Monday August 22, 2005
And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was,
JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
(John 19:17-30)
The crucifixion of Jesus.
It is good to note the absence of anything that occurred on the way to the cross. The other gospels mention the compulsion of Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus' cross. Luke also records Jesus response to a group of lamenting women (Luke 23:28-31).
The Bible is silent on anything else on the way to the cross, though Catholic tradition speaks of several events. When they arrived at Calvary, Jesus was crucified between two thieves. No description was given of the details of this horrible torture. We have to rely on Old Testament prophecies (Psa. 22; Isa. 53), as well as history for details. The Father refused to elaborate on the treatment of His Son.
Let's look at two things that are absent in John's gospel. Each of the other gospels mention the time of the crucifixion to be starting at the third hour (Mark 15:25) and having an amazing miraculous even of darkness over the entire land for 3 hours from the 6th hour to the 9th hour. Jesus then died sometime after the 9th hour. John 19:14 tells of Jesus' judgement before Pilate as being "about the 6th hour." John's gospel was written in 90 A.D., after the destruction of Jerusalem. His audience was a non-Jewish audience and therefore he used Roman time. John's 6th hour was six hours after midnight, but Jewish time started at 6:00am. The darkness described in the synoptic gospels is absent in John as he focuses upon Christ's glory.
Dr. Ironside compares the gospel accounts of the crucifixion to the Old Testament sin offerings. Each of the four blood offerings shows the work of the cross from four different views. The trespass, the sin and the peace offerings deal with the aspects of man and his sin. However, since the theme of John's Gospel was the Deity of Christ, Ironside compares it to the burnt offering which brought glory to God. He remarks: "Here in the record given us by John it is clearly the burnt-offering of our Lord, dying to glorify the Father, which is set forth, and that explains why the three hours of darkness are not mentioned here. God's word is written with marvelous precision. In the other Gospels we have those dark three hours in which the soul of the Lord Jesus was made an offering for sin, and we hear His awful cry, 'My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?' The answer to that cry is that He was forsaken that we might not be forsaken. But that cry of anguish is not recorded in John's Gospel. We simply see the blessed Lord, in perfect submission to the will of the Father, yielding Himself without spot to God in His death upon the tree." (p. 832-833)
Though he doesn't look at the sufferings of Jesus on the cross, John however, focuses upon the sign placed above Jesus' head which detailed His "crime." Pilate ordered the sign to declare that Jesus was the "King of the Jews." Here we see Pilate's last words of the argument. He clearly understood that Jesus really was the King of the Jews, yet he bowed to the political pressure instead of bowing the knee to Jesus. Next the writer looks at the executioners who are gambling for Jesus' only earthly possession, His clothes. We are reminded that even this little detail was foretold hundreds of years before in Psa. 22:18. Also, our attention is focused upon the group of Jesus' followers at the cross. Women and "the disciple whom Jesus loved" are listed. Jesus cared for those gathered and gave instructions for His earthly mother's care. His earthly brothers were not saved yet, so he turned to John for help. Notice that these friends are able to stand near the cross in the midst of His enemies. These "weak" women displayed courage as the last at the cross and the first at the tomb.
Finally, we focus on Jesus on the cross as He states His last two cries from the cross. Go fulfill Scripture, the Lord cried "I thirst" (Psa. 22:15; 69:21) He had refused the vinegar mingled with gall when offered by the soldiers at first, (Mt. 27:34), but now He accepts the vinegar. Oliver B. Greene states: "Vinegar and gall was a mixture given to criminals to deaden the pain of crucifixion, and such was refused by our Lord. He suffered all the agony crucifixion could bring, and He accepted nothing to lesson the pain. His mind was clear and His memory unimpaired until the very moment He passed His spirit back to God. But he did not refuse to drink the vinegar. He accepted it in obedience to the Heavenly Father's will. Someone - probably one of the Roman soldiers - filled a sponge with the vinegar and pressed it to the parched lips of Jesus, unaware that he was fulfilling prophecy spoken centuries before (Psa. 69:21)."
(Greene, p. 294)
The last words of Jesus on the cross are very important. When He cried out, "It is finished!" a great change occurred that affected the whole world! Remember why Jesus, the Son of God had left Heaven. Luke 19:10 "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Galatians 4:4: "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Jesus came to die for the sins of the whole world. In 17:14 He had stated that He had "finished the work" and now the last act of obedience was complete. The burden of our sin debt has been paid in full! 1Peter 2:24: "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree...by Whose stripes ye were healed." The blood of innocent animals is no longer necessary. God's gift of salvation is complete! Eph. 2:12: "That at that time ye were without Christ,...having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But know in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For He is our peace, Who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross..."
" (Notice all the "witness words above.)