Tough Topics Explained

This is the final of five articles discussing the events and circumstances of Jesus’s religious trial before the Jewish authorities.

This is the fourth of five articles discussing the events and circumstances of Jesus’s religious trial before the Jewish authorities.

This is the third of five articles discussing the events and circumstances of Jesus’s religious trial before the Jewish authorities.

The purpose of these articles is to highlight the injustices done to Jesus during His religious trials, by demonstrating the various ways the religious establishment violated or loopholed God’s laws and their own rules in their efforts to execute Him.

The purpose of these articles is to highlight the injustices done to Jesus during His religious trials by demonstrating the various ways the religious establishment violated or loopholed God’s laws and their own rules in their efforts to execute Him.

Jesus’s final 24 hours is something that has been debated over the centuries as to when those events occurred in relation to Passover. Each gospel account gives a different perspective of those events. Our Timeline of Jesus’s Final 24 Hours attempts to harmonize the gospel accounts and display the events in relation to the Jewish and Roman dates on which they occurred

Over the course of their accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all seem to depict this meal as a Passover Seder (Matthew 26:17, 26-30; Mark 14:17, 22-25; Luke 22:14-23). Though the Passover meal itself is hardly the focus of John’s gospel, it too provides a few clues that suggest that Jesus’s Passover meal with the disciples included elements associated with a Seder.

Incredibly, the roots of Passover Seders were celebrated as far back as the Exodus generation in obedience to God’s command to keep the Passover (Numbers 9:1-5). These services have evolved much over millennia.

There are many ways in which the original Passover events foreshadowed Jesus as the Messiah and God’s plan to redeem the world.

Broadly speaking, Passover evokes the entire story of Israel’s relocation to Egypt under the protection of Joseph, the flourishing of the Israelite people, the murderous decrees of Pharaoh, the birth Moses, his raising in Pharaoh’s palace, the burning bush, the ten plagues, Israel’s plundering of Egypt at their departure, and the miraculous parting of the Red Sea.

The Bible speaks often of “righteousness.” For instance, in the New American Standard Bible, the English word “Righteousness” appears 309 times in 296 verses; and the word “Righteous” appears 300 times in 282 verses. Thus, these words are of great importance. But what do these Biblical terms mean?

In the Bible, believers are called to be witnesses of Jesus. Today, believers in Jesus have not seen Jesus physically with our own eyes the way the original apostles and disciples did, but we have still experienced His working and being within and around us, and we can be a witness to others, telling them about what God has done in our lives.

When God created men and women in His image, He created them to live in partnership forever with Him as they ruled over the earth. But when our first parents disobeyed God, they broke relationship with Him. The result of their sin was “death”—separation from God and the eternal destiny/purpose for which they were created.

The Gift of Eternal Life is living forever with God as a member of His eternal family.

Hades/Sheol is a temporary holding place of the dead until the final judgment. Within Hades are two separated regions: a place of coolness and comfort for the good people which is called, “Abraham’s Bosom”; and a place of agony for the wicked. This region of agony within Hades may be the same place as “Tartarus.”

Gehenna and the Outer Darkness are cultural illustrations that describe the shame-filled, bitter, sorrowful experience of a believer in Jesus at his judgment if he is unfaithful. The tragic situations Gehenna depicts are the worst thing a believer who has the Gift of Eternal Life  can experience. Gehenna is Hebrew, “Hinnom Valley,” transliterated to Greek, and refers to a valley adjoining Jerusalem that is used as an illustration.

The Lake of Fire is the final destination for the devil and his angels. It is also where humans whose names are not written in the Book of Life shall be cast (Revelation 20:15). The Eternal Punishment (which is likely the same place as the Lake of Fire) is where unbelievers in Jesus will be condemned to spend eternity. 

The ancient Near East had a widespread type of covenant known as a Suzerain-Vassal Treaty. In these treaties, the “suzerain,” or superior ruler, promised blessings for loyalty and obedience, and cursings for rebellion. We can find archaeological evidence for these treaties in modern-day Turkey, which was once the home to the Hittite Empire.

Revelation promises an extra special blessing in the next life to the one who “overcomes.” The book of Revelation is written in order to exhort believers in Jesus, “His servants,” to understand that this blessing is available, and that it requires His servants to “read,” “hear” (understand), and “heed” (obey) the words Jesus conveys through His Revelation.

In Hebrew, the temple is called the “Beit Hamikdash” which means “the holy house.” It was intended to be God’s earthly dwelling place.

Jews of Jesus’s day were multilingual. To varying degrees they understood Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin.

One of the most powerful truths for Christians is summed up by Paul in Romans 8:14-16. He writes that all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God.

The Flesh and the Spirit are complete opposites. Our most fundamental choice as believers is choosing each day, each moment, which to obey.

“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

A covenant is a contract, a treaty, a ritual agreement or alliance between two parties. It formally binds the two parties together in a relationship, on the basis of mutual personal commitment, with consequences for keeping or breaking the covenant.

Philosophical systems based on logic can never explain their founding paradox. An example is the relativist’s belief that “all things are relative”. The proposition that “all things are relative” is only true if it is true all the time.

The Bible is neutral toward riches. It is our attitude toward riches and the way in which they are used that is celebrated or condemned.

Jesus often used the phrase Son of Man to reference Himself. In total, the four gospels will use the term Son of Man eighty-four times.