Latest / Admonition Podcast / Mark 15 (Lesson 1) - Aaron Cozort - April 29, 2026
Transcript
- 0:00Thank you.
- 0:02We are in Mark chapter 15.
- 0:04Let's begin with a word of prayer as we get started with our study.
- 0:09Gracious Father in heaven, we come before your throne grateful for the day that you blessed us with, for the opportunities that we have to serve you, for the health and the
- 0:18energy and the abilities that you've given us to be able to be together with one another, to fellowship with one another, to encourage one another and provoke one another to love
- 0:27and good works.
- 0:29Lord, we pray that as we take time out of the schedules that we all uh work to keep, that we might take our our minds and apply it to the word of God, apply it to what you would
- 0:41have us to learn and how you would have us to live.
- 0:44We might see in Christ our example in suffering, our example in living and our example in obedience.
- 0:52Lord, we pray that you be with those who are dealing with illnesses and difficulties, recoveries,
- 0:58pray that you will give them strength during the hard days and that you will help them to fully recover their desired health.
- 1:06Pray that you be with us as we go through this period and pray that you be with those who are not present because they're traveling and allow them to reach their destination
- 1:16safely.
- 1:17All as we pray and ask in Jesus name, amen.
- 1:24The end of chapter 14, we have the record of Peter denying Jesus and then departing after oh the rooster crowed the second time.
- 1:38Chapter 15 begins with one of those words Mark uses quite often, immediately.
- 1:45It says immediately in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and they bound Jesus, led him away and delivered him to
- 1:57Pilate.
- 1:58So they've been going all night long through this trial and through the sham trial that it was searching for witnesses, not finding any, finally concluding that they could condemn
- 2:11him because he claimed to be the son of God.
- 2:15or as he puts it, the I am, which has even more significance than just claiming to be the Son of God.
- 2:24ah But in the verses here, they led him away to Pilate or led him away and delivered him to Pilate.
- 2:32Then Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews?
- 2:36He answered and said to him, It is as you say.
- 2:40If you go through John's record and some of the others, you'll know that Mark is doing what Mark often does.
- 2:46He's given you the sound bites and moving on.
- 2:49He's given you the highlights and not all the details.
- 2:52ah But Jesus is going to be asked by Pilate, are you the king of the Jews?
- 3:00Now, why is that a strange question from Pilate?
- 3:08All right, there's no indication that Pilate had ever had any interaction with him.
- 3:13So the indication is the question is coming from the accusations, not from the knowledge that Pilate has.
- 3:23But what is it that the Romans had established by way of a ruler over the Jews?
- 3:33Herod, who was king of the Jews.
- 3:40So if you were asking from a political perspective, doesn't Pilate know the answer of who the king of the Jews is?
- 3:49Sure, because matter of fact, here in a little while, Pilate's gonna send Jesus off to stand before Herod, the king of the Jews.
- 4:03And yet, in spite of the fact that Jesus recognizes Herod's role and Pilate recognizes Herod's role, in spite of that, the question is asked and the question is answered.
- 4:22But notice, he says, it is as you say.
- 4:28Now, as you...
- 4:30track all the way back to the birth of Jesus.
- 4:38What is it that the wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and asked concerning?
- 4:51All right, where is the one who is born the king of the Jews?
- 4:59Now, who heard about the request and the inquiry of the wise men?
- 5:08Herod did.
- 5:09Now, this would have been this current Herod's father.
- 5:13All right, because the Herod that was alive when Jesus was born was not going to live very long after that.
- 5:22And you remember in the text where it tells us that after Herod died is when Jesus and his parents, uh or when his parents determined they could safely return back to the land of
- 5:38Israel out of Egypt.
- 5:39But the point is,
- 5:42Back when there was a king and Jesus was born, somebody was looking for the king of the Jews and they weren't looking for Herod.
- 5:51Here at Jesus' trial, Pilate, the governor of the Roman Empire over that region is looking for the king of the Jews and it's not Herod.
- 6:03Herod and all of the Herodian line were puppet kings.
- 6:12They were put in place by Rome.
- 6:15They answered to Rome.
- 6:17They were not even Jews.
- 6:20What descendancy were they from?
- 6:24What lineage were they from?
- 6:27Esau, they were Edomites.
- 6:29So they're not even Jews, those who are ruling over the Jews.
- 6:35And so as you understand this, there's an understanding from Pilate, there's an understanding from the text beginning and end of Jesus' life that Jesus came to be the
- 6:50king of the Jews.
- 6:52He was prophesied to be the king of the Jews and the king that they had wasn't the king of the Jews.
- 7:00That is, by the way, in complete agreement with what the prophets had said and what the Old Testament prophesied, because the Old Testament was clear back in the days before
- 7:09Judah fell that at the time that God put an end to the kings and the rulers in Judah, there would not be another king to sit on the throne in Jerusalem until the Messiah came.
- 7:25And so Herod was not someone who intercepted that.
- 7:29Herod was
- 7:30not someone who ruled in that seat of the king of the Jews as a descendant of David.
- 7:39And so as he stands before Pilate...
- 7:42Pilate says, are you the king of the Jews?
- 7:46He answered and said to him, it is as you say.
- 7:49Now, what is it that Pilate is going to write over Jesus' head when eventually Jesus will be led to the cross and crucified?
- 8:03And what did the Jews want him to write?
- 8:05All right, the Jews wanted him to say, he said he was the king of the Jews.
- 8:11Pilate said, what I have written, I have written.
- 8:16You brought him because he claimed to be the king of the Jews.
- 8:23I could find no evil with him.
- 8:25The only accusation that he would admit to was he was the king of the Jews.
- 8:32And so that's what I wrote as the condemnation.
- 8:35He was crucified because he was the king of the Jews.
- 8:38Now, notice the chief priests accused him, verse three, of many things, but he answered nothing.
- 8:48Then Pilate asked him again, Do you answer nothing?
- 8:52See how many things they testify against you.
- 8:57But Jesus still answered nothing.
- 8:59So that pilot marveled.
- 9:04Is it always wise?
- 9:08to say nothing when people throw accusations at you.
- 9:15Careful with the word always.
- 9:18Is it always wise to say nothing?
- 9:21No.
- 9:23Is it always wise to say something?
- 9:27No.
- 9:29And Jesus here is doing more than just making a wise choice.
- 9:38Jesus is actually fulfilling prophecy.
- 9:41Jesus is choosing to behave in a certain way that fulfills Old Testament prophecy, Isaiah 53, and others.
- 9:55Jesus is standing there allowing the accusations to flow forth from the chief priests, from the scribes, from the Pharisees.
- 10:02Did you notice, by the way, the statement is clearly made that these were accusations, not proof?
- 10:10They had an abundance of things to accuse him of.
- 10:15Where was their evidence?
- 10:17They didn't supply any.
- 10:20They didn't have any evidence, but they had an abundance of accusations.
- 10:25so Pilate questions him, are you not going to answer?
- 10:30Are you not going to represent yourself?
- 10:33Are you not going to give an explanation as to why all the things that they're saying are false?
- 10:42Now, for us, in our current society, if our laws were enacted the way that they're actually written, what is the case when a person is brought to court or accused of
- 10:57something?
- 10:57What is their by-nature stance in court?
- 11:05All right, innocent until proven guilty.
- 11:09Has that always been the case everywhere and at all times?
- 11:13No.
- 11:14uh Quite often you were guilty at the accusation of someone in power unless you could prove you were innocent or somehow get around the charges.
- 11:27so Pilate is astonished that Jesus is not answering.
- 11:34anything.
- 11:36But it's not just the Jews that Jesus isn't answering.
- 11:40When Pilate questioned Jesus, did he answer Pilate?
- 11:45No.
- 11:48Verse 6 says, at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whoever they requested.
- 11:57And there was one named Barabbas who was chained with his fellow rebels.
- 12:03They had committed murder in the rebellion.
- 12:06All right, so a little bit of Jewish history here.
- 12:10Regularly throughout the first century, the Jews would begin to rebel against
- 12:17the Romans.
- 12:19They would try and overthrow the Roman rule.
- 12:22As matter of fact, you can remember that many of the ones who followed Jesus were looking for a Messiah who was going to do what in their mind?
- 12:34throw off the shackles of the Romans and they would once again return to the power and the glory that they had when David and Solomon were on the throne.
- 12:43He was going to restore the nation to Israel.
- 12:47That's what the disciples, even the apostles come and ask Jesus about in Acts chapter one.
- 12:52Are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
- 12:57Jesus says it is not appropriate for you to ask questions about things you don't understand.
- 13:03If I could paraphrase.
- 13:05And so, many of the Jews are looking for the relinquishing of Roman power over them.
- 13:13Now bear in mind, they have been subjugated under the Romans.
- 13:20Before that, they were subjugated under the Grecian power.
- 13:24Before that, they were subjugated under the Medo-Persian power.
- 13:28Before that, they were subjugated under the Babylonian power.
- 13:33So they've had 600 years of no real independence in their history because of their fall to Nebuchadnezzar.
- 13:46And as a result of that, many of them are striving to once again become their own nation, once again become the ones in charge.
- 13:57Well,
- 13:57It seems as though that Barabbas had been involved in this sort of rebellion, except notice
- 14:06that they had committed murder in the midst of the rebellion.
- 14:12This was not an individual who was of upstanding character.
- 14:18This was not an individual who was a good person, just got caught up with the wrong crowd.
- 14:26This was a person who had incited rebellion.
- 14:29This is a person who had committed murder.
- 14:32This is a person who was not
- 14:35the kind of person you invite back into society.
- 14:46than the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them.
- 14:54But Pilate answered them, saying, Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?
- 15:01For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy.
- 15:07Mark points out that Pilate
- 15:13had perceived exactly what was going on.
- 15:18That this didn't have anything to do with the chief priests and the elders trying to uphold Roman law.
- 15:27It didn't have anything to do with them upholding their own law.
- 15:31It didn't have anything to do with them having justification for their actions.
- 15:36It had everything to do with the
- 15:38power that Jesus had and the sway that Jesus had among the people as opposed to what they had.
- 15:48So Pilate offers the people to release the king of the Jews.
- 16:01But you might remember there's an uh admonition back in Proverbs chapter 1 where Solomon will write to his son, do not follow a multitude to do evil.
- 16:22The same multitude of people who wanted to call Jesus king at the beginning of the week are going to refuse to have the king handed back over to them at the end of
- 16:41We need to be cautious when somebody says, don't you believe this?
- 16:47Everybody does.
- 16:50Don't you agree with this?
- 16:51Everybody does.
- 16:54Don't you think that this is what we should do?
- 16:56Everybody thinks we should.
- 17:02I dare say history has proven over and over and over again that everybody is often wrong.
- 17:10when those type of statements are made.
- 17:14So Pilate offers the Jews, and he says to them, Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?
- 17:22For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy, but the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them.
- 17:35Pilate answered and said to them again, What then do you want me to do with him who you called the king of the Jews?
- 17:44So they cried out again, crucify him.
- 17:48Then Pilate said to them, why, what evil has he done?
- 17:52But they cried out all the more, crucify him.
- 17:58Give me one good reason.
- 18:00Nobody was interested in giving him a good reason.
- 18:03Simply shouting him down with the cry, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him.
- 18:12But you'll notice the incitement as well.
- 18:15The chief priests going among the crowd inciting the people again, careful with a crowd.
- 18:27It's one thing to say, you know what, most of the people in the crowd are good people.
- 18:34Yeah, well good people in a crowd do really bad things.
- 18:42and so they are being incited to cry out and cry out for him to be crucified.
- 18:49So Pilate verse 15, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him to be crucified.
- 19:04Part of the problem you go look back and do some digging into history is that Pilate was dealing with a nation that regularly, as we already mentioned, liked to revolt.
- 19:17And there's good indication in some of the historical records and things that have been found that essentially Pilate had dealt with revolt after revolt after revolt.
- 19:29And it seems as though Pilate's neck was on the line.
- 19:36another revolt and it won't be the people revolting that will be gone, it will be pilot.
- 19:42And when the Roman government takes a governor out, they don't take him out to dinner.
- 19:49Take him to the grave and say, we'll get somebody who can do the job.
- 19:54So Pilate is in it for his own skin.
- 19:57He is willing to appease the people for his own interests, not the interest of that which is right.
- 20:06You go all the way back to Exodus chapter 18 and what were some of the qualifications for judges that were established in Israel?
- 20:20They had to be those who hated a bribe.
- 20:24They had to be those who did not defer to those who were rich, to those who were poor.
- 20:32They had to be impartial judges.
- 20:37In other words, they would side with the innocent.
- 20:43by Pilate's own testimony.
- 20:46This person's innocent.
- 20:49And the people who are crying out, crucify him, won't even give him a reason to crucify him.
- 20:58They just want him executed by the power of the government.
- 21:07So notice Pilate is going to hand him off.
- 21:12to be scourged, then He is going to hand him off to be crucified.
- 21:18Now again, Mark gives us the summary snippet version.
- 21:25The scourging was intended to do what?
- 21:31get someone to talk.
- 21:32was an investigative technique.
- 21:35If you brought somebody close enough to death through scourging, they'd probably tell you if they were guilty or not.
- 21:42They'd find some way to communicate something that they had done so the scourging would stop.
- 21:50They didn't find anything.
- 21:53When the scourging was over, which by the way, when you were under Jewish control and under Jewish law, how many times could you be beaten or could you be uh have pain
- 22:07inflicted upon you under Jewish law?
- 22:1240 stripes.
- 22:13They would back off one in case they miscounted to keep the law.
- 22:21So they'd give 40 stripes save one.
- 22:24Romans had no such law.
- 22:26Romans had no such uh ordinance or rule that they followed.
- 22:30The Romans would beat you until you spoke up.
- 22:36or until they concluded, there's nothing to learn here.
- 22:42Quite often it is stated and pointed out due to the scourging that by the time they were done scourging an individual, that their back was basically just flayed, just opened right
- 22:56to the organs from behind.
- 23:01Sorry, I thought there was a comment.
- 23:03And so he's going to scourge him first.
- 23:07Then he's going to crucify.
- 23:10Then the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium.
- 23:17And they called together the whole garrison.
- 23:20And they clothed him with purple, and they twisted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
- 23:29Then they struck him on the head with a reed, and spat on him, bowing the knee, they worshiped him.
- 23:36And when they had mocked
- 23:37They took the purple off of him, put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
- 23:44It's not enough that they're going to beat him.
- 23:48It's not enough that they're going to scourge him.
- 23:51They're going to mock him.
- 23:54They're going to torture him.
- 23:58They're going to blaspheme him.
- 24:04And every single step along the way.
- 24:09It's fulfillment of prophecy.
- 24:14They brought him to the place Golgotha, which is translated place of a skull.
- 24:23Then they gave him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but he did not take it.
- 24:29And when they crucified him, they divided his garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.
- 24:38Now it was the third hour and they crucified him.
- 24:43And the inscription of his accusation was written above the King of Jews.
- 24:50Now back here just a little bit ago, verse 23, the the wine mingled with murder the way I understand it.
- 24:56And I'm no expert on the matter, but the way I understand it is this is basically uh something that would dull the the senses and the pain of what is about to occur in the
- 25:10actual crucifixion.
- 25:13And so, it's a bit of uh a painkiller to keep someone from uh dying before they were done crucifying you.
- 25:23The last thing they want is you to die before they've made their point, as far as the Romans were concerned.
- 25:29But it also would have had an effect on someone's mental state.
- 25:35And Jesus refused to accept that and refused to dole his
- 25:42mental acuity at the things that were going on.
- 25:46What time of the day is the third hour?
- 25:51Nine o'clock.
- 25:54So they're in the midst of this and they crucify him at the third hour and they write the inscription in verse 27, with him they also crucified two robbers, one on his right hand,
- 26:09the other on his left.
- 26:11So the scriptures were fulfilled, which says, and he was numbered with the transgressors.
- 26:19If you've ever read through Isaiah 53 and you've read that statement, you go, wait a minute, what does it mean he was numbered with the transgressors?
- 26:28Well, Mark's going to tell you exactly what it means.
- 26:32He's going to say that means he was killed.
- 26:36He was crucified with those who deserved it.
- 26:42Though he did not.
- 26:44Verse 29, those who pass by blasphemed him.
- 26:48wagging their heads and saying, Aha, you who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross.
- 27:02Jesus had a reputation.
- 27:05Not everybody agreed with Jesus.
- 27:08Many who had listened to Jesus at earlier points turned back and walked with him no more.
- 27:17Many chose not to agree with Jesus, but that didn't mean they didn't know who he was.
- 27:24Didn't mean they didn't know what he had said.
- 27:26That was pretty hard to escape in all Israel.
- 27:29If you remember, we talked about in a lesson
- 27:32recently about the two disciples that were on their way to Emmaus, and Jesus meets up with them and he asks them about what they're discussing and what things have been going on.
- 27:42And they basically ask, where are you from that you don't know what's going on?
- 27:51The city at large knew what was going on.
- 27:56Even those who were not from there, who were only there for the feast, knew what was going on.
- 28:07And so some come by and they blaspheme him.
- 28:13and they speak as if he deserved the things which he was getting.
- 28:23I think it's interesting that this phraseology here about the wagging of the head and and the the statements that they were making has an interesting Old Testament picture with
- 28:37what God had told Israel, specifically the nation of Judah, that all the nations around them would do as they traveled by Jerusalem after it was destroyed.
- 28:53God said that people would wonder at what had been done, at what their God had done to them.
- 29:08Interestingly, you go back all the way to the time of Job and the disposition generally of the Jews and the Israelites and many individuals was if you were suffering, it was because
- 29:26God was doing it to you.
- 29:29If you were enduring great tragedy,
- 29:35It was because God was punishing you.
- 29:41And somewhat it appears to be here that some of the people who are coming by are operating under the assumption if he's on the cross, it's clearly God judging him.
- 29:58Now what accusation do they bring forward or what statement do they bring forward as a proof text that he deserved to be where he was?
- 30:16Notice.
- 30:20You who destroy the what?
- 30:26The temple.
- 30:30You spoke against our God's temple and now look what He's done to you.
- 30:46in the mind's eye of many, they considered speaking against the temple to be speaking against God.
- 30:57You remember that Jesus would point out as he was teaching concerning swearing and oath that there were some who would swear an oath by themselves and others who would swear an
- 31:09oath by something greater and some
- 31:12determined that if they swore an oath by the temple then they had to keep it.
- 31:17If they swore an oath by the gold of the temple they had to keep it even more.
- 31:24in the Jewish mind.
- 31:28the very representation of God in amongst their people and His presence in their nation and their status as the people of God.
- 31:44revolved around that temple.
- 31:48Now, there's nobody who thinks that way today, right?
- 31:56Certainly no nations or religions built upon an ideology that says this one physical location is a holy place representative of our place before God.
- 32:14But that was their mindset.
- 32:17So to say you're going to destroy the temple?
- 32:24was to the people's mind a statement against God.
- 32:31That's something that the invading outsiders from days gone by did, not somebody who claimed to be God's son.
- 32:42That's something that someone who rebelled against God would do, not somebody who belonged to God.
- 32:50So as they make this accusation, the only one really that the Jews had managed to come up with that could stick, because Jesus had actually said it.
- 33:05They utilized this as a lever to turn the people against Jesus.
- 33:17which reminds us that something doesn't have to be true, sorry, doesn't have to be false to be turned into a lie.
- 33:29Something doesn't have to be incorrectly stated in order to turn it into being something that was never intended.
- 33:41Had the people understood what Jesus was referencing,
- 33:48they would have realized that they were taking part in the destruction of exactly that temple right then.
- 33:56because what was the temple he was referencing?
- 34:01his body.
- 34:04They were fulfilling his promise.
- 34:08they were crucifying Him.
- 34:11Without their actions, this statement wouldn't have come true.
- 34:17And yet...
- 34:20they were fulfilling that which they were accusing Him of being worthy of death because of.
- 34:31But they also said, save yourself and come down from the cross.
- 34:40If you are the son of God, I think another of the texts will articulate.
- 34:49Save yourself.
- 34:50He said he would save Israel, but he can't even save himself.
- 34:59Is it true that Jesus couldn't save Himself?
- 35:09And it is a reminder to us that having the power to do something doesn't mean that you should.
- 35:19Jesus was held on that cross, not with nails.
- 35:27but with a decision, a decision that had been made before the world was ever formed.
- 35:35Revelation 13 verse 8 describes Jesus as the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.
- 35:44Jesus wasn't held on that cross by the power of the guards, by the authority of Pilate.
- 35:53Jesus would tell Pilate, have no authority, but that which given you from above.
- 35:59Jesus would also point out to Pilate that he could call 10,000 legions of angels and walk free.
- 36:09He also made a point that the reason why his servants didn't fight is because his kingdom out of this world.
- 36:21We need to remember as we go through life, as we struggle with the difficulties that arise in life, as we examine some of the things that we face in life, that many times
- 36:37We are faced with the reminder that we can fight for what is in this world or we can fight for what is not in this world.
- 36:49And as Jesus hung on the cross, He was already fighting.
- 36:54Not fighting to get out.
- 36:57Not fighting to get off.
- 37:00Not fighting to live.
- 37:04fighting for those who were defenseless against sin.
- 37:11Jesus was held on the cross by a decision.
- 37:18And they thought the fact that He was still there was evidence that He was powerless to come down.
- 37:28Likewise, verse 31, the chief priests also mocking among themselves with the scribes said, He saved others, himself He cannot save.
- 37:41Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe.
- 37:49Even those who were crucified with Him reviled.
- 37:56As these events proceed, the tempo of the mocking continues and continues.
- 38:08to the point where even the people who are hanging on the cross, who have to struggle and push themselves up on a nail in their feet, do so just to make a statement reviling Jesus.
- 38:27Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
- 38:37started at nine in the morning.
- 38:42noon arrives.
- 38:47And as noon arrives, you have a nice giant cloud get in front of the sun, right?
- 38:57No, no, this was no cloud.
- 39:03This was no eclipse.
- 39:08Have you all ever watched an eclipse?
- 39:12How long does it take to go by?
- 39:16Yep, 10, 12 minutes.
- 39:19There's nowhere where it's three hours.
- 39:26for three hours darkness.
- 39:34I know in some of the movies and some of the things that have been made, you have the portrayal of this being a almost nighttime scene.
- 39:48I don't think so.
- 39:53I think this is more likely, far more like an Egyptian scene.
- 40:02You remember one of the plagues in Egypt was what?
- 40:06Darkness.
- 40:08And the book of Exodus tells us that the darkness there in Egypt in the midst of that plague was such that you couldn't see what?
- 40:19You couldn't see the end of your nose.
- 40:22You couldn't see a hand before your very face.
- 40:27And as many have illustrated, if you've ever been down into a cave and they turn all the lights out, you know what complete absence of light is.
- 40:40This isn't nighttime with a full moon.
- 40:47This is darkness.
- 40:52at noon.
- 40:56for three hours.
- 41:01Imagine the soldiers.
- 41:06trying to do their job of observing what's going on.
- 41:13Think about the crowd.
- 41:17You're three hours into this and mocking and mocking and mocking pervasive throughout that three hours.
- 41:29What think happened to the mocking when nobody could see anything anymore?
- 41:36probably died down pretty significantly about that point.
- 41:42I think my opinion here.
- 41:47When you get over to the day of Pentecost.
- 41:52You've had 50 days of people thinking about what happened.
- 41:58It's not that the sermon that is preached is powerful, but it was evidenced by more than just the sound of a rushing mighty wind, evidenced by far more than just speaking in
- 42:14tongues or cloven tongues of fire on the heads of those who were talking.
- 42:17It had been evidenced by the events of the crucifixion.
- 42:25which is, by the way, a reminder.
- 42:30that we should understand the value of the Gospel.
- 42:36because there is a far cry difference between someone who knows what they've done is wrong and someone who knows how to make it right according to the Word of God.
- 42:51These people would walk away from this event knowing what they did was wrong.
- 43:02but not having a solution for what to do next.
- 43:10as we close.
- 43:14We read.
- 43:18Verse 33, now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
- 43:26At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthanai, which is translated, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
- 43:38Comes from Psalm 2.
- 43:41Some of those who stood by when they heard that said, Look, he is calling for Elijah.
- 43:49Why do you think they didn't understand what he said?
- 43:56He didn't say Elijah.
- 44:00It's a little bit of a reminder here that many of the Jews no longer spoke Hebrew.
- 44:07They had become, much like much of the rest of society, a Grecian speaking people.
- 44:13That is the one thing that the Greeks exported, was their language.
- 44:18So the common tongue was Greek.
- 44:20You find even the soldiers of the high priest who would go with Saul of Tarsus to Damascus as they're traveling to Damascus and they see the light.
- 44:33And one text says that they didn't hear any, the soldiers didn't hear what was said.
- 44:37And another text says that they heard but didn't understand.
- 44:42And the text is clear that he spoke, Jesus spoke to Saul in Hebrew.
- 44:50That means that even the soldiers of the high priest who were Jews didn't understand Hebrew.
- 45:01they had lost much of their knowledge and through their ignorance of even their own language they could not recognize a quote from the Psalms.
- 45:16in Hebrew.
- 45:18They were so divorced from their knowledge of the Old Testament that they couldn't even hear a quotation from the Old Testament and recognize it in their own language.
- 45:35So they question, he calling out for Elijah?
- 45:38All right, we're gonna put a peg in it right there and we'll pick up ah here.
- 45:44Not next week, I'll be out of town next week, but we'll pick up two