“JESUS MUST DIE AND BE BURIED…”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
You and I are faced with a problem, and it’s a problem of epic proportions. It began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve – the very pinnacle of God’s creation, the only creatures made in His likeness and in His image – consciously and deliberately disobeyed Him and rebelled. They chose to turn their backs on His love. They chose to disobey His lawful commands. They chose to follow after their own desires. Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempted them, they succumbed to the temptation, and they sinned against God.

As a result of their sin against their Creator, God drove them out of the Garden and away from His personal presence. That very day, Adam and Eve, designed by God to be eter-nal, began an inexorable slide toward death. Sin took eternal life and turned it into eter-nal death. Adam and Eve’s physical bodies, as well as the entire creation they inhabited, began to die. Sin kills! It may not kill instantly, it may take a lifetime of years, but it doesn’t matter. Regardless of how long it takes, it kills. Adam and Eve’s sin took perfec-tion and poisoned it, and so, death has reigned in this world ever since.

Just as you cannot get a lamb from the union of two pigs, neither can you get a sinless child from the union of two sinners. Thus Adam and Eve’s children were contaminated with their parent’s sin, and as their offspring, you and I are contaminated with it, too.

And that’s the problem we face. In our natural condition, we are all, each and every one of us, members of a race of sinners. We were born into it and we are helpless to do any-thing about it. But God, our Creator, can do something about it, and He has. He sent His Son to pay the price for our sin by dying for us on the cross at Calvary.

That’s the good news of the gospel. We’re all hopelessly lost, all bound for eternal death and punishment in hell, but Jesus has paid the price. He has paid it all. We simply need to believe that, agree with God when He says we are sinners, confess our sin – that is, say the same thing about our sin as He says about it – and trust Christ to save us.

But how can Jesus shedding His blood and dying on the cross save us? How does that work? It works because God’s perfect law demands that sin can only be atoned for by the shedding of blood.
Leviticus 17:11
11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”

But the blood that is shed must be innocent blood. That is why our own physical death, the shedding of our own blood, can’t help us. Blood that is already poisoned by sin is of no use in washing away the poison of sin. But Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is without sin.
Therefore, His blood can wash away our sins, every last one of them.
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II. Text
God taught His chosen people Israel this magnificent truth when He established the sacri-ficial system in the OT. In Exodus, while God’s people were still under bondage, He used the first Passover to make His point. All who trusted God and placed themselves “under the blood” would be saved. In order for the angel of death to “pass over” those who had believed God and trusted Him alone for their salvation, He required the blood be that of a pure, spotless, and innocent young lamb.
*Exodus 12:1, 3, 5-7, 12-13
1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt…
3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.
5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
6 ‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
(The month referred to in vv. 3, 6 is Nissan – approx. March 15 – April 15 – so the 10th day of Nissan is late in March and the 14th day is around April 1)
7 ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door-posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment – I am the LORD.
13 And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.’”

How can anyone miss the significance of this? While the blood of lambs could not per-manently remove sins, it could (and did) cover them. In fact, David said that very thing. “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” (Psalm 32:1) Only when Jesus came on the scene was John the Baptist able to say, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29b) So Jesus Christ is God’s perfect lamb. It is Jesus’ innocent blood alone that has the power to save.

There was no end to the number of lambs that had to be slain to cover sin because the sin was never removed. It was only hidden. But Jesus only had to shed His perfect blood once. The writer of Hebrews drives home this truth in the form of a rhetorical question.
Hebrews 9:12-14a
12 …not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, (OT)
14a how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal (Holy) Spirit offered Himself without blemish (sin) to God…? (NT)

This essential truth is taught throughout the Bible.
• Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son (Genesis 22:8).”
• Isaiah said, “(He was) like a lamb that is led to the slaughter…(Isaiah 53:7b).”
• John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God…(John 1:29b).”
• Peter said, “(…you were redeemed) with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19).”
• John the Apostle said, “And I saw…a Lamb standing, as if slain…” “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain…(Revelation 5:6, 12).”

This is the Lamb of God. He is the one who would willingly give His life for us. But it will not be a surprise to God because His plan for Jesus’ death was determined in eternity past. The Bible first speaks of it after Adam and Eve’s sin when God tells Satan that he will ultimately be destroyed for what he has done.
*Genesis 3:14-15 (This is the first Messianic prophecy.)
14 …the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all the cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life;
15 and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed (all unbelievers – who are the spiritual descendants of Satan) and her seed (all believers – who are the spiritual descendants of God); He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

Genesis 3:15 will be carried out at the cross. And although Jesus’ long trek to the cross began in eternity past, the end of that journey began in Jerusalem two thousand years ago on what has come to be called Palm Sunday. The last week of Jesus’ life on earth started with His being praised by the people as He entered the city that morning. It ended with many of those same people screaming for His execution and mocking Him as He suffered and died.

How can that be? How it can be that cheering crowds can so quickly morph into a mur-derous mob? How can someone proclaim their love for you one minute, and in the next minute turn and tear you to pieces? How can that be? If you’ve ever wondered about that all you need to do is listen to the words of King Solomon and the Prophet Jeremiah.
Ecclesiastes 9:3b
3b …the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives.
Jeremiah 17:9
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can
understand it?”

That’s the condition of the heart of man without Christ. Jesus, the Great Physician, has come to offer healing, not merely of the mind and body, but of the heart and the soul of all who will receive Him by faith. That’s why He’s here, and even though many people seem to want the healing He offers, only a few are willing to pay the price for it. What is the price? Jesus has already told us.
*Luke 9:22-25
22 “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”
23 And (Jesus) was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or for-feits himself?”

Now that we know why Jesus has come to earth, and we know what is required of us, let’s travel back in time two thousand years to the outskirts of the city of Jerusalem. It’s the Sunday morning before Passover and Jesus has five days left to live. But this morn-ing there’s great excitement because Jesus of Nazareth is entering the city. Let me reread just two of the verses Andrew read for us to open the service.
Matthew 21:8-9
8 And most of the multitude spread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees, and spreading them in the road.
9 And the multitudes going before Him, and those who followed after were crying out, saying, “Hosanna (save us now) to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”

“Hosanna,” means “Save us now.” But today it isn’t the cry of repentance and a plea for forgiveness of sin. Not at all! The vast majority of the people welcoming Jesus expect that, if He’s really the promised Jewish Messiah, He’s come to save them from Roman rule and oppression. Precious few of them understand that He has not come to do any such thing. He’s not there to offer freedom from Rome, but to offer freedom from their sin and sins’ consequences of coming judgment and eternal death.

But like people today, most of their hearts are hard and they don’t care about spiritual freedom and the salvation that comes with it. Like people today, most of their hearts are hard and they’re the ones who, in just a few days, will turn on their Messiah and cry out for His death. But today, on this first Palm Sunday, they’re cheering for Him.
And why not! His fame is spreading. He’s become a regular “rock star.” Jesus has recently raised Lazarus from the dead. As a result still more people believe in Him. But instead of believing, the religious leaders’ hatred for Him only increases and intensifies. They have come to the point where they will stop at nothing to be rid of Him. So yester-day, on the Sabbath, the Pharisees have sunk to a new low. They’ve not only intensified their efforts to kill Him, but they’ve even plotted to have Lazarus assassinated.
John 12:10-11
10 But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus to death also;
11 because on account of him (Lazarus’ resurrection) many of the Jews were going away, and were believing in Jesus.

On this first Palm Sunday the crowds are joyous, but Jesus isn’t. He weeps over the city because He knows what’s really in the hearts of this people. These same people will soon be calling for His death. But He also weeps over Jerusalem because He knows that in forty years (70 AD) Rome will completely destroy the city and its inhabitants.
Luke 19:44
44 “(They) will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Then as Sunday evening approaches Jesus and His disciples go to Bethany for the night.
Now it’s Monday morning and Jesus has four days left to live. On their return to Jerusa-lem Jesus and the disciples come upon a fig tree, but it has no fruit. Jesus curses the tree to illustrate a truth He has taught before. If our faith is real, we will produce spiritual fruit, but if it is not real, we will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

In Jerusalem Jesus goes directly to the temple, overturns the money-changers tables, and drives them out. The anger of the religious leaders increases yet again. Jesus must be destroyed! Knowing this the Lord foretells His crucifixion and what it will mean.
*John 12:27-33
27 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
28 “Father, glorify Your name.” There came therefore a voice out of heaven:
“I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
29 The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes.
31 “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world (Satan) shall be cast out.
32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.

As Monday evening approaches He and His disciples leave the city once again and return to Bethany to spend the night there. Now it’s Tuesday morning and Jesus has three days left to live. Today the Pharisees, the religious right-wingers of the day, will try again to trap Jesus, to trip Him up, to get Him to make a mistake, for which either they or the Romans might be able to condemn Him. “Hey, Jesus, what about paying taxes to Cae-sar? Should we or shouldn’t we?”
Mark 12:17
17 “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Well, that didn’t work. So the Sadducees, the religious left-wingers – who do not believe in bodily resurrection at all – get into the act. “Hey, Jesus, if a woman is married seven times, whose wife will she be in the resurrection?”
Matthew 22:29-30
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understand-ing the Scriptures, or the power of God.
30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.”

That didn’t work either. So a scribe (a lawyer) tries. “Hey, Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the Law of Moses?” Surely this will trap Jesus.
Mark 12:29-31, 34b
29 “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31 “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
34b And after that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

But Jesus doesn’t let up. In Matthew 23 He just blisters all of the religious leaders. He condemns their self-righteousness, their vanity, their pride, and their false religion. And He makes one of the harshest statements that He has ever made.
Matthew 23:15
15 “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about
on sea and land to make one proselyte (convert); and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Have you ever heard a more scathing indictment of man-made religion than that? But Jesus isn’t finished with them. He goes on to condemn their hypocrisy, their legalism, their injustice, and their persecution of those who hold to the truth.
Finally, in Matthew 23:33, the Son of God calls them snakes. “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?”

From here Jesus and the disciples leave the city and ascend the Mount of Olives. He delivers what has become known as the Olivet Discourse. In Matthew 24-25 He prophe-sies the rise of the Antichrist, the Great Tribulation of the last days, His own Second Coming, and the subsequent judgment of both the Jews and the Gentiles.

Now it is Wednesday morning and Jesus has two days left to live. He spends the day teaching in the temple. Late in the afternoon the Pharisees, knowing the Passover is nearly upon them, are just delighted when Judas comes to them with an unexpected plan.
Luke 22:3-6
3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.
4 And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray (Jesus) to them.
5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.
6 And he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him.

Those who hate Jesus and have been plotting against Him must be overjoyed. It is all going to work out just fine. Tomorrow will be Thursday, the day the Passover lamb is to be sacrificed. Surely they will succeed in having Jesus dead and buried before sundown on Friday evening when the Passover begins. After all, it would be unlawful to have a dead body around on the Sabbath. And these people couldn’t have that now, could they? I mean, they’re very concerned about obeying God’s laws, aren’t they?

It is on this day, Wednesday, that Jesus makes His final appeal.
*John 12:44-48
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me.
45 “And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me.
46 “I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.
47 And if anyone hears My sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.”

Now it is Thursday morning and Jesus has one day left to live. He sends Peter and John on ahead to go and prepare the Passover meal. He directs them to a house that has an “upper room” where they will eat the Passover together. Jesus tells them He is about to suffer and that He will not eat this meal again until the Second Coming and the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom.
After this last Passover meal He institutes this meal that we see before us, the Lord’s Supper. It will be His memorial. We are to partake of it together until He comes for us.
Luke 22:19b-20b
19b “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20b “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

In John 13 Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, predicts His betrayal, and identifies Judas, who gets up and leaves. Then Jesus tells them He is about to be glorified and how much He wants them (us) to love each other. He says He will be leaving them, and for now at least, they will not be able to follow. The disciples are deeply troubled by all of this.
*John 14:1-6
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; (you) believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; (so) that where I am, there you may be also.
4 “And you know the way where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

He follows this with comforting words about sending the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of all prophecy. He reminds them again to love each other, and He warns them of the persecution to come. Finally, He tells them of the power of the Holy Spirit, the One whom He will send to them. It’s late on Thursday night when they leave the city and ascend the Mount of Olives. The horrors of Friday, the despair of Saturday, and the glory of Sunday await…
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III. Conclusion
So Jesus will die and be buried. The perfect and spotless Lamb of God must shed His precious blood. If He doesn’t, you and I have no hope. So Jesus will go to the cross.

But neither the Jews nor the Romans will put Him there. We need to be reminded that we – you and I – will nail Him to the cross. And He will let us. He will let us because He loves us. He will let us kill Him so that we may live. And when we do it, Jesus will say, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).”

What does He ask in return? Since Jesus has obeyed His Father and died for us, we are called to obey Him and live for God. One of the ways we do that is remembering Him in this communion service that He has given us. It is our memorial to the Lamb. We do this in remembrance of Him. So please join me at the table.