Psalm 140:1-9, Numbers 21:4-9, Hebrews 10:1-25, John 19:1-37.
A). A PRAYER FOR PROTECTION.
Psalm 140:1-9.
This is a Psalm of David, no doubt from the time when he was pursued by his enemies in the wilderness. The Psalm switches between singular foes: pointing perhaps particularly to king Saul and his three thousand men at arms; and Doeg and the Ziphites, who betrayed David to Saul. In this, David is very much a type of Christ, who was harassed by many foes, and betrayed by Judas Iscariot, and was ‘delivered into the hands of evil men’ (cf. Luke 24:7).
PSALM 140:1a. “Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man.” This is reminiscent of the Lord’s Prayer (cf. Matthew 6:13). But also of 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, in which Paul asks for prayer ‘that the word of the Lord may have free course,’ and ‘that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.’
PSALM 140:1b. “Save me from the man of violences.” Evil soon descends into violence, and one cannot help but be reminded of the way that the Passover crowd in Jerusalem descended into a hostile baying for the blood of Jesus. This is what their leaders had wanted all along; yet it is of the Lord’s mercy that such an evil deed was the very means by which our salvation has been procured!
PSALM 140:2. (cf. Psalm 120:7). Saul wanted to do David mischief, and gathered three thousand men to chase him down like a common criminal. The Pharisees and Sadducees sought together to entrap Jesus in His words. Herod and Pilate made a pact against Jesus.
PSALM 140:3. When the Apostle Paul quotes this verse in Romans 3:13, he uses it to demonstrate that the whole world stands guilty before God. The words of wicked men against Christ and His people will yet be called to account (cf. Jude 1:14-15). But what a wicked thing the tongue is (cf. James 3:6-8)!
PSALM 140:4. “Keep me from the hands of the wicked” is a slight intensifying of Psalm 140:1a. David himself testified that it is better to ‘fall into the hand of the LORD’ than to ‘fall into the hand of man’ (cf. 1 Chronicles 21:13; Hebrews 10:31). “Preserve me from the violent man” is a repeat of Psalm 140:1b; to which the Psalmist adds, “who have purposed to overthrow my goings” (cf. 1 Samuel 26:1). In the same way the Pharisees sought to overthrow Jesus, looking to entangle Him in His talk (cf. Matthew 22:15).
PSALM 140:5. It is the purpose of “the proud” to ensnare the righteous by one means or another (cf. Psalm 119:85). The subtlety of the enemies of Jesus is seen in the many and various ways in which they set about to do Him harm (cf. Luke 11:53-54; Luke 20:20).
PSALM 140:6. The basis of David’s prayer is both relationship and experience. The Psalmist trusted the LORD as his covenant God (cf. Psalm 31:14), and prayed that his “supplications” would be heard (cf. Psalm 28:2). Jesus, likewise, ‘offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears’ (cf. Hebrews 5:7).
PSALM 140:7. The Psalmist appeals to the Sovereign LORD who is also “the strength of my salvation.” He is both mighty God and mighty Saviour. The LORD had “covered (David’s) head in the day of battle” when he had fought with Goliath with no armour at all, but only the protection of his God. Since Jesus has wrought salvation for us (cf. Isaiah 59:16), we must also don ‘the helmet of salvation’ (cf. Ephesians 6:17); ‘for an helmet, the hope of salvation’ (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:8); the ‘sure’ hope of our salvation (cf. Hebrews 6:19).
PSALM 140:8. “The wicked” may agree as one man in their “wicked devices," but the Psalmist recognises that even these characters are under the providence of God. Allow it not, LORD, “lest they exalt themselves.”
PSALM 140:9. The LORD had covered the head of His servant in the day of battle (cf. Psalm 140:7). “As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them” (cf. Psalm 140:3).
It is worth noting as we close, that the imprecations expressed in this Psalm are not in any way vindictive, but rather God-honouring. David is the author here: a man who twice had his nemesis Saul at his mercy, but refused to do him any harm. ‘Vengeance is mine,’ says the LORD, ‘I will repay’ (cf. Romans 12:19). Even Jesus ‘answered not a word’ before Pilate (cf. Matthew 27:14).
B). A SERPENT ON A POLE, AND A MAN ON A CROSS.
Numbers 21:4-9.
Much of the books of Exodus and Numbers tells the sad history of a people who for forty years - whilst being delivered, led, and provided for by God - made a profession of complaining. The turning point came when a pole was raised up in the desert with a symbol of the enemy upon it (Numbers 21:8). There and then a generation of wilderness wanderers were called to grow up, cease their constant complaining, enter into the faith of Abraham (Galatians 3:9), and hasten on their journey towards the fulfillment of the promises.
The symbolism of the serpent on a pole was taken up by Jesus (John 3:14-15). Sin died at Calvary (2 Corinthians 5:21) - and death died, the wages of sin (Romans 6:23). All who fix their eyes upon Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2), trusting in His finished work upon the Cross, enter into a new state of being called “eternal life” (John 3:16).
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:14-17).
If a serpent on a pole was a shocking symbol for a monotheistic people, so is the picture in our minds’ eye of the broken body of a man impaled upon a wooden cross. Yet, in both instances, this is what God commanded. Without the brazen serpent there was no healing for the Israelite who had been bitten by a snake (Numbers 21:9) - and without the Cross there is no salvation for any one of us, bitten as we are by the sting of death which is sin (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).
Jesus was “lifted up” in the crucifixion, so that everyone who believes in Him, trusting not in themselves but trusting in His sacrificial blood, would have eternal life. This was, and is, the supreme act of God’s love.
Our God is the God of the unusual. Looking at the symbol He has commanded brought healing to the poisoned Israelite, and similarly brings salvation to the would-be Christian. There is no time for prevarication: do this or die.
C). SHADOWS OF THE APPROACHING DAY.
Hebrews 10:1-25.
The Law is but a “shadow” of “good things to come” (HEBREWS 10:1). As such the Law, though good in itself (cf. Romans 7:12), serves only as a schoolmaster pointing us to Jesus (cf. Galatians 3:24). The round of sacrifices represented here by the annual Day of Atonement, though appointed by God, “could never make the comers thereunto perfect” (HEBREWS 10:1).
Furthermore, those sacrifices had to be repeated “year by year continually” (HEBREWS 10:1) exactly because they were ineffective in the long term. If the sacrifices were effective in purging the consciences of those who offer, “would they not have ceased to be offered?” argues our writer (HEBREWS 10:2). The net result was a cleansing which potentially would last until this time next year, but which actually only served to remind one of sins committed from the very moment one stepped outside the sanctuary (HEBREWS 10:3).
The epitaph of the Old Testament sacrificial system is: “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (HEBREWS 10:4; see also Hebrews 10:6; Hebrews 10:8). Now it was time to move on to new and better things (cf. Hebrews 7:19; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 8:13; Hebrews 11:39-40). The “fullness of time” had come (cf. Galatians 4:4-5), and the Son of God was waiting in the wings to fulfil all that the sacrifices had represented.
The answer to this deficiency came out from the borders of heaven (HEBREWS 10:5). With the words of Psalm 40:6-8 upon His lips, Jesus was already on His way. He was heard announcing the incarnation: “a body You have prepared for me … Lo, I come” (HEBREWS 10:5-8).
It is by ‘the body of Christ’ that we become ‘dead to the law’ (cf. Romans 7:4). ‘The Word became flesh’ (cf. John 1:14). Mary’s child, Jesus, was also known as ‘God with us’ (cf. Matthew 1:23).
Jesus also said, “In the volume of the book it is written of me” (HEBREWS 10:7). His name is, in effect, the heading of the scroll. After the resurrection, Jesus opened up the Scriptures to show His disciples ‘the things concerning Himself’ (cf. Luke 24:27; Luke 24:44-45).
He added, “Lo, I come to do Your will, O God” (HEBREWS 10:9). Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Thy will be done’ (cf. Matthew 6:10) - yet it was also His prayer. He echoed this in the Garden of Gethsemane: ‘not my will, but Yours be done’ (cf. Luke 22:42).
The Lord takes away the Old Testament to establish the New, “by the body of Jesus Christ” (HEBREWS 10:9-10). The incarnation had its foundation in the love of God (cf. John 3:16). It was the beginning of the Lord’s own self-sacrifice, which would lead all the way to Calvary (cf. Philippians 2:6-8).
John the Baptist recognised Jesus as ‘the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world’ (cf. John 1:29). John the Evangelist writes that ‘He was manifested to take away our sins’ (cf. 1 John 3:5). It is by this outworking of God’s will that we are saved and sanctified: the “body of Jesus Christ” is the bridge between heaven and earth. (HEBREWS 10:10).
Jesus has finished the work which the Father sent Him to do (cf. John 17:4; John 19:30). He is now seated, His work completed, at the right hand of God (HEBREWS 10:11-12). He awaits the culmination of all things, when His enemies will at last be “put under His feet” (HEBREWS 10:13 clearly echoes Psalm 110:1 – Paul no doubt alludes to the same Old Testament verse in 1 Corinthians 15:25-26).
The application draws ever closer as the writer re-emphasises the one offering of Jesus (HEBREWS 10:14). Although we are still being perfected in experience, in point of fact Jesus has already accomplished our perfection at the Cross – a past event with on-going consequences for our lifestyle. Sanctification, in this verse, is on-going action: “those who are being sanctified.”
It is interesting to note here that the Holy Spirit is witnessing to US through the Scriptures (HEBREWS 10:15). He has re-introduced the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 in HEBREWS 10:16; and He is now telling us that it is OUR sins and iniquities He will remember no more (HEBREWS 10:17). If our sins are forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus, then there is no further need for the sacrificial system represented by tabernacle and Temple (HEBREWS 10:18)!
“Therefore” (HEBREWS 10:19) introduces the whole practical section of the letter, but also specifically the application of this point. The finished work of Jesus gives us confident access to God. It is by His blood, and through the metaphorical “veil of His flesh” that we thus boldly approach (HEBREWS 10:20).
With Jesus as our high priest (HEBREWS 10:21), exhorts the writer, let us:
“Draw near” (HEBREWS 10:22) faithfully, with a sincere heart; and in the certainty of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ (which we call “assurance of faith”). Make your approach boldly, having had your conscience (inwardly) cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and having been outwardly washed in the obedience of baptism. Furthermore, let us:
“Hold fast” (HEBREWS 10:23) to the confession of our hope. Ours should be a sturdy hope because He who made the promises is reliable!
“And” (HEBREWS 10:24-25) let us be considerate of other Christians, encouraging one another to love and good deeds. Let us not neglect the meeting together of Christian community, both giving and receiving the word of exhortation – and all the more so, said our writer all those centuries ago, as we see “the day” approaching.
D). JESUS CRUCIFIED.
John 19:1-37.
1). BEHOLD YOUR KING.
John 19:1-16.
JOHN 19:1. The nineteenth chapter of John’s Gospel opens in the midst of the ridiculous drama of Pilate’s darting back and forth between the hypocritical Jewish leadership on the doorstep, who refused to come into the judgment hall of the palace ‘lest they be defiled and unable to eat the Passover’ (cf. John 18:28), and the prisoner indoors. Pilate wished to wriggle out of the responsibility of condemning an innocent man, as he three times ruled Jesus to be (cf. John 18:38; JOHN 19:4; JOHN 19:6), but nevertheless had Him scourged to appease His accusers (JOHN 19:1). Thus was fulfilled the prophecy, ‘by His stripes we are healed’ (cf. Isaiah 53:5).
JOHN 19:2-3. Jesus had been arrested by His own people without a reasonable charge, and was now exposed to the cruel indignities of the Roman garrison. The cruel crown of thorns, which they would have thrust upon His head causing it to bleed; an old cast off purple robe to parody His kingship; the striking of His face with their hands, crying ‘Hail, King of the Jews’ in mocking disgust (John 19:2-3). Is there no end to the malice which a fallen world feels towards their Creator?
JOHN 19:4-5. Pilate went outdoors again, to inform the Jewish leadership that he was bringing Jesus out to them, and that he “found no fault in Him.” The spectacle continued with Jesus coming behind him, a pitiful sight with the crown of thorns on His head, His mangled bleeding body wearing the purple robe. And Pilate announced, “Behold the man” (John 19:4-5). Yes, Pilate, ‘the man Christ Jesus’ (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5-6).
JOHN 19:6. If it was Pilate’s intention to shame Jesus’ accusers into sympathy with their victim, he was sadly mistaken. The chief priests and the officers (the temple police) cried, “Crucify, crucify.” Pilate still wished to metaphorically wash his hands of the whole affair - a metaphor that he acted out in Matthew 27:24 - and suggested that they should crucify Him since they were the ones who wished Jesus dead (John 19:6).
JOHN 19:7. It seems that the conversation was going round in circles. Pilate had already told them to judge Jesus by their own law, to which they had replied that it was illegal for them to put anyone to death (cf. John 18:31). But now the Jewish leaders argued, “we have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). Yet the Jewish law would have required death by stoning (cf. Leviticus 24:16).
Jesus had already prophesied by what death He was to die (cf. John 3:14; John 12:32-33). It was prophesied, too, in the Old Testament: ‘they pierced my hands and feet’ (cf. Psalm 22:16; cf. Zechariah 12:10). The curse of the law; the curse that is upon mankind as a result of his eating of the forbidden tree, is borne away by Jesus becoming a curse for us by ‘hanging upon a tree’ (cf. Galatians 3:13).
JOHN 19:8-9. When Pilate heard the accusation that Jesus had claimed that He is the Son of God, he became even more alarmed. He took Jesus indoors and demanded of Him, “Where do you come from?” Jesus kept His dignity, and refused to answer (John 19:8-9; cf. Isaiah 53:7).
JOHN 19:10-11. Frustrated, Pilate threatened, “Do you not know that I have power to crucify you, and have power to release you?” To which Jesus did reply, “You could have no power against me unless it were given you from above: therefore he that delivered me to you has the greater sin” (John 19:10-11).
JOHN 19:12. The Jewish priesthood should have known better, and therefore had the greater sin than Pilate. Now Pilate tried again to release Jesus, “but the Jews cried out, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar: whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar’” (John 19:12).
Pilate did hold an honorary title given to him by Tiberius Caesar, which was “Friend of Caesar.” The man who had nominated Pilate to receive this title had since been stripped of the title himself, so the last thing Pilate wanted to do was to upset his Emperor. At the same time, the Levitical priesthood was gradually stripping itself of any entitlement to be termed ‘friend of God’!
JOHN 19:13-14. Pilate brought Jesus forth, and sat in the judgment seat. John reminds us that the season was Passover. Paul would later write, ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7). Pilate now presented Jesus once more to the Jews: “Behold your King!” (John 19:13-14).
JOHN 19:15. But they cried out, “Away with _, away with _, crucify Him.” Pilate’s response was, “Shall I crucify your king?” To which the chief priests, answered “WE HAVE NO KING BUT CAESAR!” (John 19:15). All thought of the theocracy had departed from their minds!
JOHN 19:16. So now at last ‘the sceptre had departed from Judah’ (cf. Genesis 49:10). And in one fell swoop, the Levitical priesthood had unwittingly forfeited their position in favour of a new and better priesthood (cf. Hebrews 7:14-17). Pilate had Jesus led away to be crucified (John 19:16).
2). THE CROSS AND DEATH OF JESUS.
John 19:17-37.
JOHN 19:17. “Went forth.” The ultimate sin-offering, outside the gate (cf. Hebrews 13:12-13).
JOHN 19:18. “Where they crucified Him.” Typology of the brass serpent (cf. John 3:14). A hanged man is cursed by God (cf. Deuteronomy 21:23), and Jesus became a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law (cf. Galatians 3:13). Others crucified with Him (cf. ‘numbered with transgressors,’ Isaiah 53:12).
JOHN 19:19. Jesus was crucified as “King.” This writing, and what (and who) it represented, ‘blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross’ (Colossians 2:14).
JOHN 19:20. The three languages proclaim the universality of His kingdom (cf. Matthew 2:2).
JOHN 19:21. “The chief priests of the Jews” versus “the king of the Jews.”
JOHN 19:22. “What I have written I have written.” Having yielded already to them, Pilate will yield no more. ‘Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain’ (cf. Psalm 76:10).
JOHN 19:23-24. The soldiers’ parting of His garments unintentionally serves to verify Scripture (cf. Psalm 22:18). “These things the soldiers did” is the Apostle John’s eyewitness testimony.
JOHN 19:25. The women at the cross. Their courage and perseverance (cf. Romans 12:12). Such hope rewarded later at the tomb.
JOHN 19:26-27. Jesus’ compassionate care for His grieving mother. “The disciple whom Jesus loved” is the Apostle John’s own signature (cf. John 13:23; John 20:2; John 21:7; John 21:20).
JOHN 19:28. After this, we read, Jesus knowing that all things, literally “have been finished.” (This is the same verb as the one word statement in John 19:30.) “That the Scripture might be fulfilled,” said, “I thirst” (cf. Psalm 69:3; Psalm 22:15). Everything about His death, you see, was ‘according to the Scriptures’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4), both foretold in word of prophecy and prefigured in typology in the Old Testament.
JOHN 19:29. The use of a hyssop branch to reach a sponge full of vinegar to our Lord’s lips (cf. Psalm 69:21) reminds us of that used to apply the blood of the Passover lamb to the doorposts just before the exodus (cf. Exodus 12:22). David’s famous prayer of repentance contains the words, ‘purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean’ (cf. Psalm 51:7).
JOHN 19:30. “Finished!” translates as “It has been finished” (cf. John 17:4). His work for our salvation is completed, ‘to finish transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophecy’ (cf. Daniel 9:24). Jesus was still in control, to His very last breath (cf. John 10:18), and now at last “bowed His head” and literally “delivered up the spirit.” Read John 10:11 and Philippians 2:8.
JOHN 19:31-33. The leaders of the Jews now requested of the Roman Governor, because it was the day of preparation before the Passover sabbath, that the legs of the executed men might be broken to smithereens in order to speed up death, and the bodies taken away from their crosses. But when the soldiers came to Jesus, they were surprised to find that He was already dead, and so had no need to break His legs.
JOHN 19:34. Instead, one pierced His side with a spear, but instead of a gush of blood alone, as they might have expected; there was a pouring forth of “blood and water,” medically explained as an efflux of blood clots and serum. In other words, Jesus’ heart was ruptured, broken. Symbolically, ‘a fountain is opened, for sin and uncleanness’ (cf. Zechariah 13:1). John refers to the water and blood elsewhere (cf. 1 John 5:6-8).
JOHN 19:35-37. John bears witness to what he has seen. These are facts of our faith, and he shares them that we might believe (cf. John 20:31). John quotes two more Scriptures in verification of the fact that “a bone of Him shall not be broken” (cf. Numbers 9:12), and “they shall look on Him whom they pierced” (cf. Zechariah 12:10).
