Jesus Comes to Conquer; He comes to Cleanse; He will come again! Join the crowds in raucous celebration of the arrival of Jesus, our victorious Messiah.
Jesus enters the Temple for a series of tension filled conflicts with the leading elders, teachers of the law, and Pharisees who actively seek to assassinate Him. Encounter Jesus at His finest as He exposes religious leaders who hide behind manmade authority while they reject God's real authority. This same authority is now bestowed on us who follow Jesus. Follow our Boss … Like a Boss!
The religious leaders try to punch back at Jesus as He continues to confound them on the Temple Mount during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover). Seeking to skewer Him on the horns of a dilemma, they ask Jesus whether the tribute tax should be paid to Caesar or not. He easily and masterfully sidesteps their craftiness with composure and brilliance. Give It Up For Jesus! And then after marveling at our Lord, Give It Up To Jesus as "give to God what is God's."
Through His brilliant commentary on Psalm 110, Jesus schools the religious leaders on the magnitude of the Messiah. He is both the Son of the David and David's Lord. And His Throne will be the seat of ultimate authority.
After entering the Temple, Jesus confronts the religious leaders head on with a parable about a vineyard that will be given over to others. The leaders understood that the parable was leveled against them. In response to losing God's blessings and losing God's commission, they cried out "God Forbid!" We can learn a lesson from their poor stewardship of God's provisions: Walk In Hopeful Anticipation of Christ's Return Work the Harvest Welcome a Prophet or 2 (or 3)
As Jesus's disciples marvel at the grand stones and works of wonder — especially the Temple itself with heavy gold plates that reflected the morning sun and 40 foot tall monolithic marble pillars — He reframes the sights with a godly perspective. In less than one generation, Israel will experience a foretaste of the Day of the Lord with desolation wrought by Rome. And sure enough, all that Jesus predicted in 33AD and all that Luke wrote in 64AD came to pass with uncanny accuracy in 70AD.
During this sermon and communion message, Ed Anton considers the significance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover in light of Jesus' establishment of the New Covenant as He prepares for His own sacrifice for us.
This is the horrid hour — when darkness reigns. In preparation, Jesus prays to endure the defilement of sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.
Contemplate the depth of this truth: "He is not here. He has risen!" Now ask yourself "So What?" and "What Now?"
Jesus reverses the curse as he hits rewind the entire human race on the Road to Emmaus
