True Life Story of Christ, Pt. 4

Ronald Weinland

May 16, 2020

Today we’re going to continue on in the series True Story of Christ with this being Part 4.

We’ve covered events along the longest portion of the journey, if we want to talk about the period of time they started up in Galilee and they began to come down through Samaria toward the south of there. So, this is up by the Sea of Galilee, Galilee to the west, and coming on down through Samaria and then over toward the Jordan, which, obviously, runs from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea. That’s the river that’s in between. And so, you have this area here, they went along the area of the Jordan River, and obviously here because of populations and so forth that were in that particular valley area, farming and so forth, and so they’ve come all the way down now.

We’ve covered that part of the story where Christ was baptized by John the Baptist and then the journey continues on as they leave from the Jordan River area on over toward Jericho, which, obviously, is right there. We know the story of them going into that particular region when they came out of the wilderness after being there for forty years. So, they’re coming toward Jericho or going on toward Jericho, which is on the way to Bethany, which is on the way to Jerusalem. That’s the route they’re following.

We’re just now at that point in time where we’re talking about being around the area of Bethany, coming to the home of Mary and Martha, where Lazarus was, where he was sick and died. Again, this is very close, but this is where they went back and forth from, if you read some of the stories here, some of the things involved as we get to them, about the time when they were going back and forth during that Passover period, when the women went to make the ointments and so forth, the things for burial, the spices and the different kinds of things they were going to bring back to the tomb. They were going back and forth from the region of Bethany, which is only about two miles or three and a quarter kilometers from Jerusalem.

So, we’re going to continue on in the story, pick this up again here in John 11. Again, understanding that everything of Christ’s life is about him being the Passover, and the ministry he had for 3½ years before he was put to death. But everything leading up to the period of Passover and then the Days of Unleavened Bread there, because that’s the period of time where he was resurrected, received by God the Father as the Wave Sheaf offering for all of mankind. And so, this is the period of time we’re moving toward.

So much of Christ’s ministry was just in the last few weeks there of his life, last two to three weeks of his life. The closer we get here to the end the more that’s written about it because there’s a lot more that happened, just like right here, what we’re getting ready to talk about. Then these more momentous events in the sense of the kind of miracles that were taking place and the things that Christ was doing, that fame was going out more and more.

He already had an incredible reputation by this time of people looking to him as being the Messiah. They knew the name. Some had already seen him before. That’s what we find along this journey as they’re going down toward the Jordan River on over toward Jericho and then Bethany.

But picking it up in John 11:11 it says, He said these things, and after that said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps. So when he first heard that…or I should say when they… Yeah, it was Christ and the disciples there, but when they came up, Mary, Martha, they’d sent someone up there to Christ, you know, the story we just went into last week, and they told him that he was very sick. They obviously wanted his help, his intervention. If you remember the story then it says he remained there. He remained behind for another two days right in the area he was in.

So, he knew—and this is what’s an incredible thing—he knew what was going to take place. He knew the purpose of what was going to transpire, what he was to do. Again, that mind of God that was in him, the word of God made flesh that we can’t fully comprehend, nor has it been fully revealed, all of those things, but the things he knew, the things he understood, the purpose of various things that God communicated directly there; it was in his mind.

Again, we experience that on a very small level in the sense of when we’re called our minds are opened up and we begin to see things that we couldn’t understand before and we experience that in part. But he experienced this in a full manner. Again, something we can’t fully understand because we’ve never lived that, we’ve never experienced that, and it doesn’t go into a really great detail about it.

Again here, he stayed behind for two more days and then later revealed to them that Lazarus was dead. This is what we’re reading about.

He said these things, after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I am going that I may awake him out of sleep. So, so often they just didn’t understand the things he was saying. That’s all for a purpose and we learn from that. We come to understand those things in a greater way that God revealed through the power of His spirit as time goes along and through the things we begin to learn once we’re called. The terms that are used about being asleep, those who sleep in Christ, we know what that means. It doesn’t mean those who fell asleep, like during the Apostasy, before the Apostasy. It talks about those who die in faith being faithful, loyal, sealed, and ready for a resurrection.

Then his disciples said, Lord, if he can sleep, then that will be good for him. So again, they didn’t grasp what he was talking about. Again, all this being said for purpose because it’s a process for Christ teaching us, teaching the Church.

Then his disciples...Lord, if he can sleep, then that will be good for him. In other words, if he’s sick and he can sleep then this is a good thing, if you’re sick, obviously, your body can regenerate.

However, Joshua was speaking of his death, but they thought he was talking about him being able to rest in sleep. Then Joshua plainly said to them, knowing this and so that they could learn from this as well, beginning a process there, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you might believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.

Now, he’s expressing something here that “for their sakes,” because of what they need to see, what they need to learn, that it’s better that this be done in this manner so that indeed they can learn from what he’s getting ready to do, so they can witness and see what he’s going to do. This is what he’s referring to, “I’m glad for your sakes that I was not there,” and that they weren’t, in other words, “that you might believe.” So again, they’re going to learn from this. They’re going to be strengthened by this. Again, they don’t have God’s spirit yet. They’re being drawn by God, but they haven’t received the impregnation of God’s spirit yet so there are things they just can’t grasp. Nevertheless, let us go to him.

Then when they were drawing near to Bethany, outside the town, Martha heard that he was coming and went out to meet him. So, here’s that story now where we were last week.

Verse 16—Then Thomas, who is called Didymus, which means “twin,” it has the meaning for a twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us go, that we may die with him. Apparently, speaking of Joshua. But again, this is a little unclear because there are things they didn’t grasp fully.

So again, perhaps having to do with different thoughts and ideas here that he’s talked about this, but they didn’t get it because they really didn’t get it when he was telling them that, what was going to take place. They had warned him. They said, “You really want to go down there?” when they were up in Samaria, “You want to go down?” or wherever he was at that point in time. I believe that was the region when this comment was made about Christ revealing to them then this is where we’re going, and basically, “You want to go down there and they want you? They’re looking for you – they seek to stone you?”

And so, this is going through their mind. Perhaps to stand there in defense, “We’re ready to die, whatever that takes,” that zeal, that desire “to stand up for You,” or whatever it might be. But believing he’s going to be the Messiah it wasn’t the thought that he’s going to be put to death or he’s going to die then. So again, some of this wording sometimes is a little difficult to grasp exactly what they’re saying or what’s being said.

Verse 17—Then, when Joshua had arrived, he found that he already had been in the grave for four days. So, he’d stayed two days behind, two more days coming on down, if he died right at that time. So, we really don’t know there, but he’d been in the grave for four days so perhaps the journey was just a tad longer. Don’t know. But he’d been in the grave for four days at this point in time.

It says, Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs. So again here, that’s two miles away, three and a quarter kilometers away. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. So, all these people were gathered together, Lazarus had died, he’d been in the grave for four days, and that was their custom, obviously, and the love that different ones had for the family, so they were around them to encourage them. Christ wasn’t there so obviously it was a part of their conversation because they were close in friendship, in that respect.

Verse 20—Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Joshua was coming, went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.

Going on in verse 21—Then Martha said to Joshua, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. She had that strong of belief in the sense of what she knew to that point in time, things that she had heard from him, things that she believed about him being the Messiah. Because the disciples and different ones like this, they believed that’s who he was. Then, not only just hearing the teachings and being drawn by God’s spirit, not yet baptized but drawn by God’s spirit, there were those things they could see and believe in their thinking, in their minds just like we do when we’re being drawn, but in this particular case here then perhaps even because of various miracles that had been done to this point, knowing that he had the ability to do these things, to call upon God the Father and to perform various kinds of miracles. So, “If you’d been here, he wouldn’t have died.”

But I know that even now whatever You will ask of God, God will give it to You. And Joshua said to her, Your brother shall rise again. She’s learning through this process as well. She has no idea what’s getting ready to take place. Martha said to him, this is her response after he said this, I know he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. In other words, “I believe that” basically, “believe the things that you have told us, given to us to understand.”

Because there were different teachings in Judaism at that time, Sadducees and Pharisees believing different things at that time abut what would happen after death and she’s making it very clear not only about a resurrection but at the last day. So again here, whatever depth of comprehension that was that had been spoken to them, that there was a time of judgment and there was a time of a resurrection and that people who die are going to have an opportunity again. So, whatever, how much it was, she believed that and that’s what she said.

And Joshua replied, I am the resurrection and life. Incredible. Powerful. Gives me chills just talking about it, saying it, repeating it. “I am the resurrection.” It’s through Christ because of his calling, because of his birth, because of his life, because of God’s purpose in him, that he is to fulfill the role of Passover. That’s the beginning of the process that leads to an opportunity, the ability of one day being able to be resurrected and God’s purpose around that. Even for the Great White Throne, it’s all built upon Christ who is the cornerstone of everything.

“…and life.” There is no life when you talk about that which is spiritual that leads to eternal life that can come in any other way except through Joshua. He makes this comment very clearly, “I am the resurrection and life,” because that’s what comes with a resurrection whether it be to physical life again or to spiritual life which is the desire that people have once they have made that choice.

Whoever believes in me… This expression, I hate the way traditional Christianity has used this because it’s distorted, it’s not balanced. It’s like if you just say the name “I believe in Jesus,” those expressions that are used, and if you just say that, you believe, just say the name and you believe and you’ll be saved.

What does that mean? Where does it say that? They don’t understand. They’ve made something that’s fake and feel good about self or trying to or whatever happens in the human mind. It’s not just a matter of saying you believe “in” Christ, it goes far beyond that, obviously. It’s about his very purpose. It’s about what he taught, and really, that’s what the word has in this expression, is about. It’s everything about him, “believe in me, that I,” in other words, “that I am the Passover, that I am the Messiah, that I am more.”

That’s what this is about: “If you believe what I have taught, what God has given to you. If you believe in those things of my purpose and why I’m here.” So, this is it. Whoever believes in me… That’s why it begins with Passover. That’s why this series here is building up to, because his life is building up to his dying at Passover, then his being resurrected and being the Wave Sheaf offering for all of mankind, becoming our High Priest at that moment as well.

He says, Whoever believes in me, even if they die, will yet live. So, especially then referring to those who have lived this way of life, for those who become sealed, come to that point in time, in essence, where God says, “Now I know you.” They’ve gone through the trying and the testing of human life and have continued in the battle. Because it’s a battle to fight against our own carnal, human nature, and it never ends until we die, and if we’re faithful in that until the end then this is what he’s talking about.

Verse 26—Whoever lives and believes… So, to have life, to live in this life, and believes in/on that purpose, in that purpose, whatever ever how you want to say it. Again, referring, saying the same thing again. Whoever believes in me shall never die. So, takes it a step farther then, makes it very clear here that this is about the family of Elohim, God’s Family and the ability to receive eternal life.

Again here, speaking of that time, Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. So that’s the desire, the goal, the purpose. There will be no death, eternal death, because of a judgment that’s given.

He said, Do you believe this? And she said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah. That’s what she said, “You are the Christ.” So, that answers it in part, but it’s only in the part of the depth of her understanding. She still doesn’t grasp everything. She doesn’t fully comprehend what he’s saying. But she believes that he’s the Messiah, she believes God has given him certain power, that he’s the Son of God, that God is working through him, but there are things that are still very unclear in her mind, but she’s right there to respond, “I am with you. I’m here.”

I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who should come into the world. In other words, “I believe that you fulfill those prophesies of everything that God has said, the promise that He said He would give to mankind.” But they had no idea that he was getting ready to die, that he was going to go into Jerusalem, that this was his time that he was getting ready to fulfill, literally, the role of the Lamb of God, the Passover. That was the farthest thing from their mind.

So what he’d just stated here, in essence, was stated because it’s important once they came to the grave of Lazarus, of what was getting ready to take place, obviously, here even more so in a very powerful way what he was going to reveal and the power that he is the resurrection and the life, the kind of power that God had given to him of life that comes through him.

Verse 28—Then when she had stated this, she went her way and privately called Mary her sister, saying, The Teacher has come and is asking for you. So again, Christ didn’t go in yet. He stayed out there a little way back, and now calling for his sister and said that Christ wants to see you. And as soon as she heard that, she rose up quickly and went to him.

Now Joshua had not yet come into the town but was in that place where Martha met him. So, he just stayed right there waiting. She went in, Martha did, and then came back with Mary. The Jews then, who were with her in the house and comforting her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly, went out and followed her, saying, She is going to the grave to weep (to cry) there, in other words, to mourn there.

They didn’t know what was going on. They didn’t overhear what was being said. They just saw her jump up quickly and take off and so they wanted to follow thinking that she’s grieving mightily and going to the grave for that purpose. So, they followed her out in order to comfort her because that’s why they were there.

Verse 32—Then, when Mary had come to where Joshua was and saw him, she fell down at his feet saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Incredible, what goes on in human minds sometimes and how people think. And still being, obviously here, lacking of faith and not taking things in a manner that really should have been taken, but couldn’t because of not having God’s spirit dwelling in them yet, that inability to see and comprehend.

Just like for us now. I think of how death and understanding death for us in the Church is a whole lot different than what it is in the world, or even people who are first being drawn or called, and sometimes even after in the Church it can take a while to come to a point where people have a tremendous peace and comfort in being resurrected a second time, for those who have died, not in the Church, or if in the Church a desire to see people have an opportunity again. Some who have fallen asleep (large numbers), who will not be in a Millennial period, that their time is going to be in a Great White Throne. There is that desire, there is that belief and that confidence and there’s a peace with that that comes as time goes along.

I think of the world and I think of all the suffering going on in the world; for 6,000 years people have suffered so incredibly so. I think especially in underdeveloped countries and things that people go through that we have no comprehension of what it’s like to grow up like that, what it’s like to live like that, and some of those kinds of things we long for and look for the time they’ll be given an opportunity, whether it be in the Millennium. And if not, we’re at peace with knowing that with ever how great a tragedy comes and strikes in certain places (which it will), they’re going to have an awesome opportunity when they’re resurrected. They truly are. Their life at that time is going to be, in one respect, on a greater plane than what it would be if they lived on in the Millennium.

Because it’s not going to be a picnic in the beginning. It’s going to be hard. Like Mr. Armstrong said, it’s going to take three or four generations for things to really begin to change in people because things are just passed down. Drama is passed down. The way people think, the proclivities that aren’t good are just passed down from one generation to another. The desire is that each generation, and with God’s spirit, it will get better and better and less baggage that the next generation will have because they didn’t grow up with some things.

Give you an example: Someone is called out of the world (whatever age; it doesn’t matter), in adult life. Their whole life is dealing with everything they learned up to, had molded and fashioned within them, which isn’t good, the selfishness, the evil, the sin, to whatever degree it was at the time they were called, is a part of their being, is a part of their makeup. It’s who they are. But that is to change. That’s what happens with the transformation of the mind. So, it’s very difficult because your battles are those things that became a part of you, that are a part of you, that are so deep inside of you that only the transformation by God’s spirit can begin to change what’s in the mind, and that takes a lot of time.

But the next generation that comes along, especially if they have the opportunity of not having been steeped in some of that kind of garbage, and if they will receive what a parent has given, especially in the Millennium, it will be so much better because the world won’t have all the kind of garbage out there that it has today. It won’t have the kind of internet system that it has today with all the filth and garbage that’s in it, or whatever else is out there. Society is going to change drastically. There is not going to be the kind of things where drugs are brought in and drugs are sold and drugs are on different corners of cities where everybody knows it and knows where they are, as a whole. If they want to know it’s there.

So, all these things that exist are not going to exist anymore, so people who grow up in a better world, in a better society. But to get there it’s going to take three or four generations to have that cleaner life in people, that they aren’t bothered anymore by what’s been passed down from one generation. Because how one parent thinks, it’s not fully balanced yet or sound in certain areas, and it’s still passed on to a child. They have to conquer and overcome certain things. Then the next generation it just gets more refined and better as we go along. I hope that makes sense and is clear.

But if we can think that way then about someone who dies, a child, doesn’t matter what age people are, to be resurrected. In other words, you can’t say that to go on in the Millennium is the best thing for someone. For a child especially, who hasn’t developed anything in their mind, in their being yet. So you take a young child that hasn’t learned much, hasn’t received much as far as the world is concerned, young age, to die, to live on in the Millennium, yeah, it’s going to be a far better world than what it is today, but the one later on is going to be so much better, in the hundred years, because it’s going to have the benefit of that one thousand years of change, and to live in and see certain things in a human life at that time with all the advancements of everything that have come about, the world the way it will be.

Now, there’s going to be a lot of garbage resurrected with them at that time but in a very beautiful world, in a much nicer world than what we have or what will exist, as a whole, during the Millennium. That’s hard sometimes for the human mind to comprehend, but that should give people peace. The more they believe those things, the more they’re able to see those things, the greater peace one can have with what’s going to take place in the world around us.

Because I think about this a lot, because we know where we are. We know that what’s coming is horrendous, hideous. But what we also know is that mankind will not begin to humble themselves, will not begin to change until something just that massive takes place. God knows what it’s going to take to get the attention of this world and it takes one-third of all life being destroyed to get the attention of mankind to where, as a whole, people will begin to listen – shut their mouths, stop trying to rebuild something, thinking they can hold on to something now – instead, begin to look for help from God. And it takes that much. God knows exactly what it takes. That’s why it says what it does. That’s why He intervenes at that point in time. Not before and not later on. Because He’s a merciful God. He takes mankind to the point that it needs to go in order to do this, in order for this to be accomplished.

So, the more faith, the more confidence we have in such things like that the more at peace we are and the more beautiful, in that respect, the things like the Great White Throne become. It’s a beautiful thing. It truly is.

So, sorrow when someone is not with us anymore? Absolutely. But hope and excitement for what will take place? Yes.

Then it goes on in saying here, because Christ was troubled by their response, by how they were responding to these things. “She fell down at his feet,” as it says here, and made this comment, “If you’d been here, he wouldn’t have died.” So, these things troubled him because it’s kind of a frustrating thing. And it is for us in the Church. We experience this in part because you would think there were certain things that surely this will shake someone; surely this will cause people to begin to listen. And the reality is…? That’s what this is about. He’s experienced something on a physical plane that’s passed along to us to give us encouragement, to help us to understand they can’t help what they can’t see. It takes time to grow in those things and it takes God’s spirit in those things.

And so, when you’re living in a carnal, physical world like we are, until he returns, until the Kingdom of God is established on the earth to rule over mankind, that’s what the world is going to experience. Up until that point in time it’s going to be frustrating at times because the reality is people just don’t listen, people won’t be humbled. This is what he’s experiencing. This is what is being passed along to us. He was troubled by their response.

Verse 33—Therefore, when Joshua saw her weeping, in other words, crying, and the Jews who came with her were also weeping and crying, he groaned in the spirit. Have you ever groaned in spirit? Just wishing, desiring, you just want so much for people to be able to see but you know they can’t, so there’s that feeling inside like, “If only you could respond better. If only you could receive more. If only you could listen. If only you could be humble…” But we know, the other part of that is we know people can’t. That’s what this is talking about. That’s what it means to groan in the spirit.

There are at times, I’m sure all of us have experienced that in one way or another, even if it’s just about ourselves, “I wished we could…” “I wish I could do this or do that and keep this in my mind at all times and not…” whatever. There is that groaning sometimes because we see that inability in human body, in the human mind, in the human flesh to live God’s way of life.

It says, and he was troubled. It becomes a little clearer later, as it’s brought out here as you read on, because this all goes together. …then said, Where have you laid him? And they said to him, Lord, come and see. And Joshua cried. Tears. That’s what this word means. It’s a word literally coming from tears, not like the other word before that has to do with mourning, crying, weeping type of thing. This here is specifically about tears. It’s a word that means that.

Then the Jews said, Look how he loved him! That isn’t what it was about at all. Yes, he loved him, but he’s not too concerned because he knows what he’s getting ready to do. He’s going to resurrect him and shock the tar out of everyone, and yet it’s about everyone else. That’s that groaning inside and then coming to that point that so moves you inside that you long for that time. Christ longed for that time, and yet he knew there was to be another 2,000 years. Christ understood things about God’s plan and God’s purpose in ways that we can’t even begin to comprehend.

And so, there’s that knowing that you’ve got to wait, and mankind is going to continue to suffer longer. There’s going to be a Church and people are going to be called and people are going to leave. Many are going to be called and few are chosen. That hurts! He knew that in ways that we even experience it (and we have to learn it that way), but he knew it in advance because of that mind that was in him. All this is there and that emotion.

Then the Jews said, Look at how he loved him. Then some of them said, Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused it so that even this man would not have died? Well, we know the answer to that, and it goes way beyond that. So, this carnal, human thinking and that groaning again. It’s like, “Oh, if you could only grasp.”

It’s kind of like one thing I understood in a deeper way, what Christ said in some things that he talked about, when one section of the book was being written toward the end there and talking about wouldn’t it be an awesome thing if I didn’t have to say some of the things I had to say, that I felt that I was supposed to say, that I tried not to address in the book, not even about myself. Then coming to the point there where you realize in a profound way it would have been so much better if everyone by this point in time, just because of all the evidence, of all the things covered, of all the false things out there that started in 325 in a very powerful way, that those things can be seen without God’s spirit! There are things there that can be learned and understood about the trinity, the Sabbath, that Passover was done away with, people were killed because of belief in the Passover, Easter was instituted. Where did that come from? There are things by knowledge you can learn, but you can’t be convicted spiritually on a spiritual plane without God’s spirit, obviously.

But even to that point in time there was that kind of groaning, “If only you could just believe it because it’s true – believe the truth for the truths sake. You won’t believe the other either if you won’t believe the truth.” But the point being, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if people, if we could just as human beings believe the truth for the truths sake because everything else that’s false is, should be, you know, it’s in front of us. But we seek to deceive ourselves. So, there’s that groaning because the inability of the human mind to address such things.

Joshua, therefore… Again, I didn’t even think of that being next. It says groaning again here, in essence, again groaning in himself, again, because of this inability to see through all that they had already been taught, that he had already had taught and performed. It’s like that speaks for itself, all of that; all of that should speak clearly for itself, but you haven’t received it.

So again here, it says, Joshua, therefore, again groaning in himself came to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone was lying upon it.

Then in verse 39—Joshua said, Take away the stone. And Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time he is stinking. Four days in the grave, the body begins to decay, bloat- a dead body. Grew up on a farm. I know what that’s like. A few days and you get to about that point in time and it’s not a nice thing. It’s not a nice thing to be around, that which is physical in composition like that and the gasses and various things that are there. It’s very unpleasant. How much more when you know it’s a human body?

This is her concern. Why would you do this? Why would you remove the stone at this point? It has been four days, as it says here, because he has been dead four days.

And Joshua said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? In other words, “I’ve told you about these various things and this is about God’s glory. This is about what God does. This is what God can do.” So, the reality is no, they couldn’t, but it’s there to teach.

This goes back to what he’d said earlier. I’m just going to read those again, verses 25 and 26 because this is what he’s referring back to. “Joshua replied, I am the resurrection and the life.” If you can believe that and know what he’s saying there, then this answers all of that. But she was unable to. She didn’t have the ability to. “Whoever believes in me, even if they die will yet live.” So, in this particular case here referring to something that can happen in the future but also what he can do at any time he wants to. That power is in him. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”

So again here, no second death. He said, “Do you believe this?” So, she wasn’t able to believe it. That’s the point. She thought she did, but the reality was she couldn’t believe it because there are things of God’s spirit that you have to have of God’s spirit and time to grow and time to learn for these things to really become a part of you.

Thank God then we have the Church because that’s how we’re able to have these things, is because the impregnation of God’s spirit in our minds. They didn’t have that advantage yet. That’s why we need to realize sometimes in going through stories like this, they should be powerful and meaningful to us and never escape us because they should ring powerfully in our minds how blessed we are that we have this. Because who else has it? Not even a scattered Church! They don’t even have this anymore. How blessed are you that you’re able to have this in your life?

Verse 41—They took away the stone where the dead was laid. Then Joshua lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard me. Now, he’s saying this for their benefit, as so many things were said for their benefit. And I know that You always hear me, but because of the people which stand… Again, this was written to us. It’s for the Church as well to learn from this. He’s saying this for others. He’s not saying it because this needed to be said between him and God the Father. It’s being said for everyone else. It’s to be for us as well to understand, to have the kind of mind that we understand.

Once you’re called, once you’re baptized, once you receive the impregnation of God’s spirit, and as you continue to repent of sin before God, to have that kind of confidence, and boldness, and faith knowing that everything you’ve done when you repent, it’s gone, you’re clean, and you have that ongoing relationship with God and God always hears you at any time in your life.

What an incredible thing to know and to have confidence, to know that you can be anywhere at any time and God is there ready to hear you, has the ability to hear many of us at the same time, large numbers.

We can’t comprehend that. Because you can hear me, different ones at the same time, but having many speak at the same time and then hear? It’s hard for us to comprehend that. It just becomes a lot of noise. If you’re in a big crowd and you have a bunch of people around you talking sometimes it becomes difficult because so many are talking at the same time, so you kind of have to remove one group from another, get into a smaller group, whatever. But if different people try to talk at the same time it’s just confusion. But not with God. Powerful, awesome to understand.

…and I know that You always hear me. But because of the people which stand by, I am saying this, that they may believe that You have sent me. So even there. So, for the future, for them then, and to have them be able to hear this because it’s about the glory being given to God. It’s about that which God is going to do in and through His Son. That’s what he’s saying. That’s what he’s showing.

Verse 43—Then when he had spoken this, in other words, to the Father, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! Oh! Incredible! Can you imagine the people standing around, the Jews who were around there, Mary and Martha standing there with him as well, and for him to say something like this? It’s like, “What are you saying?!” Because this the last thing on their mind, that someone is going to be resurrected from the dead. The last thing on their mind. This didn’t even phase, didn’t even begin to come into the mind. Incredible!

And he who was dead came forth. It’s got to be a little humorous too, to see something like this. Because can you imagine being bound hand and foot with grave cloth, you know, wrapped around like they did and kind of like a mummy? That’s what they did. They wrapped cloth around the body like that, and his face was bound about with the head cloth. So, the way they wrapped it around the head, the cloth, and then they wrapped the body with cloth constantly around it? They didn’t have things like we have today so they had spools of this that they just keep wrapping around the body to get the body totally wrapped up, and here he comes out trying to walk and can’t see?

There has to be a tad of humour in that. You know, all of a sudden here he’s alive and all these people standing around with open mouth and dumbfounded by what’s happening, what’s taking place? I mean, nothing like this has ever happened! These things don’t happen.

Verse 45—Then many of the Jews who came to Mary, who had seen the things which Joshua did, believed in him, believed on him, same expression. Now it says “on” him in my King James, but same word. Now they believed in him. So, yeah, that would cause you to believe a lot of things you didn’t before. You’d begin to say, “This is of God!” All the other things that had happened… You wonder about the human mind sometimes. Someone seeing, well, yeah. But resurrected from the dead? Then the things he had said before, they began to make more meaning, had more meaning to them. And of course, God helping them to grasp certain things anyway at this point.

Verse 46—But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them about the things Joshua had done. Because not everyone has good intentions here. Not everyone that even followed Christ had good intentions. There were those who were out there on a continual basis that had followed him that were like little spies.

That’s the way it’s always been. It’s always been that way, in part, in God’s Church as well, all these ones that want to take certain information out and go tell someone else about what’s really going on, to have this inside scoop and knowing the Pharisees and Sadducees hated, disliked everything that Christ was doing and saying, that they were threatened by, and so you have these others there that are a matter of power or money or whatever it is sometimes that moves and motivates people in this way. It’s insanity, but this is what they were doing, so they’re running off to go tell the Pharisees and Sadducees what they had seen and “You’re not going to believe this!”

Verse 47. “You think your job was bad now; wait until you hear this one going around.” Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, What can we do? For this man does many miracles. They can’t deny it. They still wanted to kill him! Amazing! They wanted to get rid of him. You think, can’t you see just a little bit that you’re fighting against something that isn’t human, that it’s God?

If we leave him alone in this manner, all will believe on him. “If this continues on and he keeps doing these things we’re not going to have a following. Everybody is going to follow him. We’re going to have to fall in line if we want to continue and survive.” They have this power. People don’t want to give up power.

Look at the swamp! We kind of laugh at that. I laugh at that anyway. You can’t get rid of it. When people have power, they’re steeped in it, they don’t want to lose it, to where they become an entity until themselves. As an example in the United States, every facet of sections of government, they all have their own system and they don’t want to be controlled by anyone else. It doesn’t matter who it is. Whether it be something to do with the health, whether it has something to do with secrecy, other countries, secret service, intelligence service I should say, whether it be FBI, in every form of government there is going to be corruption (judicial system), it’s out there. There is this power that people want to hold on to and they don’t want anyone else to rock the boat, and if anyone threatens that, well, look what happens. Horrible what can happen, how people can act and how people can be because they hate something so much.

And so, if we can understand that on a worldwide scale, because that happens worldwide. That’s why some nations turn more toward that which is a dictatorship, that which is communism, that which is power. That’s where the mind goes. If they can get by with it, if they can do it, this is what people tend to do. If there can be tyranny, those who are marshalling that, those who have the power, governments who have strong military powers who can control leaders, whoever it is, that’s the way it works in a carnal, physical world. And it’s sick.

And it was with the Pharisees and Sadducees. They had certain power that the Romans let them have, let them exercise, and they didn’t want to lose that. Sick. Just plain sick. So that was the swamp of those days.

If we leave him alone (verse 48), in this manner, all will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. That’s what they were concerned about. It wasn’t the fact that he was the Messiah. Because a lot of people believe he is the Messiah and that he was going to rise up as a King and he was going to take the rule at that time of God’s Kingdom so that the Roman rule would no longer be over them, that God would conquer it. That’s what they really believe.

They’d longed for a long time a Messiah would come. Generation after generation, especially under oppressive governments. That was their desire, to have that government removed. And so, here it is the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they like it. They liked the power, the wealth, the freedom that they were given to still have rule within Judah, within that region, and knew that it was supported by the Roman rule that was there. They liked that. They wanted to keep that, and they didn’t want something to threaten it. Christ was threatening that.

Verse 49—Then one of them, called Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish. I know this has been looked at in different ways at different times, what’s being said here, but basically he was saying something on a prophetic scale that he didn’t realize, because really what he was saying was, “It’s better that he be put to death than that the whole nation should perish, than we should lose our power.” “It’s better that one die than a whole nation suffer because of what he’s doing.” This is what he was telling them. “It’s a simple solution, basically,” is what he was telling them.

Some people kind of laud and praise Caiaphas but he’s not to be, okay? That’s not what was happening. But inadvertently, because of the stupidity of what he said, it was also a prophetic thing that was true, that Christ should die.

This he spoke not of himself, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Joshua… So again, there was that which he said not knowing that he’d done this, in essence is what it’s talking about here, prophesied that Joshua should die for that nation. So that’s what came out of it on a positive light on the sense of what God had been a part of and moved to be said in this manner, but his intention wasn’t the same. Caiaphas’ wasn’t the same. It was the exact opposite. “It’s better that one man die.” He had no concept that it’s better that Christ fulfill the role of Passover and dies for all mankind. This wasn’t in his mind whatsoever. His mind was totally carnal and wanting to keep what they had. So rather than losing the nation and losing Judah that we have power over right now under the Romans, it’s better, in that respect, that one should die.

That’s what the story is here because it goes on to say, and not for that nation only, but also he should gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Then from that day forward they took counsel together determined to put him to death. Because that’s what Caiaphas was saying. He’s saying that it’s better that he should die. He said, “You don’t know anything. This is how you deal with this.” That’s what he was telling them.

It was from that point forward that they began to plot and scheme, which Caiaphas was a part of, and all the rest were a part of, of how they’d put Christ to death, how they could kill him. Obviously, the timing of this is important because it’s almost Passover time anyway and that which Christ was coming to fulfill. So no longer was it a matter that they were just going to try to get him and some who wanted to stone him. Now, they’re going to take it a lot further, because stoning wasn’t always a matter of something that led to death. This here was a matter of something that yes, we want to just make sure that he’s put to death. Most people would have that in their heart, obviously, doing this, but it didn’t always end this way, the point being.

John 11:53 going on—Then from that day forward they took counsel together, determined to put him to death. Joshua therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews but went from there into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there he continued with his disciples. And the Jews Passover was drawing near.

It was almost time for that, a little bit more time here yet, and so because of what had happened right there in Bethany and those who had gone into the city of Jerusalem to tell the Pharisees and Sadducees, Christ knew what was going on. He knew what was being prepared. He knew what was in their thinking already.

Again here now, rapidly drawing closer to this it says, the Jews Passover was drawing near, and many went from their country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. So again, there’s this process here of what it is, the period of time for a purification for the things they went through and so forth, even on a physical plane as far as what took place around Holy Days like this in this time of year.

Verse 56—Then they looked for Joshua, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, What do you think—will he not come up to the feast? There was this motivation that different ones had, that “We know he’s in the area here; we know he’s in Bethany. He’s not there right now. And suppose he’s going to come on up here now to the temple on the Holy Day period here?” They were looking for a time that they might be able to entrap him. That’s the whole motive behind this.

Now, both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that if any man knew where he was, he should reveal it, that they might take him. For what purpose? To kill him. That’s what they wanted to do. They wanted to get rid of him.

John 12. So, we’re right at a point now where it’s now within one week before Passover, so all these things leading up to that point in time, everything that Christ was preparing for, his whole life preparing for this time here because he came as a Lamb of God to fulfill the role of Passover.

So, it starts giving a timeline now from here on. It says, John 12:1—Then, six days before the Passover, some time on a Thursday then, if you will, the 5th day of the week, Joshua came to Bethany, in other words, again. He came back to Bethany here. So that short space, whatever it was, a few days there, came back to Bethany where Lazarus was who had been dead, where he had raised him from the dead.

Then it goes on to say, verse 2—While there, in other words in Bethany, They made him a dinner; and Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of ointment, of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Joshua, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

Now, something important that needs to be added here at this time frame in this particular thing here. This was a Sabbath meal on Friday evening, if you will. This was the beginning of the 10th day of the month. So, again, that particular time period should have meaning to us as to what took place in that period of time before Passover, that many days before Passover, a time for choosing and picking out the lamb, and so forth. So that’s what we read about, you read about in the Old Testament, in Exodus 12, concerning the 10th day of the first month. That’s when a lamb was picked out, set aside for the purpose then of killing it then on Passover night, roasting it. This is a part of this process now happening to Christ on a spiritual plane, being set aside, if you will, for the intent of all those things, of what it meant where this expensive ointment was poured out upon Christ.

Then we read of Judas Iscariot’s response of how it was eating at him inside that this expensive ointment was used. You think, what an attitude! I’ve seen attitudes like that. I think we maybe all have in one time or another in one respect or another in life, but within the Church, which is not something you want to witness and see, but see when certain things like this begin to be important to people, more important than what is being done, more important than what God is doing, and people get wrapped up in physical things in physical life—and whether it be power or money or whatever it might be—and it becomes a very ugly thing. Something Mr. Armstrong had to contend with for so long in his ministry.

But again, this is all built up to the 10th day of the first month when the lamb, again, was set aside for the Passover lamb, 4 days, again, now before Passover.

We’re going to pick up the same story where it focuses upon the actions of Judas Iscariot here that followed this. I don’t know if I actually had that one down here or not at this point. I’ll just make comment. I want to read this, make sure I get this right because the timing here it all gets very succinct, very important as we go along here.

So that which happened on that Friday evening, on that occasion was the Sabbath meal. It led to two accounts that are recorded in both Matthew and Mark and we’re just going to read one here in the Book of Mark. We’re jumping ahead now two days, which is two days prior to Passover, in other words, the 12th day of the 1st month. So again, some of these things start going back and forth a little bit but talking about when they’re happening because it all fits together as you go along as far as your mind is concerned and what’s taking place.

In Mark 14:1. So, this is two days later from when that had happened, that particular meal had happened. So again, you know exactly the day of the week these things are taking place and that becomes really important as well. Because I think of the video I’m getting ready to do about three days and three nights and the world of traditional Christianity has Christ dying on a Friday and then being resurrected Sunday morning. Christ very plainly said that he would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, the same time that Jonah was in the heart of the whale, or in the whale, I should say, or the great fish it says. It doesn’t say whale. The great fish; it had to be pretty big though.

Anyway, he gives this example here and then mentions three days and three nights as it says in scripture as well. But the most that they can get out of this is two daytime periods and just a little bit on Friday of sunset and a little bit, maybe, of Sunday morning, they try to say, of sunrise. So, you have a few minutes on each side of it and that’s two different days for them. That’s how they count. It’s literally how they count it. Then all day Sabbath. Three days and three nights. Pretty innovative when it comes to counting, but not doing it right, obviously.

The things that are brought out here make it very clear he didn’t die on a “Good Friday.” He didn’t die on a Friday. So if you follow the story flow it’s pretty easy to figure out where all these things land, where they all are once you know these things.

Mark 14:1—After two days it would be the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might take him by craft, in other words, by trickery and deceit because they knew this wasn’t going to be an easy thing to somehow whisk Christ away and then put him to death, as it says here, and put him to death. But they said, Not on the Feast day… So they were plotting how they could do this. They didn’t want it to happen on a high day, not on a Feast day lest there be an uproar of the people. You don’t want to make the people angry, especially because so many believe he’s the Messiah. We’re not going to kill him on that day. We’re not going to take him on that day.

So again here, they were pushing their own time frame and quickly so. They wanted this done quickly. Well, they didn’t realize God’s in control. God’s going to work things in such a way that it happens exactly the way it’s always been intended, the way it had been planned out long before mankind was ever created. Long before the angelic realm was ever created all these things were predetermined, what Christ would do, what he would live, how he would die, on and on it goes. These things aren’t decided as God goes along. Maybe after 3,000 years and then thinking ahead, well, it’s only a thousand years before Christ, my son is born, how are we going to do this? Let’s start planning then. That isn’t the way God functions when it comes to those major things that are about His plan and purpose all the way through time.

Not like us, how we might do something, and most people when they build something, they don’t do something like that anyway. It’s all determined, blueprints, planning well ahead of time if it’s something big.

So, in the next verse, actually going back to the time to recount what had happened two days earlier on Friday, the evening of that Sabbath meal. So again, back and forth here a little bit.

This is in Mark 14:3— And being in Bethany… So sometimes these things happen where something is talked about and then it comes back to what led up to it.

It’s one thing I hate when I’m watching some kind of a movie and then all of a sudden it smacks on the screen “24 hours previous,” or “a week before,” or “a year…” and you’re going back and forth. You’re like, “Come on!” It makes it hard to follow sometimes.

Mark 14:3—And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at dinner, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment and spikenard, which was very precious, in other words, costly, of great price. It was expensive. And she broke the box and poured it on his head. And there were some who had indignation in themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it could have been sold for more than three hundred pence and had been given to the poor and needy. And they murmured against her.

And Joshua said, Let her alone. Why are you troubling her? So these thoughts, these ideas when anything like this was done, these were the kinds of things that started bothering Judas Iscariot, to see what had taken place with the ointment on the feet and now this here and the smell that was there and the thinking nothing but money, money, money. He was the treasurer. He held the purse.

I think of Mr. Armstrong talking about that, that basically there was a certain rule, certain authority that had to be there as far as the Church was concerned and structure, and talking about the finances, that how some places, some churches in the world function, that it’s totally separate from the structure of the church, the structure of the ministry, and they have things messed up and upside down. But basically, bringing out that ever who controls that controls the organization. Which is how it works in the world. He had to deal with some of those things at different times as well.

And Joshua said, Leave her alone. Why are you troubling her? She has done a good work for me. So, “Instead of being concerned about the value of it and so forth, the money, it’s what she’s done and it’s about me.” It’s not about whatever.

For you will always have the poor and the needy with you. So there is always going to be that which is going to be needed later on, but you’re not going to always have me, basically, is what he’s telling them, and you’re always going to have that to deal with as far as life is concerned, but something else right now at this moment is more important to be done. And they, obviously, not having God’s spirit fully in them, and others who didn’t have it at all, in the sense of being drawn, didn’t get and understand these things anyway. So, most of these things are written for us, as far as the Church is concerned.

For you always have the poor and the needy with you, and whenever you want you can do good to them; but you will not always have me. He’s making this very clear, “This is far more important. Don’t you get this?” There was a lack of belief, obviously, Judas Iscariot, and that’s why he finally did what he chose to do later.

She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for the burial. Now, they heard these words, but they didn’t get it. It’s hard to understand what they might be thinking when he said such things, that this was in the mind, because they did not know he was getting ready to go into Jerusalem, that he was getting ready to come to a point where he was going to be seized, beaten, and placed on a pole to die. They didn’t get that at all. They were disillusioned when those things happened. It’s like, “What are we going to do now?” Some were, “Are you going to go back fishing, to whatever we did before? Because everything we had planned on now or were doing, it’s not there.”

Truly, I say unto you, wherever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she has done shall be spoken of as a memorial to her. So, you think this was important? Even now? That’s what he’s saying. He’s saying this is to be a memorial to her for what she did. She was able to anoint the Passover lamb for his death, for what was going to transpire, what’s going to take place. So, in the scheme of things, as far as the whole world is concerned, what’s more important?

And so, even as we go through things like this from time to time, just like we do Holy Days from year to year and we repeat those things and talk about various things, this too, this story is something that we should have deeply embedded within us and from time to time we go through and each time we do it should have great meaning to us as to what was fulfilled, as to what they experienced that they couldn’t see, that we can see that should be inspiring to us.

So again here, the reason this account is inserted here which takes us back two days earlier, is as a reminder of what Mary had done, when Judas Iscariot responded as he did, and revealed the kind of person he was, and so this same attitude that exists sometimes when people’s motives are selfish and deceitful and really not about what God is doing and what God is fulfilling. Things which, candidly, the Church has experienced for a long, long time.

And especially after the Apostasy we began to experience it in PKG over and over and over and over again because there was an incredible battle going on there in a spirit world and that which was being moved as well by a foul spirit world, that sometimes people not living what they should be living they open themselves up to such things because they get cut off from God’s spirit and they really don’t have the control in their life that otherwise they might have been able to, or would have been able to by choice if they had strived, had been striving to remain faithful to God, having access to God’s spirit.

So again here, Mark 14:10 now. And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went into the chief priests to betray him unto them. And when they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him. So again, the hard things to grasp and comprehend what was taking place here, that someone would do something like this for the sake of money, to betray someone, to betray Christ especially in what was taking place here, knowing that what’s going to come of this is not good if they’re paying money to secretly get in to get him, to find him where they can whisk him away without people being around late at night. That’s what he was doing.

It’s kind of mind-boggling, it really is. But this is how human nature is. Again, been witness of this over and over and over again, where people do things in the dark spiritually to betray Christ, to betray God, to betray His Church, to betray His ministry, and you can just thank God that you don’t live in that period of time right now because it’s a very unpleasant time to live through. It’s an evil thing to see, to witness, to live through. But it’s good that people have witnessed those things and seen those things because it’s a constant reminder then as we look back in time in history, to see that everyone has the power of choice in their own hands.

I choose what I do. I’m responsible for the choices I make. That’s what it comes down to. Those things should sober people, to realize, “I don’t want to do anything against God, against His Son, against His Church, against His ministry, against anyone in the Body of Christ,” because then if we do, even with just starting there with the Body of Christ, that’s what it’s talking about in Corinthians 11 when it talks about what can happen to people because they don’t discern the Body of Christ. We don’t discern the importance of a right relationship that we have with one another, about each other, so that people don’t discuss things and pass things around and bad mouth or tear down with the blabbing of the mouth, and so forth, other people.

Those are the kinds of things that have to be addressed in life, that we not judge harshly others in God’s Church, and so, this is a kind of thing that was happening here. Harsh judgment, perverted judgment, because of not seeing God, not grasping things, not being faithful. Those things have gone through the Church through time in the past 2,000 years. They’re not a pleasant thing to witness, to see, the kind of betrayals that take place, and yet everyone, as a whole, in one way or another in life, has to experience some kind of betrayal. It’s just a part of human life.

So, let’s return now to the story flow of the 10th day of the fist month here, which was, again, the weekly Sabbath preceding the Passover. So that’s the period of time here when you get right down to that daytime. So, we’re talking about that Friday night meal, 10th day, all the way (that was a Sabbath), all the way then in through the Sabbath day itself. Again here, the 10th day, four days before Passover, from Friday on through the Sabbath. Mary poured out ointment here, then on the Sabbath day there is more that follows.

Matthew 21:1. It says, And when they drew near to Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives then Joshua sent two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village next to you, and right away you shall find a donkey tied up and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone shall say anything to you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them; and right away he will send them.

It’s dumbfounding to think things like this, that that mind, the ability that God gave to him to say certain things, to see certain things, to know the things that he did, and to be able to pass this along to the disciples in this particular case. We’re to be moved by that, to realize this is not ordinary. This is not ordinary in God’s Church. This doesn’t happen. But it happened with Christ’s life and what he did and it’s very moving, very inspiring to see how God worked with His own Son and the things He did through him.

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by the prophet, saying: Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King comes unto you! Meek and sitting upon a donkey, and a colt, the foal of a donkey. So again, all that’s given, all this in his mind because he knew what he was to fulfill. All this is written so that we might be inspired by it, that we might be moved by it, and so that they would learn from it. Because they didn’t yet have God’s spirit but later on they’re going to remember and be able to see these things as God gives them the ability to see what things were fulfilled in prophecy that had been said about Christ.

All this done that your King comes, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the one who is going to be King. But not now. He’s going to be Passover right now. But they didn’t know that.

And the disciples went and did as Joshua commanded them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and put on them their clothes and they set him thereon, Christ. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them in the way. It’s amazing to think about this, what really took place, because here now he’s coming into Jerusalem. It’s time to go into Jerusalem, the things that are to take place here, and people were moved. How? By God’s spirit. It’s just something that God communicated to their minds to do and respond in certain things, to be there, to be in the right place, to know that he’s coming.

So they were ready for him to come into town. They believe he’s the Messiah. This was going around. They’d heard that Lazarus had been resurrected, a blind man could see, all these things that were being told to people throughout the area there—this is the Holy Day season now—and they’re looking for the Messiah. It’s incredible, it really is, these things that are taking place. To put branches down, to put their clothes out in front as Christ is going to come along. I mean, this is incredible!

And the multitude that went before, as it says here, and that followed, cried saying, Hosanna! The Son of David. So again, this is crying out to the descendant. They knew who the Messiah would come from, the lineage of David. That’s what this is about. Blessed is he who comes in the name of Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

And when he’d come unto Jerusalem all the city was moved, saying, Who is it? Who is this? So again, the whole city this is going around and all these people that were lined up, that were moved by God’s sprit to do this, and then others, this spreading around, “What is this excitement? What’s going on?” This was not a normal occasion.

And the multitude said, This is the Joshua the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. So again, that name that people were familiar with and he’s coming into town and other things that were spoken as well, obviously.

Then jumping back here to Mark 11. Basically, says the same thing and then adds more to it. I’m just going to read it, Mark 11:11—And Joshua entered into Jerusalem, and then into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything there, and by then the evening had come, he went out or back, if you will, unto Bethany with the twelve. So here he was, he came into the city. We’re talking about things that had happened on the four days before Passover here leading up to that point in time – coming in to, going up to the temple then on that particular day, all these people saying the things that they did as he went in there on the donkey, the colt, and now he’s going to return to Bethany. So, this was the story back and forth now because Bethany, just two miles out of the city, and this constant going back and forth, even for the women later on after he was put to death.

So, Luke’s account, his account adds even more here. This is Luke 19:33. So each one writes something a little bit different about what took place in a different manner, but God giving all that’s needed, all that He wants us to grasp, to learn, to see from these things. And as they were untying the colt, the owners thereof said to them, Why are you loosening the colt? And they said, The Lord has need of him. Now, can you imagine? It’s yours and someone comes up there untying them like they own them and they’re going to take them away. It’s like, “What are you doing?!” They just said what Christ told them, “Our Lord has need of them.” Okay. That was sufficient. God had to put it in his mind as well. “Okay.” This isn’t something that was prearranged, okay? It wasn’t some email that was sent through and the owner had it, “If they say, ‘The Lord,’ then let him have it, okay?”

Verse 35—And they brought him to Joshua. And they cast their garments upon the colt and they set Joshua thereon. And as he went they spread their clothes in the way. So again, this same story here.

And when he came near, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen. This had to be an incredible sight because there’s kind of this mount on the side of a hill out there coming down to a valley and then it goes back up to the old city there.

I’ve been there, saw that, and moved by that when you see something that you think about different ones who are in a certain place, whether it be John on the Isle of Patmos, that was very moving, seeing the various places where some of the disciples have been, and then all over different places when you’re there in the area of Judea (Israel now), and you see some of the different locations and you think about some of the things that were written about different ones at different times here. It adds even that much more to it in the sense of they were here. This is what they said. This is what was spoken. I can’t help it in seeing him come down through this particular area here.

It had to be very, very moving for everyone that understood some of the things that were taking place there. For the disciples, they were witnessing something they’d never perceived. He’s the Messiah. We believe he’s the Christ, or the Messiah, and he’s coming into Jerusalem. They didn’t know why. Perhaps now is the time that God is going to restore the kingdom of God – his kingdom, His government. As a descendent, he’s a descendent from David. There had to be that excitement in their thinking not knowing that no, he’s going to be put to death. He’s not coming as the Lion of God right now. He’s not coming as the Messiah yet.

…coming down the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen. Because this would be seen from long distances, people along the sides doing this all the way into this area here. You can see it from a long distance. Everyone has a good ability to see exactly what was going on and would see the masses of people all along the sides there and what they were doing. They were putting down these palms and the branches, and so very typical that anyone looking down through there would see this. Then others who didn’t know what was going on, “Who is this? What is taking place?” That’s exactly what happened.

So, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed be the King who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! They were being moved to say these things. They were being moved to talk about a King, talking about the descendant of David, and not knowing what was getting ready to take place. The farthest things from their mind.

Verse 39—And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke (warn) your disciples. In other words, “They shouldn’t be doing this. They shouldn’t be talking like this.” It’s like they’re chastising him for what everybody is saying out there, and it’s like, you’re going to control all them. They hated what they saw taking place so to them this was hideous what was taking place because of their beliefs and what they held to.

And he answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. “This is going to happen,” basically, “whether you like it or not, and if they were all to be calmed down these stones will cry out.” Incredible!

And when he came near he looked upon the city and wept over it. Can’t imagine that. He knew what he was getting ready to fulfill. He knew what he was getting ready to go through and there has to be this groaning inside, because this is what leads to that, when you’re groaning inside and you hurt for what you see because you see the stubbornness of human life, you see the selfishness of human beings, you see the captivity that people are in and it hurts. You have this desire. He longed for the time he could be the Messiah. He longed for the time he would be returning, knowing that there’s going to be a long span of time, that now he has to die in order that they be able to fulfill, to become a part of why he’s going to go through all this.

And so again, in a very moving way, in ways that we really can’t grasp—we can in measure depending on different things in our own lives and relate to certain things—and those are those emotions and feelings that were going through him.

Going on here, saying, If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong unto your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. That was what was in his mind. “If only you could see. If only you could grasp.” That moved him because he knew they couldn’t yet. They’re in bondage. He understood bondage in a way we can, to a point, but not nearly to the depth that he did.

For the days shall come upon you that our enemies shall cast a trench about you and encompass you and keep you in on every side, and they shall lay you even with the ground, your children within you,  and they shall not leave in you one stone upon another, because you don’t know the time of your visitation. So again here, things prophetically into the future, of things that are to come to pass, to be fulfilled. But very moving to him because it was all real to him right then and there because he knew that his time was short and why he was dying, why he was going to experience all this, why he knew that was his purpose and he was going to go through with it.

And finally, it’s good to go ahead and read John’s account here in John 12:12—On the next day, in other words, this is the daytime portion of the Sabbath on the 10th again, coming back to this. They all approach it in different ways and use different timing here, but this is the day now. …many people who had come to the Feast, so they had come early to the Feast like so often happens when people have to travel long distances and they took a long time for them to travel in some cases like this. Most of it was an agrarian society, so they could manage their lives a little differently than what a lot of people in the Church do when they go to the Feast of Tabernacles. But even then, sometimes people going early, obviously, going before Atonement and whatever it might be.

Well, here’s this case here where the Passover is almost there so might as well be there for the Sabbath ahead of time, and this was the thinking in the mind, so that’s why they’re showing up when they do.

It says, many people had come to the Feast. They came early because they were getting ready for Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread in mid-week there. And when they heard that Joshua was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches of palm trees. They heard that he was coming. This news travels fast. People would go before and let them know he’s coming into town. …and went forth to meet him, and cried: Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel! So, there is this mindset knowing he’s the Messiah, he’s the King of Israel, Who comes in the name of the LORD.

And Joshua, when he had found a young donkey, sat thereon; as it is written: Do not fear, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King comes sitting on a donkey’s colt. So again, so often in scripture referring back to the prophecy being fulfilled about himself.

Going on in verse 16—At first the disciples didn’t understand these things; but when Joshua was glorified… So again, it’s very obvious as you go through the story here, but it’s stating it very clear here, they just didn’t grasp what was going on. And when Joshua was glorified then remembered they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him. So, they then, later on, primarily from Pentecost when the holy spirit was poured out, all these things began coming to them. They remembered things that had been said, things had been spoken, things that he had accomplished in his life, things that he said, and realized these were a fulfillment of things prophetically in the Old Testament. But it hadn’t been given to them until that time, until later when they had that impregnation of God’s spirit.

Verse 17—The people, therefore, who were with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bear record. In other words, they were witness of these events. For this cause the people also met him. So that’s why they came out, because they were hearing these things and they knew these things don’t happen of me. They were moved even more that he is the Messiah. Because they had heard these things, many of them had heard these things before, and now with this evidence that had more to it, more power to it, in that respect, and God’s spirit there working as well within people as He does.

And for this cause the people also met him, for they heard that he had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said to one another, We are getting nowhere. Behold, the world has gone after him!

So, they wanted to kill him, they wanted to stop this from happening, but already to them everyone is going to him and it’s like we’re losing this. They were eager to make a deal with Judas Iscariot when he came along, and be able to whisk him away to put him to death.

We’re going to stop there today because, again, the continuation of the story, this is a good place to stop here today, and we’ll continue on next Sabbath.