INTRODUCTION

This book is about the last 24 hours of Christ before He died on the cross. Even though this is just one day out of the 33 year life Jesus had here in the flesh, it is by no means to be taken as the only day we need to study. To do a book of this nature covering all of Jesus' life would take volumes. Considering I do not do this of my own accord, but of the Holy Spirit, I would not be the one to do such an undertaking. But, I praise God for what He shows me and tells me to write.

Unless other wise noted all quotes are from New American Standard Bible.

Before you read this book meditate on John 3:16 "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world (YOU) that He (even) gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever (you) believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life." Get this down in your spirit before you read another page. Spend time thinking about what this says.

I will give you an example I heard once "This man had a job that was to switch the track for trains, and one of the switches was for a bridge. One night he was at the switch and noticed it would not stay closed. So, to keep the train that was coming from going off it's track and into the lake, he had to stand there and keep it forced closed. As he was doing this, he noticed his 3 year old son on the track on the bridge coming to him. He had one of two choices, get his son off the track and let all on the train perish, or let his son die. As the train went by and all who looked out the windows, all they could see was a man holding a bar and tears running down his cheeks." This is what God did for us. Enough said.

 

CHAPTER 1

THE UPPER ROOM

In Luke 22:7-14, we see that Jesus ordered Peter and John to go into the square and when they saw a MAN carrying a pitcher of water, to follow him. And he would lead them to where they would have the Passover feast. Now if you notice I typed man in bold, this is because this was a woman's job that the man was doing. If you go back to Genesis 24:11b "The time when women go out to draw water", some versions say that this is the work of women. But, if you read Genesis 24:11-22, you will notice that the servant of Abraham new that women came out, not men, to fill the water pitchers.

The first point I am trying to make is that this was a man not a woman.

Second, in Luke 22:10, Jesus said this man will be waiting for you. How, did this man know to wait? There is no mention of anyone entering the town and informing him they were coming.

Third, Peter and John were told to follow him and when they entered the house he entered, ask the owner of that house where is the guest room for the Teacher and his Disciples to have the Passover feast. And the owner of the house will show you a large, furnished, upper room.

Another reason it might have been a man that was waiting instead of a woman, could be do to that the city was so crowded for the Passover feast, that the two would have had a hard time finding a woman waiting for them out of all the other women. Where a man stuck out like an apple in a barrel of lemons. The reason the city was crowded could be found in Deuteronomy 16:5-6. God had commanded that the feast be celebrated only in one place. So everyone had to go to the city from all over the world to celebrate the Passover. Now imagine if every republican or democrat had to come to your town to vote for the president and had to stay for a week. How crowded would it be?

As you read on about the upper room, waiting, and how crowded the city was, you can see God at work.

Okay, we have a man doing the work of women, this man was waiting on Peter and John, and this man lead them to a house that had an upper room furnished and large enough for the twelve and Jesus. Look at a few more points:

1. The man carrying the pitcher could have been an angel or the Holy Spirit carrying a pitcher of water. In John 4:10 Jesus talks about the living water.
2. The owner of the house (we really don't know who this was), how many people even in the days Jesus walked would have turned over a furnished upper room. So, either they paid for this room and it was not recorded or the Spirit of God was at work. We know which it was, don't we?
3. You have to realize that during the Passover feast all available space was used by the families and friends or rented out. This is like coming to town during a Republican or Democratic convention, no space. But, here we hear of a room large enough and furnished just hours before and waiting for Jesus. Now, do you know who was at work here?

To help you understand the Passover go back to Exodus 11. You can see the Passover was when the last plague God brought onto Egypt passed over those who had placed the blood of the lamb over their door post. Here are some more interesting corollaries.

1. To be passed over that night by death and to live (if you were first born in the household) was only by the blood of a lamb. Jesus is the lamb for our salvation.
2. The blood over their door post protected them and saved their lives. The blood of Jesus saves our lives.
3. The placing of the blood over the door post was in a form of a cross; Jesus died on a cross.

I point these out because they have very deep meaning to us. The Passover was a shadow of what Jesus would do for us later and eternally. So, as Jesus went to the upper room He knew that he was the same as the sacrificed lamb that they were about to take part of in the Passover feast. For more about the Passover read Exodus 12:11-20, Deut. 16:2-12, II Chronicles 30:15-16, 35:1-11, I Cor. 5:7 and Hebrews 11:28.

Don't you know that Jesus had to have felt a little anxious about what was to happen? Here he is, about to die, and He is still directing the Apostles. Most of us, if we knew we only had 24 hours left to live, would be cringing in our boots. But, He was the servant to the end, more concerned about His disciples than Himself. He constantly showed the way, including trusting in God for His strength. He even trusting in God for the Man with the pitcher and the upper room.

We sometimes forget that Jesus was a man; a perfect man without sin. Jesus had to be man to understand what we go through with the temptations and worries and problems of the flesh. Yes, Satan tempted Jesus after the forty days in the desert (read Luke 4:2), but Jesus resisted Satan's temptations and showed us how we could as well in Luke 4:8-13. If we keep our eyes on the Lord and meditate on the word we will be able to resist temptation when it comes our way. So, as a man He had the Holy Spirit, just as we do today. He had studied the scriptures, as we should (He did it for years). So, there is nothing Jesus had that we do not have today. On that day, as He sent Peter and John out to prepare the upper room, don't you think Jesus was preparing Himself for what was about to happen?

He trusted in God the father, walked in the Holy Spirit, prayed and was obedient. So, out of 7 verses, we can see how God was going before him, either in the form of the Holy Spirit or with Angels to prepare the way for Jesus. That is what we should be expecting today. Don't you think that Jesus already knew what Judas was up to and realized that one of His hand picked 12 was about to betray Him? Especially when all Jesus had done to Judas was to show him love and the way to the Father. Wouldn't you be heart broken if one of your children was out behind your back trying to get you arrested? If you had done no wrong, wouldn't that be heart breaking? Well, that is what was going on, and through the Holy Spirit Jesus knew all that was happening or was about to happen.

I wonder if Jesus, even though He knew what Judas was up to, didn't hope that Judas would change. You see, we all wonder why God allows children to die and bad things to happen to good people. Well, here is His Son, and He knew this was going on. But, God is a gentleman and can not force any of us to do what we don't want. He can not help, unless we believe in Him the same way we believe in the sun rising tomorrow. It is like the owner of the house with the upper room, don't you think this man was wanting to be of use to God? He probably had prayed as so many of us do, "God use me in what ever way You can." Due to this little prayer, don't you think that is how the upper room was waiting?

So, we have an angel or a form of the Holy Spirit carrying water, a God fearing house owner who was obedient, and two disciples who carried out the orders of Jesus to the letter. Due to all of this we have the Last Supper. The owner of the house could have refused and the disciples could have thought "right, there will be a MAN waiting for us". One of these two Disciples is Peter who denies knowing Jesus within the following 24 hours. This is the same Peter whom Jesus had to rebuke, when Peter had wanted to keep Jesus from His appointment with death in Mark 8:32-33. So, even still it was obedience that won out and this obedience comes from keeping our eyes on the Lord.

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