WWUTT 1001 The Crucifixion of Jesus?

The Crucifixion of Jesus in John 19

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified, according to the scriptures, Jews and Gentiles conspiring together to put Jesus to death so that all who would believe on His name would be saved when we understand the text.

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Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We come back again to our study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 19. Picking up where we left off last week, I'll start at the end of verse 16 and read through verse 27. The Apostle John wrote, So they took Jesus, 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 the King of the Jews.

Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. 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, 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. So a portion of this we read last week, I'm going to come back to this again today, where Pilate had written this inscription that was hung on Jesus' cross.

It said, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. From the moment that Pilate was speaking with Jesus, he was calling him a king. This was back in chapter 18, verse 33. Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews?

Matthew records the same thing. When Pilate encounters Jesus, the first question he asks him is, Are you the king of the Jews? There's been a lot of commotion about this guy, and not just in the past week.

Remember that when Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey's colt in the triumphal entry, which happened just days before his crucifixion, there were people who were singing his praises and they were heralding him as the king who had been promised in the Old Testament.

They believed that he was the fulfillment of these Old Testament prophecies about a king that would ascend to the throne of David and would be their savior, their Messiah, which they interpreted as he will deliver us from the hands of our enemies.

Just like all of our kings before us, David did that. The judges did that. They delivered us from our enemies. So this great king is coming and he's going to do the same and he's going to make Israel a great empire once again.

But after Jesus rides into Jerusalem, he doesn't go up into the palace and sit on the throne. He goes to the temple, his father's house, where he taught from there the rest of the week because he is the son of God.

So that's where he went to his father's house because his kingdom was not of this world. And that's what Jesus said to Pilate, of course. So Pilate continues to make this reference to Jesus as king and even presents him to the Jews this way.

He had Jesus scourged. A crown of thorns was placed on his head. He was arrayed in a purple robe. And he said to the Jews, behold, your king. And they cried out away with him, away with him, crucify him.

And Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priest answered, we have no king but Caesar. So he delivered them over. And so Pilate delivered Jesus over to be crucified. And there was a part of Pilate here that just must have been like, you guys are crazy because he knew that Jesus had just been praised coming into Jerusalem days before as a promised king, as the coming king.

He was paraded that way. But it was more than just that. This reference to Jesus as king went all the way back to his birth when there was a whole commotion in Jerusalem about this one who had been born king of the Jews, a band of magi from a foreign land came in and stirred up all this ruckus.

According to Matthew chapter two, all of Jerusalem, along with King Herod, were very troubled at the fact that there were these foreign men coming into the city saying, where is he who's been born king of the Jews?

We've seen his star and we followed it and have come to worship him. So Pilate must have known all of this talk that surrounded Jesus, which is why he referred to him in this way. But there was still something that just really troubled him about Jesus.

And so when he crucified him, he writes this sign and has it hung above him that says Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Now the Pharisees had a problem with that. They said, no, no, no, we don't want that.

We want it to say that this man said, I am the king of the Jews. But it wasn't just what this man said. And Pilate knew that because he knew that there were people who were praising him as the king of the Jews, hence why he said to them, shall I crucify your king?

That's what you want. I know that all of you were singing his praises just a few days ago. And so Pilate answered in verse 22, what I have written, I have written. And again, I, you know, I'm kind of speculating here on what Pilate's thoughts actually were, because we don't know and his emotions or his inflection and the things that he said, we kind of have to assume that because it's not given here for us.

It's just the words in black and white. So we have to use a little conjecture, our imaginations to picture the scene. But Pilate wanting to write on there, the king of the Jews was probably also a statement from the Roman rule that there is no king higher than the emperor.

This is the way Caesar regards those who will call themselves or exalt themselves as king. So even if Jesus said, I am the king of the Jews, even if Pilate was going to buy that from the Pharisees, which he didn't.

But even if it was just Jesus saying that he was the king of the Jews, Pilate was nevertheless going to make a spectacle of him because it would establish the well, it would it would put fear in the hearts of people to know that Rome is the authority.

And if somebody is going to try to exalt themselves above Rome, well, Rome is going to exert its power in such a way. And then Jesus was hung on a roadside. We don't talk about that as as often. And I think I mentioned this a little bit last week in verse 17, where it says he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull.

Oftentimes, the depiction of Jesus carrying his cross is that he's dragging a great big, huge cross. That's that's what you see in the passion of the Christ. Jesus is carrying his full cross. But it wasn't a full cross like that.

It was just the cross beam. It was just the horizontal beam that his hands would be nailed to. That was the portion of the cross that he carried and he took it to the place where the criminals would be crucified.

He had his hands nailed to it. He's placed on the vertical beam and then has his feet nailed to that beam. So that's what he's carrying, the horizontal beam. And he goes to a place called Golgotha, which is the place of a skull.

And we often think of this as being a hill on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. You know, we think of it as a place that was set apart from the city that was just off in the distance. And that's where people went to be crucified.

Now, there are archaeologists that believe they know the place that was called Golgotha, but they can't excavate it because of how fragile the rock is there. So the location we believe where Jesus was crucified hasn't been excavated.

They haven't searched in that area to see if they could find some evidence of criminals being crucified there. But I can tell you it's going to be along a road. It might be on a hill. You know, the road goes up a hill and down the other side.

It might be that way, but it's definitely a roadway. We know that for a couple of reasons. First of all, that's the way Romans crucified criminals. They crucified them along roadways. They didn't put them on hills at a distance or from far away from people because they wanted to send a message with a crucifixion.

They wanted to show people, hey, don't mess with Rome. This is what happens to people who mess with your Roman government. So they wanted this to be something that was demonstrated publicly. That's one reason why we know Jesus was crucified along a road.

The second reason we know is because we can piece it together from scripture. Verse 20 here. Many of the Jews read this inscription, the sign that Pilate wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city.

So it wasn't on a hill far away. It was it was on a roadway and it was written. The sign was written in Aramaic, in Latin and in Greek. Aramaic being the Hebrew language, Latin being the Roman language and Greek being the universal language so that anyone who passed by would understand what the sign said, the message that the Romans were attempting to send.

That's according to John 19, 20 in Mark, chapter 15. It talks about the sign being hung over Jesus that says the king of the Jews and with him was crucified to robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

And then Mark 15, verse 29, verse 29 says, and those who passed by derided him wagging their heads. Why are they passing by him again? It's because it's on a road. It's not a distant location that they have to march up to and then just kind of stand there and see Jesus being crucified.

But he's along a roadway. And this was in fulfillment of what was said in Psalm 22, that people would pass by and they would shake their heads at him. See, Pilate thinks that he's being crafty by writing this sign, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

But he was proclaiming truth. Jesus of Nazareth is the king of the Jews. In fact, he's more than just king of the Jews. He is king of kings and lord of lords. And every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And there was a day when Pilate died and stood before God. And he knew he saw Christ and knew this was the man that I sentenced to death. And he is indeed king and lord of all. And we must have a healthy, reverent fear of God, knowing that he has the power over the very soul of a person.

There are people that might want to ridicule us or deride us and even try to cause us physical harm, but they can't do anything to our soul. God is the keeper of our soul and he determines what happens to it when we die.

And so we must stand in fear of God, not in fear of man, for our soul belongs to the Lord. Worship the king, Christ, and you will be saved. In addition to fulfilling prophecy in Psalm 22 regarding people shaking their heads at Jesus, we see another prophecy from that Psalm fulfilled in what comes next.

In verse 23, when the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier and also his tunic. Now, now the garments that were divided among them, that may have been the purple cloth that Jesus would was arrayed in when they mocked him.

They gave him the crown of thorns. They gave him the purple cloth and purple was a very, very expensive garment. So they may have taken that as his garments and divided that up among them, cut that into four parts.

But then his tunic, the tunic was seamless. It was 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. And this was to fulfill the scripture, which says and John quotes directly from Psalm 22, which, by the way, is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament.

But it says they divided my garments among them and for my clothing, they cast lots. So the soldiers did these things. Prophecy as revealed by God to David a thousand years before in Psalm 22, it states that Jesus would be crucified, his his hands and feet would be pierced, is what it states there, that people would shake their heads at him, that others would gamble and cast lots for his garments.

All of these things that were mentioned in Psalm 22 and they were fulfilled in Christ even there at the cross. The soldiers did these things, it says at the end of verse twenty four, but then starting in verse twenty five, but standing by the cross of Jesus, where his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and also Mary Magdalene.

So if we understand John rightly here, verse twenty five, there were three Mary's standing there. Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. Now, the identity of Mary, the wife of Clopas, is debated among scholars.

Was this literally Mary's sister or was it a sister in law? And sometimes there were multiple names used for the same person. So some have said Mary, the wife of Clopas, was actually Salome or who would have been the mother of the sons of Zebedee, James and John.

That's who Mary, the wife of Clopas, would have been. So as the beloved disciple is there whom we know to be John or whom scholars will say is John, that's what we read about going on. So verse twenty six, when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby.

So that may have been John. Likely it's John. That's what's assumed. And so Mary, the wife of Clopas, may have been John's mother if Mary, the wife of Clopas, is Salome, who is the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Are you following me? I know that gets confusing, but it's mostly because we don't know who Mary, the wife of Clopas, is now in Luke chapter twenty four. We read the story of Jesus appearing to a couple of disciples on the road to Emmaus.

This was after the resurrection. And one of those disciples name, the name of one of those disciples was Cleopas. So Luke twenty four eighteen and one of them named Cleopas answered him. Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

Because when Jesus came to them, their eyes were veiled. They didn't recognize him and he played with them a little bit, you know. So like, what are you talking about? What are you guys discussing here?

And Cleopas says, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know what's going on? So that could have been the husband of the Mary that's being talked about here. Mary, the wife of Clopas. Now, all of that's just kind of a side note to say that the identity of this particular person is debated among scholars.

But some have even said or have tried to use this person identified here in John 19 to be the woman who was actually the mother of James and Jude, who are described later in the New Testament as half brothers of Jesus.

But there's some they want to have that that that perfection of Mary idea, like she was a perpetual virgin that never actually knew a man even after Jesus was born. The scriptures don't say that, but there are some that want to believe that that was the case, as though Mary is holier in this respect.

And so they'll say that the mother of James and Jude was another woman that Joseph took to be his wife. And it was actually Mary's sister, Mary, according to this statement that we have made here in John 1925.

Anyway, I don't mean to confuse you any further than that, but that's that that's how this particular person's name often gets thrown around in antiquity. So in verse 26, when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold, your son.

And then he said to the disciple, behold, your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. And that, we believe, was John, the apostle, the one who is writing this gospel. He was the one who was entrusted by Jesus to take care of his mother.

It was Jesus who was the oldest brother in his family. Jesus did have other siblings. It was Jesus responsibility to make sure that his mother was taken care of. And so even there, as he's hanging on the cross and dying, he is ensuring that his house is being put in order and that there is someone who is taking care of his mom.

And that responsibility is going to go to John, the apostle, who is the youngest of the disciples. This is one of the reasons I believe John doesn't play as prominent a role in the establishment of the church as he will play later on.

Now, of course, we do read about John in the book of Acts preaching the gospel, doing miracles, making converts, planting churches and even being persecuted for his faith. We read about that in Acts, chapter four, where John and Peter have to stand before the council.

The last time that we read about John in the book of Acts is in chapter 13. And it's when Paul and his friends are going out to continue their work to the Gentiles. And it says that John returned to Jerusalem.

Well, the reason he went back to Jerusalem is because it's probably where Mary was and he was going back there to take care of her. So he played a more prominent role in church activity a little bit later on.

But in the meantime, he's fulfilling this responsibility that Jesus had given him before he died to take to take care of Mary as if Mary was his own mother until she died, not ascended into heaven, despite what the Roman Catholic Church might tell you about the ascension or the assumption of Mary.

No, no, no. She died of old age. And John took care of her until that time, as if Mary was his own mother. And that's where we're going to stop today. I know that this was a little bit more information loaded, I think, than than theological.

But of course, we did cover the prophecies that were made regarding Jesus in Psalm 22, this all happening according to the definite plan and for knowledge of God, that Jesus would be crucified on the cross for our sins, that all who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life, fulfilling even what Jesus had said to Nicodemus back in John three, the son of man may be must be lifted up so that all who look upon him will live.

And we'll get to some more of the of the deeper significance of the cross of Christ when we look at the next portion tomorrow, picking up in verse twenty eight. Let us conclude with prayer. Our heavenly father, may we look upon Jesus with fondness.

There were people that looked at Jesus and shook their heads. And even to this day, people in the world will hear the name of Christ and roll their eyes. But we see in what was accomplished there at the cross, the power of God for salvation, that all who look upon Jesus and believe on his name will be forgiven their sins and have everlasting life with God.

May we recognize what great a price was given for our salvation. And may we live our whole lives, giving our lives to you as a spiritual sacrifice unto God and looking for ways as we go throughout our day that we may submit our thoughts to you and give you glory in the midst of our circumstances, worshiping God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Convict us of our sins, forgive us of our sins and lead us today in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. In Jesus name.

Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand the Text.