Come Follow Me (Insights into Easter, Apr 6–Apr 12)

hello and welcome to another episode of come follow me insights sponsored by Book of Mormon central my name is Tyler Griffin and I'm Daniel Smith Daniel is filling in for Taylor who isn't here this week Daniel is an employee here at book of mormon central working on some pretty pretty exciting things I'm working on in particular the scripture plus app and one of the things that we're really excited about that we're doing right now is we are putting in some reading plans that will actually help you along as you are reading the come follow meet so we'll be able to go through and take you day by day and have okay here's a reading assignment here's a video here's different information that you can read so you can just go step by step and learn through the whole process so for today what we're gonna do is I'll begin by walking you through the final week of the Savior's life kind of giving you a bit of a virtual tour of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus through those those different events leading up to his resurrection and then I'm gonna be going over somewhat similar but except with with an emphasis on the Passover and talking about the connections and the the significance of how Passover teaches us about the atonement and helps us really better understand why it's so significant that Jesus chose the timing to be exactly during the time of Passover wonderful let's jump in what you're looking at here is a free app that we at BYU virtual Scriptures group helped to produce in conjunction with the the church's motion picture studio in Provo if you look on the app store for virtual New Testament it will show up in both Android and iOS and you can find a link to it for the Mac and the PC if you go to virtual scriptures org that's our that's our website for these free resources what you're looking at is a depiction a digital recreation of the temple Herod's Second Temple is what we traditionally call it in Jerusalem now this is Temple Mount it is the dominant feature of the city of Jerusalem so if we click right here you can see a bird's-eye view of the city at the time of Jesus if you were to take this city and pick it up and put it into our modern world it's just under one square mile for those of you who are familiar with with Provo and the campus of Brigham Young University this city would overlay almost perfectly on the campus of BYU today just under a square mile to kind of give you an idea of the size and the scope and the and the distances that we're talking about with Jesus you'll notice Temple Mount is right here on Mount Moriah Mount Zion is higher up than Mount Moriah and the turo pian valley goes in between them with the two valleys on the sides the Kidron Valley and the Hinnom Valley so this is where it all takes place that final week of Jesus's life so he's going to begin and by the way you can see all these little circles these these dots if you click on one of them like I've just clicked on that then it shows you the city in a you're in a 360-degree bubble and you can see a recreation of what the city might have looked like at that time just a really quick note as you as you look at these all of these individuals all of these people here are 6 feet tall which is my height archeologists have found so many tombs and also areas that date back to the first century that we know the height the average height for the people back then and it's there they're significantly shorter than we are today the average height for a man a Jewish man in the 1st century is going to be depending on the region somewhere between five foot one five foot three maybe five foot four in certain regions so they're significantly shorter so just so you know these these people are all represented at six feet tall which is too tall for the time of Jesus in comparison to the buildings and by the way you can hit this little button right there that then puts the iPhone or the iPad or whatever your smart device it puts it into gyroscope mode so you're basically inside of this bubble anywhere you turn it you now get a window on the world of Jesus so we're gonna put this back down and click it back to this mode so that it's easier to present okay here's the overview Jesus begins the week of the atoning sacrifice with his triumphal entry he starts over the Mount of Olives so here's the Mount of Olives guess cemani is here at the base of the Mount of Olives to the east of Jerusalem so on the other side of the Mount of Olives we have Bethany and Beth phage that's where Jesus begins on the Sunday Palm Sunday the week before Easter so he rides on the the donkey or the mule down the Kidron Valley which is a beautiful symbol if you if you want to do some study to cross compare this with first Kings chapter one where David is on his deathbed and he has his son Solomon placed on a mule in the Kidron Valley near the gijón spring and there he is anointed the king of Israel the son of David as the king of Israel when Jesus rides down the Kidron Valley the people are going to be shouting Hosanna blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord blessed is the son of David they see him as the fulfillment of the prophecy that the Messiah will come as a son of David and take the Davidic throne again so Jesus's week begins with a very very triumphal entry they are they are shouting things to him from from psalm 118 it's this praise psalm kind of the coming of the lord psalm he goes in and if you follow Matthew's chronology he's going to go into the temple and he's going to cleanse the temple if we shift our focus over here as an overview of the temple you're now looking down into the court of the women right there and you turn your view that's the royal stoah this is Solomon's porch so all of these porticoes these covered areas around the outer side outer courtyard of the Temple Mount people are going to be coming in huge numbers to Jerusalem during Passover which is the time that Jesus is here to perform that infinite atonement so there are lots of people here thronging the city of Jerusalem from all over the Diaspora coming in so when he cleanses the temple we're talking a huge number of people and it's not just a little building this Temple Mount you could fit 26 American football fields onto Temple Mount it's expansive it's it's big and he's cleansing the temple and then bringing in people who are sick and afflicted and healing them there's beautiful symbolism there and we can go into greater depth on each of these stories later on this is intended just to be an overview of this week it's interesting because Matthew has the triumphal entry than the cleansing of the temple that day mark his gospel has the triumphal entry he comes in and he sees what's going on in the temple then he goes back to Bethany in the next day when he comes in to the temple he curses the fig tree on the way in then he goes in and he cleanses the temple so I don't know which one's right they both have beautiful symbolic power associated with them whichever one had the timing exactly right on these events but the point is is that Jesus demonstrates incredible power in both of these miracles and then he spends Monday teaching the people in the temple and it gets kind of fuzzy as to the order of all of the events on the specific days but tradition holds that he's teaching in the temple on Monday and Tuesday some would argue that we don't have anything for Wednesday others would say well there's some of these parables that maybe are being taught on the Wednesday at the end of the day that doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that Jesus is now preparing for that final final event the infinite atonement that he he has covenant it's a covenant 'add to fulfill for all of us Thursday he goes into the upper room the traditional site is going to be somewhere around here up on Mount Zion but that site was built very late in in the calendar early 12th century I believe I can't remember the specifics but it's it's doesn't date back to the time of Jesus but the site is the traditional site it could have been somewhere down here closer to the pool of siloam we don't know anyway he gathers his apostles for the Last Supper on what we would call Thursday now just a really quick note on timing for the Jews when the Sun sets it flips your calendar to the new day so they begin the day at sunset we begin ours midnight very different so for him the Last Supper takes place at the beginning of Friday for him because the calendar flipped when Thursday nights Sun set so he's in that Upper Room they share that Passover meal or a meal that has silver elements depending on whether you like John's version or Matthew Mark and Luke the Synoptics version Matthew Mark and Luke say that it was the Passover meal that year John says that the Passover meal was going to be the next day and there's beautiful symbol ones symbolism once again with both of those so I we don't want to or we don't intend to turn this into a battle between the different gospel accounts and make you pick pick your favorite or pick a winner it's let's take their view their lens of Jesus and the events and and enjoy what we can and learn what we can from each one when Jesus finishes that Last Supper event with them he then leaves that upper room they go up the Kidron Valley so from here down to there up to the garden called Gethsemane would be about a mile a little maybe even a little bit over a mile depending on where he was in the city of a walk keep in mind his Passover which happens on the first full moon after the spring equinox so this is a full moon tonight when Jesus goes goes up that valley and he's he's on this side of the Kidron Brook when he offers his intercessory prayer in John 17 and then he walks in to the garden and begins the process of this this infinite agony this infinite price that needs to be paid for our souls to redeem us Judas brings the band of men they arrest him here Jesus has then taken back into the city and he's taken to Caiaphas as Palace where he's judged where he's going to be condemned by the the leaders the chief priests of the people and then turned over to the Romans and so he's going to be judged by Herod after he's judged by Pilate and Pilate judges him again at the end and ultimately condemns him he's going to be scourge he's be plated with that crown of thorns then led away to the crucifixion site probably 70 to 75% of the Christian population in the world when they go to Jerusalem they will go to a place right here called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where they believe Golgotha was the the site this is their traditional Calvary site where Jesus was both crucified buried and resurrected here to the northwest of the city there's a group of Protestants and and many members of the church who go over to Jerusalem they tended to prefer the feeling associated with the garden tomb area which is here a little more to the north and a little bit to the west of the Temple Mount as the crucifixion site the reality is is this whole region up here has quarries and we know that Jesus is going to be buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and it's a brand-new tomb that's never had anybody in it yet and so it's probably an active quarry site well we've got lots of options we're not just limited to two there are other things the point is the Holy Ghost doesn't usually testify of a location as much as he testifies of an event and the event that is so significant the most significant event in the history of our world is that momentous occasion on that Sunday morning when Jesus arose from the dead and broke the bands of death and rose from the grave now what does this have to do with us here now in the latter days as you as you prepare for Easter this week we would invite you to spare a thought or two at least for the Lord Jesus Christ on on each of the days for you and your family and your loved ones to just quietly contemplate what was it that he experienced on that day and what did he go through my wife and I taught our children these different events and had had pictures of the different stories lined up with tape on the wall and we tried to help our children understand the significance of each day and it was a it was a wonderful experience of many years ago when one of our sons Jacob he was a young child at the time one it was actually Easter morning Sunday morning our little Jarret was a baby at the time began crying in his crib was it was early early Sunday morning I don't know the exact time but there the light was just barely starting to come from from the east and I went into their bedroom the boys bedroom to comfort little Jarrett's and I picked him up and started dancing with him to calm him down and I looked up onto the bunk bed and noticed that my Jacob was sitting up in bed leaning against the wall and it kind of took me aback I was kind of a little bit scared to be honest with you at first and say wait what are you doing I said Jacob what's going on and he said dad do you think Jesus is resurrected by this time on Easter and I thought yeah according to John's account he rose while Mary goes to the tomb while it was yet dark I said you know that he's resurrected by now a little Jacob said oh good I wanted to be awake when Jesus was resurrected I wanted to be able to think about that brothers and sisters this is this is more than just a scripture story it's more than just a fancy ideal this is reality death has been broken from inside hell and the bends of hell and captivity and bondage have been burst from inside Jesus our Lord and Savior for whatever reason couldn't defeat death and hell that awful awful monster as Jacob refers to it from up in heaven or even from from on earth just in a normal setting he had to descend into both of them and then break them break the bans of both death and health for us and his promise is sure and now our job is can we trust him as we move forward in faith on his covenant path so our prayer is that the Lord will bless you this week as you spare some thoughts for the Lord and contemplate what he was going through on each of the days leading up to this beautiful event I want you to know that I know that he lives and he sits enthroned in yonder heavens on the right hand of our Father okay so as I talked about a little bit earlier I'm gonna talk about the significance of Passover as it relates to Holy Week the events of Holy Week and Easter now before we do that I want to introduce you into a little bit about the significance of Passover as it would have been celebrated the very first time during the time of Moses so keep in mind that Passover is by the Jews still celebrated today the most significant feast and event in recorded Scripture it sets the the setting for the entire stage so to speak for Israel to come and become a people and so this story is extremely significant so every year when they're celebrating Passover they are remembering these events of the story of the exodus so let's first talk a little bit about the calendar because that will help us better understand it according to the Bible in Exodus the LORD commanded the people to take a lamb on the tenth day of the month on the tenth day of the month they were to select a lamb it was to be without blemish and then for the next four days there to take the lamb into their home to have it and in essence I mean you can kind of imagine this taking this little cute lamb into your home the family has it there the kids begin to learn to love it it lives with them it's in there you know maybe sleeping in the same room as the kids and then all of a sudden they have to kill it so there's this connection that's made so the lamb while it's living in the home and then on the fourteenth day in the the evening just before the 15th and remember that the the Jews the way that they count their calendar is or their day the day starts in the evening so in essence in the evening just before the 15th so generally like 2 to 5 o'clock or so is when they kill the Lambs so would be happening right here they kill the Lambs and then just at the start is when they have the Passover and they would have the Passover and the first time that they're having the Passover because this is only happens the first time they don't do this every other time they would take the blood of the lamb they would put it on the doorpost and that was to be as a sign to the destroying angel that it would pass by them and not kill the firstborn of that home and so they are having this meal and the meal would include unleavened bread bitter herbs and then also the lamb and according to later Jewish tradition as still today wine as well now the bitter herbs would represent the bitterness the bondage of slavery to help them remember that connection of being in bondage and then you have the unleavened bread and that was to represent the fact that you have unleavened bread and they had to flee out of Egypt so they're leaving in haste so they don't have time to let their bread rise and another thing that we should say is unleavened bread was often connected with a symbol of in corruption because unleavened bread doesn't mold as much it lasts a lot longer than like leavened bread so there's this symbol of in corruption versus corruption with unleavened bread versus leavened bread and then they would also have the lamb and the lamb obviously is connected with the blood that is put on the doorpost now one thing I also didn't mention is that during this time when they're taken into the home the lamb taken into the home they would also clean their homes of all leavened products because for seven days from the 15th which goes on further here for seven days they would not eat any leaven products so they wouldn't have it in their homes and they also wouldn't eat any leaven products so they first had to prepare their home and that's actually what we come up with that's why we have spring cleaning is because of Passover so now let's talk about some of the significance as it relates to the events of Holy Week I have a youtube channel called messages of Christ and I have a whole series that I've done on each of these events so if you're interested I will link those down below and also up above to be able to show you those videos if you would like to watch those videos I have a video on each of the different events within Holy Week so you can watch the video for Monday for Tuesday for Wednesday so you can be able to go through we're also creating some reading schedules or reading plans as we're calling them within the scripture Plus app that will directly relate to this so let's go into the events of Holy Week now now we have according to the synoptic Gospels which would be Matthew Mark and Luke Jesus comes in on the tenth day or five days before Passover so Passover is right here so five days before this is the triumphal entry into Jerusalem now think about the significance of this Jesus is coming in into Jerusalem on the exact same day that all of the Jews are beginning to prepare for Passover it hasn't happened yet but they're beginning to prepare for Passover and specifically ten five days before on the tenth day of the month they are selecting the lamb that will then be sacrificed for the Passover so what does Jesus do he comes rides into the city of Jerusalem and his in essence symbolically chosen by the people to be their Lamb of God and then what does he do right after the the episode of the triumphal entry he goes into his father's house the temple and he cleanses the temple and remember what we talked about here what what is the lamb do the lamb is brought into the home of the people it stays for the next four days they clean the home of all leaven products which again leaven is a symbol of corruption so Jesus comes into his father's house he cleanses the temple of iniquity of from the money changers and then after that we know that the next few days he also spends most of his time teaching at least in the first part of the week in the temple teaching and so again this significant aspect but that the Lambs are brought into the homes Jesus comes into his father's home and teaches we then have that according to the synoptic Gospels which would again be Matthew Mark and Luke the Passover is the Last Supper so I want you to think about this from the perspective of the Apostles they have been celebrating the Passover for many years every single year in the springtime they would be celebrating this and the significance that they know what's going to happen it's kind of like when you go to sacrament you know exactly what's gonna happen and imagine if you were in the sacrament and all of a sudden the bishop just changed the ordinance of the sacrament that's what it felt like for the Apostles when they see Jesus all of a sudden change the Passover for them the Passover was this symbol of redemption the story of Exodus and Jesus infused into it the meaning of his atonement and the significance of what he will be doing that evening and the next day and then also the resurrection now they're having the Passover and as I mentioned there would be bread and wine as part of it and he takes the unleavened bread which is a symbol of in corruption and he takes the wine which is also a symbol of joy and he now makes them into this symbol of his atonement so he's connecting the Exodus story with the sacrament and I want you to think about that that every single time you partake of the sacrament you are remembering the story of the exodus and that just as Israel was redeemed anciently so you too can be redeemed because of the atonement of Jesus Christ and then we have again according to Matthew Mark and Luke we have that the timing is that when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane that would be the time it because it's in the evening right here just before the 15th and actually the 15th has started because it's now sundown he is suffering in Gethsemane at the exact time when all Jews would be celebrating and remembering the destroying angel passing by think about it that the blood is put on the doorpost and it's the sign of the blood of the Lamb that the destroying angel passes by and so Christ is in Gethsemane and because of his shed blood we are able to have the destroying angel pass by us so that we can live again and then according to John and remember that in the scriptures they're not as concerned about history like we are in the aspect that they don't they don't feel like everything has to be exact if you remember Tyler and Taylor have talked a lot about this of of the Greek perspective and the Hebrew perspective and the Hebrew perspective is often very very symbolic and so John and we don't know who is what is it Matthew Mark and Luke or is it John but John to be able to show the emphasis that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God he shifts his calendar by one day and what that does is instead of having the Last Supper during the Passover it actually puts the crucifixion during Passover so what that means is as we talked about that the Lambs would be killed just before you would start the Passover meal and so Jesus what time does he die according to the Gospels he dies at 3 p.m. and that would be the time when the lambs are being killed in the temple and so Jesus dies on the cross at the exact moment when the lambs are being slain and then we have the Passover and this fact that the cross in in many ways you could say it literally becomes the door that the blood that was put on the doorway that allowed the destroying angel to pass by now we have the cross that is it's almost like our gateway the entrance that the cross the death of Christ is the way that the destroying angel passes by and just as the blood was put on the doorpost the blood would have come down the cross and marked that cross to say that now because of this this doorway this entrance we are able to go back into the presence of God now it doesn't end there they would have the feast of unleavened bread for the next seven days which we won't talk a lot about but then Christ is resurrected and it's interesting he specifically is resurrected according to the Gospel of John he is resurrected at the same time when the firstfruits which is one of the other there's three main feasts during the springtime Passover unleavened bread and first fruits and so Jesus is resurrected at the same time when what they would be doing is they would take the barley because that would be the first harvest of the they would cut some of the barley bring it into the temple and offer it to the Lord saying this is our first fruits that we are offering to God and in essence that's what Jesus Christ is he is the firstfruits as Paul says he is the firstfruits of them that rose from the dead and he becomes that symbol of being the very first now how does this relate to us I want you to think about the significance that every Sunday you partake of the sacrament that is directly connected with the Passover and the Exodus story that as you partake of that bread and really wine though we do water today but it would have been wine that you are remembering the Passover meal and noticed that the bitter herbs remember we talked about bitter herbs they're not there they're gone they're missing and to me that's a beautiful symbol that the bitterness of the Exodus story the slavery the bondage is taken away because of the Lamb of God and instead it's replaced with the cup of wine the cup of joy the cup of redemption and that is what we can do every Sabbath day as we partake of the sacrament we have this beautiful opportunity to remember that we just like ancient Israel are redeemed from the destroying angel of death and sin and that powerful message that just as the ancient Israelites were freed from bondage so too can we think about the Book of Mormon that always makes that connection there's time and time again where they say remember remember your forefathers remember the story of the Exodus remember Nephi uz says because of this we will have the same power and that's what you're doing every Sabbath is remembering that because that story took place and the Lord was willing and able and powerful enough to free them he will also free you and that is the power and the beauty of this message of Passover and the events of Holy Week you

Channel: Book of Mormon Central

Views: 145,411

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Id: bvgJ8o4FfD8

Length: 33min 23sec (2003 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2020