Jesus' Last Week in Jerusalem (3D Jesus Part 6)

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Welcome to Out of Zion with Susan Michael, an exploration of the Bible and the land of

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Israel.

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From ancient biblical sites to the story behind the stories, join Susan on a journey through

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the most exciting book on the planet.

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Hit the subscribe button for future episodes which will deepen your faith and bring the

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Bible to life.

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And now here's our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there and welcome to the 3D Jesus Part 6.

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This week we're going to be talking about the last week of Jesus' life which was spent

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in Jerusalem.

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Now before we get into the heart of our story, I want to explain that Jesus was in an area

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called Peria, which is right east of the Jordan River.

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And he had been staying there when he heard from his friends, Martha and Mary, that Lazarus

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was ill and was dying.

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And so he comes back to the region of Judea to Bethany where they lived.

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And he raises Lazarus from the dead.

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Now this really stirred up the Sadducees in Jerusalem.

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And the Sanhedrin decided at that point that they needed to get rid of Jesus.

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Now Jesus knows it's very dangerous and so he leaves Judea and he goes to a city called

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Ephraim and he stays there until it's time for the Passover.

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And so six days before Passover, he returns to Bethany.

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Now at this time, everyone is making their way to Jerusalem for Passover.

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Literally 100,000 people are making their way to Jerusalem for Passover.

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There's not enough room in any ends or homes to house all of these people.

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And so many of them camp out around outside of the city walls of Jerusalem.

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And so because the Galileans approached the city of Jerusalem from the east when they're

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walking down from the Galilee, down the Jordan Valley, then they come up to Jerusalem from

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the east so they would camp out on the Mount of Olives.

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If you were coming from the western part or from a road that came in from the western

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part, then you camped out elsewhere.

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But it just so happens that the Galileans hung out on what's called the Mount of Olives.

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So we're going to talk about that a little bit later.

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Now in Bethany, Bethany was on the other side of the Mount of Olives.

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So you have Bethany over here on the east and then the Mount of Olives and then a deep

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valley called the Kidron Valley and it comes up to the Temple Mount and to the city of

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Jerusalem.

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So Jesus was very close to Jerusalem, but he was able to stay with his friends in Bethany

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instead of camping out on the Mount of Olives.

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So let's begin our story now.

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It's Sunday before Passover and we have what's called the Triumphal Entry.

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And this is when the people began declaring, they're hailing Jesus as king using Psalm

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118 and proclaiming him as king by saying Hosanna, Hosanna, which is something that

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the subjects would say to their king, oh king, save us.

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Be good to us, protect us and help us.

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Excuse me.

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So as he sees Jerusalem now, he's coming up the Mount of Olives and there's another

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little town that he probably went through to get to the top of the Mount of Olives and

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that's called Bethpage.

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And it is likely there that he said to go to the owner of the cult and say that my master

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has need of it and so he was riding on a donkey and now he comes up to the top of the Mount

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of Olives.

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The people are proclaiming him as king and he looks over Jerusalem and he weeps.

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Such a moving moment.

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He prophesies over the city that destruction is coming and he weeps over it.

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Then he goes on down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, up to the Temple

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Mount.

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But it is late in the day by now and so he then returns to Bethany for the evening.

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The next day, which would be Monday, he makes that trek again over the Mount of Olives and

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down and back up to the Temple.

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That's when it's believed that he overturned the money changers tables.

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And this is an interesting story because in order to do your sacrifice at the Temple,

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you had to bring an animal with you for the sacrifice.

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And if you're traveling for days from other parts of the country, that's quite hard.

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So they actually sold the animals to you there.

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And then in order to pay your taxes and to pay your alms and your obligations, you couldn't

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use a Roman coin that had the image on it of Caesar.

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You had to have a coin without any images on it.

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So they would change money for you and give you what was acceptable in the Temple for

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your money.

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And of course, it was a high interest rate.

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It was all a very, very big business that helped upkeep the Temple, but more than that

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when you saw how that the high priests and the priests were aristocrats.

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And that's when Jesus overturned the tables.

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At that night, he goes back to Bethany.

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The next day is Tuesday.

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He goes back to Jerusalem.

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I just want you to get the feeling of the geography here, of walking from Bethany up

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the Mount of Olives, seeing this amazing panoramic view of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

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It is very moving.

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It's very moving every time.

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But then he would descend down the Mount of Olives across the Kedron Valley and into

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the Temple area of Jerusalem.

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Now on Tuesday, he's back in Jerusalem and he enters into a number of debates with the

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Pharisees and the Sadducees.

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It's very interesting that a couple of times on this day, he alludes to Psalm 118.

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And this is the Psalm that the people were quoting when they were saying, Hosanna, Hosanna.

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Psalm 118 also goes on to talk about the day that they rejected the chief cornerstone.

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And so he refers to this to the Pharisees that they're rejecting the chief cornerstone,

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which they knew came right out of Psalm 118.

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At another point, it seems that on this day, and I think this probably took place from

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the Mount of Olives looking out over Jerusalem, he says to Jerusalem, he says, you will not

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see me again until you say, Baruch Habab, Hashem Adonai, blessed is he who comes in

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the name of the Lord, once again from Psalm 118.

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And so the people had been praising him and proclaiming to him.

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But he said, Jerusalem, you won't see me again.

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Of course, Jerusalem personifying the Jewish people.

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You won't see me again until you welcome me also as your king.

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On this day, it seems that as they were leaving the temple area, the disciples turned around

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and looked at the temple and they said to Jesus, look at this magnificent building.

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And as I explained to you in a previous episode, Herod the Great was the most amazing builder

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probably of the entire Roman Empire.

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So this temple was a world wonder.

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It broke world records.

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And so they're saying, isn't this amazing?

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Isn't this beautiful?

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Look how big it is.

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And Jesus then prophesies its destruction.

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Back on the Mount of Olives, they also have the Olivet Discourse.

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They ask Jesus, what are going to be the signs of your coming?

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And he has a long talk here about future events, judgment that's coming to the city of Jerusalem,

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and then also talks about end times and before his return.

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We don't know where he goes that night, but I have to assume he goes back to Bethany.

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The next day is Wednesday, and this is the day that he tells his disciples to prepare

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for the Passover.

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Now I want to make a few remarks here about the Passover and the Passover meal that they're

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going to partake of that day.

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Three of the Gospels say that Jesus' Passover meal was on Passover.

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But John says that the meal was on the day before Passover.

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And when you look at the chronology of this week and everything that took place, it gets

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quite confusing.

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Because if you go by the chronology that Jesus had his Passover dinner on Thursday night,

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which is the night before Passover, then that means that we had to squeeze a lot of events

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into a 24-hour period.

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First he's the Passover meal, then the arrest, and he goes to Caiaphas, and he's sent to

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Annas, the previous high priest, and he sends him back to Caiaphas.

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Then Caiaphas sends him to Pilate, and then Pilate sends him to Herod Antipas, and Herod

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sends him back to Pilate.

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Then Pilate tries to offer Jesus versus Barabbas, and the crowd chooses Barabbas.

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So then Jesus is flogged, and then by 9 a.m. he's crucified.

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That is a lot to squeeze in to just a few hours.

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And so let's look at the other three Gospels that say that his Passover meal was on Passover.

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Well we know Passover was on Friday.

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Jesus died when the Passover lambs were being slain in the temple, and that night was the

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Passover meal, and that's why the chief priest would not enter into the court of the Roman

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officials because it would have made them unclean for the Passover.

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So we know that the Passover was Friday night and went into the Sabbath on Saturday.

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So what do we do here?

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Actually there's a pretty simple explanation.

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There were two different calendars in operation at that time in history.

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We had the temple calendar, which was a lunar calendar that was the mainstream calendar of

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the Jewish people.

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So the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the temple all observed the lunar calendar, and according

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to the lunar calendar that year, which we assume is about 30 A.D., 30 A.D. Passover began on

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Friday night.

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But there was another calendar in operation, and it was the calendar of the Essenes.

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If you remember from previous talks, the Essenes had broken off from the temple.

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They thought that the temple was corrupted, and they felt that their calendar was actually

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the more pure calendar from the Old Testament days.

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It was a solar calendar, and according to the Essenes calendar in 30 A.D., Passover was on

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Wednesday.

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This solves everything.

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Now you might be asking, why would Jesus observe the Passover on that calendar and not that

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one?

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And I'll come to that in just a minute.

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But I do want to add that the early church fathers and the early church teachings referred

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to the passion of Jesus as being three days and the Passover being on Wednesday.

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So this is something that now it all makes sense when we know about this second calendar.

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So why did he observe the Essenes Passover?

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Not because he was totally Essenes, but when he stayed in Bethany, it seems like Bethany

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may have been an Essenes village.

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And so when you're staying with people, you're going to observe what they're observing.

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Secondly, when Jesus gave the instructions to his disciples, and he said, I want you

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to go prepare for the Passover, go into Jerusalem, and find a man that has a water jar, and follow

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him and then say, my master has need of the room.

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You know the story.

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Well, it's what's very, very odd about this story is why would a man be carrying a water

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jar and going to take water probably from the pool of Siloam?

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That's a job for women.

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And the explanation is either you are a widower or you are an Essen and you're not married.

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You're either a former priest and you joined this Essen movement or you are just an Essen

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man that made a vow of celibacy.

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And so when he tells him to find this man getting water and go with him, it's pretty

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accepted that he was probably an Essen and that they went to the quarter of Jerusalem,

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which is called the Essen quarter, and there's actually the gate through the old city, through

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the walls of the city of Jerusalem.

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There was the Essen gate because it went into the Essen area of Jerusalem.

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And it's believed that that's where the upper room was.

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Now why?

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Well, like I say, when you're around people that are observing this calendar and it could

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be that Jesus's family had connections there, I don't know, but also Jesus knew that his

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arrest was pending.

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And so I think he did it for convenience that he could have a meal with his disciples knowing

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that his time was very short.

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Now I just want to make clear here because last week I talked about the influence of

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the Pharisees, the influence of the Essenes.

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Jesus was not sectarian, so Jesus would not have claimed to be an Essen nor would he be

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claimed to be a Pharisee.

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He agreed with both of those groups on many points, but he also disagreed with them.

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And he weaved in and out of both factions.

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So now moving ahead to the story.

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It's time for the Passover.

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Pre-Jew before they had their Passover meal had to be ritually clean, so they would have

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had to do a ritual bath.

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And there was a ritual bath in Bethany.

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And today that it's called a mikvah in Hebrew.

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And it's what baptism came from is the ritual purity bath.

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And so there is one in Bethany and it has old Christian graffiti on it from many, many,

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many years ago.

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And there is a Christian, I believe it's a convent there.

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And so that seems to indicate a long-term Christian reverence for this place as though

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a tradition has it that maybe Jesus used that ritual bath.

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We don't know, but tradition is pretty strong in some of these cases.

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But for sure, to enter the area of town where the Essenes were, you had to be pure.

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You would have had to have that ritual bath.

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And so we can be sure that Jesus did that and then they went for the meal.

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Now in the scriptures, when it describes the Passover meal that Jesus has with his disciples,

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it never mentions lamb.

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Whereas the paschal lamb was a part of the Passover meal.

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So you would take your lamb that you had purchased or you had raised and you knew that it was

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blemish-free and you would take it to the temple and they would sacrifice it there.

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But they would give the meat back to you so that then you would go and roast that meat

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and you would have it for your meal.

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And how could that happen because on Wednesday night there were no lambs being sacrificed

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yet.

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But also the Essenes did not sacrifice lambs because they wouldn't have anything to do

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with the temple and the temple sacrifices.

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So Jesus's Passover on Wednesday night has no mention of lamb.

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Just an interesting little tidbit.

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They did have unleavened bread, they would have had the bitter herbs and they had the

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wine.

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And it was the cup after dinner that Jesus raised and said, this is my blood that is

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shed for you.

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It says that at the end of the Passover meal that they sang hymns.

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Well this was a standard part of the Passover meal.

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They would sing the hymns, it's called the great hallel and it's Psalms 113 to 118 followed

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by Psalm 136 and then they left.

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And so they would have descended down the hill because when they went to the Essenes

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quarter and they went through the Essenes gate to get to that area.

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Now let me back up and make a point here.

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When Jesus left Bethany that day they went back up the Mount of Olives, they went back

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down the Mount of Olives and then they followed the key drawn valley till it hits the Hennem

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Valley and took that, stayed on the outside of the city walls more than likely because

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Jesus didn't want to be seen.

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And so that's why we think he stayed on the outside of the city walls around until they

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got to the Essenes gate, went in and went up the hill to what we call the upper room where

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the Passover meal would have been eaten.

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So now the Passover meal is done so now they go back down the hill through the valley but

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now it's late and for whatever reason he doesn't go back to Bethany.

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Instead he goes to the Mount of Olives.

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Now the Mount of Olives is called the Mount of Olives because it was full of olive trees,

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it was an olive grove.

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And in the olive grove was an olive press, a Geth shemmon.

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So that has become Geth semeny.

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It means the olive press.

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Really an olive press is in a cave so that it protects the wood in the press.

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And the olives are pressed, there's a way of doing it and they're pressed three times

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to get the very best oil and then the not so good oil and the kind of oil that you use

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the different types of oil for different purposes.

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It's here.

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Jesus probably went into a cave where there was this olive press and that's where he prayed.

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And it's interesting isn't it that he went back to his disciples and then he went back

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to prayer, he prayed three times at the olive press until blood, he sweated blood.

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You can't make this up but unless you know the Hebrew and you know the setting you don't

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get the richness of the stories.

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Now it's on the Mount of Olives where then the temple guards come to arrest Jesus.

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They arrest him and they take him to Caiaphas' house.

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This means that from the Mount of Olives they go back down to the Kedron Valley and

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back around and up the hill, past the upper room to what's called the Upper City and that's

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where the aristocrats and where the chief priest lived.

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Now this is very unusual to be taken to the home of the high priest.

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It's not normal, the Sanhedrin which is 72 people could not have all fit in his home.

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I mean I'm sure he had a huge beautiful home.

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But more than likely those that were meeting in his home were what would be considered

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like the Council of Elders or the Executive Council, which more than likely was made up

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of the family of Caiaphas because his father-in-law had been the high priest before him and it

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was kind of a family monopoly and they made up the rulers of the Sanhedrin.

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So it was those rulers that gathered here with Jesus in the home of Caiaphas.

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Now today when you go to Jerusalem there is a church built over an aristocratic home in

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that area and it's very highly likely that this is Caiaphas's home.

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But we don't know for sure and some people have the theory that his home is a little

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bit farther up the hill.

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But it's very interesting that right next to the remains of this home are ancient steps

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from the time of Jesus and everybody agrees these steps are from the time of Jesus.

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So we believe those are the steps that Jesus climbed going up to the house of Caiaphas.

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The remains of this house with the church built over it today down below it are cisterns

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and there's one cistern which has a hole that opens up into the area of the house and

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there are three Byzantine crosses carved into the edge of that opening to the cistern

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and that kind of once again indicates tradition that the early Christians believed this was

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the pit, the prison in which Jesus was put overnight there in the home of Caiaphas.

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We don't know but we know that he was kept in a prison and it could have been very similar

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to that and today you can go down into that cistern.

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It's been expanded a little so that more people can get into it.

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You can just review the story of that last week and Jesus' sufferings as you're there

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in that pit.

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Now the church over that pit is called Galicantu which means in Latin cox crow and if you know

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the story while Jesus is in the home of Caiaphas and being accused and being held Peter is

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out in the courtyard.

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And Jesus had told Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the cock crows.

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And sure enough Peter is out in the courtyard and they're saying, weren't you with him?

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No, no, no, I don't know him.

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Aren't you from Galilee?

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Aren't you one of his...

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No, no, no, I'm not them and he denies three times knowing Jesus.

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And so this church commemorates that and over their church the spiral and the steeple, they

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have a rooster.

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Well I have a funny story to tell you.

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When I was living in Jerusalem, my school was actually right in that area.

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Today that area is called Mount Zion and so I was living there in the school just a hop,

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skip, and a jump from Galicantu but I didn't know it was there.

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I didn't know about the surroundings.

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But we were students and students come up with these wild ideas.

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I've told you about some before.

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Well we got the great idea of climbing the Mount of Olives and watching the sun come

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up.

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So that means we had to get up very early.

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It was in the dark and walk that route around Mount Zion through the Kedron Valley up the

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Mount of Olives to the top and watch the sunrise.

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And so as we are in the pitch black walking around Mount Zion right above where that church

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is although I didn't know that church was there.

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What do I hear?

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A rooster crow.

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And I remember, I got goosebumps.

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You could just picture that night in the dark of the night what was going on in that area.

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A year later I discover that the church built there is actually in commemoration of that.

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And of course they have roosters on the ground and I'm sure we must have woken one of them

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up.

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And so that's the rooster that we heard.

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But the point is this.

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In the middle of the night a rooster is very loud and especially in Jerusalem because

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the sound bounces off the hills.

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And so some people will say, well there weren't chickens inside Jerusalem during those days.

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They were considered unclean and so they wouldn't have been in Jerusalem.

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But my theory is this.

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Even if they were outside the walls of Jerusalem, I'm sure the Romans had plenty of chickens

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and roosters, that crowing would have just bounced all over the mountains and they would

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have heard it.

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It's possible there's another translation.

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It wasn't really the rooster crowing.

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It was the temple crier.

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They would cry out.

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Most people say that it was a rooster.

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Okay, so now we have the trial of Jesus.

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And as I said, the trial is held mostly by the Sadducees.

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And the fact that they didn't get the whole Sanhedrin together because there were some

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Pharisees on the Sanhedrin and they probably worried that the Pharisees would oppose what

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they were going to do to Jesus.

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And so this was just the Sadducees, just the top leadership meeting with this.

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They theologically didn't have a problem with killing Jesus because they did not believe

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in the afterlife.

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They didn't believe in any judgment after life, like pain for your sins after you die.

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Everything's about the here and the now.

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So theologically, they didn't have anything to lose and politically it would really help

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them with Rome because part of their job was to keep peace with Rome and they needed to

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get rid of Jesus.

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They were really worried because of his miracles and the number of followers that he had.

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And they said, we cannot arrest him during the Feast of Passover because it'll just be

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a riot.

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So they wanted to do it quietly and they wanted to do it quickly and they wanted to do it

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before the Feast.

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So now they cannot execute Jesus.

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So they have to send him to Rome, to the Roman officials, I should say.

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Only they can carry out an execution.

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So they send him to Pontius Pilate.

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Another interesting little point here is that many people would point out years back that

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there was no Pontius Pilate, there was no record of him anywhere.

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And so we can't believe the Bible.

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So we don't believe there was a Pontius Pilate.

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And then in Caesarea on the coast, the town that Herod the Great built, and that large

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port I told you about, they found a stone there where something had been dedicated by

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Pontius Pilate.

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And do you know that that stone in later years, because things are destroyed and then they're

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rebuilt and then destroyed, that stone had been used, I think, in a stairwell.

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So people had been walking on that stone for probably hundreds of years.

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That's the fate of the man that executed Jesus.

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But he did exist.

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Now, but Pilate can't find anything that's actually guilty about Jesus.

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So he sends him to the governor, Herod Antipas.

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Herod Antipas can't find anything that makes him guilty, so he sends him back to Pilate.

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So Pilate comes up with the idea, I'm going to offer amnesty for every Passover we do

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this, we offer amnesty to a person, so I'm going to give them their choice, Jesus or

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Barabbas.

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And he thinks that's going to be the end of the problem.

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But of course, the crowd, which was mainly the Sadducees and the ones supporting them,

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cried out for Barabbas to be let go and Jesus to be crucified.

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So Pilate has Jesus flogged by the Romans.

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And a very, very interesting is that in Jerusalem, there is an area where it was one of the Romans.

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There were several of these palaces or Praetorium, as they were called.

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We don't know exactly which one Jesus was sent to and where this took place.

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But one of those Praetoriums had a courtyard called the Pavement.

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And it mentions that in the scriptures.

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We don't know if this is the Pavement or not.

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But anyway, in this Pavement, there is what we would call a board game.

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It's engraved in the stone where the Roman soldiers would play this game.

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And it was called the King's game.

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And what they did with prisoners is that they would play this game and they would like,

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accuse them of being a king.

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And whoever lost the game had to put on the robe and they had to be mocked about this.

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And so when it says that the soldiers put a robe on him and a crown of thorns and they

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mocked him, it really rings as though they might have been doing it as a part of this

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game, which was common in Roman areas where they crucified people.

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So it all makes sense.

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You can go and see that game in a floor, which is either a first-century floor or a second-century

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floor, but definitely it's where Romans played this game.

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So of course we know that Jesus is then taken to Galgotha where he is crucified.

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And because of the scourging, he dies within a matter of hours.

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Usually crucifixion can take days, but he was very weak.

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And so he died before the Sabbath began and they were able to bury him.

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And the person who came and gave him his tomb was Joseph of Arimathea, who was a member

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of the Sanhedrin, probably a Pharisee.

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And it says he was a disciple of Jesus.

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So that tells you Jesus had many followers and they were at all levels and at all realms.

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Now, that wraps up the story for this week, but I hope that you got a feeling for the

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geography, for the setting, for how all of this makes perfect sense when you see the

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geography and you take into account these various factions and these various influences.

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And the story just comes alive.

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Now we're going to leave it here, but next week we're going to talk about Jesus' resurrection

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and how he appeared for 40 days.

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He appeared to over 500 people, by the way.

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And then he ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives.

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And we're going to wrap up this series talking about where was Galgotha?

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Where was the tomb of Jesus where he was resurrected?

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What is the significance of the Mount of Olives?

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And then what does all of this mean for you?

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So I'll see you back here next week.

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Now in the meantime, I have a free resource for you.

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I've put together a map of Jerusalem where you can see where Bethany was and you can

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trace Jesus' route over the Mount of Olives as you go through the story.

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So just go to outofzionshow.com or go to the show notes down below and we'll give you a

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link to that resource, a free map of Jerusalem to help in your study of the last week of

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Jesus.

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All right, see you back here next time.

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God bless.

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We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael.

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Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, cpnshows.com, YouTube, or

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wherever you like to listen and learn.

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Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA All Rights Reserved.