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By Pastor Glenn Pease
INTRODUCTION
The
following messages are a commentary on the film of Mel Gibson, The Passion.
They give a deeper insight into the scenes of the movie.
CONTENTS
1. THE SAVIOR IN
GETHSEMANE Based on Matt. 26:30-56
2. LISTEN TO
YOUR WIFE Based on Matt. 27:11‑26
3. A TERRIFYING VICTORY Based on Matt. 27:39-51
4. TO HELL AND
BACK Based on Matt. 27:45‑54
5. THREE HOURS
IN HELL Based on Matt. 27:45‑56
6. SIMON OF
CYRENE Based on Mark 15:15-26
7. GUILTY BUT
PARDONED Based on Luke 23:34
8. LOVE’S RESPONSE
TO HATE Based on Luke 23:34
9. FORGIVENESS OF SIN Based on Luke 23:34
10. THE WORD
OF FAITH Based on Luke 23:39-46
11. THE
PERFECT PROMISE Based on Luke 23:43
12. PILATE'S
PERPLEXING PROBLEM Based on John
18:28-40
13. THE
CRUELTY OF THE CROSS Based on John
19:1‑16
14. I THIRST
Based on John 19:28-29
15. IT IS
FINISHED Based on John 19:28-37
16. THE
REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION Based on John 20:1-18
1. THE
SAVIOR IN GETHSEMANE Based on Matt. 26:30-56
A salesman said to me, “We all know you do not get something
good for nothing.” It turned out to be
very true in regard to what he was selling.
I began to think about this in relationship to the Gospel and concluded
that it is both true and false. Salvation
by grace through faith is the greatest gift man can receive, and he does
nothing to deserve it. He is getting
something for nothing, but if you think a little deeper you see that someone
had to pay for that free gift. In fact,
it was the most costly gift ever purchased, for it cost Jesus unimaginable
agony and His very life blood. In our
text we see the beginning of the payment for our redemption. There was a two-fold aspect of Christ’s
payment for our sin. There was one in
Gethsemane, and the other on Golgotha.
The first was mainly mental suffering, and the second was mainly
physical suffering. Before we enter the
garden we want to look first at-
I. THE SAVIOR’S SONG. v. 30.
We often think of Jesus as a man of sorrows, and that He was,
but we more often fail to see Him as a man of song as well. No religion has been such a religion of song
as Christianity. It began as such from
the beginning. Even before His greatest
sorrow we see Jesus and His disciples singing.
All were doing so except Judas who had lost the song of his life when he
left Jesus. He never sang another
note.
What a delight it would be to hear this Apostolic choir
singing. Do you wonder what it was they
sang? Scholars tell us it is likely
that we have the words to their song.
It was the Passover season and the Jewish custom was to sing Psa. 113 to
118. It is likely then that Psa. 118
was part of their hymn. A heart filled
with song is better prepared to face sorrow.
As we see how rapidly Jesus went from singing to suffering, we see again
how Jesus experienced life just as we do.
He knows from experience how life can have sudden and sharp
contrast. You can be happy in one moment
and discouraged in the next. You can be
singing one minute and sobbing the next.
Jesus had just spoken of His joy, and in a matter of minutes He will be
on His face with strong crying and tears.
Even in the darkest hours the Christian can sing, for God
gives songs in the night. The Apostle
Paul and Silas were in a dark damp dungeon and they sang. The martyrs at the stake often sang as they
were perishing in the flames. The
singing of the saints even in times of great suffering and sorrow has led many
an unbeliever to want to become a follower of the Christ who sang just before
His greatest suffering. If Jesus could
sing just before this, and knowing the cross was soon to follow, then we ought
not to be without a song. Next we see-
II. THE SAVIOR’S SORROW. v. 37-39
The hour which Jesus had so often spoken of was now
approaching. He had always escaped
before because His hour had not yet come.
Now it had come and He was exceedingly sorrowful. The mental stress was so great that Dr. Luke
says He sweat drops of blood to indicate the intensity of it. There are several records of others who had
this experience. The question comes as
to why Jesus was under such stress.
What was this cup that He had to drink that was so horrible to Him?
In verse 39 we see how earnest was His desire, for He fell
on His face before God. There are times
when a man does not ask what is the proper position to pray, but he just falls
flat before God and pours out his heart.
I remember the first time I felt this need to cast myself down. I was in high school and a situation came
about in which I thought my father had drowned. It was near the raging falls and his car was near by but he was
nowhere around. In fear that he had
fallen in I ran to the car, fell on the seat, and cried out to God that my
fears would prove to be false.
Fortunately, they were.
If we have had this experience, it helps to understand
Jesus, but His need was infinitely greater than what any man has ever
experienced. If your heart ever feels
like breaking with a burden to heavy to bear, remember that Jesus understands
from personal experience. When no one
else can understand you know He does.
We sing the song No One Understands Like Jesus, and it is true, for no
one has experienced sorrows on such an infinite scale.
Was it only the death on the cross that He faced? No, for even though this was cruelty at its
worse, and even though all deserted Him, and He was hated and spat upon, whipped
and crowned with thorns, this was not what caused this great sorrow of
Jesus. His anguish in the garden was
basically mental, and it arose out of the fact that He who knew no sin was
going to become sin for us. Can you
begin to grasp what this meant to the pure, holy and righteous soul of
Jesus? To be sin is to be separated
from God, and to be separated from God is to be in hell. Jesus was going to endure hell for us that
we might escape it. It is difficult
enough to be forsaken by friends, but to be forsaken of God is the ultimate
abandonment.
Other men have suffered as much as Jesus did
physically. He did not come just to
bear our pain but to bear our sin, for on Him was laid the iniquity of us all. Strong men have cracked under the burden of
their own sin, but Jesus bore the sin of the whole world. All the seething mass of wickedness from
Adam to the day of judgment was placed upon Him, for His pure soul this was
infinitely greater burden than any physical pain He suffered. What Jesus suffered in Gethsemane is beyond
our comprehension, and we can only say that Jesus bore hell for us.
Adding to His sorrows was the lack of support and sympathy
on the part of His disciples. Jesus,
like all of us, found great comfort in the presence of those who care.
Jesus asked only one thing
of His disciples, and that was that they pray with Him and watch so that no one
would intrude on Him as He prayed. He
wanted to be ready and composed when they came for Him. Here was man’s chance to really be of help
to the suffering humanity of Christ, but they failed. How alone Jesus must have felt when He came and saw them
sleeping.
Jesus had been surrounded by crowds most of His ministry,
but few of them understood Him, and so He had His chosen group and inner
circle, and still He was not understood.
He had to often get alone and commune with His Father. Companionship does not necessarily mean
communion, and Jesus experienced what most of us do at sometime, which is a
sense of loneliness even with others around.
The true picture of loneliness is not a man on the desert alone, but a
man in a crowded railroad station with people bumping him on every side, but
with no one there to meet him.
Loneliness is not just lack of people, but lack of concern and understanding
in the midst of people. W. E. Sangster
told of how he was ordained in New York, and all the others had families and
friends around them and he had no one.
He never felt so alone in his life.
Jesus understands for He became more and more alone as He neared the
cross. Little did His disciples know
that the rest of history was going to be changed by what was happening. They were as unaware of the revolutionary
nature of that hour as Rip Van Winkle was of the Revolution he slept
through.
Just because we are
blind to God’s working does not mean He is not working. God is working out His plan of redemption
even if we are asleep to what He is doing.
When Jesus came the third time He just told them to sleep on, for it was
too late now to give Him support. The
battle is over and they did not support Him, but He does not scold for He
recognizes that the flesh is weak. They
miss their chance to cooperate with God in His great plan. They charged Jesus with not caring when the
storm threatened to sink their boat, but He did care and He awoke and saved
them. Now it was their chance to show
they cared, but they slept through His stormy trial. So often we think God does not care about our needs, but the fact
is, we are the ones who do not care, and we miss opportunities, like the
disciples, to cooperate with God.
In verse 46 Jesus just told them to get up and they would
go. They had missed their opportunity,
but Jesus did not reject them and let their present failure stop them from
being a part of His future plan. Jesus
was sad that they let Him down, but He was not going to let them down. In the midst of His sorrows He was still
fully supportive of them. Next we see-
III. THE SAVIOR’S SUBMISSION. v. 39, 42, 44
Here in a garden of beauty, like the first Adam, Jesus met
the temptation to exercise His own will contrary to that of the Father’s
will. Great was the temptation to
escape the cross. He knew they were
coming for Him, and He could have escaped as He did on other occasions, but
note His attitude: “If it is possible.”
Jesus desired desperately that He not have to become sin, but if it was
the only way it was possible to save man, then He would submit. Three times He prays the same way, just as
Paul asked the Lord three times to remove his thorn in the flesh. Both Jesus and Paul were denied their
deepest desires, but they did not rebel.
They submitted to God’s will.
Submission means to continue in the way of God’s will even when God says
no.
It was not possible
that men could be saved by any other means than the cross. If it were possible, God would certainly
have granted His Son's earnest request.
Any plan of salvation that denies the necessity of the cross is a false
plan. Jesus submitted to God’s will and
said, “If I must go through the dark to get to the light, then I will go.” He did not try to bend God’s will to fit
His, but submitted Himself to God’s will.
Jesus submitted to God’s plan in the garden, and this gained Him the victory
which enabled Him to lay down His life and go to the cross voluntarily in
peace. Jesus had His mental battle all
won before He entered His work so that all would be voluntary and calmly
accepted. The real battles of life are
spiritual, they are between serving our own will or surrendering to God’s
will. Jesus had conquered His will and
surrendered to the will of the Father in the garden, and so He could freely lay
down His life. Finally we see-
IV. THE SAVIOR’S SURRENDER. v. 47-56
Why would they come with swords and staves? Jesus was someone to be reckoned with, for
only a few days before He drove men out of the temple single handed, and
escaped before they were able to arrest Him.
John records that those coming to arrest Him now were so amazed at His
courage and calmness that they fell backwards when He said, “I am He whom you
seek.” They were not sure He would
practice what He preached in turning the other cheek and loving His enemies.
How Judas could betray Him with a kiss is beyond us. It was a common greeting, of course, and it
was easier to see him doing this in the dark than if he just pointed to
Jesus. What Judas did was terrible and
yet Jesus called him friend in verse 50.
Spurgeon says that we might have excused Peter if he had struck Judas
instead of the servant Malchus, but Jesus not only taught us to love those who
hate us, He practiced it. His last
miracle before the cross was for an enemy, as He healed the ear of
Malchus. He gave practical proof of the
sincerity of His last word on the cross, which was “Father forgive them.”
Peter, as usual, tries to help out in a wrong way by
striking Malchus. He showed his desire
to keep his boast of dying for Jesus, for by doing this he did risk his life. Jesus tells him to put his weapon away and He
heals Malchus. Tradition tells us that he became a believer. If it was just a matter of power Jesus would
not need His disciples to fight for Him, for He had 12 legions of angels that
would have rescued Him. That represents
about 72 thousand angels, and we know that it only took one to slay an army of
185 thousand in the Old Testament.
There was no lack of power at the command of Jesus, but power could not
save man, only love could do that, and Jesus laid down His life in love.
How anxious the angels must have been to see their Lord
being treated by a mob as if He were a common criminal. But Jesus did not call upon this power, for
He must give himself up or give us up.
The disciples saw it later, and now we see it too. Let us thank God that Jesus did not let the
failure of His disciples lead Him to call it quits, or to call upon the angels
to deliver Him. Thank God for that
victory He gained in Gethsemane that led Him to go to the cross for our salvation.
The paradox here is that this place of terrible agony and pain
became also a place of comfort for our Lord as he headed for the cross. Gerald
Kennedy says that in France at one of the great healing shrines where thousands
of people go each year they have a number of hotels and motels to accommodate
them. One hotel is called
Gethsemane. But the additional words on
the sign made it seem anything but an appropriate name, for underneath were the
words, “With all modern comforts.” My
first thought was of the great contrast between Gethsemane and comfort. They did not fit together, but then as you
examine the record you realize this is not the case at all.
Jesus went to Gethsemane, not just on that Thursday night
before the cross, but often to be alone in the midst of its beauty to commune
with His Father. And even this last
time, though it will be filled with an agony that is beyond our grasp, it ended
with Jesus being fully comforted and committed to the will of God, which meant
the cross. Gethsemane was both a place
of trial and triumph. It was a place of
comfort after all, and because of the great victory Jesus won there, it is a
place of modern comfort as we who benefitted by that victory look back. It was a battleground, but also a victory
garden, for here Jesus conquered the last temptation to avoid the cross.
LISTEN
TO YOUR WIFE Based on Matt. 27:11‑26
Is there a man alive whose wife has never said, "You
should have listened to me?" The
pages of history are red with the blood of men who should have listened to
their wives. Calpurnia pleaded with
Caesar on that fatal Ides of March not to leave the house. She had a restless night, and three times
she cried out in her dream for help. It
was a sign to her, and she urged her stubborn husband to heed her warning. But Caesar was not about to join that
pathetic minority who give credence to the silly feelings of their wives. He would rather die than admit a woman's
intuition had any validity, and so he went out for the last time and died.
In our text we are looking at another Roman leader who was
equally heedless of his wife's warning.
Claudia Procula was her name, and she was the wife of Pilate. She was the
only person who came to the defense of Jesus while he was on trial. Jesus would not defend Himself, but Claudia
had a dream about Jesus, and she sent word to her husband not to have anything
to do with this innocent man.
In typical macho fashion Pilate ignored the message and made the
biggest blunder of his life. He sent
Jesus to the cross. Because he did not
listen to his wife he has been despised all through history on a level next to
Judas. Jesus would have died anyway,
for it was His plan to do so, and the Jewish leaders would have defied
Pilate. Nevertheless, by listening to
his wife he could have become a noble hero.
There could have been St. Pilate churches all through history, and
Pilate could have become a popular Christian name. But Pilate blew it because he would not listen to his wife.
Her lone voice said to Pilate, He is innocent, and it is wrong
to condemn an innocent man. Don't do
it. But the loud voice of the mob
mobilized by the enemies of Jesus cried out for His blood. Who do you listen to‑a mere wife or
mean crowd? The majority of men in Pilate's sandals would probably make the
same choice. What does a woman know
about the ways of the world and political maneuvering? Am I supposed to make major judgments based on her dreams? Nonsense!
I have to deal with political realities, and this clamoring crowd
is no dream. These people are out for blood, and if I don't give it to them it
may be mine they will be after. I know
the man is innocent, and nothing He has done is worthy of death. Yet what is to be gained by sparing one
innocent man and making a mass of people mad at you. Better one innocent man dies unjustly than risk many being hurt or
killed in a riot.
Pilate did resist the injustice before him. He tried to get Jesus released, but they
choose Barabbas instead. He did wash
his hands of the whole ordeal and say I am innocent of this man's blood. But in the final analysis he refused to
listen to his wife, and handed Jesus over to be crucified. He is now infamous for being the man who
sent the Savior of the world to the cross.
From the beginning of the second century Christians have
recited the Apostle Creed which begins, "I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth and
in Jesus Christ His Son who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the
Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate." Caesar only died because he did not listen to his wife. Pilate lives forever in infamy because he
did not listen to his wife. It is high risk to ignore your wife. If this verse tells us nothing else, it
tells us that a wife may have insight that a husband lacks, and, therefore, it
is wise to listen to her.
This dream Claudia had spoke to her, and she made it clear to
Pilate, but he did not listen. It
speaks to us also and we are wise if we give heed. This dream did not come to Pilate himself, but came through his
wife. God could have just as easily had
Pilate dream the dream, but He did not do so.
He gave the dream to Claudia, and she, because she was a loving and
concerned wife, sent the message of it to her husband. God makes it clear that we do not get all
truth and guidance directly. Often we
get it through others who love us and want God's best for us. It is a terrible pride that keeps men from
listening to their wives or others who care about them. If God wants to tell us something a man
thinks, he can talk to me directly, and not go through my wife, mother,
grandmother, or any other person in my
life.
Claudia obviously loved her stubborn husband or she would not
have sent him the warning. But Pilate
was not open to advice and guidance from such a source. Woe to the man who will not listen to the
dreams of others as possible guidance for him.
He would not go to school
Where the teacher was his
wife.
Thus, he became a fool,
And missed his greatest
chance in life.
Pilate did not pay any attention to the dream, and the fact
is, most people pay it no attention, but we want to focus on it, for it was the
only positive note in the journey of Christ to the cross. Harold Bell Wright in, The 13 Truly Great
Things Of Life says, "Of the 13 truly great things of life, dreams are
first." He goes on to say that
what many of us become begins with our dreams.
This is certainly true for Pilate's wife. She would have been a famous lady of her day, but her lasting
fame for all time was due to this dream she had that put her into God's
revelation.
It is a mystery why God allowed the record of her dream to be
recorded by Matthew. It almost seems
totally irrelevant, for Pilate does not seem to have been impressed, and as far
as we know it had no effect on the outcome of the trial of Jesus. We would not expect it to prevent the cross,
for that was the goal of Jesus. He would not inspire a dream to prevent His own
goal. The seeming irrelevance of the
dream is what lead Martin Luther to the conviction that the dream must have
been inspired by Satan as a last ditch effort to stop Jesus from going to the
cross. The evidence will not support such a conviction.
Pilate already knew that the Jewish leaders had handed Jesus
over out of envy. He was working for the release of Jesus, but gave in to the
persistent demands of the Jewish leaders and their rabble‑rousers. The dream of his wife only confirmed what he already knew, but it
did not altar the outcome because of the bitter hatred of the leaders of
Israel. The point is, whether God or
Satan inspired the dream, it does not
seem to have had any measurable impact on the situation for good or evil.
So why is it here? For
one answer we can look at Matthew's interest in dreams. He is the dream
collector of the New Testament. The
word for dream here is ONAR, and it is used just six times in the New Testament,
and all six come from the pen of Matthew.
If not for Matthew's interest in dreams we would have none of the four
references to the dreams of Joseph by which he was guided to receive the baby
Jesus as virgin born, and by which he was led to flee to Egypt, and later to
bring Jesus back to Israel. The wise
men were also warned in a dream to flee from Herod. Five of the six dreams deal
with the birth and childhood of Jesus.
Only the dream of Pilate's wife deals with the other end of his life‑his
trial and death.
What are we to make of these facts?
1. It is the only dream in the Bible of a woman.
2. It is the only dream concerning the end of Christ's life.
3. It was a disturbing dream that was more like a nightmare.
It is only speculation, but here is what Edwin Markham, the
poet, felt Claudia's dream was all about.
It appeared first in 1902 on the cover of an American magazine called
Success. It is to long to share it all,
but here is the essence of it.
Oh, let the Galilean go,
strike off his cruel bond:
Behold the fathomless
silence and those eyes that look
beyond.
There's more than mortal in
that face, ‑than earthly in this
hour:
The fate that now is in the
bud will soon be in the flower.
O Pilate, I have suffered
many things in dream today.
Because of this strange
teacher of the strait and mystic way.
I saw Him hanging on a
cross, where the stones of Golgoth
are:
Then laid, at last, in a
guarded tomb, under the evening star.
I saw him rise again one dawn
and down a garden go,
Shining like great Apollo
white, our god in the silver bow:
And then the wind of vision
tore the veil of time apart,
And love of him ran
greatening from camel‑path to mart;
His story was a wonder on
the eager lips of men,
The scourged Galilean walked
the roads of earth again.
I saw Jerusalem go down
before the wrath of spears,
And turn into a field of
stones under the trampling years.
World‑battles roared
around this man, the world's myster‑
ious king;
But over the storm of the
ages I could hear the seven stars
sing.
Rome crumpled and I heard a
voice across the ruin laugh;
A power had risen on the
world, shaking the thrones as chaff.
And down the ages ran your
name, a byword and a jeer:
"He suffered under
Pilate!" sounded ever in my ear.
The deeds of some are clean
forgot, but yours did breathe
... ... and live;
Some are forgiven in the
end, but none could you forgive.
It is, as I said, only speculation, but even the great Spurgeon
agrees that it is likely Claudia saw in her dream the crucifixion. She states clearly that she suffered, and
what could her suffering had been but the vision of this innocent man being
crucified unjustly. Claudia would have
been the first person to witness the crucifixion. It was in a dream, but it was very real. Spurgeon goes on to speculate that she may
have also seen in her dream that this just man would one day be sitting on a
great white throne judging the world.
This man her husband was about to judge would be the judge of all men,
and her husband was about to condemn the only man worthy to judge all men. Why else would she be so disturbed, and why
would she rush her message to Pilate?
It could not wait until he came home for he was making the most
important decision of his life.
The second fact is that the dream is a valid channel by which
God has communicated to both men and women.
The dream is still a possible channel for God's guidance in our lives. It would be folly to suggest that all dreams
have some significance, but it is equal folly to dismiss them as being
irrelevant. The great scholar Dr.
Benjamin B. Warfield of Princeton Seminary wrote in, Hasting's Dictionary Of
Christ And The Gospels, an article on dreams.
In it he makes this statement, "We surely can find no difficulty in
recognizing the possibly and propriety of occasional Divine employment of
dreams for the highest ends."
What he is saying is revelation by dreams is real but
rare. We are not to look to dreams as a
primary source of guidance. God gave us
His word for that. But He may on
occasion give us guidance through our dreams.
Pilate's wife could have dismissed her dream as a meaningless nightmare,
but she took it seriously and sent a message to her husband because of it. Was she a foolish woman to do so? Not at all.
According to Christian tradition she became a believer because of her
dream. So we learn it is not only wise
to listen to our wives: It is wise to
listen to our dreams, and recognize they may be conveying to us a message from
God.
A. J. Gordon, the famous Baptist preacher and author of the
late 19th century, had a dream that
changed his whole ministry. He saw a
stranger come into his church while he was preaching, and after the service the
stranger just disappeared, but he knew it was Jesus. He realized that if Jesus was in his service he had to preach in
such a way that his Lord would be pleased.
He wrote, "It was a vision of the deepest reality. Apparently we are most awake to God when we
are asleep to the world."
John Newton, author of Amazing Grace and many other great
hymns, was a captain of a ship when he had a strange dream about a ring that
was to keep him secure. But he was ridiculed
for trusting in that ring, so he took it off and threw it into the sea. Then a stranger came and offered to dive to
the depths and recover the ring. When
he came up with it he did not give it back.
He said, "I will keep it for you and be forever by your side." He knew it was Jesus, and when he awoke he
left his life as a sea captain and became a pastor. He was one of the most famous pastor's in history, and it was a
dream that changed his whole life.
History is full of such life changing dreams, and Pilate
could have been a hero had he listened to the dream of his wife. Modern Jews have seriously considered having
a retrial of Jesus and reversing Pilate's decision. There was so much that was illegal that the most mediocre lawyer
could have secured the release of Jesus. The dream could have done it too. The dream was the only defense Jesus had,
but it was enough if Pilate would have listened. He is innocent, he is faultless, stainless, and guiltless. God's plea for His Son was, "Not
guilty!"
Claudia believed her
dream and knew Jesus was being framed.
Because she believed, she, the granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus,
went on to become famous for the serving of Christ, while Pilate went on to
become infamous for the suffering of Christ. The difference being, one believed and the other disbelieved the
dream. Because Claudia gave heed to her dream she wrote part of the New
Testament. It is only a sentence, but
that one sentence is a powerful testimony.
She is the only female who wrote part of the New Testament. No man spoke up for Jesus. Only one woman did, and she said He is just
and righteous, and not worthy of the vile treatment He is getting. Without this one sentence coming from a
woman's dream, there would have been
not a single word of testimony in Christ's defense.
I really don't know what difference it makes, but God went out
of His way to get this one testimony in His Sons defense. However irrelevant it may seem to us, it was
important to God, and Pilate's wife was apparently the only mind God could use
to accomplish this task. The mind of
one woman was open to receive this revelation. That is why we need to listen to
our wives. Sometimes they are the only
ones listening to God. Let me share
more illustrations of this reality. David was about to act in anger and kill
the fool Nabal for his refusal to help feed his men in an emergency
situation. Abigail pleaded with him not
to do this great evil. David listened
to the voice of this woman who later became his wife. He calmed down, and got control of his emotions, and he realized
she had saved him from folly. He said,
"Blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day
from coming to shed blood.."
Abraham Lincoln listened to his wife Mary Todd when she
refused to go to Oregon. This kept him
in Illinois where the summons reached him to go to Washington where he became
the President of the United States. Had
she not intervened, G. Hall Todd says, "Lincoln might have known only the
virtual oblivion of a Pacific coast outpost." President Theodore Roosevelt once remarked that there had never
been a time when he failed after listening to the intuitive suggestions of his
wife. We don't want to give a false
impression that wives are not fallen sinners, for they are. Job refused to listen to his wife when she
urged him to curse God and die, and this was clearly God's will that he not
listen to her. Wives are not the
infallible voice of God. It is just
that they can be a channel of God's wisdom when other channels are not open.
Therefore, it is just practical wisdom to listen to your wife. She may not
always be right or wise, but it is always wise to at least listen.
3. A TERRIFYING VICTORY Based on Matt. 27:39-51
I remember learning a poem when I was a boy, which you will
no doubt recognize. The first lines
were, “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.” I have been told that this poem is out of
date, for the scientifically educated modern child can say, “Twinkle, twinkle
little star, I know precisely what you are.”
Then they can go on and describe how much oxygen, hydrogen and other
elements compose the star. Because of
the rapid advance in knowledge, that which was mysterious and awe-inspiring to
one generation may be understood common knowledge to the next generation.
Good Friday, however, brings us to a subject where men of
all ages stand in awe, for it brings us to the cross. Ever since that awesome event on Golgotha’s hill men have looked
at the cross and thought, “Wonder of wonders that Jesus so loved me.” Certainly any believer has experienced
something of the feeling of the poet who wrote,
I wonder as I wander out
under the sky
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die,
For poor on’ry people like
you and like I.
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
Martin Luther one day determined to understand the cry of
Christ from the cross. He sat down to meditate,
and for a long time without food or drink and little movement he concentrated
on the cross. Finally, he broke his
silence with a cry of amazement: “God
forsaken of God, who can understand that?”
No one since has ever claimed to fully understand, and we shall not
begin to grasp it all, but if we cannot exhaust it, we can at least examine it,
and I trust go away with a deeper understanding of the meaning of the cross.
THE TEMPORARY TRAGEDY AROUND
THE CROSS. v. 39-44
I use the word temporary because even the hate and evil of
those who crucified Jesus was forgiven, and they too were free to accept the
pardon, which He purchased on that cross.
We first see those who passed by.
The cross was on a hill near a main road going into Jerusalem, and so
many going to and from could see the cross.
Many were passing by on the way to the city, possibly even to worship in
the temple. They would see Him who
said, “Destroy this temple and in 3 days I will raise it up.” Seeing Him they cried out, “Where is your
boasting now? Come on and let us see
some of that power of yours. Come down
and show us.” There was not a sign of
sympathy as they went on their way totally unconcerned about His
suffering. It would have made no
difference if they had seen Him in a ditch having been beaten by robbers. They did not care, for how could His
suffering affect them. There was not a
Good Samaritan among them.
People have not changed, for they are still self-centered,
and only things that interest them and profit them are of any concern. They do not see the sufferings of
others. We have to ask ourselves if we
were on that road to Jerusalem, would we have been concerned? Are we so wrapped up in our own problems
that we do not see the burdens others are bearing? John Wesley had to learn the hard way. He rebuked a man in anger for his small contribution to a worthy
cause. He knew the man had a good
income and it angered him that he gave so little. The man looked him in the eye and said, “I know a man who buys in
the market once a week and boils parsnips in water and lives on that all
week.” “Who is that?” asked
Wesley. “I am that man.” Wesley responded, “I don’t understand.” The man explained, “I made many debts before
I became a child of God, and now my goal is to repay them.” Wesley thought only of his perspective, and
he did not see from that man’s perspective.
So it was for those who passed by the cross.
This tragic self-centeredness is seen even more clearly in
their cry for Him to come down and then they would believe. This is the height of self-centered
pride. Man is dictating the terms by
which he will believe. Man is demanding
that God conform to his will or he will not believe. People still do this, and they say if God will do such and such,
then they will believe. Leslie
Weatherhead tried this and when it failed he woke up to realize he was reducing
God to a magic rabbit’s foot. He realized
that God is not a cosmic slave who runs our errands. We can thank God He did not answer that foolish prayer and come
down from the cross, for had He done so we would have had to take His
place. Tragic is their blind
self-centered request, but more tragic would it have been to have had that
request granted.
They cried, “Save yourself,” or in other words, “Be like us
and put self first and second, and everyone else last.” What they said amounted to, “Stop saving us
and we will believe.” Thank God that
Jesus knew if He would save others, He could not save Himself. By dying on the cross Jesus made the tragedy
around the cross only temporary.
THE TERRIBLE TRIUMPH ON THE
CROSS. v. 45-46
The cross was a victory, but it was not an easy
battle. We cannot begin to grasp the
meaning of these verses, but they are so significant that we must try. Jesus had hung on the cross from 9 until
noon, and then came three hours of darkness and silence. The clamoring of people stopped. There was no more shouting and
reviling. Men suddenly feel that things
have been taken out of their hands, and something is going on that is deeper
than they can know.
What was the darkness?
Some say it was an eclipse, or poetically the sympathy of nature, or
God’s expression of sorrow. None of these
are likely as an explanation. G.
Campbell Morgan feels these 3 hours are the most significant of the whole of
account of the crucifixion. In that
period all the forces of Satan, the prince of darkness, were gathered together
to quench the Light of Life, and Jesus had to face him alone. He was forsaken by family, friends,
followers, and now when He most desperately needed Him, He was forsaken even by
His Father. This was that which caused
Jesus to sweat drops of blood in Gethsemane.
This was the cup He so dreaded to drink. He became sin for us, and was forsaken by God to be left in the
hands of Satan. No one ever knew such
darkness. Daniel went into the lion’s
den, but God was there. Shadrack,
Meshack, and Abed-nego went into the fiery furnace, but God was there. Jesus went into the den of Satan and the
fires of hell, but no one was there, and He was all alone.
The Apostle’s Creed says that Jesus descended into hell
during the 3 days in the grave, but it seems that if Jesus ever went to hell it
was in these 3 hours of darkness, for what is hell but separation from
God. Here is the only time where Jesus
was forsaken by the Father. If Satan
could have held Him, the light of the world would have gone out forever. It is easy to see the terror side of these
words, but where is the triumphant side?
This is seen in the fact that Jesus has conquered the darkness and the
light continues to shine. The words are
past tense, and they are spoken, not in the hour of terror, but after that
hour. Both the Greek here and the
Septuagint of Psa. 22:1 are past tense.
Matthew says it was about the 9th hour, and so it was at the
end of darkness that Jesus said, “My God, my God why did you forsake me?”
There were no words during the 3 hours of darkness, but now
at the end the Father returns and Jesus cries out to Him, “Why did you leave
me?” It is as if I left my son in a
dark room and for several hours of terror he sits in fear. Finally, I open the door and he cries out,
“Daddy, daddy why did you leave me here?”
He does not cry out until I return.
We see Jesus coming through this ordeal, and He is reconciled with the
Father. God and man were reconciled on
the cross, and Jesus had to be reconciled with His Father to make this possible
for all men. Jesus had successfully
atoned for the sin of the world. The
price of man’s redemption has been paid, and now it is possible for all to come
to the Father, for Jesus is now the way.
We could never have known the price He paid had He not uttered
these words. So great is the price that
some cannot believe it, and they say Jesus is only quoting Psa. 22 in
delirium. No one can understand such a
sacrifice, for no one has ever gone to hell and back. No one ever could but Jesus, for He was the only perfect
sacrifice that could take our sin and still return from that realm of
separation from God. One thing we can
understand is why God, after seeing His Son pay such a price, is a consuming
fire to all who trample under foot the blood of the cross. You cannot take the cross too seriously.
But none of the
ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed,
Nor how dark was the night
That the Lord passed through
Ere He found His sheep that
was lost.
4. TO
HELL AND BACK Based on Matt. 27:45‑54
One of the greatest paradoxes of history is the story of the
young English sailor by the name of Noble.
His job was to deliver a large cannon from Portsmouth, England to Boston
in the Colonies in the mid 1700's. After
two days on the ship HMS INTREPID, they
encountered heavy weather. Ensign Noble
hurriedly secured the cannon thinking these ropes should hold it, for it
doesn't look like that much of a storm.
But he was wrong. It was so
intense that the cannon broke loose and began to rumble across the deck, and
they could hear the sound of wood splintering below. Ensign Noble came on deck just as the loose weapon was rolling
toward two sailors who were busy trying to untangle some sails. He threw himself in front of the cannon and
stopped it before it hit its shipmates, but both his legs were broken by the
weight of the cannon. This is where the
saying "Under the gun" came from.
The next day, the entire crew assembled for a special ceremony
as the captain of the ship bestowed on ensign Noble his countries highest award
for heroism. He was in great pain as
the cheers went up, and the captain pinned on the metal. But then the captain called for silence, for
he had a more solemn duty to perform.
Since the young ensign was the cause for the problem in the first place
for not securing the cannon properly, the captain pronounced him guilty of
dereliction of duty and sentenced him to die before a firing squad; the
sentence to be carried out immediately.
He had just become a hero for saving lives, and then was shot for being
guilty of endangering lives. What a
paradox! He was a hero and a condemned
criminal at the same time.
This same perplexing paradox confronts us as we look at the
cross. Is Jesus dying as our hero
saving us from the consequences of sin?
Yes he is, and that is why we glory in the cross. On the other hand, is he dying because he
deserved to die, and was actually guilty?
Look at the circumstantial evidence against Jesus.
1. He was betrayed by one of his closest companions. It is suspicious when one of your own inner
circle betrays you. It hints at
something being known that is not available to the public.
2. The rest of his disciples fled and did not fight to release their
master. There seems to be great doubt about his claims when he is so treated by
his core group.
3. The highest court in the land convicted him of blasphemy. These were the most godly and learned
leaders of Israel. If they can't be
trusted, who can?
4. The mob of common people chose a known murderer to be released
instead of Jesus. They wanted Barabbas
set free and clamored for the crucifixion of Jesus.
Now this circumstantial evidence does not convince us because
we know they were all blind, and Satan was pulling their strings. They were mere puppets for the forces of
evil in their sinister plot to kill the only truly innocent man whoever
lived. But then we come to the fourth
word of Jesus on the cross, and we are shocked for it seems that God, the
ultimate judge, has reviewed all of this evidence and agrees with the
sentence. The supreme court of the
universe let's the lower court's judgment stand.
When Jesus cries out, "My God, My God, why hast thou
forsaken me!" He admits he has
been forsaken by the one Person we expected to be his supporter to the
end. But God cast his vote with the
rest and says, guilty. How could his
sinless Son be so godlessly guilty that he was worthy of the cross? How can our Savior hero be abandoned as a
guilty criminal? The answer is, Jesus
became our substitute. He took our
place and became as guilty as the sinners he died for. Paul put it clearly in II Cor. 5:21,
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God."
What a paradox! The
sinless one becomes the very embodiment of sin, and thus, is worthy of all the
judgment that sin deserves. Jesus was,
in fact, guilty of the sin of the whole world.
He was God‑forsaken because he was the object of all God's wrath
on sin. He was worthy of all that sin
deserved, and this means hell and total separation from God. The greatest punishment of history was
inflicted on Jesus because he was guilty.
He was as guilty as the sin he bore, and he bore the sins of the
world. You may never have owed anybody
a dime in your life, but if you take on my debts and the debts of others, you
are responsible to pay them. Jesus
never sinned, but when he took on your sin and mine, he was responsible to pay
the penalty. Innocent? Yes!
But still as guilty as sin. In
the cross we have the perfect paradox, for we have two complete opposites, but
both are true at the same time. He was
innocent and guilty.
All of this background explains the most mysterious words ever
uttered by Jesus, which is the fourth word from the cross about being forsaken
by God. God forsaken by God! The Son abandoned by the Father! It can only make sense in the light of Jesus
being made sin and becoming guilty for all the sin of the world. Spurgeon said, "At that moment the
finite soul of the man Christ Jesus came into awful contact with the infinite
justice of God." It was like two
incompatible chemicals coming together that cause an explosion, and when the
holiness of God confronted the soul bearing all the sin of the world, he was
repulsed and abandoned that soul even though it was the soul of his own
Son.
Had Jesus not suffered this abandonment he would not have paid
for our sin, for that was the just penalty.
He had to drink the full cup of judgment, and drink it dry to the last
drop or man would still have hell to pay.
Jesus could not atone for sin half way.
He had to go all the way or there was no point in going any of the way.
If you are going to build a bridge only half way across a river, you
just as well not bother, for half a bridge is not an improvement over no bridge
at all. Half an atonement for sin would be equally worthless. Had Jesus never been forsaken by God to
endure hell for us, he never could have said the words, "It is
finished." What good would it be
had he said, "It is half done?"
So this horrible word out of the heart of a terrorized Savior
is, in fact, good news. It is a paradox
that such an awful experience can be the foundation for good news, but it
is. Because Jesus was forsaken we can
count on his promise, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He took all the forsakenness necessary, and
now can assure all who come to him that they will never need to taste of hell
and be God forsaken. There is no need,
for that penalty has been fully paid.
Because of Jesus, man owes nothing to the kingdom of darkness. Hell is paid off, and man is debt free in
Christ.
The fact that there was three hours of darkness before Jesus
spoke this word reveals he had been in the darkness of hell, and the fact that
his next word was, "I thirst" is symbolic of this as well. The one request of the rich man in hell was
for a drink of water, or even one drop.
Darkness and thirst are the two experiences of Jesus as he spoke these
words. He was God‑forsaken in
darkness, and He was thirsty. Jesus
was in hell for you and me.
Why did they
nail him to Calvary's tree?
Why? Tell me, why was he there?
Jesus the Helper, the
Healer, the Friend,
Why? Tell me, why was he there?
All my iniquities on him
were laid,
He nailed them all to the
tree;
Jesus the debt of my sin
fully paid,
He paid the ransom for me.
And what was the price? It was hell. Is there hell on earth?
There was for Jesus, for in those three agonizing hours of darkness
Jesus experienced literal hell, which is separation from God that leaves one
absolutely alone. This word is Jesus'
Et tu Brute! as the Father joins all
the others in forsaking him, leaving him to pay the penalty for the world's sin
alone.
Hundreds of thousands of sermons have been preached on these
words of despair, but no one pretends to be able to explain their depths fully,
for we would have to go through hell ourselves to grasp them, and Jesus did
this so we would never have to know or experience this depth of separation from
God. Spurgeon says it for all the great
preachers of history, "Well may I tell
you that this unutterable darkness, this hiding of the Divine face,
expresses more of the woes of Jesus than words can ever tell."
These three hours were the longest three hours of all history,
for in them Jesus endured the eternal judgment on all sin. If time goes fast when you are having fun,
how slow it must go to get through three hours of God forsakenness. But keep in mind that before the cross
experience was over, and before Jesus died, he was back in the light of fellowship
with God. He died saying, "Father
into thy hands I commend my spirit."
He was only forsaken for three hours, but it had to seem an eternity to
Jesus who had never been out of fellowship with his Father for all eternity. There had never been a time like this in the
infinite past, nor will there ever be in the infinite future. Here, and here only, for three hours we see
the most momentous event in all the history of the universe. God was
enduring hell to make it possible for man to escape hell.
This was the cup Jesus so dreaded drinking, but he yielded,
for there was no other way to save man.
Jesus went to hell and back to save us.
The magnitude of God's love is here revealed to be so far beyond our comprehension
that all we can do is stand in awe. The
full answer to why God forsook Jesus is incomprehensible, but the essence of it
is this: He forsook his Son that He
might forgive fallen mankind, and have many sons and daughters in his eternal
kingdom.
I do not know, I cannot tell
What pains he had to bear.
I only know, it was for me
He hung and suffered there.
The way to heaven was
through hell, not for us, but for Jesus who had to endure our hell that we
might enter heaven.
Martin Luther wrote, "So then gaze at the heavenly
picture of Christ who descended into hell for your sake and was forsaken by God
as one eternally damned.....In that picture your hell is defeated..." You can be assured that after paying such a
price Jesus will fight to redeem as many as possible. That is why his final words were to go into all the world and
preach the Gospel. Jesus is not willing
that any should perish and suffer their own hell, when he has already suffered
it for them.
Evangelism is not a top priority with those who have not paid
anything for men to be saved. Jesus
paid three hours of hell, and for the infinite and innocent Son of God that was
a price beyond calculation. No wonder
it is a top priority with him. Only as
we begin to grasp something of the cost that Jesus paid can we begin to see why
it is so important that we care to win those for whom he died. "There is now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ," says Paul.
But what about those not in Christ?
They shall face the judgment of God.
His lightning of judgment will not strike twice in the same place, and
so all who are in Christ are safe forever.
In him there will never be another drop of the cup to drink. He drank it all. But outside of Christ people face judgment.
Imagine bombs falling on the city and you know where there is
a safe bomb shelter where all who are there are safe. Would you not share that good news with those in danger as they
hear the sirens screaming? So we need
to sense the urgency of telling people of what Jesus provided for them: a shelter in the time of storm‑a storm
that can sweep them into the abyss of judgment. Sure it is hard and inconvenient, and there is a price to pay,
but what is all this in the light of what Christ paid? To complain after what we have received in
Christ by his sacrifice is like winning the lottery, and then complaining that
you had to go out and feed the meter to collect it.
We should be embarrassed to ever complain that it is hard to
obey Christ. In light of this fourth
word from the cross, the only response can be, so what if it is hard! If he suffered hell for us, we can suffer
hard for him. In this word we see the
power of love as nowhere else. God so
loved the world, and here is the measure of that word so. How much is so? He so loved that he gave his only begotten Son. But even that great text of John 3:16 does
not tell us how fully he gave, and how completely the Son gave. Only in this fourth word do we get to
see how measureless was his love. God could have blown up the whole universe
in a mega‑explosion that would make a super movie seem like a lady finger
firecracker, and it would not have saved a single soul. Power was not the answer to the sin
problem. Only love could do the job,
and Jesus did it. He so loved that he
bore the hell of what all sinners were worthy of, and this made it possible for
all sinners to be set free from condemnation.
Even though this was the greatest act of love ever, and the
greatest show on earth, there will be no Jesus II, or a series of sequels, for
what he did he did once and for all, and there is nothing more to do to
accomplish what is necessary for all men to be saved. That is why he could say before he died, "It is
finished." Hell has no claim on
those in Christ, for all penalty has been paid in full. This is the only one of the seven last words
that is recorded twice in the Gospels.
Both Matthew and Mark record it.
None of the other six are recorded twice. This is the central word of the seven. There are three before and three after. Even these trivial details support the view that this is the most
profound sentence ever uttered. Herbert
Lockyer, author of dozens of books on the Bible, says of these words, "The
most appalling utterance that has ever fallen upon human ears." Yet when we see the depth of love that led
to this being uttered, we can add they are also the most appealing that has
ever fallen upon human ears. Because he
uttered them no one else ever has too.
Paul makes it clear in Gal. 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from
the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written,
"Cursed is everyone who is hung on a cross." What a perplexing complex paradox. The only sinless one ever to live, and yet
he was made sin for us. The only
perfect one ever to live, and yet he is cursed for us. This fourth word is the cry of the cursed,
and the despair of the damned. To
compare the death of Jesus with any other, as if he was just another martyr, is
to reduce the sun by comparing it with a candle, or to reduce the sequoia by
comparing it with a twig. To put Jesus
in the same category with any other death is to totally miss the significance
of the cross.
This word reveals the ultimate identification with man. In the incarnation Jesus took on the nature
and the body and the mind of man. But
now he takes upon himself even the depravity of man, and he becomes sin and,
therefore, liable for all the penalty that sin deserves. He was in this state fit to be forsaken by
God, for he represented all that God hated.
The scourge, the thorns, the
deep disgrace,
These thou couldst bear nor
once repine,
But when Jehovah veiled his
face,
Unutterable pangs were
thine.
Jesus was now feeling the full cost of the incarnation and his
identification with man. When he was
born in the night the sky was filled with holy light, but when he died in mid‑day
the heavens turn to horrible night.
Being born was indeed a radical step down for the Son of God, but it was
a mere step in comparison to the plunge he now takes into the very pit of
hell. The principle God follows is, the
lower we go in humility the higher we rise in God's eyes. This explains why Jesus was exalted to the
highest place and given the name above all names, for he plunged to the lowest
depth conceivable.
What a contrast between the biography of the Savior and
Satan. Satan was among the highest and
in pride sought to go higher to take the place of God, and he was plunged to
the pit of hell in judgment. Jesus was
the highest but was willing to go to the lowest level of hell to fulfill God's
plan, and the result is he ends up the highest in the universe. The paradox is that Jesus has the record at
both ends. We know his is the highest
name, and he is equal with God, and there is none higher. But seldom do we think about it that Jesus
was also the lowest. There will never
be anyone lower in hell than Jesus was, for no matter how awful they were, they
bear judgment for their own awfulness only.
Jesus bore the awfulness of the world, and, therefore, takes the record
of being the worst to ever enter hell, for he entered it with the sin of the
world on him. The lowest place in hell
will be ever held by our redeemer, and because of that price he will hold
forever the highest place in heaven.
Jesus knows what it is to be on the bottom of the pile, and
the lowest man on the totem pole. He
also knows what it is to be number one, and king of the mountain. He holds all records and they will never be
broken. What is startling is that Jesus
knows by experience what it is to be lost, and not just lost in the woods, but
to be cursed and damned, and God forsaken, and literally lost as a rejected
soul. These three hours of darkness
were not just the dark ages for Jesus, they were the doomed ages. He experienced lostness first hand, and he
did it that we might never have to experience it. We can experience saved-ness and never lostness because he took
our lostness for us. Robert M'Cheyne
wrote,
When I stand before the throne
Dressed in beauty not my
own.
When I see Thee as Thou art;
Love Thee with un-sinning
heart,
Then, Lord, shall I fully
know;
Not till then, how much I
owe.
How much do we owe to
someone who saved us by going to hell and back?
5. THREE
HOURS IN HELL Based on Matt. 27:45‑56
People die all the time just to advance our knowledge. Have you ever wondered how doctors knew the
precise steps in the development of the fetus before there was any means of
seeing inside the mother? It came from
a team of Harvard doctors who asked a group of women who were scheduled for
hysterectomies to stop practicing birth control before their surgery. This was long before all of the present
controversy concerning when life begins, and the abortion issue. They did not see it as abortion, but simply
as a removing of the female organs. But
in doing so they were able to study 30 embryos and see the actual development
of the fetus. Thirty babies had to die
to give man this knowledge.
Doctor Lawrence Altman in his book Who Goes First tells
numerous stories of doctors who have died in trying to get information on
various diseases. I will share just one. In Lima, Peru there stands what may be the
only statue in the world of a medical student.
It memorializes Daniel Carrion who in 1885 decided to solve the mystery
of a strange disease that was killing many of his people. He took some of the blood of an infected
person and tried to inject it into his own arm. He failed at first, and so a fellow medical student helped
him. He got the disease as expected,
but his case was far more severe than expected. Thirty‑nine days later he died. Some called it a horrible act and a disgrace to his
profession. They young man who helped
him was charged with murder. It was
quite a scandal, but three professors came forward and sighted the many doctors
in history who risked their lives in
self‑experimenting. The charge
was dropped and Carrion became a hero.
The medical students sing a balled to his memory, and enough was learned
about the disease to bring it under control.
Others live because he died.
This is not an isolated incident. Every new medicine, every new test, and every new therapy has to
be performed on a human being before it can be approved. If a doctor had not first put a tube into
his own heart, which could have killed him, we would not have many of the heart
surgeries we have today. Somebody has
to go first, and that somebody often has to die to enable others to follow and
not die, but be saved by the procedure.
We are looking at Jesus as our Great Physician who was also the Pioneer
of our faith. He went first into the
hell of God forsakenness that you and I, and all who trust in Him, might never
have to endure it.
Those few hours of history in which Jesus laid down His life
for the world of sinners were the most unusual hours in all of history. Nothing was normal. It was the Creator Himself putting Himself
through the greatest self‑experimentation of all time. As the author of life He would experience
death, and in so doing all of reality is being altered, for He was turning the
world of both nature and super nature upside down. The hours of His death were hours of complex confusion. Let's look at these strange phenomena.
I. THE CONFUSION OF NATURE.
Verse 45 says that from the 6th hour until the 9th hour
darkness came over all the land. Mark
and Luke record this same thing. Dr.
Luke gives us one other word, and he says that the sun stopped shining. We are not talking about a cloudy day or an
eclipse. We are talking about an event
in creation that has never happened but this one time in all of history. The sun took a break, and for the only time
in its existence it ceased to shine for 3 hours. This is one of the greatest miracles of all time, and Herbert
Lockyer in his All The Miracles Of The Bible includes this one, which most of
us would miss as a miracle.
Jesus was born in the darkness of night, but it was a natural
night. He died in the darkness, which
was a supernatural night because it came just when the day was brightest. It was from noon to 3 in the afternoon. That is the least likely time to have
darkness, and so the whole thing is being timed by God to give the world a
message. God never turned the sun off
before, and He has never done it again.
From God's perspective this was an event without parallel. It was a once in a history, and a once in a
universe, time and space event. When
you add the most unusual earthquake of all time to this darkness, it is no
wonder the Centurion and the others were terrified and exclaimed, "Surely
this was the Son of God!"
They were observing what was very frightening in
nature. Nobody had ever seen anything
like this before, and they knew they were in the presence of the
supernatural. It makes sense why God
the Father would turn off the sun for 3 hours while His Son died. What greater statement could God make
concerning the significance of this event.
Isaac Watts wrote,
Well might the sun in
darkness hide,
And shut His glories in,
When Christ the mighty
Maker, died,
For man the creature's
sin.
It was God's way of wearing black for His Son's death, and
thereby symbolizing the sadness of heaven at the price that had to be paid for
man's salvation. It was a dark and
heavy load He had to bear to see His Son endure separation from Him that man
might be reconciled. There is no symbol
great enough to convey how dark and heavy it was other than the sun. It is the source of light and life for all
the world. For 3 hours it ceased to
function as a symbol of the 3 days in which the light of life would cease to
function, because Jesus entered the realm of death.
This confusion of nature created confusion in the minds of
men as well. When Jesus cried out,
"My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me," the people misunderstood
the words of Jesus, and they thought He was calling for Elijah. The Aramaic word eloi, eloi sounds like
Elijah, and so they are confused and hear a message Jesus did not give. In their confusion they say let's see if
Elijah comes to rescue Him. There is
total chaos around the cross as both nature and man are confused, and they are
not functioning with the capacity they normally have. Disharmony reigns, and in all this confusion as the earth shakes
that everything is backwards. People
are coming out of the tombs instead of staying dead like dead people always
do. The whole world is wired wrong, and
nothing seems to be working right. The
veil in the temple is ripped from top to bottom, and everything is out of whack
from what is normal.
You get the unmistakable feeling that God is trying to say
something that has never been said before.
One of the things He is saying is that the cross and the death of His
Son is the most awesome event of human history. It is in a class by itself.
It is not one of the many martyr stories of great men dying for a
cross. It is not a Socrates laying down
his life for a principle, or a soldier laying down his life for his
country. These are noble and
praiseworthy sacrifices, but they do not qualify to be in the same category as
Calvary. Here is an event that covers
heaven and earth, all of creation, and all of mankind. The sun shuts off for no man but the God‑Man,
and even then only in the hours of His dying for all men. More miracles happen at the cross than
anywhere else in the Bible. The veil is
rent, the earthquake shakes dead people into life, people are converted, the
trinity is separated only this once in all eternity, and the sun goes off for 3
hours.
Some see the darkness as the Father's mourning and sympathy
for His Son. Jesus was stripped naked when he was nailed to the cross, and God
in mercy lessened his shame by the cover of darkness. We know that from 9 in
the morning until noon the leaders of the people mocked Jesus unmercifully, but
when the darkness the mocking ceased, and then there was three hours of silence.
The darkness veiled Jesus and halted the cruel mocking.
The darkness marked a turning point in the atmosphere around
the cross. Nature's expression of sympathy led even cruel men to follow and
begin to feel sympathy for Jesus. The compassion of people was born in the
darkness and silence of those hours. One man ran to fill a sponge and give
Jesus a drink. Others watch to see if Elijah will come and rescue him. Many
felt with the Centurion that this was no ordinary man, and the Centurion said
he was the Son of God. Dr. Luke tells
us that the crowds of people who were so cruel began to doubt their dogmatic
stand, and they began to smite their breasts as if to say, "What fools we
have been." The darkness revealed to them that Jesus was no mere criminal,
but someone uniquely different from anyone else.
In His dying hours nature shocked man into seeing the cross
for what it really was. It was the greatest act of folly and sin the world has
ever seen. Man in his sinful blindness and rebellion was actually killing the
light of the world, which was God's greatest gift ever given to man. The darkness made men see what they never
saw in the light, and there were people converted in those dark hours. The Centurion was the most prominent. Matthew Mark and Luke all end this strange
period of darkness with a focus on the gentle women who stood afar off. There were many women Mark says who followed
and ministered to Jesus. They beheld
this awesome scene at the cross. The
male disciples were all hiding but the females were there watching through the
dark to see what would happen. It was a
violent death in the midst of violent acts of nature, but in the presence of it
all were the women disciples who added a touch of gentleness to a terribly
confusing scene. Even the presence of
the women is part of the confusion, for everything around the cross is not
normal. This is where the men should be
strong, and the women off crying in despair, but it is the opposite.
There is nothing about the cross that is normal. Not only did God withdraw His power from the
sun in the sky so that it ceased to shine, but He withdrew His presence from
His Son on the cross, and for the first time in His eternal existence He felt
forsaken by His Father. This is what
Jesus most dreaded about the price He had to pay to save man. He dreaded the darkness of being deprived of
His Father's light. Not only was the
external world thrust into darkness, but His internal world was darkened and
Jesus cried out with the feeling of one forsaken. There was a power shortage in the solar system, and it was
symbolic of what man cannot see, and
that was the power shortage in the very triune nature of God as the Father and
the Son were cut off from communication. Jesus had to experience hell, which is
the darkness of being cut off from God's light and presence. Those three hours
of darkness were literally hell for Jesus.
Jesus died what is called the second death, which is the
death, not just of the body, but of the body and soul in hell. Many have died
for our bodies, and we have Memorial Day to remember them and honor them. Many
have died that we might have freedom and the right to health and a host of
other blessings, but nobody ever died that we might escape hell and spiritual
death of separation from God. Nobody ever did this, but Jesus, for he alone
could do so as the perfect Lamb of God worthy of being the sacrifice for all
sin. We need never die this death for Jesus died it for us. No wonder the cross
is the central symbol of our faith. What happened there is a once for all
unrepeatable event. That is why the whole creation was involved. It was a time
of un‑paralleled confusion.
Even God the Son was asking why on the cross, and this gives
us a hint as to the cost of saving man from sin. If the sun in the sky could feel what it is like to be turned off
and not shine it would feel what it is like to be forsaken by God. The sun could not feel it, but Jesus the Son
of God could, and He felt the inner darkness of being cut off from the power
source of the universe. It had to be
the most painful experience ever endured in this universe. It was not the nails, the crown of thorns,
nor the whip lashes on His back, for these physical pains have been endured by
millions, but it was the eclipse of His very being, and the abandonment of His
relationship to the Father, which was the greatest pain every endured. That is the price Jesus paid for our
salvation. He was abandoned by God and
man, and He was in hell for 3 hours.
Three hours did not seem long, but try laying your hand on
a red hot stove for 3 hours and you will get an idea of just how seemingly
eternal 3 hours can be. We just cannot
imagine what 3 hours of separation from the Father means. It is in the realm of the infinite where we
cannot even think or imagine. We do
not know what Jesus experienced in the 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb, but
these 3 hours of God forsakenness were the 3 most painful hours ever
experienced in this universe. And Jesus
did it for you and me. Spurgeon saw in
this the greatest crisis in history, and the greatest comfort for sinners. He wrote, "As to my sin, I hear its
harsh accusings no more when I hear Jesus say, Why hast thou forsaken me? I know I deserve the deepest hell and the
hand of God's vengeance, but I am not afraid.
He will never forsake me, for He forsook His Son on my behalf."
To grasp even a fraction of what the cross means is to be filled
with gratitude to the Father and to the Son, who together paid such a price for
our salvation. And out of the gratitude
of heart comes the cross carrying life.
The life that is willing to sacrifice to advance the kingdom of
God. Paul said that he dies
daily. He died to self and gave up a
self‑centered life every day for Christ.
Someone asked a missionary to Africa if he liked his work and he said,
"No! We do not like dirt and
crowding into vile huts through goat refuse.
We do not like association with ignorant, brutish people. But is a man to do nothing for Christ which
he does not like?"
We reveal just how much we grasp the message of the cross,
the 3 hours of darkness, and the cry of forsakenness by how much we are willing
to do what we do not like for the sake of our Savior. I am sure Jesus did not like His 3 hours in hell. It was the worst experience of His
existence, but He did it for us so that we might never need to experience
hell. May God help us to be always
filled with thankfulness because Jesus took our place in those 3 hours in
hell.
6.
SIMON OF CYRENE Based on Mark 15:15-26
This text focuses on a man who was forced to become
famous. Millions of people through the
ages have labored and fought to get their names in the record of history, but
Simon of Cyrene was pushed into the pages of history. Except for one incident in his life he would never have been
known, but because of that one experience, he is known the world over wherever
the Gospel of Jesus is known. There is
very little said about Simon in the Bible.
In fact, just about everything we know about him is found in Mark 15:21,
and in one verse in each of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke which are parallels
of this one.
One might suspect that there is hardly enough information to
preach on for ten minutes, but this is not the case, for the Bible has a unique
way of saying a great deal in just a few words. A high school student was assigned to write a five hundred word
theme, and he chose to write on the universe, its origin, nature, and
destiny. Even the Bible does not
attempt to condense to that degree, but it does not waste words. The story of creation is told in two
chapters. The great 23rd Psalm is just
a little over a hundred words. The
famous Sermon on the Mount is in three
chapters, and the last words of Christ on the cross, though few in quantity,
have been of such quality as to give birth to literally tons of
literature. The Bible is the key
example of the truth that one does not need to be wordy to be wise, nor voluminous to be valuable. I trust we see this as we consider what we
can know about Simon from this one verse.
First of all-
I. WE KNOW WHERE HE WAS FROM AND WHAT HE WAS DOING.
He was from Cyrene, one of the two largest towns of Libya in
North Africa, of over 100,000 people.
It was a city in which a great many Jews lived, and many of them would
travel all the way to Jerusalem for Passover and Pentecost. In the list of places in Acts 2 of which the
people were from, you will find Cyrene listed.
Simon was either a Jew or a proselyte, that is a pagan who was converted
to Judaism, and who was a very pious believer, for he was willing to travel
over a thousand miles to Jerusalem to worship in the temple.
But what he was doing when he was suddenly in a moment made to
chance the whole direction of his life, was simply passing by. He knew nothing of all that had gone on in the
city that night. Jesus had been going
through the agonies of Gethsemane, and the trial, and had endured the cruel
mockings and beatings of the mob and soldiers.
Simon had no doubt been sleeping.
He had a long day planned, and was up early in the morning, as were all
Orthodox Jews, saying their prayers. He
was dressed, cleaned, and almost into the city before 9 in the
morning. If he had been three minutes
earlier or later, or had gone a different way, we never would have heard of
him, but in the providence of God Simon was to have an experience that morning
that changed his whole life. This
brings us to the second thing we know about Simon.
II. WE KNOW HE WAS COMPELLED TO BEAR THE CROSS
OF CHRIST.
As Simon came near the city gate he saw a crowd coming out of
the city. They were shouting and
mocking at three men who were bearing crosses.
One of them was having a difficult time, and it was obvious he was
holding up the procession. The soldiers
who were anxious to get this business over ordered Simon to bear his
cross. The Roman soldiers had a right
to compel a civilian to help them. When
Jesus said, "If anyone compel you to go a mile, go with him two
miles," He was referring to this practice.
Why the soldiers picked Simon is not known. We know that Jesus had been up all night, and
had taken a beating that was known to have killed other men. Therefore, it is quit likely that the
traditional viewpoint is true-that Jesus stumbled and fell beneath the
load. Many fell that Simon must have
shown sympathy for this one who had been so cruelly treated, and possibly even
stepped forward to help Him up. The
soldier in charge, seeing a chance to speed things up, says, "Alright
helpful, you carry the cross," and forced him to do so. Simon was likely the only one in the crowd
not mocking Jesus, and so he was a likely one to choose.
I find it easy to believe another idea held by many, that
Jesus looked on Simon with a look of love that drew out his compassion. Jesus had a power in His eyes to move men. Just hours before He moved another Simon,
called Peter, to tears of repentance by a mere glance. It is likely then that Simon was moved by a
force within before he was compel from without. The poet put it-
Thou must have looked on
Simon,
Turn Lord, and look on me,
Till I shall see and follow,
And bear Thy cross for Thee.
Because of an act of sympathy and compassion he found himself
going in the opposite direction and bearing a cursed cross. What a way to start the Passover season. He was on his way to church, and he winds up
in a possession to a crucifixion. Just
to touch the cross would defile him, so his day was ruined. What a miserable way to meet the
Master. He was on his way to worship
God, and was interupted by having to help Christ get to the cross to redeem the
world. Not a bad days work! He, of course, did not realize what was
taking place. He came a thousand miles
to do something significant, and all he did was help save the world.
Simon did not rebel at this sudden turn of events. It had to be a disappointment, but it was
one of the greatest acts of love in history.
Like Cornelius, Lydia, and others who were honestly seeking to know the
will of God, he had, no doubt, prayed that very morning, "Lord teach me
thy will and draw me closer to you this day." He had come along way seeking a deeper knowledge of God, but he
believed compassion and not cruelty was the will of God, so he submitted to the
shame of bearing the cross.
He was compelled to bear it, but he chose to submit. The fact that nothing more is said indicates
that Simon gave no trouble, but bore the cross without a struggle. If only we could, like Simon, choose to bear
what we are compelled to bear. If only
we could see the blessing and burdens that we bear for Jesus. Circumstances compel us to bear burdens, but
we can choose to submit or rebel. This
principle holds true for all of life.
For example: Young people are
compelled to go to school. This is a
burden that many would not choose if it was left to them. But since we are compelled to go, we have
two choices. We can rebel and fight
the system and quit as soon as possible, or we can take it as a challenge, and
choose to submit to the burden, and in so doing the burden will become a
blessing. We cannot determine what life
brings to us, but we can determine what we bring to life, and if we choose to
do what we are compelled to do, we can change burdens into blessings. The third thing we know about Simon is-
III. WE KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS BEARING THE
CROSS.
It is also certain, that though the cross kept Simon from
church that morning, it brought him to Christ.
We believe he found it to be
true that the way of the cross leads home, and that his frustration led to
faith; his embarrassment led to enlistment; his compassion led to commitment,
and his sympathy led to salvation.
There are several reasons for believing this to be the case. In the first place, it fits into a pattern
which is amazing if true. If Simon was
a convert just before the cross, and the Roman Centurion was a convert just
after the death of Christ on the cross, then together with the thief on the
cross, we have three converts at the cross representing the descendants of each
of the three sons of Noah, Sham, Ham, and Japeth. This would be a concrete illustration of the universality of the
cross, and that Jesus did indeed die for all men.
There is more to go on, however, for our verse says that Simon
was the father of Alexander and Rufus. Why
would Mark, who wrote his Gospel for the Romans, say that he was the father of
these two men unless it was because the Romans knew these two men? There would be no point in giving these
names unless they were well known among the Roman Christians. Nor would these names be known if Simon just
disappeared in the crowd after reaching Golgotha. The others Gospels do not mention the names of these two sons.
This means that the sons of Simon were well known Christians in Rome,
and this is confirmed by Paul in his letter to the Romans where he says in
16:13, "Greet Rufus, eminent in the Lord, also his mother and
mine." Where did this outstanding
Christian family come from? Paul had
not been to Rome when he wrote his letter, so he must have met them before they
moved to Rome.
If we put all these facts together and see that, not the
Ethiopian Eunuch, but Simon of Cyrene was the first convert from Africa, and he
went back to his home and won his family to Christ. From there they likely moved to Antioch, for in Acts 13:1 we read
of prophets and teachers there, two of which were Simon and Lucius of
Cyrene. It was here in Antioch where
the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Who knows how much he who bore the cross of Christ had to do with
that. He was the first convert at the
cross, and became a leader where believers were first called Christians. It would be here that Paul would get to know
the family, and later be able to speak of them when they moved to Rome.
There is much we do not know, but these things that we do know
teach us to see that though Simon was compelled to bear the cross for a while
by the soldiers, he chose to bear it the rest of his life for the Savior. That
brings us to the final thing we can know about Simon.
IV. WE KNOW HIS EXPERIENCE WAS RECORDED FOR A
PURPOSE.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and its
profitable. The story of Simon, the
minor in length, teaches us a lesson of major importance. It teaches us what cross-bearing really
is. Men have been more concerned about
making up legends about the cross then they have been in learning what it means
to bear it. Legend takes us way back to
the garden of Eden. Adam was dying, and
so his eldest son Seth ran to the gate of the garden, and begged the angel for
fruit from the tree of life. The angel
told him that Adam would be dead when he returned, but that he should bury him
with seeds from the fruit of the tree of life in his mouth. A great tree grew from these seeds which Noah
cut down for the king post in his ark, which saved him and his family. Centuries later Hiram, king of Tyre, brought
it down from the mountains to build the temple of Solomon. It was not used, however, but laid in a
trench by the wall. Nehemiah used it
when he rebuilt the temple, but when Herod rebuilt it again this tree was again
laying beside the wall.
In the haste of the day of the trial of Jesus no one made a
cross, and so this post by the temple wall was used. The early Christians cared nothing about the actual cross on
which Christ died, but only the meaning of it, and so for several centuries
there is a break in the legend. But
when the church became corrupted because of paganism, it again revived the
legend. The cross was found it was
claimed, and was being sold in small pieces as charms. This is where we get the idea of knocking on
wood. It has been estimated that enough
pieces of the cross have been sold to build a fleet of ships. Today the cross has become to many nothing
more than a piece of jewelry. We bear
golden crosses around our neck or on our lapel as decorations. There is nothing wrong with the cross as a
symbol like this, but there is something wrong with our thinking about it. The experience of Simon teaches us to think
of the cross as an identification with Christ, and not merely a
decoration.
When Simon bore the cross of Christ he became identified with
Christ, and bore the same reproach that he did. Jesus said, "Take up your cross daily and follow
me." That means to be identified
openly with Jesus, and if people would mock Christ they will mock you. That is why it is not as easy to talk about
Jesus as it is about the weather or politics.
It is embarrassing an difficult to be identified with Christ in some
circles. I am sure Simon was ashamed as
he picked up the cross and heard the laughter and mocking of the crowd.
Bearing the cross is not the same kind of suffering one goes
through because of some injury or weakness in the body. That is a thorn and not a cross. The cross is only taken up when we are so
identified with Christ that people will feel and act toward us as they do
toward Him. If a person loves Jesus, he
will also love you. If a person
despises Jesus he will also despise you.
This means that Christ expects us everyday to be so identified with Him
that it costs us to be a Christian. It
is easy to be a Christian if we do not bear the cross.
Ray Jordon tells of being in a group in Jerusalem that wanted
to follow the path that Jesus took on His way to the cross. It was hot that day and he noticed that the
leader had an umbrella over his head to protect him from the discomfort of the
blazing sun. It struck him as to the
amazing contrast between this and the real incident. They wanted to follow the path of Christ, but did not want any
discomfort in doing so. It is
understandable, for there would be no profit in being miserable as they followed
the path. But when this philosophy
passes over into the spiritual realm, it is tragic. We want to follow Jesus, but we do not want it to cost
anything. It should be that we
experience some discomfort because of our identification with Christ.
Leslie Weatherhead had an Indian Christian tell of what it
cost to follow Christ, and it put him to shame when he considered how little he
had identified himself with the cross of Christ in such a way that it
cost. This Indian friend heard the call
of Christ in a Methodist church in Madras.
He came from a Brahmin family and his father was the head of the
community. When his father heard of his
decision for Christ he blazed with anger.
He tied him to a pillar in the courtyard of his home. He stripped the turban from his head, a mark
of indignity in the East, lashed his back with whips till blood ran, and let
him stand in the hot sun for hours.
They even poured the contents of the sewage bin over his
head. They put two large scars on his
face with red hot irons. His own mother
died of shock before him, and finally his sister cut him loose, and he escaped
to the hills. He eventually became a
chaplain in the army. Many have
suffered the same thing for crimes, but when it is suffered because one is
identified with Christ, that is cross-bearing.
The story of Simon is recorded for the purpose of challenging each of us
to take up the cross and be identified with Jesus whatever the cost.
7.
GUILTY BUT PARDONED Based on Luke
23:34
If God did not pardon the guilty there would be no Gospel,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Even so, we feel there is a danger in being
too merciful. Abraham Lincoln was
accused of this during the Civil War when he seemed willing to pardon just
about anyone. He would defend those who
broke army regulations, and he would find alibis for those condemned to
die. One young soldier, for example,
had gone to sleep at his post and was court marshaled and sentenced to be
shot. He was pardoned by Lincoln, who
gave this defense: "I could not
think of going into eternity with the blood of that poor man on my skirts. It is not wondered at that a boy raised on a
farm, probably in the habit of going to bed at dark, should, when required to
watch, fall asleep, and I cannot consent to shoot him for such an
act."
There was no question about his guilt, but though guilty he
was pardoned. At another time 24
deserters were to be shot and warrants for their execution was sent to Lincoln
to be signed. He refused to do. The general went to Washington to see
Lincoln. At the interview he said,
"Mercy to the few is cruelty to the many.
These men must be made an example or the army itself would be in
danger." In spite of the forceful
argument Lincoln replied, "There are to many weeping widows in the United
States. For God's sake don't ask me to
add to the number, for I won't do it."
With complete knowledge of their guilt he pardoned them, and it was not
because Lincoln was ignorant of the law, for he was a lawyer. He was also not ignorant of the importance
of justice, but out of mercy he pardoned the guilty.
This is a parallel of what we see at the cross, though the
mercy there was infinitely more amazing.
We see a king, who was also a lawyer, defending those whom he knows to
be guilty. But here it is himself who
is also the victim of their sin and crime.
Certainly no murder mystery ever ended with a more surprising scene than
this. Here the guilty are standing
before the judge, who is also the murder victim, and who is acting as their
defending attorney pleading for their pardon before he dies. "Father forgive them for they know not
what they do." He has acknowledged
their guilt, for if they were not guilty there would be no need for
forgiveness. His case then will not
consist in proving them not guilty, but instead that even though guilty there
is a basis on which they should be pardoned.
There are two questions we want to ask about this defense Christ makes
for the guilty sinners who crucified Him.
I. WHO IS HE DEFENDING?
It would be a confusing trial indeed in which one did not
know who the defendant was. There is
some disagreement as to who is included in Christ's plea for mercy, but this is
only because a few authors cannot bring themselves to believe that even the
cunning Jewish leaders were included.
All agree that the Roman soldiers are included, and that they are the
least guilty of all. They are victims
of a power machine beyond their control.
It is not theirs to reason why, but only to do or die. They have orders to crucify this man, and
whether they like the task or not they do it.
They could have refused and died, but what reason would they have for
refusing to execute a man that has been legally condemned by the state? How could they know that the only sinless
hands that ever were are now being nailed to a cross. It was certainly true of them that they knew not what they were
doing.
But did Jesus go further than this? Did He intercede also for the Scribes and
Pharisees? Did He include Ciaphus and
Annas, and the cruel crowd that mocked Him?
The vast majority of commentators say yes, but a few say no. Are we to follow the majority and make this
plea all inclusive just because it is a majority opinion? The magnitude of this plea for mercy cannot
be determined by counting votes, but by searching the Scripture, and as we do
we discover that the majority view is not an opinion only but a conviction
based on clear revelation.
In Acts 3 we read of Peter preaching to the Jews where he
gives credit to Christ for the healing of the lame man. He says of Jesus, "..whom you delivered
up and denied in the presence of Pilot, when he had decided to release
him. But you denied the Holy and
Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the
Author of life..." And then in
verse 17 he says, "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance,
as did also your rulers." Peter
knew that even the most guilty acted in ignorance, and so they were forgiven
and were able to respond to the Gospel which he preached. Paul adds to the conviction in I Cor. 2:8,
"None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
With these two witnesses we rest our case that Christ's plea
for mercy included all who guilty and responsible for His crucifixion. This means that Christ died for all sin, and
that included the sin of causing Him to die.
No one who was guilty was left without a pardon. The case was closed, for all were
forgiven. The plaintiff dropped all
the charges. They were all guilty, but
they were all pardoned. This fact
should have made it impossible for the history of Christian anti‑Semitism
to have ever happened. It makes the
modern debate over the guilt of the Jews for the death of Christ a
mockery. There is any dogmatic truth we
can learn from the history of the church it is this: When ever professing Christians do not determine all of their
attitudes and actions based on the Word of God and the example of Christ, they
promote evil rather than the kingdom of God.
Jesus forgave those who were guilty for His death. Peter and Paul repeat this fact, and yet men
go on debating whether or not the Jews should be forgiven. This word of Christ ought to enable everyone
to see the folly of it all. Even if the
very Jews who killed Jesus were alive today, they would be forgiven. How much more contemporary Jews who had
nothing to do with it? God forbid that
any who name the name of Christ should refuse to forgive the innocent when
Christ forgave the guilty. To the
question then, who is Christ defending?
We answer: Everyone who needs
defense, or all who are guilty. Next we
ask‑
II. WHY IS HE DEFENDING
THEM?
When we see that He meant even the most guilty in this plea
for forgiveness we are compelled to ask why would He seek a pardon for those
who deserve to be condemned? The
primary answer lies in the very nature of Christ. The story is told of how in the Scotch Rebellion a man by the
name of Ayloff was captured and taken before King James II. The king said to him, "You had better
be frank with me Mr. Ayloff. You know
that it is in my power to pardon you."
The prisoner broke his sullen silence and answered, "It may be in
your power but it is not in your nature." And so it was not, and Ayloff was executed.
This was not the case with the King on the cross. If was not only in His power but it was also
in His nature to pardon. He never would
have come into the world in the first place was it not His nature to seek and
to save the lost, and to pardon the guilty.
Mercy is one of the greatest attributes of God. As grace means what God does for us that we
do not deserve, so mercy means what God does not do to us that we do
deserve. We could conclude then that
Jesus pleaded for the pardon of the guilty just because His nature of love and
mercy made it a natural reaction.
This statement of Christ, however, that they knew not what
they were doing shows that there is more to it than that. There is some cause in the guilty themselves
that makes Him plead for pardon. Jesus
finds a reason for their folly that does not make them not guilty, but does
make them candidates for pardon, and that factor is ignorance. It is practically a proverb that ignorance
is no excuse, but it is a product of man's wisdom and not Gods. The Scripture says ignorance is an
excuse. We have already read Peter's
statement that the Jews killed Jesus in ignorance, and to this we can add
Paul's testimony in I Tim. 1:13 where he says, "I formerly blasphemed and
persecuted and insulted him, but I received mercy because I had acted
ignorantly in unbelief." He was
guilty, but because he sinned in ignorance he was pardoned. Had ignorance been no excuse Paul would have
been a flaming Apostle in the fires of hell, and not one flaming against the
forces of hell.
The Old Testament makes a difference between the sin of ignorance
and the sin of a high hand. One who
sins willfully with full knowledge that it is out of God's will sins with a
high hand. There is no atonement for
those who sin in this way, but there is for those who break God's law in
ignorance. We see then that the
crucifixion of Christ was a sin of ignorance.
They did not know what they were doing.
As wicked as they were they would not knowingly kill the Son of God. They were really convinced that they were
killing a blasphemer. Ignorance allows
men to do the worst evils with the conviction that they are doing right. God accepts such ignorance as a basis for
pardon. The fact that the greatest
crime ever committed was the result of ignorance ought to open our eyes to see
that ignorance is one of man's greatest curses. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you
free," said Jesus. Those who love
ignorance are bound to do that which is stupid, harmful and evil. Even so, if their evil is a product of
ignorance, it makes a difference in God's attitude.
It made a difference in Lincoln's attitude as well. We saw how he could freely pardon those who
became traitors out of weakness and ignorance, but when he was approached to
pardon one who was engaged in the slave trade he made this reply; "You
know my weakness is to be, if possible, too easily moved by appeals for mercy,
and if this man were guilty of the foulest murder that the arm of man could
perpetrate, I might forgive him on such an appeal, but the man who would go to
Africa and rob her of her children, and sell them into an interminable bondage
with no other motive than that which is furnished by dollars and cents, is so
much worse than the most depraved murderer, that he can never receive pardon at
my hands. No, he may rot in jail before
he shall have liberty by any act of mine."
We see the 2 sides of Lincoln with his mercy and
justice. We see mercy to the ignorant
guilty and justice to the willful guilty.
The fact that he had these two attitudes would indicate that he was a
man directed by God, for this is God's attitude as well. The mercy and wrath of God are to be
understood in the light of this principle.
As G. Campbell Morgan says, "All sins of ignorance are
forgiven. It is only the sin against
light, which has no forgiveness."
He probably should have qualified that by adding that sins against light
have no forgiveness without repentance.
We sin willfully often in the face of clear revelation, and we need to
know that if confess He is faithful and just to forgive. The point is, however, that sins of
ignorance can be forgiven by God even before repentance, but willful sin only
after repentance. Jesus prayed for the
guilty sinners around His cross, and they were anything but repentant. But we cannot doubt that God heard the dying
prayer of His Son. They were guilty and
unrepentant, but they were still pardoned.
Because they were ignorant it makes sense that they did not
repent, for one does not repent apart from conviction that one is doing
wrong. By necessity then forgiveness
must often come before repentance.
Jesus often forgave sins and then told the person to go and sin no more,
and to turn from evil to God, which is repentance. Paul also says in Rom. 2:4, "Do you not know that God's
kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" Men often need to experience forgiveness first before they can
repent. We often fail to represent God
at this point by trying to bring conviction by means of condemnation rather
than assurance of God's forgiveness.
We cannot begin to understand people as Jesus did, nor can
we know their inner motives and the degree of ignorance in them, but it is our
responsibility to be both just and merciful.
For the unbeliever there is the responsibility of either receiving the
mercy of Christ and being pardoned, or of receiving His justice and being
condemned. The Jews suffered the wrath
of God in 70 A.D. not because they crucified Christ, for they were pardoned for
that, but judgment came because they refused to believe in Christ even after
the clear revelation of His deity in His resurrection. Ignorance can be forgiven, but sin against
light must be condemned.
Seneca the Roman says that those who were crucified usually
cursed their executioners and spat upon all who were near. Cicero says that the tongues of those
crucified were cut out on occasion to stop their terrible blasphemies. How Satan and all the forces of evil would
have delighted had Jesus uttered a curse from the cross, but Jesus, like a
fragrant tree, bathed in perfume the very acts, which gashed Him. His first thought was not for himself but
for those who were guilty. It is hard
to be like Jesus in this way because it is contrary to self‑defense. To forgive demands self‑denial, for to
forgive means to take upon yourself undeserved suffering and demand no payment
from those who inflict it. They are
guilty of injustice, and you are innocent, but yet it is you that must suffer
and the guilty who get off scot‑free if you forgive them.
Our very sense of justice fights against forgiveness, for it
is not fair, but that is just the point.
Grace deals with unmerited favor.
If forgiveness was fair it would merely be a legal obligation and moral
duty, but it is not fair, and so it is a free choice that rises above the
law. Forgiveness is totally of grace,
and only those who are gripped by grace can grasp the importance of it, and the
ability to express it. I cannot express
what I have not experienced. I cannot
give away what I do not have, and so we must first be forgiven in order to
forgive. We must believe in God's free
grace of forgiveness before we can be free to forgive those who sin against us.
The example of Jesus shows us that the innocent party is
free at any time to forgive. There is
no need to wait for repentance and confession.
The people Jesus forgave did none of these. They never said they were sorry, and they were not even looking
for His forgiveness. Grace is expressed
because of the nature of the forgiver, and not because of the nature of those
being forgiven. We have many sins of
which we are not conscious. We have
many which are called the sins of omission.
There is no way we can confess these sins of which we are not aware, and
so we need to depend upon the grace of Christ to forgive them, and we can have
the assurance that He will because He was willing to pray, "Father forgive
them for they know not what they do."
8.
LOVE’S RESPONSE TO HATE Based on Luke
23:34
One of the most diabolical criminals of his day, and the first
big time American gangster, was also a very impressive pulpit orator. John Murrell as a youth was caught for horse
stealing, and after a public whipping he was sent to prison. He declared eternal vengeance upon society
for this, and while he was in prison he studied theology. When he was released he assumed the garb of
an evangelist and began to preach. His
eloquence gained him quick popularity, and soon he had an unique racket going with
a highly organized gang. One of his
schemes was to greet people in front of the church and compliment them on their
beautiful horse. This was a signal to
his helpers as to which ones he wanted stolen during the service. Before his career ended he added
counterfeiting and murder to his list of crimes, and all the while he was
preaching the Word of God.
He was an obvious example of the great contrast that can exist
between what a man professes and what he practices. Profession is the easy part.
The real test comes in practice.
We need not limit this failure of practicing what is preached to sham
clergyman, however. Leon C. Prince has
recorded the experience of others. He
writes, “A New England navigator who had charted the dangerous reefs of the
Massachusetts coast who wrecked his own vessel on a sunken rock which he
himself had described and of which he warned others. A surgeon on one of the Arctic expeditions of the last century
who earnestly and repeatedly cautioned his fellow voyages against the peril of
yielding to the almost overwhelming impulse to sleep, but the surgeon himself
fell asleep and perished.”
History is filled with such glaring inconsistencies, and we
need look at further than our own lives to add to the evidence that man is far
more able to learn the truth than to live it.
It is so much easier to proclaim than to practice. Shakespeare has Portia say, “I can easier
teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow
mine own teaching.”
In the light of this fact of human nature it is with great
assurance and satisfaction that we turn our eyes upon Jesus in whom we find
perfect consistency. No one ever made
such startling statements as Jesus. No
one ever set such high standards of character and conduct. If we could not look at his life as an
example of what He taught, we would have to dismiss His teaching as dreamy
idealism and sentimental nonsense totally irrelevant to the real world in which
we live.
How could we honestly bother to consider Christ twice once we
heard Him say, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute
you,” if we say that he could not practice what He preached? No can make such radical statements and hold
anyone’s respect whose life does not back them up. Thank God for the cross and the record we have of it, for not
only is our salvation dependant upon it, but the reality of all Jesus taught is
dependant upon what we see and hear at the cross.
We want to focus our attention on the first word of Christ
that He spoke on the cross, for here we see the idealism of Christ made real,
and His life conform to His lips. If all
we had was the record of His life, and not His death, men might dare to doubt
the sincerity of His teaching. They
might point out that it is easy to say love your enemies when you are walking
from village to village with crowds of eager listeners. It is nothing to set on a mount with friends
and disciples all around, and talk about praying for those who hate you. But the record of the cross leaves critics
facing a scene that removes all doubt.
The first word on the cross demonstrates in a manner
unsurpassed love’s response to hate. It
proves dogmatically that Jesus meant every word He preached, and those who
claim Him as Lord need to take everyone of them seriously. Only the blind and deaf could stand at the
cross and hear this word of Christ and not respond with the Roman Centurion who
said, “Truly, this was the Son of God.”
This word of Christ is composed of two parts. First is His intercession for His enemies,
and second is His interpretation of His conduct. We have then His response and the reason for that response in
this word. We want to focus our
attention on the first part only, which is His response of-
INTERCESSION. “Father
forgive them.”
Jesus began His ministry as an interceding high priest even
while on the cross. J. C. Ryle put it
this way, “As soon as the blood of the Great Sacrifice began to flow, the Great
High Priest began to intercede.” It is
generally agreed that Jesus spoke this word of intercession as the nails were
being driven into His hands, or immediately after. To respond to hate and cruelty with love and forgiveness is
paradoxical enough in itself, but the paradox of this prayer is unique and
unrepeatable. Here was the Lamb of God
being sacrificed for the sins of the world, and at the same time He is the High
Priest offering the sacrifice, for He is voluntarily laying down His life for
us.
This prayer gives us a God’s-eye view of the cross. A man’s eye view would give you the
impression that the man on the cross is the guilty criminal and those mocking
were the judges and jury. But this is
not the real picture at all. This word
of Christ pictures God as the judge, and those mockers as the guilty criminals
on trial. This one on the cross is the
advocate, that is their lawyer, who is pleading their defense. What a paradox! Jesus Christ the Lamb nailed to a cross interceding as a lawyer
for the guilty sinners who nailed Him there.
Imagine having a lawyer pleading for you in the very act of crime when
He is the victim of the crime. This is
love’s response to hate.
It is of great importance that we recognize that Jesus began
His painful experience on the cross in perfect fellowship with the father, and
that He also ended the cross experience in that same relationship. His last word was, “Father, into thy hands I
commend my Spirit.” The cross is a
picture of the superiority of love over hate from beginning to end. In the 3 hours of darkness on the cross,
where Jesus became sin for us, which was the cup He so much dreaded to drink
because He knew it meant separation from the Father, He again came forth
victorious, and we cannot underestimate the importance of this first word in
preparation for that victory.
Jesus had to face and experience the hate of man at its worst
before He bore the sin of the world.
This was the great test of His love.
Could it take cruel injustice, mockery, pain, and finally the most
horrible and humiliating form of execution known, and still respond in
love? Could even divine love refrain
from wrath in the face of such overwhelming hate? This word is our answer, “Father forgive them.” Here is commentary on the “So” in John 3:16
where we read, “God so loved the world.”
Jesus never held a grudge, for He never permitted one to gain entrance
into His heart. This word of
forgiveness, in which he demonstrated the final superiority of love over hate,
was a necessary victory before He bore the sins of the world. The total victory of the cross depended upon
His response to hate at this point. If
Jesus had responded with anger and an unforgiving spirit, He would not have the
perfect, spotless, and flawless Lamb required for the sacrifice for sin. Jesus had to bare our sin as one who was
perfect and innocent. Here was Satan’s
last chance to halt the plan of redemption by getting Jesus to sin.
Satan and all the demons of hell would have broken forth in
delight beyond measure if Jesus would have cursed and spit back, and cried out
to God to destroy them. If Jesus would
have met their cruelty and hate with a cry for revenge, the cross would have
spelled defeat rather than victory. But
like a Lamb going to the slaughter He opened not His mouth. We see then that this word of intercession
is not just an incidental remark. The
redemption of the whole world hung upon this response to hate. Jesus could not bare the sins of the whole
world for all time if He could not bare the sins of His contemporaries .
What a contrast we see between this response and the response
of Samson in his last prayer. Samson
had also suffered at the hands of his enemies, and he had to endure the mockery
and laughter of hate. In Judges 16:28
we get his reaction: “O Lord, God,
remember me I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God,
that I may be avenged upon the Philistines for one of my two eyes.” From this response to hate let us turn to
Acts 7 where we see Stephen the first Christian martyr being unjustly stoned to
death by an angry mob. In 7:60 we read
of his response to hate: “Lord do not
hold this sin against them.”
Here were two men of God with opposite responses to their
enemies and hate. One cried out for
revenge and the other for forgiveness.
What made the difference? The answer
to this is the answer to the question, what is the difference between the Old
Testament and the New Testament? The
answer is the cross of Christ, or more accurately, the Christ of the cross. The cross is the central theme of
Christianity because it is the basis for the salvation of all people, and is
the basis for the transformation of all people. The cross and the Christ of the cross is our standard by which we
measure all attitudes and actions.
Whatever is not consistent with the cross is not consistent with God’s
highest revelation. To be satisfied
with any response to hate that is less than, or inconsistent, with this
response of Christ is to be pre or sub-Christian. We cannot follow two examples.
It is either Samson or the Savior.
If Christ is our Savior
and Lord, He must be our example. He is
the ultimate and final revelation of what God expects each of us to be. In the light of this first word from the
cross we see that God expects believers to take seriously what Jesus taught
about love’s response to hate.
How hardly man this lesson
learns;
To smile, and bless the hand
that spurns,
To see the blow, to feel the
pain,
And render only love again!
Dreamy idealism and sentimental nonsense? No!
It is the very essence of the Gospel.
It the good news that God so loved the world that while we were yet
sinners Christ died for us. This is
love’s response to hate, and this is what we see in this first word of
intercession.
Jesus in thy dying woes,
Even while thy life-blood flows,
Craving pardon for thy foes.
Here was love that hate could not defeat. Gaius Glenn Attkins said, “When love is
lost, all is lost-and the last banner which love maintains over its beleaguered
strong hold is the power and the willingness to forgive.” Let us never forget that the shedding of
Christ’s blood would not have atoned for sin if Christ did not have this heart
of love and spirit of forgiveness. His
spirit is the foundation for the effectiveness of His sacrifice. To have fulfilled the letter of the law
without the spirit could not have atoned for sin. He could not truly forgive all sin if He was not willing to
forgive the sin of crucifying Him.
Charles Wesley wrote-
Five bleeding wounds He
bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly plead for me.
Forgive Him, O forgive, they
cry,
Nor let that ransomed sinner die!
Let us remember that we only know of this message of His
wounds because of the message of His words, “Father forgive them.” Where sin abounded grace did much more over
flow. At the cross where we see the
greatest example of hate we also see the greatest example of love. Love’s response to hate at the cross not
only defeated hate, but used it for good.
If it was not for the open hatred and violent injustice around the cross
we would lose this most magnificent lesson of love.
O love of God! O sin of man!
` In this dread act your strength is tried,
And victory remains with
love:
Jesus, our Lord, is
crucified.
Booker T. Washington once said, “I will not let any man reduce
my soul to hatred.” Jesus would not let
the most unjust act of hatred in human history reduce His soul to hatred, or
even to anger. Jesus was victor on the
cross from beginning to end. There is
no way to fight love and win. May God
open our eyes to see this, and begin to apply this supreme and superior weapon in
our lives. If you are one who has
never trusted Christ to be your Savior, may God open your eyes to recognize
that He stands willing to forgive you and to receive you into the family of God, for His response to all who come to
Him is always the response of love.
9. FORGIVENESS OF SIN Based on Luke 23:34
Charlie Brown is quite certain that Lucy's offer to hold the
football for him to kick will end just like the other attempts. She will pull the ball away just as she
kicks, and he will end up flat on his back.
She assures him that she is a changed person and that he can trust
her. He accepts Lucy at her word and
comes running to kick the ball. But
sure enough, as he kicks she does it again and pulls the ball away. He flies through the air and smashes to the
ground, and Lucy bends over Charlie to say, "I admire you, Charlie
Brown. You have such faith in human
nature."
Poor Charlie is made to look like a fool, but the fact is,
followers of Christ are expected to be fools like this for Christ's sake. Jesus made it perfectly plain that the
practice of forgiveness was to be perpetual.
In Matt. 18:21 Peter comes to Jesus and asks, "Lord, how often
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as 7 times?"
In verse 22 Jesus answers, "I do not say to you 7 times, but 70 times
7." We can only look at such
radical teaching and say in the words of Lucy, "Lord, you have such faith
in human nature."
Jesus not only taught radical forgiveness, but He practiced
it. We see this in these first words He
spoke from the cross. In these first of
His final words He expresses a forgiveness far greater than the 70 times 7 that
He expects us to express. Forgiving
those who so cruelly crucified Him not only revealed His faith in human nature,
but it opened up to the whole world an insight into His nature as the Son of
God.
We do not understand God, or the Gospel, until we grasp the
significance of forgiveness of sin.
God's plan cannot be fulfilled without it, and we cannot be saved
without it, nor can we live the Christian life without it. Forgiveness is not a
subject out on the edge of Christian truth.
It is at the very center. Maybe
those at the cross did not hear Jesus in His prayer of forgiveness, but they
heard the Gospel of forgiveness later.
In Acts 5:30‑31 Peter says to the leaders of Israel, "The God
of our fathers raise Jesus whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at His right hand as leader
and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."
The Gospel of forgiveness was the message of the early
church. God commissioned the Apostle
Paul to preach the message of forgiveness of sin to the Gentiles also. Paul speaking before King Agrippa tells of
the message he received from Christ when He was saved. The Lord was sending him to the Gentiles,
and Acts 26:18 has Jesus saying, "To open their eyes, that they may turn
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may
receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith
in me." Note how forgiveness of
sin is a key factor in the Gospel. It
was a major message that Jesus wanted spread into all the world.
When Paul preached in Antioch where many, both Jews and
Gentiles responded to the Gospel, he concluded that fruitful sermon with this
great news in Acts 13:38‑39, "Let it be known to you therefore,
brethren, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and
by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not
be freed by the law of Moses."
Forgiveness of sin was the key message in Paul's preaching and
writing. He writes in Eph. 1:7,
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins,
according to the riches of His grace."
In Col. 1:14 he ends his statement of things to be thankful for with,
"In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
We could go on and on showing how the whole of Christian
theology has been influenced by the truth of forgiveness of sin. Those words of Jesus from the cross, "Father
forgive them," laid a foundation on which the church has been building
ever since. We want to examine what
forgiveness means to us. First of all,
I. FORGIVENESS MEANS
FREEDOM.
We just read of how Paul said that forgiveness in Christ frees
us from everything from which the law of Moses could not set us free. If the Son makes you free, you are free
indeed, and the Son makes us free through forgiveness. Where there is no forgiveness of sin, there
is only bondage. Much, if not most, of
the world not only lacks political freedom, but they also lack spiritual
freedom, which is the freedom that only comes to those who know their sins are
forgiven. Many feel there is no escape
from the past. What has been has been,
and nothing can change it. Your Karma
has been determined, and what shall be shall be.
The moving finger writes,
and having writ
Moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit,
Can lure it back to cancel
half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a
word of it.
You are bound by the sin of the past, and there is no escape
in the hard‑nosed philosophy of
much of the world. Pardon is not
a possibility for them, and they cannot fathom forgiveness. The gods of the pagans have got their own
problems, and could care less about man.
Tennyson describes them as they lie reclined in heaven.
"Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands,
Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deep and fiery
sands,
Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships, and praying
hands.
But they smile."
In contrast to their indifferent grin, we have the God of
Calvary who has an answer for sin, and who says, "Father forgive
them." There is freedom in Christ,
and no man needs to live in bondage because of his past. No man needs to carry the burden of his sin
and folly. He can leave his heavy
burden at the cross, and go free. The
prayer of Jesus was for those who crucified Him, but He made it a part of the
Gospel to be proclaimed to all the world.
He died for the sins of all mankind, and so anyone can receive His
forgiveness and be set free.
For you and for me
He prayed on the tree;
The prayer is accepted, the
sinner is free.
The sinner am I,
Who on Jesus rely,
And come for the pardon God will
not deny.
John Bunyan was in prison when he wrote Pilgrim's Progress,
but he was one of the freest men whoever lived, because of his full grasp of
the truth about the forgiveness of sin.
He tells of how Christian journeyed with a heavy burden on his
back. The burden weighed him down, but
he could not get rid of it. Then in his
dream he saw Christian at last ascend
to a hill where he stood before a cross, and then the burden fell from his
shoulders and tumbled down the hill never to be seen again. Christian could hardly believe it, and when
he realized he had received forgiveness he leaped for joy and began to sing‑
Thus far I did come laden
with my sin;
Nor could ought ease the
grief that I was in,
Till I came hither: what a
place is this!
Must here be the beginning
of my bliss?
Must hear the burden fall
from off my back?
Must hear the strings that
bound it to me crack?
Blessed cross! Blessed sepulchre! Blessed rather be
The Man that there was put
to shame for me!
He made forgiveness of sin personal, and went away free.
Forgiveness means freedom. The tragedy
is that many of God's own people do not experience the perfect liberty that
comes with forgiveness. C. S. Lewis
wrote, "I had been a Christian for many years before I really believed in
the forgiveness of sin, or more strictly, before my theoretical belief became a
reality to me. I fancy this may not be so uncommon." Lewis fancied right, for the world is full
of neurotic Christians imprisoned by the inability to accept forgiveness. Guilt poisons and pollutes the stream of
their life, and in spite of the fact that Christ has opened the door to
victory, they stay in the dungeon of defeat.
These Christians need to grasp this truth:
II. FORGIVENESS MEANS
FORGETTING.
There is no freedom without forgetting. If you are going to dwell on your past sins
and failures, you will never be free from them. Forgetting comes before freedom.
When God forgives He forgets. In
Isa. 43:25 we read, "I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions
for my own sake, and will not remember your sins." God blots out sin, and He makes it white as
snow. He removes it as far as the East
is from the West. Communion is a call
to remember Christ and what He did for us on the cross. We are to remember Him, and not our
sin. He paid for our sin. He atoned for it to make forgiveness
possible. If we do not remember to
forget we limit the freedom He died to give us.
So many saints get confused, and instead of remembering Christ
and His victory over sin, they remember their sin and feel regret. They think that God must desire them to feel
bad about their evil past. But all the
regret and tears of a lifetime will not blot out one sin. The Christian who understands forgiveness
will feel relief and not regret. A.W.
Tozer in his book That Incredible Christian says that some Christians feel that
a lack of regret reveals a low view of sin, but he says just the opposite is
true. Lack of regret reveals a high an
biblical view of forgiveness. The
biblical view leads us to forget and not regret. Tozer gives this illustration from the teaching of Christ.
"The return Prodigal honors his father more by rejoicing
than by repining. Had the young man in
the story had less faith in his father he might have mourned in a corner
instead of rejoicing in the festivities.
His confidence in the loving kindness of his father gave him the courage
to forget his checkered past."
Do not misunderstand.
The Prodigal had to repent of his sin and regret his folly before he
returned to the father, but once he was received and forgiven he forgot his
past, and he entered into the joy of restored sonship. A Christian who never learns this lesson
that forgiveness means forgetting will never experience the full joy of
Christian freedom.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher points out how we tend to keep things
we don't need. For example, men have
buttons sewed on the outside seam of their coat sleeves right in back of the
wrist. There usefulness disappeared
long ago. A century ago gentlemen wore
white ruffles at the wrist, and to keep them from getting soiled they were
buttoned back. Long after the ruffles
went out the buttons stayed, even though they had no purpose. Regret and sorrow for sin has its place, but
once it brings us to the cross it becomes obsolete. If we truly receive the forgiveness of Christ, we are set free
from guilt, and we can forget the past.
If we go on regretting and sorrowing for our sin, we hold on to what no
longer has any purpose, and we hinder our joy in Christ.
One of the greatest gifts Jesus gave to every person who has
received His forgiveness is the healing power to forgive others. Broken lives, broken health, broken homes, and
broken hearts can all be healed through forgiveness. May God help us to
experience the full joy of forgiveness in our own lives, and then let the
spirit of forgiveness flow through us to bring healing and freedom to others.
10.
THE WORD OF FAITH Based on Luke
23:39-46
Not all heroes die a noble death. Jacques de Lalaing, the flower of knighthood, who was considered
the pattern of chivalry for all of Europe, and who was called the last hero of
romance, died an early death in 1453. It
was not of a lover’s broken heart, or in a tournament with his flag
flying. He walked into a cannon ball
fired by a shopkeeper in the little town of Ghent. That was not a very noble way for a hero to die, and the fact is
many of the heroes of history die very ignoble deaths.
There is nothing very glamorous about being fed to lions,
or about being burned at the stake, or even dying in a wreck, or by a
disease. When you come right down to it,
there are not very many ways to die that are noble and glorious. It ought not to bother us as to how we die,
however, for this passage we are looking at reveals to us that the very first
saint to enter paradise died in the most horrible and ignoble way. He died on the cross a victim of capital
punishment in the worst possible way.
Nevertheless, he is one of the heroes of Christian history. It was not because of the way he died, but
because of the faith he expressed before he died. Because of his faith Good Friday was good for him long before it
was dreamed to be good for anybody else.
He was not only first in paradise, but he was the first man to
experience the goodness of Good Friday.
He died on that day, but it was also the day he began to live
forever. It was already Easter for him.
When I was just a small boy in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
the lights went dim one night and we all knew why. The only man ever to be electrocuted in the State Penitentiary,
just up the hill from where I lived, had just come to his inglorious end. Years later I learned that George Sitts had
put his faith in Christ months before he was strapped in that electric
chair. He studied his Bible and wrote
his testimony that was published for millions to read. He left this world by a horrible and
disgraceful method, but like the thief on the cross he died in faith.
Faith or the lack of faith is the difference between heaven
and hell. There is no way to
over-emphasize the necessity and value of faith. Charles Wesley wrote, “Faith, mighty faith the promise sees, and
rests on that alone; Laughs at impossibilities, and says it shall be
done.” Only faith has the audacity to
believe in the impossible and be hopeful in a hopeless situation. What could be more hopeless than to be dying
on a cross as a thief, who is being rejected by society? Such is the setting we see on Calvary, and
yet, faith brings a dazzling glory into that dismal gloom. This dying thief, after rebuking his
criminal companion for his lack of faith, and after revealing his awareness of
his own sin and guilt, turned to the center cross and said, “Lord remember me
when you come into your kingdom.
If ever a man had reason to be pessimistic about the future it
was this dying thief, whom tradition has called Dumas. He had no future whatever according to the
eye of flesh, but Dumas saw the future through the eye of faith, and he had
hope. He did not say to Jesus that he
wanted to be remembered if he came into his kingdom. He said he wanted to be remembered when he came into his
kingdom. He had complete confidence
that Jesus would be a victorious and conquering King who one day would rule
over a kingdom. That conviction was
based on faith, for the evidence for it was conspicuous by its absence. Jesus was dying just like he was. It looked as if his future was to be short
and filled with nothing but pain. He
did not have the evidence of the resurrection like we do. He did not have a long history of the power
of Christ to change lives. All he had
to build his faith on was the presence of the suffering Savior.
Tholuck rightly asks, “Did ever the new birth take place in
so strange a cradle?” Calvary was a
most unlikely context for a conversion.
There was no beautiful church, no glorious music, no flowers or
choir. The environment was all wrong,
for it was a setting of horror and hate.
The one positive factor that gave birth to faith, however, was the
eloquent love of Christ in the midst of that hate. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” It was this attitude of Christ’s love for
His enemies that convinced Dumas that Jesus was more than a man. He was convinced that Jesus had a future
even though He was dying. He believed
that Jesus would conquer death and come again and establish His kingdom. Dumas wanted in on that kingdom and so in
faith he said to his new- found King, “Remember me.”
Faith enabled him to be optimistic about the future even in
his situation. Someone said, “Faith is
the daring of the soul to go further than it can see.” Those who live according to what they can
see only do not live in faith. The
present facts are often negative, but faith recognizes that the play of life
must be judged by the ending, and not the difficult scenes along the way. Faith believes that God is an author and
director who will bring his production to a happy ending. Francis Quarles wrote,
My soul, sit thou a patient
looker-on,
Judge not the play before
the play is done.
Her plot hath many changes,
everyday;
Speaks a new scene, the last
act crowns the play.
Had Dumas lacked faith he, like all those around him, would
have looked at Calvary as the final scene.
It was a dismal conclusion, and his companion shouted out to Jesus,
“Save your self and us.” In other
words, non-faith says its now or never.
If you don’t save us now there is no salvation. Faith, however, says that even this tragic
scene in which we die is not the end if there is a king who can conquer death
and establish a kingdom after death. Dumas could read the sign above the cross of Jesus, which said,
“Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.”
He could observe the reaction of Jesus to the hatred of those around him,
and also His love for His mother. This
convinced him that Jesus was the Messiah.
He became one of the world’s great non-conformists at this point, and he
went against the crowds, the community leadership, and his own companion in
crime to put his trust in this dying King.
Dumas saw none of the miracles of Jesus, but only His
misery. No lepers were cured; no blind
were made to see. There was no mass
feeding, no storm stilled, and no walking on water. All the evidence to the eye was negative, and yet he had faith in
Christ. If ever a man had faith in the
unseen, it was him. John Calvin wrote,
“How clear was the vision of the eyes which could see in death life, in ruin
majesty, in shame glory, in defeat victory, in slavery royalty. I question if ever since the world began
there has been so bright an example of faith.”
What an example of salvation by faith alone. He was not baptized and never partook of communion. He never joined a church and never gave a
dime, and he never did a good deed, but that day he entered paradise with
nothing but faith in the one who could save him.
As profound as his faith was, it is also a great example of
the simplicity of faith. This thief did
not know the answer to dozens of questions about the future. He did not know how Jesus could conquer
death, rise again and establish a kingdom.
He had no answer to the complexities of end time theology. All he knew was that he trusted Jesus to
remember him. If Jesus let him down he
was sunk. Christian faith is simply
trust in a person and not a conviction that your creed is foolproof and covers
the mystery of theology accurately.
Faith is trust in Christ and a confidence that the future is bright
because He will remember you and receive you into His kingdom. Faith is always optimistic about the future
because it is a trust in the power of Christ to bring any life to a happy
ending. Someone wrote,
If I stoop into a dark,
tremendous sea of cloud,
It is but for a time; I
press God’s lamp
Close to my breast, its
splendor, soon or late,
Will pierce the gloom; I
shall emerge one day.
Jesus confirmed the faith of Dumas on the spot. He promised him that that very day he would
be with Him in paradise. If ever there
was a man who needed a purgatory before paradise it was him, but Jesus says
that He would immediately be with Him.
From hell on earth to paradise in the same day-no one can afford such a
trip, for the cost is infinite, but Jesus offers it freely to all who will,
like this dying thief, turn to Him in faith.
11.
THE PERFECT PROMISE Based on Luke 23:43
Jonathan Swift made the well known statement, "Promises
and pie crust are made to be broken."
This attitude has prevailed through much of history, and the result has
been that many have been rich in promises, but poor in performance. Many centuries ago Ovid suggested that men
ought to supplement their promises with deeds, and so indicated that men could
freely promise, and then just as freely forget. In more modern times Spurgeon complained of those who promised
mountains and perform mole hills.
The promise has been used from the beginning as a weapon of
deception. It was Satan's promise to
Eve that she would be like God by eating the forbidden fruit. It was also by promises of great power that
Satan sought to tempt Jesus to avoid the cross. The kings and lesser rulers in the days of Michelangelo were
notorious for their use of promises to trick enemies into their power so as to
execute or imprison them. Promises have
been used by men to try and deceive even their gods.
The Persians have a fable about a peasant who saw an egg
floating in the river, and when he tried to get it out he fell in. He began to get carried away by the
current. He cried out, "Allah save
me. I'll never eat another
egg." Just then he was able to grab
a low hanging branch of a tree and pull himself to shore. As he stood shaking himself off he remarked,
"I suppose Allah you understood me to mean raw eggs of course." He quickly modified his promise when he was
safe so as to nullify it, showing that he only promised in the first place to
manipulate his god to his advantage.
Peasants have not been the worst offenders, however, but rather kings
and rulers who have had so much more with which to promise.
Many of the kings of England gained a reputation for breaking
their promises. John Wilmot wrote this
epitaph for Charles II.
Here lies our sovereign lord
and king,
Whose promise none relies
on.
He never said a foolish
thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
In Shakespeare's Henry VIII
we read, "His promises were, as he then was, mighty, but his performance,
as he now is, nothing."
It is in contrast to this dark background of deception and
inconsistency that we turn our eyes upon Jesus, who is the light of the world,
and the King of Kings, and whose promises all can rely on to be backed up by
performance. Jesus promised that those
who come to Him will in no wise be cast out, and that whosoever will call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. We
see these promises being fulfilled to the thief who was dying on the cross next
to Him. Jesus made the perfect promise
to this dying man. It is a perfect
promise for two reasons that we want to consider. First of all it is a perfect promise because‑
I. IT IS PERSONAL PROMISE.
Jesus said to him, "I tell you the truth, today you will
be with me in paradise." This was
a personal promise to this man that on this very day that he would die he would
enter into the perfect life. The first
word that Jesus spoke from the cross was a prayer of forgiveness for all who
were responsible for His crucifixion.
It was addressed to the Father, and not to those who were forgiven. Most of them did not even hear it, for they
were so busy shouting and mocking. It
was an unconscious benefit which Jesus bestowed on them. But this second word had to be very personal
and direct, for it would be without meaning and effect if not consciously
grasped by the one it concerned. The
value of this word to the thief on the cross lies in its personal nature.
This holds a lesson for all of us who seek to communicate to
others the Gospel of Christ. When we
talk to an individual about the promises of God we ought not to speak in
generalities that leave a person guessing, but get specific and personal. For example, imagine how less perfect this
promise of Christ would have been if He had made His royal response to the
rebels request something like this:
"I will remember many when I enter my kingdom, and they shall join
me this day in paradise." That
would have given hope, but not assurance.
It would have made him feel his salvation was possible, but it would
have given him a sense that it was actual.
Jesus made His promise perfect by purposely making it
distinctly personal so as to leave no doubt in the mind of the thief. Whatever may or may not be the experience of
anyone and everyone else, you can count on it that this day you will be with me
in paradise. What a joy it must have
been to Christ to be able to win a soul for eternity in His dying hours. Here we see Jesus doing personal work even
on Calvary's cross, and in so doing He transforms Golgotha, the hill of death
into a hill of life. As Tholuck has
said, "Did ever the new birth take place in so strange a cradle."
What a paradoxical picture is produced by this personal
promise of a dying Savior to a dying sinner.
The cross was a cruel way of bringing a man to the end of life, but it
brought this thief also to an endless life.
His cross began as his doom, but it ended as his deliverance, for now,
though yet facing certain death, he does so with the promise of certain
life. He was born again on the very day
that he died. Nothing but a personal
promise could satisfy in such a situation, and that is why Jesus emphasized it,
and made it so personal. He was only
hours away from a Christ-less eternity, but Jesus assured him that he was only
hours away from a Christ filled eternity.
Only and earnest personal promise could persuade a man so close to the
gates of hell to believe that he was on his way to heaven.
What a strange day it was on that Friday we called good. Two out of the three being crucified died
victorious with joy in their hearts.
What promise could be more perfect than one that could redeem a crucified
criminal? Let us take Christ as our
example in winning the lost, and make sure we give the Gospel the personal
touch by making it clear that every individual can lay claim to the promises of
Christ. He not only died for all men,
he died for you and me personally. His
blood was shed not only for the sins of the whole world, but for your sins and
mine.
The dying thief rejoiced to
see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile
as he
Wash all my sins away.
My sins can only be forgiven by one who is my Savior. A Savior of the world does me no good if He
is not my Savior, and that is why we stress that every person recognize that
they must as an individual turn to Christ and request His salvation. Christ died for the other thief as well, but
he was lost none the less, because he did not look to Christ, and believe, and
ask. This penitent thief did these
things, and ,therefore, received a perfect promise. It gave him peace and assurance because it was a personal
promise. The second reason for this
being a perfect promise is‑
II. IT IS A PRECISE PROMISE.
It is possible to make a promise personal, but leave it so
imprecise that it is far from perfect. If
Jesus would have said something like, now don't you worry, or all will turn out
best in the end for you, it would have been personal but shallow. What really gives this promise power is its
preciseness. Jesus promised that it
would be that very day that he would be in paradise. It was not some day I will remember you, or soon I will remember
you, but today, this very day of your tragic exit from this world will be the
day of your triumphant entrance into a new world.
The preciseness of this promise not only made it perfect for
the thief in that it would give him such specific hope for that very day, but
it also protects the rest of us from
popular perversions. It protects
us from sacramentalism that says baptism, communion, extreme unction, or some
other sacrament is essential for the salvation of a soul. This most public and widely known conversion
of all is all the evidence necessary to reject such ideas. It is Christ and Christ alone that saves,
and we ought not to put our trust in anything or anyone else for assurance of
our salvation. Baptism is an act of
obedience, and not a means to salvation.
Jesus alone is the Savior, and not Jesus plus something else.
It protects us from the teaching that man is not fit to enter
God's presence immediately after death.
This means that the concept of purgatory does not fit this picture. If anyone needed a slight delay for
cleansing it would be this dying thief, but Jesus promised him prompt entrance
into paradise that very day. Wild
imaginations have built up quite a list of crimes that this man had
committed. We do not need to speculate,
however, for we have the man's own confession in verse 41. He admits that he and his companion are
justly suffering crucifixion. This
means that he was worthy of capital punishment, and it could very well mean he
was guilty of murder.
He was, by any standard, an evil man guilty of serious crimes,
and yet he was promised immediate entrance into paradise. It could well be that before his body was
covered with earth his spirit was filled with mirth in paradise with
Christ. This rules out such concepts as
purgatory and soul sleep. Some teach
that the soul sleeps until the resurrection, but this promise of Christ makes
it clear that Paul spoke what is God's Word on the subject when he said,
"To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." The preciseness here helps us avoid man made
opinions as to what happens at death.
This promise also reveals the perfect confidence of Christ
while on the cross. He knew that before
this day was over he would be back with the Father having accomplished His
mission. Thirty three years was
certainly not a long time to be removed from paradise for the eternal Christ,
but even to deity there is no place like home, and Jesus was happy that day had
arrived for Him to return home, even though the worst experience of His
existence had to be endured that day.
He had to become sin for us, and to be separated from the Father. The joy that was to be His before the day
ended enabled Him to face even the worst in confidence, and it was the promise
to the thief that enabled the thief to face his death with confidence. Because of Christ's victory that day all believers
can have the assurance of following the same pattern that Jesus did. We will go immediately into His presence at
the time of death.
This personal precise promise given to the thief is offered to
all who will turn to Christ in faith. I
do think we must recognize the experience of this man to be unique, however,
and not a recommended pattern. We are
not to wait until we are on our death bed to turn to Christ. We have this one example so that all may have
hope even in their dying moments, but there is only one example less men presume
and make it a pattern to live in sin until they come to die. Far better it is to take Christ's promise as
soon as possible, and have the joy of living for Christ before you die and
enter paradise.
The dying thief had a perfect and precise promise that was
all he could ask for, but we who could live beyond the day of our salvation
have exceeding great and precious promises in plurality. We have the privilege of growing in grace,
and being used of God to carry the good news of salvation to others. The thief received the perfect promise, and
all who would benefit by the unsearchable riches in Christ must also first
receive this promise. They must make
this promise personal, and receive Jesus as their personal Savior, for only
then are they ready to die with assurance.
The dying thief was delivered from the very jaws of death and hell by
turning to Jesus, and this same deliverance is freely offered to all who will
respond to His promise: "He that
comes to me I will in no wise cast out."
12.
PILATE'S PERPLEXING PROBLEM Based on
John 18:28-40
Pilate was appointed procurator of Judea in A.D. 26, which
was only about 3 years before the crucifixion of Christ, but already he had so
much trouble with the Jews that he despised them. When he first came to Jerusalem he discovered that it was about
the only city in the whole Roman Empire that did not have an image of the
Emperor. He did not realize how the
Jews hated idols, and how they would rather die than bow down to one. In his ignorance he sent a guard to set up
images on a tower overlooking the temple.
He had enough sense to do it at night, but when it was discovered in the
morning, the angry Jews began to stream out of Jerusalem toward the palace of
Pilate. By the time they got there they
had gathered seven thousand people and completely surrounded the palace.
The people sent Pilate their request to remove the images,
but he refused, and so they camped there for 6 days. Every time Pilate looked out he saw seven thousand Jews praying
that God would change His mind.
Finally, he told them to go to the marketplace and he would speak to
them. Then he ordered his soldiers to
surround the marketplace. He then gave
them a warning that they either go home quietly or the whole lot of them would
be killed. They said it was better to
die than have images in Jerusalem. This
called Pilate's bluff, and he knew if he began his career there by killing
thousand of unarmed Jews he would soon be back in Rome. He had to give in and order the idols
removed. He despised the Jews for
winning this battle and forcing him to be humiliated.
On another occasion he tried to rob the temple treasury and
started a riot. Many Jews were killed
by his soldiers. On a third occasion he
tried to bring in shields with pagan gods on them, but again the Jews won out
by writing to Caesar. He rebuked
Pilate, and so with this as a background we can better understand the attitude
and action of Pilate when Jesus is brought before him. First we see-
I. PILATE'S CONCERN. v.
28-32
Pilate was suspicious from the start. In the first place he could not stand there
smug self-righteousness. They would not
come into his judgment hall less they be defiled, but they could plan a cruel
murder and think nothing of it. The
letter of the law was everything to them, but the spirit of it was
nothing. Pilate knew they were up to no
good, but he went out to them and asked what they charged Jesus with. The Jews had no love for him either, and so
they said, "If He wasn't guilty we would not have brought Him to
you." They were saying this is
none of your business. We only come to
you to get your order to crucify Him.
In verse 31 Pilate shows he is not to be outwitted. He says, "That is just fine. If you don't need to tell me anything, then
you take care of it yourself and judge Him by your own law." That was a victory for Pilate, for he knew
he had them there. They had to admit it
and confess that they could not put a man to death without his permission. Pilate would have been glad to see them try,
for then he would have Rome behind him while he satisfied his thirst for
revenge against them. They knew this,
of course, and so they obeyed the law of Rome that forbid them to practice
capital punishment without permission.
Pilate was concerned also because he knew they were
charging Jesus with treason. Luke tells
us that they said he claims to be a king, and if you do not try Him, you are no
friend of Caesar. Pilate had to
consider this charge, for if news ever got back to Rome, he would be in serious
trouble. He knew, however, that this
was not the real reason they wanted Jesus crucified. He knew they were envious.
They hated Rome and would be glad to see someone overthrow it. When Jesus was only a boy Judas the Galilean
started a rebellion, and all of Galilee was in a uproar. Many of the Pharisees joined him. It was soon crushed by the Romans, but it
showed that the Pharisees hated the Romans, and so Pilate was very suspicious
of their charge. Pilate was cruel, but
he did have a typical Roman concern for justice, and so he determined to
examine the prisoner.
II. PILATE'S CONVICTION. v. 33-38
When Jesus was brought into Pilate the first question he
asked Him was, "Art thou the king of the Jews?" Jesus had to be very cautious here, and so
He answers by asking another question.
Pilate responds with a third question, and so we an easily see why a
conversation would be confusing if it contains nothing but questions. Finally, Jesus breaks the chain of
questions. Jesus knew He asked the
question only because the Jews charged Him with being a king, but he also knows
that Pilate's eternal destiny is being worked out right there, and so He tried
to become personal and get into the inner man.
He asked Pilate, "Are you asking because of your own interest, or
just because others have told this to you?" This made Pilate nervous, but Pilate tried to laugh it off as he
would say something like, "What a question! What do I care about this whole business? I am no Jew, and it makes no difference to
me. Your own people delivered you up to
me. I just want to know what you have
done to disturb them so that they say you are a king?"
Jesus answered him plainly then and said, "Yes, I have
a kingdom, but it is not of this world."
The kingdom of Christ does not originate in this world, and it is not
built like the kingdoms of the world with swords and armies. Had that been the case Jesus would not have
stopped Peter from using his sword, and all of his followers would have been
armed. This was confusing to Pilate,
but he began to be convicted. Could it
be there is another world and a greater kingdom than that of Rome? Tradition says that Pilate's wife was a
secret believer, and Pilate may have heard of Christian teachings through
her. He certainly had heard of the
miracles of Jesus, and of some of His amazing teachings. Now as he talks with Jesus personally it all
makes so much sense, and he wonders if it could be true.
Pilate said, "You are a king then?" Jesus said, "Yes, I was born a king and
came into this world to be a witness of the truth. My kingdom is a kingdom of truth, and I am the king. All who are of the truth hear my
voice." This was another personal
appeal to Pilate. Jesus knew He was
under conviction and was saying something like this: "You are really the
one on trial here Pilate. I am the king
of the realm of truth, and you are in a spot right now that you have to decide
what is the truth. If you intend to
make the right decision, you will listen to me and follow me." That was a personal invitation to accept Him
as King. Pilate was faced with a
decision even greater than the one he began with, for now he was personally
involved.
There's a great deal of difference of opinion as to how
Pilate asked this question in verse 38.
A few think he was only jesting, and that he thought the whole business was
a silly waste of time. I am inclined to
agree with those, however, who see that Pilate was more serious at this
point. He may have been skeptical and
said it with the attitude of, "Well, how can you know what is right in a
mess like this? I lose either way. If I don't give in to the Jews, they will
write Caesar that I am protecting a rival of his. If I give you to them I will be killing an innocent man. How can a man know what to do?" With that said, he went out to the Jews and
tried to persuade them to let Jesus go.
Pilate did not want to make a decision, but he wanted to get rid of the
whole problem. He felt the price was
too great to follow the truth as he knew it.
Some even feel he wanted to get rid of the crowd and talk with Jesus
alone, but I feel he was trying to escape making it a decision for Christ by
getting Him out of the way. He had the
conviction that Jesus was innocent, but he did not want to choose Him as his
King.
III. PILATE'S COMPROMISE. v. 39-40
It is obvious that Pilate was desperate, for he was naive
enough to think he could come out and make a suggestion and they would go for
it. He was never further from the
truth. He comes out and says there is
no fault in this man and so you will want him released as is your custom each
year at the Passover when I release to you a prisoner. To his shock they cried out, "Release
Barabbas." The crowd wanted Jesus
crucified and the real rebel released.
Pilate knew Barabbas was a scoundrel and that Jesus was innocent, and so
he kept trying to do what he knew was right, but he did not try the one thing
necessary, for he did not listen to the truth.
He stood for the truth, but not at any cost. He compromised and gave up his personal conviction to do what the
crowd wanted.
Pilate believed right but acted wrong. He believed Christ in fact, but he denied
Him in act. He was willing to accept
Christ as a good man and try to set Him free, but he was not willing to submit
to Him as King. To do that would be to
take up his cross and follow Jesus, but it was easier just to send Jesus to the
cross. He just could not bring himself
to the place where he would risk his earthly throne for a heavenly throne. He was no different than millions of other
people. He had a good position and he
was not sure it was worth losing it to be in the kingdom of Christ. When the showdown came between Caesar and
Christ he compromised his stand for justice and chose Caesar and crucified Christ.
He wanted truth and justice, but not at such a price. Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver,
and Pilate sold Him for his job. He had
one of the most important posts in the Roman Empire. He was somebody in this world, and he couldn't afford to gamble
with stakes like that, and so, like the rich young ruler who could not pay so
big a price, he walked away from Jesus.
How hard it is for a man with so much of the world to risk to yield it
all to follow Jesus. History is filled
with men of position who are almost persuaded, but they never take the step of
commitment. John the Baptist almost had
Herod, but not quite. Jesus almost had
Pilate, and Paul almost had Felix and Agrippa.
All through history great preachers have had much influence on kings and
leaders, but for the most part they only came close, for most of them never
came all the way.
It is with real pleasure that I read the story of Thomas
Cranmer who lived in the 1500's. He was
an outstanding leader in England who compromised his faith out of fear, and
because of pressure he signed documents repudiating his convictions. In his final confession, however, he became
one of the most noble leaders in history.
Because his life was at stake he denied the Gospel and bowed down to the
forces of compromise. When he saw other
Christians going to the stake, however, he was so ashamed of his cowardice that
he wrote a denial of his denial. He
confessed Christ as his King. When he
was taken to the stake to be burned he held up the hand that wrote his denial
of the Gospel, and he said, "It shall first be punished." He thrust it into the fire. He came close to being like Pilate, but he
repented in time and sacrificed all to follow Jesus.
We can only wish that Pilate might have repented and
confessed faith in Christ, but history records that he went on being cruel to
the Jews. About 6 years after the
crucifixion he killed a number of them unmercifully and was called to
Rome. He was exiled where he, like
Judas, according to tradition took his own life. A famous legend from which Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland takes its
name says that over the waters of the Lake of Sucerne at the foot of the Swiss
Mountains there can often be seen on moonlight nights the ghost of Pilate
moaning as he washes his hands, but they are never clean from the blood of the
innocent Christ he allowed to be crucified.
Christ would have cost him his career, which he soon lost anyway, but
compromise cost him eternity. We learn
from Pilate that nothing is more dangerous than to compromise with the truth,
and especially with Jesus who is the King of truth.
13.
THE CRUELTY OF THE CROSS Based on
John 19:1‑16
Pierre VanPaasen once had an interview with Marshal Lyauty,
but the former procounsul of the French Republic in Morocco. VanPassen asked him what he would have done
had he been in Pilate's place. Lyauty,
after describing what a trouble maker Jesus had been, endorsed Pilate's action. "You mean your excellency is of the
opinion that Pilate was justified in putting Jesus to death?" he asked.
"Positively," was his reply.
In fact, he said he would not have waited until Jesus had infected the
crowds in the capital, but would have had him put before a firing squad in his
home province up North in Galilee.
This may sound like a cruel attitude, and it is, but it would
have been far less cruel than what Jesus actually did have to endure. Marshal Lyauty's plan would have been swift
and merciful, but the way Pilate bungled things Jesus had to go through intense
torture that was totally unnecessary. A
close look at what Jesus went through is so horrible, revolting, and pathetic,
that many feel that this aspect of the cross should be skipped over. After all, if we are opposed to violence on
TV, why promote it from the pulpit?
Nothing could be more violent than the scenes of Christ's
suffering. The cruelty of what He
endured if shown in its stark reality would horrify people, and give them nightmares. People are not interested in being
disturbed, and so the cruelty of the cross is played down. People want things more pleasant when they
come to worship. The beauty of the
cross is fine, but the cruelty of the cross is taboo. It forces people to face up to the undesirable fact of their own
sin and depravity. It gets rather
distasteful for the sophisticated person when he confronted by the truth that
it was his sin that helped produce the cruelty of the cross. Every person is partly responsible for the
cruelest crime that ever took place on this planet. We are all accomplices.
People like to cover up the pit of their evil nature and be
entertained with trivial pleasantries, and not be made to look at the awful
cost God had to pay to save them. There is truth in this little limerick:
There was a clergyman out in
Dumont
Who kept tropical fish in
his font.
Although it surprises
The babes he baptizes,
It seems to be just what
they want.
If we get just what we want, we will certainly not be looking
at the cruelty of the cross. If we get
what we want, we will take all the benefits of Calvary, and leave the burdens
to Christ. C. T. Studd put this
attitude in poetry.
Mine be the pomp and glory
And Thine be Calvary!
Give me the ease of living‑
The scourge, the thorns for Thee!
Ah, how we prate of
threading
The path the Master trod‑
Laurel and gold our portion;
Thorns were the crown of God!
Mine the respectful gester;
Thine be the bloody thong!
Mine be the titled leisure‑
And Thine the jeering throng!
Here, and we call Him
"Master"!
Our hands are pale and fine,
Too good for blood and
wounding‑
His blood ran down like wine!
Mine be the chant and
candle;
Thine be the pain and loss;
I am too good for trial!‑
Thine, judgment and a cross!
Subconsciously all of feel this way to some degree. We hate to face up to the fact that our sin
is partly responsible for what Jesus endured.
We hate to look at the price we made Him pay. We feel guilty because we not only have not resisted unto blood,
but we have hardly entered the battle at all.
We enjoy being at ease in Zion, and this may be disturbed if we look too
closely at the suffering Jesus endured.
Taking up the cross and following Him will no longer be an invitation to
a pleasant afternoon hike in the beauties of God's creation. It will be a command to face the fury of the
forces of hell, and if need be, die for righteousness. It is easy to understand why people get
squeamish when you approach the horrors of Christ's sufferings, but God
certainly expected us to face this scene squarely. The Gospels devote more space to the suffering and crucifixion of
Christ than to any other event of His life.
The picture is gruesome, and the language is brutal, but there
is no way to be faithful to the Scripture and bypass the cruelty of the cross.
When we say the cross we are including all that Jesus went through in his trial
that led to the cross. Jesus was half dead before he ever reached Calvary. In Luke 23:27‑28 we read that he was
followed by women who wailed and lamented. Jesus turned to them and said,
"Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for
your children." He went on to tell of the judgment that would fall on the
Jews because of their rejection of him.
It is of interest to note that nowhere in the Gospels is a
women ever an enemy of Christ. Nowhere does a woman ever add to the cruelty
Jesus suffered. Women are always in a positive relation to Jesus. Even Pilate's
wife warned him about condemning Jesus. Masculine brutality is responsible for
the suffering of Jesus, while the feminine heart is always sympathetic to him.
Nevertheless, Jesus was not pleased or helped by their tears, and he told them
so. He told them to direct their tears to their own judgment, and not his.
We need to keep this in mind lest as we examine the cruelty of the