PROPHECY OF THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

The top picture is of an olive tree in Gethsemane that could be old enough to have witnessed Jesus' final surrender to the will of the Father. If it could talk, what a story it could tell!

The second picture is on the via dolorosa, the way of sorrows. It is not a great picture, but it shows what it must have been like for our Lord Jesus, carying His cross through the narrow, crowded street. How difficult it would have been for Him, but how easy to be spit upon and cursed.

The third picture is the non-traditional site of the crucifixion of Christ. Visually, it appears to be a more accurate site than the traditional site of the cross below. The Roman's practice was to crucify people in well-traveled places so that the local population would be intimidated. Both pictures meet the requirements of a probable location of the Crucifixion of Jesus. The second picture is of the courtyard outside the church of the holy sepulchre; it has tradition on its side, but the first picture looks more authentic.

"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn" (Zechariah 12:10).

There are several Scripture texts I could have used to show that the passion of the Christ was prophesied hundreds of years before the Christ child was born, but I chose this one because it is not so well-known. In John 19:37, John cites this text as being fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. One of the reasons I chose this prophecy of the Messiah is because the text makes it clear that the author of the text (God) is the one hanging on the cross and the one who is pierced. The text is about God in the flesh, loving us so much as to die for our sins! What a gracious God we serve!

Grace&Peace,

Tom