24 HOURS That Changed the World

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , | Posted On Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 6:07 PM

Jesus died at the age of 33. However, of those 33 years, the Gospel writers devoted over 95% of their writings to his last three years, and nearly 30% to the last week. But nearly 15% of the four Gospels is centered on the last 24 hours of his life – clearly Matthew, Mark, Luke and John believed something extraordinary happened in those 24 hours.

The writers focused on the period beginning with sunset on Thursday, which for the Jews marked the beginning of a new day, through his Last Supper with his disciples, his time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest and trial before the religious and Roman authorities, his torture by the Romans and march to the cross, culminating in his crucifixion, death and burial.

The four Gospel writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, believed that everything that had happened in Jesus’ life drove to these crucial 24 hours that changed the world. In fact, the Apostle Paul some 25 years later summed up the Gospel to the church at Corinth in Greece, writing: “…I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 TEV)

To help us understand what happened and why it's still important to us today, during the month of March we'll be focusing on Jesus' last 24 hours here on earth. I'll be working primarily from the Gospel of Mark, but I'll be drawing on information from all four Gospels as well as the rest of the Bible. I'll be using various commentaries, photos, maps, and in particular, a book by Adam Hamilton entitled, 24 Hours That Changed the World. (I'm grateful to Adam's book for some ideas and the title, but this series itself is my work.)

As I began preparing for this series, I realized there was no way I could share in a Sunday morning message everything I was learning. So, for those who want to dig deeper and learn more, I'll be adding extra posts tied to each week's message. I'll be including the week number for each of these posts so you'll know where these additional posts fit in our 24 hour journey.

I'm excited about what I believe God is going to do through this series, and I hope and pray you will, too. And pray for me, so that I can communicate clearly the events and significance for us today of these 24 HOURS that Changed the World!