Have you ever stood where history was made? I had the opportunity to stand where President Lincoln was shot to death. I have stood on the shore of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Pilgrims landed on new shores over 375 years ago. I have stood on the fields of Lexington, Massachusetts, where the American Revolution began, and also at Yorktown, New York, where the last battle was fought that won for Americans their independence from the British. I have been in Westminster Abbey where many English kings have stood and where many are buried. But I have never been more affected than the day I stood on an old stairway in the ancient city of Jerusalem.
On the south side of Jerusalem, Herod the Great had a stairway built of large stone blocks over 2000 years ago. This stairway leads down the hill toward the valley of Kidron where there is a brook in the rainy season, but which is dry for more than half the year. On the other side of the valley is a garden where old, old olive trees still bloom. It is called the Garden of Gethsemane.
One spring evening almost 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, who created the mountain on which He was standing, met His disciples in an upper room in old Jerusalem and ate the Passover supper with them there. After they had eaten the roast lamb, He told them, “I go unto My Father” (John 14:1212Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (John 14:12)). They sang a hymn together and then left the room. They almost certainly would have used that old, stone stairway, because it went in the direction they wanted to go - across the valley of Kidron to the Garden of Gethsemane. As they walked down those stone steps together, the disciples were confused because they knew something important was about to happen. Jesus had explained that He would die, but they didn’t understand that He would rise again. However, Jesus, the Lord of the universe, knew all things, and He knew the future.
Would you take a plane if you knew it was going to crash? Would you stay in a building if you knew it would be hit by a bomb? As Jesus walked down those steps, He knew that when He walked up those same steps later that night, His hands would be tied like a criminal’s. He knew that the next day He would have an unfair trial. He knew He would be condemned to death. He knew He would be nailed to a cross to suffer the most torturous death possible.
Why didn’t He run away? It would have been so easy for Him to disappear into the night and never meet up with the soldiers planning to arrest Him. But Jesus kept walking, one step at a time, toward that moment He knew was waiting. He kept walking because He knew that only by hanging on the cross and suffering God’s punishment for sins would He be able to forgive our sins. If He had run away, we would have no choice but to suffer the punishment for our sins in hell. And so He walked down those steps.
A few hours later, just as He had known would happen, He walked back up the steps bound and surrounded by soldiers. His disciples had all run away. He was brought to trial and then to Calvary. Even there, it was not the nails that held Him on the cross. It was His love for you and me that held Him until He had paid the full price for all the sins of each one who will believe on Him. “It is finished,” He cried triumphantly. And He died.
Jesus doesn’t walk on the streets of Jerusalem anymore. After three days He rose from the grave - alive! He went up into heaven 40 days after that, and now He invites you to join Him there. If you are truly sorry for your sins and believe that He died for you, He will forgive your sins. He walked into death because He loved you so much. Don’t refuse that kind of love.
ML-04/01/2001