WWUTT 998 Jesus Offered and Crucified?

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When Pilate turned Jesus over to be crucified, he made a sign which was hung over Jesus on the cross saying, this is the

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King of the Jews. Well, the Jews did not like that and Pilate didn't realize he was speaking truth when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the gospel of John chapter 19.

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I'll begin reading in verse 12 and read through verse 22. The apostle John wrote, from then on Pilate sought to release

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Jesus, but the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not

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Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.

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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 an

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Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.

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He said to the Jews, behold your king. They cried out away with him, away with him, crucify him.

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Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we have no king, but Caesar.

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So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took

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Jesus and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called

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Golgotha. There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them.

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Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the

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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.

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So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but rather this man said,

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I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written.

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So this is at the conclusion, of course, of the trial of Jesus, as Pilate is presenting him before the

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Jews and before the Pharisees, Pilate had tried to release Jesus. He really tried to let him go.

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He tried to be a just and a fair governor, and he did not find anything wrong with Jesus, even had him scourged and presented him before the people and said, look, hey,

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I've had him beaten for you, but I find nothing wrong with this man. He even tried to offer up a different criminal in place of Jesus.

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There was nothing wrong with Jesus. He was not guilty of any crime. But here's Barabbas.

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So I'll give you either Jesus or Barabbas. Now, this guy really is a criminal. He really has done wrong and he deserves to be in the place that he's in.

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But what did the people say? No, give us Barabbas. We want Jesus to be crucified.

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And all of this was really quite confusing to Pilate. And there were even some things about Jesus that scared him.

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Now, it doesn't seem to be what Jesus said to Pilate, if anything, that just puzzled

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Pilate. But the fact that the people reported to Pilate that Jesus claimed to be the son of God and then that bothered him, considering his wife,

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Pilate's own wife, had come to him and said, have nothing to do with that righteous man for it's this guy's given me nightmares.

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I've had nightmares about him. So when Pilate hears that he's claimed to be the son of God, maybe that's true.

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So we asked Jesus, where are you from? And Jesus again gave him no answer. Of course,

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Jesus is not responding to Pilate because he's there to fulfill the will of his father. And he knows he's going to go to be crucified.

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And he knows this needs to be done to fulfill all righteousness so that all who would believe in Jesus would not perish in their sins, but rather would be forgiven their sins and have fellowship with God.

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It takes the sacrifice of Christ for this to be possible. And then, of course, his resurrection from the dead.

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So Jesus is quietly going to the father so that he may be obedient fully to the will of God.

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But Pilate still tried to let Jesus go. And what this reveals is the hardness of the hearts of the people who were crying out that Christ must be crucified.

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Jesus even said to Pilate, it's the one who knows better, who has the law, who has been shown these things and yet continues to cry out, crucify him.

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He's the one who has the greater sin. And that's where we stopped yesterday. Verse 12, Pilate still seeking to release him.

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But the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Now, Pilate knew that if he was not able to keep control over the region that he had been assigned to as governor, then he was going to be yanked from that spot.

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Caesar was going to say, hey, if you can't control this crowd, I'm going to put someone there who can. And and when

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Pilate sees that the crowd is becoming unruly and even threatens him, you know, saying, hey, we're going to tell

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Caesar on you. We're going to we're going to tattle on you when it goes that far. Now, he just decides, hey, this guy isn't worth it to me.

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I don't know why they want to kill him, but he's just going to turn Jesus over to be crucified. The Jews there say everyone who makes himself a king opposes

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Caesar. And I mentioned to you yesterday, the Romans were just not thrilled with the idea of a monarchy. They didn't like kings.

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Israel liked kings, so the Romans allowed them to have a king.

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And who did they give the Jews is a king. They gave him the Herod's.

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So the Herod's became that dynasty that ruled there in Judea in the time of Christ, a little before Christ, a little bit after.

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Of course, Herod is one of the Herod's is king here during this time that Jesus is being tried and and being sent to be crucified.

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The Jews are saying Jesus has made himself king. So see, this isn't even in submission to Rome.

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Rome assigns the kings. Jesus wants to make himself a king. So when Pilate heard these words, he brought

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Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement in Aramaic, Gabbatha.

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Now, it was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. So we're talking

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Friday, the day of preparation before the Passover, which was Saturday.

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So, you know, the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are in unanimous agreement that Jesus in the

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Last Supper took place on Thursday, Jesus with his disciples at the

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Last Supper. And then the crucifixion was the next day on Friday. And it says it was about the sixth hour.

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They didn't really keep close track of time. And they're not really writing that down in a ledger somewhere. The sun is almost directly overhead.

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So it's about the sixth hour, which is six hours from sunrise, which would have been about 6 a .m.

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So the sixth hour puts it right about noon. And then Pilate said to the Jews, behold, your king.

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And they cried out away with him, away with him, crucify him. And Pilate said to them, shall

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I crucify your king? And then the chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar.

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So he delivered Jesus over to them to be crucified.

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That's the end of verse 16. Pilate probably just decided, you know what,

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I don't see anything wrong with the guy, but I'm not going to be risking my career over this Jesus guy and turn him over to the

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Jews. They say they have this law that he's violated. Fine. I will give Jesus to them for them to do with whatever it is that they're going to do with him.

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As we have recorded in Matthew 27, 24, Pilate then took a basin of water and he washed his hands before the crowd and said,

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I am innocent of this man's blood. See to it yourself. Earlier, when

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Pilate and Jesus were talking, Pilate had said to Jesus, don't you know that I have the authority to either let you go or crucify you?

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And Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.

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And this was Jesus saying to Pilate, you're going to be answered.

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You're going to have to answer to somebody else higher than you, to an authority that's even higher than Caesar, the one who issues judgment, the one in whom truth is found, the one who determines all that is right and all that is wrong.

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And Pilate is not just enough in the in this whole situation, though he tried to be a righteous judge.

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He wasn't. He tried to be a fair judge. We'll put it that way. But he wasn't just enough because he didn't let

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Jesus go. If he truly was a just judge, then finding no guilt in this man, he should have let him go.

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But he was too concerned about his career, wanted to protect himself, didn't want to stir up the anger of the people.

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So he gave Jesus over to the people, turned him over to their hands.

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And of course, this was all according to the will of God. But Jesus response to Pilate that you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above was also to say to Pilate, you're going to have to answer to that authority.

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If you do not do what is just and you do not do what is right, you will stand before God in judgment.

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Now, whatever happened to Pilate, there's a lot of speculation. Some people will say, well, did he get to a later part of his life?

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And he's looking back on these events. And maybe as he's pondering these things, maybe he repented.

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You know, maybe he's looking back and going, well, we put that Jesus guy to death. A few days later, he rose again.

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Like people are saying the tomb is empty. And then there are witness accounts of those who said they saw

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Jesus alive. We can't find his body. Some of his disciples say he ascended into heaven or something.

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And maybe Pilate, in reflecting upon these things, came to conclude Jesus really was the son of God.

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Well, what we have from historians is that Pilate eventually killed himself.

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And I think that Pilate's death indicates to us that he was never really repentant. If Pilate had died of old age, we may have never even heard about his death.

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We would not have known for sure what his condition was when he died. But because he killed himself, that's recorded in history.

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And it also indicates to us the condition of his heart before he died, that he believed that he even had power and authority over his own life to take it rather than fear the one whom he truly belonged to.

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And that was God. So I don't think Pilate ever repented. I think that he perished in his sin.

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And so did the chief priest, because Jesus said he has the greater sin. And of course, we know

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Judas did as well, because Judas went out and hung himself. Just as Judas killed himself over all of this,

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Pilate eventually would take his own life as well. Yet all of this happened by the sovereign plan and the providence of God, which would bring about salvation for many and the forgiveness of sins of all of those who would believe in Christ Jesus.

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The prayer that we have from the apostles in Acts chapter four, it says that when they prayed after they were released from custody because they had boldly preached the gospel, they got together and they lifted up their voices to God and said,

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Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who threw the mouth of our father,

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David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain?

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The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the

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Lord and against his anointed for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant,

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Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the

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Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

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And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant,

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Jesus. So the disciples recognize here that everything that had happened from Pilate to Herod to even the

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Romans and the Jews, all of this happened according to the sovereign plan of God for the purpose of redeeming the sins of his people.

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And though God had predestined these things to take place, the apostles yet prayed with boldness that they would continue to speak the word that God had appointed for them to speak.

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So they are asking for God to be with them, though they know he has predestined all this that is to take place.

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But according to his foreknowledge and perfect plan, he had appointed the apostles for exactly this task and this purpose.

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So recognizing that they submit to the will of God and ask that his will would be for them to continue to speak the gospel with boldness.

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Now, one of the things that I'm curious about here, coming back to John 19, is why

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Pilate presented Jesus before the people as their king.

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They had clearly said they didn't have a king. And then they even get to the end of this exchange with Jesus and Pilate and everybody else present.

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And they say, we have no king but Caesar. And again, this is all to their condemnation.

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It just shows how hard their hearts were. Why in the world were the people of God, the

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Israelites calling a pagan ruler their king? Why were they doing that?

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Why all of a sudden they lost the prophecies that had been made about the holy one who was to come, who would sit on the throne of David and they would submit to him.

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Now they don't even have the future expectation of that king. They have sold themselves out to the devil himself.

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They are submitting themselves to the pagan king of this world, the king of Rome, rather than the king of heaven, the king of heaven.

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They're even turning over to be crucified. So all of this just a massive, dramatic irony.

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But again, this has happened according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God to bring about the salvation of Gentiles because the

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Jews had rejected the Christ. You and I, to this day, we are those

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Gentiles who have turned from sin and believed in Jesus Christ as savior so that we would be saved.

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And again, this all according to God's perfect plan. The people declare

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Caesar as king rather than Jesus as king, not even

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God as king, but they turn to a false god, Caesar himself. Now, again, it's curious that Pilate presented

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Jesus as king. Jesus did say to Pilate when

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Pilate asked him, are you a king? Jesus said, you have said that I am king. This was back in chapter 18, verse 37.

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Jesus says, for this purpose, I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth.

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Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Now, Jesus was also descended from David.

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Whether or not that was known to Pilate, I'm not sure. But nevertheless, you have

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Pilate presenting Jesus before the Jews as king and even calling him such when

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Jesus is crucified. The sign that was hung above him on the cross said, this is the king of the

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Jews. Let's go on in the story. Verse 17. 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

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Golgotha. Now, just kind of a side point here, whenever we think about Jesus carrying his cross to Golgotha, often the picture is he's got this giant cross on his back, but he was not carrying the whole cross vertical and horizontal beam.

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He was only carrying the horizontal beam. That was the only part of the cross that he was carrying. The place where they went to where he was hung, they would have had the the vertical beam there, but he was only carrying the horizontal beam.

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They would have carried it on his shoulders up the hill to the place where he was going to be crucified.

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This was the way anybody who was crucified carried their cross to the place where they were going to be hung. It was the cross bar.

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It was that that horizontal, the short piece of the cross. So Jesus is carrying this to the place of Golgotha.

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And there, verse 18, they crucified him and with him to others, one on one side and one on the other and Jesus between them.

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Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross and it read Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the

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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 and Latin and in Greek.

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Furthermore, Jesus was crucified on a road. I'm going to talk about that next week when we come back to our study of the

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Gospel of John. But it was not like a distant hill so set away from the city that that people would have had to go out of their way to go there and see

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Jesus be crucified. No, he was crucified along a roadway so that people would see him and be afraid they would be afraid of the

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Roman government. And it was there as they passed by Jesus shaking their heads that they read what was on the sign above his head.

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Pilate wrote an inscription and put it on the cross and it read Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the

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Jews. I think in part here he's just kind of fed up with everybody's drama. And so to be a mockery to Jesus, because Pilate doesn't actually think of him as the king of the

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Jews, and also to be a mockery to the Jews themselves who said we have no king but Caesar.

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Pilate writes this sign, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Here's what we do to kings.

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We hang them on the cross because we're not going to let Rome be overthrown.

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You know, Pilate was not threatened by Jesus at all. But nevertheless, this was going to be a a message to the rest of the people that saw this.

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Many of the Jews read this inscription, verse 20, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city.

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And it was written in Aramaic, in Latin and in Greek. So the chief priest of the

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Jews said to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but rather this man said,

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I am the king of the Jews. And Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written.

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And this, again, is according to the providence of God that it would be declared to the whole world,

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Jews and Gentiles alike present there at the crucifixion of Christ, that Jesus is the king of the

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Jews. He is the promised one, the holy Messiah descended from David, who would ascend to the throne, who would establish his throne forever in glory.

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This is he. The king of glory has come. And Pilate announces him as the king of the

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Jews, though he may have thought he was mocking Christ. He was actually speaking the truth.

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And this was written on the sign in Aramaic, in Latin and in Greek. Aramaic was the language of the

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Hebrews. Latin was the official language of the Romans. So Aramaic is the

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Hebrew language. Latin is the Roman language. Greek was the universal language.

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Coin a Greek as established by Alexander the Great. The entire world was to speak

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Greek. So Pilate wrote it in all three languages so that everybody there in Jerusalem would know that this is what happens to anyone who calls themselves a king.

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And though Pilate wasn't aware of it, he was actually declaring the truth. What is truth?

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Pilate said the truth was right there. Jesus Christ, the son of God, king of the Jews, dying on the cross for the sins of the world.

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We're going to stop there and we're going to come back to reading a finishing up chapter 19 and the crucifixion of Christ next week.

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We're getting pretty close to the end here. We've been in a study of the Gospel of John since September and the way things are going.

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That's about the time I'm going to finish up is when I get around to September. So we've been doing this for nearly a year.

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Coming up on on Friday is our 1000th episode. So hope you'll tune in for it.

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This is episode 998 coming to a close. Let us pray.

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Heavenly Father, we know that you had brought together Herod, Pontius Pilate, the

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Gentiles, the people of Israel, the Jews together to do what your plan had predestined to take place, the crucifixion of your son for the sins of the world, for all who would believe from all the nations on earth, that there would be people from every tribe, tongue and culture that would turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ and so live.

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And we see evidence of that even in the world today. May we submit to Christ with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength and with boldness declare the gospel to those who have yet to believe.

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And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

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Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.