The next step in the life of Christ is the one of the most important events, in the history of the world. By His death the whole character of humanity has change, especially that of the nation of Israel, who rejected their messiah, Jesus and killed Him by nailing Him, God’s Beloved Son, to a horrible CROSS. No longer will there be the normal division of nations, nor will the nation of Israel be separated from the gentile nations as a special entity, it will not boast of being a superior race anymore. God had called them from the world for a special mission, set them up and blessed them, chosen them to bless them and show to the pagan nations just how happy is the people of which Jehovah is God! But they failed Him again and again; to humble them He sent nations to subdue them, and when they suffered under servitude to them, they cried to the Lord. God has always had in view to bless the whole world. It was real in the creation of Adam, reiterated in His call of Abraham, repeated time and time again through the great prophets and never more so than in the coming of Jesus Christ to the world!

When they disobeyed God and turned to worship of idols, He delivered them in the hands of their neighbouring nations, under the yoke of servitude they cried to the Lord! To deliver them, he raised up judges, they were mighty men, like Gideon, Samson, and others and through them, He wrought great victories; exploits that never fail to inspire those that read about them in the Bible! But Israel became a very rebellious nation, and turned away from the worship of Jehovah (Yahweh) and worshiped, again and again, the gods of the pagan neighbours that lived amongst them. To punish them, after many warnings He eventually sent upon them the Babylonian armies; Babylon was one of the first great empires of the world. They swept mercilessly across the whole land, and after a great slaughter, took the elite of the nation into captivity to Babylon where they suffered greatly. Seventy Years after, the Babylonian Empire fell to Darius, the Mede, he became the next big empire for he took over the kingdom from Babylon. (Daniel 5:30.) God raise Darius as an instrument in His hands, to help Israel return to their own land, as prophesied by Jeremiah, which I regard as the greatest prophets of the Lord. Although it is now history, yet God shows to the world, through His dealings with His chosen people Israel, that He is a righteous God, who hates sin and that He will punish severely all sinners!

It was not long after their return to Canaan that Israel corrupted its ways, and was conquered firstly by the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great and after it, followed the Roman Empire who took over the rule of Israel. It was then, in the year 3998 or 9 from Adam and 1991 from the birth of Abraham, That God sent His son Jesus-Christ to the earth, born as a Jew in Bethlehem. During his life, that was cut short at the age of 33, Jesus fulfilled the whole Law of Commandments, and as a sinless man, as a Lamb He was led to the slaughter and died, as already stated. His death was for-ordained by God, for through His death he brought to life His chosen people, men He chose called from among all the nations of the world, chosen by God before the foundation of the world. Thus, in Abraham, are blessed, all the nations in the world.

The apostle Paul writing to the Christians in Ephesus says: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him, before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love he predestined us to be His adopted sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.” (Ephesians 1:3-5) Addressing truth concerning this people, as mentioned before, Peter says: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of Darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are, but now you are the people of God.” This people of God, is the Church of Jesus Christ, people that He redeemed by His blood. 

Ultimately, what God wanted to reveal through Israel is now complete, for in Christ He has united Jews and Gentiles into one entity, of which He has not yet finished to build HIS CHURCH!  It is written: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two, one (Jews and Gentiles) and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He (Jesus) came and preached peace to you who were far away (gentiles) and peace to those who were near. For through Him, (Jesus) we both have (Jews and Gentiles) access to the Father by one Spirit.” (Ephesians 1: 13-18)

The CROSS of Christ has led the world to a crossroad leading out from all nations a people with a different future! God now sees all men as lost or saved, as being dead in trespasses and sins or being made alive by faith in a risen Saviour, Jesus-Christ. From the total rejection of men due to their rebellion to God, God will finally fulfil His plan, when Jesus comes to resurrect to life, those who died in Him, and change in the twinkling of an eye, those believers that will be alive at His coming, and take them to their home in glory! ‘Jesus said to His disciples. I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’ (John 14: 4) It is there, that glorified men will live continually, in the presence of God and Jesus-Christ their redeemer! The experiences that Jesus-Christ has live through, right up to His death, have shown how this new beginning has become possible. All the preceding chapters had for purpose to prove how the death of Jesus-Christ of Nazareth, the Only Son of God, fulfilled the Law and brought the old covenant to an end He had to do this before He could start, according to the will of God the Father, a ‘New Covenant’ with it He heralded a new beginning. The last hours of Christ on earth, started with the twelve Disciples of Christ gathering with Him in the upper room to commemorate the Feast of the Passover, as recorded in John’s Gospel chapter 13:1 which says:

“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave the world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, He 

Now showed them the full extent of His love”. And ends with His burial John 19:41.

“At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden anew tomb, in which no-one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there”.

What I am going to write in what will follow, before I deal with Christ’s resurrection, has been written in previous chapters. Those that may read this chapter, may not have read the previous chapter, so, what will follow will be news to them! To those that have read it, I say that I would easily skip it, why mention it again? Because the purpose is to amplify the Love of God and the love of Christ. The men of the world, before the People of Israel was ever thought of, did enough sinning, for them not to bother with men at all. If God, the Holy Trinity did that, then God would be vindictive, and Satan would have full control over men, and that would be abdicating, God could never do that! In the previous chapter we were dealing with an unholy and devious clergy, whereas in this chapter we are dealing with the central figure, which is Jesus Christ and His love for the disciples and finally His passion which is the fulfilment of His Father’s will, His deep love for Him and the final revelation of His glory! The four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John give the account of the last hours of the life of the SON OF MAN.

The handing over of Jesus-Christ by Pilate to the soldiers for His crucifixion is thus recorded by the four evangelists. I am writing the following for those of you who may not have a Bible; it is of immense necessity for you to read it, the Holy-Spirit will only use the Word of God to lead men to Christ, and bring them to true repentance. Those that have a Bible can check the veracity of all following quotations I will make from it!

“When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. It is your responsibility!

         All the people answered, ‘Let His blood be on us and our children.’ Then he released Bar-Abbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him to be crucified.” (Matthew 27:24-26.)

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews? Pilate asked them. ‘Crucify Him’! They Shouted. Why? What crime has He committed? Asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify Him!’

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Bar-Abbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.  (Mark 15:12-15.)

         Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” At one point in the proceedings Pilate learned that Jesus was a Galilean, so: 

“When he (Pilate) learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time.

         When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had wanted to see Him. From what he had heard about Him, he hoped to see Him perform

some miracle. He plied with Him with many questions, but Jesus gave Him no answer. The chief priest and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing Him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed Him and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent Him back to Pilate.(Luke 23:6-10.)  Herod did not find in Christ any good reason for the verdict of the High Priest. This convinced Pilate even more that Jesus was not guilty, but he did not find a willing ear to hear Him so:

“For the third time he spoke to them: ‘Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in Him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have Him punished and then release Him.’ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that He be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So, Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one 

they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.” (Luke 23: 20-25.)

         Pilate went out again to the Jews and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against Him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’? They shouted back ‘No: not him! Give us Bar-Abbas! Now Bar-Abbas had taken part in a rebellion.” (John 18:38-40) All the manifestation of deep concern, all the desires Pilate had to release Jesus and let Him go free, and that even Herod found Jesus not guilty of death but returned Him back to him; Pilate eventually had to realise that it was not in his power to stand against clerical fanaticism. I sense, somehow that when these Jews saw that Pilate was ready to release the Lord, they stood up with greater force and demanded for Christ to be crucified. He did have the power to do so, as he said to Jesus: “Don’t you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you? “But he felt trapped by the accusations of this criminal mob, so he tried one last thing, hoping that it might at last suffice to change their mind:

“He took Jesus and had Him flogged. The soldiers, (no doubt under his direction), twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head. They clothed Him in a purple robe and went up to Him again and again, saying “Hail, king of the Jews.’ 

And they struck Him in the face. Then once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews: ‘Look, I am bringing Him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against Him.’ When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’  (John 19: 1-4)

(I continue with the record of Christ’s last few hours of life, as written by John, the apostle. The readings mentioned above show that John was the only disciple that stayed with the women near the Cross, and his presence there gives useful information of thing he heard and saw.  It is important that we have as full a picture as we can about the cowardice, baseness of the human nature as displayed by all the rulers of the Jewish people.) 

“As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw Him, they shouted, ‘Crucify! Crucify! But Pilate answered. ‘You take Him and crucify Him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against Him’ (john 19: 5) but, of course they could not do that because Pilate alone could hand Jesus over to be crucified! And he knew it quite well, but a war was going on in his inner being, which was so unusual to this brutal Governor whose reputation was very different to his feelings concerning Jesus-Christ. 

The high priest, his chief priests, the rabbis and the teachers of the law, changed so much the Law God that their traditions became more important than the Word of God! They humanised so much the Holy Law that it became finally possible for a man to fulfil its demands. The apostle Paul said that under their traditions he attained perfection and was without reproach, but after his conversion to Christ as recorded in Acts 9, Paul, a legalistic Hebrew could confess, that he was the chief of sinners. (1 Timothy 1:15.) Men have played with God’s Word up to our times; in fact, there has never been a time like the present, that the Bible has been given so many versions and interpretation, that like did the Jews the Word of God, to what is recognised by the world rulers as the official Church, but it does not convey God’s truths to the people! So many, second hand Christians, believe that if one does one’s best it is enough to go to heaven; if this is so why did Jesus have to suffer and die on the Cross? It is now a fact that If Jesus came to the world today the modern Church would do to Him what the Jews did two thousand years ago. These men were so blinded by the devil that finally they crucified Jesus for being who he was: ~ God’s Only Son! 

So, Pilate was the only one who could send Jesus to be crucified, but when he boasted about his power, the Lord Jesus, as a king of Glory could answer to this puffed-up crow: You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’ From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no Friend of Caesar.  Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’ When it came to the crunch the Jewish Leaders went even further for, they chose Caesar as their King instead of Jesus. They wrote in history their own doom. Later it was a Caesar that raised Jerusalem to dust, when in AD 70, in Jerusalem, think of it! the blood of the Jews flowed like water! Such was his reward to those who chose him as their King!

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of the preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour (nine o’clock in the morning of Good Friday.) ‘HERE IS YOUR KING!’ Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted. ‘Take Him away! Take him away! Crucify Him!’ ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed Him over to be crucified!” (John 19:6-16.) Nothing prevailed, not even the pleading of his wife. Pilate was trapped by conflicting powers, of which he had become a slave! 

We are dealing here with the greatest form of treason from a people of God, chosen by Him to be His own! Of all nations, Israel alone had the privilege to be in that position, yet when it came to the crucial moment, they turned against Him, denied His Son and rejected Him to die an unjust death. Time and time again the Israelites disobeyed God and turned to worship the idols of the people they should have turned to God; their history is one of constant rebellions. When they came out of Egypt, they swore to accept and keep faithfully the Covenant God made with them few months after they left Egypt. It happened when God called Moses to climb the mountain to meet with Him. When after forty days He came down from it, he found them worshipping a golden calf that Aaron, fearing for His life, had made for them. It took forty days for them to disobey God, but we cannot blame them for we have all done it as well! 

One cannot get away with it, such a rebellion must be judged, so, because of their sin one whole generation died in the wilderness, where they wondered for forty years. When the forty years were finally fulfilled, they crossed the Jordan under the leadership of Joshua, who after many wars, settled the people in Canaan, the Land God promised to Abraham. Once in it, time after time, they rebelled against God, worshipping the idols of the gentile gods of the nations, wilfully breaking the Covenant, disregarding the Holy Law. For their sin against God, he allowed their enemies to overrun them, but each time, when they cried unto the Him, He sent to them judges, mighty men such as Gideon and Samson, until the time, when God got tired of their constant grumbling, and brought the Chaldeans upon them, who destroyed their City, wasted the land and took the rest of the people, mainly of the upper class, into captivity to Babylon. God warned them time after time of what would happen if they turned away from Him, for eventually even God gets tired and comes the time when He cannot forgive.

There they cried unto the Lord, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there are captors asked us a song, and our tormentors demanded a song of joy; they said, ‘Sing us the songs of Zion.’ But there are no songs possible in captivity only wailing and weeping! After seventy years in captivity, just as God promised by His prophet Jeremiah, they started returning to their own land and re-established themselves in Palestine. But they never regained the same relationship that they had with ‘Yahwe’ their God. They were there in their own land for about five troubled centuries, until Jesus came. 

Almost two thousand years have elapsed from the birth of Abraham to whom God promised to send them a King that would rule the world. Little was known then of the intricate plan God has started with this man: Abraham! But it was not in the mind of God that the true heir of that promise, would come to His people to rule this world and conquer it by force of arms, mighty army are used by pagan nations, seeking continually to rule men by force to subject the nations, but when their King Jesus came, he came sitting on an ass for His was another purpose, far better. Jesus came to call from amongst all nations a new people, and save ‘through love’ those that would accept him, and thus prepare a new people for a New World. From beginning to the end Christ’s love dominated His actions. He asked God so many exceptional things for His disciples (John 17) but there was a great price to pay before it was possible!

At the time of the Lord came, the Nation of Israel had become totally political, having but a form of godliness, the High Priestly office had nothing to do with that of Aaron, the high priest was a puppet set up by a decree from Roman Emperor, and when the promised King, of the line of David, came, we can see plainly what they had done to Him; bruised, beaten and bleeding Pilate said ‘Here is the man!’  Not just a man, but the man, the SON OF MAN, the SON OF GOD! Perfect, sinless, the great victor over Satan, of which his tempting craft never got the better of Him, This man! This very Unique Man! Christ- Jesus!  Appeared disfigured, bleeding, the hair of His head and the beard were pulled out, His back torn away from Him from the merciless wiping and fisting he endured from the temple guards and the soldiers, with their spit still on His face, His hands tied He could not even wipe it off! Suffering shame, rejected, they all cried we don’t want this man to reign over us! But WHAT A MAN!

Three times brutal men set themselves upon Him, then the soldiers of Pilate had their go as well, and finally Pilate’s mob put a crown of thorns upon His head and struck him on His head, insulting him and mocking Him saying, ‘Hail King of the Jew! They never ceased to hit Him, until bleeding, from the thorns that were driven into His skull, and the savage hitting of his beautiful face, the prediction came true, “His visage was marred more than that of any man!” (Isaiah 52:14.) To these Jews, priests, leaders and spiritual teachers, most of them, people born from the loins of Abraham, Pilate made sure that they knew whom they were sending to the CROSS, for on it, in three different languages 

He set this inscription: 

*******JESUS-CHRIST OF NAZARETH ,THE KING OF THE JEWS!*******

     THE CRUCIFIXTION OF THE SON OF MAN.

I have mentioned how Pilate strove with his conscience and how deeply he was moved by the composure of Christ throughout His interrogation! For about two hours he spoke with or about Jesus during which he sent Him to King Herod. Since the whole nation was preparing itself for the Passover, Herod was also in Jerusalem to partake in the celebrations. Herod was very pleased to see the Christ; having heard so much about Him, he was hoping that Jesus would do some miracles to try and impress him, and present a sincere plea for his acquittal! He thought that Jesus would present himself respectfully in the presence of His King, so he thought. He expected him to plead for mercy and plead for his acquittal, as did all accused individual before Him. 

But Jesus was not the kind of accused he normally had before Him, and he never did again. As a King in all his regalia, Herod wanted to impress Jesus about whom he heard so many things, but before Christ’s total silence he was not amused and plied with him asking Him many questions, to trap Him, but Jesus never opened His mouth. Caiaphas sent the chief priest and the teachers of the law, who with the soldiers accompanied Jesus and stood with Him in the presence of Herod. They were there to do their evil work and vehemently they accused Jesus before the king Herod just as they did before Pilate. But they did nothing that would convince Herod to accuse the Lord, and he returned Jesus back to Pilate without any word of condemnation. To Pilate it meant that Herod too found Jesus: ‘Not Guilty’. Step by step, as Jesus humbled Himself before these evil men, not once did He retaliate, in love He came, to pay the redemption price for His disciples!

The history of the Herod the Kings, as I said, is bloody and cruel!  All of them, ruled by treachery and unlawful means. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Pereia. It was his father that ordered the terrible slaughter of all boys up to two years of age at the time that Jesus was born. The Jews never really accepted their rule, but they preferred Herod Antipas to His father, who was a very cruel king, vain and proud. But the Jews expected him not to treat kindly a man who called Himself the King of the Jews! However, Jesus never answered a word to this despot, who filled the throne in Israel for which he lacked the pedigree. Yet, without good reason, just to satisfy their cruel ego and give vent to their degraded nature, Herod and his body guard ridiculed and mocked the Son of God, all Herod’s deeds added a heavy load of sin to his soul ready for hell! After mocking and maltreating Jesus, they dressed Him in an elegant robe and send Him back to Pilate, finding no fault in Him! (Luke 23:8-12 – 15-16.)

At the return of Christ Pilate realising that Herod found no fault in Jesus worthy of such a death, tried once more to convince His prosecutors that there was no ground for Christ to bear the immense suffering of the CROSS! Therefore, having one last chance to free Him and let Him go he said: “I will punish Him and then release Him. ‘But they kept shouting: ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him.’ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement, which in Aramaic is Gabbatha. It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, at about sixth hour. (9 a.m. of Friday.) 

    Pilate said to the Jews   ‘HERE IS YOUR KING’

    Finally Pilate handed Him over to be crucified!” (John 19:6-16.)

“Then the Governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of Soldiers round him. They stripped Him, and flogged Him, and put a scarlet robe on Him. They twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand and knelt in front of Him and mocked Him, ‘Hail king of the Jews!’ the said. They spat on Him, and took the staff and struck Him on the head again and again. After they had mocked Him, they took off the robe, and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him away to be crucified.” (Matt. 27:27-31)

The scourging was the usual torture reserved for convicts condemned to die on a roman CROSS, or other forms of capital punishment applied by the Romans. It was such a terrible brutal castigation that no human being should ever have to suffer. The convict was stripped publicly and was tied to a post in a bent position, and then on the naked back the blows were struck brutally on the back of the poor victim with the purpose of infliction the greatest pain possible. The whip was made of leather thongs weighted with sharp bits or bones and lead. The onlooker would see each stroke; applied with inhuman barbarity, so that blood poured out at each stroke, as the tormentor was tearing the thongs out of the body, he was ripping the skin and flesh from the back of the screaming man; but Jesus did not utter a sound! Some of the stroke would be applied wilfully to reach the face and mutilate it. It was such a hideous punishment that at times victims fainted or even died. After this they sat him on a mock throne and hit his head again and again and said ‘Hail King of the Jews’ making playful obeisance before Him. The strokes inflicted on Jesus’ head added great pain on a brow already swollen from beating he received before, but for these brutal soldiers it was a game that they delighted in inflicting as much pain as possible. It reminds me of the chorus of a Hymn which says: ‘Why should He love me so? Why should He love me so? Why should my Saviour to Calvary go? Why should he love me so? But He did, as says the Holy Bible: ‘For the joy that was set before Him, he endured the CROSS, despising the shame!’ Greater love has no man than this!

It is beyond belief, but when the high priests, the chief priests and their cursed band saw Jesus-Christ of Nazareth, the beloved Master of all true Christians, they shouted even more and incited the crowd, mostly strangers that came from many parts of the world to commemorate the Passover Feast, and all shouted without stop: ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Most did not even know who He was, and why they were shouting what they did! Sending, thus a message to Pilate saying more or less: ‘Don’t you dare release Him now, we want Him dead’. All this suffering inflicted on a guiltless man, whom they falsely condemned, was not enough to these blood thirsty disciples of the devil. Jesus rightly said to those Sadducees and their silent enemies the Pharisees: ‘You are of your father the devil and his works you will do.’ (John 8:44.) Those that had seen Jesus opening blind eyes, healing the afflicted of all their diseases, that heard Him preach the acceptable year of the Lord, would not recognise Him, Jesus-Christ was so disfigured, yet as a KING, He took it in a complete silence. He never complained, nor threatened them of impending judgement: “After they mocked Him, they took of the robe that they put on Him, and put back on him, his own clothes.”

Then they led Him away to be crucified.

There are certain nuances in the record, so I am giving you the writings are they are written in the Gospel Books of Matthew, Luke and John, that of Mark defers very little from that of Matthew. Together they give us a fuller content of things as they happened. I do this chiefly for those who have never had a Bible, or those who do not even know what it is: The Word of the Living God. 

Extract from Matthews gospel.

“As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the CROSS. (A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way from the country they forced him to carry the CROSS. – Mark 15:21. The rest of the record is the same as in Matthew). They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall, but after tasting it, He refused to drink it. When they had crucified Him, they divide up His clothes by casting lots. (That the word Spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled: (They divided my garments among themselves and cast- lots for my clothing.” – Psalm 22:18.) And sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. Above His head they placed the written charge against Him: ‘THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.’ Two robbers were crucified with Him, one on His right and one on His left. Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads, and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!’ Come down from the CROSS, if you are the Son of God!

         In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked Him.’ He saved others,’ they said, ’but He can’t save Himself!’ He’s the King of Israel! Let Him come down from the CROSS, and we will believe on Him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if he wants him, for He said. ‘I am the Son of God. In the same way the robbers who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him.” (Matthew 27:32-44.)

Extract from Luke’s Gospel.

“As they led Him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the CROSS on Him and made Him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed Him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them: ‘Daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never nursed! ’Then ‘They will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ And to the hills ‘Cover us!’ (Quoted from Hosea 10:8.) For, if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry’?

         Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals ~ one on his right, the other on His left. Jesus said: ‘FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!’ And they divided up His clothes by casting lots. What a time to pray for their forgiveness! But then This is Jesus, the Son of God! 

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said: ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen one.’ The soldiers also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him vinegar and said: ‘If you are the King of the Jews save yourself.’ There was a written notice above Him; which read: ‘THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS!’

         One of the criminals who hung they hurled insult at Him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us.’ But the other criminal rebuked him, ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered Him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise!’ (Luke 23:26-43.) Even in that awesome moment, he had time to hear a poor murderer and add Him to His family of believers! But there is ‘No Greater love has man then this’.

Extract from John Gospel.

“So, the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying His own cross, He went out to the place of the Skull, (which in Aramaic is Golgotha). Here they crucified Him, and with 

Him two others ~ one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the CROSS. It read: ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS! Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, in Latin and in Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, ‘Do not write ‘The King of the Jews’, but that this man claimed to be King of the Jew.’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the under garment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another. Let’s decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled which said: ‘They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.’ (Quoted from Psalm 22:18.)

         Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cléopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Dear Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple. ‘Here is your mother. From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:16-27.

At the time of these awful happenings, Jerusalem was full of visitors that came from many parts of the country, some even further afield; it was the Preparation Week of the Feast of the Passover, a national event of great importance. It was the main Feast in the Jewish calendar, a time set aside, each year, to remember the night that Pharaoh let Israel go from Egypt to their Promised Land; on that night their slavery to Him was ended. Pharaoh, who hardened his heart time and time again, was finally broken by the slaughter of his eldest son, just as was the firstborn of each Egyptian family. It is written: “At midnight the Lord struck down all firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was a great wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.” (Exodus 12:29-30.) 

Nobody died in the camp of the Israelis, for God commanded them to kill a lamb and to put its blood on the lintel and posts of each Israeli House. This is why it is called the Passover Feast, for God said: ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you.’ Therefore, it was a day to remember how they were saved through the blood of a sacrifice, which was predicting the death of Christ who gave Himself for the sins of His people! To give it its rightful fulfilment, on that day God chose to fulfil the promise by the offering up His lamb, Jesus, who died for the sins of the world.

There were in reality but two persons in the drama which began from the moment Satan entered Judah at the moment Jesus handed to him the morsel of bread as mentioned in John 13:26 ‘Then dipping the piece of bread, Jesus gave it to Judas Iscariot son of Simon. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.’ The whole plot against Christ was artfully designed by the devil and he had in hand men that he prepared for it. The Bible does say that the unbelievers: ‘Walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.’ The air means the atmosphere. It is impregnated, even today, with evil spirits that inspire the course of this world; they manipulate all the sons of Adam. Jesus did say to the Pharisees including the Sadducees that they were children of their father the devil and that his works they will do. We shall comeback eventually to the full impact of this statement. The persecutors of Christ were doing the devils bidding, who thought that he could destroy God who came into his domain as a man, born as every other baby! God incarnate, Jesus Christ the Son of the living God! He grew up as every human being does, when He reached thirty-three years, He died as a man, having suffered pain, horrible pain that he felt as have done all those that died this terrible, inhuman, on a roman cross.

People, even Christians give the devil more recognition that he needs. He is a powerful person that we must treat respectfully, but we must not submit to him. He boasts a lot but he is not almighty, only God is almighty, nor is he all-wise, for the end of his activities was nigh the end; by His death Jesus destroyed his power - Jesus by His death and resurrection will bind the strong man, and spoil his goods, as He said: “How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.” Matthew 12:29.) Jesus came on earth, Satan’s domain, and whilst He preached the message of the Gospel, announcing a new beginning for mankind, the devil’s emissaries were at His throat continually, never ceasing to oppose Him. 

There were times when the devil was trying to get rid of Jesus. The devil had King Herod to slaughter we don’t know how many boys, around Bethlehem, to make sure that the child Jesus did not survive, but he failed. We are in no position to know what he might have tried during all his life time, because we are not told; if he did, then he failed also! But Satan could not approach Jesus at will, He had to wait his time! At the start of His ministry, Jesus was in the synagogue in Nazareth, where he announced that he was appointed to preach the good news to the people, as prophesied by Isaiah, (I mentioned it already) the people of Nazareth tried to lead Him near a precipice and cast Him down, but He simply walked through them, for His time had not yet come. Satan worked through fallen man, they all failed time and time again. Now he gathered all his armies and thought that he would, at last, see the end of Christ. When His time was come, all his mercenaries show the satisfaction he must have felt, for they were absolutely delighted to have Christ were they wanted Him for so long, what they could never do finally for so long, suddenly seemed so easy, but Jesus submitted Himself to their wrath, and now here, nailed to the CROSS, the end of the man Christ-Jesus was very near. Just a little longer and they will all see Him breathe His last, but none of them knew, not even their master the devil, that God’s greatest victory was about to be trumpeted across all of His Universe, declaring that the devil was vanquished, and that the kingdom of God was being ushered upon earth. While God reigns in all His universe for it is written: ‘the Lord has prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom reigns over all!’ (Psalm 103: 19) Everything that is done on earth is either willed or allowed by Him, but the evil that is done my fallen man will be judgement day!

So, Jesus knew who really engineered this awful plot to get rid of Him; Satan lifted up His heel against, His maker, and could not escape from the judgement that was reserved for him! The binding of Satan, which brought an end to much of his power, especially that of death, a judgement designed and awaited, for so long by all of heaven. As says the Word: “Since the children (of God) have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by death, (his death) He might destroy, him who holds the power of death ~ that id the devil ~ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14.) All the power of Satan and his legions of demons cannot hold anyone that God calls to Christ for the saving of his soul.

From the moment Pilate committed Jesus to his soldiers until He expired on the CROSS, He was in the hands of his soldiers, their task was to take Him to Golgotha, and there to crucify Him. They left Pilate’s Palace and made Jesus to carry His CROSS. It is not known what it really meant, but in the main it appears that it was the vertical beam which was then nailed or tied to the main tree when they reached Golgotha. I remember seeing a man, in England, carrying a cross from town to town. Much publicity was made about him and the objective in doing it. But the cross, this man wheeled around, was made of nice sawn wood about the size of a rafter (.10x.4 centimetres?) about three meters long at the end of which he fixed a wheel. It was a replica of so many crosses one can see in churches grounds or in some cemeteries. But there was nothing pretty or symmetric about the CROSS Christ died upon! These crosses were roughly cut and cleaned of small branches; if the cross-beam was used once it is debatable, but the main tree was used again and again, there was no fuss made for in the eyes of the executioners no respect was due to the next victim, after all in their eyes they were criminals. I even doubt that they rinsed the blood from the previous victim? Why bother! 

I come to the conclusion that the whole cross would have been much too heavy for a man to carry, especially with hands bound together, and a body excessively mutilated by the merciless treatment it received; not that this butchers would feel some pity, for they were devoid of it. But what is important to note is the fact that whatever Jesus was carrying was too heavy for Him! Weakened by all the ordeals He suffered at the hands of His persecutors, since his apprehension in Gethsemane, having nothing to eat or drink since the previous day, and with all the blood Jesus lost from the brutal beating and whipping that ploughed his back and face, it is not surprising that His steps faltered. This is when the Centurion selected a man from the crowd to carry Jesus’ cross. Simon of Cyrene was returning Home, and being black he must have attracted their attention, he was made to carry it and he followed Jesus until they reached the Place of the Skull.

Cyrene, where Simon came from, was a port in Libya, North Africa. Simon became later an important figure in the phenomenal growth of the Church. For some reason, after the death of Jesus Christ, he moved from Jerusalem to Antioch, no doubt it happened during the great persecution of Christians in Jerusalem, which happened after the ascension of Christ, (Acts 8:1-2.) With others he reached Antioch where he became an important member of the Church, for he is mentioned as one of the prophets in that Assembly, Simeon called Niger (Black)! It was no doubt with great respect that He was called by that name; it was not at all derogatory as it might appear today! His Son Rufus with his mother found His way as far as Rome, and with her they were members of the Church in the Roman Metropolis. He, with his mother was fondly remembered by the Apostle Paul in the long list of persons he greeted in His Epistle, (Romans 16.)  In his remarks Paul shows that he cherished Rufus’ mother as if she were his own. It is gratifying to see, that such a man as Simon became a Christian and that God found a place in His heart for a man who carried Christ’ CROSS, and helped Him in His time of need! 

Although Jesus must have been unrecognisable after all the treatment He received from these brutal men, and in immense suffering, he found enough strength to care for what was happening around Him! It was in His loving nature. Hearing the women following Him crying and wailing Jesus addressed them and said: “Daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children, for the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never nursed!’ ‘Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ And to the hills ‘Cover us!’ (This is a quote from Hosea 10:8.) The character of the People of Israel and their standing before God, was going to change radically. His right of approach to God through the High Priest, who alone could enter the Holy of Holiest, who did that only once a year to present there the blood of the sacrifice for sin, on this yearly sacrifice depended the forgiveness of the sins of the people. This was going to be the last time that this feast would have any acceptance before God. By the death of Christ, a New Covenant was ushered in, from then on, in the economy of God, the Jewish priesthood was abolished, through His death Christ fulfilling the Law, opened the new way for Hebrews and Gentiles to approach God by faith in Him alone. More will be said later concerning the power of this New Way, who is Christ. 

We are not told if the wailing of these women was done from a sincere heart or by professional women which were habitually wailing on such occasions. I dare to think that they were women who knew Jesus, women that He blest at one point in His ministry, or blest their children! Yet Jesus chose that moment to reveal, to them that heard Him, the terrible lot reserved to His beloved Jerusalem, He said:“How often would I have gathered thee as a hen covers her brood, but ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37.) The words of Christ to these women, were fulfilled when Titus, in AD. 70 raised Jerusalem to the ground and crucified so many people that it was hard to find a tree standing all around Jerusalem. Rivers of blood were flowing for the slaughter was atrocious. Those he spared he spread throughout the Roman Empire! They chose Caesar for their king and he became their destroyer! But nothing happens out God’s will, and He allowed their destruction according to the words of the prophet.  

The procession of soldiers, women, and the people that followed Jesus-Christ with Simon  of Cyrene, arrived at the place of the crucifixion called Golgotha, where Simon deposited the cross, destined for the torment, pain and anguish of Christ. Simon’s unique service to Jesus the Son of God impressed him and it remained with Him for the rest of His life. As a Christian, that he became later, I wonder what memories he kept of that awful moment. But, with time, as he understood the true meaning of the CROSS and the death of the Son of God, he felt happy that he had a part in helping his Master in a crucial time of need, when weakened by the ordeal of the treatment He received from His brutal tormentors, He faltered under the heavy load. Simon felt that he had been privileged to be there at the right time. I would like to know so much more about this man, his life seems fascinating? How did his conversion happen? How was he led to Antioch and his services in the Church of Christ? I shall have a good natter with him when we all meet in the presence of the Lord.  

Nothing is accidental; God was with Christ and followed very minutely the deeds, the words, and the involvement of every individual in the last hours of His Son’s human life. Although the CROSS had to happen, and the death of Christ was inevitable, yet men are responsible for their sins! The haters of Christ will stand at the bar of the great judge of men, to receive the righteous sentence, for the treatment they reserved for His Beloved Son! Did not Jesus say to Pilate: “Therefore he who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin?” Sin must be punished and the sentence is death, the second death in this case will be eternal banishment from the presence of God: “The Lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown in the Lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15.)

Before the crucifixion the condemned men were given wine to drink with an addition of a drug derived from opium, a narcotic, a mixture to dull the suffering of what was accepted as the cruellest form of execution! When Jesus tasted it, He did not drink any of it. This act of His, Dean Farrar, says in his book called, ‘The Life of Christ’, is described as “an act of most sublime heroism…of one who preferred to look death in the face.’ (end of quote) Rather than dull the pain, for Jesus meant to be lucid right up to the last moment! I think that the two criminals that were to be crucified with Jesus must have drunk as much as they were allowed to, but Jesus, even in the face of all the afflictions he already suffered, was about to suffer the cruellest ordeal of the day, yet he chose to feel the full impact of the suffering! It was important that He remained so to fulfil the will of God, at this most important time of His life

The three crosses were laid on the ground ~ that of Jesus could have been longer than the other two? But it did not have to be. Then on the cross would be laid the body of each man in turn whilst they were still on the ground. With thick long nails were fastened the hands, it is also believed that they could have also been tied with ropes to stop the flesh from tearing! But that possibility is done away with, for when Jesus, after his resurrection appeared among His disciples, He told unbelieving Thomas: ‘Come put your finger in my hand and put your hand in my side. Stop doubting but Believe! (John 20: 24-29) The feet could have been nailed separately, but it is always represented as one long nail piercing both ankles together to the tree. Each cross was then slipped into a hole prepared to receive it. Once the heavy load was lifted, the weight of it caused it to fall into the hole with a heavy thud, which occasioned even more terrible pain for it often resulted that all the bones come out of their joints! We gather that this is what happened to Christ from the words of Psalm 22: in which it is said concerning this moment in history: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint”(verse 14.) Nevertheless, He still thought about what these men were called to do to Him, and yet, although they did it as a matter of fact, we have this astounding record: “Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him, along with the criminals ~ one on the right, the other on the left. Jesus said: ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.” Jesus is called the friend of sinners; I reckon that in this case, Jesus was an astonishing intercessor, revealing that in His perfect humanity, in the midst of Immense suffering, he revealed the perfect love of God for undeserving sinners! 

Although there were three crosses standing together on Calvary, it was the cross of Christ that was the most important to the Jewish clergy and its people. Out of the three crucified Jesus was the principal figure. As far as the thieves that were crucified with Jesus, the attitude of the chief priests, the teachers of the law, the rulers of the people and finally the crowd, was of no importance. They stood near their agonising King, throwing insults at Him for three long hours, at the end of which, the death of the Son of God would change the whole future of those that would believe on Him? As for the world, this agonising figure was this Galilean, Jesus-Christ of Nazareth, who called Himself: ‘The Son of the Living God’. This Man, whom Pilate presented to the angry mob saying: ‘BEHOLD THE MAN’, would leave the world a very different place altogether, for it rejected the Saviour that God sent to it! 

All else was secondary in this drama which brought to an end the holy and completely different life of Christ. The CROSS was spoken of right through the Old Testament, which foretold not only the suffering of Jesus-Christ, but the glory that would follow. The human body of Jesus the Son of man thus perished forever! Jesus rose from the dead with a new body, glorified, eternal, that shall never perish. For what is flesh is temporary but what is Spirit is eternal. 

Pilate reserved for the Jewish leaders what they saw as a slap in the face. He had

prepared and nailed to Christ’s CROSS, just above His head: “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS! Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate: ‘Do not write, The King of the Jew, but that this man claimed to be the King of the Jews!’ Pilate answered: ‘what I have written I have written.” (John 19:19-22.) This infuriated profoundly the rulers of the Jews because it is reported that they sent later a complaint to the Caesar in Rome!

No doubt it infuriated them and with all the venom of their darkened soul they mocked the Lord more than ever saying: “He saved others, but he can’t save Himself” He’s the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the CROSS, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.” They said the truth, having chosen His assertive words, blind to the truth they belittled and ridicule all that Jesus said about Himself. He saved many, but He could not save Himself! NO! He would not either! For on His death depended the salvation of millions, and to save them was the purpose of His coming.

The Jews, being the representative of the people, rendered the whole nation responsible for the complete rejection of their Messiah, who was ordained by God to be their King! The whole people also took an active part in the rejection of Christ; they also wanted Him dead, for they shouted with all their might: Crucify Him! Crucify Him! We do not want this man to rule over us, release to us Bar-Abbas! On the hill of Calvary, in procession, they passed the CROSS, hurling insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying: ‘You, who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the CROSS, if you are the Son of God’.   It was not that He could not save Himself; He had legions of angels that would jump to His help and deliver Him! But He would not save Himself, for His death will be the means of the salvation of millions of people. Jesus was Holy in nature and in character and He did not react to His mockers as would a sinful man. There was neither vain pride nor the will to prove a point, to show to these men what He was capable of never entered His mind, for His main purpose was to fulfil the will of His Father! So, Jesus reacted to their words as he reacted to them right from the beginning. He is the King of Israel, He is the Son of God, Jesus is everything He said He was, He is all of that and more to those He saved through His sacrificial love; He is their beloved Master, their Saviour and their Lord! THEIR GOD!

The two thieves also dying and in great suffering, hurled insult upon Him. Matthew mentions the following. “In the same way the robbers who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him.”(27:44.) Mark says very much the same thing, it is only Luke that mentions this astonishing record. “One of the criminals who hung there, hurled insults at Him: ‘aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us’! Yet for some unknown reason one of the thieves began to rebuke the other and said: ‘Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ’Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise!’ (Luke 23:40-43.) 

In the time of such great need of comfort, Jesus was faced with this astonishing confession, from an unexpected source, in the midst of the crowds, and their leaders insulting and mocking the Lord, one of the robbers confesses that Jesus-Christ was wrongly and unjustly condemned to die with them! Faith, revealed in such a dire situation, shines brighter than ever. Somewhere, somehow, this man must have heard Jesus. We can imagine many situations in which he could have done it. It was possible that lost in the crowds listening to Jesus’ preaching, he heard something that remained in him until this moment. He could have even witnessed a miracle that happened before him? I say this in the light of what is written in the Bible: “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the words of Christ.” (Romans 10:17.) God alone knows, however faith made him utter a saving confession, in his suffering he realised and confessed his guilt, followed by some words of truth, by which he saw Christ returning to earth to establish His Kingdom. What he said was enough for Christ to promise to him the impossible; ‘today you will be with me in Paradise!’ This saving message, this faith creating message is the full Gospel as taught by Jesus-Christ and His apostles! Jesus proved by this act of divine mercy that the salvation of a soul is totally by grace, which means ~ by an undeserved favour~. This thief was dying for crimes he had committed, and few hours after his confession he died. He had no time to live and prove the change in his heart yet Jesus could tell Him: ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise.’ How clearly this is stated in the Word of God: ‘by grace you have been saved, through faith ~ and this not of yourself, it is a gift of God.’ (Ephesians 2:8.) 

Through all these activities, Christ whilst He was nailed to that CROSS, the attitude of the chief priests, the teachers of the law, the elders of the people towards Christ had not changed. They did quite enough bragging, they were in their elements at the apparent success they had in condemning Him, seeing their suffering enemy near death, all they could do is continue to pile more sins on those they already committed. Since they apprehended him in the garden of Gethsemane, the heinous treatment that followed until Pilate condemn Him to be crucified, they were still there sneering at Him, never stopping to throw at Jesus the garbage from their evil lips but this: ‘was their hour’, as said Jesus to them, and they took advantage of it, and piled injury upon injury on their guiltless victim, finally they did it to make their case even riper for judgement, which they did not escape. “What a man sows that shall he reap, those that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind”, says the Bible. I found through my life time just how true it is. They were blinded by Satan and they did his work dutifully, but even Satan, seeing Jesus nailed to thee CROSS, did not realise how close he was to his complete defeat. His reign of terror was coming to an end. Jesus was actually going to deprive him of his power over death, and bring out millions of people into His kingdom, that otherwise would have remained under his control!

   THE DEATH OF CHRIST!

“From the sixth hour (twelve pm.) until the ninth hour (three pm.) darkness came over the land.   (At this point Luke was led to add – ‘For the Sun stopped shining.)   About the ninth hour (three p.m.) Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani’ ~ which means ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ (This cry is quoted from Psalm 22:1).

         When some of those standing there heard this they said, ‘He’s calling Elijah.’ Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said: ‘Leave Him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save Him.’ And when Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up His spirit. 

At that moment the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. (At this point Luke adds: Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.) The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people, who had died, were raised to life. They came out from the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and all that happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed: ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’ Many women were there watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for His needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

(Matthew 27:45-55.)

The Death of Christ as written by John.

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that he bowed his head and gave up His spirit.

         Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down! The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, and he testifies so that you also might believe. These things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled; ’Not one of his bones will be broken.’(Quoted from Psalm 34:20.) And, as another Scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.” (Quoted from Zechariah 12:10.) The rest of the accounts are very similar, the differences, though few, have been quoted. John’s account is different for the purpose of a complete knowledge of how the death of Christ happened and the principal events made clear one needs to read the accounts as written above. 

When Adam sinned his spirit died, because of the original sin all men are born sinners, separated from God and unable to communicate with Him, ‘born in trespasses and sins’. (Ephesians 2.1) Jesus came into the world to destroy the power of sin, of death and of the devil, it is written: ‘Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death he might destroy him who holds the power of death ~ that is the devil ~ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.’(Hebrews 2:14-15) To be a victor, normally means that one stays alive to enjoy the glory of it, but we are not dealing with earthly things. Sin can only be expiated through the death of the sinner, thus Christ death is not due to His sins, for he was pure, guiltless and sinless, thus Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of the world and expiated them by His death. Satan tempted Jesus, but unlike Adam He did not yield to Him. The Bible says: That Christ was tempted in all points such as we are, yet without sin! Because He was sinless, He could take our sins upon Himself and for our sins He suffered, His greatest suffering was that He had to taste death for every man, and to taste what death meant He suffered rejection from God His Father, it was so awful to Him, that He died. Be soldiers that saw hundreds of criminals die on a cross were surprised that Jesus died so quickly.  Therefore, through death, Jesus won the greatest battle fought on earth by anyone, for He destroyed Satan and the power of death, which he lost when Christ died on the Cross! We, were the guilty ones, but Jesus bore the judgment for the sins of all that would believe on Him, the apostle Paul wrote to Christians: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture”. (1 Corinthians 15:3.) In His cry of agony Jesus was not calling for Elijah, but He was expressing the cruel pain caused by this rejection from His Father; then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and said His last words: “It is finished” With that He bowed His head and said “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” Of all the pain Jesus suffered on that day none was greater than that of bearing the weight of our sins, it was too much for Christ to bear and thus He died! At that moment the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out from the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

The tearing of the Curtain in the temple was from top to bottom. It was accompanied by an earthquake, the rocks split the whole nature rebelled against the crucifixion of the Son of God even the Sun refused to shine. Many graves opened and many holy people rose from the dead, few days after they appeared to people that knew them before they died! Around the Cross of Christ now dead, great fear came upon the people, all mocking and the hurling of insults was not heard, even the Centurion and his soldiers were terrified and confessed: “Surely he was the Son of God!” Few hours before they played with Him, hitting Him in the face saying; ‘Tell us who hit you, if you are the Son of God.’ If men like that, who faced death many times, and fought without fear in many bloody battles can tremble, then the greatest unbelievers, with all the people of the earth will shake when Jesus appears with great power, to take vengeance over the godless nations! People will beg for rocks to fall on them, mountains to hide them from the coming King that they crucified, rejected, and martyred his disciples! I do not know what you believe at present? But I can guaranty that at the first sign of what will happen to the unbelievers in the end times, you also will run and try to hide from the coming of the Risen Christ! Believe and repent right now, confess your sins! Plead Christ to wash away your sins in His Blood, so that you may be saved and escape from the wrath of God! 

He had been hanging on that cursed tree for six long hours! No one ever thought of wetting His lips with a bit of water. Even before the CROSS of Christ man reached the limit of his cruelty in despising his maker, the rebellion of mankind was plain to see. The Old Testament is full of God’s cries calling His people to repentance. In His heart he saw the misery, the curse that sin would bring upon men, so often He pleaded for men to change, as for Israel God pleaded endlessly to return to Him. The rebellion of man’s sinful heart and the cruelty that genders its pride, means that as in the days of the flood, God regrets that He ever created man. In the days of the flood, God “Saw how great man’s wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the thought of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that that he had made man on the earth, and His was filled with pain.”(Genesis6:6) Think of it, at the sight of the pain and suffering that sin causes goes right to the very heart of God and fills it with sorrow and pain!

When God raised a people from the loins of one special man Abraham, God called him to walk before His face; he did so faithfully all the days of his life. But the history of his descendants is one of ever-growing rebellion and pride, which ended with the rejection of His Son, whose death brought them to total destruction! The history of Israel, a people raised and chosen by God to be His special witness, to show to the nations of the world how blest is a nation of which Yahweh is God, history shows that they failed miserably, so much so that out of all nations, Israel turned out to be the worst at insulting their God. What Israel did to the living God no other nation did to their dead idols made of clay, of stone or various metals. Israel was never grateful for being who they were, to cut the story short, it turned away from its God and worshipped the idols of the gentiles, and went as far as to burn their own children, to gods that never existed. Now here at Calvary they were doing their worst, and rejecting their messiah, they proved to what level they have fallen!  For their King, their GOD, they did not even have a bit of water wet the dried lips of an agonising man who had to cry; “I am thirsty.” The One who created rivers, seas and oceans did not have a drop of water to quench His thirst or refresh His bleeding brow!

But Jesus was not only separated from God, cast away, for a while, from Him as every sinner is, but he was also cursed for us, as says the Bible; “Christ redeemed us (The Apostle Paul speaks here to Christians that have been forgiven of their sins by faith in the risen Christ) from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hung on a tree.”(Galatians 3:13’) God said to Moses: “If a man guilty of capital offence is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree in under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land of the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.” This is why the Jews went to Pilate and asked Him to break the bones of those hanging on the crosses that afternoon. They had to, according to God’s law bury them that same day, before six PM. This crucifixion demanded it even more, as it was the eve of the Great Sabbath that started a whole week of celebration of the Passover feast. Nevertheless, the attitude of those Jews leaves me speechless, because, after all the hypocrisy of that day, manifested by what the clergy of Israel imposed on Jesus Christ on that day, the many laws they broke in by condemning Him! They suddenly became so serious about a procedure, which they completely disregarded in the condemnation of Christ.

This proves again how devoid they were of mercy, which should be manifested in any human being let alone religious rulers. To break the bones of their equals seemed so natural, their hearts felt nothing, their conscience stopped working, dead! Nothing good shines out from them; it is true that there is no greater cruelty than religious bigotry applied by self-righteous sinners! But when the soldiers came to break the bones of the Son of God, they were surprised that he was dead already, so they did not break his bones, thus were fulfilled the words of Psalm 34:20. ‘Not one of His bones will be broken’. Many Prophesies written in the Bible were fulfilled during all His life time, as mentioned previously, they were even now in the last hours of Jesus’ life. It is good for us to note them, because they were written for the purpose for which they were written, to show that Jesus was the man, sent from God and chosen by Him to be the deliverer that Scripture minutely predicted. There are still many that are being fulfilled, all will be fulfilled until the whole work is done. This will happen when all the saints, meaning those that have believed in Christ as their Saviour, are glorified, and when Satan with all those that are his, will have been judged and thrown in the lake of Fire. (Revelation 20:10-15.)

        THE BURIAL OF JESUS-CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!

“As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.” (Matthew 27:57-61.)

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus by night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy pounds (34 kilos) Taking Jesus’ body; the two men wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no-one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:38-42.) (We learn from the Gospel of Mark that the tomb was cut into the rock and that once these two men had laid Jesus into it, they rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.)

Many books one may read concerning the death of Christ, the writers often jump from His death to His resurrection. It seems to me that not many, desire to stop and ponder at the glory of God and Christ, expressed during those three days. Prior to His resurrection, Jesus went to declared His triumph over death sin and the devil, to all the faithful believers of the Old Testament that waited for His triumph, and took them, triumphantly into Paradise. The faith of Abel, which spells his trust in the promised redeemer, secured his victory in the sacrifice of a lamb from his flock, he got his reward when Jesus came into their presence in paradise, wherever it might have been, and many more realised the fruits of their faith in the triumph trumpeted to all that were waiting for this glorious shout of victory: “IT IS FINISHED”! “ALL IS ACCOMPLSHED”! Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah and the whole triumphant hosts of godly men mentioned in Hebrews 11. Praised God and shouted for joy, for they realised then, that their faith was indeed not in vain! Many from amongst them rose to life and walked the street of Jerusalem, until Christ took them with Him. 

If Peter denied the Lord and all His disciples forsook Him and fled, God had others ready to step in and give to Jesus a resting place for His body, even if it were only for three days. It had to be so, so that the empty tomb would forever be a shout of His mighty victory. I do not know what the Jews were planning, if anything at all, to take or hide the body of Christ, for they did hear Him say that on the third day He would rise again! I think that they were foiled, for when Jesus’ body rested in the tomb into which it was placed by Joseph and Nicodemus, they quickly gave orders to seal the stone rolled over it and put soldiers to guard it! They went to Pilate and said: 

“We remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So, give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that He has been raised from the dead! This last deception will be worse than the first. ‘Take a guard,’ Pilate answered. ‘Go and make the tomb as secure as you know how’. So, they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting a guard.” (Matthew 27:62-66.) Even Pilate trembled at the thought that He might have to face a man that he eventually condemned to die!

With everything that happened around them at the time of the Lord’s death; the three hours of darkness, the splitting of the rocks, the tearing of the veil in the temple, nothing could soften their hardened heart. Their heart became harder than the rocks that split; these Jews reached the point of no redemption!

Joseph and Nicodemus having openly declared their allegiance to Christ were counted, by the Jews, as traitors to their cause. As soon as they realised that they have been duped, by Joseph, who had a tomb cut out in the rock of a garden near Calvary, with the help of Nicodemus put Christ’s body into it. It happened just as we read previously: “Because it was the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. We cannot but see the hand of God in this wonderful provision. The Jews, having learned about it, went immediately to Pilate to make sure that what they feared would never happen. They thought that they took the situation in their hands, but nothing that men can do can ever deter God from accomplishing what He has purposed.

The Pharisees came to Jesus at one point and asked Him for a miracle: “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you!” He answered, ’A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah were three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew 12:39-42.)

These great critics of Christ saw many miracles which Christ did in the eyes of the people, and for these they had a purely sophisticated answer; seeing miracles do not convert a soul, men, in my time, have seen miracles and did not believe in Christ and did not repent from their sins. People have been the objects of miracles during my ministry and they also did not repent, yet others, seeing them being healed miraculously, came to Christ and believed on Him. There are mysteries at work every time God works and all His works contribute to His glory, even if man sees nothing in them! The greatest of all miracles is definitely the death of Christ, for which Jesus uses the miracle of Jonah as an example. 

The Pharisees that asked for a miraculous sign wanted to see Jesus do something outstanding so that they could believe on Him. So, Jesus said you are going to see one, one only, He knew very well that seeing it they would not believe. Jesus died like He said He would, all the world now knows that as the fish could not keep Jonah in its belly, nor could death hold Christ in its grasp, for Jesus was sinless and only sinners are held in its power forever. Once an unbeliever dies, he can never return to life. But Jesus did and he lives forever! This greatest of all miracles, that happened before their eyes, did nothing to change them. It is not given to man to believe in Christ, it is only the Holy-Spirit that can create in man’s heart this saving faith. Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh and they repented, Jesus preached to the people of Israel during three years, but only the chosen ones believed. 

The leaders of the people and the people itself, rejected His preaching and rejected Him, therefore great will be their final condemnation. When Christ their Messiah died, the whole nation died with Him. Its uniqueness finished forever, and just as any Gentile can now turn to God by faith in Christ, so the Jews also have to turn to God through Him. When Jesus said on the CROSS: “It is finished”. He fulfilled the Law and ended its need. He ended also the law on sacrifices, for every sacrifice was fulfilled by the sacrifice of Himself, and Christ by His blood ushered in the New Covenant thus ending the Old Covenant God made with Israel when they left Egypt. 

There is one more thing that happened when Jesus died which I have already touched on, being rejected by God just as is every sinner. Jesus took all our sins on Himself and for them He died, cursed by hanging on that awful tree, as expressed. For three days the Bible says: “He tasted death for every man.” (Hebrew 2:9) These words express the most astonishing truth about how far Jesus had to go to initiate himself to man in sin, for they reveal that to do that, taste death, He had to suffer the rejection from His loving Father who turned away from His own Son, because of our sins, who at that moment knew what every sinner knows from birth, being cut off from God that is true death, God turned His back on men in sin and rejected them away from His face, and Jesus had to suffer it, and the taste of it was so awful, that he shouted this cry of agony: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” ~ Which means: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

That is what death means and after suffering this last immense pain Jesus gave up the Ghost. His quick departure into the blessed peace of paradise surprised the soldiers that came to break his bones, to discover that He was dead already! We cannot understand what it meant to Adam and Eve, when partaking of the forbidden fruit, the glory of God suddenly left them and their spirit died, for at that point a terror of God was immediately born in their hearts; hearts that knew blessed and loving communion with God deeply feared to meet Him as on every other day, they run into bushes to hide from Him! Death! Men in sin are walking dead, without God and without hope in the world. “Yet at present we do not see everything. (There is so much more that God has reserved to Christ and to all that belong to Him, just as there are things, awful things, reserved for unrepentant sinners.) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death so that by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:8-9.) But the bitter taste of a soul devoid of God, as awful as it was to Christ was soon going to be followed by a most wonderful victory, for Jesus knew that His father would not leave His body in the grave to see corruption. (Acts 2:27.-. Psalm 10:10.) 

This declaration brings us to consider the following one which also opens our eyes to the state of man before God. Man has been fooled by the devil to believe that he can please himself, and do what he wants. What man calls freedom, is the right to commit sins just as he fancies it, at will; yet how very wrong is such a man, how blind to think that he will get away with it. This world, just as the rest of Creation belongs to God, He created it, stars and every planet visible or invisible to man, He owns the lot, and He owns every man on the planet. God respects man’s freedom, He gave it to Him but he misused it, He has even allowed him to be so free that freely he killed His Son, Jesus-Christ of Nazareth!

Judas also was free to betray his Master and thus fulfilling the will of God, but his freedom led him into suicide, he could not bear the immensity of his sin and died before his time. There are degrees of sin, and if all sins must be judged some will be judged more severely than others. Jesus said to Pilate who boasted of his right to end or save Jesus’s life: “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of greater sin!”Jesus firstly, declared that what was happening to him was decided in heaven, and God’s plan was being fulfilled, to that end, Pilate was allowed to condemn Christ to die on a CROSS. Actually, when one considers all the prophecies that have been written concerning Jesus-Christ and His death, the CROSS was spoken in God’s word long before the Romans used it to kill their criminals!

 Nevertheless, what men do, even in a case like this, it does not exonerate them from guilt; they will have to bear the punishment meted for every sin according to its gravity. This is what Jesus meant when He said what He did to Pilate. “Your condemnation of me is a great sin, but the one who handed me over to you has committed a greater sin.” In the light of this the apostle Paul wrote the following: “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.(Jews and Gentiles) And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14) What a privilege is here revealed, that it is actually possible, here on earth, to be delivered from slavery to the devil and dedicate oneself to the service of a glorious Master, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of the Living God!

Since Christ’ resurrection, the preaching of the CROSS is done in obedience to His command, which he gave to His disciples, saying: “He said to them, ‘Go into the world and preach the good news, (the gospel) to all creation… After the lord had spoken to them, He was taken into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by signs that accompanied it.” (Mark 16:15and 19-20.) Men of God today feel what Paul felt about his mission to preach the Gospel to all men. He saw and realised what sin is, what it did to him. He knew the power it has and in the light of it he felt compelled to tell men that Christ, by His death and resurrection opened a way of hope, the only way by which men can come out of death into a New Life by faith in Him. Jesus said: “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the Life, no man cometh to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)

The death of Christ Has brought an end to any other hope of becoming righteous before God. When Christ died, all men died, the sacrifices and rituals instructed by Moses have become useless. Since the death of Christ Jews and Gentiles are now on the same ground, and the only way to approach God and find acceptance with Him is through faith in Christ. This is plain to understand by the fact that Jesus came to preach the Gospel firstly to His people; this is why he never left the boundaries of Palestine. The first Christians were Jews; it was from among them that Jesus called His first disciples. In the upper room, on the day of Pentecost, there were a hundred and twenty people. It is in the land of Israel that the Church was born and assemblies of believers sprang in many places, even among the Samaritans, a people so despised by the Jews. 

The message of this verse is really awesome for it declares that their death, occasioned by that of Christ, has cast them from God just as were the gentiles at the Tower of Babel. In fact, the sin is so great that Jews and Gentiles are condemned to hell already. At the last judgement God will not decide whether men go to heaven or to hell that is decided already, to live again, a new life is offered, eternal life here on earth by the preaching of the Gospel which leads men to Christ! At the last judgement God will dish out the degree of punishment that each man merits for his sins committed on earth. The Nation of Israel by rejecting Christ died with Him. This is why the Gospel was first preached to Israel. But in this verse, there is also a mention of people who live! Who are these people? They are those that by their faith in Christ have been born again, and by the operation of the Holy-Spirit have been made new creatures ready for the New World, in which men and God will live together!

Finally, the message of the Cross reveals the immensity of the Love of God. Throughout the Old Testament especially, God has revealed His true character.  He has chosen to reveal Himself as He is. We cannot find a more faithful and true knowledge of Elohim, the creator of all things seen of unseen. But it is in the New Testament that God, by the CROSS and what happened on it, that God’s love is truly revealed, and His intent to forgive all sins to everyone that will believe on Jesus! 

IT IS ON THE CROSS THAT JESUS DIED TO SET MEN FREE FROM SIN, FROM DEATH AND THE POWER OF SATAN TO SERVE THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD! 

I invite you to read more about this wonderful God, the man Christ Jesus, who loved me and gave himself for me!