John 19: 17 - 42
A Life for a life
17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. 19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. 21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”?22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” 23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things. 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. 31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. 36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.” 38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. 39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby
Today we are going to look at our Precious Lord Jesus on the cross. For today I encourage you to take some time and go and also review what the other Gospel writers have reported on our Holy Lord Jesus’ sacrifice. Here are the verses you need to look up and read;
Matthew 27: 32 – 61
Mark 15: 21: 47
Luke 23: 26 - 56
Let me start off and say this. In all truth I have a hard time teaching this study. When I come to review for you and me what my Holy Lamb of God had to endure for my sins I am ashamed. Yet I push forward also and rejoice that His Love for me and you made Him willing to go through all this. He gave His Life so we can have eternal life. All I can say before we move forward in this study is, ‘What an Awesome God Is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.’
17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center
The treatment our Lord had received at the hands of the Roman soldiers should have killed Him like it would have done to anyone else. Yet our Great Master Jesus still controlled all things. No one could take His life from Him until He decided. In His love for us He would undergo the full punishment that our sins warranted. Having put his clothes back on Him and with His back shred down to the organs the blood would dry and then rip on every movement as He was forced to carry the wooden beam that would be used in His execution. The heavy timber which would form the crosspiece of His cross was laid across His back. (The upright would be found on site). We learn elsewhere that in the end all this proved too much for Him in His weakened state so that He had to have assistance
I want to take a moment and point out to you a very interesting part of our Holy God Jesus’ redemption for us all. We read here that they forced our Holy Lord Jesus out of the city to die at ‘The Place of a Skull’. The mention of this certain spot and its significance is overlooked. Do you remember the unique verse listed in the book of Genesis chapter 3. It says this, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
As a new believer I was advised to just start reading the bible from its beginning straight through to its end. When I came upon this verse I was quite confused so I just ignored it and kept on reading. I do not know about you but I have had some major problems in finding satisfactory answer to this prophecy listed almost right from the start of the Bible. Over years I have looked at this verse and our Precious Holy Spirit has graciously lead me to understand it. This verse is relative to our Holy Lord Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary.
Well, for one thing I think it is pretty clear that the ‘seed of the woman’ refers to our Lord Jesus Christ. You see the man has the ‘seed’ and the woman the ‘egg’, so we can see from this verse of reference that the Messiah will be born of a virgin. Do you see and understand this point?
Now the next question to ask is who or what is the ‘seed of the serpent’? We know from reading chapter 3 that our Lord is addressing the Serpent? What is the serpent? Everyone knows that this is Satan. How so? We find the answer in the book of Revelation chapter 12 verse 9 which says, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
You will note that from our verse in Genesis our Lord Jesus will ‘bruise the serpent’s seed’s head’ and the seed of the serpent will ‘bruise’ our Lord’s heal. The word ‘bruise’ means ‘to damage by a blow or can also mean ‘tread on’ So then who or what is the seed of Satan. I think we find our answer beginning in chapter 6 of Genesis, “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they [were] fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown.”
You will note from what is listed in chapter 6 of Genesis that these fallen angels took wives of all that they chose. This means that they took the wives of men – whoever and whenever they chose. Who was going to stop them? As a result of this un-natural and un-holy action it says that the offspring became giants. Please also take note of the statement, ‘and after that’. These three words mean a lot. For in chapter 6 we are reading about incidents before the flood and we see by the words –and after that – that more angels sinned against their Holy Creator by again mating with women and producing giants.
There was a movie way back in time called ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. The movie’s climax has Satan having sex with a woman. They weren’t too far off. Can you agree that the seed of the serpent are the mixture of fallen angels and women? Would these abnormal children have spirits? I believe the spirits of these giants are the ‘demons’ we read about throughout the bible. You will note that ‘demons’ are always looking to possess someone or something. Which again, unlike angels who can materialize as us humans.
So, somehow we need to find out in Scripture how the Lord Jesus Christ, the Seed of the woman is going to bruise the head of the seed of the serpent. While the seed of the serpent, a giant, will bruise the heal of our Master and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we progress further in time we come to Genesis chapter 22 where we read about Abraham offering up his son Isaac. The location was Mount Zion. The highest point in this mountain that Abraham went to offer his son is what was later called Calvary. When the Lord stopped Abraham from actually sacrificing his son Abraham said this about the spot, “And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said [to] this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.” The natural question to ask is, ‘what would be seen?’ Again in Genesis 22 we find our answer when Abraham was asked where the lamb was for the sacrifice, he answered, “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” In the same spot God stopped Abraham from offering up his son, God told Abraham that He would offer up His Son instead in the same location.
Now turn to the book of 1 Samuel chapter 17 verse 54 and take note of this often overlooked verse, “And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.”
You are all familiar with the story of Davit and Goliath [the giant]. After David killed Goliath he beheaded the giant. Now look at the verse again, where did he take the head of the giant? He took the head to Jerusalem.
I have been to Israel and have visited the site where David took on Goliath. Let me tell you that Jerusalem was not next door. It would take David days to get there by walking. Also, Jerusalem was not David’s hometown nor was it under control by the Israelites. In fact you will have to turn to the book of 2 Samuel chapter 5 to see when David is a grown man and had just been made king to see that the Israelites finally took Jerusalem from the Jebusites.
So why would David take the head of Goliath to Jerusalem? And another thing to consider is, ‘what did he do with the head once he got there?’
Goliath was the ‘Champion’ of all the giants. As the seed of the serpent I believe that David took the head of Goliath and buried it on the highest hill in the vicinity as a testament of God’s victory. In time people would understand the significance of this spot and call it – the place of a skull. Where is the highest hill in this area to bury the head in? Yes, it would be Calvary.
Now I do not know if you have ever been to Israel or not but I have. When I went to see Calvary I looked for the place of a skull and I could not recognized it. Below Calvary is a bus station. The cliff below Calvary does not look like a skull. So, someone told me that it use to look like a skull. How do they know do they have any old pictures showing this?
You will note that the words do not say that they came to a place that looked like a skull as many teachers comment. It was a place ‘of a skull’.
On the place on top of the skull [head] of the serpent the Lamb of God – the seed of the woman - was crucified with His heals nailed to the cross that trampled on the skull buried beneath it.
All the earthly powers under the influence of Satan thought that they were ridding themselves of God’s control. Yet you and I know it wasn’t so. Like David said to his brothers recorded in Genesis 50, verse 20, ‘But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people. We see the same thing happen here at Calvary. Throughout our Holy Lord’s sacrifice we see the fulfillment of prophecy after prophecy.
Our Lord Jesus was not the only One to be crucified this day. Two other men were crucified with Him, one on either side, and He in the middle. He was being ‘numbered with the transgressors’ as the prophet Isaiah taught in his book chapter 53.12. They represented God’s sentence of death on the world for which He died. He was the sacrifice made on their behalf. They bore their own curse. He bore our curse that we may not have to bear it if we come to Him. For by this act of crucifixion He had become accursed in the eyes of men on our behalf.
19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. 21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”?’ 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” ?”
It was normal for a man’s crime to be recorded on his cross, and what Pilate wrote tied in with his earlier words. The Jews had charged Him with claiming to be a king, so Pilate was determined to let the Jews know that he saw Jesus as their king. Something about The Lord Jesus had an impact on him, and besides, he hated these proud, demanding priests. So he was being deliberately provocative. The use of three languages ensured that all could read it wherever they came from. Aramaic was often spoken of as ‘Hebrew’. Aramaic and Greek were the two popular languages in the area.
The cross was clearly in a very public place where many people passed by and as they passed they read what was written. Stop and think about the possibility of anyone else would have written on his cross the words, ‘King of the Jews’. The city was still full of people there for the Passover, which would include many Galileans. And as they looked at this One whom they had seen as a prophet, no doubt many a word was said, and many a rumor passed round. The King of the Jews had been crucified. And the stories built up, and blame was ascribed. It is not surprising that the Chief Priests were unhappy.
They therefore approached Pilate to ask him to change the words. But Pilate knew that he was on safe ground here. He had had enough of these interfering priests, and it must have given him great pleasure to be able to say, ‘what I have written, I have written.’
These evil doers tried to shift the blame for our Lord’s death on the Romans yet the truth always comes out in the open. After the apostles were taking the message the Chief Priest’s and Pharisees had some arrested and look at how they were acting like they were offended for being blamed. We learn about this in the book of Acts chapter 5, “
22 But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, 23 saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside[a] before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” 24 Now when the high priest,[b] the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. 25 So one came and told them, saying,[c] “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!”26 Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” [us poor innocent servants of the Lord]
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.
His degradation was emphasized by the fact that having been stripped naked, His bloodstained clothes were divided up among themselves by the members of the escort. It was in fact normal for those who carried out a crucifixion to share the possessions of the victim. Jesus would have had an escort of four and these four divided up His clothes.
25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
We see here four women, Mary and her sister; together with Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas. Mary’s sister may well have been called Salome as indicated in the Gospel of Mark 15.40, and may well have been the mother of James and John. There is therefore a contrast between these four faithful followers and the four soldiers who carried out the crucifixion.
26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.
It was customary for the oldest son to take care of his parents. Therefore, it fell to the Lord Jesus to look after His mother. Now here is something that a lot of people glance over and do not think about. We read in the book of Mark that our Lord had 4 step brothers and at least two step sisters. Matthew 13, 55 – 56 this information, “Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? Anyone here curious like me that is thinking ‘How come these siblings aren’t assigned care of Mary?’
You would have to ask our Lord Jesus why He did that. To answer this question, we have to have information which we do not have. What was the nature of the relationship of our Lord Jesus to His physical brothers at the time of his death? Were they close? We know that James, the brother of The Lord Jesus came around, as well as Jude, but we do not know when. Besides, while Jesus hung on the cross, those guys were almost certainly not there. Bottom line, John was the only of the close male friends of Jesus who (as far as we know) was even there at the foot of the cross. The others had fled. His brothers were nowhere to be seen. I will speculate (and that is what it is) that Jesus felt as close as or closer to John than to any of the other men in his life. Besides, our Lord Jesus knew that John was to be “the apostle of love.” Bottom line, our Lord Jesus knew and trusted John to take care of his mom.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
We read in the verse a significant point - ‘All things are now finished that the Scripture might be accomplished’. We cannot even begin to comprehend the fullness of these words, nor the depth of the things that had to be accomplished. He had bruised the Serpent’s head, He had made Himself an offering for sin, He had been wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, He had borne in Himself the iniquity of us all, and He had made Himself the all-sufficient Redeemer of mankind. What mattered most was that all that had to be done had been done. Thus the specific Scripture in mind may have been Psalm 22.31, suggested by the later cry ‘it is finished’.
Our Lord Jesus cried out ‘I thirst’. Of course He needed some water but this is not what they gave Him. We read in Matthews Gospel chapter 27 verse 34, “They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. He turned away from receiving anything these soldiers tried to give Him.
Could it be that His cry was longing for His Father’s presence, a longing that could only be satisfied when He was fully restored to His Father? As indicated in Psalm 42.2, ‘My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
The breaking of the legs was to hasten their deaths, so that the bodies could be removed before the commencement of the Sabbath at around 6.00 pm (sunset). Deuteronomy 21.22-23 and Joshua 8.29 specify that the bodies of executed criminals who have been hanged on a tree should not remain there overnight lest they defile the land. Thus while this lies behind the request it was made only because the following day was an important Sabbath. The normal Roman practice would have been to leave the bodies on the crosses, to serve as a warning to other would-be offenders.
32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
The shock of the painful smashing of the legs (crurifragium) by means of a heavy mallet or a bar of iron brought on premature death. A person who was crucified had to use his legs to push up in order to breathe. If the legs were broken then ultimately the person would die from lack of oxygen. The fact that Jesus legs were not broken John sees as significant. The soldier did however pierce His side to see if He would still bleed, and thus prove to be alive.
35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. 36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
It is quite astonishing that centuries prior our Holy god gave instructions to the Israelites in their celebration of the Passover Lamb which signified this unique handling - ‘A bone of him shall not be broken’. In Exodus 12.46 and Numbers 9.12 it was stressed that not a bone of the Passover lamb should be broken. It had to be partaken of whole and complete. It is clear that John sees our Lord Jesus as the Passover Lamb. Compare also Psalm 34.20 where the unbroken bones are the sign of one who is righteous. Thus are His purity and His sacrificial death confirmed.
38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. 39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury
We learn that two men came out of the night into the light and both were prominent members of the Sanhedrin. The first was Joseph of Arimathea. He was a rich and pious man who ‘was looking for the kingdom of God’, and he went to Pilate to ask for the body for burial. His success was probably aided by the fact that the remaining members of the Sanhedrin would be preparing for the Sabbath high day. Joseph would certainly be aware that what he was doing would soon come out and it demonstrated that he was at last ready to show his true colors. ‘
The second was Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus ‘by night’ to learn from Him. Now he too comes into the day by bringing a great quantity of spices so that our Savior Jesus may have a proper burial. It is clear that they must have discussed the matter together so that Joseph went to Pilate while Nicodemus went and bought the spices.
Thus was our Lord and Savior Jesus not cast in an unmarked grave and his body was not mutilated as was the common lot of criminals. Instead He was placed in the tomb of a rich man, being ‘with the rich in His death’ as the prophet Isaiah prophesied in chapter 53 verse 9 in his book,” And they made His grave with the wicked— but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.”
41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby
The burial had to be accomplished quickly because of the coming Sabbath. But Joseph had this tomb conveniently near to the place of crucifixion. It had never been used (a Jewish tomb might be used to house a number of bodies of family members) and was in a garden. The mention of the unused tomb is to stress the importance of the One Who laid there. He was being treated as royalty. The thought may also be that it had not been defiled by death
The fact that it was in a garden reminds us that when man first sinned that too was in a garden. Now a garden was seeing the death of the second Adam, He through Whose coming sacrifice the first Adam had been spared. That The Lord Jesus was buried was an important part of the New Testament message. It stressed that He was truly man in a human body and that He truly died. Paul could say, ‘He died, ---- and was buried’ (1 Corinthians 15.3-4). But in His case it was not the end. It was in preparation for a new beginning.
