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Triumphant Death of Christ
John 19:16-30
The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are the heart and soul of
Christianity. Paul says that he was content to preach Christ and Him
Crucified in the first letter to the church in Corinth.
One reason we have been working our way through the Gospel of John is to
make sure we never lose sight of what is important to God. The death of
Jesus is important to God and it is important to you and me in a way
that no other death can ever be. All of human history revolves around
this one great event.
Jesus is the “Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.” John
writes twice in Revelation 13:8 and John 1:29. Before the world was ever
formed God’s heart was set on Calvary.
Our Bibles are centered around the Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. It is a road map to Jesus. There is one focus of the
Scriptures: God’s plan of redemption for you and me. And everything
found in Scriptures points us to that end.
Some people want to use the Bible as a History of the world, and even
though you can find a lot of history in the pages it is not a history of
the world. The Bible is God’s love story for mankind. It’s a revelation
of God’s unwillingness to give up on humanity and His way of saving us
from our own destruction.
The Bible is about you and your relationship with God. The Bible is a
message from God telling you and me how we can know Him and spend
eternity with Him. All of revelation revolves around one great event—the
death and resurrection of Jesus.
John has taken us on this rather quick journey through the life of
Christ to get to this close-up look at the cross. We are invited to
stand with him and consider what Jesus has done for us. We are invited
to put our faith in Christ and His great sacrifice for us.
Pathway of Obedience (John 19:16-22)
John 19:16-22 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. and he
went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a
skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him,
and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read,
“Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this
inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,
and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief
priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the
Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate
answered, “What I have written I have written.”
Today our passage begins with the Pilate’s soldiers leading Jesus
through Jerusalem toward Calvary. The common practice was that a rope
was placed around the criminals neck and he was led by the soldiers like
an animal, we have no reason to think that Jesus would have been treated
any better. The cross was placed upon his bleeding back and the journey
began. We are never told that the crown of thorns was removed so it is
probably still there. The crowd grows as Jesus and the two criminals are
led northward toward the Damascus gate.
Luke’s gospel tells us that in the background you could hear that eerie
sound of Middle Eastern women weeping and wailing for those being led
away to their crucifixion. (Luke 23:27) It is quite a contrast to see
the proud soldiers marching arrogantly through the city and Jesus
stumbling under the weight of the cross. The scene before us is a
powerful reminder of the difference between what God values and what man
values.
Man does not seek a cross. He seeks a crown without a cross. Man does
not seek rejection and apparent failure. He seeks popularity and
success. Jesus is not being honored and led to the temple. He is being
led outside the city to a place called Golgotha, the place of the
Skull—the place where criminals are executed—the place of death. Don’t
miss the relevance of this for you and me.
Hebrews 13:12-14 makes this application, “And so Jesus also suffered
outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let
us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For
here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city
that is to come.”
Those words “bearing the disgrace he bore” are not easy words to hear.
If we’re not careful we’ll jump past words like that looking for
something we want to hear. If I’m not careful I’ll find a revised
version of Christianity that will tell me what I want to hear. Church be
careful we never present Christianity without a cross. It is attractive
to the flesh but it is another gospel
Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 16:24-27 "...If anyone would come
after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life
for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the
whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange
for his soul?”
That statement tells me something my flesh does not want to hear. The
way of God is not always a pathway of success according to human
standards. That day the Roman soldiers looked more successful than
Jesus. The priests and Pharisees looked more successful than Jesus. In
fact, to the natural eye it looked like the end for Jesus.
One of the soldiers carried in his hand a plaque written in three
languages so that everyone there could clearly understand what it said.
With slight variation depending upon which language you were reading the
plaque said, “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.” It was common
practice to place over the head of one being crucified a statement of
the crime that brought his punishment. It was also common practice for
the plaque to be held up and the crime proclaimed as the person was
being led to his crucifixion.
All of this was designed to warn others of the consequences involved in
breaking the law. In fact, part of the idea behind the Romans using
crucifixions for capital punishment was to send a message to the general
population of what would happen if the resisted Roman authority.
I think that it is a bit of comic relief here in the midst of a very
serious time when I think of the way Pilate irritated the chief priests
with this plaque. He had them in a dilemma and I think he enjoyed every
minute of it. Think back a moment on the trial that took place at
Pilate’s palace. Pilate could find no fault in Jesus but he gave in to
the demand that Jesus be crucified when they said to him, “We have no
king but Caesar.”
Now if that was true then they have no legitimate complaint for what
Pilate wrote. They would have to live with Pilate’s decision and that
gave him a small victory over them.
Providence of the Almighty (John 19:23-24)
John 19:23-24 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his
garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier;
also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top
to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast
lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture
which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing
they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things,
When the soldiers arrive at Golgotha. Jesus’ hands were tied to the
cross and a nail driven through each hand or wrist. Sometimes one nail
was used for both feet and sometimes a separate nail was used for each
foot. Josephus and other historians comment on the horrors of
crucifixion. But none of the gospel writers tries to arouse our pity or
play on our emotions in their description of Jesus crucifixion. They
simply and faithfully report the facts of what happened. They don’t want
to arouse our sympathy they want to fortify our faith.
Why did Jesus die?
What was the real significance of his death?
There is nothing more important for you and me to understand than the
answers to those questions. Jesus’ death was like no other death in the
history of mankind. In His death He tasted death for every man. There is
something going on at his crucifixion that infinitely greater than a
martyr’s death. We admire the way Stephen laid down his life in his
testimony for Christ. But what Stephen did is insignificant compared to
what Christ did.
That day at Calvary the greatest exchange of all eternity took place.
Paul writes in Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone
who is hung on a tree.”
The sin of the world was imputed to Christ—and the punishment for that
sin was laid upon him. For six hours Jesus endured the cross. For the
last three of those hours a bizarre darkness fell upon the earth. It
reflected the darkness and pain Jesus was enduring at a far deeper level
than just the physical pain of crucifixion.
I am not minimizing the physical pain. He was fully human and when he
said, “I thirst”, he was indeed thirsting as a human being. But we must
not stop there. In the depths of his soul Jesus bore my hell and your
hell, the just for the unjust. The punishment for my sin was inflicted
upon him. If I miss that point, if I do not discover the personal
application toward my own eternal destiny—I can weep for a thousand
years in sympathy for his pain and it will not benefit me.
John wrote his gospel so that “...you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his
name.” (John 20:31)
Have you embraced the cross on that basis? Have you seen Jesus as the
one voluntarily taking your punishment so that you may be forgiven? That
is the value of the cross—our personal salvation for the penalty and
power of sin.
Once Jesus was placed on the cross the four soldiers began to divide up
his clothing. These were the usual spoils that went to the soldiers in
this kind of situation. I think at that point these soldiers thought
they were just carrying out their duty in the normal course of a day.
They saw nothing particularly unusual about divided the clothes among
themselves. When they came to the seamless tunic, it was simply logical
to cast lots for it rather than tearing it into four pieces that would
be worthless. But there is something very important that we must see
here. We must see that above and beyond their decisions was divine
providence guiding the whole event. They had no idea that the decision
to roll the dice for Jesus’ tunic was actually the fulfillment of a
1000-year-old prophecy.
Psalm 22:18 “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my
clothing.”
All of this was detailed confirmation that Jesus was the promised
Messiah. John is pointing this out to provide factual basis for our
faith. He is also showing us how the providence of God overshadows the
affairs of men.
The soldiers at the foot of the cross decided in their own free will to
gamble with one another over Jesus’ seamless garment. But God had
decided it long before that. That says two things to me.
One, everybody is responsible for every decision he or she makes.
Second, God is always in control and nothing man can do will ever change
that. Nothing the devil can do will ever change that. I may not always
comprehend his ways.
Provision for the Natural (John 19:25-27)
John 19:25-27 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his
mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus
saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said
to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his
own home.
As Jesus looked down from the cross five devoted followers stood before
him. It is likely that when Pilate sentenced Jesus to be crucified, John
had gone to Mary’s house to tell her and the others what had happened.
Some from that group went with him to Calvary: Jesus’ mother, (Mary):
her sister-in-law also named Mary (the wife of Cleopas), the apostle
John and his mother, and Mary Magdalene.
I am always encouraged when I see Mary Magdalene in scripture. She had
not been a perfect person. Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. Yet
her devotion to Christ brought her to the cross and to the empty grave.
If ever there was evidence of the power of Christ to forgive sin, Mary
Magdalene is good evidence for the case. There she stands in a place of
honor near Jesus’ mother Mary.
There is no record of Jesus’ mother, Mary saying anything as she looked
up at her son on the cross. There is a silent strength in her time of
pain. No doubt she thought about the prophecy that dear, old Simeon had
given her when she brought Jesus to the temple as a child. "This child
is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be
a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts
will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too." (Luke
2:34-35) That sword was piercing her heart at that very moment.
Do you not see the utter unselfishness of Jesus as he addresses her need
from the cross? “Woman, behold your son.” “Son, behold your mother.”
There is Jesus enduring pain and sorrow beyond our comprehension and
still he takes care of those around him. He speaks salvation and comfort
to one of the thieves next to him. He provides for the care of his
mother through his friend and disciple, John.
As the oldest son Jesus had taken responsibility for his widowed mother.
We know at this point his natural brothers did not believe in him and
would not have taken that instruction from him. John 7:3-5
But Jesus saw to it that Mary would be cared for by John. And we are
told in that same verse that John took her into his own home. Notice the
place Mary holds in scripture. It is a place of great honor but never is
she seen as a mediator between God and man. In fact, she has to be cared
for by John and we don’t hear about her again except in Acts 1:14 where
she is listed among the other believers in prayer on the day of
Pentecost.
John is only gospel writer who gives us this directive for Mary and
John. During Jesus’ first 3 hours on the cross (from 9:00 AM to Noon) 3
of the 7 Sayings are recorded.
(1) “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34)
(2) “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” (Lk 33:43)
(3) “Woman, behold they son; son, behold thy mother.” (Jn 19:27)
Proclamation of the Victory (John 19:28-30)
John 19:28-30 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said
(to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood
there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and
held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said,
“It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
At noon an eerie darkness fell upon the earth as Jesus was paying the
penalty for our sin. During the next 3 hours (from Noon until 3:00 PM
when he died) the horror of wrath and judgment flooded his soul. It was
during that time that Jesus spoke his last 4 sayings on the cross.
(4) “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Mark 15:34
Isaiah 53 tells us why, “He was wounded for our transgression, bruised
for our iniquities.” There on the cross Jesus was making atonement for
you and me. And at no time was the Son of God more beautiful in the eyes
of the Father than when he laid down his life in perfect obedience for
our salvation.
(5) “I thirst.” (John 19:29)
(6) “It is finished.” (John 19:30 Matt. & Mark tell us it was spoken
with a loud voice.)
(7) “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk 23:46)
John 19:28 “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now
accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’”
Earlier Jesus had been offered a sedative mixed in wine that was
commonly given to those being crucified to ease their pain. Jesus
refused that offer. He would taste the full cup of suffering that the
Father had given him to drink. But at this point “knowing all things are
now finished” having fulfilled the will of the Father he is free to
express his thirst and receive the liquid in the sponge.
Now once again the pictures of the cross that were in our Bibles growing
up were not always correct. The feet of those being crucified were only
about a foot or two off the ground not high up over head. So extending
the sponge to his mouth would not be difficult for the soldier to do.
Immediately after this Jesus shouted “It’s over”. This was not a sad
word of defeat. It was the triumphant shout of victory. “It is
finished!”
What was finished? The work the Father had sent him to do was finished.
The price for our redemption was completely paid.
When you and I are struggling in our personal battles we must not forget
the victory shout of our Commander. My faith is in something that was
finished 2000 years ago. My standing before God is based upon something
completed by my Savior on the cross that day. I am not trying to gain
standing with God through my own good conduct. I am living in
relationship with God because of my Savior’s perfect obedience to the
Father.
Have you embraced the finished work of Christ on that cross in a
personal way? Have you acknowledged your need for what he did that day?
Jesus blood was shed for you on that cross. He invites you to come to
him and receive his love.
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