{"id":12571,"date":"2020-11-16T21:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T04:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_23_27-43-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-11-15T20:39:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T03:39:33","slug":"luke_23_44-56","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_23_44-56\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Curtain Tore (Plus, Jesus\u2019 Last Words)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 23:44-56 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 23:44-56. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 23:44-45 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n44 \u00a0It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
\n45 \u00a0for the sun stopped shining\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 44-45: It is only fitting that when Jesus, the light of the world, was fading, the sun also stopped shining and darkness came over the entire land.<\/p>\n

Luke 23:45b (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n45 \u00a0\u2026And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 45b:\u00a0In the temple in Jerusalem, there was a curtain that separated the most holy part of the temple, called the Most Holy Place, from the rest of the temple. The Most Holy Place was regarded as the place where God\u2019s presence resided. Only the high priest could enter that Most Holy Place and no more frequently than once a year.\u00a0Yet when Jesus died, the curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple was torn in two. This signified that because of Jesus\u2019 death we now have full access to God\u2019s most holy presence.<\/p>\n

Luke 23:46 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n46 \u00a0Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 46: Jesus\u2019 very last words were a conversation with his Father, committing his spirit to Him and trusting Him to the very end.\u00a0I bet the heart of God the Father was never more wrenched, never more devastated, never more touched, and never more proud of His Son than on this day when His Son died.<\/p>\n

Luke 23:47-53 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n47 \u00a0The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
\n48 \u00a0When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
\n49 \u00a0But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
\n50 \u00a0Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man,
\n51 \u00a0who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.
\n52 \u00a0Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body.
\n53 \u00a0Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 47-53: In these verses we see the way different people responded to the death of Jesus. Somehow after watching the way Jesus died, a centurion, one of the soldiers who oversaw Jesus\u2019 execution, concludes, \u201cSurely this was a righteous man.\u201d (v47) Spectators who were just curious to see Jesus executed basically just walked away (v48). Those who loved Jesus the most stood at a distance, continuing to watch (v49). Then there\u2019s Joseph of Arimathea who takes action, asks Pilate for Jesus\u2019 body, takes it down, wraps it in linen cloth and places it in an empty tomb (v50-53).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0It\u2019s one thing to see and acknowledge Jesus\u2019 death, but true life change happens when we do what Joseph of Arimathea did, when we do something with Jesus on the cross.\u00a0At the risk of sounding overly allegorical, I find that the dark, empty tomb in which Joseph placed Jesus\u2019 body is a good picture of our hearts, which too can be very dark and empty.\u00a0When we receive Jesus into our dark, empty hearts, we give God room to do something miraculous that only He can do.<\/p>\n

Luke 23:54-56 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n54 \u00a0It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
\n55 \u00a0The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.
\n56 \u00a0Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 54-56: Jesus\u2019 female followers from Galilee saw the tomb where Jesus\u2019 body was laid.\u00a0They wanted to go back to his tomb to anoint his body with spices and perfumes, but in accordance with Jewish custom they waited for the Sabbath day to pass before going. Little did they expect that they were about to see the greatest miracle in history.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, by Your death You made\u00a0<\/em>real<\/em>\u00a0life for us possible.\u00a0Because of\u00a0<\/em>You<\/em>\u00a0the curtain is torn and now we have full access to life and God\u2019s presence forever. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. Come and fill every empty space in my heart and life.\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 23:44-56. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 23:44-45 (NIV)\u00a0
\n44 \u00a0It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
\n45 \u00a0for the sun stopped shining\u2026<\/p>\n

On verses 44-45: It is only fitting that when Jesus, the light of the world, was fading, the sun also stopped shining and darkness came over the entire land.<\/p>\n

Luke 23:45b (NIV)\u00a0
\n45 \u00a0\u2026And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.<\/p>\n

On verse 45b:\u00a0In the temple in Jerusalem, there was a curtain that separated the most holy part of the temple, called the Most Holy Place, from the rest of the temple. The Most Holy Place was regarded as the place where God\u2019s presence resided. Only the high priest could enter that Most Holy Place and no more frequently than once a year.\u00a0Yet when Jesus died, the curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple was torn in two. This signified that because of Jesus\u2019 death we now have full access to God\u2019s most holy presence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12571"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12572,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12571\/revisions\/12572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}