The events surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ changed the course of history. Jesus offered redemption so we would never be eternally separated from God our Father. Jesus’ sacrificial death provided for all mankind’s needs — including the forgiveness of sins, healing, eternal life, and much more! This plan dives into the details of what really happened when Jesus triumphed over death, hell, and the grave!
Rick Renner Ministries
Day 1
Scriptures: John 14:16-18, John 15:1-11, John 16:4-15
Jesus’ Final Words
On the night when Jesus was betrayed, He got on His knees, washed His disciples’ feet, and served the disciples their first Communion as He confirmed His covenant with them. Afterward, Jesus began to speak the last words He would ever speak to them in His human form before He received His glorified body. As Jesus looked into the eyes of His disciples, He knew this was the last time He’d speak to them in this capacity. He also knew that these last words would be among the most important words He had ever spoken to them.
Think about what you might talk about if you knew you were looking into the eyes of your loved ones for the very last time. You would carefully weigh your words and only speak what you believe is the most important for them to remember after you’re gone. Your greatest desire in that final moment would be to make your last words the most thoughtful, advantageous, and heartfelt words you could leave with the people who mean the most to you.
After Jesus washed His disciples’ feet and served them their first Communion, He taught them for a lengthy period. John 14, 15, and 16 are all devoted to Jesus’ last words to His disciples. These chapters contain the Spirit-inspired record of what Jesus said to His disciples just hours before He went to the Cross and, eventually, the grave.
Jesus was about to physically depart from this world. He knew it was essential that the disciples learned how to rely entirely on the Spirit of God for guidance and direction after He left. Therefore, Jesus used His last moments to teach the disciples how to follow the Holy Spirit’s leadership in the same way they followed Him. They had been accustomed to Jesus physically and visibly leading them, but now they were learning that the Spirit of God would become their Leader once He ascended into Heaven!
Jesus used His final moments with the disciples to dispel all fear and insecurity they might have felt about following the Holy Spirit’s leadership. This is why Jesus was so careful to use keywords when He spoke to them about the coming of the Holy Spirit. In John 14:16, for example, Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.…”
I want to draw your attention to a very important word in this verse, and that word is “another.” The word “another” in the Greek language is the word allos, which emphatically means that the Holy Spirit would be like Jesus in every way. This conveys a very strong and important message about the Holy Spirit. Jesus wanted the disciples to know that the Holy Spirit was just like Him. Following the Holy Spirit wouldn’t be any different than following Him, except the Spirit’s leadership would be invisible, whereas Jesus’ leadership was physical and visible.
Therefore, John 14:16 could also be translated to say: “I will pray [to] the Father, and He will send you Someone who is just like Me in every way. He will be identical to Me in the way He speaks, the way He thinks, and the way He operates. He and I think, behave, and operate exactly the same.”
Never forget — as a child of God, you have the Holy Spirit working within you andalongside you every moment of every day. And because the Holy Spirit is the exact representation of Jesus, it’s just like having the Lord right there at your side! Jesus’ last words to His disciples revolved around the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. That’s how serious this message was to Jesus! Since Jesus considered this subject to be so important, why don’t you open your heart to the work of the Spirit of God today?
Think About It:
As you consider Jesus’ final words to His disciples, think about the individuals for whom you care for deeply. If you knew you were slipping into eternity or permanently changing locations, what would your words be to them and why?
Day 2
Scriptures: Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-52, Hebrews 2:18
Agony of the Soul
Have you ever wondered where all your friends were at a time when you really needed their help? Perhaps they pledged they would be faithful, but when you needed those friends most, they were nowhere to be found. Did you feel abandoned in that moment of need?
Jesus Himself was confronted with a very similar situation when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion. After He finished serving Communion to His disciples, the Bible tells us that He went to the Garden of Gethsemane with them. Jesus felt the need to spend time in intercession so He might gain the strength He needed to face what lay before Him. He also requested that Peter, James, and John come along to pray with Him.
Rarely, if ever, did Jesus need His friends’ assistance in prayer. Most of the time, they needed His! But in this intense moment, Jesus felt He needed to have the three disciples who were closest to Him pray with Him in the Garden. Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to pray for just one hour, but instead of faithfully praying when Jesus desperately needed their support, the three disciples kept falling asleep!
The mental and spiritual battles Jesus experienced that night in the Garden of Gethsemane were intense. Luke 22:44 says, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
I want you to especially notice the word “agony” in this verse. It comes from the Greek word agonidzo, a word that refers to a struggle, a fight, great exertion, or effort. It is a word used to convey the ideas of anguish, pain, distress, and conflict.
The Holy Spirit used this word to picture Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal. This tells us that Jesus was thrown into a great struggle or an intense fight that night. Knowing the Cross and the grave were before Him, He cried out, “…Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me…” (Luke 22:42). He was in the greatest fight He had ever known up to that moment in His life.
Jesus’ intense level of agony is depicted in the phrase, “…he prayed more earnestly….” The word “earnestly” is the Greek word ektenes which means to be extended orto be stretched out. This word ektenes presents the picture of a person who is pushed to the limit and can’t be stretched much more.
Jesus’ emotional state was so intense that Luke 22:44 says “…his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” This was the worst spiritual combat Jesus had ever endured! And where were His disciples when He needed them? They were sleeping! Jesus needed His closest friends, but they still couldn’t pray for a single hour!
Have you ever felt the need for help but found that in your greatest moment of need, your friends couldn’t be counted on? Were you in a situation that caused you to feel intense agony or pushed you to the limit?
Maybe you’ve never sweated blood, but more than likely, you’ve struggled in your soul at one time or another because of problems with your marriage, your children, your relationships, your ministry, or your finances. If you’ve ever felt like you were constantly living in “a pressure cooker,” you know that continuous pressure is hard to deal with — especially if you have no one to lean on for strength, encouragement, and help!
If you are experiencing one of those times in your life right now, Jesus understands because He faced the same situation in the Garden of Gethsemane. Because of what Jesus Himself experienced, He can understand everything you think and feel!
Set aside a few minutes to pray before you take one more step or make one more decision today. Talk to Jesus about the situations you are facing. He empathizes completely, and He will give you the strength you need to come through every one of life’s “pressure cookers” victoriously!
Think About It:
Jesus experienced the full range of human emotion and emotional strain while He was in human form on Earth. And because Jesus understands stress, He can be trusted to understand and help you no matter what you may be facing. In what areas of your life are you experiencing stress? Invite Jesus into those areas and trust Him to help you — He will!
Day 3
Scriptures: Isaiah 52:13-15, Isaiah 53:1-12, 1 Peter 2:21-25
The Horrors of a Roman Scourging
Matthew 27:26 tells us that Pontius Pilate “…had scourged Jesus…” before he delivered Him to be crucified. The word “scourged” is the Greek word phragello, which was one of the most horrific words used in the ancient world because of the terrible images that immediately came to mind when a person heard it.
When a decision was made to scourge an individual, the victim was stripped completely naked so his entire flesh would be open and uncovered to the beating action of the torturer’s whip. Then the victim was bound to a two-foot-high scourging post. His hands were tied over his head to a metal ring, and his wrists were securely shackled to that ring to restrain his body from any form of movement.
The Romans took special delight in the fact that they were “the best” at punishing a victim in this brutal manner. Once the victim was harnessed to the post and stretched over it, the Roman soldier began to put him through unimaginable torture.
The scourge whip itself consisted of a short, wooden handle with several 18- to 24-inch-long straps of leather protruding from it. The ends of these pieces of leather were equipped with sharp pieces of metal, wire, glass, and jagged fragments of bone. This was considered to be one of the most feared and deadly weapons of the Roman world, and even the most hardened criminal recoiled from the prospect of submitting to the vicious beating of a Roman scourge.
Most often, two torturers were utilized to carry out this punishment, simultaneously lashing the victim from both sides. As these dual whips struck the victim, the leather straps with their sharp, jagged objects extended over his entire back. Each piece of metal, wire, bone, or glass cut deeply through the victim’s skin and into his flesh, shredding his muscles and sinews.
Every time the torturers struck a victim, the straps of leather attached to the wooden handle would cause multiple lashes as the sharp objects at the end of each strap sank into the flesh and then raked across the victim’s body. Then the torturer would jerk his whip back, pulling it hard to tear whole pieces of human flesh from the body. The victim’s back, buttocks, backs of his legs, stomach, upper chest, and face would soon be disfigured by the slashing blows of the scourging whip.
Historical records describe a victim’s back as being so mutilated after a Roman scourging that his spine was actually exposed. If the scourging wasn’t stopped, the slicing of the whip would eventually peel the victim’s flesh off his own body. The victim would begin to experience a profuse loss of blood and bodily fluids. Because of the massive loss of bodily fluids, victims would experience excruciating thirst, often fainting from the pain and eventually going into shock. Frequently, the victim’s heartbeat would become so irregular that he would go into cardiac arrest.
This was a Roman scourging.
Every time I think about the scourging Jesus received that day, I think of the promise God makes to us in Isaiah 53:5, which says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” In this verse, God declared that the price for our healing would be paid by the stripes that were laid across Jesus’ back by the scourging whip.
If you need healing in your body, you have every right to go to God and ask for healing to come flooding into your system. Jesus went through this agony for you, so don’t let the devil tell you that it is God’s will for you to be sick or weak! Consider the pain Jesus endured to bear your sicknesses that day — isn’t that enough evidence to convince you how much He wants you to be physically well?
Think About It:
Do you need healing? Think about the horrific scourging Jesus willfully endured so you could have every right to go before God and confidently expect to obtain your healing. Then honor the gift of Jesus’ life by gratefully receiving His healing provision for your physical body!
Day 4
Scriptures: Matthew 27:32-56, Luke 23:26-49
Christ is Crucified
Crucifixion was indisputably one of the most cruel and barbaric forms of punishment in the ancient world. The word “crucified” is the Greek word staurao which describes an upright, pointed stake that was used for the punishment of criminals. It was always used in connection with public executions. At the time Jesus was crucified, the grueling act of crucifixion was entirely in the hands of the Roman authorities. This punishment was reserved for the most serious offenders, usually for those who had committed some kind of treason or who had participated in or sponsored state terrorism.
After a person was declared guilty and sentenced to be crucified, a crossbeam would be laid across his back, and a sign with the person’s crime written on it was made, later to be hung on the cross above his head. Sometimes the sign bearing the person’s crime would be hung from his neck, so all the spectators who lined the streets to watch him walk by would know what crime he committed. This was the very type of sign that was publicly displayed on the Cross above Jesus’ head, with the crime He was charged with — “King of the Jews” — written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
Carrying such a heavy weight for a long distance would be difficult for any man, but especially for one who had been as severely beaten as Jesus. Once the offender reached the place where the crucifixion was to occur, he was laid on the crossbeam he carried with his arms outstretched. Then a soldier would drive a five-inch iron nail through each of his wrists — not the palms of his hands — and into the crossbeam. After being nailed to the crossbeam, the victim was hoisted up by a rope, and the crossbeam was dropped into a notch on top of the upright post.
When the crossbeam dropped into the groove, the victim suffered excruciating pain as his hands and wrists were wrenched by the sudden jerking motion. Once the victim’s wrists were secured in place on the crossbeam, his feet came next. The victim’s legs would be positioned so that the feet were pointed downward with the soles pressed against the post on which the victim was suspended. A long nail would then be driven between the bones of the feet, lodged firmly enough between those bones to prevent it from tearing through the feet as the victim arched upward, gasping for breath.
For the victim to be able to breathe, he had to push himself up by his feet, which were nailed to the vertical beam. Because the pressure on his feet became unbearable, however, he couldn’t remain in this position long, so he would eventually collapse back into the hanging position.
When the victim was finally too exhausted and could no longer push himself upward, the process of asphyxiation began. When Jesus dropped the full weight of His body down on the nails that were driven through His wrists, it sent horrific, excruciating pain waves up His arms to His brain to register.
After several hours of this torment, the victim’s heart would begin to fail. Next, his lungs would collapse, and excess fluids would begin filling the lining of his heart and lungs, which only added to the slow agony of the process of asphyxiation.
When the Roman soldier came to determine whether or not Jesus was alive or dead, he thrust his spear into Jesus’ side. But the Bible tells us that water and blood mixed together came pouring forth from the wound the spear had made — evidence that Jesus’ heart and lungs had shut down and were filled with fluid. This was enough to assure the soldier that Jesus was already dead.
My friend, this is a only brief taste of a Roman crucifixion.
In our society, the cross has become a fashion item, decorated with gems, rhinestones, gold, and silver. When people make the Cross pleasing to look upon and beautify it, people forget that it wasn’t beautiful or lavishly decorated at all. In fact, the Cross of Jesus Christ was shocking and appalling!
If we don’t deliberately choose to meditate on what He went through, we will never fully appreciate the price He paid for us. How tragic would it be if we lost sight of the painful price of our redemption? Let’s never allow ourselves to overlook, forget, or lightly esteem the enormous price our Savior paid for each of our sins on the Cross of Calvary.
Think About It:
The cross symbolizes one of the most barbaric forms of execution in history. Take some time to deliberately reflect upon the tortuous death Jesus willingly died for you. Think about the excruciating pain and comprehensive price that was required for your redemption. Jesus gave you His all — how can you give Him any less?
Day 5
Scriptures: Mark 16:2-4, Luke 24:5-8, John 20
Behold, He is Risen!
Jesus’ resurrection was not merely a philosophical renaissance of His ideas and teachings — He was literally raised from the dead! The power of God exploded inside that tomb, reconnected Jesus’ spirit with His dead body, flooded His corpse with life, and He arose from the dead! So much power was released behind the sealed entrance of His tomb that the earth itself reverberated and shuddered from the explosion. An angel rolled the stone from the entrance, and Jesus physically walked through the door of that tomb alive! This is no legend or fairy tale — this is the foundation of our faith!
Matthew 28:2 says, “And, behold, there was a great earthquake.…” This earthquake simultaneously occurred at the moment of Jesus’ resurrection sometime after the Saturday sunset and before the women arrived at the garden. The immense size, power, and brilliance of the angel that removed the stone explains why the Roman guards fled the scene. The soldiers were so terrified at the appearance of the angel that they fell to the ground, violently trembling and so paralyzed with fear that they were unable to move.
Luke 24:5-8 tells us that after the two angels proclaimed the joyful news of Jesus’ resurrection, they instructed the women to go and tell the disciples. Luke 24:11 says, “And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.” The words “idle tales” come from the Greek word leros, which means nonsense, idle talk, babble, ordelirium. The women’s presentation of the Gospel probably wasn’t extremely clear in the moment, but it stirred enough interest in Peter and John to make them get up and find out about Jesus for themselves!
We know from John 20:11 that Mary Magdalene followed Peter and John back to the tomb, for she was present at the site and remained there after Peter and John returned to the disciples.
I find it interesting that when Peter and John raced to the tomb to see whatever it was that the women were telling them about, none of the other disciples joined them! Instead, the rest of the disciples probably stayed behind to discuss what they had heard and debate about what exactly it meant.
But because Peter and John ran to the garden, they experienced something the other disciples missed by staying home. It is simply a fact that if you want to experience Jesus Christ and His power, you must get up from where you are and start moving in His direction!
John only glanced into the interior of the tomb, but Peter “…went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie” (see John 20:6). When Peter entered that tomb, he surveyed it like a professional surveyor. He looked, paying special attention to the linen clothes and the way they were left. John 20:7 tells us that Peter saw “…the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.”
Later that evening, Jesus would appear to all the disciples and breathe the Spirit of God into them, giving them a new birth. But at this moment, because the Holy Spirit was not yet resident in them as their Teacher, there was a lot they still couldn’t understand. Even though Jesus had already told them He would die and be raised from the dead, they were simply not yet able to comprehend it. That’s why John 20:9 says, “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.”
When we’ve had a supernatural encounter with the Lord, it isn’t always easy to put that experience into words. This is a frustration that everyone who knows the Lord has felt at one time or another. However, we can’t let that keep us from spreading the good news of what Jesus Christ has done in our lives!
As we reflect on the profound sacrifice of Jesus, let’s make a conscious decision to recognize all that God has done and will continue to do in your life. Remember to thank Him and be determined to never forget His faithfulness to perfect everything that concerns you as you put your trust in Him.
Think About It:
The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. Jesus Christ, who was dead, is now alive forevermore (Revelation 1:18). The One who conquered death, hell, and the grave is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding right now for you and for all that concerns you. Think about that!