Holy Week: A torn veil, an earthquake, a bunch of opened graves, & a sealed tomb
Let’s look at where we are in this incredible week.
In my previous Holy Week blog posts Jesus was joyously welcomed into Jerusalem; He shook things up at the Temple; He blessed children and healed afflicted; He taught about love; we saw the last supper, anguish in Gethsemane, and arrest; we witnessed His crucifixion and burial.
There are more Friday happenings I want to mention before moving to Saturday.
Before Jesus spoke His last words, “It is finished,” he said something else. He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Those are troubling words coming from the Son of God. That’s because He was troubled—even anguished beyond, what we can comprehend. In those three hours Jesus bore the guilt of all the sins of all mankind.
Notice Jesus cried out to God and not to Father. In all other instances, Jesus refers to God as Father.
But in this instance the Sovereign Holy God passed judgment on sin—all sin—all manner of sin. God was not judging His Son because His Son was guiltless. God was judging your sin and my sin, and the verdict was guilty. Instead of you and me paying our sin debt, Jesus took it all on Himself. Jesus took the punishment that we deserved, and He did it willingly.
We can never thank Him enough. He paid a debt which none of us could ever pay for ourselves. Thank You, Father God and thank You, Jesus!
Let’s look briefly at a few things that happened at the moment of Jesus’ death.
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The veil in the Temple was torn from top to
bottom. (Matthew 27:51) No human or equipment of that day could have done this.
The veil partitioned off the Holy of Holies where only the high priest could
go. Jesus is our High Priest and has opened the way for us to go directly to
God. He is our Mediator. (1 Timothy 2:5)
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The earth quaked and the rocks were split.
(Matthew 27:51)
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“and the graves were opened; and many bodies
of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves
after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many”
(Matthew 27:52-53).
Isn’t that just totally wild?! This is one of those wonderful Bible tidbits that very few people even know. I have mentioned it in groups, and people respond, “Say what?”! Where does it say that?” Go see for yourself.
Then when Saturday came the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise.”
They asked Pilate to seal the tomb and set a Roman guard for fear that Jesus’ followers would try to steal His body and pretend He had risen. Pilate did as they requested, and Jesus’ grave was secured. (Matthew 27:63-66)
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At the beginning of this week I encouraged you to read, in your Bible, about the last days of Jesus’ life. A lot happened in those few days. Begin your reading at these points: Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19:28, and John 12:12. Go ahead and read through to the end of each of the Gospels between now and Easter Sunday. Be blessed with me as we learn Jesus.
Each day this week, I’m posting a few highlights from those amazing days in history. Also, I’m using some of the pictures and quotes from my book titled, The Lord has Need of YOU.* The illustrations are watercolor paintings by artist, Lesley James.
Thank you for traveling with me through these extraordinary days. God bless you.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version.
*The Lord Has Need of YOU, by Connie Wohlford. Copyright Connie Wohlford, 2019, Hoot Books Publishing.
*The Lord Has Need of YOU can be purchased directly from me via email author@conniewohlford.com or through Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1687536104/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
©Copyright 2020 Connie Wohlford
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