He's risen indeed. Many of us said that yesterday as we celebrated Easter. Today we continue the Easter celebration with studying God's Word.
Yes, we celebrate Easter one day, but we celebrate the truth of Easter this week, all week long, with special messages from Dr. Don Wilton. We'll head to Matthew chapter 28 in just a moment, but as we begin, Dr. Wilton wants me to remind you we're here for you. We would love to pray with you and for you on our toll-free number, 866-899-WORD.
That's 866-899-9673. We're also connecting on our website as well, www.tewonline.org. Some unique resources, a special book from Dr. Wilton's friend, Stormy O'Marty, and it's all on our website, www.tewonline.org. And as we open God's Word, let's open our hearts to see what God's going to do with us as we begin to rethink Easter.
And now, Dr. Don Wilton. So I grew up in Africa. Easter, the schools in Africa, in the British system, used to close on Friday and Monday, every year, Friday and Monday. So on Thursday, we'd get home from school and just stick with me because this is Africa now, okay?
Don't be too shocked. But we'd get home from school about 3, 4 o'clock and we'd run over to our church and we'd have young people, hundreds of them, come from all over the place and we'd get into trucks. I mean literally these lorries, you know, these big old trucks and we'd have all our stuff and there'd be hundreds of us students.
And then we'd head out into the African wilderness on the coast, on the wild coast of Africa. And we had tents, that's where we stayed. We'd get to wherever we were going and then the first thing we'd do, all the guys would get off and we'd have to set up all the tents. So the girls were always kind of like over there, they always had the best spot. And so we'd put up, you know, 20 tents for the girls and then the guys were sort of banned to the other side of the river that had plenty of crocodiles in it, but we were on the other side of it. And then we had a mess tent where they made the good grub and we had like a marquee tent where we would meet for worship. So we'd spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then Monday and it was the best fun you can imagine.
I mean serious. A lot of stories, but that's my, a lot of my memories about Easter. And Easter of course is a great time. I mean people just look so wonderful and families together, memories, good food. Here in the US, you know, it's springtime.
I'm just glad it stopped raining yesterday. And so there's a lot of great things. Do you know the interesting thing about Easter is that's not really what it is. It's about something a lot more than that. So, you know, Jesus lives in my heart and I'm a Christian man and I have a lot of fun.
I enjoy a lot of things. But Easter, I have to rethink Easter every year. I've got to rethink what this is.
That's what I'm going to ask you to do. So let's just bow our heads for a minute. Lord, right now we're going to ask that you speak to each one of us in our enjoyment of this time of the year and our families and the things that we have going on. Lord, there's a lot of us that need to rethink Easter because this is the single most bit of good news that could ever be shared anywhere. Because the thing that happened at Easter has allowed the likes of me to walk free like Barabbas who was condemned to death like me, like all of us. And I'm free today even though I have a death sentence because of my sin.
I am set free because Jesus took my place. And I really get a hold of this. So, Lord, I pray that you'd speak to all of us today in Jesus' name. Amen.
Let's start here. I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew 28. So we're right down to Matthew 28. Okay, that's the last book of the Gospel of Matthew.
You get Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four Gospels, and each one of these men were part of the group that were known as Jesus' disciples. So we need to understand this at the beginning. They were there. Everything that I'm about to share with you right now, they saw it. That's why they wrote about it.
Okay, we've got a firsthand account. And so I want to read to you just the first six verses of Matthew 28. This is what Matthew said about that day. Now after the Sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him, the gods trembled and became like dead men.
But the angel said to the woman, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen, just as he said. So come and see the place where he lay.
I want you to come with me for a minute. So I'm going to put up here a map. All right, you're going to see a map here of Jerusalem.
There it is. This is an ancient map of Jerusalem. Now let me just say a few things to help orient you. The first thing I want you to notice, if I point there, you can see the golden dome. Everybody knows that is the golden dome.
That there is today controlled by the Muslims. It's a Muslim temple. Let me tell you about that spot there.
This is called the temple mount. So just focus right there. I want to tell you why you need to focus right there. Where am I? Okay, right there.
Just take a hard look at this. See that there? That is going to be the center of heaven, right there. The Bible says when Jesus comes back, he's going to go to that spot, and he's going to set up his throne right there. You're going to say to me, what is that place? That is Mount Moriah.
What's significant about Mount Moriah? Remember, if you go back into the Old Testament, God came to Abraham, had only one son. He said to him, Abraham, I want you to take your son. I want you to go to Mount Moriah, and I want you to sacrifice your son. And Abraham did it.
He was completely obedient. But when he climbed up, none of this was here during the time of Abraham. This was just a mountain. He climbed up that mountain, and he was about to sacrifice Isaac, and God interrupted him and said no. Now I know that you are willing to be obedient.
I want you to know that there's a better way. This is Mount Moriah. And when Jesus comes back, I'm going to show you that in just a minute, he's going to set up his kingdom here. Heaven is going to be on this earth.
It's not up there. God's kingdom now is up there because he went up into heaven. But Revelation 21 tells us that at the end of times, the end of the age, the heavenly Jerusalem is going to come down from God out of heaven and is going to land right there. And God says in Revelation 21, not me, not any theologian, not the pope, God says from now on I will make my dwelling place with mankind. Now you might say to me, well, what happens to heaven? That is heaven because it's all going to become one. There's no sea, there's no separation, no gravity, and everything's going to become perfect. So when we live there with him, the earth and the whole galactic orbit of God's creation is going to go back to the Garden of Eden, which was perfect.
We can't figure that out, can we? So what is rethinking Easter? How does this all come together? So I want to go back to a full map here and I'm going to show you something. All right? I'm going to take you on a journey, a very quick journey. I want you to listen carefully and I want you to rethink Easter with me. First of all, I want you to rethink the upper room. Our Bible tells us that Jesus at the time of the Passover called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and the other disciples, there were 12 of them including Judas who was going to betray him, and he called them into one room. And that upper room is right about in this area here.
Okay? There's the Mount of Olives. There's the Mount of Olives. There's the Dome of the Rock.
That's the center point. Jesus met with his disciples in the upper room. And what did he tell them? He took bread, he broke it.
He took the cup and they drank it. And he said, this bread is broken for you, my body. My blood is being shed for you. Bottom line, don't forget. When you rethink Easter, don't forget that. Church, don't forget.
That's the starting point. So when Jesus had this, that was like the equivalent of our Thursday night. It was the night before he was betrayed, the Bible says. So on Thursday night or early Friday morning, Jesus left here and he went down this valley here. There's a valley that comes in from this side and joins with this valley. This valley here is called the Valley of Gehenna. Gehenna. Can I give you the literal translation? H-E-L-L. That is the place of hell, the Valley of Gehenna.
Do you know where it gets its name from? Remember, Judas betrayed Jesus for just a little bit of money. And after all these things happened, Judas went out and he hanged himself in the field of blood at the place called hell. He was sentenced to hell, the Valley of Gehenna. After Jesus showed his disciples in the upper room, he walked over hell.
Took a left turn and he came up, if we come to the top right side of this map, I'll show you how he came up here and then he turned left and he went up this valley here. And this valley here is called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And what do you suppose the word Jehoshaphat means? Judgment. So after Jesus walked over hell, he then walked up the Valley of Judgment.
We are judged for our sins. And he came to this place right there, which is called the Garden of Gethsemane. Now the Garden of Gethsemane is a place. It's a garden at Gethsemane. The place was called Gethsemane and at Gethsemane there's a garden.
It's a beautiful garden with a lot of olive trees that are there from the time of Jesus. But right as you get to the Garden of Gethsemane, there are some incredible caves. And the Bible tells us that Jesus, during these last days, he would come and teach in the temple and he would tell people about himself and every night he would cross through the Kidron Valley and he would go into the caves at Gethsemane and that's where he would spend the night. And just to connect all the dots, that's the same place where Jesus met Nicodemus.
Remember Nicodemus came to him at night? You can read about it in John chapter 3 and said to him, Rabbi, what must I do to go to heaven? Jesus said to him, you must be born again. It was right there in Gethsemane. And what happened in Gethsemane? Well, right there in Gethsemane we find agonizing submission because Luke tells us that Jesus went down on his knees. Jesus fell on his knees and he begged God the Father to remove the cup of his suffering. Now why would Jesus do that? Here's why he did that.
Because Jesus was all God and he was all man. That's the word deity. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word. Please don't go away. He'll be back in just a moment with more of today's message. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you that we are connecting on our website 24 hours a day with remarkable resources that can help you grow in your faith. Right now many people are asking about the opportunity to pray for our adult children with a special resource that's available right now on our website. It's www.tewonline.org. A remarkable book by Stormy O'Martigan and some audio resources from the pastor. It's available right now at www.tewonline.org. And for your gift of $25 or more, not only do you receive this wonderful resource, but you're helping us share the love of Jesus Christ every single day through the broadcast of The Encouraging Word. As a matter of fact, if you drop by the website right now, www.tewonline.org, you'll see this remarkable resource of a book that is, I think, the best book yet from Dr. Don Wilton. There are many more good ones to come, but this is the best yet.
Again, that says one of... I cannot begin to describe to you how incredible, what a privilege and an honor to sit at the feet of Dr. Billy Graham as his friend and pastor for so many years, right there at his home every Saturday. I've put that down in Saturdays with Billy. My thoughts, this relationship never violating any confidences, sharing the life of this extraordinary man that God touched and used across the world to reach so many people for Christ, friends of presidents and prime ministers.
You don't want to miss this opportunity. It is filled with personal anecdotes, but above all, the blessings that flow from the heart of God's servant, Dr. Billy Graham. Again, that says one of many great resources on our website at www.tewonline.org, and while you're there, at our website www.tewonline.org, please sign up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don. It's a tremendous blessing and will launch your day in a powerful way with God's word, an application of God's word and a powerful time of prayer. That's on our website www.tewonline.org, sign up for the daily encouraging word devotional.
Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. All God, all man, he came into this world and took upon himself all man, and he was tempted in all points just as we are, yet without sin. But at the same time, he was always God, and he told his disciples, he said, if you've seen me, you've seen God the Father. So Jesus, the man in the garden, got on his knees, because Jesus, the person, understood pain. He knew what was about to happen to him. There was nothing worse than being crucified. There was no greater torture, it was the worst torture anybody could ever have, and he knew it.
And so he said, Father, would you take the cup of my suffering nevertheless, because I'm God, I'm the son of God, and we saw that in the life of Abraham, who was completely obedient, Jesus, in complete obedience to the Father, agonizingly submitted, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. So as we rethink Easter, they came and arrested him right here in the Garden of Gethsemane. They stepped down here into this valley. You remember what we called it? The Valley of Jehoshaphat.
Do you know what its other name is? The Kidron Valley, K-I-D-R-O-N. Do you know what Kidron means in the Hebrew text? Destiny. So he walked up the Valley of Judgment, was arrested, and began the journey of his destiny. Why did Jesus come to this earth? Why was he born? What was his destiny?
So he walks back down the Kidron Valley. When he gets down to about there, he takes a turn again, going up a sharp incline past the City of David, right up into this place over here, and he goes to the house of Annas, or Anna, A-N-N-A. And Anna was very high up in the hierarchy. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest. So there is a connection here between Anna, who is one of the rulers, and Caiaphas, the high priest. So look what happens here.
He goes up, and he's very sharp, and he doesn't miss a lick. And he's right here at the house of Anna, and guess what happens? Anna asks him a loaded question. You rethink Easter, and you get to Anna, where Jesus was taken after his arrest.
First stop. He gets a loaded question. Do you know what a loaded question is? Have you ever had someone come up and say to you, did I see you at that steakhouse last night? And you know jolly well you were at the steakhouse and that they knew you were at the steakhouse.
It's like big dummy. What are you asking me that for? What do you mean did I see you like the rooty toot toot toot? What do you mean did you see me?
Here's the loaded question. So Anna, in all his religious almightiness, turns to Jesus and says to him, excuse me Jesus, aren't you the one that's been causing all this trouble and speaking to all the Jews here at the temple and showing good works and healing people? Aren't you the one? Jesus turns back to him and says to him, excuse me, you know that I'm the one because you've seen me teaching and preaching and healing people. Do you know what Jesus got for that?
Pow! One of the gods stepped up and smacked him up one side of the face and said to him, how dare you talk to someone so important like Anna. Just rethink Easter. By the way, how important do we have to become in order to give Jesus a slap in the face and teach him not to talk to us like that? But Jesus did it. Well, Anna said to him, off with you and he went to the house of Caiaphas. When he went to the house of Caiaphas, even to this day there are huge pits, prisons and they took Jesus and they threw him down into the bottom of one of these pits. Even David the psalmist inspired by the Holy Spirit in Psalm 88 wrote about it. You know what happened to Jesus?
You want to rethink Easter? He was totally abandoned. There was nobody else with him. He was in the bottom of the pit.
Guess here's what's happened. Darkness closed over him. You know Jesus is the light of the world and yet he allowed darkness to close over him. He became abandoned. Caiaphas sent him off with you and so Caiaphas sent him right over here to this area right here, to the Dome of the Rock between the Al-Aqsa Mosque and this area right here was known as the Sanhedrin. Sanhedrin, S-A-N-H-E-D-R-I-N. The Sanhedrin was the upper headquarters of the religious elite in Jerusalem.
You know who lived there? All the top dogs of the church and get this, the Bible tells us that these very top religious people condemned Jesus. The church, the church condemned Jesus.
Indeed the church did condemn Jesus. I pray that as we begin to understand more about what Jesus went through for us, we would understand how deep his love is for us. We've been listening to Dr. Don Wilton teaching and preaching from the pulpit and as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now?
Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart in Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.
This is exciting you. Welcome to the family of God. I'm convinced that some of you were praying along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Christ for the very first time or perhaps others are rededicating your life even right now saying, it's time, it's time to put what you've done in the past in the past and know that God has a great future for you, an opportunity. Now with your sins forgiven, with a chance to find a purpose for living and know that a place for heaven waits for you, we'd love to rejoice with you in your decision if you'll give us a call at 866-899-WORD.
Dr. Don Wilton would like to pray for you and he'd love to send you some special resources as well that will help you grow. The phone number again is 866-899-9673. We'd love to connect with you on our website as well at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.
Or if you want to have one of us talk with you and pray with you about your questions, we're available 24 hours a day. Jot the number down, store it in your cell. It's 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.
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