But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

When the centurion standing there in front of Jesus saw how He had breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

And there were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses and Salome. These women had followed Jesus and ministered to Him while He was in Galilee, and there were many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.  (Mark 15: 37-41)

By Christine Darg

Jerusalem Channel

In my Bible reading today, the above verses stood out to me as rhema—rhema is a New Testament Greek word meaning an utterance that has come to mean “God’s Word spoken to you” personally. As Hebrew 4: 12 (Amplified) explains,

For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.

It struck me that nearly 2,000 years on this side of the cross, there are “also women watching from a distance” for those of us living in the distance of time who nevertheless have spiritual eyes to see the significance of the profound atoning death of the Saviour.

These women had travelled with Jesus, observing his ministry and also ministering to his needs out of their skills and resources.

Another rhema to me this morning was this phrase:

“And there were many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.”

How profoundly it struck me that there ARE TODAY MANY OTHER WOMEN–and men–who are still coming up to Jerusalem with Him! We come to Jerusalem because this is the sacred soil where the most significant, central hinge of history took place:  when the Saviour of the world made Atonement on the Tree for humanity.

While it is important wherever we live always to remember the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus–for this is the Gospel–nevertheless it is also highly significant that some women (and of course male disciples) will come up to Jerusalem to remember in situ his suffering and triumph over sin, to demonstrate in the holy city that Jesus was and IS the Lamb of God who took upon himself the sins of the world.

So we in Exploits Ministry and the Jerusalem Channel invite you to join us 13 to 18 April 2022 in Israel for our 23rd Passover/Holy Week Convocation. This year it is an especially significant window of opportunity to visit the Holy Land first of all because Israel has once again opened its doors to tourists–both vaccinated and unvaccinated. Let us take advantage of this opportunity for we do not know how long the door will remain open due to ongoing crises in the world.  Secondly, it is also important to note that the Passover holiday and the Christian Holy Week converge again this year, despite the erroneous efforts in the past by antisemitic churchmen to divorce Good Friday, Holy Shabbat and Resurrection Sunday from the Hebraic calendar, when these monumental occurrences actually happened! Let us meditation on this question:

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nail’d him to the cross?
Were you there when they nail’d him to the cross?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they nail’d him to the cross?

Were you there when they pierced him in the side? 
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?

Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

And another verse might be added:

Were you there when the Lord arose from the dead?
Were you there when the Lord arose from the dead?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when the Lord arose from the dead?

The spiritual “Were You There?” puts the Lord’s Passion into a first-person, present-tense perspective as if when singing we personally witness the crucifixion events.  It should also be noted that this particular plantation hymn and the use of the first person perspective reflects the Christian principle that all of humanity– past, present and future– bears responsibility for our complicity in sin that resulted in the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf. From a lyrical analysis standpoint, the spiritual’s author may have been asking the question in a literal sense, implying that the event should be remembered as if the listener were physically present!  Amen and Amen!

To this day holy women still follow Jesus to Jerusalem! Le me repeat–Exploits Ministry and the Jerusalem Channel invite you to join us 13 to 18 April 2022 in Israel for our 23rd Passover/Holy Week Convocation. This is an especially significant window of opportunity to visit the Land of Promise and Prophecy!

Wedding Chapel in Cana of Galilee

Lord willing, we will be there! And we will enter into meditation walks and prophetic prayer times for the region; we will celebrate a prophetic Passover seder in Jerusalem’s Old City near the Upper Room, and also the following evening we plan a prophetic meal during Passover in anticipation of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb at the charming Cana wedding chapel in the Galilee.  For details of the full itinerary, click here