WWUTT 996 Jesus Mocked and Flogged?

Jesus Christ, God incarnate, suffered on the cross for our sins. But the level of suffering that he endured on the cross in his body is not what redeems us from sin. When we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.

John 19:1-4 and the Mocking of Jesus

Thank you, Becky. We continue our study of the gospel of John today beginning chapter 19, where Jesus is delivered up to be crucified. I'll start reading in verse one through verse 16. The apostle John wrote, then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.

And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him saying, hail king of the Jews and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, see, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.

So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, behold the man. When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him for I find no guilt in him.

The Jews answered him, we have a law. And according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself the son of God. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, where are you from?

But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have the authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.

Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. From then on, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.

So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the stone pavement and in Aramaic, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover.

It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, behold your king. They cried out, away with him, away with him. Crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar.

So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. We come back to the start of chapter 19 here and the action of course is picking up a little bit. We've been going through chapter 18 and now chapter 19 a little bit more quickly than we've gone through the rest of John, but that's because the discourses are over.

So the deep theological things that Jesus has been teaching to his disciples or even saying to his critics, that's not what's going on here. Now, we certainly spent a little more time where Jesus said to Pilate, everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice and Pilate said to him, what is truth?

And we'll talk a little bit more too about the continued conversation with Jesus and Pilate where he says, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above, but really the action is kind of picked up here.

So there's not a reason to have to go as slowly through it as we have been, but that's all the gospels are like this. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there is not a week in the life of Christ that gets more focused than that last week leading up to his crucifixion.

And there's not an event in the life of Christ with more ink than the crucifixion itself. More is said about Christ's trial and crucifixion than is even said about his resurrection. So this is the passion of the Christ.

That's what it gets called because this is what all four gospels lead up to, focus in on, Christ's death on the cross for our sins. So as the story is reaching a climax here, we're gonna read through it a little bit more speedily, but of course, still stopping to focus in on some of these important things that are being said here.

And John focuses more on the words than even Matthew, Mark and Luke have. So right at the start of 19, Pilate took Jesus and flogged him and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.

Now this is kind of a practical joke on the part of the Roman soldiers. They don't really believe him to be a king. So they give him a crown of thorns and they array him in a purple robe. That's quite an expensive practical joke because purple garments were not cheap.

They were the richest robes. You know, you have Lydia in the book of Acts when Paul and Silas come into Philippi, they meet Lydia who is a seller of purple garments, meaning she's selling about the richest linen that a person could buy.

Those who were wealthy bought purple garments and purple was the color of kings because it was the most expensive garment or textile that a person could buy. Laodicea was a city that was famous for its purple garment.

As a matter of fact, Colossae was famous for this purple garment first before the route that the Roman empire had built through that particular region of Asia Minor changed from going through Colossae to going through Laodicea.

And then the sellers of purple goods moved from Colossae to Laodicea. And that's one of the reasons why Laodicea was so rich, why they had so much money, which we see that talked about in the book of Revelation is Jesus rebukes the church there at Laodicea for believing that they had everything and they didn't need anything else.

But Jesus said, you are poor, pitiable, blind and naked. And I tell you to buy from me garments that have been washed white. And this is kind of a play on words here since they were famous for the selling of their garments, Jesus is saying, you need my garments, the righteousness that I can give you.

So that's the instruction he gives there to Laodicea, a city famous for its purple. But this is an expensive fabric. And yet these Roman guards here are covering Jesus in it. This purple garment, very expensive after he's been flogged and he's bloody.

But there's two reasons why in the providence of God, Jesus would be arrayed like this with a crown of thorns and have a purple garment around him. Number one, this is setting up that the guards are going to cast lots for his garment.

And they wouldn't have done that if it wasn't such a fine fabric as purple, even though his blood is on it. And this is to fulfill the prophecy that was made in Psalm 22. They cast lots for my garments.

So he's been arrayed in purple for the prophecies to be fulfilled. Second reason why Jesus is being covered in purple is that this is gonna be to the condemnation of the Jews, who in this very segment that we have just read in this devotional are going to say, we have no king but Caesar.

Jesus is presented to them as king. Pilate even calls him that. Behold your king. And they say, no, he's not our king. We have no king but Caesar. They have just denied and rejected the king of kings.

And this demonstrates something that Paul says in Romans 11 .25, a partial hardening has come upon Israel. Partial in the sense that it's not the entire nation of Israel, but it's certainly a significant chunk of them.

A partial hardening has come upon them until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So the rejection of Christ by the Jews was so that Christ would be offered up for the sins of everyone who would come to believe in him, not just among Jews, but especially among the Gentiles.

So this was for our benefit, that God would even offer up his son in this way so that through his death, we may have life and we, you and I, we have everlasting life by faith in Jesus Christ today because the Jews rejected him as their king.

The Crown of Thorns, the Purple Robe, and Psalm 22

So once again, let me go ahead and start at the very beginning of John 19. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.

They came up to him saying, hail king of the Jews and struck him with their hands. As we read this account in Mark's gospel in Mark 15, he says they did more than just strike him with their hands, but they also took a reed and whacked him in the head with it, which would have taken those thorns in his crown of thorns and would have embedded those thorns even deeper into his scalp.

Now, before going on here, I wanna stop and clarify something. Whenever we get around to Easter, it's very common to hear pastors give a gruesome and graphic description of the crucifixion. And they present this as, here's what Jesus went through for you from the time that he was arrested to the time that he appeared before the high priest and they beat him and even pulled like chunks of his beard out when he was beaten there before the high priest.

Then he goes to Pilate, Pilate has him flogged. He's given a crown of thorns and the guards beat him. And then he is turned over to be crucified. He's got to carry his own cross and all that he's gone through and how difficult it is for him to carry his cross.

You know, they've even described the process of scourging and how it rips up the skin and all that, okay. This is the graphic description you'll get around Easter time. And then Jesus, once he gets to Golgotha, he has to lay down and they pierce his hands and his feet with nails.

And then they hoist him up and then the pastor will describe what crucifixion does to the body. And again, they give this as here's what Jesus did for you, died for your sins, suffered in this way. But I wanna say something about this and I say this very, very carefully.

There's a point I'm getting to here, so bear with me. But there are human beings who have suffered more physically than Jesus suffered on the cross. And when you consider the pain that Jesus went through from the time of his arrest to the time that he breathed his last and said into your hands, I commit my spirit and then he died, that was really only a process of hours.

You know, what was that? 12 hours maybe from the time Jesus was arrested to the time that he breathed his last. That was a span of about 12 hours. You can say 15 or 16 hours if you add in time in the garden of Gethsemane praying and his sweating drops of blood and everything happening there.

So that's really not a long time. People who suffer with cancer suffer longer than that. There are people who are born with serious debilitating diseases that cause agonizing pain. They suffer with their entire life.

So there are people who have been through more suffering than Jesus went through just in his being flogged and being crucified. Okay, so let me clarify that from the outset. So we're not looking at the crucifixion itself as being something more painful than any other pain that any human can ever experience.

That's not what makes his crucifixion significant. What he went through for us that no one in Christ will ever have to go through is experiencing the wrath of God. And this is described in Psalm 75, eight, for in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup with foaming wine, well-mixed, and he pours out from it and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

This cup is the cup that Jesus referred to when he was praying in the garden. And he said, Lord, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, not what I will, but what you will. What is this cup that Jesus is referring to?

It's there in Psalm 75, eight. It's the cup of God's wrath. This is what Christ appeased for us with his death on the cross, the wrath of God. That's what makes his death so horrific, not what he endured physically in his body, but what he endured in his spirit for us by taking the wrath of God in himself.

There was no one who would have been able to endure that and survive it except the son of man himself, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And God showed that he received that sacrifice by raising him from the dead.

But this is the most agonizing thing that Jesus experienced, not the suffering in his body, though it was quite incredible, the flogging that he endured and then the crucifixion on the cross. Most of us won't experience pain like that.

And you're talking about not just any person, but a man who was innocent. And you're talking about more than just a man who was innocent. You're talking about God himself who came down from heaven into human flesh and lived in obedience to the father, becoming the perfect spotless sacrifice for us on our behalf, who died for our sins, taking the wrath of God upon himself for us so that all who believe in him will not perish under God's judgment, but will have everlasting life in Christ Jesus.

It is the ultimate act of humility. And no one alive before Christ or since Christ has ever demonstrated such humility as that. God himself becoming man and allowing the creatures that he created in his own image to put him to death and doing this for the sake of those whom he would redeem from sinful man to himself and give them an inheritance, the eternal kingdom of God.

This is all in the mercy and the grace of God. God becoming man and being crucified. If there's anyone who doesn't deserve crucifixion, it's Jesus. And yet he did this for us. This is what had to be done so that we would be made right before the God whom we had rebelled against and disobeyed.

What makes Jesus' crucifixion so horrific is not the physical act itself, although that was certainly bloody and disgusting, but it was the fact that he took the wrath of God upon himself for us. So we read here about Jesus being beaten by soldiers, being mocked, arrayed in a purple robe, but all of these things that we're gonna be reading about, the physical pain that he endured, that's not what's incredible about what he suffered.

What's incredible is that he appeased God's wrath. Verse four, Pilate went out again and said to them, see, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. Now we're coming to the end here of an interesting sequence of events.

In this exchange that's been going on between Pilate and Jesus and the Jews, it started in chapter 18 with Jesus being brought to Pilate and so Pilate speaks to him privately. Well, first of all, he speaks to the Jews.

First of all, he's in front of the Jews. Pilate goes outside to face the Jews in the crowds and then he comes inside to speak to Jesus. And that was in chapter 18, verse 33, with Pilate asking Jesus, are you the king of the Jews?

And then he goes back outside to the Jews again. And then he comes back inside to Jesus. That was right at the start of the chapter as we looked at it today, 19 one, he sent him to be flogged. And then he goes back outside to the Jews and the crowds, bringing Jesus with him.

And that's what he's doing right here. Then he's gonna go back inside with Jesus to speak to him again privately. And we'll look at this section with the next conversation between Pilate and Jesus, talking with one another again.

We'll look at that tomorrow. Then he goes back outside again to the Jews with Jesus. And finally he gives Jesus to them to be crucified. So all of this back and forth between Pilate and Jesus, this is going on behind the scenes, really.

This is not in front of Jesus' Jewish opponents. So those who are truly calling for Jesus to be killed, he doesn't speak to them. His exchange with them is over. He's having this conversation with Pilate, but he's not addressing those who are bringing charges against him, nor is he talking about the charges that they're bringing against him.

He doesn't speak to them, nor does he even speak about them. When Pilate questions him about the things that the Jews are accusing him of, and this even was to fulfill prophecy. Isaiah 53 7, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. He talked to Pilate privately in his own home, but before the Jews, he did not address their charges.

And he did not respond to Pilate when Pilate asked him about those charges. Peter also talks about this in 1 Peter 2, and he gives it exhortation, in fact, starting in verse 21, for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

And we must do the same. We must entrust ourselves to God, who is sovereign, who is ruler above all. And he is the one who judges justly. So we don't revile back when we are reviled for the faith that we have, but we continue entrusting ourselves to God, just as Jesus did, giving us an example.

So we must do the same. Do not revile back when they revile you, but instead the scriptures tell us to rejoice, for we have been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. Let us pray. Our heavenly father, we thank you as we should praise you every day for the giving of your son for our sins.

And we know that we have been forgiven in your sight by faith in Jesus. There is nothing that no man can do to us. Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So if man cannot do anything to us, what do we have to fear whenever we face ridicule or people hate us or despise us or make fun of us, family members turn on us, friends stab us in the back because of this truth that we cling to and believe and proclaim.

We should not be surprised at this trial that comes upon us, but yet that this would be another opportunity to submit ourselves fully unto God who takes care of us, God who will deliver us in the end, entrusting ourselves to him who judges justly.

Let us not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but let us with sober judgment be discerning as to where we can share the gospel with others and where in other occasions we must keep silent.

We thank you for your goodness and your grace that you show us day by day. And we pray these things in Jesus name, your peace in our hearts, 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.