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Palm Sunday Service

“From Gethsemane to Golgotha”

Date:April 13, 2025
Author: Wayne J. Edwards

Introduction:

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said, on the tenth of this month, every man shall take for himself an unblemished lamb, a male, of the first year, and keep it until the fourteenth day of the month. Then the whole congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight, take some of its blood, and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses, for I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, for when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

If Jesus was the Lamb of God who would take away the world’s sin, He had to have been spotless and without blemish, and He was. If Jesus was, as the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Our Passover Lamb,” He had to have fulfilled the pattern of the Law to the fullest, and He did, for at the same time the Priests were sacrificing the Passover lambs for the people, commemorating God’s deliverance of their forefathers from Egypt, God was sacrificing His Lamb to deliver us from our sins.

Therefore, Jesus was crucified at 3:00 PM on a Wednesday, the 13th of Nisan, for the observance of Passover began at 6:00 PM, and continued through late Saturday. Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights, just as He said He would be, and He arose from the grave sometime after 6:00 PM on Saturday, which began the first day of the week.

Now, why is this specific date so important? We will explain that in our next sermon in the series, “Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem.” The title of this sermon is, “From Gethsemane to Golgotha.”

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Old Testament Reading: Zechariah 9:9-10
New Testament Reading:  Matthew 21:1-10

Palm Sunday Service
“From Gethsemane to Golgotha”
Selected Scriptures

 

Even unbelievers acknowledge the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as the two essential doctrines of the Christian Faith. For without those events, we have no gospel.

  • Because of that, we can understand several things about the Church and human history.
  • The Church moved the day of Christian worship from the Sabbath Day to Sunday to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.
  • By the end of the first century, Sunday was called “The Lord’s Day” and reserved for corporate worship.
  • In 325 AD the Church severed the annual celebration of the Lord’s resurrection from its connection to the Jewish Passover and instructed Christian churches to celebrate the resurrection in connection with the first day of spring.
  • That decision distorted the truth and diminished the spiritual significance of the resurrection so much, that the celebration of “Easter” became more important than the
    “Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

 

Over time, the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection merged with “Easter”, or “Ishtar,” the name of a false god of fertility that was worshipped by pagans in Mesopotamia and Syria.

  • Many Easter symbols originated in the pagan spring festivals of Europe, Egypt, and the Middle East, including the “rabbit” – a symbol of sexual pleasure and fertility.
  • Connect the celebration of Ishtar – the rebirth of nature, with rabbits – the symbol of fertility, and we have the origin of the Easter Bunny…. that “lays eggs”!

Even those religious activities that God designed to keep our minds focused on the resurrection are not according to the timeline given to us in the Scriptures. In fact, the Good Friday-Easter Sunday tradition actually denies the only sign Jesus offered the religious leaders to prove His deity.

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly,
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth.”
John 12:40

The miracle of Jonah was a “type”, or an illustration of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

  • Three days and three nights equal 72-hours, and it is impossible, by any method, to get 72-hours using the Friday Crucifixion – Sunday morning resurrection model.
  • Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote their gospel on Jewish time – “sunset to sunset,” or as God said in Genesis, “the evening and the morning were the first day.” John wrote his gospel much later and used Roman time.
  • Beginning at 6:00 pm Saturday, (Sunday, Jewish time) and counting backward 72-hours, Jesus had to have been buried by 6:00 pm on Wednesday for the “sign” He gave the religious leaders to be true.
  • In 1st Corinthians 15:4, the Apostle Paul said Jesus “was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.” 

COUNTDOWN TO THE CRUCIFIXION
Event recorded in:

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John
Friday – Nisan 8 – Six Days before The Passover
  • Jesus arrives in Bethany

12:1
  • Mary anoints Jesus for Burial

12:1-8
  • Plot to kill Lazarus

12:9-11
  • Judas betrays Jesus for money

26:14-16

14:10-11

22:3-6
Saturday – Nisan 9 –Five Days Before the Passover – Regular Sabbath Day
  • Jesus enters Jerusalem

21:1-11

11:1-10

19:29-44

12:12-19
  • Jesus weeps over Jerusalem

19:41
  • Returns to Bethany with disciples

11:11
Sunday – Nisan 10 – Four Days Before the Passover
  • Jesus curses barren fig tree

21:18-19

11:11-18
  • Jesus cleanses the temple

21:12-13

11:15-18

19:45-48
  • Plans to kill Jesus increases

11:18-19
  • Greeks seek to see Jesus

12:20-36
  • Jesus returns to Bethany

11:19
Monday – Nisan 11 – Three Days Before the Passover
  • Fig tree is withered

21:18-22

11:20-26
  • Jesus Teaches Publicly

21:23-25:46

11:27-13:37

20:1-21:36
    • Parables – two sons, wicked husbandman, great supper, great commandment, paying taxes, woes to scribes and Pharisees
    • Prophecy – Olivet discourse, destruction of the Temple, persecution, and the destruction of Jerusalem
    • Parables – fig tree, flood, servants, ten virgins, talents
    • Prophecy – sheep and goats/last judgment
Tuesday, Nisan 12 – Two Days Before the Passover
  • Plans to kill Jesus increase

26:1-5

14:1-2

22:1-2
  • Disciples prepare Upper Room

26:17-20

14:12-17

22:7-14
Wednesday, Nisan 13 – One Day Before the Passover (sunset)
  • Jesus washes the disciple’s feet

13:1-20
  • Jesus identifies His betrayer

26:21-25

14:18-21

22:21-23

13:21-30
  • Last Supper Instituted

26:26-29

14:22-25

22:15-20
  • Judas leaves the room

13:32
  • Jesus gives new commandment

13:31-35
  • Jesus warns all will flee

26:31-35

14:27-31

22:31-38

13:36-38
  • Jesus Upper Room Discourse

14:1-31
  • They sing a hymn and leave

26:30

14:26-31
  • Jesus teaches along the way

Chpts 15-17
  • Jesus prays at Gethsemane

26:36-46

14:26-42

22:39-46
  • Jesus betrayed, arrested

26:47-56

14:43-52

22:47-53

18:2-13
Midnight – Jesus taken to Annas for questioning
  • 1:00-200 am – Jesus taken to Caiaphas for questioning
  • 5:00-6:00 am – Jesus stands before Sanhedrin – mock trial
  • 6:00-7:00 am – Jesus stands before Pilate for sentencing
  • 7:00-8:00 am – Jesus stands before Herod for sentencing
  • 8:00-9:00 am – Pilate and Herod found Jesus to be innocent
  • 9:00-10:00 am – Jesus was beaten, scourged, mocked and paraded through the city of Jerusalem, carrying the top beam of the cross
  • 12:00 noon – Jesus was nailed to the cross between two thieves
  • 12:00-3:00 pm – Darkness covered the area for miles
  • 3:00 pm – Jesus cried out “It is finished – Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”
  • 3:00 pm – an earthquake occurred, the temple veil was torn, area graves were opened, the Roman Centurion confessed Christ
  • Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus prepared the body and buried it in a tomb nearby; the Roman’s sealed it and guarded it