March 26, 2021 (Friday)
Remember when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead? Then He left for Ephraim, where He and His disciples stayed for a while? We’ve been writing blogs about their trip back to Bethany on their way to Jerusalem. Bethany was near Jerusalem. It would become a sort of “home base” for Jesus as He experienced His final week on earth.
The time for the Passover Festival was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to perform the ritual of purification before the festival. They were looking for Jesus, and as they gathered in the Temple, they asked one another, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he? The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must report it, so that they could arrest him. Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, the man he had raised from death. A large number of people heard that Jesus was in Bethany, so they went there, not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from death. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too, because on his account many Jews were rejecting them and believing in Jesus (John 11:55-12:1,9-11).
It seems to me that Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethany on Friday. Since this was His first meeting with Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, since Lazarus being raised from the dead, it must have been an emotional reunion. They probably ate together and talked about their history as friends until the Sabbath came at sundown. The Bible says on the next day, which would have been the day after the Sabbath, the first day of the week, Sunday, Jesus instructed His disciples to fetch a young donkey so that He could ride it into the city of Jerusalem as predicted by the prophet Zechariah.
And now the journey was over. The stage was set for the most important week of human history.
THE HOLY CITY
Words: Frederick Weatherly
Music: Michael Maybrick (aka Stephen Adams)
1892
Last night I lay asleeping
There came a dream so fair
I stood in old Jerusalem
Beside the temple there
I heard the children singing
And ever as they sang
Methought the voice of Angels
From Heaven in answer rang
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Lift up your gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna to your King!”
And then methought my dream was chang’d
The streets no longer rang
Hushed were the glad Hosannas
The little children sang
The sun grew dark with mystery
The morn was cold and chill
As the shadow of a cross arose
Upon a lonely hill
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Hark! How the Angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest,
Hosanna to your King!”
And once again the scene was changed
New earth there seemed to be
I saw the Holy City
Beside the tideless sea
The light of God was on its streets
The gates were open wide
And all who would might enter
And no one was denied
No need of moon or stars by night
Or sun to shine by day
It was the new Jerusalem
That would not pass away
“Jerusalem! Jerusalem
Sing for the night is o’er
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna for evermore!”