As Easter approaches, we invite you to slow down and reflect on the intentional, powerful way Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy—down to the smallest details. This 10-day devotional walks through key moments leading to the cross, showing how Scripture pointed to Jesus all along.
Each day highlights a specific prophecy and its fulfillment in the New Testament, helping you see more clearly who Jesus is and what He came to do. Whether you’re reading alone or with others, this is a simple way to prepare your heart this season.
Plus, we’ve created free bookmarks that match the devotional to encourage you to mark these truths in a Loved Bible. (Scroll to the bottom for a link to our free printable bookmarks!)
Day 1: Hosanna in the Highest! (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:7-9)
In 538 B.C., after years of exile in Babylon, the Israelites were freed by Cyrus of Persia and allowed to return home. As they began to rebuild their temple, they experienced opposition from outside forces and indifference from within, causing the work to be abandoned. Sixteen years had passed when God commissioned the prophet Zechariah to stir up His people to resume the rebuilding of the temple. He also encouraged them by announcing the coming of the Messiah.
Over four hundred years of silence would pass before the New Testament would record the fulfillment of that prophecy and describe the coming of the Messiah – Jesus. He came as a King of righteousness, instead of cruelty and oppression. A King who would humbly ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, instead of on a regal chariot. A King who would usher in salvation and freedom, instead of keeping people in captivity.
The Israelites aren’t the only people who experienced slavery and oppression. We too are born in that condition – enslaved by sin and separated from God. Jesus humbly came to earth, having laid down the privileges of His deity, to take on flesh in order to provide the hope and salvation that mankind needs so desperately.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey that day, the crowd enthusiastically celebrated His arrival, laying down their cloaks or branches from trees on the road to signify His bringing of victory and success. The crowd also openly adored Jesus as they shouted, “Hosanna…!” which means “oh save!”. Through the appropriate titles “…to the Son of David!” and “He who comes in the name of the Lord” – the people acknowledged Jesus is indeed the long-awaited, promised Messiah.
As we enter into Holy Week, take time to personally…
- Celebrate how God sent Jesus, in the flesh, to bring salvation.
- Adore Jesus for who He is, and how He fulfilled God’s promises.
- Acknowledge Jesus is God in the flesh and deserves the highest praise possible – “Hosanna in the highest!”
How might you celebrate, adore, and acknowledge Jesus this coming week?
Day 2: The Price of Betrayal: Recognizing Jesus’ True Worth (Zechariah 11:13b; Matthew 26:11-14)
In the Old Testament, the prophet Zechariah had been told to watch over a flock of sheep who were destined to slaughter. He was insulted as his work was valued at thirty pieces of silver, the price paid for a wounded slave. God told Zechariah to “throw it to the potter”. So he “threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter”.
This account of Zechariah brings to mind the New Testament account of Christ’s betrayal by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. Just like Zechariah’s work had been insulted and devalued, so was Jesus’ work. Just mere days after Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey and was celebrated and adored as the promised Messiah, He had then been sold-out by Judas for the price of a slave. Why? Perhaps it comes down to “unfulfilled expectations”.
The people were expecting the Messiah to be a deliverer who would free them from Roman cruelty and oppression in the here and now. This earthly deliverance could be short-lived, as rulers rose and fell from power. But Jesus came to bring a different, a much better kind of deliverance – a spiritual deliverance from sin and death – a deliverance that would last forever.
Consider the value you place on Jesus. Ask yourself, “How do I see Jesus? Do I view Jesus as simply a means to a comfortable life here on earth, or do I see His matchless value as the Messiah who came to deliver me from sin and death for all eternity?”
Pray this. “Oh Jesus, I thank You that You are the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who came to be my deliverer from sin and death. I pray that, as I move through this Holy Week, I will remember all the things You endured, and will then live my life, grateful for all You have accomplished on the cross. I pray in Your precious and powerful name, Amen.”
Day 3: Jesus Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3; Mark 15:12-13)
Looked down on. Considered worthless. Disrespected. Abhorred. Abandoned. Distressed. Let us experience just one of those things, and we would be undone emotionally, and yet those are the things that Jesus experienced in the week before His trial and death.
Jesus knew who He was – the very Son of God – God in the flesh. But Jesus chose not to use that to His advantage so that He could accomplish what the Father had sent Him to do (Philippians 2:6-7). Take a moment and consider this. Here is God in the flesh, being despised and rejected by the very people He came to save. Being rejected by the very people He came to lay down His life for, but He did it anyway – for us.
Jesus knew why He had come. He had been sent by God the Father to accomplish the purpose of gathering all those whom the Father had given the Son, Jesus Christ – those who would be reconciled by faith in Jesus Christ. He had come to be the once-and-for-all sacrifice. In the days leading up to His crucifixion, Jesus experienced deep agony as He contemplated the sin and wrath He would soon bear on the cross. It’s no surprise the Messiah was known as “the Man of Sorrows”.
Yes, Jesus knew who He was, and He knew why He had come. He came for the very people who cried out, “Crucify Him!”, and He came for you and for me. May we pause and ponder what Jesus endured, allowing it to sink into the depths of our heart, bringing a surge of love and gratitude for the Man of Sorrows.
Take time today to reflect on an area of your life where you treat your sin casually. Consider the agony of Jesus as He lovingly prepared to bear the weight of your sin, and the wrath the Father would pour out on His Son on your behalf. Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you of your sin and ask Jesus to grow your love for Him and hatred for the sin for which He died.
Day 4: Silent Yet Sovereign (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:14)
It was prophesied that Jesus would experience the abuse of the power and the authority of both religious leaders and governing officials. It was prophesied that Jesus would not only experience emotional distress, but physical affliction as well. It was also prophesied that Jesus would stand silent before His accusers.
Why did Jesus stand there silent? Because Jesus knew Who was ultimately in control. He knew that no one was taking His life from Him, but that He was laying it down of His own accord; and just like He had the authority to lay it down, He also had the authority to take it up again (John 10:18). Jesus had been sent on the authority of the Father to do a job, and do it He would. Nothing would change the purpose for which Jesus came.
Jesus had available to Himself twelve legions of angels who could have come to His rescue at any point in His suffering, but in His solidarity of focus and purpose, He knew the Scriptures must be fulfilled – “it must happen this way” (Matthew 26:53-54).
Today, take a moment to reflect on the strength and purpose behind Jesus’ silence. In what areas of your life do you need to trust God’s control rather than defend yourself? Pray and ask Him for the faith to rest in His perfect plan.
Day 5: The Willing Sacrifice (Isaiah 50:6, Matthew 27:27-30)
The book of Isaiah prophesied in chapter 50, verse 6, that Jesus “gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” Reading all that Jesus went through there is very sobering, but we must see something much more impactful in this prophecy than what Jesus physically endured. We must never lose sight of the words “I gave” and “I hid not”. Jesus could have left us to endure that punishment. It was our sin that put Him in that position.
Jesus did not merely endure suffering—He willingly gave Himself to it. Every beating, every insult, every humiliation was something He could have stopped, yet He chose to bear it for us.
Pause and read Matthew 27:27-30 below. Engage with the passage, thanking Jesus for all He did for you. Let the weight of Jesus’ sacrifice sink in. Personalize it. Thank Him for each moment of suffering He endured in your place. Reflect: How does His willingness to suffer for you shape your love and gratitude for Him today?
“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him…” Thank you Jesus for laying down Your rights for me. “And they stripped him…” Oh Jesus, thank you for how You endured the embarrassment of being naked before those people, for me. “And put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” It breaks my heart to see how You endured such humiliation and mocking Jesus. You are the King of kings, and yet You didn’t avoid any of this because of Your love for the Father and for me. “And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.” As I process all that You endured, it is horrific that anyone would be put through something like that. It was brutal, both emotionally and physically. And then when I pause and realize that I was the one who deserved that, I am overcome with thankfulness for Your sacrifice. You went through all that for me, and I will be forever grateful.
Day 6: The Overlooked King (Psalm 22:17-18, John 19:23)
Pause for a moment and picture the scene. What do we see?
We see Jesus—weak, beaten, and bloody—stripped of all material possessions.
We see God in the flesh, nailed to a rough wooden cross, suspended between heaven and earth.
We see Him surrounded by a crowd —some mocking in hatred and others whose hearts were breaking, because the One they loved had been sentenced to death.
We also see soldiers among the crowd. Their job is to keep order, ensure no one interferes, and confirm the prisoners are truly dead before removing them from the cross. They go about their duties, oblivious to the weight of what is happening. They divide Jesus’ garments, gambling for His tunic, unaware that they are fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 22:18: “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
Take a moment to examine your heart. The soldiers at the cross were so close to Jesus, yet they missed His true identity. They were focused on what they could take from Him rather than what He was giving them—His very life.
How often do we do the same? Do we come to Jesus only for what He can give us, or do we come in worship, surrendering our lives to Him?Today, ask God to deepen your confidence in His Word and your gratitude for His sacrifice. Spend time in prayer, thanking Jesus for the fact that He loved us so much that, despite all that He endured leading up to and while hanging on the cross, He remained on that cross for you.
Day 7: The Cross: Where Judgment and Mercy Meet (Deuteronomy 21:23, Galatians 3:13-14)
In ancient times, there was something worse than being put to death – being put to death and then hung on a tree. It was the custom of Jews to carry out capital punishment primarily by stoning. There were times though, when a person’s crime was so severe, that they were considered “cursed by God”, and their corpse would be hanged on a tree, exposing them to shame, humiliation, the elements, and even be scavenged by animals and birds.
As we consider our key verses today, we see how Jesus was put to death in the fashion of the Roman government, being hung on a tree (cross) to die, still signifying a person was “cursed by God”. The punishment Jesus endured was different. It wasn’t because of the sins He committed. It was my sin, your sin that put Him on that cross.
In the events of the cross, we see the heart of God on display – judgment mingled with mercy. In the Old Testament passage, we see God having set in place a law that a person hanged on a tree (judgment) “shall not remain all night on the tree” but be buried the same day (mercy). In the New Testament passage, the apostle Paul highlights how Jesus took the curse that He didn’t deserve, being sentenced to death by hanging on a tree (judgment), in order to make available to us what we don’t deserve, the blessing of salvation through faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross (mercy).
As you reflect this Holy Week on the cross of Jesus, don’t miss the display of God’s love. Judgment and mercy were mingled together for me, for you. Spend time in humble gratitude for the willing obedience of Jesus to take on my curse, your curse, so that we could by faith receive the blessing of the promised Spirit – the blessing that, apart from Jesus, we could never deserve.
Day 8: Pierced for Our Sins (Zechariah 12:10, John 19:34)
We see from the Old and the New Testament passages today how Jesus was pierced. Consider what that means. Here is Jesus, the promised Messiah, of the royal lineage of David, having his head pierced by a crown of thorns mockingly placed on His head by soldiers. Here is Jesus, God in the flesh, having His hands and feet pierced by the nails that held His body to the cross. And here was Jesus, even in His death, His side is pierced with the spear of a soldier in confirmation that He was indeed dead.
How do we process all that Jesus went through? We can find the answer in Zechariah 12:10. We see it prophesied that the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem would “look on” Jesus, the pierced One. They would be there at the scene, seeing all that He endured during His crucifixion. The following phrases are pivotal in our processing of these events – “on him whom they have pierced” and “they shall mourn…and weep bitterly”.
There is a strong and undeniable connection that is described in this passage. The first thing mentioned is that of “looking on” Jesus, which can describe an intellectual knowledge of all that Jesus endured surrounding the events of His crucifixion. But the verse didn’t end there. The next phrase says “on whom they have pierced”. After looking at Jesus, the personal realization came that He was pierced for them. And again, it didn’t stop there. Two powerful phrases followed – “they shall mourn…and weep bitterly”, which describes how they viewed their sin. They knew that the guiltless Son of God was pierced for their sin.
Take time today to truly “look on” Jesus—not just as a historical figure who suffered, but as the Savior who was pierced for your sin. Read Zechariah 12:10 and John 19:34 slowly, letting the weight of what Jesus endured sink in.
Then, respond as the passage describes—move beyond knowledge to personal reflection. Ask yourself:
- Do I truly recognize how my sin put Jesus on the cross?
- Have I mourned over my sin, not just out of guilt, but in gratitude for what Jesus has done?
- How does my life reflect a heart that has been changed by His sacrifice?
Let this lead you to repentance and worship. Spend a few moments in prayer, confessing your sin, thanking Jesus for His sacrifice, and asking the Holy Spirit to deepen your love and obedience to Him.
Day 9: A Proper Burial: Honoring Jesus in Life and Death (Isaiah 53:9, Matthew 27:57-60)
Up until this point, we have seen Jesus disgraced at every turn. He has been mocked, beaten, tried, and sentenced to death. He has been stripped of the clothes on His back, the only material things He owned. He has been hung on a tree between two criminals until His last breath. It was the custom of that day that criminals who had been executed have their bodies thrown into a common grave. But not so for Jesus!
It had been prophesied the Messiah would die the death of a criminal, but it was also prophesied, “He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth” (Isaiah 53:9). These two prophecies ushered the way for Jesus’ body to be treated “other than”.
After Jesus’ trial, Pilate declared, “I find no guilt in Him!” (John 18:38). Jesus’ behavior not only fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53:9, it also served to influence Pilate’s response to a rich disciple of Jesus who, after Jesus breathed His last, had asked “for the body of Jesus”. Joseph of Arimathea had bought a new tomb and desired to honor Jesus by giving Him a proper burial. Pilate agreed to release Jesus’ body to Joseph, who “took the body (of Jesus) and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb” (Matthew 27:59-60).
Joseph of Arimathea honored Jesus with a proper burial, demonstrating his love and devotion even when all seemed lost. Honoring Jesus isn’t just about what we do in moments of celebration—it’s also about how we follow Him in the quiet, costly, and unseen moments of faith.
How can you honor Jesus with your life today? Is there an act of obedience, sacrifice, or devotion He is calling you to?
Day 10: Victory: He is Risen (Isaiah 53:11a, Luke 24:4-6)
Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt, knowing His suffering was over, knowing the will of the Father had been accomplished? Our Old Testament verse gives us a peek into how Jesus felt – He was satisfied. Every bit of agony He endured had been necessary and had accomplished the will of His Father.
As we look back on all the events of this Holy Week, we can know that none of what Jesus went through took Him by surprise. He knowingly suffered. He willingly went to the cross and died in my place, in your place.
While Jesus wasn’t surprised, the Bible records how some people certainly were. A few women had gone to the tomb of Jesus with spices to anoint His body. When they arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and two men “in dazzling apparel” standing there. As they stood there, at a loss for what to think or do, the men asked them a question that gave them perspective – “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Then these men told them to “remember” how Jesus had told them He would arise on the third day.
Remember. What a powerful word. Throughout this devotional we have been taking time to remember the last week of Jesus’ life leading up to the cross. It has felt very real and very sobering, as we remember that Jesus took the punishment for my sin, for your sin.
But today, as we celebrate Easter, it’s time for each of us to remember that Jesus’ death was not in vain. Through His death and resurrection, He put an end to the powers of sin and death. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus has made salvation, hope, and eternal life available to all who will believe in Him. Thank You, Jesus!! – “He has risen, indeed!” (Luke 24:34)
The resurrection of Jesus changes everything! His victory is our victory! How does the reality of Jesus’ resurrection shape the way you live today? In what ways can you live with resurrection hope, confidence, and joy?
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