Thoughts on John 19:30

[JonC]

If that is what Spurgeon wrote, it is almost exactly what I argued on a previous thread on this subject.
It does seem to me to be verging on blasphemous to suggest that Satan killed the Lord Jesus, not to mention being contradicted by a large number of Biblical texts. However, that is not to say that the devil was not active.
The devil's aim was to prevent our Lord from dying on the cross. It is like a chess game, with Satan constantly attacking, but God counter-moving and steadily moving towards victory.
Satan did this first by attempting to destroy the Messianic line.
Firstly by persuading Abram to seek an heir after the flesh through Hagar, but God produces the true heir, Isaac
Secondly by leading the evil Athaliah to slay all the royal heirs after the death of king Ahaziah (2 Kings 11:1-2), but Jehosheba saves the baby Joash, and the line is safe.
Thirdly, king Nebuchadnezzar kills all the royal princes after the fall of Jerusalem (2 KIngs 25:6-7), but the Messianic line continues in secret until Sheshbazzar (aka Zerubabbel) pops up (Ezra 1:7-8 etc.; Luke 3:27).
Fourthly, three foreigners turn up at the court of king Herod, asking where the One born King of the Jews might be found. So Satan moves Herod to destroy all the little children in Bethlehem, but he is too late; Jesus isn't there (Matt. 2:1-18).

After Jesus begins His ministry, Satan tempts the Lord Jesus - to do what? Not to go to the cross! But when Jesus refuses him, 'he departed until an opportune time' (Luke 4:13).
Then he leads Peter to tempt our Lord not to go to the cross but our Lord recognizes the source of Peter's outburst (Mark 8:31-34).
Then the Jewish leaders repeatedly attempt to kill Him before He can go to the cross (Mark 11:18; John 7:30, 32, 44; 8:59; 10:31; 11:53), but 'His time had not yet come.' Were they prompted by Satan? Possibly, in the light of John 8:44. Were they trying to get him to go to the cross? Absolutely not!
Next, we come to Peter's denial. "Simon, Simon, Indeed, Satan has asked for you [plural. All the apostles] that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you [singular. Just Peter] that your faith may not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren' (Luke 22:31-32). There's a lot that could be said about Judas here that I haven't got time to deal with, but undoubtedly Satan entered into him (John 13:26-30) and he betrayed Christ to the Jewish leaders. In the light of the devil's attempt to keep our Lord from going to the cross, does it not seem that his attack on Peter and Judas was designed to demoralize Jesus and make Him decide not to go to the cross? He asked to 'sift' all the apostles, but presumably he was not given the others, only those two, though the others all went to sleep rather than supporting our Lord through His ordeal.
Then we come to Gethsemane. After his unsuccessful tempting of Our Lord, the devil 'departed until an opportune time.' What more opportune time than in the shadow of the cross? But what was his temptation? Was he saying, "You really must obey Your Father and go to the cross? Of course not! He was saying, "You don't have to do this! You don't have to go through all that agony. Tell Him you won't do it!" That his words were persuasive is shown by our Lord's words in Matt. 26:39-42. He did not disobey His father, but He did ask whether there might be a Plan B. Finally, on the cross, in Matt. 27:39-44, we see the passers-by, the chief priests and , initially, the two criminals, all taunting Christ, and doing what? Telling Him to come down from the cross! If they were Satan's minions, they were his last desperate throw of the dice to get our Lord to abandon His mission.

Why was Satan desperate to stop Christ from dying on the cross? Because he knew he would be defeated and cast down. 'And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb' (Rev. 12:11). By His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus took away the sins of His people (John 1:29) and the guilt of them (Rom. 8:1). Satan, the 'accuser of the brethren' (Rev. 12:10), now has nothing to accuse them of. On the cross Christ redeemed them out of his hand. There is no case for them to answer.

What I liked, and agree with, Spurgeon the most on this topic is that the crux of Satan bruising Jesus' heal was Christ's death.

I had not considered the ministry as a part of this bruising. I am not sure that that is actually appropriate (Christ suffered as we do, He shared our humanity). I suppose that is a part of it, but the main pount (IMHO) was Jesus suffering the power of Satan (death).

This is the most common view (that Satan killed Jesus by God's predetermined plan). We can read this in both Augustine and Martin Luther, so it is not limited to a denomination. (I do disagree with the fish hook illustration....that seems....off...but I get the point ).

What seems blasphemous is the idea that Jesus suffered God's wrath, or that God killed Jesus.

Jesus laid down His life, but Jesus did not commit suicide.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

The imagery of man being fatally wounded by being bitten in the heel by a snake is very common, and perhaps one reason snakes are feared. This is especially true when speaking of cultures that work the ground.

So yes, the striking (or "crushing") of the heel is an image of death. You are correct. BUT crushing the head of the snake (another common image) is perhaps a more definitive death.

You are thinking of pagan myths here. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Achilles' mother Thetis tried to make him immortaly by dunking him in the River Styx, but she held him by his heel and to that part didn't get wet. To cut a long story short, Paris, prince of Troy shot Achilles in the heel and killed him.
Perhaps you may think myths like this are somehow related to the Bible, but I don't.

 

[JonC]

You are thinking of pagan myths here. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Achilles' mother Thetis tried to make him immortaly by dunking him in the River Styx, but she held him by his heel and to that part didn't get wet. To cut a long story short, Paris, prince of Troy shot Achilles in the heel and killed him.
Perhaps you may think myths like this are somehow related to the Bible, but I don't.

No...I was not thinking pagan myths (I was thinking more of John Owen).

Crushing the heel in Genesis 3:15 has nothing to do with dunking into a river by holding onto a heel.

I was thinking about what John Owen said about human beings disliking snakes. The common imagery throughout history is a man working a field and a snake strikes his heel. The man kills the snake but dies of the bite.

Now.....if a garden snake bit somebody in the heel, no problem. But we are talking about a "snake" who is in this prophsey the "one who holds the power of death". Not a benign snake.

I was also thinking about how careful we have to be of copperhead snakes when hiking trails. Rattlesnakes give a warning. Copperheads don't. Always watch out for fallen trees.


That said, I do believe that a lot of myths in the pagan world originated from a knowledge of biblical events (the flood, for example).