[Warning: Graphic Content]
It was to become a cruel, brutal, and shattering 24 hours for them. Jesus had shared Passover with His disciples in that upper room. He had shared, during supper as bread and wine are passed between them, that “this is My body given for you … this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you … do this in remembrance of Me.” The disciples could sense the solemnity of that moment which seemed so much weightier than the great commemoration of the night Israel left Egypt all those centuries ago.
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood …”, did they have any idea of what lay before them? Jesus said another disturbing thing that night …
Luke 22:21-22 (NIV) “But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22 The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays Him!"
Well, that certainly stirred the disciples. They all began wondering if it could be “me”? They all knew they had the potential to betray the Lord. They were just hoping against hope that it wasn’t “me” – except Judas who, minutes later, suddenly leaves to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus now prays for His disciples (John 17). Then He and His remaining band, leave the upper room making their way to Gethsemane - no more than 20 minutes’ walk away. On the way, they cross the creek trickling in the Kidron Valley. Jesus and the disciples had often crossed here when travelling between Jerusalem and Bethany. Gethsemane was on the way.
In the Temple on the Temple Mount above them, the Passover sacrifice, underway since sunup, was now done. Since ancient times several days before Passover, shepherds would bring in thousands of sheep. Near the north end of the Temple Mount’s east facing wall was the Inspection Gate where the sheep were inspected in order to be declared “unblemished.” Once designated acceptable, the sheep could then be sold as Passover Lambs. In Jesus’ day, 20,000 sheep on the day of Passover were slain before sunset – that’s four a minute. The blood of each animal sacrificed was let into a bowl by the priests and sprinkled on the altar with the remainder then poured down a drain in the court, which emptied into the creek of the Kidron Valley … a huge volume of blood.
By the time Jesus was crossing the Kidron to come up to Gethsemane, the creek was now a flow of blood … As He came to the creek’s edge … I wonder how He felt, knowing that- as far as God was concerned, the last Lamb for the atonement of the sins of humanity would be sacrificed in the next twelve, or so hours? I wonder how He felt knowing by now that He was that spotless Lamb about whom His cousin, John the Baptist had prophesied three years earlier … John 1:36 (NIV) "Look, the Lamb of God!" Did Jesus hesitate at the creek’s edge as He saw all that blood and feel the terrible weight of His obedience to the Father … and contemplate those next few hours? What was He thinking right then? We will never know.
John 18:1 (NIV) [they] “… crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden at the foot of the mount [of Olives], and He and His disciples went into it.”
Shortly thereafter, everything in heaven and hell converged on that tiny garden. Jesus goes deep into prayer. It is a tremendous, horrendous battle. The devil is seeking to exploit the Lord’s fear … Jesus exclaims that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Luke 22:42-43 (NIV) "Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done." 43 An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him.”
He goes to prayer a third time in an anguished petitioning to the Father, and is so incredibly distressed, under so much spiritual pressure, in so much anguish of soul, that He sweats drops of blood. In His faithful perseverance He wins the battle of spirit over flesh …
Hebrews 5:7 (NIV) “… He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.”
He was heard … Jesus returns to the sleeping disciples and rouses them knowing that His betrayer was closing in with a squad of Roman soldiers. The rest of that night is a shattering blur of anguish, betrayal, violence, tears, and incomprehensible disillusionment. Peter betrays Jesus as it had been prophesied by his Master hours before. Judas is in despair as he realises he could not manipulate Jesus into becoming the kind of Messiah he wanted – and kills himself. The rest of them, terrified, scatter and go to ground.
In the early morning sun, a bloodied and brutalised Jesus carries a Roman cross to Skull Hill where there is already a forest of other crosses with dying men and corpses in various stages of decay. The stench is sickeningly overpowering. This is hell on earth.
Mark 15:24-25 (NIV) “And they crucified Him. Dividing up His clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. 25 It was nine in the morning …”
It took more the six hours for Jesus to die.
Romans 3:25 (NIV)
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— …” Hebrews 12:2 (NIV) “But for the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, …”
The blood of the sinless Lamb of God was shed. It was poured out sealing a new eternal covenant. And that one sacrifice was all sufficient. It was not the volume of the blood of Christ that was significant. The blood shed is about the life given in sacrifice … “this is My body given for you … My blood poured out for many”. The blood of Christ has no magical powers in and of itself. But the spotless, sinless, holy life of the Son – the Lamb of God – was, and is, powerfully sufficient to atone for all sins for all people, for all time, and in eternity. There was - and is - no other sacrifice for eternal atonement possible!
Leviticus 17:11 (NIV) "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement."
This is echoed in the New Testament, too. Hebrews 9:22 (NIV) “… the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Easter is here once more. Take the slow pilgrimage with Jesus from the upper room to Skull Hill. So much happened in less than 24 hours. It changed everything. It still does. Marvel at the enormity of the sacrifice of the sinless Lamb of God and it’s tremendous power! Worship Him afresh as the Spirit reveals new things about the salvation God made for us through Christ – and why He paid such a price. And live it now. This is GOOD Friday.
Ps Milton
[Sources: Bibletools.org; Compass International; various commentaries.]