Group Bible Study

We are continuing our meditation of the last Passover meal that Jesus and His disciples had the night before He was crucified (Scroll down for yesterday’s thoughts). As they were all reclining around the table, the Lord spoke about the one who would betray Him:   21 But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.  22 The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him."  23 They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this (Luke 22:14-23).   It is John who gives us more information on this part of the conversation: 21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me."  22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.  23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.  24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask ...

We are continuing to meditate on the drama of the Passover meal (scroll down for previous meditations) that Jesus ate with His disciples the night before His crucifixion, and the giving of His life as an atonement for sin:    14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.  15 And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."  17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you.  18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."  20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, " This cup is the new covenant in my blood , which is poured out for you” (L...

We are continuing to meditate on the last supper of Jesus and His disciples the day before Christ's crucifixion. The Jews of Galilee had a different time-keeping system to the Jews in the south. The Galilean Jews counted the day as starting at the time when the sun came up; whereas, the Jews of Judah and Jerusalem counted a new day as starting as soon as three stars could be seen in the sky. This difference in timing was beneficial when it came to the sacrifices going on in the temple. Jesus could eat the Passover on a Thursday night and deliver Himself in Jerusalem as the Passover Lamb slain before the foundation of the world on the Friday we remember as "Good Friday."    8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." 9 "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked.  10 He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters,  11 ...

We are continuing to meditate on the Passover celebration meal that Jesus had with His disciples the night before His crucifixion (Scroll down to see yesterday's meditation). What happened during the first Passover? God required faith in the blood of the Passover lamb. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). The Israelites took a bunch of hyssop plant and dipped the hyssop into a bowl of some of the blood from the sacrificial lamb. The bowl containing the blood was placed at the doorstep, and the hyssop dipped into the blood. The lintel and each side of the door frame was then struck with the blood, forming an image of a cross over the door. The Lord describes what is happening in Isaiah 31:5:   Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will  'pass over' it and will rescue it" (Isaiah 31:5).   The context of this passage above is one of protection of the city of Jerusalem. In th...

We are meditating on the last days before the crucifixion of Christ, so now we come to the day before when Jesus reclined at the table for one last Passover meal with His disciples. Before we talk about it, we have to explain what needed to happen for each of us to have a place in heaven. To break the hold of Satan's enslavement of the human race, an innocent substitutionary sacrifice was required. The sentence for rebellion against the moral law of God is death (Ezekiel 18:4), i.e., separation from God. In His love for all men, God planned before the foundation of the world that He would come as a Substitute and pay the price to repurchase us by His blood, i.e., a life for a life. Without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption (Hebrews 9:22). When Peter the Apostle preached on the Day of Pentecost before thousands of people, he told them:    “This man was handed over to you  by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge ;   and you, with the help o...

We are finishing off our meditation on Judas—why did he betray Christ? (Scroll down for earlier reflections). Some suggest that Judas was seeking to force Jesus' hand to revolt against the Romans so that a confrontation would take place and Jesus would use His power to overcome Roman rule. Who knows what was in the mind of Judas as he walked to visit with the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard? (Luke 22:4). What we do know is that he watched for a convenient time and place to betray his master with a kiss on the cheek and that he had already received the thirty silver coins in payment for betraying Christ before the Last Supper:   14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests  15 and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So  they counted out for him thirty silver coins.  16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over (Matthew 26:14-16).   Th...

Over the last few days we have been thinking through what it might have been that influenced Judas to betray Christ. We are concluding that Satan had made inroads in Judas’ life by his habit of stealing (Scroll down for previous meditations). In the normal course of things, there is a natural barrier in the human soul that prevents a spiritual attack. Long ago, even before Abraham, Satan had a hard time with a righteous man named Job. He couldn’t do anything against Job without God’s taking down the “hedge” that protected him. 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."   9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied.  10 " Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land” (Job 1:8-10). I...

We are continuing our meditation of the days before the crucifixion of Christ, looking primarily at the person of Judas, thinking through what it could have been that prompted him to betray the Lord Jesus (Scroll further down for additional thoughts on Judas). Perhaps, it was the love of money that motivated Judas. He oversaw the finances for the party of disciples. When Mary, the sister of Lazarus, honored Jesus by pouring out her treasure (i.e., a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume) on his feet and wiping them with her hair, Judas was incensed at the "waste:”   4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,  5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages."  6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor  but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it .  7 "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. “It was i...

We are thinking on the last week before the crucifixion of Christ, and especially on the person of Judas, the one who betrayed Christ (Scroll down for more thoughts on his betrayal). Scripture tells us that Judas did not believe (John 6:64; John 13:11). He had never placed his trust in Christ, so he had not experienced an inner change in his life. In his mind, he had a mental agreement with the person of Christ, but at the core level of his being, he had never received grace and forgiveness for his sin, a powerful deception was at work.    Our enemy, Satan, a very real spiritual being, is at work in the world to keep hearts and minds blinded to the truth concerning Christ. He seeks to influence every person to deny the reality of the person and work of Christ. Like Judas, a person can have an acceptance of the facts of the Gospel, and there may even be an understanding of the great truths concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, but unless one receives the person of Christ, there i...

24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means."  25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?"  26 Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon.  27 As soon as Judas took the bread,  Satan entered into him (John 13:24-27).   There has been much speculation as to the motive of Judas in betraying Jesus, prompting questions, such as “If Satan was the instigator, was Judas really at fault?” Another question is, “If all that happened was meant to be and Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, then did Judas have a choice in the matter?” Furthermore, “Did Judas truly repent and receive forgiveness for what he did?”    Although we may not be sure of these answers, we will examine some of the possibilities. First, we are told in Luke ...

To us in the twenty-first century, the very name  Judas  is a picture of treachery and betrayal, a name not given to new-born babies, but in the time of Christ, it was an honorable name. One of the twelve tribes of Israel was named Judah, and King David emerged from that tribe. Maybe Judas was named after Judas Maccabeus, an Israelite who led the Jews to victory over the Seleucid Empire, more than 175 years earlier after Antiochus Epiphanes sought to destroy the Jewish faith and Hellenize the Jews. His surname,  Iscariot,  tells us the town that Judas came from, i.e.,  ish  (“man”) of  Kerioth , a small village in the south of Judea.    Judas had so mastered the art of hypocrisy and deception that, when Jesus told the twelve during the Last Supper that one among them would betray Him, none of the eleven had figured out which of them was the betrayer: 20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.  ...

  1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,  2 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.  3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.  4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.  5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money.  6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present (Luke 22:1-6).    To the Jewish person, Passover is the biggest meal of the year, like the Thanksgiving meal for an American or the Christmas meal for a British person. God had commanded the Israelites to appear before Him at the Temple in Jerusalem three times a year (Exodus 23:13-15), and the Feast of Unleavened Bread called Passover was one of the three times. In the time of Christ, it was dif...