JESUS WENT: To Jerusalem

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. Welcome to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Welcome to Words of Life. I'm Cheryl Gillum, and I'm here with my co-host, Tim Gillum, for this particular series. We're glad you're here, Tim. How are you?

I am doing fantastic. It's been great to be here with you. It's the Easter season. We're so excited. Well, you know, there are a lot of important seasons on the Christian calendar, but none more important than Holy Week and Resurrection Day.

Absolutely. And so I know that we are in for a treat as Major Louise talks about Holy Week. Well, Holy Week begins today. And as we've been in our Easter series with Major Melendez, today we study the importance of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. So let's talk a little bit about Holy Week and what that means to the Christian life. You know, Bernie always says the Salvation Army are Easter people.

Right. We are Easter people. We're resurrection people. And it's amazing to go back and think about that week when it took place, how we go from a triumphal entry, Hosanna in the highest, to just a week later, our Lord and Savior being hung on a cross.

But I'm so thankful that He didn't stay there. He overcame death and sin for you and for me and for all who are listening. And as I said earlier, the most important season on the Christian calendar. Right. And because of His death and resurrection, that's why we are Easter people.

Amen. And so we thank the Lord for all that was accomplished on the cross. Let's talk about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is situated on the southern Judean plateau, which is at its highest point, 2,500 feet above sea level. Just 37 miles west of Jerusalem is the Mediterranean Sea.

And 22 miles to its east is the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea. This explains why in John 5 one, it states after this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. This idea of ascending or going up to Jerusalem does not merely refer to a geographical climb. Jerusalem was the site of the temple of God, therefore, a place of spiritual ascent. That's why the psalmist asks, who shall ascend into the hills of the Lord or who shall stand in its holy place? In fact, 15 of the biblical songs from 120 through 134 bear the names of songs of ascent.

They've been also called pilgrim songs. Many scholars believe that these songs were sung by worshippers walking up the road to Jerusalem at the time of the three great pilgrimage festivals, the Passover, the Tabernacles and Pentecost. The fact that Jesus went in connection to these feasts was something which all Jewish males were required to appear before God in Jerusalem and celebrate. This city, Jerusalem, is known by as many as 70 different names. It is mentioned in the Bible as early as Genesis 14, 18, where it is referred to as Shalem, the city ruled by Melchizedek, the priest. Later, it is called Jebus, where David, the king, fought and captured it from the Jebusites and made it the biblical capital of Israel.

Among the names of Jerusalem are City of Peace, City of God, City of David, Zion, Holy Mountain. And here's the story that makes Jerusalem uniquely special. God told Abraham to go there in Genesis chapter 22 verse 2. Then God said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you about. And this happened in Moriah.

But where is that? Though it was wilderness area in Abraham's day, a thousand years later, King David established the city of Jerusalem there, and his son Solomon built the first Jewish temple there. We read later in the Old Testament historical book of Second Chronicles chapter 3 verse 1, Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. And to this very day, it is a holy place for the Jewish people.

It has to be holy. Listen to what exactly occurred on that Mount Moriah. Abraham looked up, and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over, took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day, it is said, On the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. The Gospel of Luke chapter 2 tells us that Jesus in his life as a child was taken to Jerusalem on his eighth day for circumcision.

This was done as it was written in the law that every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord. Then Jesus went to Jerusalem when he was 12 years old. Luke chapter 2 verses 41 reads, Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.

This is the story of that visit. And when the family was returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind. Three days later, he was found by his mother Mary and Joseph in the temple, sitting among the teachers, asking questions and sharing with wisdom. Mary said to Jesus, Your father and I have been searching for you. Now the answer is a revealing of Jesus as God and of his own mission. Verse 49.

Why were you searching for me? Jesus asked. Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? The New King James Bible writes it this way.

Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? Later, as Luke continues to write about Jesus in his final journey to Jerusalem in Chapter 9 verse 51, as the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke 13 22 states, Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. So it seems to me that the main account that Luke is making is that Jesus is clear about his unique sonship to God. He is the son of God, and that is his mission. And it will require of him a devotion to God's purpose.

It's so great that it takes precedence even over his own family. In Luke Chapter 19, we have recorded the triumphal entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, where the crowds and disciples joyfully praise God out loud by saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. That's why we celebrate Palm Sunday. Jesus went to Jerusalem to declare himself the Prince of Peace. Palm Sunday is the start of the Holy Week, and we praise and thank God our Savior for writing into Jerusalem to do his saving work for us. So as Christians, we commemorate Holy Week and the purposeful journey of Jesus to fulfill the will of God his Father. Jesus went to Jerusalem, mission-oriented, on a journey of obedience to the ultimate sacrifice to do the business of his Father. Jesus and his disciples celebrated the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem, a celebration of God's rescue of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. And you can read this in the Book of Exodus. The sacrificial blood of spotless lambs had protected Israel's people from the plague of death that was swept through Egypt. Now Jesus, the perfect and sinless Lamb of God, headed to the cross where he would lay down his life for you and for me.

That's why we have a Good Friday on our calendar. Jesus went to Jerusalem obediently to die on the cross. The prophet Isaiah foretold it. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. The Apostle Paul explains it this way. God made him no sin to be sinned for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Hallelujah. We can ask for forgiveness of our sins, receive it, and be spared the punishment for our sins. So spiritually speaking, I ask, have you gone to Jerusalem? Jesus went. Jerusalem is the place of provision. It's a place of obedience. It's a place of consecration. It's a holy place. It's a place of worship. It's the place of the cross. You will find peace, forgiveness for your sins.

We don't need to sacrifice ourselves. Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. We don't have to do a physical pilgrimage to Jerusalem. What is amazing is that the Bible ends its chapters with the Apostle John in Revelation chapter 21, seeing a new heaven and a new earth, and this is his vision. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of thing has passed away. I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and the lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.

On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and the honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Join me in prayer. Loving Father God, you gave your only son Jesus to be both a sacrifice for sin and an example of godly life. Help us gladly to receive all that he has done for us and follow in his footsteps through Jesus Christ our Savior who is alive. With you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever and ever, forgive me of my sins.

Amen. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support and we'd love to hear from you. Email us at radioatuss.salvationarmy.org. Call 1-800-229-9965 or write us at P.O.

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