It is obvious throughout that preparatory week for the crucifixion that the disciples had not any perception that what was being walked out that week, starting from that Triumphal Entry to the Resurrection on the following Sunday, was directly a prophetic purpose. It seems the Father desired to hide the real purpose from Satan himself, and the Disciples. Every year as far as I remember I would do a series for this site, this year is something different.

It is different because the things that are playing out in the world, even amongst the Church, have taken my attention that I cannot do what I normally do. Last Easter I did 2 major series which will become a publication to appear in the Store. This year what is being played out is the political moves toward a globalist state, made up of Marxists who see the Church, Christ and God as an enemy to the makeup of this “utopia” they have planned. Then within the Church we have delusions coming in, where Churches are now departing from truths concerning creation, the genders, the Word being now preached with many modernisms that it is a departure from the Kingdom culture for which the Church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost. It seems that the so called “Pandemic” changed the psyche of nations, and now there seems to be an aggression within people groups, and there seems a great instability.

It is against this backdrop that I have desired to study the days that lead up to Jesus’ resurrection with a new approach. I see this hidden purpose of God being a theme we are walking out today and wonder if some of the events of that Passover week can be transposed to today. There are startling observations to be made. I sense that the events recounted in the Gospels have a eschatological applications, for the days we are living in now. I see a theme repeated and Paul himself speaks of this in Ephesians, concerning the mystery that was “hid in God” which is revealed in Christ, and through His work in us and through us. I believe that as according to Acts 1:7 when the disciples ask Jesus concerning the restoration of Israel Jesus reveals nothing, only that the Father has those fulfilments under His Domain. I begin to wonder if we are beginning to live in the realm where the Father is now beginning to outwork some eternal purposes prophesied through Old Testament prophets, and shown through John’s revelation vision. Is there something being outworked now that we are distracted, prevented from seeing? Luke 24 shows us Jesus being hidden for a time, whilst the Scriptures were being explained.

We see differing accounts that tie in that final week which give us some idea what Jesus was doing in preparing His disciples. The Monday being the evening spent in Bethany, after a day of observation of the Temple. Mark tells us in his Gospel that Jesus entered the Temple and only observed, having cursed the fig tree on that day also, on the way to Bethany. The first act in this eschatological week being observation but this time is His Church that Jesus has entered. He is seeing what we are doing. It is highlighted on the following day, Tuesday, that Jesus had identified Mammon as the enemy of all purpose for the House of God, and dealt with it in a violent manner. The merchandise done in the Temple Courts for Jesus had corrupted the whole role of the Temple. It is no different in the Church, and if Jesus used violence to expel the business men and women of that time, how much more will Jesus deal with this in the working and judging for rolling up this creation. This is the purpose for those end times we study and sense we are getting ever nearer to Jesus’ return.

That evening with Lazarus being newly raised from the dead, were sat around the table with an intimate night and Mary did something unexpected, began to wash Jesus’ feet and with her own tears and hair do this task. Jesus saw her heart, her motivation and saw it as a preparation for His death. This act was not seen in the same light by the disciples, because of the expensive perfume used.

I believe that the second thing eschatologically judged and set in destiny is worship, how we have related to our Saviour and Lord. To worship Jesus, the extent of humility that Mary is showing here, is extraordinary. As the Father has delegated all judgment to the Son, so the Son will judge us on our relationship to Him and with Him. We must walk with Jesus in all that He lived and is living now. We must embrace Him as our Saviour knowing that He gave His life for us, and is deserving for giving our lives to Him, which is our act of worship. We acquaint worship with songs sung in a meeting, but the Word of God goes way beyond this, it gives us a glimpse of what is worship in John chapter 4. The Greek for “worshippers” gives us that window into what is true worship:

4353. προσκυνητής prŏskunētēs, pros-koo-nay-tace´; from 4352; an adorer:— worshipper

 James Strong, The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996).

The Word explains that it is “kissing, prostrating”

4352. προσκυνέω prŏskunĕō, pros-koo-neh´-o; from 4314 and a probable der. of 2965 (mean. to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (lit. or fig.) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore):— worship.

 James Strong, The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996).

There is a intimacy that is exchanged in this being a adorer. And in the time that Jesus returns to judge all, we shall be judged on our intimacy. As Mary kissed His feet, she was deep in worship with the Son. As we deepen our intimacy so our examination with Him in the end day will be easier and more rewarding. Our reward in that day will be face to face communion with Him for all eternity.

Speaking of that Communion with Him, we come to the next stage of where we obey Jesus to come close in covenant with Him. The Last Supper is the covenant table, where one covenant is celebrated and completed as the perfect Lamb is about to be sacrificed. In the shadow of this Lamb is covenant spelled out to the disciples. When we sit at His Table we partake of His Promises and of His Blessings. When in this perspective of His Judgments on the Day of the Lord we shall be evaluated as partakers of the Covenant. In that place we must pass our obedience test, in the case of Judas Iscariot, he is exposed as the betrayer. We are given much instruction and teaching of humility, authority and purity, in that intimate time. We see from the Gospel accounts there is a great sadness which comes in waves in Jesus, and we see Him in the Last Supper taken over in great sadness and troubled in heart.

The major factor in all the happenings of the Passover week has all to do with the prevailing ideas of the Messiah that were in everyone’s mind at the time. They believed as the Son of David He would be a warrior, and the way that Rome oppressed the nation, they desired a return of the glory days of King David, prevailing over all the enemies. Is it not different today? No, there are still ideas about Jesus, which we desire about His Mission here through the Church, but I believe as much as was hidden then, is hidden now. There has to be a breaking of our human ideas concerning Jesus, and a glimpse of the Father’s purpose in all of this. When you consider the transition from the sadness of the supper, the slumber of sadness in the Garden of Gethsemane, the scattering when Judas hands over Jesus with a kiss, the denial of Peter, and the events of Golgotha, the death of Jesus, shattered all the hopes they had in Him. The process is made complete when we read in Luke 24 how Jesus explains from the Scriptures God’s plan. How they had not perceived.

I sincerely believe we are on the same path. We have not understood the Father’s plan in Christ being retained in heaven these 2000 years. We have not understood God’s plan in the Church because of the divisions, the heresies, the apostasies, the awakenings. What we do know is that God has a sure way to enlighten us, but the enlightening does not come without pain, without a hollowing out of our own ambitions. This same group of disciples hiding in the Upper Room, are the same that come out on the Day of Pentecost with power and revelation concerning Christ. We need this new clarity concerning Him. Maybe we need to approach the Passover story once again, and retrace the steps, praying that we may be enlightened to the Father’s plan in Christ through the Church. May we not hang onto human ideas or ambitions that blind us. The Church will only come into unity when it understands Jesus and His Person. That way we will see mirrored in our days the same processes worked out through the lead up to Jesus’ death, and His resurrection. May we be enlightened and may we see Jesus as He is!