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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Death on a Cross │ Msg 1... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: There are few scenes in all of literature more filled
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Speaker 1: with anguish and pathos than the death of Jesus. In
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Speaker 1: the first century, the cross was not a symbol of
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Speaker 1: faith but a failure. It was not a symbol of veneration,
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Speaker 1: but of unspeakable shame. Crosses loomed menacingly on the frayed
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Speaker 1: hymn of the city's outskirts, overlooking the garbage dumps. They
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Speaker 1: stood ominously on the horizon, as brutal monuments that crimes
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Speaker 1: against Rome did not pay. For Jesus, however, the cross
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Speaker 1: was not a place of despair and defeat, but of
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Speaker 1: hope and victory. His cross was the altar on which
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Speaker 1: the spotless lamb of God would bear our sins, which
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Speaker 1: he would declare freedom from Sin's curse in his triumphant words,
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Speaker 1: it is finished. I want you to listen very carefully today,
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Speaker 1: and as you do so, I want you to reflect
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Speaker 1: on John's reverent portrayal of Christ's death. As I read
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Speaker 1: from John nineteen sixteen through thirty seven. Then Pilot turned
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Speaker 1: Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took
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Speaker 1: Jesus away, carrying the cross by himself. He went to
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Speaker 1: the place called place of the Skull in Hebrew Galgatha.
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Speaker 1: There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were
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Speaker 1: crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them,
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Speaker 1: and the pilot posted a sign on the cross that
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Speaker 1: read Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. The
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Speaker 1: place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and
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Speaker 1: the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so
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Speaker 1: that many people could read it. Then the leading priests
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Speaker 1: objected and said to Pilot, change it from the King
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Speaker 1: of the Jews to he said, I am King of
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Speaker 1: the Jews. Pilot replied, no, what I have written, I
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Speaker 1: have written. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided
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Speaker 1: his clothes among the four of them. They also took
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Speaker 1: his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece
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Speaker 1: from top to bottom. So they said, rather than tearing
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Speaker 1: it apart, dice for it. This fulfilled the scripture that
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Speaker 1: says they divided my garments among themselves, and through dice
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Speaker 1: for my clothing. So that is what they did. Standing
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Speaker 1: near the cross were Jesus' mother and his mother's sister, Marry,
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Speaker 1: the wife of Clophus and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw
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Speaker 1: his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said,
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Speaker 1: to her, dear woman, here is your son. And he
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Speaker 1: said to this disciple, here is your mother. And from
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Speaker 1: then on this disciple took her into his home. Jesus
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Speaker 1: knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill
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Speaker 1: his scripture, he said, I am thirsty. A jar of
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Speaker 1: sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge
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Speaker 1: in it, put it on a hissop branch, and held
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Speaker 1: it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it,
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Speaker 1: he said, it is finished. Then he bowed his head
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Speaker 1: and gave up his spirit. It was the day of preparation,
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Speaker 1: and the Jewish leaders didn't want the bodies hanging there
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Speaker 1: the next day, which was the Sabbath and a very
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Speaker 1: special sabbath because it was passover weak. So they asked
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Speaker 1: Pilot to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs
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Speaker 1: be broken, then their bodies could be taken down. So
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Speaker 1: the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two
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Speaker 1: men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus,
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Speaker 1: they saw that he was already dead, so they didn't
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Speaker 1: break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his
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Speaker 1: side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.
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Speaker 1: This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account.
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Speaker 1: He speaks the truth that you also may continue to
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Speaker 1: believe these things happened in fulfillment of the scriptures that
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Speaker 1: say not one of his bones will be broken, and
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Speaker 1: they will look on the one they pierced.
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Speaker 2: There is nothing pleasant or attractive about execution. There is
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Speaker 2: no way that you can decorate or make appealing the
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Speaker 2: instrument that causes death. We come today, in our study
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Speaker 2: of John, to the death of Jesus Christ, which in
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Speaker 2: his day was brought about by crucifixion, an irony. In
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Speaker 2: all of this, it seems that the Christian's focus is
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Speaker 2: on the death of Christ, and yet we know so
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Speaker 2: little about crucifixion. You and I have never witnessed such
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Speaker 2: an act. As a matter of fact, we have never
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Speaker 2: witnessed any kind of execution, unless perhaps we were in
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Speaker 2: the far reaches of battle and saw it happen among
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Speaker 2: enemy troops. I was raised in a state where a
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Speaker 2: capital crime was that which led a man to the
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Speaker 2: all electric chair. If you were raised in this state,
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Speaker 2: it has been in the gas chamber. In Utah, it's
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Speaker 2: by a firing squad, or if you choose another method
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Speaker 2: in Kansas, I believe it is still true. It is
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Speaker 2: by hanging, as it is in the Commonwealth, in the
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Speaker 2: British Isles. It's not attractive, it's not meant to be.
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Speaker 2: Crucifixion in those days and execution in our day, however,
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Speaker 2: have two great differences. First, our method of taking a
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Speaker 2: life is private. It is never done for the public
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Speaker 2: to view, either visibly or on any kind of television set.
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Speaker 2: It's long since it seemed passed off the scene. Criminals
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Speaker 2: are set free with some manipulative device of legal procedure,
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Speaker 2: and those that do live out their lives living behind bars.
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Speaker 2: But crucifixion in Jesus' day was designed to be public.
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Speaker 2: It was purposely planned to say crime does not pay.
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Speaker 2: It was to leave a lingering reminder in the minds
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Speaker 2: of those who witnessed it that if you break the law,
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Speaker 2: you pay a supreme price. It was public. The second
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Speaker 2: great difference is that in our day, when we took
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Speaker 2: the life of criminals, give guilty of capital crimes. We
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Speaker 2: did it swiftly, the snap of the spine, the flash
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Speaker 2: of electricity through a body, a bullet wound in the chest,
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Speaker 2: or some noxious gas that instantly takes a life. But
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Speaker 2: in the days of Jesus, crucifixion was designed to be lingering.
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Speaker 2: It had a reason, and behind the reason was the
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Speaker 2: brutal and sadistic feeling that if the world could witness
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Speaker 2: death in process, crime could be curtailed. Whether or not
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Speaker 2: that works is another subject, but the Romans believed it did. Now,
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Speaker 2: as we go to the subject of crucifixion, we come
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Speaker 2: to an anguishing and torturing message. There is no way
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Speaker 2: to make it attractive. Funny thing about a cross, isn't it?
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Speaker 2: In our day it's a beautiful thing. We put it
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Speaker 2: in mosaic indirect lighting, we frame it in lovely metal,
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Speaker 2: or we put it with jewels on our person, or
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Speaker 2: on our per or on our bibles. I think people
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Speaker 2: of the first century would gasp to see such a thing.
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Speaker 2: If I may say it without wanting to be humorous,
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Speaker 2: it would be like wearing a hangman's noose on your
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Speaker 2: lapel or an electric chair on your purse. It is
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Speaker 2: a symbol of death. The most hideous anguishing of all
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Speaker 2: kinds was crucifixion. Now, some could get the false impression
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Speaker 2: that Jesus was the helpless victim of an aborted plan.
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Speaker 2: He was a pitiful mortar. He planned one arrangement and
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Speaker 2: it failed, and he wound up on a cross of
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Speaker 2: all things. And as a martyr to this cause, he
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Speaker 2: nevertheless established a new religion, so say many people today.
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Speaker 2: In fact, Bok had been written with that particular plot
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Speaker 2: in mind, that Jesus, when his plan failed, wound up
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Speaker 2: on a cross. And so let me set the records
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Speaker 2: straight to begin with by saying that jesus death was
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Speaker 2: no afterthought. It was part of God's predetermined plan. Look
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Speaker 2: at Acts chapter two before we look at John nineteen.
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Speaker 2: Together Acts chapter two, beginning at verse twenty two, we
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Speaker 2: have a record of Peter's sermon. He preached the day
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Speaker 2: of Pentecost, and standing before Jew and gentile alike, he
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Speaker 2: addressed the Jews who were there, and he said, men
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Speaker 2: of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a
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Speaker 2: man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders
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Speaker 2: and signs which God performed through him in your midst.
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Speaker 2: Just as you yourselves know this man. Now mark these
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Speaker 2: words delivered up by the predetermined plan and fore knowledge
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Speaker 2: of God. You nailed to a cross by the hands
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Speaker 2: of godless men, and you put him to death. You
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Speaker 2: notice that the apostle Peter, without removing the responsibility of
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Speaker 2: guilty man, you nailed him to a cross, declares the
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Speaker 2: plan of God. It was all in the sweep of time,
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Speaker 2: arranged in the council of the Trinity's chamber in eternity past.
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Speaker 2: His death on a cross was no afterthought. It was
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Speaker 2: not only planned, it was prophesied. Look at chapter three
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Speaker 2: of Acts, verse eighteen. The things which God announced beforehand
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Speaker 2: by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ
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Speaker 2: should suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Mark the words announced
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Speaker 2: beforehand by the prophets. You could turn to a number
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Speaker 2: of sections in the Old Testament prophecies as well as
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Speaker 2: the Psalms, and you will find references to the death
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Speaker 2: of the Savior, some date as far back as nine
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Speaker 2: centuries before the fact. As a matter of fact, the
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Speaker 2: irony of it is that in those days there was
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Speaker 2: not crucifixion, and yet they prophesied of a crucified death.
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Speaker 2: For example, David writes in the twenty second Psalm these
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Speaker 2: words nine and a half centuries before the Savior came.
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Speaker 2: His hands and feet would be pierced, his bones would
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Speaker 2: be pulled out of joint, His clothing would be divided.
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Speaker 2: They would cast lots on his garments. He would be
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Speaker 2: the opt of scorning and mocking. Think of that, nine
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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty years before the fact he gave those details.
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Speaker 2: About seven hundred years before Christ's coming, Isaiah wrote that
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Speaker 2: he would be the object of misery, torture, and pain.
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Speaker 2: He would be like a sheep led to the slaughter
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Speaker 2: the Lord God had planned to bruise his son. He
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Speaker 2: would be crucified with thieves. All of that in the
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Speaker 2: fifty third chapter. So this came not as a sudden
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Speaker 2: and abrupt, passionate act in the minds of the Romans
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Speaker 2: and Jews. The death of Jesus came planned by God.
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Speaker 2: And whatever else I say this morning of this message,
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Speaker 2: remember now, the significance of the death was that you
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Speaker 2: and I might have sins forgiven, and a pathway to
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Speaker 2: Heaven opened, prepared and paved with his blood. Back in
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Speaker 2: John chapter nineteen, there are a couple of historical matters
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Speaker 2: we should clarify. One has to do with place, the
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Speaker 2: other has to do with time of day. The place
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Speaker 2: is told us in verse thirteen. That is the place
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Speaker 2: where it all began, this process of crucifixion John nineteen thirteen.
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Speaker 2: This is at the end of the sixth trial. Pilot, therefore,
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Speaker 2: when he heard these words, brought Jesus out, that means,
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Speaker 2: out of his chamber, out of the place where he
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Speaker 2: had interrogated him, and he set him down on the
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Speaker 2: judgment seat at a place called the pavement. Excavations have
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Speaker 2: been made of this area, and we have discovered through
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Speaker 2: the spain of the archaeologists that this particular site was
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Speaker 2: located on the northwest corner of Herod's temple, not too
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Speaker 2: far from the castle of Antonio. That's where the soldiers
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Speaker 2: were in barracks. They probably saw it from their windows.
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Speaker 2: Those that were not out there witnessing it firsthand. Within
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Speaker 2: a close proximity, you could see this. On the pavement area,
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Speaker 2: there is an elevated section of massive pavement, and it
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Speaker 2: was there at the place called Gabatha verse thirteen that
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Speaker 2: Jesus heard that final sentence, and where Pilot washed his
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Speaker 2: hands and no longer dealt with Christ judicially. He turned
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Speaker 2: him over to the mob. By the way Mark fifteen
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Speaker 2: fifteen tells us, he did it to appease the people.
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Speaker 2: He knew in his heart Jesus was innocent, but down
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Speaker 2: deep within he had a greater fear of people than
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Speaker 2: he did of God, and he made a foolish, stupid decision. Now,
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Speaker 2: the time of day is not as clearly specified. You
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Speaker 2: will remember from our study on the trials of Jesus
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Speaker 2: that Pilot's final trial took place around seven point thirty
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Speaker 2: in the morning. Probably this happened that is the beginning
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Speaker 2: of the crucifixion, around seven point thirty to eight o'clock
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Speaker 2: that day. We know specifically from the writings of Mark
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Speaker 2: that jesus hands and feet were nailed to the cross
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Speaker 2: at nine o'clock in the morning. So somewhere between seven
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Speaker 2: point thirty seven forty five and nine o'clock, several preliminary
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Speaker 2: things were taken care of. To begin with, the victim
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Speaker 2: was scourged. Now, in the next number of moments we
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Speaker 2: have together, we're going to be walking where Jesus walked.
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Speaker 2: We're going hopefully to feel his presence near, but the
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Speaker 2: path is not going to be pleasant. I won't linger
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Speaker 2: unnecessarily over these torturous experiences, but I do want to
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Speaker 2: make the point clear as we move through several steps
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Speaker 2: that were common in crucifixion. The scourging of the victim
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Speaker 2: is not mentioned by John, probably because he wrote sixty
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Speaker 2: years or so after the other writers, and it had
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Speaker 2: already been clearly revealed by the Gospel writers before him.
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Speaker 2: So let's turn to one that mentions it, Matthew. Let's
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Speaker 2: go to chapter twenty seven. As we analyze this terrible
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Speaker 2: means of extermination, we need to see to begin with
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Speaker 2: that the vicarvictim was scourged Matthew, twenty seven, verse twenty six.
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Speaker 2: The he of the verse is Pilot. Then he released
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Speaker 2: Barabbas for them, but Jesus he scourged and delivered over
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Speaker 2: to be crucified. In those days, there were two kinds
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Speaker 2: of scourging. One was Jewish, described in Deuteronomy twenty five
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Speaker 2: one through three. In that passage we are told that
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Speaker 2: a victim was not to be beaten more than forty times.
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Speaker 2: The Jew was terribly afraid of breaking the law, so
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Speaker 2: he would commonly beat the victim thirty nine times, making
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Speaker 2: sure he hadn't missed one in his count so as
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Speaker 2: never to go over forty. But in Romans scourging there
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Speaker 2: was no number of times a victim was beaten. That's
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Speaker 2: why the Romans commonly called scourging halfway death. In the
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Speaker 2: room of scourging, which was a room of torture, there
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Speaker 2: was a low, thick stump or post. It was about
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Speaker 2: knee high, or a little above that. At the base
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Speaker 2: of the post were four metal rings made for the
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Speaker 2: tying of the wrists and the ankles. The victim was
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Speaker 2: stripped of all his clothing. He was bent forward over
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Speaker 2: the stump and tied in that position. The instrument of
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Speaker 2: torture was something like this that I have put together
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Speaker 2: for you to notice. It was used by a man
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Speaker 2: called a Lictor lic t Or. He was a profane
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Speaker 2: in the grim art of torture. This instrument was called
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Speaker 2: a flagellum. It was a piece of wood from fourteen
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Speaker 2: to eighteen inches long, circular in shape, to which were
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Speaker 2: attached long leather thongs. And to the thongs the straps
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Speaker 2: were sown bits of glass, bone, pellets of lead, and
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Speaker 2: pieces of metal. Adding weight to this flagellum. The lictor
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Speaker 2: went through a standard process that is described for us
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Speaker 2: very clearly in the writings of this man. Listen the
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Speaker 2: soldier who performed the flagellums the flagellations moved to a
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Speaker 2: position about six feet from his victim and spread his legs.
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Speaker 2: The flagellum was then brought all the way back over
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Speaker 2: his shoulder and whistled forward, making a dull drum sound.
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Speaker 2: As the strips of leather smashed against the back of
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Speaker 2: the rib cage. The bits of bone and chain and
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Speaker 2: glass curled around the sides of the body, raising small
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Speaker 2: hemorrhages on the chest, stomach, and sides. The flagellum came
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Speaker 2: back again, aimed slightly lower, and again aimed higher, and
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Speaker 2: it crashed against the skin and flesh. The flagellum now
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Speaker 2: moved in slow rhythm. What historian writes it reduced the
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Speaker 2: naked body to strips of raw flesh and inflamed bleeding wounds.
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Speaker 2: You see, it was not uncommon for a man to
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Speaker 2: die on the stump. It was also not uncommon for
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Speaker 2: one to go insane and lose his reasoning. Invariably, the
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Speaker 2: victim passed out through pain. One man who was an
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Speaker 2: eyewitness of a scourging states that as the body is
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Speaker 2: in that position, blood comes from all the holes in
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Speaker 2: the face and head during flagellation. As a result of
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Speaker 2: this awful and yet what appears to be insignificant part
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Speaker 2: of crucifixion, but it was not, Jesus, no doubt, fell
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Speaker 2: into a spasm. His body shook out of shock, and
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Speaker 2: I am sure his teeth rattled audibly. Victims were revived
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Speaker 2: through buckets of salt water that were splashed on the person.
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Speaker 2: To revive him, they used pain to keep the level
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Speaker 2: of pain conscious. From this point on, Jesus became in
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Speaker 2: the minds of the soldiers a comic king Verse twenty
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Speaker 2: seven of Matthew twenty seven. The soldiers then took Jesus
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Speaker 2: into the pratorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around him.
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Speaker 2: Now we have the second phase, the mocking by the soldiers.
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Speaker 2: Now remember, through all of this he has not said
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Speaker 2: a word. There is not a recorded word of Jesus
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Speaker 2: until the cross. Standing before the barracks of soldiers, Jesus
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Speaker 2: Christ was stripped of all his clothing. Verse twenty eight
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Speaker 2: reads he stood nude before them. His body was a
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Speaker 2: mass of swollen flesh his back and sides. By now
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Speaker 2: his face is swollen and bruised, scarcely looking like the
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Speaker 2: figures of a man. They decide that if they have
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Speaker 2: a king on their hands, they need to treat him
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Speaker 2: like a king. And in sarcastic fashion, they did four
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Speaker 2: things you do for a king. They gave him a crown,
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Speaker 2: they gave him a robe, they gave him scepter, and
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Speaker 2: they gave him praise, all of it in mockery. Verse
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Speaker 2: twenty eight mentions the robe. It says they put a
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Speaker 2: scarlet robe on him. The Greek word is clamouse, and
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Speaker 2: it's not the word for a long flowing robe. It's
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Speaker 2: for a short cloak that didn't come down hardly to
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Speaker 2: the elbows, and it was spread over the shoulders and
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Speaker 2: probably tied or buttoned or in some way fastened at
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Speaker 2: the neck. He was naked from his chest down, standing
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Speaker 2: before that barracks full of godless base man. I'm confident
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Speaker 2: that that's the reason we do not have a recording
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Speaker 2: of what they said to him. Having spent some time
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Speaker 2: in a military barracks, I know just a little bit
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Speaker 2: about how a person of that right talks when he
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Speaker 2: has no heart for God. And you can believe that,
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Speaker 2: as Jesus stood in that humiliating place in front of
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Speaker 2: those base men, every obscene, vulgar statement you can imagine,
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Speaker 2: was shouted at him. Now, a king needs a crown,
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Speaker 2: Verse twenty nine. And so they put together a crown
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Speaker 2: of thorns and put it on his head. Friends of mine,
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Speaker 2: some time ago went to Jerusalem, as a number of
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Speaker 2: you have been there, and they picked up what was
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Speaker 2: probably a pretty good replica of that crown. I measured
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Speaker 2: the thorns on this particular crown. Some are as short
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Speaker 2: as three quarters of an inch, some are as long
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Speaker 2: as three and a half inches. The thorns in those
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Speaker 2: days were common in that area. In fact, they would
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Speaker 2: be snipped when they grew too long, and stuffed in
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Speaker 2: a bucket and dried, used as kindling for a firewood
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Speaker 2: to start a fireplace. And outside public places there would
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Speaker 2: be large receptacles with these dried thorns and these vines
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Speaker 2: stuck in there. Probably they went out, snatched a few
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Speaker 2: from the bucket, platted together a mocking crown, and shoved
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Speaker 2: it down on his head. And then a king needs
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Speaker 2: a scepter, so they put a reed in his right hand,
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Speaker 2: and they kneeled down before him hailed kidding of the Jews.
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Speaker 2: These Romans shouted, they hated the Jews. And as they
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Speaker 2: stood before one who was a fanatical self appointed ruler,
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Speaker 2: they shot. The Bible says that they spat on him
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Speaker 2: verse thirty, and they took that read and beat him
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Speaker 2: on the head. What is remarkable to me in all
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Speaker 2: of this, in the grossest form of mockery, our Savior
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Speaker 2: never reviled in returning. Peter was probably as close an
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Speaker 2: eyewitness as any of the disciples, and he writes, Jesus
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Speaker 2: did no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth,
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Speaker 2: who when he was reviled, reviled not in return. When
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Speaker 2: he suffered, he threatened not, but he committed himself to
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Speaker 2: him who judges righteously. Did you hear that? That's what
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Speaker 2: he was doing. First, he was committing himself to him,
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Speaker 2: the Father who judges righteously. Hebrews twelve two tells us
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Speaker 2: that Jesus was also thinking of us, who for the
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Speaker 2: joy set before him, endured the cross. There's every reason
30:07
Speaker 2: to believe that Jesus.
30:09
Speaker 3: Focused on the ultimate joy, the bringing into his body
30:15
Speaker 3: his family, his believers, and focusing.
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Speaker 2: On you and me. That day of infamy he endured
30:27
Speaker 2: without one voice of reproach. None of the gospel writers
30:37
Speaker 2: say much about the walking to the site, probably because
30:41
Speaker 2: it was very common, as common as a funeral proceason.
30:47
Speaker 2: There's not a person here who stops his business very
30:49
Speaker 2: long except to look in passing as a funeral proceason passes.
30:55
Speaker 2: That's the way it was with the crucifixion. How you'll
31:00
Speaker 2: notice that they redressed him verse thirty one. They put
31:05
Speaker 2: his garments on him. A jew wore five garments, sandals,
31:13
Speaker 2: a head piece of some kind called a turban, an
31:16
Speaker 2: inner tunic, an outer cloak, and a girdle which we
31:23
Speaker 2: would call a wide belt. Four pieces were divided among
31:29
Speaker 2: the soldiers. But as we will see in a few moments,
31:32
Speaker 2: when they came to that seamless tunic that one of
31:37
Speaker 2: his followers had made for him, they gambled for that
31:41
Speaker 2: to tear it into four pieces would be useless and foolish,
31:45
Speaker 2: and they wanted that it was from that particular piece
31:49
Speaker 2: that there has been written the novel The Robe, and
31:53
Speaker 2: interesting in some imaginary and legendary ideas had been suggested
31:58
Speaker 2: with what happened to that tunic. Back to the subject,
32:03
Speaker 2: Let's take him to the site. Verse thirty one says
32:06
Speaker 2: they led him away. Now back to John nineteen quickly.
32:12
Speaker 2: Now time is fleeting. John nineteen, Verse seventeen says, and
32:20
Speaker 2: he went out. That's all that's said. Several things took
32:26
Speaker 2: place on the road between the place of sentencing and
32:30
Speaker 2: the place of crucifixion. First of all, once again, let
32:34
Speaker 2: me remind you that it was all done publicly. There
32:37
Speaker 2: was no reason to hide a criminal. It was once
32:41
Speaker 2: again I remind you, for the purpose of public viewing,
32:46
Speaker 2: so as to curb crime. The victim stood in an
32:50
Speaker 2: imaginary square in the hollow of this square, cornered on
32:56
Speaker 2: each place by a soldier with a centure in the lead.
33:01
Speaker 2: You'll notice it. On the insert you received a little
33:05
Speaker 2: diagram of how they stationed themselves for this journey Jesus.
33:13
Speaker 2: In this case, the victim carried the cross beam around
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Speaker 2: his neck was a board on which was painted his crime.
33:26
Speaker 2: The board was no wider than twelve inches and no
33:29
Speaker 2: longer than twenty four and scribbled on this board was
33:33
Speaker 2: the crime. That board. When he arrived at the cross
33:38
Speaker 2: and he was nailed to the beam was taken from
33:42
Speaker 2: around his neck and nailed to the cross above him,
33:45
Speaker 2: so that everyone who passed by not only could see
33:47
Speaker 2: the criminal, but could read his crime. The contrary to
33:53
Speaker 2: popular belief, no man carried the entire cross would have
33:57
Speaker 2: been too heavy. An eight foot piece of timber four
34:03
Speaker 2: by six plus a cross beam no less than six
34:08
Speaker 2: feet wide is too heavy. And he didn't drag his cross.
34:12
Speaker 2: He carried it. The upright piece remained At Golgotha, the
34:20
Speaker 2: victim carried only the cross beam, which he put over
34:24
Speaker 2: his shoulders as you would carry an oar or along board,
34:30
Speaker 2: and he would be chained to that cross beam, with
34:35
Speaker 2: the sign around his shoulders, around his neck, and walking
34:40
Speaker 2: in methodical fashion the longest path they could find to
34:45
Speaker 2: the site, so as to get in view of all
34:48
Speaker 2: the people as many as possible. Jesus was taken the
34:52
Speaker 2: Viadella Rosa it is called, but it is nothing at
34:55
Speaker 2: all of beauty. It must have been a stumbling, halting,
35:00
Speaker 2: difficult experience. Remember the scourging, Remember the beating, the torture,
35:07
Speaker 2: and now the beam. In the process of time, someone
35:12
Speaker 2: was brought to help him carry that beam. By the way,
35:17
Speaker 2: it's interesting just to pause and add that in those days,
35:21
Speaker 2: taking up one's cross was a colloquialism. It was a
35:26
Speaker 2: slang expression for dying to what you want. That's why
35:31
Speaker 2: when Jesus refers to discipleship, he says, if any man
35:34
Speaker 2: will come after me, let him deny himself, take up
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Speaker 2: his cross daily and follow me. Using that same thought spiritually,
35:44
Speaker 2: he is referring to giving up your desire for his desires.
35:50
Speaker 2: You see, when you saw a person carrying a cross beam,
35:53
Speaker 2: there was one thing ahead of it, death, and it
35:56
Speaker 2: became sort of the nomenclature of the people of that day.
36:02
Speaker 2: Back to John nineteen, we come to what Berkley calls
36:07
Speaker 2: the dreadful routine crucifixion. They took him out verse seventeen,
36:15
Speaker 2: bearing his own cross, to the place of a skull
36:20
Speaker 2: called Gulgatha, where they crucified him three words. And yet
36:28
Speaker 2: there's an awesomeness about them. Three words they crucified him. Klausner,
36:35
Speaker 2: the Jewish historian, says crucifixion is the most terrible and
36:39
Speaker 2: cruel death man has ever devised. William Wilson, an Englishman, adds,
36:46
Speaker 2: not only was the cross the most painful of deaths,
36:49
Speaker 2: it was the most debasing, the condemned was stripped naked
36:54
Speaker 2: and left exposed in his agony. Often the Romans even
36:59
Speaker 2: denied burial to the victim, allowing the body to hang
37:04
Speaker 2: until it disint agreed. It all began in Persia years ago.
37:12
Speaker 2: They believed in the god Ormused or m use Zd,
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Speaker 2: the god of earth, the pure god, and no criminal's blood,
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Speaker 2: no person of a criminal should contaminate the earth by
37:27
Speaker 2: dying on it, and out of worship to Ormus, they
37:31
Speaker 2: went through a series of trials to find out the
37:35
Speaker 2: best method of torturous death, and they devised this ingenious
37:40
Speaker 2: plan whereby a victim could be lifted off the earth
37:44
Speaker 2: which was pure, and die in that position and taken
37:50
Speaker 2: and never placed again on the earth, so as to
37:54
Speaker 2: keep the earth pure. This was passed on to the
37:57
Speaker 2: Egyptians and then on to the Romans, who embraced it
38:02
Speaker 2: and developed it into an actual art, so that they
38:06
Speaker 2: knew the very best plan by which to carry it out.
38:11
Speaker 2: They crucified him. There. I want to read a rather
38:17
Speaker 2: lengthy rendering of crucifixion, and I don't want you to
38:23
Speaker 2: let your mind wander. It's better than I can say it.
38:28
Speaker 2: It is more brief than I would be, and it's
38:31
Speaker 2: to the point. The executioner laid the cross beam behind
38:36
Speaker 2: the victim and brought him to the ground quickly by
38:40
Speaker 2: grasping his arm and jerking him downward. As the victim fell,
38:45
Speaker 2: the beam was fitted under the back of his neck
38:49
Speaker 2: and on each side. Soldiers quickly knelt on the inside
38:52
Speaker 2: of the elbows. Once begun, the matter was done quickly
38:57
Speaker 2: and efficiently. The execu acutioner wore a leather apron with pockets.
39:03
Speaker 2: He placed two square five inch nails between his teeth
39:09
Speaker 2: and a hammer in his hand. Kneeling beside the right arm,
39:14
Speaker 2: the soldier, whose knee rested on the side inside of
39:17
Speaker 2: the elbow, held the forearm flat on the board, and
39:23
Speaker 2: the executioner probed with his hand the wrist and hand
39:28
Speaker 2: of the victim to find the little hollow spot, meaning
39:32
Speaker 2: where there would be no vital artery or vein. When
39:37
Speaker 2: he found it, he took one of the square cut
39:39
Speaker 2: iron nails from his teeth, held it against the spot
39:43
Speaker 2: directly behind the so called life line, raised the hammer
39:48
Speaker 2: over the over the nail head, and brought it down
39:51
Speaker 2: with force. As soon as he was satisfied that the
39:55
Speaker 2: condemned man could not, in struggling, pull himself free. He
39:59
Speaker 2: did the same. On the the other hand, the two
40:03
Speaker 2: soldiers would grab each side of the crossbeam, and as
40:06
Speaker 2: he motioned, they lifted. As they pulled up, they dragged
40:12
Speaker 2: the victim by the wrists. When the soldiers reached the
40:17
Speaker 2: upright the four of them began to lift the crossbeam
40:20
Speaker 2: higher until the feet of the victim were completely off
40:24
Speaker 2: the ground. The body writhed with pain. When the crossbeam
40:32
Speaker 2: was set firmly, the executioner reached up set the board
40:37
Speaker 2: which listed the name of the prisoner and his crime,
40:40
Speaker 2: and then he knelt before the cross. Two soldiers hurried
40:45
Speaker 2: to help. Each one took hold of a leg at
40:50
Speaker 2: the calf. The ritual was to nail the right foot
40:55
Speaker 2: over the left foot. This was probably the most difficult
40:58
Speaker 2: part of the work. If the feet were pulled downward
41:03
Speaker 2: too far and nailed close to the foot of the cross,
41:06
Speaker 2: the prisoner always died quickly. Over the years, the Romans
41:11
Speaker 2: learned to push the feet upward, buckling the knees, so
41:16
Speaker 2: the condemned man could lean on the nails so as
41:20
Speaker 2: to stretch himself upward. It isn't mentioned here, but occasionally
41:25
Speaker 2: historians will mention a saddle like effect on the upright,
41:31
Speaker 2: where the victim could rest himself right at the base
41:33
Speaker 2: of the pelvis and find relief. Here's the reason why
41:41
Speaker 2: the victim was now in a v position in his
41:44
Speaker 2: arms and became conscious of two unendurable circumstances. The first
41:52
Speaker 2: was that the pain in his wrist was beyond bearing,
41:57
Speaker 2: and that muscle cramps nodded his war arms and upper
42:01
Speaker 2: arms and the pads of his shoulders. The second was
42:05
Speaker 2: that his pectoral muscles at both sides of his chest
42:09
Speaker 2: were momentarily paralyzed dis induced in him an involuntary panic,
42:17
Speaker 2: for he found that while he could draw air into
42:20
Speaker 2: his lungs, he was powerless to exhale. He goes on
42:26
Speaker 2: to describe how on the cross victims literally were in
42:30
Speaker 2: constant motion so as to keep breathing. To hang strictly
42:36
Speaker 2: from the hands long enough would prohibit the breathing process,
42:42
Speaker 2: and so he literally rubbed himself up and down, up
42:48
Speaker 2: and down constantly, so as to live on. You see,
42:54
Speaker 2: a victim did not die because of loss of blood.
42:58
Speaker 2: He died because of suffocation. He could no longer breathe properly.
43:04
Speaker 2: Once he sighed and couldn't lift himself up. With each
43:10
Speaker 2: second the pain mounted, but death was not ready. The arms,
43:17
Speaker 2: the limbs, the torso screamed with pain. The nerves were
43:21
Speaker 2: pulled across a bridge like that on a violin, and
43:24
Speaker 2: the nerve endings were screwed tighter and tighter and tighter.
43:30
Speaker 2: Slowly and steadily, he was being asphyxiated, as though two
43:35
Speaker 2: hands were on his throat. Doctor Merrillanger states in his
43:41
Speaker 2: dictionary that some lived nine days before death. It seems
43:50
Speaker 2: incredible now he died from that awful, awful pain. The
43:56
Speaker 2: scripture tells us in verse thirty that having received the
44:01
Speaker 2: sour wine, he stated, it is finished. It's incredible even
44:06
Speaker 2: to think that Jesus could have made one statement, But
44:09
Speaker 2: he made seven, all of which made perfect sense, none
44:14
Speaker 2: of which were stated in bitterness or ugliness. And then
44:20
Speaker 2: he states verse thirty, it is finished, and he bowed
44:26
Speaker 2: his head and gave up his spirit. Just one concluding
44:33
Speaker 2: quotation before we close our thoughts with how they dealt
44:37
Speaker 2: with the body. Few more terrible means of execution could
44:42
Speaker 2: be devised. Pain, thirst, the torture of insects, exposure to
44:50
Speaker 2: brutal spectators, the horror of rigid fixation, all continuing interminably,
45:00
Speaker 2: combined to make it a supreme humiliation and torture. Thankfully,
45:09
Speaker 2: Jesus' death came quickly six hours. The soldiers were concerned,
45:16
Speaker 2: prompted by the Jews because a high day was on
45:21
Speaker 2: the heels of that event at six o'clock that evening,
45:25
Speaker 2: and it was already then three o'clock. They would be
45:29
Speaker 2: faced with the decision of what to do with the bodies,
45:32
Speaker 2: because no Jew could operate on the Sabbath. And so
45:36
Speaker 2: they sought Pilot and asked the favor of taking down
45:40
Speaker 2: the bodies. Now look at verse thirty thirty two. The
45:44
Speaker 2: soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man
45:49
Speaker 2: and of the other man who was crucified. Now you
45:52
Speaker 2: understand why the breaking of the legs would hasten death.
45:57
Speaker 2: No longer would he have the leverage. Now he would
46:01
Speaker 2: say and die. And they came to Jesus, and it
46:06
Speaker 2: says they saw he was already dead and did not
46:09
Speaker 2: break his legs. But I'm impressed that the spirit of
46:13
Speaker 2: God doesn't stop with that point. The spirit of God
46:17
Speaker 2: adds a dimension that would be of great significance to
46:22
Speaker 2: any medically minded person to prove death. For example, verse
46:30
Speaker 2: thirty four says, one of the soldiers pierced his side
46:34
Speaker 2: with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.
46:42
Speaker 2: But the dead don't bleed. However, the heart is encased
46:50
Speaker 2: in a small I should say, thin membrane, a sack
46:56
Speaker 2: I am told, called the pericardian, And for some strange reason,
47:02
Speaker 2: when death occurs, a small amount of liquid blood settles
47:08
Speaker 2: in the right oracle, the chamber of the heart, and
47:12
Speaker 2: stays there. At the same time, the white corpuscles, I
47:20
Speaker 2: should say, the red corpuscles, divide from a serum in
47:24
Speaker 2: the blood called hydro pericardium, called water. Here John was
47:31
Speaker 2: no medical man, and in the separation there is proof
47:36
Speaker 2: of death. This serum rests in the sack, and the
47:40
Speaker 2: blood stays in the chamber, so that when the soldier
47:45
Speaker 2: inadvertently punctured the side, he went through the sack, releasing
47:51
Speaker 2: the serum, and into the chamber, releasing the blood, proving
47:58
Speaker 2: for all to see that he was in fact dead.
48:03
Speaker 2: Why is that significant, Well, if you have no actual
48:07
Speaker 2: dead Christ, you have no actual resurrected Christ. You see
48:15
Speaker 2: the critics in the years to come would build great
48:18
Speaker 2: cases on the fact that he didn't die, he swooned,
48:22
Speaker 2: and therefore when he was in the tomb, he simply
48:24
Speaker 2: revived in the moisture of the tomb and pushed aside
48:27
Speaker 2: the stone and slipped away, claiming he had been resurrected,
48:31
Speaker 2: when in fact he had never died. Ah John says,
48:35
Speaker 2: there came out blood and water. He was dead as
48:42
Speaker 2: quickly as we began. It is over, and we have
48:46
Speaker 2: hanging before us this morning, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
48:53
Speaker 2: for the first time in our study, he is dead.
48:59
Speaker 2: No one has touched more closely to the sufferings of
49:05
Speaker 2: Christ than the mystics of the twelfth century, one of
49:09
Speaker 2: whom was a man named Bernard, a monk who studied
49:16
Speaker 2: and meditated upon the death of the Savior, and began
49:20
Speaker 2: to write works that followed him, one of which was
49:26
Speaker 2: put to a melody of Bach. It appears in our hymnal,
49:31
Speaker 2: my favorite hymn of the Cross, Oh sacred head, now
49:37
Speaker 2: wounded with grief and shame, weighed down. I think the
49:45
Speaker 2: best is the third stands of what language shall I
49:48
Speaker 2: borrow to thank you, dearest friend? Or this thy dying sorrow,
49:55
Speaker 2: thy pity without end. Oh, make me thy and forever,
50:01
Speaker 2: And should I fainting, be Lord, let me never never
50:05
Speaker 2: outlive my love to thee. The story of the Crucifixion
50:12
Speaker 2: tells itself. It's the finest example in any place and
50:19
Speaker 2: time of love and obedience, the provision of eternal life.
50:32
Speaker 2: Some of you have heard for the very first time
50:34
Speaker 2: today just a simple literal rendering of crucifixion. And also
50:41
Speaker 2: for the first time you have become aware of what
50:44
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ endured with you in mind. And it's a
50:53
Speaker 2: perfect occasion for you to express in gratitude your faith
51:03
Speaker 2: in him. Let's do that. That's about our father. We
51:13
Speaker 2: have witnessed on the page of scripture the day of infamy,
51:22
Speaker 2: and we paused together to thank you for our dearest
51:29
Speaker 2: friend who in love gave it all, and we acknowledge
51:39
Speaker 2: all to him. We all in the loving name of
51:44
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, we pray Amen.
51:49
Speaker 4: The preceding message Death on a Cross was copyrighted in
51:53
Speaker 4: nineteen seventy six, nineteen eighty two, nineteen eighty eight, two thousand,
51:58
Speaker 4: two thousand and two, and twenty eighteen, and the sound
52:01
Speaker 4: recording was copyrighted in twenty eighteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
52:07
Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
52:11
Speaker 4: commercial use is strictly prohibited us
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Speaker 2: D