From the Upper Room to the Empty Tomb

The title of our sermon might be a familiar one as we take a look at this journey to Christ's crucifixion, and we do so every year in our preparation for the upcoming Passover. The title today is From the Upper Room to the Empty Tomb. From the Upper Room to the Empty Tomb. And what we're going to endeavor to do today in our preparation for Passover is to take a look at the specific events that transpired in that week, the original week, the New Covenant Passover narrative and the events leading up to Christ's crucifixion.

If you look at the Gospel writers, you will see that they give a tremendous amount of space and put forth a tremendous amount of ink toward these events leading up to Christ's crucifixion. And in a way, every one of the Gospel writers in the narratives kind of slow down when they get to these events in really detail.

The pre-crucifixion events and the events that would ultimately lead to Christ's death and burial and resurrection. And this is the events that we're going to find ourselves endeavoring to study today as they are the pivotal events in all of human history. Why study these pre-crucifixion events? Well, we could say a couple of reasons.

It is the most important week, the most important week of the most important man who's ever lived, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And it is, in fact, the case that his crucifixion, his burial, and his resurrection are the historical events that would lead to the very saving and salvation of mankind. Where every year we rehearse and we study and remind ourselves of these events, where on a hillside, outside of the walls of Jerusalem, the Son of God ultimately would put away, put to death, death.

Where he would take on the penalty of death that we have earned in the sacrifice of himself. So this is Christ's journey up to his sacrifice and ultimately his resurrection. This is what we're going to endeavor to look at today, all the way from the upper room to the empty tomb.

So let's begin. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to John chapter 18. John chapter 18 in verse 1. This is where we're going to begin. John 18 in verse 1. Now as you turn there, let me set the stage for us a little bit. I would like you to now, in your mind's eye, or perhaps even in your notes, begin with the calendar.

Have a calendar in your mind and we're going to begin with that crucifixion week and we're going to be coming into that week on a Tuesday evening. Okay, so picture that in your mind's eye. Here in John 18 we're going to be breaking into the narrative where we find ourselves at Tuesday evening of that Passover week, where the very next day, Wednesday, just before sundown, Jesus Christ would be buried. We'll get to that in just a moment. But here in John 18 we find ourselves coming into the narrative of that week in a very dark place.

The devil, having already put into the heart of Judas to betray the Son of God for 30 pieces of silver, he has now exited that upper room. He did have Jesus Christ wash his feet, but he has now exited prior to the taking of those the bread and wine symbols that Jesus instituted in that New Covenant Passover.

Jesus in chapter 17 has already prayed for himself, his disciples, and ultimately the world. And at the conclusion of that prayer, they're now leaving—Jesus and the disciples are leaving—the upper room. John 18 verse 1, John records, when Jesus had spoken these words, the prayer, he went out with his disciples over the Brook Kedron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Let's stop there for a moment. So the Brook Kedron, it ran parallel to the walls of Jerusalem. This is the moment Jesus and the disciples are now leaving the upper room.

They're making their way over to the garden, heading to the garden Gethsemane. And I'll remind you that this was at the Passover season. At this point, there would have been some estimate, some 300 to 400,000 sojourners making their way to the temple for the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread. Some estimates, therefore, record that there were as many as a quarter million lambs slain in a typical Passover season. That's 250,000 lambs mixed with the water and the the cleansings. Why is that important?

Well, if you picture yourself there with Christ and the disciples leaving that upper room, what you would find is that their journey would now lead over this Kedron Valley area and carry down to the Kedron Valley outside the temple walls. There would be this brook, the Kedron Brook. Kedron means Black Brook or Gloomy Brook. All of that blood from the sacrificial lambs would have been drained down this channel. So, it was likely that that night Jesus and his disciples now crossed over that stream. The walls of that brook would have been crimson in color from the blood red staining. So, you can imagine, you know, Jesus is now moving to partake of that bitter cup of his sacrifice. This would just be a reminder of that cup he was about to drink. So then, coming to the garden, the garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means oil press. This would have been a garden that would have been arrayed with many olive trees there. We continue here in verse 2 and 3.

Judas, John records here, John 18 verse 2 and 3, and Judas, who betrayed Christ, also knew of this place, this garden, where Jesus often met there with his disciples. Then, Judas, having received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, Judas, with this group, came there to the garden with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Let's stop there. It's quite striking to hear that Judas knew of this place. This garden would have been a place of joy, wonderful memories where no doubt Jesus and his disciples had gone to, perhaps at the end of the day, to talk about the day's events, the difficulties, the wonderful blessings of each day. They'd been able to laugh and share these memories. It had been a place where Jesus Christ could have ultimately encouraged his disciples to keep going, doing the work of God. So a garden full of gathering and joy now became a place of darkness and betrayal here. It's interesting to note, verse 3, where it mentions troops there. Who are these troops? Well, they're not with the high priest. This would have been Roman guards. So the high priest is now working with the Roman authorities, this unholy union between a religious entity of the day and the governmental entity of the day. Now, this might project your thoughts forward to the book of Revelation, where in the end, we're going to have this same pattern. When Jesus Christ returns, he's going to be faced with this unholy union between the beast, this governmental entity, and the false prophet leading a religious group, so-called religious group, and they're going to turn to fight, seeking to kill Jesus Christ again, and ultimately those who follow Jesus Christ. So here we have a kind of a precursor, a prophetic precursor to the events that are still future to us here. Now, they came with lanterns, torches, and you'll notice weapons? Weapons? You know, I don't know if they thought Jesus was going to resist. Perhaps they thought he might be armed himself, but there's no resistance here. In fact, verse 4, in contrast to resistance, verse 4, he went forward, it says, he went forward and said to them, whom are you seeking?

There's no shrinking at this point. Verse 5 through 8, they answered and said, Jesus of Nazareth, and Jesus said to them, with no hesitation, I am he. And verse 5, Judas, who betrayed him, also stood with them. You know, that would have been quite a scene. Was Judas making eye contact with his friends? He now, once he stood with his friends, now he stands with the enemy.

Or perhaps, could he not even make eye contact with them? He was looking down at the ground, perhaps. He now stood with them. That's quite a phrase. You know, I want you to be applying all this to us today. Who do you stand with today, and who will you stand with today? In the future, when the pressure comes? Which side are you going to be standing on? You know, I think for God's people, it's going to be a crossroads. We're going to have to choose. There's going to be no middle ground. We're either choosing to be with Christ or against him. Now, verse 6. Verse 6, when he said this to them, I am he, this group drew back and fell to the ground.

Then he asked them again, whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 8, Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. Therefore, if you seek me, let these go their way. No doubt referring to his disciples there. Christ is so loving, so always caring for his own there.

Now, we've mentioned this before. It will do us well to mention again. Anytime you see italics in the scriptures, it is not part of the original. So you see it says, I am he. The he is in italics.

It's an important call out here because it should have been translated, verse 5, 6, and 8, as simply as I am. So verse 8 should have read, I told you that I am. And they all are blown back, you know, perhaps fainting some of them. This was a statement. In this statement of I am, he is putting forth the fact that he is the pre-existing one. He is the God of their fathers.

He is the God of the Old Testament. Now, we have a lot of scriptures to maneuver through today. So for your notes, for your notes, I'll have you reference Exodus 3, verse 13 through 14. Exodus 3, verse 13 through 14. Very familiar passage of scripture. There Moses was being an instrument that God would use to have the free the Israelites from Egypt. And Moses, in this proposal by God, says, well, who should I say sent me? And there in Exodus 3, the answer from the burning bush, no doubt the word, the one who had become Jesus Christ, says, I am who I am. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent you has sent me to you.

So that's why we understand here in the garden, all those soldiers just drew back and fell back when he proclaimed these words, powerful words. And they would, the initial charge was blasphemy. You know, that was the initial charge for Jesus Christ because he claimed, and rightfully so, that he was the Son of God. Continuing here in John 18, look at verse 10 and 11. Let's go down to verse 10 and 11. A quick reference to one of my favorites, Simon Peter. Having a sword, verse 10, drew it back, struck the high priest's servant, cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, you know, Jesus has turned to Peter. Perhaps Jesus was a little startled by this, I don't know, or surprised. And he says to Peter, put your sword into the sheath.

Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me? Let's stop there.

You know, Peter was standing up for Jesus Christ. We've said this before. I don't know if he was going for his ear, probably going for his head. The other gospel writers state that Jesus, John doesn't, but that Jesus picks up the ear and heals it on his head. It might have been a little bit more difficult for Jesus to pick up the head. It wouldn't be more difficult for Jesus, of course, but that would have been more of a stark miracle to reattach the head versus the ear. But we just had the ear. Malchus was very quick, had very quick instincts, no doubt. Was able to turn enough, so just his ear was caught. You know, you would think that even healing of the ear, though, and perhaps there might have been some that backed up into the crowd and didn't want to have any part of this. It would have been quite remarkable to even just see that miracle right before their eyes there. But, you know, blinded by hatred, being influenced by the spirit of Satan the devil, they continue with the arrest and maybe even with more fervor than before. So continuing on, so you have from verse 12 on in the narrative. We won't go through this part, but they initially take Jesus there in the garden. They bind him, and they first take him to the ex-high priest Anas, A-N-N-A-S, verse 24. Verse 24, then from Anas, they sent him bound to Caiaphas, who was the high priest, you know, the current high priest at that time, Caiaphas the high priest. Anas was the father-in-law to Caiaphas. It doesn't say why they take him to Anas first, but now he is bound and taken to the high priest. Caiaphas, he's bound. No court room analysis, no proceedings in that way. This is a mockery of the system, no justice here, you know, absolute farce of any kind of legitimate legal system process here, and no doubt illegal. So he is transferred from Anas to Caiaphas. Now let's think about our calendar here. We are still during that calendar week, the crucifixion week, in what we would call the early morning hours of Wednesday. Okay. By the way, any search on Google will authenticate that this was the days in which we're now at. So this would be the early morning hours of Wednesday. Again, in the upper room, foot washing, establishing of the new covenant Passover symbols of the bread and wine. Tuesday evening, Jesus is there in the garden. He had stayed up all throughout the night praying there in the garden. They come to arrest him there. So again, we're in the early hours of Wednesday morning before sunrise. If you wanted to attach a time to this, it probably would have been around 4 a.m., 5 a.m., Wednesday morning. He's now before Caiaphas with the high priest Caiaphas. That would have been the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the governing council they were the appointed elders which legislated the matters of the nation of Israel.

They take Jesus to Caiaphas's home, not the Sanhedrin court. So this is also another indication of the mockery of justice here. They don't even take him to the Sanhedrin court. They take him to Caiaphas's home. How do we know that? Well, let's turn over to Matthew 26 and verse 57. Matthew 26 verse 57 and 58. I want to have you turn from time to time amongst the different Gospels just to punctuate the fact that we do have harmony in the Gospels.

How do we know that Jesus was transferred to the high priest Caiaphas's home and not the actual Sanhedrin court? Matthew gives us enlightenment on this. Matthew 26 verse 57 and 58.

And those who had laid hold of Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. So they were there already. But Peter followed Jesus at a distance to the high priest's courtyard, and he went in and set with the servants to see the end. Let's stop there. So notice high priest's courtyard. There was no courtyard in the actual Sanhedrin court. So this indicates that it was Caiaphas's home, the courtyard of Caiaphas's home here. Again, you have these elders rushed to the home as well. We're in the middle of the night in the dark, the cover of darkness, gathering everybody together for a rush to judgment and conviction. Dastorly deeds are done most often in the cover of night. That's what's occurring here.

Now, Peter is one of my favorites because he follows. It seems to indicate he's the only disciple that from the arrest at the garden had followed the group. All the other disciples, no doubt, had dispersed or stayed behind there in the garden. So Matthew records that Peter was there and makes himself very vulnerable because they actually call out and identify Peter as being with Jesus, picking up at verse 73. So Matthew 26 verse 73. Peter is there, and Matthew records, a little later, those who stood by came up and said to Peter, surely you also are one of them, or your speech betrays you.

So a girl comes up to Peter and begins a dialogue. They hear his accent, no doubt, and he didn't speak like a native from Jerusalem. So you must be with one of them.

Cover your ears because verse 74 covers your children's ears because then Peter began to curse and to swear.

Who knows what those words were, what cursing and swearing was back at that time. I haven't done a study on that. But ultimately, Peter says, I do not know that man.

And then immediately a rooster crowed. Verse 75, and Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. So he, Peter, went out from that area and wept bitterly. I know we've experienced that. We, in our daily lives, deny Jesus more than three times, often. Either it is through our disobedience to his word and in his Father's word. We can feel that anytime you deny Christ through missing the mark, through sin.

Very often you will find right after this sinful activity, you will have that remorse. Like for the child of God, the son or daughter of God, immediately that remorse comes and you weep bitterly, if not physically, but in our hearts. It's very often the case. That guilty conscience. And it can be effective. Use that. Ask God to help you remember that feeling, what it feels like to deny Christ and God the Father, so that next time you can not deny him in that way. It's all kinds of daily call-outs to us today in this narrative.

So here we are right at the the beginning of sunrise. You know, roosters crow at the first indication of the sunrise. This rooster crowed ultimately because Christ prophesied it, obviously. So here we are still in the early morning hours of Wednesday, and they now lead Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor whose name was Pontius Pilate.

Pontius Pilate. So if we continue here at the beginning of verse 27, Matthew 27, and look at verse 1 and 2. Beginning in verse 1 here. When the morning came, the rooster has crowed. We're in the very early hours of Wednesday morning, that crucifixion week. When the morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death.

And when they had bound him, they led him away, delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.

So first Anas, then Caiaphas, now Pontius Pilate.

Now, beginning in verse 3, we have kind of a break in the narrative. This might be a flashing of the scene if we are watching this play. They would darken that part of the stage and enlighten another part of the stage, where we have Judas now coming back into the narrative again. And that's from verse 3 through 10. So here's a scene that's occurring simultaneously. So picking up back up with Judas here, verse 3, then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he, Jesus, had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, this is Judas, no doubt. He says, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.

And they said, this is the chief priests and elders, incredibly, they say, what is that to us? So Judas had just said, I've sinned, I've betrayed innocent blood. And the religious authority of that time says, what is that to us? You see to it, then he, Judas, threw the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and Judas went and hanged himself. Verse 6, but the chief priests gathered, took the silver pieces, and said, it is not lawful to put these silver pieces into the treasury because they are the price of blood, and they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day, then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, and they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, and they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me. This was a prophecy of Jeremiah now being fulfilled. Wonderful punctuation of God's sovereignty. God is in control, working all things to their appointed end.

You know, and I think about Judas here, remorseful, acknowledged that what he sinned and he betrayed innocent blood there, and returns, does his part, everything he can do at that point to return the thirty pieces. You know, he wasn't able to go into the temple area, so he just, I'm sure the door was open, he cast them in there. They didn't want it, but he cast that in there, so didn't even want any part of that through the pieces of silver in the temple there, and he departed and hung himself.

So here we see incredible remorse being expressed from Judas of all people, and I'll say this is encouraging. To me, it's encouraging. Remorse is the beginning of repentance, isn't it? Remorse is the beginning of repentance, and he's verbally expressed his repentance, a confession, if you will, that he did betray Jesus, and he was innocent. Jesus was innocent, so this is a confession here.

Encouraging, perhaps, could we consider, could we consider the possibility that even Judas would have the opportunity to have grace apply to his life, would the opportunity be raised in a second resurrection? We don't know. We don't need to know. That's in the secret counsels of God, of course. We can't judge a man's heart. We can't judge a man's relationship with God. But this is encouraging to me. I wish he would have not taken his life.

Perhaps we could see what God might do with it, with his life. If you think of Peter later on, we won't have the time to explore this too much, but Peter had the same remorse. Peter went away and wept bitterly, did not take his life, allowing for the opportunity on the other side of things for Jesus to make Peter and the others breakfast on the seashore, and tell Peter, let's go for a walk and give Peter a three-fold affirmation.

Do you love me, Peter? He says, yes, I do. And then Jesus said, feed my flock, you know, care for my flock, tend my flock. Restoration occurred there on that seaside scene. And, of course, Peter would be the rock in which God would continue to build his church from. Christ the ultimate cornerstone, but Peter, the rock in which would be used mightily by God.

What does this mean to you? What does it mean to me? No matter what your sin is, never give up. And, you know, God's grace is big enough to cover our sins. Christ came and he spilled his blood for us, opened up an opportunity for us to go through this process of repentance. It's a beautiful process, remorse, confession, recommitment to turn from it, asking for God's help to help us turn from it, and ultimately rest in the beautiful grace from God. Don't ever give up. Yes, weep bitterly in our sins, but stand up. Keep going. See what God may do in your life, you know. So, it is a sad ending in Judas's life here. It's sad to see the so-called representatives of a religious entity acting in this way as they move to destroy the very Son of God.

But so many lessons for us to learn. Moving on now, back to Jesus. Moving on from Judas back to the narrative. So, in our screenplay on the stage, the lights dim on the scene of Judas. Now they come up back on, and now we see standing before the governor, Pontius Pilate, is Jesus.

The charge has been changed to treason, treason, insurrection. This could be a crime in which they could put on and on to Jesus and convict him to death. So, Matthew 27 verse 11, Jesus stood before the governor. This is Pilate. And the governor asked him, saying, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus said to him, It is as you say. Italics there is the, it is as. So, are you the king of the Jews?

In other words, are you in opposition to Caesar? This is the charge, insurrection, a traitor. And Jesus says, Well, you say, say what you need to say, Pilate. Say what you need to say. This is all a mockery, what's going on here. You're going to do what you're going to do. And this was such an interesting moment for Pontius Pilate. He had an opportunity to stand up for Jesus, and he was even pricked in the heart here. Continuing verse 12 through 14, verses 12 through 14, and while he, Jesus, was being accused by the high priests and elders, he said nothing. By the way, that's a prophetic word from the Old Testament writers. Verse 13, then Pilate said to him, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But Jesus answered him not one word, so the governor, Pilate, marveled greatly here. Again, Pilate knew, knew that he knew that Jesus was not worthy of death. Verse 15 through 16, Now at the feast, this is the the spring holy days, the feast of unleavened bread, the Passover feast of unleavened bread, now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished, and at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Brabas. That just brought to mind the the turkey that they pardoned every year. I don't know what the connection is there where that custom came from. I'll leave that up to the to all of you.

Ah, but here is Brabas, you know, already convicted killer, condemned to death. It was just a matter of time for Brabas. Verse 17 to 18, so in the back of Pontius's mind he knew about this custom of being able to release one of these individuals during this time. So I think Pontius thought, so this will silence my guilty conscience because I know Jesus is not worthy of death, so I'm going to use this custom to release Jesus to be free. So he's a little bit of a cow word, but using this custom. Verse 17 and 18, Therefore when they gather together Pilate said to the group, this bloodthirsty group, whom do you want me to release to you? Brabas, or Jesus, who is called Christ. For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy. All right, so Pilate saw all the way through this. Pilate is cowardly using this custom with the hope to, again, silence his conscience. Let's let Jesus go free. That'll silence my conscience. But we know the story to his surprise. They called for Christ's crucifixion, and they called to release to freedom Brabas. Going down to verse 26, then he thought they would pick Christ to be released, but then he released Brabas to them, and when they had scourged Jesus, he delivered him Jesus to be crucified. So if you read the narrative, they called for Jesus Christ's crucifixion there. It's quite a narrative to read Pontius Pilate and all that he went through. I'll commend you for your own studies, you know, to put yourself in the place of Pontius Pilate where we have these crossroads where we know what it is to do the right thing. Pontius Pilate could have stood up and said, no, we're not crucifying this innocent man. You're going to have Brabas, who's a convicted killer, a murderer, but he didn't. He didn't stand up to the pressure. Will you and I stand up to the pressure? There's going to be a crossroads. Those crossroads may be happening now. I speak to some of you, and you're at a crossroads with your observance of the Sabbath, and you're having to make those decisions today. Am I going to do what's right or relent to the pressure? What crossroads are you at today? God wants you to make the right choice, which may be the difficult choice, but he'll be there to lift you up. Pontius didn't make the correct choice. Will we? Will we?

So, verse 26 again, Pontius delivers Jesus to be crucified. This is the point where Pontius Pilate says, here he is. Here he is. This is the moment in which we'll then bring Jesus Christ to that being hung on the stake in the beginning of the crucifixion events.

Now, for this moment in which Pontius is giving Jesus over to be crucified, we want to pick up in the narrative with John's recordings at this moment. So, let's turn over to John 19. John 19. We're going to pick up this moment. Pontius Pilate is handing Christ over to be crucified. Now, it's at this point where there's much confusion and doctrinal confusion out there, so we're going to really slow down in this narrative. I want to help ourselves really get a grasp of where we are in the timeline, so we're going to return to the calendar here in just a moment. John 19. We're going to pick up in verse 14. So, here's John's gospel narrative at this moment. Jesus is being handed over by Pontius. John 19 verse 14. John records, it was the preparation day of the Passover in about the sixth hour, and he, Pontius, said to the Jews, Behold your king. Behold your king. I'm handing him over.

Now, often in the gospel writings you will have them refer to the spring holy days as the Passover, but it also includes the days of Unleavened Bread.

Kind of like what we would say, oh, we're going off to the feast. Might be referring to the feast of Tabernacles, but we also mean the eighth day as well. But we might just say, are we going off to the feast? You know, kind of group those days all together in our vernacular. So, this is the preparation day of the Passover, also meaning the days of Unleavened Bread here. And John records it's the sixth hour. So, bear in mind, we haven't left Wednesday morning of crucifixion week, right? Again, Tuesday evening, Jesus institutes the bread and wine symbols. They come in to rest him. They rush him to Caiaphas's home. The elders are there.

Peter follows behind. The crow crows. Crows do what they do. They crow. So, we're still at the early morning hours of Wednesday morning, preparation day, before the Sabbath.

Now, we know that a Sabbath can either be the weekly Sabbath or the high Sabbath, the holy days.

You know, if you read Leviticus 23 and any reference to the holy days, you will see that they're referred to as the Sabbath days. It can be a weekly Sabbath or a high Sabbath, they're referred to. So, this is preparation day Wednesday before the first day of Unleavened Bread, which is going to be on Thursday, all right? This is not a Friday preparation day for the weekly Sabbath, right? I'll repeat that. John's referring to here, preparation day, Wednesday, before the high Sabbath, which is the first day of Unleavened Bread, which is the following day, which would be on a Thursday of crucifixion week. Again, this is not a Friday preparation before the Saturday weekly Sabbath, all right? And this is where well-meaning, perhaps, sincere mainstream religious churches get off base because they've lost the meaning and value and necessity of the Holy Days. Because they've lost that, when they read Sabbath, they immediately think, oh, this is Friday before the weekly Sabbath. But if they honored and observed the feast days, the holy days, they would know that the reference to Sabbath can be a high Sabbath or weekly Sabbath. So, this is where they get off. So, you see how by denying the holy days, they don't keep the holy days anymore, as listed in Leviticus 23, then it leads to other doctrinal error. They're assuming this is a Friday. So, they try then to get three days and three nights from Friday to Sunday morning, you know, and they then have to break it up. And it's impossible. It's impossible. But if you know the calendar, the crucifixion week, when you know this is Preparation Day before the holy day, the first day of Unleavened Bread, you can get an accurate picture here. So, again, verse 14, here we are Wednesday morning, Preparation Day of the Passover, verse 14, about the sixth hour. And Pilate hands them over to the group here. What is the sixth hour? Glad you asked, because I'm going to give you a little bit of education here. And every year we go through this, and it's an important study, but it really will help you, your clarification, if you really try to get this. Back at this time, there were two types of time reckonings. There was a Roman type of time reckoning. The Romans used, and then there was a Jewish type of time reckoning, as far as how they refer to the hours of the day. All right?

Both time reckonings break up a 24-hour day into two 12-hour segments. Okay? The Roman time reckoning is our time reckoning. So we split up our days from midnight to 6 a.m.

No, midnight to noon, excuse me, and then noon to midnight. We go by the Roman time reckoning. Midnight to noon, noon to midnight. 24-hour cycle, we break it up into two 12-hour periods.

That's the Roman time reckoning. That's what we're most familiar with.

Well, the Jewish time reckoning does the same thing, except they split up their day into two 12-hour segments, but they begin their time reckoning from sundown, which would be, let's just say, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., then from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Does that make sense? You know, Jewish time reckoning begins their time at sundown as the beginning of a new day. We can say 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Why is this important? Well, in the gospel accounts, you will have, like John is doing here, referring to hours of the day. John refers to the sixth hour of the day. You will find the other gospel writers also refer to the hours of the day. So it's real important to know this because John uses the Roman time reckoning. When he refers to hours of the day, he's referring to the Roman. He uses the Roman time reckoning, like our time reckoning that we're familiar with. Makes sense. If you do an in-depth study, John wrote to the Hellenistic audience. It would have been most appropriate for him to use that Roman system.

Now, the other gospel writers, the three other gospel writers, they use the Jewish time reckoning. So when you're reading these gospel accounts, you'll know that any time John uses it, like it was the sixth hour, you'll know that he's referring to the Roman time reckoning system. And if Mark, for example, uses references an hour of the day, he's using referencing the Jewish time reckoning. All right. Clear as mud. Good. So here in verse 14, John, using the Roman time reckoning, says, now it was the preparation day of the Passover, about the sixth hour. So using the Roman time reckoning, John would be referencing from midnight, 12 a.m., six hours later, which would be 6 a.m. All right. So this would have been 6 a.m.

Wednesday morning that Pontius Pilate is handing over Jesus, behold your king. Right. And this lines up here. If you look at John's narrative here, allow your eyes to go up to John 18 verse 28. John 18 verse 28. So just before Pontius is handing him over at the sixth hour, 6 a.m., you see that the narrative had them leading Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, that's Pontius Pilate's area, and it was early morning. You see that? So, and then, actually, if you go up one verse from that, verse 27, you have the rooster crowing, right?

The beginning of that, the sunrise was just coming up, and this is when Peter denied Christ.

So this all lines up now where we have Pontius Pilate at the sixth hour. This would have been 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, handing Jesus over. Okay, so again, just to punctuate for your mind in your notes, Matthew, Mark, and Luke use the Jewish system in their references.

If you know that fact, you will see that there's an absolute harmony in the Gospel records.

So we're at 6 a.m., Pontius is handing over Jesus to be crucified, and what we find then is Mark picks up the Gospel account and has Jesus Christ on the stake at 9 a.m. Okay, so he's being handed over. There's this scourging process that occurs, and Mark, in his Gospel account, has Jesus on the stake at 9 a.m. on that Wednesday. Let me show you that. Mark 15 verse 25. You want to turn over there.

Mark 15 verse 25. Again, Mark is using the Jewish time reckoning system. He's going to refer an hour here, refer to an hour. So Mark 15 verse 25.

Mark records. Mark 15 verse 25. Now it was the third hour that they crucified him. So let's stop there. Mark, using the Jewish time reckoning, would be referring, this refers from 6 a.m. So the third hour from 6 a.m. would have been 9 a.m. You know, the Jewish time reckoning from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. They broke their days up into two 12-hour segments. So Mark referencing from the Jewish time reckoning, references to the third hour. So this would have been the third hour from 6 a.m., which would have been 9 a.m., and they crucified him, have him up on the stake there. So this lines up. There's the harmony pilot, hands him over at 6 a.m., and three hours later Jesus is on the stake at 9 a.m. And again, if you're hearing Mark, look at the end of chapter 14. Look at verse 72. Just before Mark references the third hour and they crucified him, we see just before leading up to that, Mark 14 verse 72, Mark referring to the second time the rooster crowed. Peter called to mind what Jesus said to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he thought about it and he wept.

And then we'll look at Mark 15 verse 1. Mark 15 verse 1. Immediately in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate while it was still in the morning. So when you get to chapter 15 verse 25, and Mark is referring to the third hour, you see it, and that's when Christ was crucified, you see it lines up with Pilate handing him over at 6 a.m. the sixth hour as John referenced. And now Mark has him three hours later, the third hour, at 9 a.m. on the stake. They crucified him. So here we are Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. Jesus is crucified. He's up on the stake. John, Mark now, is going to say that darkness came from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. Go down to verse 33 through 34. Versus 33 through 34. Verses 33 through 34. Mark continues his reference on that Wednesday to the hours.

Now, when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "'Alai, alai, lamah sabachthani,' which is translated, "'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" And then going down to verse 37, verse 37, Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. There.

So let's stop there. So this from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. So six hours from 6 a.m. This would have been from noon to 3 p.m. on that Wednesday, the preparation day before the first day of Unleavened Bread. So Mark, referencing the Jewish time reckoning system, said at the third hour that would have been 9 a.m. They crucified him. And then from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, from noon to three, darkness. And then he records right at about the ninth hour, which would have been 3 p.m. on that day, he breathed his last breath. Earthquakes, rocks split into all kinds of things occur there. So Jesus is there, breathed his last breath just some time after the ninth hour, which would have been right around 3 p.m. just after 3 p.m. on that preparation day, which would have been a Wednesday of crucifixion week there. And the narrative continues here. John 19 verse 31. Let's continue there and continue our narrative.

If you'll turn there, we're going to pick up just after Christ breathed his last breath. We're going to see that John picks up the narrative. In John 19 verse 31, they need to get him into the grave before sunset on that Wednesday, before the high Sabbath begins.

John 19 verse 31. John now picks up the narrative again here. John 19 verse 31. Therefore, because it was the preparation day, that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day. Let's stop there for a moment. So you have this indication that this is a high Sabbath. The first day of Unleavened Bread would be beginning at sundown on that Wednesday evening.

There. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs would be broken so that they would die, so that they could get them into the grave before the holy day.

Well, Christ died before that, but here we are late afternoon, after 3 p.m., right? But sometime before sundown, John 19 verse 42. John 19 verse 42. So there they lay Jesus because of the Jewish preparation day, for the tomb was nearby. So again, Jesus has died. He's removed from the stake. He's put into the tomb late Wednesday afternoon before sundown.

And they had to do it before sundown because that would be violating the high Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread. So He's in the tomb late Wednesday, just before sundown. So, for our clarification, let's count now. Let's count three days and three nights, as was the the promise that Christ gave, that He was the Messiah. He would be three days, three nights in the grave. So Wednesday, just before sundown, Thursday, just before sundown, Friday, just before sundown, Saturday, just before sundown. Jesus Christ would be resurrected three days, three nights, just as He was prophesied. Jesus Christ was resurrected on the Sabbath day Saturday, sometime late in the afternoon, on that Sabbath, just before sundown.

So the resurrection occurred on the Great Sabbath day of that crucifixion week.

Why is that important? Well, you can now begin to have your mind compare the false, the error teaching that Christ died on a good Friday. They say they put that label, Good, on it. And they say He was resurrected on a Sunday morning, a Sunday sunrise morning, and they have a Sunday sunrise morning every Easter. And if you go to the commentaries, they say that their belief that Jesus was raised on a Sunday morning, that is their chief reason that erroneously, they say, Jesus Christ then stamped the observance from a Saturday Sabbath, weekly Sabbath, to a Sunday Sabbath. They say, in error, because Jesus Christ was raised on a Sunday morning, that stamped Sunday is the new day of worship. And they use that erroneous logic to take within their own authority to actually change the Sabbath day and change the worship day from Saturday to Sunday. So you see how error is powerful. And once you begin to build doctrines on error, you can see how error just layers upon error. There's all kinds of consequences that come when you don't have truth in your worship and you don't have eyes to understand what is just so plainly before you. Any scholar understands the difference between a high Sabbath and a weekly Sabbath. They understand that that crucifixion week began there in the upper room on a Tuesday evening. They understand it, but they're blinded. And so therefore, we have many men and women sincerely keeping Sunday and every Sunday as their weekly Sabbath observance. But they're sincerely wrong. We pray one day that they'll have eyes to see. But in the meantime, we need to champion these truths and live by them. Live by them.

To begin to conclude our narrative here, John 20 verse 1 now has us with this scene here of an empty tomb. John 20 verse 1. John continues with his narrative. He says, now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark, that's an important phrase, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

And the narrative goes on, the tomb was empty. So we see while it was still dark, the tomb, the stone had been removed, the tomb was empty. Why was it empty? Well, Jesus Christ was resurrected the previous day on the Sabbath just before sundown. Bringing us then here in the narrative from the upper room to the empty tomb. Amazing sequence of events. Thank you for going on that journey with me today. We won't go into it, but the narrative continues and concludes with this event with the ladies waiting for the Sabbath to conclude. That was the weekly Sabbath, Saturday, so that they can go and get the spices. They go out and get the spices. They returned to the tomb while it was still dark there. I don't know what they were thinking. You know, were they expecting a closed tomb? Or did they have something in their hearts that would have pointed them to the fact that Jesus would be raised and that the tomb would be empty?

Nevertheless, they go and get the spices. I'm not sure if they had some indication, because they wouldn't have been able to even reach the body without some acknowledgement that Jesus would be available to them. Then you have this wonderful picture of an angel sitting there on the rolled away stone. It's this wonderful picture, the terrific picture of victory over the grave. I'll conclude with this just a little bit of conjecture.

We don't have this part of the dialogue between the angel and the ladies, but I'd like to think maybe the angel perhaps would have been moved to say, whether he thought it or whether he actually said it. We don't know, but oh, ladies, you don't need those spices. Why do you have all those spices there? No need for spices, lady, the angel could have said, because they can drive those nails in his hands, they can laugh, they can ridicule him, but there is no power on earth to keep your Savior down, because your Savior has made the incredible journey from the upper room to the empty tomb.