The Gospel of John: The King on His Cross

First Baptist Church Leominster

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and the message is taken from Psalm 119 in which every verse of course longest chapter in the

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Bible every verse speaks about the Word of God in one form or another. Well let's see

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Pastor Jason is going to read for us Galatians 2 as we continue through this

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New Testament epistle and then he'll pray for us. Galatians chapter 2.

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Then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking

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Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them though privately before those who seemed influential the gospel that I proclaim among the

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Gentiles in order to make sure that I was not running or had not run in vain. But even

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Titus who is with me was not forced to be circumcised though he was a Greek yet because of false brothers secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they might bring us into slavery.

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To them we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

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And from those who seemed to be influential what they were makes no difference to me God shows no partiality.

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Those I say who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised.

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For he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised work also through me for mine to the

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Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given to me they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the

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Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only they asked us to remember the poor the very thing

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I was eager to do. But when Cephas came to Antioch I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

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For before certain men came from James he was eating with the Gentiles but when they came he drew back and separated himself fearing the circumcision party.

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And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with them so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

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But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel I said to Cephas before them all if you though a

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Jew live like a Gentile and not like a Jew how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?

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We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.

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So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law no one will be justified.

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But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ we too were found to be sinners is Christ then a servant of sin?

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Certainly not for if I rebuild what I tore down I proved myself to be a transgressor for through the law

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I died to the law so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer

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I who live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the

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Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness were through the law then

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Christ died for no purpose. Let's pray. Our Father we thank you for these encouraging words.

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Through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer

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I who live but Christ lives in me. Heavenly Father we are so grateful that Christ lives in me that we have been crucified in the flesh.

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We thank you Lord for the wonderful work of Jesus Christ for his provision for his substitution the fact that we have been redeemed and set free from the slave market of sin.

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Lord we rejoice in all of these things and we pray that our lives would reflect this change that we would live no longer bound to the old man and the old habits that were characteristic of who we were prior to Christ but we pray

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Lord that we would live in light of this truth that we would live lives patterned after the Lord Jesus Christ in his in his strength and in his power.

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Lord we just thank you that we're here this morning to worship you together. We thank you that we have the

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Word of God that we have someone who will preach the Word of God to us that we have like -minded brothers and sisters around us and Lord we pray that as we continue our worship through the sermon that we would be attentive to what your

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Word says. We pray that we would die to self and live to you. Thank you

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Lord in Jesus name, amen. Well let's turn to John 19 please and today we arrive at the passage which records our

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Lord Jesus being crucified and of course this is the event to which the entire

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Gospel of John has been pointing and leading us. As one once described this account the crucifixion of Jesus is the hour when

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God declares that death has given birth to life and that the crucified

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Christ is the true king or ruler of the world the true priest mediator for the world and the true son the creator of the world and all of these themes coalesce in the crucifixion of Christ.

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We'll first read the passage that we want to give our attention to John 19 17 through 27 and he bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull which is called in Hebrew Golgotha where they crucified him and two others with him one on either side and Jesus in the center.

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Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth the king of the

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Jews and many of the Jews read this title for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin and therefore the chief priests of the

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Jews said to Pilate do not write the king of the Jews but he said I am the king of the

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Jews and Pilate answered what I have written I have written. Then the soldiers when they had crucified

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Jesus took his garments and made four parts to each soldier apart and also the tunic.

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Now the tunic was without seam woven from the top in one piece 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 and therefore the soldiers did these things.

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Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene and when

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Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by he said to his mother woman behold your son and then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that hour that disciple took her to his own house.

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Now we can consider this account of our Lord crucified in four divisions of these verses we just read.

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First we read of the place of his crucifixion the place of the skull. Second John recorded the title of King assigned to Jesus by Pilate of course.

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Third we read of the soldiers and his garments and then fourth we read of Jesus and his family.

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First the place of Jesus's crucifixion the place of the skull.

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He buried his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull which is called in Hebrew Golgotha where they crucified him and two others with him one on either side and Jesus in the center.

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Last week we concluded the trial of Jesus before Pilate in which

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Pilate actually turned Jesus over to the Jews to be crucified of course it was the

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Roman soldiers that led him to the place of crucifixion. Verse 16 reads and he and Pilate would be the subject of that sentence and he

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Pilate delivered him to them to be crucified so they took Jesus and led him away and so in that verse

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Jesus is shown to have been the object of an illegitimate trial and an unjust sentence but with verse 17

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Jesus again becomes the subject of the verb take note of that it does not say and then they led him out to the place he was crucified rather it reads he went out to a place notice that subtle narrative expression

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Jesus is the one who went toward the place of his crucifixion granted he was being led but this is just a narrative way input to put

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Jesus forward is really the one in charge Jesus went out to the place where he was to be crucified but John not only recorded

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Jesus as having went out but that he did so bearing his cross and John gives that point of emphasis of course in contrast to the accounts of the other three

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Gospels in which Jesus was relieved of carrying his cross by Simon of Cyrene John has

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Jesus bearing his cross now why did John emphasize this point one proposed this reason the author of the fourth gospel however carefully emphasizes that Jesus bore his cross himself perhaps in order to declare that he offered himself as a sacrifice without human assistance perhaps in order to give greater precision to the

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Lord saying if any man would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me we read in the synoptic

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Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke that Jesus bore his cross until he was no longer able to go farther for he was weakened due to the abuse and torture to which he had been subject subjected and so the

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Romans compelled a man named Simon to carry Jesus's cross the rest of the way to the place of crucifixion and so here are the accounts from the synoptic

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Gospels Matthew's Gospel and when they had mocked him they took the robe off him put his own clothes on him and led him away to be crucified now as they came out they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name him they compelled to bear his cross and when they had come to a place called called

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Golgotha that is to say a place of a skull so Simon assisted him

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Mark's record is quite similar and when they had mocked him they took the purple off him put his own clothes on him and led him to let him out to crucify him then they compelled a certain man

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Simon I say Rinian the father of Alexander and Rufus I didn't put it in here but tradition tells us that I believe it was

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Rufus was later the pastor elder of the church at Jerusalem I'm going from memory way way back so take that you know with a question mark but I if I recall that is correct as he was coming out of the country passing by to bear his cross and they brought him

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Jesus to the place called Gotha which is translated place of a skull and then here's

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Luke's account now as they led him away they laid hold on a certain man

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Simon I say Rinian who is coming from the country and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus Luke's gospel in particular the way that that is worded presents

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Simon as somewhat of an ideal disciple who took up Jesus's cross and followed him bearing it after Jesus you notice but John declared that Jesus carried his own cross to the place of execution now there's much speculation about matters like this as one wrote even so it's important to ask why

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John omits mention of Simon of Cyrene the brief answer is that it does not lend support to essential themes and would therefore be distracting it's possible to think of Jesus's death in terms of his resolution his obedience to the father his father's plan it's also possible to think of Jesus's death in terms of Jesus's suffering struggle and weakness and anguish both perspectives are correct both are some measure taught in each of the four

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Gospels but John even though he makes room for the suffering greatly emphasizing the sovereign plan of the father and the son's obedience and so he reports rightly that Jesus carried his own cross now we would assert of course there's no conflict or contradiction between these accounts

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John sought to emphasize Jesus carried his cross whereas the historic event of course

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Simon was called in to assist him interestingly in the first few centuries the church fathers saw

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Jesus bearing his own cross as the antitype of Isaac carrying his own cross to the place of sacrifice and this is recorded back in Genesis chapter 22 there we read so Abraham rose early in the morning saddled his donkey took two of his young men with him

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Isaac his son he split the wood for the burnt offering arose went to the place of which God had told him and apparently that's the very place that later they would build the temple mount you know within probably just a couple hundred yards of where the cross hung centuries and centuries later and on the third day

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Abraham lifted his eyes he saw the place afar off and Abraham said to his young man stay here with the donkey the lad and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you and here it is in verse 6 so Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son

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Isaac carried his own wood for the sacrifice on which he was to be offered and they climbed that mountain and Abraham took fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went up together but Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said my father and he said here

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I am my son then he said look the fire in the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering and Abraham said my son

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God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering and so the two of them went together and so in the first few centuries of the

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Christian era some of the early church fathers commonly would link Isaac carrying the wood to a sacrifice

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Jesus carried his cross to the place of Golgotha interestingly apparently there were some

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Jewish scholars non -christian who also thought the account of Isaac in Genesis 22 portended death by crucifixion this is incredible to me one wrote that Isaac had carried the wood to the place of sacrifice like one carries his stake on his shoulder and this was written around from AD 300 to AD 600 by a

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Jewish rabbi but the interpretations and applications of John's absence of mentioning

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Simon have become even more creative by commentators again the second century

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Gnostic he would be a heretic facilities in his commentary on John argues that Simon Cyrene took

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Jesus's place and died on the cross in his place because a

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Gnostic did not believe that God could die and so Jesus wasn't really a man he just looked like a man he's really

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God and therefore Simon is the one who died on the cross and interestingly this is the common view of Muslims today that view arising in John's day in other words this wrong view of the

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Gnostics and there's no real evidence that it was it's possible that John might find it expedient simply to omit mention of Cyrus of the

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Cyrene that makes sense but then Carson DA Carson rightly says but we're rapidly approaching the borders of uncontrolled speculation and oftentimes when you read commentaries you get into that realm actually it was the common practice of the

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Romans to force the one executed to carry his own cross to the place of execution probably he would have bought just the cross piece on his shoulders not an entire cross this cross piece was in Latin called a

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Pada Bula and then upon arriving to the place of execution the Romans would have lifted this this cross piece onto a stake or a pole that was permanently set in the ground notice it is said that Jesus went out to the place of the scroll of the skull this going out may be alluding to the fact that Jesus went out of the city of Jerusalem in order to be executed outside the city walls there is a notice in Josephus history that this commonly was the place of crucifixion by Romans outside the city walls the writer to the

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Hebrews of course points to this fact as having great theological significance we in the epistle of Hebrews we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat this

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Jewish Christian writer is basically saying we as Christians have privileges as Christians that the

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Jews didn't have they were allowed to eat the meat of sacrifice on the altar the

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Christian writer is saying we have meat to eat from an altar they know nothing about and he explains for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp in other words outside the ancient camp of Israel or outside the city of Jerusalem verse 12 then he makes the application therefore

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Jesus also that he might sanctify or set apart the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate in other words outside the gate of the city therefore let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach for here we have no continuing city here on earth but we seek the one that is the new

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Jerusalem which is to come and so the writer was addressing

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Jewish Christians who were tempted to forsake Jesus and return to Judaism in order to avoid persecution the writer argued that one can no longer find

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God within that system of Judaism which was centered within the camp the city of Jerusalem by the way you might recall from the

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Old Testament record that after the people of Israel had sinned God had Moses remove his meeting place with Moses outside the camp when

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Moses met to speak with God he had to go outside the camp to do so and so it was that Jesus was crucified outside the camp the city of Jerusalem and so the writer was telling these

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Jewish Christians that if they desire to receive salvation through Jesus Christ due to his crucifixion they must go out to him outside the city in other words departing

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Judaism entirely and embracing Jesus Christ alone in faith Jesus Christ crucified the altar that the

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Jewish priests had to feed upon was the brazen altar on which animal sacrifices were burned that food belonged to the

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Jewish priests and their families they benefited from the sacrifice which had been offered however there was one sacrifice that the

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Jewish priests were not allowed to eat and that was a sacrifice on the annual day of atonement the priests were to remove the animal from the camp and burn it in entirety and by the way they were to burn it outside the camp outside the city the priests couldn't eat that one in contrast to their altar our altar the

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Christian altar is the cross on which our sacrifice was offered the cross was outside the gate that is outside and away from the camp of the

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Israelites more specifically Jesus was sacrificed on an altar the cross outside the gate of Jerusalem which was the center of Judaism if the readers would feed on Jesus that is experienced and enjoy the nourishment and strength that comes from the benefits of Christ's sacrifice they too would have to go out of Judaism as Jesus suffered the shame and rejection of the

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Jews which it was epitomized by the manner of his humiliating death they too must be willing to suffer the rejection and humiliation that he endured and so we read in Hebrews 13 14 for here we do not have a lasting city but we are seeking the city which is to come the

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New Jerusalem and so the contrast is between the temporary nature of the earthly tabernacle and camp of the

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Israelites and the eternal solid and secure New Jerusalem and what we're suggesting is back in John chapter 19 when it says that Jesus went out to be crucified that's probably an illusion for him going out of the city of Jerusalem Jesus was crucified at the place of the skull now it's disputed where this place is located in the fourth century the mother of Emperor Constantine Helena traveled to the

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Holy Land and claimed to have identified a number of holy places that are mentioned in the Gospels associated with Jesus and the place that she declared to be

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Golgotha became a shrine where the church of the Holy Sepulcher was first built in AD 380 and had been destroyed burned down rebuilt repeatedly through the centuries there's a problem however with this site being the actual place where Jesus was crucified for it is located within the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem in the first century

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Jesus was crucified outside the city walls in the 19th century a number of Protestant scholars proposed another place of Calvary the principal man was

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Claude Condor a lieutenant British lieutenant and the Royal Engineers but it was in 1878 that a

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British Army officer General Gordon the same one that was killed in Khartoum by the

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Muslims by the way very famous Christian man said he only read the Bible but he was a very godly

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Christian man he went to Jerusalem and he proposed this new site building on what others had said and this site was outside the ancient walls of Jerusalem located on a rocky outcropping that indeed appears to be the shape of a human skull and I copied some of the pictures or illustrations of that of that cliff as well as the garden tomb and they're on the last page of your notes if you care to reference those ancient tombs were also discovered nearby and it was presumed that perhaps one of these was the tomb in which our

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Lord's body was buried and so I've been there and been to the church

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Holy Sepulchre which of course is a shrine that people go to and pray and worship I think it's idolatrous frankly but I think

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Gordon's Calvary is probably correct however I read this interesting note

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I've never read it before but I read it in Carson's commentary Gordon's Calvary is not an option and he gave a reference to an article that was written about 50 years ago and it was written in French and so I'm at a loss there but I'd like to come across at some time and just read that argument.

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John gave the Hebrew name of the place of the skull as Golgotha and this would have actually of course been an

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Aramaic word Hebrew is kind of like a family of languages Aramaic which was the language of Babylon and that's when the

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Jews adopted Aramaic and it was this

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Golgotha was the name of this place in Hebrew or actually Aramaic.

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Christians commonly use the word Calvary of course to describe this hill Calvary is based on the

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Latin word for skull Calvaria which is in the Latin Vulgate in all four

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Gospels by the way I believe and John wrote it was here that they crucified him two others with him one on either side

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Jesus in the center and there have been varied ways in which this account of two criminals have been interpreted.

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Augustine in the fourth century remarks three different very different persons hung together on the three crosses of Golgotha one was the savior of sinners one was a sinner about to be saved and one was a sinner about to be damned.

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That was certainly true and then in the next century Searle saw in the two male factors a type of the

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Jewish and Gentile churches the one rejected impenitent and lost the other believing at the 11th hour and saved and then this note many pious commentators remark that even on the cross our

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Lord gave an emblem of his kingly power on his right hand was a saved soul whom he admits into his kingdom on his left hand a lost soul whom he leaves to reap the fruit of his own ways.

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There was right and left on the cross even as there will be right and left saved and unsaved when he sits on the judgment seat wearing the crown on the last day.

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That certainly is a truism. John said nothing more about these two who were crucified on either side of our

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Savior. Luke of course gave the fullest account in which one of these men came to repentance and faith at the last hour.

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He was instantly and gloriously saved and the Lord Jesus promised him that he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day.

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John does locate Jesus in the middle of these two between these two criminals and that seems to have a significance in the way

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John expressed it. As one wrote John unlike the synoptics is silent on the transgressions committed by these criminals the point is simply to contrast the sinners with the sacrifice.

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It is fitting that the narrator is careful to mention the placement of Jesus among the three crosses.

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He was in the middle a seemingly insignificant detail but the center was the place of greatest honor or in this case shame possibly making

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Jesus the most visible to the massive crowd that had gathered for the Passover feast.

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You can well envision that as you see these three men hanging there you know being crucified your attention and focus would be drawn to the middle one as perhaps being the most egregious of the three.

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But there's more to this. Mark described these two men as robbers actually this word can be translated as revolutionaries or terrorists really.

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This Greek word is used as latos. It is the same word

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John uses for Barabbas. Now John doesn't declare them as latos but he does

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Barabbas. This may suggest a connection between these two thieves and Barabbas.

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As one wrote the two men crucified with Jesus are described by Mark as leistites that's the plural form.

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That was John's term for Barabbas. It suggests not I suggest it suggests that they were associates of Barabbas fellow freedom fighters or revolutionaries.

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The point may have seemed too obvious for John to mention more important to him apparently was the fact that the men were set on one one on hit this side one on the other and Jesus in the middle.

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By this rather fulsome expression John may have wished to draw attention to Jesus's position for with the

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Jews when three persons are present the most honored shall take place in the middle in the middle place between the revolutionaries befitted the royal deliverer the king.

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It is even more probable that the evangelist that would be John with the primitive church generally saw in Jesus crucified between such men as fulfillment of Isaiah 53 12.

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Well what does Isaiah 53 12 say therefore I will divide him a portion with the great he should divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors.

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And so Jesus dying with those two thieves was prophesied 700 years before the death of Jesus.

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Now of course everyone who read John's gospel back then would have known understood the nature of crucifixion.

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It was a cruel inhuman invention of man to punish and shame a criminal to the greatest possible extent and here's one description.

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The general procedure would look something like the following the criminal would be flogged and then forced to carry his own cross beam to the place of the execution often scourged on the way both of which were intended to torture the criminal before the crucifixion itself.

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If not already stripped the criminal would have his clothing removed and confiscated thus stripped of both possessions and honor and then the criminal would normally be fastened to the cross with either ropes or nails to the wrist.

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In Roman crucifixion the feet of the victim were often fastened to the cross as well.

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The nails were typically five to seven inches in length long enough to penetrate the flesh and bone of the wood and the wood of the cross to secure the body to it.

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The upright stake would have been no more than ten feet high which had in the middle a small wooden seat and near the top a groove to which the cross beam thus leaving the criminal hanging just above the ground.

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Once placed on the cross the body of the criminal was fully accessible to external conditions with scores of flies attracted to bodily wounds or animals assaulting the feet of the victim.

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The suffering also would cause severe bodily distortions including the loss of bodily control and large swelling body parts.

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The prisoner attached the cross beam would hang in this agonizing position until released by death which usually came about through difficulty in breathing and stoppage of circulation not so much through blood loss.

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The body of the victim was attached to the cross in a manner that facilitated prolonged suffering. If the criminal could lift himself up to get breath, that's what the seat was for, he would survive longer than if unsupported body was dead weight yet to lift oneself was designed to cause severe pain.

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If death was slow in coming the end was often hastened by means of clubbing, stabbing, or poison.

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The normal Roman practice was to leave the body on the cross until it rotted but Jewish law demanded that the body of a hanging man to be buried on the cross or on the day of execution to prevent the land from being defiled.

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The execution served as a crude form of public entertainment with the crowds often ridiculing and mocking the victims.

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I always hesitate reading degrees of detail like that but again the people who read the gospel would have known that because they had seen it.

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However after that graphic depiction and description of the crucifixion one might take note that the

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Gospels are quite brief in their description and give little detail to what degree our

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Lord physically suffered on his cross. John describes the horror that was crucifixion in a single word, not a long paragraph like we just read.

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As in the case of scourging he simply mentions the fact and passes on. Popular piety both

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Protestant and Catholic has often tended to make a great deal of the sufferings of Jesus to reflect on what was done and to dwell on the anguish he suffered.

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None of the Gospels does this. The evangelists record the fact and let it go at that.

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The death of Jesus for men was their concern. They make no attempt to play on the heartstrings of the readers.

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I think this is an important observation. Given this fact one might question the method of gaining professions of faith in Jesus by graphically displaying his physical sufferings in word or in film.

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There is a human sympathy that may come forth from most people except perhaps from the most hardened, but to enter into sympathy with what

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Jesus did does not necessarily accompany true understanding and faith in what God accomplished through the death of his son.

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Jesus Christ became a curse for his people, cursed in the place of them so that the justice of God could be satisfied respecting the guilt of their sin and being stirred with empathy or perhaps even wonder at the love of God and the death of Jesus may be present apart from faith in what

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God accomplished through the death of his son. It's very easy to elicit professions of faith, people who claim they believe on Jesus, through these rather emotional and graphic means, but oftentimes it'll make professing

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Christians but not true possessing Christians frankly. What is most important is to understand not the degree of his physical sufferings but the nature of his physical and spiritual sufferings and what

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God accomplished through that on behalf of guilty sinners who deserve what he got. Well John recorded the title of King assigned to Jesus.

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Again here John 19 19 and following Pilate wrote a title put it on the cross and the writing was

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Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews and many of the Jews read this title for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city.

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Notice near the city it suggests outside the city and it was written in Hebrew Greek and Latin therefore the chief priest and the

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Jews said to Pilate do not write the king of the Jews but rather he said I am the king of the

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Jews and Pilate answered what I've written I have written. When John recorded

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Pilate wrote a title we should understand it as Pilate prescribed the title to be written.

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I don't imagine you know Pilate pulled out a stylus and carved it into a piece of wood you know he had soldiers do it.

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It was the regular practice of the Romans to declare the crime of the individual who is to be executed they'd often put it around his neck even as he marched to the place of execution and then it either remained about his neck as he's crucified or else it would be hung upon the cross above him as it was with Jesus.

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Rome desired to publish the crime as a deterrent for others to see the consequences of their illegal actions and Pilate had the title written in three languages

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Hebrew again Aramaic Greek and Latin. Hebrew was the common language of the

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Jewish people, Latin was the official language of the Roman army, Greek was the common language of the

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Roman Empire at large which was also well known in Galilee, Galilee of the

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Gentiles. As one wrote it was written in Hebrew that the Jews might understand it in Latin that the

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Romans might know it and in Greek the lingua franca the world that all nations might learn of it.

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The other Gospels have slightly differing readings of this title. Matthew records it this way and over his head they put the charge against him which read this is

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Jesus the king of the Jews. Mark reads and the inscription of his accusation was written above the king of the

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Jews. Luke records the title there was also an inscription over him this is the king of the

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Jews. I normally use the New King James Version but that passage from Luke is actually the

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ESV because the New King James Version actually adds an extended portion on that verse.

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I've got it in the footnote and an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, Hebrew this is the king of the

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Jews. There's no doubt that a later scribe copying

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Luke wanted to conform it to John's Gospel and put in the Greek, Latin, Hebrew reference it wasn't original with Luke it wasn't in earlier manuscripts.

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And so all four of the Gospels record the wording of this placard with slight variations this is not a problem for us who believe in the inerrancy of the word of course the infallibility of the word because the variations in these wording can be explained by the fact that it was put forth in three languages.

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You translate those it perfectly explains the variations that you have in the three Gospels, three other

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Gospels. Pilate had this charge displayed shows that his sentence of crucifixion of Jesus was due to sedition against Rome that's the charge that put him on the cross and so the

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Jews charge that Jesus claimed to be a king even though Pilate had determined that he was no political threat to Rome I find no fault in him.

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Three or four times Pilate declared that openly nevertheless this became the sentence of his guilt.

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Pilate dictated this title with the intention of annoying the Jewish priests it's very clear who had pressed him to have

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Jesus executed he wanted to let him go repeatedly you recall and so this is another dig as it were of Pilate against the

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Jewish priests it was a calculated insult to them and to the nation which they led to represent a crucified man as a king of the

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Jews. But further as one wrote it was the last act of Pilate's revenge in the case he was already taunted he has already taunted the

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Jews with Jesus's kingship here he does so again mocking their convenient allegiance to Caesar by insisting that Jesus is their king and snickering at their powerless status before the might of Rome by declaring this wretched victim their king.

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And so Pilate was of course not trying to honor Jesus in any way just the opposite and so Pilate accomplished his dig of the

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Jewish priests as seen in their protest and their appeal to him to change the wording he's you know they said do not write the king of the

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Jews but he said that I am the king of the Jews but Pilate would make no changes whatsoever no it's going to remain as I stated it.

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But of course even though Pilate wrote these words to offend the

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Jewish priests the Jewish priests were indeed offended by them of course the Holy Spirit meant much more in this record than just rehearsing the words of Pilate and the

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Jewish priests Pilate's malice serves God's ends doesn't it? And so Jesus the king of the

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Jews is this in reality who he was? Pilate didn't intend that he didn't believe that neither did the

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Jews. So as one wrote so now John sees a deeper meaning that is

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John the gospel writer in the title on the cross than either Pilate or the chief priest could appreciate the hours come for the

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Son of Man to be glorified the crucified one is the true king the kingliest king of all wrote

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FF Bruce because it is he who is stretched on the cross he turns and an obscene instrument of torture into an obscene instrument of torture into a throne of glory and reigns from the tree.

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And the onward significance of his kingship for his true followers has been made plain in his interchange with Pilate recorded in chapter 18.

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So we have one more example of Johannine irony don't we? He is the king of the

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Jews and we have the soldiers in Jesus's garments verses 23 and 24 then the soldiers when they crucified had crucified

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Jesus took his garments made four parts to each soldier part also the tunic now the tunic was without seam woven from the top in one piece 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 and therefore the soldiers did these things in other words because it was prophesied therefore the soldiers did these things the garments of the one executed belonged to the executors the executioners this was normal practice apparently there were four soldiers involved in crucifying

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Jesus each one received one of four parts of his garment a typical

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Jewish man of the day generally wore a tunic next to his skin and then an outer garment that was something like a robe perhaps they divided the outer garment into four parts separating the cloth at the seams but maybe the four parts included the garment as well as a belt sandals and head covering doesn't say the inner garment the tunic was seamless so they determined they would gamble for it and this action was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy

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I remember back before I was converted and reading the gospel tract this was your life and it talked about the day of crucifixion 33

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Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus they said therefore among themselves let's not tear but cast lots for it this is taken from Psalm 22 now

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I wrote a number of verses out in our text because of the time we're not going to read all those but read

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Psalm 22 King David wrote this psalm a thousand years before the crucifixion at least eight hundred and fifty years before crucifixion was even invented as a means of execution and yet Psalm 22 describes a man being crucified

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David wasn't crucified but what he was going through when he sat down to pen what it was like the

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Holy Spirit moved him to pen it that so graphically fits one who is crucified so much so that you have the prophecy in verse 18 of Psalm 22 bottom page 9 of your notes they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots and so there you have the the four garment the four divisions and yet a single garment being gambled for and this is realized at the foot of the cross by the

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Roman soldiers here we see the cruelty and the absence of compassion of these soldiers who had so little regard of the one they were executing by stripping

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Jesus of his clothing they were heaping shame upon our Savior he was hanging there naked again having been beaten tortured scourged and so his pain was accompanied with the shame of nakedness and everybody who saw him would have concluded

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God has cursed him this man could not be of God God would not have permitted someone he loves to undergo this that was one of the great early scandals of Christianity it had to be completely reversed how can this man who is crucified be

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Lord the crucifixion of Jesus was transformed whereas crucifixion would be the emblem of the most despised and rejected of people by God himself became the emblem of glory salvation that was a message no human being could ever devise but that was the message that came forth of course in early

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Christianity the other one by the way there's another scandal and it's generally recognized by scholars there were two major scandals one is the cross how do you deal with that and the other is how do you deal with the fact

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Jesus was a friend of sinners there's nothing commendable about that but again you know the gospel turns out on its head doesn't it and so it makes it a positive attribute rather than something negative

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Jesus is a friend of sinners and therefore he'll receive you and me and so he was unclothed as Matthew Henry wrote while Christ was in his dying agonies they merrily divided his spoils and then we have lastly

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Jesus and his family top of page 10 the last act of Jesus before death was the care and concern that he had for his mother and the provision he made for her protection and provision verses 25 through 27 now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister

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Mary the wife of Clopas Mary Magdalene and when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by he said to his mother woman behold your son then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that hour that disciple took her to his own home all of our

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Lord's disciples forsook him except for John but the women that attended him including his mother were there at his cross

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J .C. Ryle wrote rightly respecting these women a wonderfully striking incident is recorded in this and the two following verses which is not found in the other three

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Gospels St. John tells us that at this awful moment Mary the mother of Jesus and other women two if not three

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I think three others stood by the cross on which our Lord hung love is strong as death and even amidst the crowd taunting

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Jews and rough Roman soldiers these holy women were determined to stand by our

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Lord to the last and to show unceasing affection to him when we remember that our

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Lord was condemned a condemned criminal or peculiarly hated by the chief priests executed by Roman soldiers the faithfulness and courage of these holy women can never be sufficiently admired as long as the world stands they supply a glorious proof of what grace can do for the weak and of the strength that love to Christ can supply when all men but one forsook our

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Lord more than one woman boldly confessed him women in short were the last of the cross and the first at the tomb good description hard to imagine the grief that Mary was enduring as she saw her son died before her in this cruel and shameful manner of course a prophecy had gone before telling her that this would occur way back when

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Jesus was first born and presented in the temple the old man Simeon picked up Jesus and declared that he would be a savior not only to the

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Jews but to Gentiles worldwide and then he turned to Mary and said yes the day will come when a sword will pierce your heart also and it was a reference to her witnessing firsthand the crucifixion of her son our

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Lord took care of his mother the last act that he performed he obeyed the fourth commandment on your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the

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Lord is giving you and so we secured care for her and tradition tells us that John later immigrated to Ephesus the western of course the coast of what is modern -day

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Turkey and Mary went with him apparently according to tradition and he cared for her let's close this now

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Christ's sufferings are not only redemptive for us but they are instructive as well the manner that our

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Lord faced and endured his sufferings illustrate for us the kinds of attitudes and responses that should characterize us in our sufferings the manner that Jesus suffered his trial of crucifixion displays for us the manner that we are to react and respond to all trials and sufferings that we encounter as Christians Peter wrote about this at length in both of his epistles servants be submissive to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh for this is commendable if because of conscience toward God one endures grief suffering wrongfully it's commendable before God for you to suffer wrongfully if you're doing it in order to obey

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God for what credit is it if when you were beaten for your fault you take it patiently but when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before God and then he gives he draws the comparison in the example for to this you were called you were called to suffer abuse by someone who's unjust above you and has authority over you why because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth who when he was reviled did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed for you were like sheep going astray but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls as our

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Lord Jesus submitted to what he endured because he saw it as the will of God it's the will of God you to follow a similar course and take up your cross and follow him in the same manner and respond and react in the same manner and that shows how far short we all fall when this occurs but it's a learned race isn't it

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Peter also took up this strain of teaching in his second epistle belief beloved do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you see it's not strange to suffer it's strange not to suffer as a we in this land we it's been a strange thing that we've had so long a time of peace and security as Christians this is not the case in other places or in history but rather rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings that when his glory is revealed you may also be glad with exceeding joy if your reproach for the name of Christ blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you on their part he's blasphemed but on your part he's glorified but let none of you suffer as a murderer a thief an evildoer as a busy body and other people's matters yet if anyone suffers as a

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Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in this matter for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God this is what we're going through in this world presently now this is the only judgment we'll ever know as Christians in this world and you know the blessing is coming after this world but what of those what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God and if the righteous one is scarcely saved where will the ungodly and sinner appear and therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him and do it good as to a faithful creator and that's what the son of God did and so when we suffer abuse and injustice how do we react what do we think and how do we feel do we feel abandoned by God that we're not receiving the kind of treatment that we deserve do we murmur and complain and grumble and threaten and delve into self -pity and vengeful anger that's like the world isn't it or do we or if we do then we're not following our

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Lord Jesus may God have mercy on us may enable us to be a Simon of Cyrene submit our shoulder to bear his cross that he's placed upon us and follow him to the place of execution if need be and to the certain glory that lies on the other side this is the nature of the

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Christian life don't think it's strange you know when you're going through a hardship and difficulty

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God we live in a fallen world and this is what happens this is what happened to the

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Son of God and this is what happens to those who follow the Son of God and it comes in various forms from those who persecuted us or just from the troubles and plagues of living in a fallen world as fallen people sickness disease loss suffering but we are to be men and women of faith and confident

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God's leading us rightly and he's gonna he's taken us on this course Jesus went out he led the way to the crucifixion because it was the will of God and it's his will also that we live in faith regardless of whatever comes into our paths and when we do we may rejoice this is this is evidence that we belong to him and he tells us of course that while we're suffering we can greatly rejoice for great is your reward in heaven that's coming glory is coming but it's preceded by suffering before the crown comes the cross that was with Jesus it's with you and me as Christians as well let's pray thank you father for your word thank you for the death of the

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Lord Jesus Christ that paid for our sin that enables us to be fully exonerated and declared to be righteous through faith in him alone help us now our

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God and faith and obedience to follow him as true disciples help us to be as these women

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Lord holy and fully devoted to him even in times of difficulty and confusion chaos our