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The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived QUOTES

The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived QUOTES

1 " Will you and I believe? Will we place our faith once and for all in the one who came and died and rose again so we can be forgiven and have eternal life? If so, our Easter has dawned, and God’s Morning Star has arisen in our hearts.1 For true believers, every day is Easter, and we can celebrate Easter joyfully, thanking God for his amazing salvation and looking forward expectantly to the day when our Lord will return and summon us to spend eternity with him, for his glory and for our eternal happiness. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. . . . He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

2 " Our faith and our intellect should never be separated, as if (as some detractors allege) we were called to throw away our minds at conversion and blindly believe contrary to the evidence. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

3 " Some Pharisees instruct Jesus to rebuke the crowds for their dangerous messianic exuberance, but he refuses to correct or curtail the excitement of the crowd over his entrance into the city (Matt. 21:15–17; Luke 19:39–40). It would be hard to overestimate the political and religious volatility incited by Jesus’s actions—the Pharisees were taken by surprise and had no idea how to respond (John 12:19). Up to this point in Jesus’s ministry, he could still have managed to live a long, happy, peaceful life, but his actions on Sunday set in motion a series of events that could result only in either his overthrow of the Romans and the current religious establishment—or his brutal death. He has crossed the point of no return; there would be no turning back. Caesar could allow no rival kings. As Jesus approaches the city, he weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41–44). "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

4 " The Passover crowds in Jerusalem were like a powder keg ready for a spark—filled to the brim with both messianic fervor and hatred of Roman rule. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

5 " Up to this point in Jesus’s ministry, he could still have managed to live a long, happy, peaceful life, but his actions on Sunday set in motion a series of events that could result only in either his overthrow of the Romans and the current religious establishment—or his brutal death. He has crossed the point of no return; there would be no turning back. Caesar could allow no rival kings. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

6 " One of the more interesting differences between the Gospels is the strategy used to begin their biographies of Jesus’s life and work. The Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) begin in history, first recounting either the announcement of the birth of Jesus or the announcement of his prophetic forerunner John the Baptist. John, on the other hand, begins before history, in heaven, emphasizing the eternal relationship between God the Father and God the Son before the Son took on human nature. This is one of the reasons that the Synoptics are marked by greater similarity and overlap, whereas John often highlights other aspects of Jesus’s ministry as part of his overall strategy. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

7 " Remember also that when the Gospels were written and published, there were still plenty of eyewitnesses around who could easily have disputed the veracity of the Gospel accounts—but we are not aware of any such challenges. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

8 " At the beginning of the Farewell Discourse, Jesus highlights what is to be the defining characteristic of his followers: love for one another (John 13:34–35). This love is to be so clear and visible that by observing it, outsiders will know that Jesus’s disciples are his followers. Sadly, many unbelievers today would probably not mention love as the primary characteristic of Christians. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

9 " At the ninth hour, Jesus utters a despairing cry: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”104 Jesus drew this lament of utter God-forsakenness from Psalm 22:1, which states, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” In some mysterious way beyond our human understanding, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is cut off and separated from God because he is bearing the sin of humanity and enduring God’s wrath as a substitute for and in place of sinful humans.105 Of course, Jesus knows how Psalm 22 ends—in vindication—and may be reminding us that forsakenness is not the end of the story. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

10 " Israel is often characterized as a fig tree in the Old Testament (Jer. 8:13; Hos. 9:10, 16; Joel 1:7), and Jesus’s cursing of the fig tree symbolizes the judgment of God upon a nation that has the outward appearance of life but fails to bear fruit. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

11 " In keeping with prophetic convention, the near event—the destruction of the temple—served as a type (picture or foreshadowing) of the worldwide divine judgment that will come upon the earth at Christ’s return. The main themes of Jesus’s discourse, reinforced by the parables of the ten virgins and of the talents, are clear. Followers of Jesus will experience increasing persecution and tribulation leading up to the final day of judgment, but they must remain vigilant and persist in faith. "

― Andreas J. Köstenberger , The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived