Thankful Thursday - April 21

It's Thursday - Holy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. As I think about what Jesus did during Holy Week about 2000 years ago, I am in complete awe. He went from being praised and proclaimed king on Palm Sunday to despised by Thursday to being hung on a cross on Friday - to rise from the dead on Easter Sunday. 

Fickle sort, aren't we humans? One day we can be shouting "Hosanna!" and the next "Crucify him!" 

Praise be to God who is NOT fickle. He could have decided that we weren't worth death on a cross. He could have said that we could die an eternal death in hell instead.

He didn't, though.

He willingly died on that cross with the sins of the world upon Him. He could have ditched it all at the last minute. He could have come down from the cross. He could have vanished into thin air to leave everyone mystified.

He stayed there for three hours. When He died, the curtain in the temple was ripped from top to bottom (Mark 15:37-38). This happened right when the lamb was to be sacrificed in the temple. It happened right when the Lamb of God (Jesus) gave up His last breath. 

"It is finished," He had said right before He gave up His life. Have you wondered what that means? 

He gave up His life as the final sacrifice. That lamb in the temple was no longer needed. Jesus was the lamb Who was slaughtered for an all-time sacrifice for sins. 

It doesn't end there, however. Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days later. He had predicted this. Why was everyone surprised?

It's because they didn't think it possible. That boggles my mind but only because I have the Bible - I'm looking backward. The Jews who were right there - I'm talking the disciples and others close to Jesus - didn't have that hindsight. They didn't have a written Bible with tons of prophecies fulfilled - did you know that all but those concerning the very end times (Revelation and some of Daniel, Ezekiel, etc.) have been fulfilled?

Let's praise the Lord together this Easter for His sacrifice - for us. Happy Easter. 

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