This was the battle of the ages for the souls of men.
Has the darkness of evil won?
Drops of blood splatter the narrow cobblestone pavement in Jerusalem that leads to Golgotha, known as the place of the Skull, on Mt. Calvary.
Yeshua’s flesh was torn to the bone from the scourging and His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man. His form was marred beyond human likeness. Brutalities, both physical and mental, were beyond comprehension for they had refused the One who came to save them. The crown of thorns pierced His brow only to mock and ridicule His answer to Pilot, “My Kingship does not belong to this world’s order of things.”
19 Pilate also had a notice written and posted on the stake; it read, YESHUA FROM NATZERET THE KING OF THE JEWS
20 Many of the Judeans read this notice, because the place where Yeshua was put on the stake was close to the city; and it had been written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
21 The Judeans' head cohanim therefore said to Pilate, "Don't write, `The King of the Jews,' but `He said, "I am King of the Jews."
22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
26 As the Roman soldiers led Yeshua away, they grabbed hold of a man from Cyrene named Shim`on, who was on his way in from the country. They put the execution-stake on his back and made him carry it behind Yeshua.
27 Large numbers of people followed, including women crying and wailing over him.
28 Yeshua turned to them and said, "Daughters of Yerushalayim, don't cry for me; cry for yourselves and your children!
29 For the time is coming when people will say, `The childless women are the lucky ones -- those whose wombs have never borne a child, whose breasts have never nursed a baby!
30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, `Fall on us!' and to the hills, `Cover us!'
31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what is going to happen when it's dry?" Luke 23
"The Via Dolorosa"
The Via Dolorosa (Latin, "Way of Grief" or "Way of Suffering") is a street, in two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, held to be the path that Jesus walked, carrying His cross, on the way to His crucifixion.
Mark 15:25 It was nine in the morning when they nailed him to the stake. {Other translations of scripture say the third hour both are the same time.}
32 Two other men, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.
33 When they came to the place called The Skull, they nailed Yeshua to a stake; and they nailed the criminals to stakes, one on the right and one on the left.
34 Yeshua said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not understand what they are doing." Luke 23
"Amazing Love"
Lyrics by Chris Tomlin
Performed by Candi Pearson
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at Him. "He saved others," they said, "so if He really is the Messiah, the one chosen by God, let Him save himself!"
36 The soldiers too ridiculed Him; they came up, offered Him vinegar
37 and said, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"
38 And there was a notice over Him which read, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS
39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at Him. "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"
40 But the other one spoke up and rebuked the first, saying, "Have you no fear of God? You're getting the same punishment as He is.
41 Ours is only fair; we're getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man did nothing wrong."
42 Then he said, "Yeshua, remember me when you come as King."
43 Yeshua said to him, "Yes! I promise that you will be with me today in Gan-`Eden." (paradise). Luke 23
23 When the soldiers had nailed Yeshua to the stake, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier, with the under-robe left over. Now the under-robe was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom;
24 so they said to one another, "We shouldn't tear it in pieces; let's draw for it." This happened in order to fulfill the words from the Tanakh, "They divided my clothes among themselves and gambled for my robe." This is why the soldiers did these things.
25 Nearby Yeshua's execution stake stood his mother, his mother's sister Miryam the wife of K'lofah, and Miryam from Magdala.
26 When Yeshua saw his mother and the talmid whom He loved standing there, he said to his mother, "Mother, this is your son."
27 Then he said to the talmid, "This is your mother." And from that time on, the talmid took her into his own home. John 19
45 From noon until three o'clock in the afternoon, all the Land was covered with darkness (for the sun had stopped shining).
46 At about three, Yeshua uttered a loud cry, "Eli! Eli! L'mah sh'vaktani? (My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?)"
47 On hearing this, some of the bystanders said, "He's calling for Eliyahu."
48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, soaked it in vinegar, put it on a stick and gave it to him to drink.
49 The rest said, "Wait! Let's see if Eliyahu comes and rescues him."
50 When Yeshua had received the drink, He called out in a loud voice, “Father, It is finished! Into your hands I commit My spirit.” And, letting His head droop, He delivered up His spirit.
It is Finished
Written and performed by The Gaither Vocal Band
51 At that moment the parokhet (veil) in the Temple was ripped in two from top to bottom; and there was an earthquake, with rocks splitting apart.
52 Also the graves were opened, and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
54 When the Roman officer and those with him who were keeping watch over Yeshua saw the earthquake and what was happening, they were terrified and exclaimed, "Surely He was the Son of God."
55 There were many women there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Yeshua from the Galil, helping Him.
56 Among them were Miryam from Magdala, Miryam the mother of Ya`akov and Yosef, and the mother of Zavdai's sons. Matthew 27
31 It was Preparation Day, and the Judeans did not want the bodies to remain on the stake on Shabbat, since it was an especially important Shabbat. So they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.
32 The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been put on a stake beside Yeshua, then the legs of the other one;
33 but when they got to Yeshua and saw that he was already dead, they didn't break his legs.
34 However, one of the soldiers stabbed his side with a spear, and at once blood and water flowed out.
35 The man who saw it has testified about it, and his testimony is true. And he knows that he tells the truth, so you too can trust.
36 For these things happened in order to fulfill this passage of the Tanakh: "Not one of his bones will be broken."
37 And again, another passage says, "They will look at him whom they have pierced."
38 After this, Yosef of Ramatayim, who was a talmid of Yeshua, but a secret one out of fear of the Judeans, asked Pilate if he could have Yeshua's body. Pilate gave his consent, so Yosef came and took the body away.
39 Also Nakdimon, who at first had gone to see Yeshua by night, came with some seventy pounds of spices -- a mixture of myrrh and aloes.
40 They took Yeshua's body and wrapped it up in linen sheets with the spices, in keeping with Judean burial practice.
41 In the vicinity of where he had been executed was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been buried. 42 So, because it was Preparation Day for the Judeans, and because the tomb was close by, that is where they buried Yeshua. John 19
The day is spent. Yeshua’s body is laid to rest. The stone has been secured over the entrance of the borrowed tomb. The sun sets - darkness again reigns.
62 Next day, after the preparation, the head cohanim and the P'rushim went together to Pilate
63 and said, "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was still alive, `After three days I will be raised.'
64 Therefore, order that the grave be made secure till the third day; otherwise the talmidim may come, steal him away and say to the people, `He was raised from the dead'; and the last deception will be worse than the first."
65 Pilate said to them, "You may have your guard. Go and make the grave as secure as you know how."
66 So they went and made the grave secure by sealing the stone and putting the guard on watch. Matthew 27
"How Beautiful"
performed by Twila Paris
These last hours were filled with the deepest depth of sorrow and injustice beyond belief! Innocence and truth and love and forgiveness were crucified.
Blood flows. Oh, the blood, the precious blood of the Lamb, God’s Lamb. There is power in His blood: the power to overcome sin and save us from death and Hell and the power of love that purifies and redeems. The Lamb is without spot or blemish. The Lamb that laid down His life, once-for-all, for whosoever chooses, may be washed and justified from sin by faith believing.
The foreshadowing of the Lamb was revealed in Egypt by the placing of the blood of a lamb on the doorpost of the home so that death would pass over.
Blood is life. The blood of Yeshua has the power of life over death and brings eternal life into the hearts of those who receive Him. The veil separating the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom by God, giving man direct access to Him through the Great High Priest, Yeshua our intercessor, having accomplished His mission given by His Father God, fulfilling the law and establishing the new blood Covenant.
No one could see behind the Temple veil except the high priest. Today, the veil of spiritual blindness stands between one’s seeing and believing God’s complete truth. The crimson cord became crimson by the blood of God’s sacrificial Lamb.
Worthy is the Lamb!! In Yeshua we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1:7b
Written In Red
Performed by the International Staff Songsters of the Salvation Army
Music by Gordon Jensen @ World Music
11 But when the Messiah appeared as cohen gadol of the good things that are happening already, then, through the greater and more perfect Tent which is not man-made (that is, it is not of this created world),
12 he entered the Holiest Place once and for all. And he entered not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus setting people free forever.
15 It is because of this death that He is mediator of a new Covenant, because a death has occurred which sets people free from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9
24 Yeshua the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks better things than that of Hevel. Hebrews 12
For there is one God, and there is but one Mediator between God and man, the man Yeshua the Messiah; 1 Timothy 2:5
This is why Yeshua had to become like his brothers in every respect – so that he might become a merciful and faithful cohen gadol in the service of God, making a kapparah for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17
14 Therefore, since we have a great cohen gadol who has passed through to the highest heaven, Yeshua, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we acknowledge as true.
15 For we do not have a cohen gadol unable to empathize
with our weaknesses; since in every respect he was tempted just as we are, the only difference being that he did not sin. Hebrews 4
13 But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood.
14 For he himself is our shalom - he has made us both one and has broken down the m'chitzah which divided us
15 by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom,
16 and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.
17 Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby,
18 news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2
11 Now every cohen stands every day doing his service, offering over and over the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But this one, after he had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God,
19 So, brothers, we have confidence to use the way into the Holiest Place opened by the blood of Yeshua.
20 He inaugurated it for us as a new and living way through the parokhet (veil), by means of his flesh.
21 We also have a great cohen over God's household. Hebrews 10
1 Here is the whole point of what we have been saying: we do have just such a cohen gadol as has been described. And he does sit at the right hand of HaG'dulah in heaven.
2 There he serves in the Holy Place, that is, in the true Tent of Meeting, the one erected not by human beings but by ADONAI.
6 Yeshua obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better Covenant. For this covenant has been given as Torah on the basis of better promises. Hebrews 8
The road to Calvary began with God’s Son, born to the Virgin Mary in a stable and laid in a feeding trough, for there was no room the Inn. The road to Calvary ended on Golgotha’s Hill with God’s Son, the Lamb of God, laying down His life, taking upon Himself the sins of mankind, to provide eternal life to any one who chooses His way. The price has been paid! Provision has been made! Our pardon for sin, PAID-IN-FULL, has been accomplished! Yeshua did all of this for us, now it is your turn to receive this gift, the greatest love gift ever given to man.
Was this price paid for nothing? May God’s Holy Spirit reveal within your heart and soul the truth of this life-changing event. May each of you be willing to experience this indescribable love and forgiveness, offered to man by Yeshua the Christ, God’s only begotten Son: born to die that those who choose may have eternal life. How can anyone reject so great a salvation?
Yeshua said, “After three days I will be raised!”
"Next day, after the preparation, the head cohanim and the P'rushim went together to Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was still alive, `After three days I will be raised.' Therefore, order that the grave be made secure till the third day; otherwise the talmidim may come, steal him away and say to the people, `He was raised from the dead'; and the last deception will be worse than the first." Pilate said to them, "You may have your guard. Go and make the grave as secure as you know how." So they went and made the grave secure by sealing the stone and putting the guard on watch.
Can man keep Yeshua from being resurrected? Can Satan?
Rise Again
Words and music by Dallas Holm
Performed by Dallas Holm
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