Tag: events of passion week

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Cosmic Rhythm only God could Dance: From Creation to Cross

What is dance? Theatrical dance encompasses rhythmic movements, meant to be viewed by spectators and to tell a story.  Accordingly, dancers coordinate their movements with other dancers, using different parts of their own body, so that their movements generate visual beauty and accentuate rhythm. Usually this coordination occurs in a repeating time interval, called meter. Researchers have documented the crucial role that rhythm plays in our lives. So it is not surprising if we see a similar tilt to rhythm in God’s outworking since we are made in His image.

Tandava dancers

The Cross: Dancing on the Serpent’s head

The Gospel emphatically declares that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was God’s defeat of His Adversary. We see this right at the beginning of human history, when Adam succumbed to the serpent.  The scripture back then (details here) had predicted to the serpent:

15 And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush  your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

Genesis 3:15
The Woman’s Seed would trample the serpent’s head

So this foretold a coming struggle between the Serpent and the Seed or Offspring of the Woman.  Jesus declared himself as ‘the Seed’ on Day 1 of Passion Week. Then he purposefully drove the conflict to its climax at the cross.  Thus, Jesus allowed the Serpent to strike him, confident of his final victory. In so doing, Jesus trampled the head of the serpent, making the way to life. Summing up, the Bible describes His victory and our way to live like this:

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2: 13-15

Their struggle unfolded like a dance, in a rhythmic meter of ‘sevens’ and ‘threes’. We explicitly see this by looking at the Passion Week events of Jesus through the lens of Creation.

God’s foreknowledge revealed from the beginning of Time

How can we know if this was God’s Plan instead of some random events with no ultimate purpose behind it? Alternatively, could the Gospel story have simply been human-engineered?

We know that no matter how clever, gifted, eloquent, powerful, or rich someone is, they cannot foresee the future. No one has the ability to coordinate with events thousands of years into the future. Only God can possibly foreknow and predestine far into the future. So, if we detect evidence of this kind of coordination through history we can prove that he choreographed this drama. Thus, it would rule out chance or clever people behind the gospel.

In the whole Bible there are, in fact, only two weeks where the events of every day in the week are narrated.  The first week, recorded at the beginning of the Bible, describes how God created everything. 

The only other week with every day’s events recorded is Jesus’ Passion Week. No other Biblical characters have daily activities detailed for one complete week. You can read the complete Creation Week account here. Correspondingly, we went through each day’s events in Jesus’ Passion Week. The table below places each day of these two weeks side-by-side. The number ‘seven’, which forms a week, is thus the base meter or rhythm. Observe how all daily events correspond to one another even though separated time-wise by millennia. At the very minimum, because the Creation Week is included in the Dead Sea Scrolls the creation account was already in writing hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth. And textual criticism analysis of the New Testament reveals it has not been changed or corrupted.

So how to explain the coordination?

The Rhythm of the Two weeks

Day of weekCreation WeekJesus’ Passion Week
Day 1Surrounded by darkness God says, ‘Let there be light’and there was light in the darkness.Jesus says “I have come into the world as a light…” There is light in the darkness (John 12: 46)
Day 2God separates the earth from the heavens.Jesus separates that of earth from that of heaven by cleansing the Temple as a place of prayer from commercialism.
Day 3God speaks land to rise out of the sea.  Jesus speaks of faith moving mountains into the sea.
 God speaks again ‘Let the land produce plants’ and vegetation sprouts.Jesus speaks a curse and the tree withers.
Day 4God speaks ‘Let there be lights in the sky’ and the sun, moon and stars appear, lighting the sky.Jesus speaks of the sign of his return – the sun, moon and stars will extinguish.
Day 5God creates flying animals, including the flying dinosaur reptiles, or dragons.Satan, the great dragon, moves to strike the Christ.
Day 6God speaks and land animals come to life.Passover lamb animals are slaughtered in the Temple.
 ‘the Lord God … breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life’.  Adam started breathing.“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.” (Mark 15: 37)
 God places Adam in the Garden.Jesus freely enters a Garden 
 Adam is warned away from the Tree of Knowledge with a curse.Jesus is nailed to a tree and cursed.  
13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” -Galatians 3:13
 No animal is found suitable for Adam. Another person was necessary.Passover animal sacrifices were not sufficient.  A person was required.

4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;
-Hebrews 10:4-5
 God puts Adam into a deep sleep.Jesus enters the sleep of death
 God wounds Adam’s side with which He creates Adam’s bride.A wound is made in Jesus’ side.  From his sacrifice Jesus wins his bride, those who belong to him.   

9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
-Revelation 21:9
Day 7God rests from creationJesus rests in death
Jesus’ Passion week in rhythm with Creation week

Adam’s Friday Choreography with Jesus

Events for each day across these two weeks correspond to each other, resulting in rhythmic symmetry like in a choreography.  Then, at the end of both these 7-day cycles, first fruits of new life bursts forth into a new creation.  So, Adam and Jesus link together, creating a composite drama. 

Significantly, the Bible says of Adam that:

… Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. 

Romans 5:14

and

21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22
Days of Creation

By comparing these two weeks we see that Adam dramatized a pattern that prefigures Jesus.  Did God need six days to create the world?  Could He simply not have made everything with one command?  Why then did He create in the order and with a structure that He did?  Why did God rest on the seventh day when He cannot tire?  He created in the timing and order that He did to demonstrate that He anticipated the events of Passion week from the beginning of human history.

This is especially true of Day Six – The Fridays of both weeks.  Specifically, we see symmetry directly in the words used.  For example, instead of simply saying ‘Jesus died’ the Gospel says he ‘breathed his last’, a direct inverse pattern to Adam who received the ‘breath of life’.  Surely, such a pattern from Time’s beginning shows foreknowledge spanning time and the world.  In short, it can only be a dance orchestrated by the Divine.

Subsequent Prophetic Events of the Divine Choreography

Subsequently, the Bible recorded specific historical events and festivals picturing Jesus’ coming. They were written down and recorded hundreds of years before Jesus walked on earth. Since humans cannot foreknow the future that far ahead, this provides further evidence that this was God’s drama, not man’s, nor simply random chance.  The table below summarizes some.

Hebrew BibleHow it foretells the coming of Jesus
Sign of AdamGod confronted the serpent, announcing the Seed coming to crush the serpent’s head.
Sign of Abraham’s sacrificeAbraham’s sacrifice (2000 BCE) was on the same Mountain where thousands of years later Jesus would be sacrificed.  At the last moment the lamb substituted for Isaac so he could live. This pictured how Jesus the ‘Lamb of God’ would substitute and sacrifice himself for us so we could live.
Sign of the Passover Lambs were to be sacrificed on a specific day – Nisan 14, Passover (1500 BCE). Those who obeyed escaped death, but those who disobeyed died.  Hundreds of years later Jesus was sacrificed on this exact day – Nisan 14, Passover. Like those original Passover lambs, he died so we could live.
Where does ‘Christ’ come from?The title ’Christ’ inaugurated with the promise of His coming – prophesied 1000 BCE.
Was Jesus the son of a virgin from the line of David?The ‘Christ’ would descend from King David, but would be born from a virgin the ancient prophets foretold. Prophecies given 1000 BCE and 750 BCE and fulfilled in Jesus.
Sign of the BranchThe ‘Christ’ would sprout like a branch from a dead royal dynasty – prophesied 750 BCE and fulfilled in Jesus
The Coming Branch namedThis sprouting ‘Branch’ was named ‘Jesus’ 500 years before he lived.
Suffering Servant gives his life for allThe prophecy foretelling how this coming Servant would serve all mankind in his death – 750 BCE. Fulfilled by Jesus in the manner of his crucifixion and his resurrection.
Christ Coming in ‘sevens’The Prophetic Oracle foretelling when He would come, given through cycles of seven in 550 BCE. Fulfilled in Jesus by the precise timing to the day of his arrival to Jerusalem in 33 CE.
The Crucifixion Previewed Vivid details of the crucifixion prophesied 1000 BCE – and fulfilled in the details of Jesus’ crucifixion.
The Son of Man RevealedThe vision of a Divine person coming on the clouds in the air is fulfilled in the only way possible by Jesus
Festivals & Oracles prophetically choreographed to Jesus 

Your Invitation

The Gospel invites our examination. It also invites us to

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Revelation 22:17

The following are available to help both to examine and to ‘come’

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Day 5: Through Treachery Satan coils to strike

Persecuted Jews

Jews have been persecuted, loathed, feared and mistreated in many ways and this is recorded both in the Bible and in history outside it.  Of course, many people have experienced persecution and discrimination at the hands of other nations.  But history demonstrates a tendency to inevitably target Jews in a unique way over other groups.  A special word has been coined to label discrimination specifically against Jews – antisemitism. This demonstrates the enduring peculiarity of their mistreatment.  But the most perplexing aspect of antisemitism is that it is not confined to one time period, one region of the world, or simply a small group of perpetrators.  

A Brief List of Anti-Semetic events

For example, consider these:

Medieval ghetto Russian pogroms Dreyfuss affair The annihilation of Kaifeng Jews in Imperial China
Historical Expulsions of Jews across Europe

Causes of Antisemitism

But what causes antisemitism? Wikipedia, in its series on antisemitism, can show many instances of antisemitism through history and across cultures, but cannot point to a definitive cause that explains it. The difficulty with any explanation is that it cannot adequately explain both the breadth and long history of antisemitism.  A racial cause might explain Nazi-derived antisemitism, but does not explain Christian antisemitism of the Middle Ages.  A Christian/Judaism polemic might explain the Christian antisemitism, but it does not explain the 19th century French antisemitism that broiled France for over a decade in the Dreyfuss affair.  And then there is the ancient antisemitism of the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans.

The Bible on the root cause of Anti-Semitism

However, the Bible offers a simple and straightforward explanation for the cause behind antisemitism. It spans the Book from its beginning to end. In the beginning, after Adam & Eve’s disobedience, God pronounced a curse upon the Serpent. He then prophesied a pattern of ‘enmity’ between it and the “Woman”.  That woman was not Eve but Israel. (details here)  

Then, at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation, a vision references back to that showdown. It identifies the ‘serpent’ and the ‘woman’.  Here is the vision:

The Women, the Son, and the Dragon

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne… 

Revelation 12: 1-5

9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him…

13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

Revelation 12: 9, 13

The Enmity focused particularly on the Child of the Woman

The child born of the Woman is Jesus.  The Woman is the Jewish Nation, from which Jesus came.  The Serpent, also called ‘the dragon’, is identified as Satan. Back in the Garden, God had said that there would be ‘enmity’ between the woman (Israel) and the serpent (Satan). History has documented the ever recurring antisemitism. That it comes from a wide variety of social conditions and perpetrator nations shows the enduring reality of this enmity.

But God also predicted enmity towards the offspring, or son, of the Woman. We see this enmity build on Thursday, Day 5 of Passion Week, when the Dragon rises to strike the Son.  We have been looking at Jesus through his Jewish lens. The Bible presents him as the archetype of the Jewish Nation (synthesis of that thesis here).  So it is not surprising that the Offspring of that Woman should also experience that same enmity.

Judas: Controlled by The Dragon

The Bible portrays Satan as a ruling Spirit who manipulates hatred and intrigue behind the scenes.  Satan had plotted to have everyone worship him, including Jesus.  When that failed, he set about to murder him, manipulating people to carry out his scheme.  Satan used Judas on Day 5 to strike Jesus, just after he taught about his return.  Here is the account:

Judas betraying Jesus for 30 Silver Coins

22 Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

Luke 22: 1-6

Satan took advantage of their conflict to ‘enter’ Judas to betray Jesus.  This should not surprise us.  The Revelation vision describes Satan like this:

7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Revelation 12:7-9
Michael and His Angels Defeat Satan

The Bible likens Satan to a powerful dragon cunning enough to lead the whole world astray.  As that ancient serpent he now coiled to strike. He manipulated Judas to destroy Jesus as the Gospel records:

16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Matthew 26:16

The next day, Friday, Day 6 of the Week, was the  Passover Festival.  How would Satan, through Judas, strike?  We see next.

Day 5 Summary

The timeline shows how on Day 5 of this week, the great dragon, Satan, coiled to strike his foe Jesus, the Seed of the Woman.

Day 5: Satan, the Great Dragon, enters Judas to strike Jesus
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Day 3: Jesus utters The Withering Curse

In 1867 celebrated American author Mark Twain, visited the land of Israel (Palestine as it was called). He travelled across the land, writing his observations in his best-selling book Innocents Abroad. He used the words “unpicturesque”, “unsightly”, and “desolate” to describe what he saw. Twain wrote,

“Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes…. desolate and unlovely.”

Innocents Abroad

Of the Jezreel valley, Twain wrote,

“Stirring scenes … occur in the valley no more. There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent-not for thirty miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings.” 

Innocents Abroad

He described the Galilee as

“the sort of solitude to make one dreary … Come to Galilee for that … these unpeopled deserts, these rusty mounds of barrenness, that never, never do shake the glare from their harsh outlines, and fade and faint into vague perspective; that melancholy ruin of Capernaum: this stupid village of Tiberias, slumbering under its six funereal palms … “

Innocents Abroad

Mount Tabor …

“stands solitary … [in a] silent plain … a desolation … we never saw a human being on the whole route … hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country”

Innocents Abroad

Desolate Land or ‘flowing with Milk and Honey’?

Mark Twain was particularly baffled because what he saw did not match at all what he read in the Bible, where powerful kings ruled over people, multitudes of people thronged around Jesus, and what was described many times in the Bible as:

… a land flowing with milk and honey.

Jeremiah 32:22

So what happened to the land?

It is what Jesus said and did on this Tuesday – Day 3 of Passion Week – that explains it.  Jesus used mannerisms replete with symbolism and withering criticism of the people in his day.  In doing so he demonstrated a gift for drama which we regularly witness from some similarly gifted fellow Jews today.

Witty & Gifted Critics Present and Past

Among the most gifted and well-known today for directing withering criticism, drama loaded with irony, and symbolic denunciation are Bill Maher, Seth Rogen, Ivan Urgant, and Sasha Baron Cohen.  

Bill Maher, long running host of Real Time with Bill Maher, one of the most popular late night shows in the USA, regularly engages in political satire and social commentary, leaving none free of his withering criticism.

Seth Rogen, a Canadian comedian and filmmaker, achieved unique notoriety with his movie The Interview, portraying journalists undertaking an assassination attempt on North Korean dictator Kim Jung-un. North Korea threatened ‘merciless’ retaliation unless the movie was withdrawn.  The controversy generated wide publicity and gained Rogen prominence for his ability to needle the North Korean dictator.

Sasha Baron Cohen, the well-known British satirist who, through his wild alter-ego characters Borat– the Kazak journalist, Bruno– the gay Austrian fashion reporter, General Aladeen in The Dictator has enraged so many groups that Cohen has had to increase his security detail.

Ivan Urgant, the host of the most popular Russian late-night TV show, had his show Evening Urgant cancelled because he criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Bill Maher
Seth Rogen
Sasha Cohen
Ivan Urgant
Okras, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Apart from being well-known for their satirical criticism, what these four all have in common is their common Jewish heritage.  They illustrate that, though small in number, Jewish satirists are among the leaders in this genre of drama.

Jesus likewise was a master critic.  But the criticism he leveled on that day has affected human history far more than modern-day critics’ ability to arouse satire lasting only through the next news cycle. It evoked Mark Twain’s wonder centuries later

Jesus’ Looming Conflict

First we review the week and then look at what he did that day.

Jesus had entered Jerusalem on Sunday as prophesied and then shut down the Temple on Monday. So the Jewish leaders planned to kill him.  But it would not be straight-forward.  

God had selected Jesus as His Passover Lamb when Jesus entered the Temple on Monday, Nisan 10. The Torah regulated what to do with the selected Passover lambs

6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

Exodus 12:6

As the people cared for their Passover Lambs, so also God cared for His Passover Lamb. Thus Jesus’ enemies could not get at him (yet).  The Gospel then records what Jesus did the next day, Tuesday, Day Three of Passion Week.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

Matthew 21: 17-19

Why did he do that?  

What did it mean?

The disciples were amazed, leading to a puzzling statement from Jesus about casting mountains into the sea.

20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Matthew 21: 20-22

The meaning of the Fig Tree

The earlier prophets explain it to us.  Notice here how the Hebrew prophets used the Fig Tree to picture Judgment on Israel:

The prophet Hosea went further, using the fig tree to picture and then curse Israel:

10 “When I found Israel,
    it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
    it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,
    they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol
    and became as vile as the thing they loved.

Hosea 9:10

16 Ephraim is blighted,
    their root is withered,
    they yield no fruit.
Even if they bear children,
    I will slay their cherished offspring.”

17 My God will reject them
    because they have not obeyed him;
    they will be wanderers among the nations.

Hosea 9:16-17 (Ephraim=Israel)

The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE fulfilled these and Moses’ curses (see the history). 

When Jesus cursed the fig tree, he symbolically pronounced another coming destruction of Jerusalem and Jewish exile from the land.  He cursed them into exile again.

After cursing the fig tree, Jesus re-entered the Temple, teaching, debating and clarifying his curse, especially on the Jewish leaders.  The Gospel records it this way.

Not an empty one – The Curse takes hold

We know from history that this destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, along with the expulsion of the Jews into worldwide exile, happened in 70 C.E. 

With the Temple destruction in 70 CE Israel’s withering took place. Then, it remained withered for thousands of years. 

Roman Destruction of Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. Preserved Roman sculptures show them looting the Temple and taking the Menorah (large, 7-place candle)

This curse does not reside simply in the pages of the Gospel story.  We can verify it happened in history.  This Withering Curse pronounced by Jesus lasted many generations.  The people of his day ignored him to their destruction.

19th Century panorama view of Jerusalem – desolate
The destroyed Temple ruins visible today

 The Curse to Expire

Jesus later clarified how that curse would come and how long it would last.

Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles

24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Luke 21:24

He taught that his curse (exile and Gentile control over Jerusalem) would last only ‘until the times of the Gentiles (non-Jews) are fulfilled’. He thus implied that his Curse would expire, explaining this further on Day 4.

The Curse Lifted

Historical Timeline of the Jews on larger scale – featuring their two periods of exile 

This timeline shows the history of the Jewish people with further details here.  Coming to our modern day, the timeline shows the end of the exile.  In 1948, from a UN declaration, the modern state of Israel was founded.  In the 1967 six-day war the city of Jerusalem, now the capital of Israel, was regained.  We see the ‘times of the Gentiles’ coming to a close in modern-day news events.

Jews now pray again at Temple Wall

The beginning and expiration of Jesus’ curse, uttered symbolically to the fig tree and then explained to his listeners have not remained simply fiction on the pages of the Gospel.  These events are verifiable, making news headlines today (ex., USA moved its embassy to Jerusalem).  Jesus taught profoundly, voiced authority over nature, and now we see that his curse left its imprint on his nation for thousands of years.  We ignore him at our peril.

Aerial view of Jerusalem today – from wikimedia

Summary of Day 3

The updated chart shows Jesus cursing the fig tree on Day 3, Tuesday, while taken care of as God’s Selected Lamb. We see on Day 4 he foretells his coming return, coming to set right many wrongs.

Day 3: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

 Postscript on the Day 3 Withering Curse

Jews have a reputation of leading in many areas of human undertaking. This is regardless of whether they are Israeli or part of the world-wide diaspora of Jews. But this is not true in agriculture. Only Israeli Jews carry this distinctive.  Israel has carved out a hard-earned reputation as a leader in agricultural technology. This started when the Jews first made Aliyah to Palestine over a hundred years ago. They then formed kibbutzim and moshav (essentially different kinds of co-operative communal farms).  The Galilean north was swampy, the Judean hills were rocky, and the south was desert. The land was exactly as Mark Twain had experienced and described it. So the first settlers had to drain malaria infested swamps, clear land, and learn to irrigate.  

Blossoming Green in Today’s desert

Today Israel is a world leader in drip irrigation technology, growing and exporting many fruits, vegetables, grain and dairy products.  This is true in spite of the fact that Israel is not naturally conducive to agriculture. Over half the land is natural desert.  With water shortage being a major and continual problem there, Israeli farmers have become world leaders in irrigation technology.

Israel Farmers

Israeli farmers in just this last generation have been able to transform the land from a barren, withered landscape into a panorama of green. The satellite view in Google Maps shows this, comparing the borders they share with their neighbours. On Day 4, Jesus prophesied this would occur, holding a special meaning.

Israel-Egypt border (red highlight) with irrigated circles prominent on Israeli side
Israel-Jordan border (red highlight) with green irrigated fields visible on Israeli side
Demarcation line between Israel and Syria. Israelis have greened their landscape
Lebanon – Israel border: The cultivated block of fields on Israeli side  basically follows the border
Northern Gaza border with Israel.
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Day 2: Jesus Selected

Richard Wurmbrand, Ivan Urgant and Natan Sharansky represent the Jewish spirit of unarmed civil protest voicing objection to powerful and abusive institutions.  As a result of their outspokenness, they became targets of the systems that they criticized. In that regard they followed in the footsteps of their fellow Jew – Jesus of Nazareth.

Richard Wurmbrand

Tortured for his Faith – Richard Wurmbrand

Richard Wurmbrand (1909-2001), was a Romanian Jew who later became a Lutheran priest. He publicly taught from the Bible in a time when Romania strictly enforced communist atheism. Authorities imprisoned him from 1948-1956, including a three-year period of solitary confinement in an underground hole with no light. Upon his release he resumed leading the underground church. So the authorities imprisoned him again from 1959 to 1964 with frequent beatings. Authorities finally released him to the West because of an international campaign highlighting his plight.

Ivan Urgant

Cancelled for his Convictions – Ivan Urgant

Ivan Urgant (born 1978) hosted the most popular late-night talk show on Russian state TV called Evening Urgant. He followed the format of well-known American late-night talk shows like The Tonight Show and The Late Show.  Ivan Urgant gained notoriety in February 2022 by protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He posted “No to War” on his Instagram account. In a country that declared public dissent on the invasion illegal, it was a bold and high-profile stand. Russian Channel One then suspended his late-night show.  Shortly thereafter Ivan left Russia and appeared in Israel.

Refused for his Brilliance – Natan Sharansky

Natan Sharansky

Natan Sharansky (born 1948), gifted physicist, mathematician and chess prodigy, became one of the most recognized Soviet refuseniks. Refuseniks were Soviet Jews who were denied exit visas to Israel in the 1960s and 1970s. Soviet authorities denied Sharansky his exit visa in 1973 under the pretext that his work in physics gave him access to state secrets. Sharansky then became a public activist for all refuseniks in the 1970s, a risky move under the Soviet regime.  Arrested in 1977 by the KGB, the authorities moved him around prisons and forced labor camps. In response to an international campaign highlighting his plight, he was freed in 1986 by Mikhail Gorbachev. Thereafter, Sharansky emigrated to Israel, where he has conducted a successful political career.   

Jesus – Selected for his Perfect Timing 

Jesus of Nazareth also demonstrated this inclination to activism, at great personal risk, through bold protest against a powerful bureaucracy.  But his ability to time his actions and link them to past era-defining events, as well as directing them to future freedoms affecting you and me, remains unmatched.  We have been looking at Jesus through his Jewish lens and here we examine his protest actions, unpacking their remarkable timing, and their meanings. After reviewing specific instances of the Jesus-as-Israel thesis, we reflect on it here.

On the second day of Passion Week, Jesus took his protest to a whole new level, setting in motion a chain of events that would forever alter history. 

Significance of the Date

Jesus had just entered Jerusalem at the exact day prophesied hundreds of years before, revealing himself as the Christ and a light to the nations.  That date, in the Jewish calendar, was Sunday, Nisan 9, the first day of Passion Week.  Because of regulations in the Torah, the next day, 10thof Nisan, was a unique day in the Jewish calendar.  Long before, Moses had decreed the steps to prepare for Passover:

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

Exodus 12: 1-3

So, every 10th of Nisan since Moses, each Jewish family would select a lamb for the upcoming Passover festival. It could only be done that day.  In Jesus’ day the Jews selected the Passover lambs in the Temple in Jerusalem. This was the same location where 2000 years before God tested Abraham in the sacrifice of his son.  Today, this is the location of the Jewish Temple Mount and the Muslim Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock.  

So at one specific location (the Temple Mount), on one specific day of the Jewish year (Nisan 10), Jews selected the Passover lamb for each family.  As you might imagine, the vast number of people and animals, the noise of the bartering, the foreign exchange (since Jews came from many locations) would turn the Temple on Nisan 10 into a frenzied market.  The Gospel records what Jesus did that day.  When the passage refers to the ‘next day’ this is the day after his royal  entry into Jerusalem, the 10thof Nisan – the exact day that Jews selected Passover lambs in the Temple.

Cleansing the Temple

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”And his disciples heard him say it.15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves,16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.”

Mark 11:12-17
Jesus cleanses the Temple
Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At the human level Jesus went into the Temple on Monday, Nisan 10, and stopped the commercialism.  The buying and selling had created a barrier for worship, especially for that of non-Jews.  Jesus, a Light for these nations, therefore broke this barrier by stopping the commercial activity.  

The Lamb of God Selected

But something unseen also happened at the same time.  We can understand this from the title that John the Baptist had previously given to Jesus.  In announcing him John had said:

Jesus holding a lamb

 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1: 29

Jesus was ‘the Lamb of God’.  In Abraham’s sacrifice, God was the one who had selected the lamb replacing Isaac by catching it in a bush.  The Temple was at this same location.  

When Jesus went into the Temple on Nisan 10 God selected him as His Passover Lamb.   

Jesus had to be in the Temple on this exact day in order to be selected. And he was.

The Purpose of Jesus as the Passover Lamb

Why was he selected as Passover lamb?  Jesus’ teaching above provided the answer.  When he said, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’ he quoted from Isaiah.  Here is the full passage (what Jesus spoke is in underlined).

6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord
    to minister to him,
to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
    and who hold fast to my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain
    and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
    a house of prayer for all nations.”

Isaiah 56: 6-7
Historical Timeline of Isaiah with some other prophets of the Old Testament

The ‘Holy Mountain’ that Isaiah had written about was Mount Moriah, where Abraham had sacrificed the lamb selected by God in place of Isaac.  The ‘house of prayer’ was the Temple which Jesus entered on Nisan 10.  However, only Jews could sacrifice at the Temple and celebrate Passover.  But Isaiah had written that ‘foreigners’ (non-Jews) would one day see that ‘their burnt offerings and sacrifices would be accepted’.  In quoting the prophet Isaiah, Jesus announced that his work would open a path to God for non-Jews.  That path had started opening the day before when Greeks asked to meet Jesus.

Nations around the world noticed the protests of high-profile Jewish activists like Wurmbrand, Urgant and Sharansky. Jesus said that his work would similarly arouse the attention of the world’s nations.  He did not explain at this point how he would do this.   But as we continue the gospel account we will see how God had a plan to bless you and me.

Next days in Passion Week

After the Jews selected their lambs on Nisan 10, the regulations in the Torah commanded them to:

6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

Exodus 12:6

Since that first Passover at the time of Moses, the Jews sacrifice their Passover lambs every Nisan 14.  We add ‘taking care of the lambs’ to the Torah regulations in the timeline we are building for the week.  In the lower half of the timeline we add the activities of Jesus on Day 2 of the week – his cleansing of the Temple and his selection as God’s Passover lamb.

Activities of Jesus on Monday – Day 2 of Passion Week – compared to Torah regulations

Marked and Selected by the Authorities 

When Jesus entered and cleansed the Temple, this also had an impact at the human level.  The Gospel continues by stating:

The Angry Chef Priest
James Tissot, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons

18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

Mark 11:18

In cleansing the Temple the Jewish leaders targeted him for death.  As Wurmbrand, Urgant and Sharansky were targeted by the leaders they protested against, Jesus was from this point on, a marked man.

They started by confronting him.  The Gospel recounts that the next day:

 27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

Mark 11:27-28

We follow the schemes of the authorities, the actions of Jesus, and the Torah regulations on Tuesday, Day 3 of Passion Week, next.

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Day 1: Jesus – Light to the Nations

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the galvanizing figure of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has become a familiar face to the nations of the world. Against the Russian claim that they invaded Ukraine to get rid of its Nazi government, Zelensky replies that he is Jewish. How then could his government then be a Nazi one, he asks. Zelensky has since gone on a virtual tour of the halls of power of nations around the world. He has given pitch-perfect addresses to government bodies of many nations. Zelensky spoke to the British Parliament, US Congress, the German Bundestag, the Israeli Knesset, the Canadian Parliament, the Italian Parliament, the Japanese Parliament, and the United Nations General Assembly, among others. He has been given the highest Czech honor, as well as national honors in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.     

The Jews – Light to the Nations

Zelensky has gone on a virtual tour of parliaments and halls of power of the world’s nations. He chastises, encourages, pleads, and goads them into moral action on behalf of Ukraine. He illustrates so well the prophecy that Isaiah foretold 2700 years ago about the Jewish people. Isaiah had prophesied:

“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
    I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people
     and a light for the Gentiles,

Isaiah 42:6

Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Isaiah 60:3

Jews have since carried this mantle of being a ‘light to the nations’ given 2700 years ago through Isaiah. They ponder its meaning. We know this from search results on popular Israeli websites. Here are the ‘Light to the nations’ results in TimesOfIsrael, and here similarly for the Jerusalem Post.  

Claims to be a ‘Light to the Nations’

In spite of his prominent voice before nations today, Zelensky has never claimed to be a ‘light to the nations’. That would be presumptuous. The one Jewish person in history who is on record as having claimed that distinction is Jesus. But it is not only his claim to be such a ‘light’ that stands out. Rather, it is when and how he made it is remarkable. We look at this here and reflect on whether his legacy justifies this claim.

After the Triumphant Entry on Palm Sunday

Jesus had just entered Jerusalem mounted on a donkey as prophesied 500 years earlier. He did so on the exact day that the prophet Daniel had prophesied 550 years before. The Jews had been arriving from many countries for the upcoming Passover festival. Therefore Jewish pilgrims crowded Jerusalem.

The manner of Jesus’ arrival had caused a stir among the Jews. But it was not only the Jews who noticed his arrival. The Gospel records what happened right after he entered Jerusalem.

Jesus coming through Jerusalem on a Donkey

 20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

John 12:20-22

 The Greek – Jew barrier in ancient times

It was extremely unusual for Greeks, (that is Gentiles or non-Jews), to be at a Jewish festival like Passover. The Jews shunned the Greeks and Romans of that time since they were pagans and considered unclean. And most Greeks considered the Jewish religion with only one (unseen) God and its festivals to be foolish. So these people regularly stayed apart from each other. The Gentile, or non-Jewish, society was many times larger than the Jewish society. So the Jews lived in a sort of isolation from much of the world. Their different religion, their kosher diet, and their exclusive Book created a barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles. Each side displayed hostility toward the other side (as we saw with the Maccabees and bar kochba).

The Jews and Greeks

… Prophesied to come down

But Isaiah (750 BCE) claimed to see far into the future and he foresaw a change for the nations.  He had written:

Isaiah in Historical Timeline

 49 Listen to me, you islands;
    hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
    from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name…

Isaiah 49: 1

And now the Lord says—
    he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
    and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord
    and my God has been my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
    to restore the tribes of Jacob
    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 49: 5-6

 60 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Isaiah 60:1-3

So Isaiah had foretold that the coming ‘servant’ of the Lord, though Jewish (‘the tribes of Jacob’), would be a ‘light for the Gentiles’ (all the non-Jews). He prophesied that this light would reach to the ends of the earth.  But how could this happen with this barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles firmly set these hundreds of years?

Jesus’ Entry that Day begins the dismantling

That day when Jesus entered Jerusalem the light began to draw the first Gentiles because we see some approaching him.  Here at this Jewish festival were Greeks who had journeyed to Jerusalem to meet him.  Jesus had raised their interest. But would they, considered unclean by the Jews, be able to see him?  They asked Jesus’ disciples, who brought the request to Jesus.  What would he say?  The Gospel continues

23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus: The Light of this World

30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you.Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.”When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

John 12: 23- 36

Belief and Unbelief Among the Jews

37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

“Lord, who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40 “He has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
    nor understand with their hearts,
    nor turn—and I would heal them.”

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

John 12: 37-50

Against the prevailing Jew-Gentile animosities of that day, Jesus said that he would be ‘lifted up’. He predicted that this would draw ‘all people’ – not just the Jews – to himself. 

Jesus boldly claimed that he had ‘come into the world as a light’ (v.46) which the previous prophets had written would shine on all nations.  And on the day when he entered Jerusalem, that light first began to shine on the Gentiles.  

Jesus’ Light to the Nations in History

Consider now how the halls of power, with their accompanying institutions, where Zelensky has been speaking recently, have come about by Jesus’ influence on the nations. 

Here are some quick examples.

These practices, customs, and institutions that we often take for granted today across the many nations came about as people throughout history were influenced by Jesus. From a strictly historical point-of-view, Jesus of Nazareth has been the brightest Jewish light shining upon many nations. Isaiah’s predictions 2700 years ago have come true through Jesus’ historical influence on the nations.

Passion Week Day-by-Day

But Jesus did not simply come to be a Light to the nations. He had also declared War on death itself. How he goes about this struggle is reviewed in a day-by-day recounting of his activities in Passion Week. We will go through each day of Passion or Holy Week and note what Jesus does and says each day. From these we will recognize patterns going back to the beginning of the world, bringing fresh meaning to his activities that week. We also reflect on the Jesus-as-Israel lens we have adopted. 

The following chart goes through each day of this week. On Sunday, the first day of the week he fulfilled three different prophecies given by three previous prophets. First, he entered Jerusalem mounted on a donkey as prophesied by Zechariah. Second, he did so in the time prophesied by Daniel. Third, his message and miracles started to light an interest among the Gentiles. Isaiah had foretold this would shine as a light to the nations, growing brighter to people around the world.

Events of Passion Week – Day 1 – Sunday

We continue looking at the events of Monday, Day 2 of Passion week next.