The Final Days Of Jesus.

Over the next several days, we will be briefly detailing what Jesus was doing on each of the days leading up to His death. What you are reading is my best attempt to compile an accurate chronology of Jesus life in His final week and it is my prayer that it is encouraging and stimulating to your soul.

Please join us if you would like to follow along. Read through the verses that are referenced. And please feel free to share this content with anyone you think might be blessed by it!

Friday, AD 30, 7 days before His death

Sometime before the events of Holy Week, in a town called Bethany, Jesus raised His friend Lazurus from the dead (John 11:1-45). This, of course, was Jesus' greatest miracle to date and one that left many people amazed and believing in Him. But, not the Jewish leadership.  

Instead of praising God for what Jesus had done, they were more concerned than ever with the political fallout an event like this would cause between them and Rome. If things became too unstable, then Rome would stabilize it with brute and pulverizing force. The Jews could not risk that, so from this point forward, they were making their plans to kill Him (John 11:47-53).

This murderous rage by the Jerusalem establishment caused Jesus and His disciples to retreat. They left Bethany immediately from there and regrouped in temporary seclusion near a remote wilderness town called Ephraim (John 11:54). And it was here that they stayed until today, Friday, seven days before His death.

Now let us make two things clear. First, Jesus began His final week in seclusion. On this day, He and His disciples were in retreat from the mobs that wanted Him dead. But that leads to our second point. Jesus was not in hiding because He was afraid to die. He did not retreat to the wilderness to save Himself. In fact, He would soon return to Bethany, seal His fate, face His death, and walk the Hill of Calvary with courage and joy. 

He retreated on this occasion because it was not yet His God-ordained time to die. Had He stayed in Bethany, He would have been immediately arrested and killed, a week before the Passover. And because Jesus planned on being killed as our Passover lamb, He carefully safeguarded the timing of His own death with omniscient precision.

Join us tomorrow as we examine what Jesus and His disciples were doing on Saturday.