03/30/2018
Maundy Thursday service at B-L Presbyterian with "The Cross Foretold."
The Cross Foretold
[Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT)]
NT: When Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired but a body you have prepared for me. I said, “Here I am. I have come to do your will, O God. In the scroll of the book it is written of me.”
OT: All day long they twist my words, they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life.
NT: Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest and plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him.
OT: They paid me thirty pieces of silver—the handsome price which they priced me!
NT: Then Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and asked, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?” They counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on, Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
OT: Even my close friend, whom I trusted, with whom I shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
NT: Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “One of you will betray me. It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
OT: For it is not an enemy who taunts me—then I could bear it. But it is you, my companion, my familiar friend. Yes, my close friend, whom I trusted, has lifted up his heel against me.
OT: And, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.” And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
OT: God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
NT: Then all the disciples left him and fled.
OT: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Messiah.
NT: Inside the palace of the high priest, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone’s testimony.
OT: For I hear the whispering of many—terror all around!—as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
NT: Finally, two men came forward who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” But Jesus remained silent.
OT: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.
NT: Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
OT: In my vision, I saw someone like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He was presented to the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His kingdom will never end.
NT: Jesus replied, “You have said so. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?” “Guilty!” they shouted. “He deserves to die!”
OT: I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting.
NT: Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists.
NT: So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him (nailing his hands and feet to the cross).
OT: All my bones are out of joint. My heart has melted within me. A pack of villains encircles me; they have pierced my hands and my feet.
OT: He was assigned a grave with the wicked.
NT: When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.
OT: You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed. I looked for sympathy, but there was none. They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.
NT: They offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.
OT: People stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
NT: Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.
OT: I hear the slander of many…I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me they shake their heads…all who see me mock me; they hurl their insults, shaking their heads. They say, “He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let God deliver him, since he delights in him.”
NT: Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him.”
OT: My friends and companions stand afar off from my affliction. Because I have so many enemies, I am the contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends. Those who see me flee from me.
NT: And all his acquaintances, including the women who followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.
OT: And in that day—this is the declaration of the Lord God—I will make the sun go down at noon; I will darken the land in the daytime.
NT: At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
OT: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me?
NT: And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
OT: In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! Into your hand I commit my spirit.
NT: Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands do I commit my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.
OT: Because of this will not the land quake … Indeed, all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again.
NT: At the moment Jesus died, the earth shook and the rocks were split.
NT: The leaders asked Pilate to hasten the deaths of the three men by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs.
OT: The Lord keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
OT: They will look on me, the one they have pierced…
NT: One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
OT: When they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
NT: When the Roman officer overseeing the ex*****on saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said, “This man truly was the Son of God!” And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow.
OT: They made his tomb with the rich.
NT: As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth and placed it in his own new tomb.
OT: He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
NT: When the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together
against the Lord and against his Christ.’
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
