VIEWPOINT with Chuck Crismier
GOOD "WEDNESDAY"
[music] This is Viewpoint with Attorney and Author Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is a one hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Chris Meyer. It was a spring morning, a Sunday around 30 A.D. And one called Jesus of Nazareth, riding on a donkey, came from the Mount of Olives down into Jerusalem, and up to the temple, and proclaimed Himself King. He had come as a suffering servant, but when He rode into Jerusalem, He rode in as a triumphal king. And that's the reason it's called the triumphal entry. It's called Palm Sunday, why is it called Palm Sunday? Because they laid out palm branches, and palm branches in that era, in that ancient day, were symbolization of goodness and victory. So the spreading of palm branches was actually a demonstration, a proclamation of Jesus' triumph as King of Israel. But He would not be just King of Israel, He would be King of the nations, because as we finish the book, in the book of Revelation we find in chapter 19, He am riding into not just Jerusalem, but the world on a white stallion, not a humble donkey to proclaim and be proclaimed as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So today on Viewpoint, we take a look at this matter of what is referred to as Palm Sunday, or the triumphal entry, and its significance for us. And I'm glad that you've joined us. Its conversation is always with ever-increasing conviction, I talk that transforms, and I trust that in the course of today's conversation together, there will be something of a transformational implication for every single one of us. Well, Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, but in that day it was the Sunday before Passover, and Easter and Passover are not necessarily the same thing. Although for professing Christians, we pretend that they are the same thing. At least they represent the same thing. Easter, the resurrection Passover actually, the preparation for the resurrection. But it begins what is called as Holy Week. It's the day that we remember and celebrate the day Jesus entering Jerusalem as servant, then Savior, and King. Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, a large crowd gathered. They laid palm branches in their cloaks on the road, giving Jesus a kind of royal treatment. And we don't know how many people there were. Maybe there were hundreds, maybe there were thousands, we don't know. Maybe there were just dozens, we don't know. But they were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest heaven." Baruch Abashim Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus himself said to Israel that he would not come again until they were ready to say, "Baruch Abashim Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Because at that time only a precious few were willing to say that. So until Israel has a people were willing to say that and to receive him the second time, his second coming, they would have to be prepared to say, "Baruch Abashim Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." But until then in the book of Matthew chapter 21, we find these words, "Say to the dawner of Zion, 'Behold your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt the full of a donkey.'" Now that was a quote from the book of Zechariah, which had prophesied this very event. So this didn't just happen in the blue. It was prophesied in the book of Zechariah at least 400 years before this event took place, the triumphal entry. So in the book of John it says they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, "Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel." Notice they acknowledge him as the king of Israel. Well, that was in itself offensive, terribly offensive to the religious leaders of the day and by implication from their viewpoint offensive to Caesar. So at the time of Jesus' crucifixion, you may require, you may recall that these same religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, that choreographed the crucifixion of Jesus, called together in saborne perjury in order to get people to testify against him at a trial before Pontius Pilate, and Pontius Pilate says, "Behold your king." But they said, "We have no king but Caesar." We have no king but Caesar. So until the Jewish people, Israel is willing as a people group, a large representation of Israel is willing to receive Yeshua, Jesus Christ, as not only Messiah, but king of Israel, they will continue to receive Caesar. Caesar will rule over them, and so the rising Roman Empire, as we've discussed so many times, here on this program is in fact seeking to rule over Israel even this very day. In fact, the very representations of Joe Biden and his administration and of the United Nations devoted what was it yesterday to try to compel Israel to do its bidding. All of these are representations of Caesar ruling over Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu says, "No, we're going to do what we have to do even if all the nations come against us." But from Jesus' perspective, he says, "Look, I am not coming back to this earth." In other words, my second coming is going to be preceded by the willingness of the major part of the residue of Israel, the Jewish people, to be willing to say, "Baruch Abashim Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." It's as simple as that. But now when Jesus entered Jerusalem in this triumphal entry, the whole city was stirred against him. In fact, he said, "Who is this?" And the crowds answered, "This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." So the people saw him as a prophet. They saw him as a king now, but they did not see him as priest. This is very significant because you see, the Messiah was to be prophet, he priest and king. But now they saw him as a prophet and they were seeing him as a king, but they were not seeing him as a priest. Why? Because he had not yet served his priestly role. That would happen on the cross. We'll be right back. This is a viewpoint, friends. Our viewpoint and all these things is determining. We need to get an understanding. We'll be back. Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorce were practically unknown as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Chris Meyer and I urge you to join me daily on viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's morals slide, relate to the fourth commandment? Listen to viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org. [Music] Today we talk about the triumphal entry. People refer to it as Palm Sunday because of the poem branches that were thrown down on the ground and garments thrown down to usher in Jesus in a kind of royal type of welcome into Jerusalem, the city of the High King. And ultimately to the temple mount, the mount or hill of the Lord. And so today we're looking at the various aspects concerning this triumphal entry and Palm Sunday. It's quite significant. I think it's much more significant than most want to give it credit for. Most want to look at the resurrection or they want to look at the crucifixion, but in reality, what leads up to it is almost as significant. We just miss the significance because we don't focus on it. It doesn't seem quite as dramatic. In Psalm 118, which is one of the most honored Psalms among the Jewish people, one of those verses says, "O Lord, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, we bless you from the house of the Lord." Now there is a sense in which from Psalm 18, they should have understood, in a prophetic sense, what happened on Palm Sunday, but they did not. Now the people themselves, the average person, seemed to get it, but the religious leaders did not get it, not even close. So, as Jesus had said, when He approached Mephegy and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you're going to find a cult tied there which no one has ever ridden on." So, untie it and bring it here, and if anyone asks you why are you untying it, just say the Lord needs it. Well, that's very fascinating, isn't it? Apparently, the people that owned the cult somehow had resonant in their minds and hearts, a willingness to release that cult. Most people in America would not. Those who were ahead went and found it just as they had told them. And they were untying the cult, the owners asked them, "Why are you untying the cult?" and they said, "The Lord needs it." So, they brought it to Jesus through their cloaks on the cult and put Jesus on it, and as He went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. And when He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully. Now, this is not just necessarily the twelve disciples. This may be a whole crowd of other followers as well. They began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles that they had seen saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord." Notice, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord." Now, they thought of Him as a prophet, but now they're attributing to Him kingship. This is critically important because Jesus, as Messiah, was to fulfill three roles. Prophet, Priest, and King. They saw Him as a prophet. They're now attributing to Him kingship, and what is yet to come is priesthood. So, as He approached, as Jesus approached Jerusalem, He saw the city, and He wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it's hidden from your eyes." And He talked about how Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, and the people were going to be severely judged by Rome. Now, He didn't mention Rome at that time. He just said they were going to be seriously judged, and that's exactly what happened. So, as the Pharisees heard and saw what was taking place there with the people rejoicing in Jesus as King, they said one to another, that is the Pharisees, said, "This is getting out of Him." It's getting out of hand. It's getting nowhere. Look, the whole world's gone after Him. In other words, they were envious, terrifically envious. They were envious because they were afraid now that they were going to lose their place, their prominence among the people, and it would affect the power, perks and positions, that the elders of Israel enjoyed under Roman rule. It wasn't the people that enjoyed any value under Roman rule. It was the Pharisees. It was the Sadducees. It was the Sanhedrin. It's kind of like the same thing all over again, isn't it? Deja vu all over again, where the so-called elite get the benefits. That's really what's envisioned with regard to the New World Order, the New Global Order, the elites, the wealthy, the elites, and the politically prominent. They're the ones that reap the benefits, and the rest of the peons well not so much. So they don't want to lose their place of power, perks, and position, their prominence, particularly if King Jesus should come on the scene. Oh, now perhaps we can better understand why persecution would be coming ever more so now upon our world, and yes, even the United States of America, the most prominent gathering of remaining Christians in the world. You think that might be it? I believe it is. So when you read my upcoming book, Coming When Persecution Comes, you're going to find, in great detail, that's exactly what's happening. And the same spirit of envy that drove these religious leaders to attack Jesus and subborn perjury even to have him crucified is basically the same spirit that is going to bring increasing persecution upon professing believers worldwide. I'm so glad for a number of you who have joined together with that persecution project, and if you want to be part of that, there's still time to do that, and I hope you will. Just go to our website, saveus.org, saveus.org, and you'll find the place where you can make that commitment, or you can give us a call at 1-800-SAVE USA, 1-800-SAVE USA, or write to us at Save America Ministries. P.O. Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 2-3255. If you're writing a check, make sure you put on it persecution project, which means when the book comes out around August, you will receive for every $250 that you have given in advance to assist in getting this project underway. We're calling it a project because you're involved in it, not just from money. You're going to be involved in it from the standpoint that means you then can become an auxiliary minister of our God to get the message out to people in your spheres of influence. You'll have for every $250 you've invested in this project, you will receive 10 books in order to do that. I think it'll be a great blessing. People want to know, "What can I do? Is there anything that I can do? This is something you can do." And it's based upon advancing the cause of Christ and the kingdom of God and preparing your brothers and sisters those you love for the times ahead. All right, now, we want to get back here to Jesus descending from the Mount of Olives, and he's heading up to Jerusalem, Jerusalem. And the people say to the Israeli leaders, "This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee." So Jesus went into the temple, and the next thing he did was cast out all those that sold and bought in the temple. He overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves and said, "It is written, my house shall be a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves." Well, isn't it interesting? Jesus called the temple, the second temple, the rebuilt temple, his house. Even though the Bible says the Lord God does not live in temples made with hands. Well, the Lord God didn't live in the tabernacle of Moses' day, but God had him build the tabernacle because humankind needed some sort of representation where they could be connected with the God whom they could not see. Remember, they had spent 400 years in bondage in Egypt. So Jesus goes into the temple, he doesn't wait for an invitation, he claims it as his house. So he was a prophet, now he's coming in as king of Israel and claiming the very house of God to be his house. Now, you can imagine the Jewish leaders, pretty incensed by this, they think this is kind of tantamount to blasphemy because they didn't see Jesus as king. They thought of him as a teacher, as perhaps a rabbi, which means teacher, but they didn't quite see him as king because, well, that would interfere with their relationship with Rome. So they said we have no king, but Caesar. But when the chief priests saw the wonderful things that Jesus was doing, actually healing the blind and the lame, they came to him at the temple, they became even more disturbed. And the people were saying, Hosanna to the son of David, and so the high priests were very displeased, that means upset. And Jesus said, have you not even heard where it says in the scriptures out of the mouth of babes and sucklings that was perfected praise? He was quoting their Psalm 8, and so he left them, Jesus left them, and he went out of the city to Bethany, and he stayed there overnight. Now, whatever he had come into Jerusalem on Sunday morning, he stayed there in Bethany overnight, and in the morning he returned to Jerusalem. And he was hungry, so he saw a fig tree, and he came to it, he didn't find anything on it, only leaves, so he said, let no fruit grow on you from here on after. And interestingly, the fig tree eventually withered away so that when they came past that again, the disciples saw that the fig tree had withered away. So Jesus said to them, this is the context in which these things have happened, friends. The last four days of Jesus' life, starting on Sunday morning. Now we're on Monday, Monday, and Jesus sees the fig tree, and he curses the fig tree the next day. He says to his disciples, if you have faith and doubt not, have faith is a grain of mustard seed, and say unto this tree, be thou removed and cast in the sea, or see this mountain, and say be removed and cast in the sea, it shall be done. So then the chief priests and the elders came to him, that is Jesus, and said, hey, what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority? Now remember Jesus came into Jerusalem as king, so now they're saying, who gave you this authority? Jesus could say, I'm the one that gave you the authority, but they didn't understand it that way. So they said, who gave you this authority? So then Jesus sparked a little controversy with them. He said, let me ask you a question. You tell me, if you can tell me, then I will tell you by what authority are doing these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? Would you like to know what they said? We'll be right back. Jesus must have been the most amazing tongs you'll always have. We'll be right. There is so much more about Chuck Chris Meyer and Save America Ministries. On our website, SaveUS.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on his mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage and morals, SaveUS.org. Marriage, divorce and remarriage, what does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at SaveUS.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea Project, SaveUS.org. And many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, SaveUS.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's viewpoint broadcast, live and archive, Save America Ministries website at SaveUS.org. Jesus apparently was the consonant talk show host. At least he had a way of dealing with the media of his day, and particularly with those who wanted to interview him, concerning the issues that they wanted to twist to their own advantage. And so these leaders were interviewing Jesus. You could call it an interview. They came to him. By what power or authority are you doing these things, Jesus? So Jesus responded to them, look, the baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? And he knew that he had them. So they thought within themselves the reason if we say from heaven, he's going to say to us, why then didn't you believe him? But if we say, because we fear the people, if we say we can't tell, then he'll say neither do I tell you by what authority are, do these things. So they just said, we can't tell. Why did they say that? Because they feared the people, because all of the people considered John the Baptist to be a prophet. And they didn't want to set themselves up against someone with the people thought to be a prophet, because that would turn against them. Now remember, all this happened on the day after Jesus triumphed entry. So then Jesus gives a series of parables. It's quite interesting. An awful lot of what Jesus did in his ministry occurs in four days. From Sunday morning AD 30 in the spring, his triumphed entry under donkey, palm branches flying. He comes into Jerusalem. He weeps over Jerusalem. And then the religious leaders were so incensed. I'm reading about this in Matthew chapter 21, where the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables. They perceived that he was speaking about them, which indeed he was. And when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude because they took Jesus for a prophet. So they believed Jesus was a prophet. They received him as king, but they had not received him as priest. Why? Because he had not yet fulfilled that role, which was to take place just a few days from then. Now during the course of Matthew, you find some of this in the book of Luke, John, the book of Mark, but the book of Matthew is the most complete with regard to what happened during those few days after Jesus' triumphal entry. You may recall the confrontation where the religious leaders came to his. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? Now they hated Caesar. Yet they'd rather have Caesar who allowed them to have their power perks in position than they would have Jesus who would take away, it seems, some of their power perks in position. So they tested him. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their shenanigans. He said, "Why are you tempting me?" you hypocrites. Show me the tribute money, and they did. He said, "Whose image is this?" And he said, "Well, Caesar's." He said, "Well, then render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God the things that are gods." How could they fight against that? They were amazed. Just imagine if Jesus sat down in a broadcast deck with a microphone and had interviews with all these people out there that are trying to twist and turn truth into a pretzel. He would just make men's feet of them, wouldn't he? He saw through all the shenanigans, and he wasn't afraid to tell the truth. There were so many. Even during this time, a lawyer representing the religious leaders of the day came to him and asked him what the great commandment was. And Jesus said, "Well, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength with you." And that's the great commandment, but their second like it, "You shall love your neighbors yourself." On these two, hang all the law and the prophets. And the lawyer said, "You've well spoken." Hmm. Once again, Jesus put them to the test. They sought to put him to the test, but he put them to the test. He was wiser than Solomon. And then we have the unbelievable chapter of chapter 23 of the book of Matthew in which Jesus just absolutely excoriates the religious leaders of his day. I mean, just absolutely rips them apart. He handled Jesus sweetened mild, but he's speaking to them as both prophet and king. You ought to read it. You really ought to read it. A lot of people don't realize this is Jesus. Then he says, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, now they kill us the prophets." How often would I have gathered your children together even as a hen who gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not? So your house is left unto you desolate. Now, here's what's interesting. Immediately following that, Jesus went out, departed from the temple, and went to the Mount of Olives. And there he gave the most profound prophetic prophecy, direction, statement to his apostles that we have in the Bible. It's called the Olivet Discourse, Matthew chapter 24, and also chapter 25. He had a command performance there, I'll tell you. And he said, "Watch, for you don't know the day or the hour when the Son of Man is coming back. You don't know, so get ready." That's what we're trying to do here on this program. Get God's people ready. Because you don't know the day or the hour. We know the season. We're in the season, friends. So it's important. Now we move from there to the eve of the Passover. When was that, by the way? Well, the eve of the Passover was on a Wednesday. Now, get out your little counters, your fingers. He came into Jerusalem on Sunday morning. That's the triumphal entry. He was there on Monday morning. And Tuesday morning. And Wednesday morning. How many days is that? You're on the fourth day now, right? The fourth day. But he wasn't crucified then. He was called before Pontius Pilate somewhere around 6am in the morning, led up to Golgotha to be crucified around 9am on Wednesday, not Friday, Wednesday. And by three in the afternoon, he had died on the cross, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." When was that concluded? When did he voice those words? When did Jesus, as prophet and as king, voice those words about three o'clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, four days after he entered Jerusalem? Why is that significant? Oh, it's tremendously significant, friends, because it shakes up all of Christian tradition and gets back to biblical truth. That's why it's significant. When we try to shake up and superimpose tradition over what God has said, then we miss the beauty of the believability of what God has said and the whole pattern of prophecy that's set before us. And in the next segment of the program, we're going to reveal exactly what that looks like. And I hope you'll stay tuned. It'll give you something to really think about. Maybe you won't even have to think about it that hard, because it becomes so obvious. How far we have missed it. With all the people out there celebrating good Friday eating their fish on good Friday or whatever it is. And Friday has absolutely nothing to do with the biblical chronology. Nothing whatsoever. See, wow, really? Yes, really. Now, of course, before Jesus was crucified, He said to His disciples, they're on the Mount of Olives, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. For the Spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak. Can you relate to that? I think we can all relate to that, can't we? The Spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak. Now you can understand perhaps why it's so important to deal directly, openly with the issue of persecution. Because persecution is the ultimate temptation or testing of our Spirit. Will we yield to the temptation to betray the Lord in some way? Because of the intensity of persecution or not? The flesh truly is weak. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Understand why we need to hear about how to live strong in persecution. Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first-century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold, how they love one another." Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to sevast.org and click sell church. We can revive 1st century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's sevast.org. Click sell church. Welcome back to Viewpoint. You know the story of Israel coming out of Egypt? About the first Passover, right? In the land of Egypt? And they were to take the blood of a lamb and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses. You know all about that, right? But you do know that God had commanded them that their lamb be without blemish. And they were to take it from the sheep or the other goats and they were to keep it from the 10th to the 14th day of the same month. Then the congregation of Israel was to kill the lamb and take the blood and strike it on the posts of their house. You say, well, what does this have to do with the triumphal entry? Well, it has everything to do with it, friends. Because when Jesus came into Jerusalem on Sunday morning, He was going to be inspected as the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world. He was going to be inspected just as the Israelites, who were then all through Jerusalem and around Israel, pulling out their lambs to inspect them, to make sure that they were without blemish, so that they could be offered at the Passover. So Jesus, as the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world in His new high priestly role, would have to be inspected for four days. Well, that inspection was completed on Wednesday morning. The religious leaders try as they might, couldn't find fault with Him. They even had to support in perjury and stir up people to try to make up stories to convict Jesus against Pontius Pilate. But Pontius Pilate saw through the whole charade, and he said, "I find no fault in this man." Pontius Pilate declared on behalf of the Lord God Himself that Jesus was without blemish. When was that declared on the fourth day after Jesus rode into Jerusalem? Four days, the people of Israel and the leaders were given opportunity to inspect Jesus to see if there was any spiritual blemish in Him. Any fault, and there was not. They tried to get Him with regard to treasonous acts against Caesar. It didn't work. They tried to get Him concerning the theology of the Bible. It didn't work. They tried every which way. It didn't work. All they could do was stir up trouble artificially. So Jesus was with the people now for four days. Sunday morning to Monday morning. That's one day. Monday morning to Tuesday morning. That's two days. Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning. That's three days. Ah, but you see the days for Israel begin in the evening. Oh, so we get confused. We start our days at the wrong time. So from Sunday night, excuse me, from Saturday night when Sunday began to Monday night, that's one day. From Monday night to Tuesday night, that's two days. From Tuesday night to Wednesday night, that's three days. Okay, so now where are we? We're heading into Passover. Passover was considered to be a Sabbath. Not the Sabbath, but a Sabbath. So the Bible says that as a Sabbath draw near, drew near, that is the Passover, they had to get Jesus off the cross. So they got him off the cross after three o'clock on Wednesday. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, four days. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, four days. They take him down from the cross at the end of the fourth day, from the Jewish perspective, and by sundown, the beginning of the fifth day, he was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. So he was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea on Wednesday night, which began Thursday sundown. That began Thursday. So from Thursday night, the Thursday morning sundown on Wednesday to, excuse me, yeah, to Friday. That's, so we have two days there. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So he's actually three whole days in the tomb just as Jesus had said, just as Joseph was, Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. So must the son of man be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. Jesus was in the belly of the earth, three days. From Wednesday night to Thursday night, from Thursday night to Friday night, and from Friday night to Saturday night. Oh, and when did the, when did Sunday begin for the Jewish people? After sundown on Saturday, so Jesus was three full days and nights in the tomb. What does Friday have to do with it? Nothing. Jesus was in the middle of his time in the tomb on Friday. He was not buried on Friday and he wasn't crucified on Friday. You see, to say that is to violate the rest of Scripture. And to force us to enter into a world of theological gymnastics and to play pretend with our minds and that which we know is true. To try to say, well, he was in the grave for a part of one day and a part of another day. So we will constructively say he was in the grave all day. No. That's lawyerly gaming, friends. That's deceptive. It's not necessary to do that. Jesus came into Jerusalem on Sunday morning. They threw palm branches. He was declared prophet and king. He was there for four days. Brought before Pontius Pilate the morning of Wednesday, still part of the four days, declared my Pontius Pilate to be without blemish, crucified on the fourth day, buried on the fourth day. And that began the period of his burial, three days and three nights in the earth. Then early in the morning on Sunday morning, not on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was Saturday. So we have two Sabbaths that are involved in this. We had the Sabbath, which is the Passover that was occurring on Wednesday night or Thursday morning early. That was a Passover, a Sabbath. But then the Sabbath drew on Saturday, two Sabbaths. Because Christian leaders have refused to see what the Scripture has to say about the Sabbath, it has left us in exceeding consternation and actually in disagreement with what the Bible clearly sets and causes us to have to play games with our own words and with God's words. When otherwise, if we would accept what God said about the Sabbath, we would understand it completely. So early in the morning on Sunday morning as the song that we often sing for the celebration of Easter, up from the grave he arose with a tremendous victory over his foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain and he lives forever with his saints to reign. He arose, he arose, hallelujah, he arose. The triumphal entry was the beginning. When he was crucified, he took on the role of priest, high priest, and then was able to forever be able to forgive your sins. Up to then he was prophet and then declared king, but he had not fulfilled the priestly role. Then Christ became prophet, priest, and king. He became the priest, high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He became the high priest that the book of Hebrews chapter 10 talks about. We don't need the bulls and goats anymore. We don't even need other sacrificial lambs because Jesus himself became the final sacrificial lamb forever. A priest forever after the order of Melchizedek and gave us a better hope by which you and I can draw nigh to God. Jesus was made a better surety, of a better testament. Wherefore he is able to save us to the uttermost, then that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them because now he's the high priest. We don't need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the peoples, for Jesus did this once when he offered up himself. That is the message of the good news. The gospel and if we really understood the fullness of it and could make it plain to the average person without playing theological games with redefinition of the words and try to justify this, that or the other opinions. How about if we just accept what God said? How about if we just keep it simple saints? What do you think? You think that might work better for us? You think it might actually please God the more so? Now, whether you want to celebrate it as good Wednesday or not is not the point. But whatever you do, there's no such thing as good Friday in the way that has been historically and traditionally accepted. But there is a good day that is a real good day and that's when he arose. He arose the victor from the dark domain and now he gives hope to his sins forever to reign. Thanks for joining us friends. God bless, it be a blessing. You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and hope. [Music] [Music]