“Power of the Holy Week: What It Means For You” by Mark McGee
When we think of the Christian Holy Week our mind immediately goes to how Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly to the cheering of adoring crowds, how He was betrayed murderously by a cowardly disciple, and how He was raised from death miraculously by His Heavenly Father.
We rejoice in what Jesus Christ accomplished in that first Holy Week almost two-thousand years ago. It was an amazing week in human history. However, as amazing as that was, what does it mean for us today? Is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth just an ancient story we remember once a year? Or could it promise a unique power to change and guide our lives every day?
The Holy Week was the culmination of God’s great plan from eternity:
“… knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” 1 Peter 1:18-21 NKJV
Jesus did not embark on His journey to the Holy Week by whim, deception or mistake. He traveled to Jerusalem to offer Himself as the one Sacrifice God would accept for sin:
“Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” Matthew 20:17-19
Why did Jesus go to Jerusalem to die? He did it for you and for me. He died for us, was buried for us, and was raised for us. Jesus was obedient to His Father’s will and we are the beneficiaries.
Here is what it means for you, your family, and friends.
Rescued
We are rescued!
Jesus ‘rescued’ us through His death and resurrection. Rescued? From what?
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Galatians 1:3-5 NIV
“They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10
The death and resurrection of Jesus ‘rescued’ us from ‘the present evil age’ and from the ‘coming wrath.’ The Greek word for ‘rescue’ is exaireó and means ‘to deliver, to take out, remove completely.’
No matter who we are, where we live or what we believe, all people alive at this moment are living in the same physical and spiritual world – ‘the present evil age.’ Christians are unique in that they are ‘rescued’ from it. We still live in it, but are rescued from it.
We are also rescued from ‘the coming wrath.’ God is slow to anger, but He is angry and His wrath is coming. That’s why Jesus’ rescue is so special and important to us. We were by nature children of wrath, but God is rich in mercy and sent His Son to rescue us from His wrath. (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Redeemed
We are redeemed!
“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14
Notice that our ‘rescue’ includes something Paul called ‘redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ The word ‘redemption’ in Colossians 1 comes from the Greek word apolutrósis and means “a release effected by payment of ransom, to let go free for a ransom.” This ‘redemption’ is the process of ‘buying back from’ or ‘re-purchasing’ of what was previously lost or enslaved.
We see in John 8 that Jesus told His Jewish audience that if they continued in His Word, they would be His disciples, and if they were His disciples, they would know the truth and the truth would make them free. People in that audience didn’t like what Jesus said and replied that they were Abraham’s descendants and had never been in bondage to anyone. The crowd asked Jesus, “How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus replied to the crowd, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (vss 31-36).
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, said – “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Romans 6:17). Paul wrote those words after explaining in great detail that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It’s interesting that the next words Paul wrote were – “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
What is the ransom? What is the payment for sin? The shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross –
“… whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:25-26 NKJV
Paul wrote this to Timothy several years after writing to the Romans –
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” 1 Timothy 2:5-6
Every human being needs to be redeemed and there is one Mediator between God and men who can do that, “the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.”
Raised
We will be raised!
Jesus and His apostles taught that disciples of Christ will live with God forever in Heaven in their physical bodies. Jesus demonstrated that after His resurrection by showing them the crucifixion marks on His body, eating with the disciples and having other physical interactions with them.
The Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus will “transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Our resurrection body will be like Jesus’ resurrection body. In his letter to the Romans, Paul mentioned that we eagerly wait for the adoption, “the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).
Paul also wrote this about our bodies in the resurrection. He wrote to the Corinthians that even as their body was “sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.” Even as it was “sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.” Even as it was “sown in weakness, it is raised in power.” Even as it was “sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” Paul made it clear that there is “a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” He concluded that the spiritual is not first, but the natural and afterward the spiritual. Paul wrote that “as we have borne the image of the man of dust” (Adam), “we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man” (Jesus). (1 Corinthians 15:42-49)
So what does that mean for our future?
“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:52-54
Praise God! We will be raised! But raised to what?
Paul wrote the Ephesians that our future is with God in Heaven!
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-6
Our resurrection is as sure as our salvation is sure. How do we know that? Because of what God reveals to His children about their promised future. We have a guarantee from God!
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14
There it is again – “the redemption of the purchased possession.” That’s us!
As God’s children through faith in Jesus Christ, we are rescued and redeemed and we will be raised. That is God’s promise to us and to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
“… that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10
May this Holy Week be more than something to remember. May it be a time of reflection, consideration, and determination as we rejoice in what Jesus did for us and what we can do for Him through our worship of Him and obedience to Him.
Consider the ‘power’ Jesus has given you for life and service. It flows from the working of God’s mighty power “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21).
May we use the power God has given us for His glory and eternal purpose!
Written by Mark McGee ~
Mark McGee is a former atheist and career journalist. He worked on the news staff of several radio and television stations (including Huntsville’s WAAY-TV) and two metropolitan newspapers over a period of 40 years.
Mark has written three published books and more than 280 Ebooks. He also writes regularly for several Christian blogs and serves with Ratio Christi Campus Apologetics Alliance and Engage360 Ministries.
Mark has been active in martial arts and self-defense training for almost 60 years and has been teaching from a Christian perspective for almost 50. He is an instructor with Christian Soldiers Karate at Whitesburg Baptist Church and also teaches privately.
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