Here are some good Passion Week related posts for your weekend reading:
How To Handle Your Sin – Kevin DeYoung Run to the cross. There you will find salvation for your sin sick self.
God Wants You To Know How Much He Loves You – Jon Bloom (DG) That’s what Passion Week is for; that you might remember and more deeply know how much God has loved you — so much that he gave his only Son for you
Includes a link to a Desiring God booklet with daily readings for the coming week.
The Passion Week – Infographic – Josh Byers This week’s infographic, The Passion Week, is a chronological timeline of the major events that happened during Jesus’ last week before he died and rose again.
Some Easter Posts – Three Passions
This is a collection of Easter posts I put together last year, including another Easter week timeline and a short video you should watch every year.
The Thief and Us – Three Passions
Another post from last year worth pondering again.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day and coming week reflecting on our Savior’s death, burial and resurrection!
Here are some good posts for your Easter Weekend reading:
9 Things You Should Know About Holy Week – Joe Carter (via Gospel Coalition) Holy Week is the week before Easter, a period which includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Here’s what you should know about the days that commemorate the Passion of Christ…
Take Time to Stop – Trevin Wax The best way to celebrate this week is to sense the stopping of time, and to remember the moments at the heart of our faith. To simply marvel at the Word of God and what these precious events mean. To listen for the Old Testament echoes, to catch the Old Testament overtones and familiar melodies that resound through the Gospel writers’ symphony of the cross. To look at Jesus – the One crucified in our place, who loved us and died for us.
Christ Forsaken – Joel Beeke (Ligonier) The great High Priest enters Golgotha’s Holy of Holies without friends or enemies. The Son of God is alone on the cross for three final hours, enduring what defies our imagination. Experiencing the full brunt of His Father’s wrath, Jesus cannot stay silent. He cries out: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Why the Resurrection Changes Everything – Matthew Barrett (via Gospel Coalition) Because Christ is risen, we, as those who are in Christ, have every assurance that our labor in sharing this gospel of the risen Christ is not pointless or without purpose, but will matter for all eternity. Therefore, do not forget this Easter that the resurrection of Christ changes everything. Without it, we have no gospel, no salvation, no saving message, and certainly no future hope.
Hope you have a great weekend celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Tomorrow for Resurrection Sunday many will sing Charles Wesley’s great hymn, Christ the Lord Is Risen Today (my sympathies if you don’t!). Wesley wrote the hymn in 1739 for the first service of the Foundry Meeting House in London – the first chapel for Methodists who followed the Wesleys. The hymn was originally written without the alleluias, which were added later by an unknown editor. Most hymnals only have four stanzas, but below you will find ten, though only the first seven were written by Wesley. The last three come from the 14th Century and were translated from Latin. These last three stanzas are found in many hymnals under the name, Jesus Christ is Risen Today. Both hymns share the same tune – Lyra Davidica.
Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!
Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Lo! the Sun’s eclipse is over, Alleluia!
Lo! He sets in blood no more, Alleluia!
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!
Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!
Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
Hail, the Lord of earth and Heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the resurrection, thou, Alleluia!
King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, Thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!
Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!
But the pains that He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He’s King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!
Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!
Last week I posted some daily Passion Week reflections. Below are some reflections for Easter and the following week to help us ponder what Christ’s resurrection means to us:
How can we direct our conversations this Easter time toward Jesus and what he did for us? Whether you are talking to a co-worker, classmate, neighbor, friend, or family member, how can you lead your discussions toward the cross and empty tomb? Donald Whitney suggests several questions to guide our conversations toward Jesus:
What was your favorite Easter tradition as a child?
Why do you think people celebrate the resurrection of Jesus?
Brian J. Mikul 