as recorded in the scriptures. And, we can know that it did occur somewhere in or near the square mile in Israel.
Note in the image above that the walls for the old city of Jerusalem are in a different location in many places than they were at the time of Jesus. The significance of the location of the walls at the time of Jesus will become important when we get to the message covering the possible location of the crucifixion (which had to be outside of the city wall).
This image is provided to show the general location of the Mount of Olives, and Kieran valley (which lies between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives), and the Hansom Valley*. It is interesting to note that the scriptures never mention that Jesus approached Jerusalem from the west, thus crossing the Hansom Valley.
From Wikipedia- Gehenna (Greek γέεννα), Gehinnom (Rabbinical Hebrew: גהנום, גהנם,) and Yiddish Gehinnam, are terms derived from a place outside ancient Jerusalem known in the Hebrew Bible as the Valley of the Son of Hinnom (Hebrew: גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם or גיא בן-הינום); one of the two principal valleys surrounding the Old City. In the Hebrew Bible, the site was initially where apostate Israelites and followers of various Ba'als and Caananite gods, including Moloch, sacrificed their children by fire (2 Chr. 28:3, 33:6; Jer. 7:31, 19:2-6).
In both Rabbinical Jewish and Early Christian writing, Gehenna was a destination of the wicked. This is different from the more neutral Sheol/Hades, the abode of the dead, though the King James version of the Bible traditionally translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word Hell.
What was happening in Jerusalem in the month of Nisan in AD 30?
Around 1450 years before, God commanded that the Israelites commemorate the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for generations to come.
While the Israelites had not always been faithful in this commandment, at this time they were following God's command and were gathering in Jerusalem for that purpose.
Exodus 12 KJV
The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
Note: I spoke with my Jewish friend who confirmed that the Jews still celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It seems that his Synagogue congregation (Reformed) refers to the observance (which includes the Seder Meal and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread) as "Passover".
The scriptures record that six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany. Bethany is located on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives and is about five miles east of Jerusalem.
John 12 KJV
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.
9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
Mark 11 KJV
Jesus Prepares to Enter Jerusalem as King
1 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,
2 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.
3 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.
4 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.
5 And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?
6 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.
7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.
8 And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.
Note: Not all Bible students agree on the exact timeline of the events surrounding the last days of Jesus before the crucifixion and resurrection. Since I believe that the Passover foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, I believe that Jesus very likely made his entry into Jerusalem on the same day (and it could have been at the same time of day) as the Passover lamb was being selected (on the 10th of Nisan).
We cannot be certain which gate Jesus used to enter the Temple in Jerusalem. The possibilities include the Eastern Gate and the Sheep Gate, both facing the Mount of Olives.
Some Bible scholars believe that Ezekiel prophesied that when Jesus returns at the end times, He will enter the Temple through the Eastern Gate. Perhaps- foreshadowing this future event, Jesus entered through this gate.
However, I personally think that in keeping with the events unfolding at that time, Jesus may have chosen the Sheep Gate. The Sheep Gate was on the north end of the Temple Mount and was near the place where the lambs were kept before they were purified in one of the pools at Bethesda before they were sacrificed on the Temple Mount.
As Jesus descended the Mount of Olives and before He entered the city, He wept over it.
The circle indicates the location of a small church built on the traditional site where Jesus wept.
Luke 19 KJV
Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem
41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
A Focus on Easter: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
