The Week of Atonement

A Journey with Jesus During the Last Week of His Mortal Ministry

Compiled from various sources by Larry D. Crenshaw

 

 It is Saturday, the holy Sabbath, Jesus has finished His ministry up north, east of the River Jordan. Jesus is honored by the people of Bethany with a banquet in the house of Simon the leper. There is Lazarus who was raised from the dead looking on as Mary anoints Jesus' head and feet with precious oil. Jesus hints of His forthcoming fate, "...against the day of my burying hath she kept this.  For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always." (John 12: 7-8) Saturday is now over and we rest in Bethany.

 

It is now Sunday, we arise and we go with Jesus to Jerusalem as he rides into the city on a donkey in symbolic triumph, echoing David's entry into the Holy City. The city's population has swelled to about two million for the Passover celebrations.  Spurred on by His resurrection of Lazarus, and with tales of great miracles, we hail Jesus as the "promised Messiah". 

 

Of those of us who worship Him on this day, many will be calling for His death by Thursday and Friday.  Like many, they look beyond the mark.  Their "kingdom" was not His "kingdom". On Thursday night, when we will hear Him say, "My kingdom is not of this world," they will feel betrayed and abandon Him. It is now Sunday evening and we return with Him to Bethany.

 

It is now Monday, We return to Jerusalem.  Along the way Jesus curses a barren fig tree that dries up from the roots.  While in Jerusalem he cleanses the temple a second time, and therein he teaches and heals with great power.  After a day of preaching we return again to Bethany to retire for the evening.

 

As we arise on Tuesday we go again into Jerusalem, with Jesus teaching along the way of faith and salvation.  With Jesus being acclaimed by more and more each day, the scribes and elders become more afraid and conspire to refute Him. After careful planning and crafting of precise language they present for Him their trap. They ask, "By what authority do you do these things?" (Meaning: cleansing the Temple, raising the dead, healing, etc.)  After all, Jesus had not received rabbinical sanction from the elders.  Here, then was their plan to discredit Him. 

 

His response was to trap them in their own deceit, which would ultimately seal His doom at their hands.  Says he, (now listen to the brilliance of this question) "The baptism of John, whence was it" from heaven or of men?" [In just a moment, they are trapped with no way out!]  For to say "heaven" would condemn themselves for they had not obeyed John the Baptist’s teachings.  To say, "of men", they would be stoned by the multitudes who believed John to be a true prophet.    With no room to escape, they are forced to say, "We cannot tell."  Jesus' response, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." 

 

The multitude thinks that it is over now, the Messiah and King has won – they are ready to open the palace gates – and say “move over Rome” - prepare the crown - the king of the Jews has won - prepare for the takeover of the government.  The Jewish leaders slink away in defeat, but they will come again today - this time not to entrap with Jewish law but with Roman law. 

 

We now hear Jesus teach three parables (Parable of the Two Sons, The Wicked Husbandman, and the marriage of the King's son, all recorded in Matthew 21 & 22. 

 

But now here comes the Jewish leaders again to trick Him into provoking Roman authority, asking, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar?"  We know His response, asking for a coin, He inquires, “Whose image?” - Response: “CAESAR'S” -  then He says those immortal words, “Therefore, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars, and unto God the things that are God's." Once again, not only defeated, but devastated they "go away". 

 

Jesus now teaches about eternal marriage, the law of love, gives a testimony of the Messiahship. He further condemns the Scribes and Pharisees with the famous EIGHT WOES recorded in Matthew 23: "Woe unto you...

1. For rejecting Christ and salvation

2. For hypocrisy

3. For converting souls to a false church

4. For moral blindness

5. For omitting the weightier matters of the law

6. For hiding your wickedness

7. For wearing the mask of righteousness

8. For rejecting the living prophets

 

We now hear His final teaching that day in the temple as He laments over a doomed Jerusalem. He then tells the story of the widow's mite, and concludes with a sermon on the question, "Who is the Son of Man?"

 

And with that, His public ministry on earth is ended and He leaves the temple forever going with His disciples eastward over to Mount Olivet.  The masterful discourses of this day, Tuesday, are only a prelude to that which is to come this evening which is now known as the "OLIVET DISCOURSE”.  On this Mount, tonight we will hear eleven powerful doctrines concerning:

 

1. Persecution and Martyrdom Matt.24

2. Jerusalem’s Abomination of Desolation

3. Universal Apostasy Before the Second Coming

4. An Era of Restoration Before the Second Coming

5. Desolations Preceding the Second Coming

6. The Times of the Gentiles

7. The Abomination of Desolation at the 2^nd Coming

8. The Glory and Signs of the Second Coming

9. Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25: 1-13)

10. Parable of the Ten Talents (Matt. 25:13-14

11. Christ sitting in Judgment

 

Now, this day, Tuesday, is over and thus concludes perhaps the greatest day of preaching truth the world has ever known.

 

It is now Wednesday, two days before the feast of the Passover. Of this day, only one sentence has come down to us, " Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified." It is also the day of conspiracy as Judas goes to work his evil deeds.

 

It is now Thursday, and Jerusalem is a beehive of activity preparing for the Passover celebration, the Paschal Supper.  But unbeknownst to the two million inhabitants and visitors to Jerusalem, it will be the last Passover rite sanctioned by God.  For to come in its place will be the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 

 

Peter and John spend the day preparing the location and the meal. The ritualized meal, known to us as the Last Supper, is consumed and Jesus re-introduces two ordinances, the partaking of the sacrament, and the washing of feet.  These being completed, He provides further teachings on the Law of Love (John 15), The Two Comforters (John 16).

 

He gives private counsel to Peter and others, offers up the Intercessory (High Priestly) Prayer, offering a prayer for "eternal life", the strengthening of the Apostles, and a prayer for the saints.  Then we go out a short distance to a favorite and frequented garden spot, known as the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

In Gethsemane he takes on the sins and suffering of mankind. While there, He is arrested, taken to Annas, then on to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.  He is mistreated by the guards while awaiting a morning trial.  The Sanhedrin condemns Him, binds Him & sends Him on to Pilate who shuffles Him off to Herod & then back to Pilate who tries to free Him, but the mob demands, "Crucify Him, crucify Him."  He is scourged, mocked, derided, and sentenced. 

 

In the midst of all these happenings, it is now Friday. By 9 am they are at Golgotha and what may be called His last mortal ministry begins - a ministry of seven last words or utterances.

 

(1) "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

(2) "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise."

(3) "Woman, behold thy son" & unto John, "Behold thy mother."

(4) "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

(5) "I thirst".

(6) "Father, it is finished, thy will is done."

(7) "Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit."

 

  It is now 3 pm and Jesus has hung on the cross for six hours.  Amidst earthquake, profound darkness, and the renting of the temple veil, Jesus must be taken to a tomb before the Sabbath begins at sunset. 

 

BUT JESUS IS NO LONGER IN MORTALITY. So let us go where He has gone.

 

It is the saturday of The Week of Atonement.  Peter records"...then it was that he who had now suffered for our sins, the Just for the unjust, having been put to death in the flesh but continuing to live in the spirit, 1st Peter 3:18-20; 4:4-6 records,  "... went and preached unto the spirits in prison... that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

 

Doctrine & Covenants 138 describes for us the event: 12. “And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality;

16. They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death….

18  While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful;

19  And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance. “

These doctrines and others did He preach in His ministry there.

 

It is now SUNDAY, OVER 2,000 YEARS AGO. This is RESURRECTION MORNING and Jesus Christ has initiated the ordinance of the resurrection.  By the power of God, He has burst the bands of death and His Spirit and Body are re-united in an immortal, eternal fashion. 

 

The week of the Atonement is now ended, but for us, now in our day, because of the Atonement we are able to begin anew and apply the Atonement in our lives as we sincerely repent and strive to follow God’s will.

 

.

 

 

Dark and Dreary

- Verse -

But behold, Laman and Lemuel, I fear exceedingly because of you; for behold, methought I saw in my dream, a dark and dreary wilderness.  And it came to pass that I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me. And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him.  And it came to pass that as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste….And it came to pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they

wandered off and were lost… And he did exhort them then with all the feeling of a tender parent, that they would hearken to his words .

Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 8:4-7, 23, 37

 

O my children,

How oft I’ve seen you wander

In a dark and dreary waste

And often would I ponder

How to free you from that place

 

Wandering weak and weary

On dark and forbidding lanes

 In a wilderness so dreary

Where sin and evil reigns

 

I pray that God will save you

Save you from evil’s pain

For justice demands its due

If mercy you won’t obtain

 

So turn to Christ and be forgiven

For His Atonement will redeem

If, by truth, you are driven

To Him who reigns supreme

 

Larry Doyle Crenshaw

NEHUSHTAN

- Meditation -

I suspect that you are a lot like me. I don't have many temptations to worship evil things.  It's the good things that plague me. Good, but relatively unimportant or nonessential things that take up my time, my efforts, and energies.

  In my early years, music was a large part of my life – I even majored in music until my senior year of college.  I even had the opportunity to “go professional” at one point. My musical life consumed me.  When it came time to serve a mission for my church – I had a tough choice.  The only reason it was a tough choice was because my priorities were unclear. 

Some people have similar issues with sports, or career, or other things that crowd out everything in their life except that one thing – whatever it is. What we choose to occupy those hours of the day and night other than those consumed by our occupation or by 6-8 hours of restful sleep is the subject of this essay.  It is these “discretionary” hours – those hours in which we get to choose what we will do.  It is there where we have our struggles and challenges – there is where the battle rages.  We have in our faith an Article of Faith that reads, “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”    

Those four filters set a pretty high standard.  Do we choose our activities based on those 4 criteria: virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy?  I’m afraid that we often only have a generalized INTENT to do good and NOT a specific set of Godly filters.  Without these specific filters of high standards that set our agenda and our course each day, then we may be left to being a bit lazy and let the world, our friends, or our habits dictate what we do. Our focus in this message is on activities that are not necessarily bad, but are not aligned with our high priority, righteous, life-enhancing goals.

I am not speaking against wholesome entertainment or recreational activities which are good, but I am speaking against the uncontrolled pattern of behavior that drives out and leaves little or no room for moving our lives forward and serving God and others.

Here are some choices to which I refer:

Is Sunday a day of worship and fulfilling our church callings, visiting family and those in need, ministering to and others, spending quality time with family, personal study of the scriptures, OR choosing to spend time in endless, uncontrolled recreational or other entertaining past-times.

During the week, do we spend uncontrolled time in front of the TV versus time with family and those within our watchful care in our neighborhood or church?

Again, this part of our subject is not about bad things governing our life, but allowing good-but-non-essential things to take the place of great, productive, most-essential things.  Or, allow something that started out as good and balanced, to take over our life, or at least become a major focus in our life.

There is an instructive story in the Old Testament. Do you remember the experience of the Israelites in the Bible recorded in Numbers 21, 5-9? “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 ¶Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a lived.”  

 I am indebted to one of my favorite preachers, Chuck Swindoll for reminding me of this story - Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, Copyright © 1985, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc..   I quote liberally from him.  He suggests that this brass icon was a miraculous, glorious solution—and it worked. In fact, Jesus mentioned it in John 3:14–15 as an example of what He would accomplish when He died on a cross. The bronze serpent had been blessed of God and was, therefore, in that moment and under those circumstances, an effective means of deliverance.

But do you know what happened to that metallic snake? It is an interesting, but little-known story. In 2 Kings 18:4 we read:  He [King Hezekiah] removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah [idol altars]. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.

 This occurred about the sixth century BC. The original event with the snakes took place much earlier—around 1450 BC. For about eight centuries they had hung on to devoted worship to that bronze serpent. Can you believe that! They dragged it here and carried it there, preserved it, protected it, and polished it. Finally, they made an idol of it and even gave it a name: Nehushtan. That word simply means "a piece of bronze." And that's all it was by then. But they turned it into almost a thousand year object of worship. Something that had once been useful and effective had degenerated over the years into an idol.

 It happens today. We can make an idol out of anything or anyone in life. Often it's the good things that slither up unnoticed, and soon we discover that they have first place in our heart. Anything that occupies first place in our hearts or sits securely on our throne of worship and devotion, if not Our Father in Heaven, is in the wrong place.  Let us beware of the “Nehushtans” in our lives.

Larry Doyle Crenshaw

 

 

 

Faith: The Substance of Things

New Testament   Hebrews 11

- Verse -

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen… 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God… 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,…  5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death;…   6 … without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.  8 By faith Abraham, … sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:…   11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age….  13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Hebrews 11:1-13

 

Faith is the substance of things for which we hope

The proof and evidence of things unseen

Our motivation to keep going and cope

With the trials before us and those unforeseen

 

By faith, this world and others not yet revealed

 Were formed by God and came into existence

That His children might learn to grow and yield

Their wills to His just and merciful insistence

 

Only by faith can we please and honor God

As attested by holy prophets, then and now

As by faith we firmly grip truth’s Iron Rod

God’s word of power to bless and endow    

 

By Abel’s sacrifice, by Enoch’s translation

With Noah’s flood, and Abraham’s seed

Hope is confirmed through faith’s manifestation

Where faith’s reward is assured and guaranteed

 

May we have hope and faith in God’s guarantee

Of a glorious, glorified and immortal rebirth

Resurrected to life everlasting by His eternal decree

No longer strangers and pilgrims on the earth

 

Larry Doyle Crenshaw

 

How to Ride a Dead Horse

- Meditation -

I am from Kentucky and in Kentucky we take some interest in horses. My experience comes from watching and helping my dad raise and train Five-Gaited show horses as a young boy.  Regarding horses, I heard once - I don't remember where - that the tribal wisdom of the Lakota Indians, passed on from one generation to the next, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

However, in our personal life, in our work life, and in our mental, spiritual and emotional life, we sometimes try to ride a dead horse. That is, we follow strategies that have never worked, don’t work now, and will never work. I’ll share what I mean.

First, a personal life example: Several years ago, in an effort to help her get organized; I would buy my wife, a purse-size day planner calendar set. She would faithfully put it in her purse and, for the whole year, never use it, except to write grocery lists. My frequent and persistent efforts to suggest that she would be better organized if she would use it properly were never viewed as helpful nor were they appreciated. Then, when I would cross the line and she would be tired of hearing my “helpful” encouragement, and I would say, “But sweetheart, why don't you just....,” she would say, in true Kentucky fashion — “Larry, don’t get on that horse!” And you know, she was right. IT WAS A DEAD HORSE. IT HAD BEEN DEAD FOR YEARS. But, I would continue to saddle up, mount up, ride up, then speak up, only to be told, in her sweet and sassy way…….."shut up!”

In our work & business life I have seen organizations corral a whole herd of dead horses, mount up, and pretend to ride off in the direction of progress. I mean that they would religiously follow unworkable plans and unproductive processes. Stories abound of companies whose failures and fall where made on the backs and in the saddles of a "dead horse cavalry." 

Whether a manager, secretary, worker, or supervisor, we all have seen it and perhaps been part of this dead horse cavalry.  Along the way we tend to develop a number of strategies for riding a dead horse. You have no doubt used one or more of these. I’ll share some with you that I discovered somewhere and to which I have added a few. Sorry, I don’t have the source:

1. Buy a stronger whip.

2. Threaten the horse with termination.

3. Appoint a committee to study the dead horse.

4. Arrange to visit other stables to see how they ride dead horses.

5. Lower the standards so that dead horses can be included in statistical reports.

6. Reclassify the dead horse as living impaired to qualify for being ridden.

7. Harness several dead horses together to increase power and speed.

8. Hire outside a contractor to test-ride the dead horse.

9. Do a pilot study to see if lighter riders will improve the dead horse’s performance.

10. Declare that the dead horse carries lower overhead & therefore contributes more to the bottom line than other horses.

Clearly, none of these measures work. After all, THE HORSE IS DEAD, and when this reality is faced, the final decision becomes clear:

11. Promote the dead horse and its rider to a supervisory or executive position.

These examples are perhaps humorous, but riding a dead horse in our mental, emotional, or spiritual life can have serious consequences.  For example, we sometimes allow our persistent patterns of unproductive, even unworthy thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to go unchecked, unchallenged, and therefore unchanged. These dead horses have a name; they are Self-deception, & Self-betrayal.

Alfred Lloyd Tennyson wrote sadly, yet majestically, of a "dead-horse cavalry" who charged bravely yet blunderingly forward: “Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, All in the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred.”

In the Bible, the Old Testament tribes of Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness because they were figuratively riding spiritually dead horses.   In the Mormon faith, the Book of Mormon is itself, a history of two cultures that either sought after the living water of truth, or rode themselves to destruction on the dead horse traditions of their fathers that were not correct.

Paul in the New Testament teaches of those who continue to ride spiritually dead horses and who refuse to put off the natural man, and become a “new creature in Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17) They, instead, seek after their own understanding and thus, spiritually speaking, ride dead horses into dark and forbidden paths.  These examples are seriously sad, for riding a dead horse in our spiritual life can have serious and eternal consequences.

As we ponder our own lives, are there old destructive and unproductive patterns of thinking, feeling, and doing that have gone too long unchallenged?  Are we ready to dismount?  After all, even on a dead horse, the saddle can feel comfortable – familiar – safe, and we can delude ourselves into believing that we are moving forward.

As we travel the pathways of life, may we learn to recognize a dead horse when we see one and, if we find ourselves in the saddle, like the Lakota Indian tradition, be wise enough to dismount. 

Larry Doyle Crenshaw

Dreams and Visions

   - Verse -

And it came to pass that while my father tarried in the wilderness he spake unto us, saying: Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision.

Book of Mormon   1 Nephi 8:2

Dreams and visions to prophets speak

Of God’s will and plan for men

For all who listen, for all who seek

To live with Him again

And it came to pass in the wilderness

To a Prophet , the Tree of Life was shown

Whose fruit gave power to save and bless

Because of Christ who would Atone

Dreams and visions are for all

Who obey God and are qualified

Both old and young, great and small

In whom the Spirit will abide

While in our wilderness we tarry

May dreams and visions be revealed

From Christ’s path may we not vary

And with His stripes be healed. 

Larry Doyle Crenshaw