My Thoughts On This Year's Holy Week And Easter 2023: Dr. Phil Chan

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It was only two days ago that I asked Phil Chan to write his thoughts for this blog's Good Friday post. With hardly much time in hand, he did, within a day.

Thanks very much, Phil.

Dear Andy,

My thoughts on this year’s Holy Week and Easter.

We are reminded that God hid His face when Jesus was painfully crucified to buy mankind pardon and forgiveness of sin.

Jesus cried out in a loud voice in his native Aramaic language, 'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' The English translation is 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' ” (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46).

Actually Jesus’ words above is a direct quotation from Psalm 22:1: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

Also in Isaiah 45:15, Truly you are a God who has been hiding Himself, the God and Savior of Israel. Surely the Hebrews must be thinking of this verse during the terrible holocaust period in the Second World War.

During the time of Jesus, a Jewish father in his sadness would have torn his robe as a sign of grief and mourning if his firstborn son died. This is exactly what happened at the temple.

And behold the veil of the temple 

was torn in two from top to bottom...

Image from: https://www.hardysbc.net/blog/post/invited-into-gods-presence

Matthew 27:50-55 : And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”.

This tearing of the curtain seems to pave the way for mankind to gain access to the Holy of Holies in the temple … The glory of God is now open to us. It implies that we can now look into the place where only the High Priest could go in the past. Jesus’ death has given us direct access to the living God.

https://wallpaperaccess.com/resurrection

In the above passage, the resurrection of the dead was also mentioned. Praise God, sometime after Saturday evening sun down (i.e. the beginning of Sunday for the Hebrews), Jesus resurrected. We can take comfort in being able to meet our loved ones again as we too will be resurrected someday.

Wishing you and your family a Blessed Easter. God bless you all as always.

Written by: Dr. Phil Chan.

Images from:

1. Google [3 images].

2. A Personal Collection [1 image].

'Because He Lives' [singer unmentioned] 

YouTube Video by: Evolsiay Tulip.