Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / Standing in Awe of Christ’s Forgiveness | Mark 15:16-20 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series)

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Standing in Awe of Christ’s Forgiveness | Mark 15:16-20 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  That was singing with joy. But I want to let you know that
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  our worship did not just end. It's continuing.
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  When we sit to hear God's Word. That is worship.
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  And worship is not limited to singing songs either.
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  That's praise. Worship is much broader than
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  singing a few songs. And so our hearts now are ready
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  to continue to worship as we hear God's voice through God's
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  Word. I want us to just pray one more
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  time. My brother prayed beautifully,
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  but it is a habit of mine to do so.
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  So please join me again. Help us to worship you, Lord.
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  Help us to keep your eyes on you.
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  Energize every faculty of our being.
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  Give us the grace that we need to absorb every truth that you
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  desire to convey. Lord, show us your son, Jesus
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  Christ. Oh Lord please, He is our
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  delight and we want him to be our greater delight and we know
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  that you will help us through your word as you sanctify us in
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  the truth. In Jesus name we pray.
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  Amen. In Psalm 130 verse 4, the
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  psalmist says to the Lord, but with you there is forgiveness
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  that you may be feared. The correlation between
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  forgiveness and fear may be startling to some, perhaps
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  confusing to others, because those two ideas don't seem to
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  belong in the same thought. How does forgiveness provoke
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  fear? Should it not instead elicit
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  joy? Relief.
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  Should it not cause us to expect an inner freedom As we
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  experience God's forgiveness, Those rewards are indeed
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  included. But the Holy Spirit highlights
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  in this passage that God's forgiveness produces a level of
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  fear. How do we make sense of this?
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  Well, I think it helps to understand what the Bible means
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  with the word fear, especially as it pertains to our fear of
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  God. According to the Scriptures, to
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  fear God is synonymous with standing in awe of Him stated in
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  Psalm 33 verse 8. So if fearing God means that I
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  respond and I remain in a position and posture of awe,
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  then we can understand Psalm 130, verse 4 as follows.
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  But with you there is forgiveness, that we may stand
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  in awe of you. And there are many aspects of
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  God's forgiveness that should inspire awestruck wonder.
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  Consider the availability of it. The very fact that this holy God
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  even makes forgiveness possible is awesome.
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  Perhaps the inclusiveness of it that he does not discriminate
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  with his forgiveness. His arms are very wide, his
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  heart is very open to call any Sinner to experience his pardon.
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  How about the frequency of it? Peter thought he impressed Jesus
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  when he asked about forgiveness and said, yeah, seven times.
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  And Jesus multiplied that in a day numbering around the four
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  hundreds. There are so many aspects, so
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  many components about God's forgiveness that is capable of
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  melting the sinner's calloused heart when properly understood.
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  But today I want to present to you one of the most staggering
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  features about God's forgiveness.
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  And it is this, the price of it. If there is any hope for our
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  hearts to fear the Lord in light of His forgiveness, then we must
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  keep in mind the high cost of His great provision, His
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  greatest provision of mercy, namely, in the Person of the
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  Lord Jesus Christ. What we're going to read in a
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  moment is one of the most unsettling and alarming scenes
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  in all of the Bible because it gives us a sample of the
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  voluntary sufferings of Jesus Christ.
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  We are about to behold together just a glimpse of the pain, the
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  horror, the humiliation that the Lord Jesus endured to purchase
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  and secure your salvation and mine.
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  And this snapshot of Christ agony is incredibly valuable
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  because it invites us to perceive both the severity of
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  sin and the magnitude of God's love.
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  Severity of sin because we are going to see the brutality that
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  was inflicted against the Son of God because he became the sin
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  bearer of the world. And that is what was necessary
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  to satisfy humanity's immense debt before a holy God.
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  The magnitude of God's love because Christ here, though
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  excruciatingly and humiliation, was tortured.
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  He could have instantly put it to an end with one word.
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  He told us that He could call upon the Father, and the Father,
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  in a split second would release legions of angels to sweep Him
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  out of that place, bring Him into glory, and leave all of the
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  world condemned for eternity because of an incomplete
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  salvation. But He didn't do that.
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  He endured every lash. He embraced every striking blow.
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  He accepted every second of sickening mockery.
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  Why? Because the Bible says for the
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  joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross.
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  What was the object of His joy? Obeying the Father's will,
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  surely. But you and I also are included
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  in that joy, that He would bring you and I into His fold and to
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  His presence forever. I want us to also consider that
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  and remember this, that every part of the Bible contains
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  practical instruction. Every aspect of the Scriptures
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  provides personal instruction, every part even within the
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  framework of Christ's death. And if that's hard for you to
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  grasp, then let me give you one example of how even the New
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  Testament authors believe this. Remember the past two weeks
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  we've been beholding Jesus Christ standing on trial before
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  pilot and and that was a unique interaction, was it not?
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  But I want you to see how Paul uses this and exhorts Timothy
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  with it. So turn with me in your Bibles
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  to First Timothy chapter 6 and look at verse 13 with me.
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  And the reason why I'm showing you this is so that your faith
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  and mine can be built up and believing that every aspect of
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  the Scriptures wants to speak to you.
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  Speak to you not just about Christ, but about you in Christ.
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  First Timothy 613 I charge you in the presence of God who gives
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  life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his
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  testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep
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  the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the
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  appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Do you see it? We've been studying about Pilate
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  the past two weeks, and here's now Paul, a spiritual father
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  trying to inspire his timid spiritual son, and he points to
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  the greatest example of courage and boldness.
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  It's as though Paul is saying to Timothy, remember how Jesus
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  stood alone? Timothy, remember how he was
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  left abandoned? Timothy, remember how he was
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  faced by the interrogation of the Roman government and yet he
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  was not ashamed, nor did he shrink back from affirming who
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  he was, even though he knew it would cost them his life.
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  Imitate that. Timothy, Another way to put it
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  is in the same way that Jesus Christ confirmed his identity,
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  though it would cost him everything.
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  So you, Pastor Tim, do not be ashamed to confess his identity
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  before anybody. So even looking at the passion
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  of the Christ has practical instruction for us, and it is no
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  different for what we are about to study together this Sunday.
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  So let us read our main text in Mark 15, beginning in verse 16.
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  I'm inviting you today to stand in awe of Christ's forgiveness.
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  Mark 15, beginning in verse 16. It is amazing how we are
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  approaching the end of this gospel.
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  And the soldiers led him away inside the palace that is the
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  governor's headquarters, and they called together the whole
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  battalion, and they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting
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  together a crown of thorns, they put it on him, and they began to
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  salute him. Hail, King of the Jews.
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  And they were striking his head with a Reed and spitting on him,
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  and kneeling down in homage to him.
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  And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple
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  cloak and put his own clothes on him, and they let him out to
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  crucify him. Pilot surrendered to the
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  bloodthirsty desires of the Pharisees and the Jews.
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  And after doing so, we read of this band of soldiers that led
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  him away inside a particular location to continue their
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  cruelty. You have to remember something
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  from verse 15. Look at it very quickly.
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  So Pilot, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them
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  Barabbas and having scourge Jesus, he delivered them to be
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  crucified. Before Christ was mocked in the
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  way that we just read, he was flogged by the Romans.
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  The Roman flogging experience was horrific.
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  History has much to tell us about how this happened, and one
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  of the most brutal expressions of this kind of punishment was
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  experienced through what is known as the Roman Roman
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  flagram. Specifically with a device.
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  It was not too long, it was short enough, and because it was
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  necessary for accuracy, it was a handle that had leather straps
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  attached to it. And nodded.
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  On those leather straps were weights and shards of sharp
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  bones and metal fragments. And that instrument of torture
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  had one specific purpose in its design, to RIP off human flesh
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  when it came into contact with it.
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  And this kind of weapon was held in the hands of professional
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  torturers. This is what they did for a
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  living. And so the victim would be tied
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  to a pole, specifically with his hands, and he would be stripped
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  naked. And these soldiers would
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  alternate in beating this victim, this criminal, until his
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  skin hung like ribbons, until arteries and veins ripped open,
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  and to to some extent in many cases, until organs were
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  exposed. This was savage, it was brutal,
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  and there were different levels of offering this kind of
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  punishment, but it would often prove to be fatal.
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  The trauma and the blood loss explains that for less severe
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  offenses, it would produce such a scarring but also free
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  advertisement so that as these victims would walk the streets
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  of Jerusalem or any other part of the world, people would
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  understand. Don't mess with Rome.
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  But the worst of the worst of flag flogging was reserved for
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  the most despised criminals. Crucifixion wasn't enough.
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  What Jesus experienced under this kind of experience was in
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  preparation for the crucifixion. It's almost as though they would
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  beat you and beat you until you're one step away from death
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  and then they would pull away. You have to understand that
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  there was a type of flogging under Jewish law for specific
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  crimes, but there was a limit to the lashes, no more than 40.
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  No such thing existed under Roman law.
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  It was left up to the cruel discretion of those tortures.
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  So Jesus here experiences the scourging.
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  We're told about it in one word, but oh, if you just look into it
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  a little bit, you would be a very cold person to not be moved
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  by the imagination of this. After that, the soldiers let him
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  away. And I want you to notice here
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  that they didn't just lead him away with a handful of soldiers.
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  We're told here that the whole battalion was called.
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  This was a large body of soldiers, usually numbering
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  around 600 people. So you had 600 people who were
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  invited to participate in this, not because it required 600
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  people, but because Christ butchery became a show.
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  You have to understand that the Romans didn't feel too nicely
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  about the Jews. The Jews didn't feel too great
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  about the Romans. And so you can imagine the pent
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  up frustration and the anger and the hatred that energized these
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  soldiers. So you can just imagine the
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  atmosphere as crisis there, silent, embracing this kind of
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  fate. But there's somebody or some
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  group of people that are missing from this audience, and it may
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  surprise us. Remember, this took place where
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  look again at verse 16, the governor's headquarters.
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  We've seen that before if you've read the Gospel accounts.
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  And let me remind you of what the Jews decided to do upon
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  their arrival to pilot with Jesus in their hands.
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  Turn to John 1828. It says here, then they they
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  being the religious leaders who were seeking to condemn Jesus,
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  then they led Jesus from the House of Caiaphas to the
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  governor's headquarters. It was early morning.
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  They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so
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  that they would not be defiled but could eat the Passover.
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  So Pilot went outside to them and said, what accusation do you
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  bring against this man? So we read in Mark that they
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  brought Jesus into the headquarters.
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  But we realize here in John that the Jewish leaders stood
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  outside. Why?
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  Because they did not want to risk coming into contact with
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  something or someone that would contaminate them and then thus
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  disqualifying them from experiencing the Passover feast.
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  Now you have to understand that there is no law, no injunction
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  from Moses prohibiting Jews from entering the House of Gentiles.
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  This was a tradition later developed as a precaution.
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  But do you see the irony here? Here you have a band of
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  religious men refusing to get into a place, fearing ritual
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  contamination. All the while they are plotting
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  the murder of an innocent man out of cancerous envy.
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  The hideousness of hypocrisy. Religious hypocrisy.
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  And this is not unique to the Pharisees, is it?
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  It didn't end with them. How many people today emphasize
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  strict adherence to traditions while overlooking what really
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  matters? So they're willing to murder,
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  but God forbid that we come into contact with something that
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  would render us disqualified to eat the Passover feast.
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  How many inflate petty laws? You know, some people, I'm sure,
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  while ignoring true righteousness.
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  Again, this deliberate inconsistency of the Pharisees
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  did not begin with him, nor did it end with him.
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  I I think of a little detail connected to Bathsheba.
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  You remember Bathsheba when we were introduced to her?
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  When David commits that notorious sin, I want you to
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  turn to that passage just for me to confirm this point.
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  From Second Samuel Chapter 11, turn with me to the left side of
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  your Bible. Look at Second Samuel 11 verse
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  4. This is after David was eyeing
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  Bathsheba from his rooftop. He was supposed to be at war,
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  but he was not at war. It is a very dangerous thing
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  when you willingly walk outside of God's call for your life.
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  You become very vulnerable when you know that you are supposed
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  to be obeying God in a certain way, but you prolong that
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  disobedience. David did so.
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  There was a trap laid out for him, and he gave into it.
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  Notice what it says. So David sent messengers and
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  took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.
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  Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.
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  Then she returned to her house. You see what's there in
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  parentheses? Don't skip over things like
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  this. Meditate on.
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  The mention of Bathsheba's purification here alludes to the
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  Levitical law that called for women to refrain from sexual
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  intercourse for a certain amount of time after their monthly
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  period. And it suggests to us that
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  Bathsheba was not pregnant before she met with David and
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  had intercourse with him. So that prepares us to know that
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  when she does become pregnant, it's David's baby.
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  But more than that, it's a clue that she honored the law
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  regarding her ceremonial cleanliness, preparing her for
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  sexual relations. But she had a husband.
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  Some would even say that Bathsheba, after being proposed
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  by David to have these relations, informed him that she
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  was ceremonially clean. Others would believe that this
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  means that she went on to perform ceremonial washings
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  after her affair with David. Either way, you have the same
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  mindset of the Pharisees, just with a different sin.
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  Think about it in that one verse you read of a woman who complied
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  with ritual ceremonies and at the same time commits adultery
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  with her husband's boss. Unfortunately, many live
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  comfortably this way. It's one thing to slip into sin
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  as you're pursuing Lord. It's another thing to convince
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  yourself I can live this way. And when you when you do so
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  without your conscience being pricked, you are failing to
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  realize that among all the sinners that Jesus interacted
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  with, he expressed the greatest disapproval towards hypocrites.
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  Is there hope for hypocrites? The Bible speaks a lot about
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  hypocrites. You know what's fascinating
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  about hypocrites? Even hypocrites don't like
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  hypocrites. Is there a hope for hypocrites?
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  There's hope for hypocrites. Who were the men who were in
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  charge of Jesus's brutal torture?
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  They were known as the Pharisees, generally recognized
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  as the expert of not theology Hypocrites.
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  And whenever I think about the Pharisees in light of the
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  gospel, in light of Christ, my mind always goes to this obscure
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  verse found in the book of Acts, and it it never fails to warm my
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  heart. Can I show it to you?
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  You don't have a choice. It's in Acts 15, verse 5.
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  At the Jerusalem Council, there was a theological debate about
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  how the Law of Moses should be honored in light of the New
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  Covenant. And we're told of this
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  particular sect in that meeting, and I want you to see with your
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  eyes in Acts 15, verse 5. This will make you smile.
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  But some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose
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  up and said it is necessary to circumcise them and to order
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  them to keep the law of Moses. Don't look at the latter portion
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  of this verse. Look at the first part.
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  But some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees, see,
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  I see some smiles after Christ died, was buried, resurrected
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  after the Spirit was poured out on the church and overflowed in
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  Jerusalem. You had some Pharisees who
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  became believers. It's possible for hypocrites to
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  be saved. Oh, they still struggle with
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  understanding how things relate to the new covenant.
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  That's why they said what they said.
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  But the Bible is emphatically clear.
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  They were believers. Who's the most notorious
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  Pharisee that we read of all the time?
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  His name is Paul. He says, I'm the Pharisee of the
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  Pharisees. So this gospel is not only able
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  to save hypocrites, it's able to save the president of
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  hypocrites. When I came to Christ, one of my
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  greatest struggles of understanding his willingness to
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  forgive me was just that. Being a church kid that grew up
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  in a Christian home but was a hypocrite.
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  But his love overcame my doubts and I can testify that there is
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  hope for hypocrites. Are you living a hypocritical
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  life as I speak? Have you soothed your conscience
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  because you're obeying God in this area?
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  But in this area you know it's wrong, but you've convinced
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  yourself somehow, some way. Let me tell you something.
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  That's not God's will for your life.
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  And if you're willing to believe it, there's hope for you to
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  actually know true holiness, true righteousness, true
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  completeness in your walk with Christ.
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  Unfortunately, some of these Pharisees could care less.
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  They weren't in attendance when Jesus was being brutally handled
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  by the hands of Rome. But let's come back to Mark 15
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  and look. Let's look at some of the
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  aspects, the elements of this experience to further instruct
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  us. And they clothed him in a purple
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  cloak and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on
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  him. And they began to salute him.
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  Hail, King of the Jews. And they were striking His head
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  with a Reed and spitting on him. This crown of thorns was an
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  obvious addition to the mockery, but it was also a gruesome
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  addition to His affliction. Notice if you read 19 very
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  carefully, verse 19, it says that they were striking His
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  head. So they placed this crown of
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  thorns on His head. And then they went beyond that.
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  They took the Reed, and they begin to drive it further into
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  His scalp, into His forehead, into that precious face until it
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  was covered with fresh, warm blood.
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  And as difficult as it may seem to shake off that image, the
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  mention of thorns in connection to the price of our redemption
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  is meant to transport you back to the very first mention of
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  thorns in the Scriptures. Let me read these verses to you.
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  After Adam and Eve committed humanity's first transgression
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  in Genesis 317, the Lord says to Adam and to Adam, he said,
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  because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and I've
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  eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat
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  of it. Cursed is the ground because of
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  you and pain. You shall eat of it all the days
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  of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall
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  bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the
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  field. So in the eyes of Rome, this was
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  just scorn, but in the eyes of those who are familiar with
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  redemptive history, they see not a symbol of disgrace.
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  They see, in fact, a symbol of a curse.
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  You know, God called for thorns and thistles to be a permanent
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  visual and physical reminder of the pain that sin would bring
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  into the world, the heartache that sin did bring into the
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  world. When you see it in your garden,
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  you're supposed to be reminded of it.
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  And I've done enough work in my yard to feel that pain.
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  So every time that thing pierces you or you step on it, your mind
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  is supposed to go. The world wasn't supposed to be
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  like this. This is sin.
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  This is our rebellion. This is Adam, our federal head
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  that plunged the world into this kind of reality.
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  So knowing this adds commentary to what we are seeing here in
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  Mark 15, that Jesus receiving this crowning of the thorns is
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  not just receiving scorn. He is willing to wear a curse
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  for what reason? With the full knowledge that His
• 27:42
  blood would undo it and would begin the glorious process of
• 27:49
  reversing the curse. And know this, His redemption
• 27:53
  with His blood does more than just redeem mankind, you and me.
• 27:58
  It will restore creation itself. Creation, the order of the
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  universe, will be realigned because of what Christ has done.
• 28:10
  If you don't believe me, you have to read Romans 8 and let me
• 28:13
  quote to you a few words from Romans 820 where creation was
• 28:17
  subjected to futility. Not because Paul says that there
• 28:21
  were it was willing to The world did not want plagues and
• 28:25
  diseases and tsunamis and tornadoes and eruptions.
• 28:30
  It was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of him
• 28:32
  who subjected it. He was called to have dominion
• 28:36
  over the world, betrayed the world and surrendered it into a
• 28:41
  whirlwind of disaster, a fractured world because of a
• 28:45
  fractured man. But Paul goes on to say that
• 28:48
  this creation, creation itself, is longing for the sons of God
• 28:53
  to be revealed so that the freedom that would come from
• 28:55
  that would liberate itself from bondage.
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  In other words, in the same way that we are yearning to be
• 29:05
  completely set free from the effects of sin, the natural
• 29:09
  world is longing for that same reality.
• 29:15
  You know, Jesus spoke about this himself.
• 29:18
  Yes, He prioritizes you and I being saved, but Jesus himself
• 29:23
  alluded to the reality of the whole world being transformed.
• 29:28
  One day you'll see it. In Matthew 1928, Jesus said to
• 29:34
  them, truly, I say to you, he's talking to his disciples in the
• 29:38
  new world, in the new world. The ESV renders it in the new
• 29:43
  world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, You
• 29:46
  have followed me, will also sit on 12 Thrones judging the 12
• 29:50
  tribes of Israel. Yet you have two options here.
• 29:55
  Either Jesus is speaking literally or he's speaking here
• 29:57
  allegorically. I'm going to go to literal
• 29:59
  approach. He's talking about a real new
• 30:02
  world. He's talking about an actual
• 30:04
  glorious throne. He's talking about the 12 who
• 30:07
  will sit on actual 12 Thrones and they will judge actual
• 30:10
  tribes of Israel. Now here's a question for you.
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  Do you see how it says New world there?
• 30:19
  There's only one other place in all of the New Testament where
• 30:23
  the Greek word for new world appears.
• 30:25
  If you know it and you say it, I'll give you a prize.
• 30:31
  Good guess, but no. The answer is found in the book
• 30:36
  of Titus. Titus chapter 3, verse 5 gives
• 30:42
  us the one other place in all of the New Testament where the
• 30:44
  Greek word for New world is made known.
• 30:49
  Notice what Paul says. He saved us not because of works
• 30:55
  done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by
• 31:01
  the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
• 31:07
  Underline the word regeneration. It's the same word used.
• 31:14
  What does regeneration mean? New birth.
• 31:18
  And in this verse it speaks about our spiritual new birth.
• 31:22
  We have been regenerated. That's what Jesus meant in John
• 31:25
  three. You are born again, transformed,
• 31:27
  renewed from the inside out. And the Holy Spirit uses the
• 31:31
  same word back in Matthew, not to describe a human experience,
• 31:36
  but what the universe will one day undergo when Christ comes
• 31:41
  back to rule and reign for 1000 years.
• 31:45
  In other words, the world will know a transformation and
• 31:48
  deliverance from sin. Why?
• 31:51
  Because Jesus Christ conquered death and He's coming to rule
• 31:55
  and reign and make everything, absolutely everything, right.
• 32:01
  And that's why many of you mentioned Revelation.
• 32:05
  You read in Revelation 22, verse three.
• 32:07
  No longer will there be anything accursed.
• 32:11
  Not one thing will be under any curse in that new world,
• 32:16
  specifically when the eternal age comes in, but the throne of
• 32:19
  God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will
• 32:22
  worship him. Can you imagine a world without
• 32:24
  a hint of Adam's curse? It's almost hard to fathom, but
• 32:30
  that's our reward. That's where we're headed
• 32:32
  towards. And so when Jesus wears this
• 32:36
  crown of thorns, and as it punctures his skin and his
• 32:41
  skull, what we have to keep in mind is that he was willing to
• 32:46
  take it because that's what was required to clean everything up.
• 32:57
  And we come back to Mark and we get the impression that as they
• 33:00
  were striking his head, spitting on him, and the word there for
• 33:04
  spitting on him was not just a couple.
• 33:06
  They were continually spitting on him.
• 33:09
  I wonder how many of those 600 people participated in that,
• 33:16
  spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.
• 33:22
  And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple
• 33:25
  cloak and put his own clothes on him, and they let him out to
• 33:28
  crucify him again. You get the impression that from
• 33:30
  Mark's account, after this took place, they immediately rushed
• 33:34
  him off so that he can be nailed on a cross and that he would
• 33:37
  hang there suspended between heaven and earth.
• 33:39
  But that's not exactly what happened.
• 33:43
  Mark is a little bit faster here in writing of this.
• 33:45
  But John tells us of an episode, episode that took place between
• 33:50
  his flogging and his torture and his crucifixion.
• 33:54
  And this is what we're going to be ending here in John 19.
• 34:01
  This is why it's so important to collect the Bible together and
• 34:03
  to compare to see the full picture in John 19, verse one.
• 34:08
  This is again what happened after they let Him away from
• 34:11
  this and before they brought Him to Golgotha in John 19 one we
• 34:18
  read then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourge them.
• 34:20
  We covered that already, and the soldiers planted a crown of
• 34:24
  thorns and put it on His head, and they put Him on him, a
• 34:27
  purple Rd. robe. We covered that and said, Hail
• 34:30
  king of the Jews, we seen that and they smote Him with their
• 34:33
  hands. Yes, but look what happens in
• 34:35
  verse 4. Pilate therefore went forth
• 34:39
  again and saith to them, Behold, I bring Him forth to you, that
• 34:43
  you may know that I find no fault in Him.
• 34:46
  Then came Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and the purple
• 34:49
  robe, and Pilate said to them, Behold the man.
• 34:55
  So again, before Jesus went to the cross, Pilate sought to do
• 34:58
  something with Christ. He brings him out to the public
• 35:02
  eye, and he wants to showcase what they did to Jesus.
• 35:07
  For what reason? Pilate again is desperate and
• 35:13
  hoping that now after he was battered, slapped around,
• 35:17
  punctured, bleeding, that they would have some kind of pity and
• 35:23
  they would see this and say wow. And that in their rage, they
• 35:29
  would have some kind of compassion and they would
• 35:32
  realize he's no longer a threat. And they would say just release
• 35:37
  him, that that's enough. That would be horrific enough
• 35:44
  for them to put it to an end. But what do you read instead?
• 35:49
  The venomous hatred that this people had for Jesus.
• 35:54
  It's as though the site only excited them more because in the
• 35:58
  very next verse we read that they said crucify him, finish
• 36:05
  the job. Yes, this is what we want, but
• 36:08
  we want more. Kill Him saying this is crazy,
• 36:13
  this is hard to believe. No, this is the potential of
• 36:17
  man's hatred for God. And so Pilate said, if this this
• 36:21
  is beyond hope, but after all this, you still want to kill
• 36:25
  him. He finally gives in as we
• 36:28
  studied. But I wonder if this man knew
• 36:32
  the words that he said, at least the significance of them.
• 36:35
  You know, when people say things, sometimes they don't
• 36:36
  know what they're saying. There are some who say things
• 36:39
  and they don't realize how foolish their statement or the
• 36:42
  reaction was, while others speak with a profoundness that they
• 36:45
  don't even recognize. And I believe when Pilate said
• 36:48
  those 3 words, behold the man, he did not comprehend what we
• 36:55
  should be familiar with in light of God's Word.
• 36:59
  Remember Caiaphas accidentally prophesied when the Pharisees
• 37:03
  didn't know what to do with him. He said, you know, it's better
• 37:07
  for one man to die than for the whole nation.
• 37:12
  And he was speaking about Christ's death and the
• 37:14
  significance of it. And I I'm persuaded that even
• 37:17
  when Pilate here in his own way, by saying behold, the man was
• 37:21
  making an illusion, he echoed a prophecy about Messiah.
• 37:28
  That phrase, behold the man, doesn't appear too much in the
• 37:31
  Old Testament, but there is one very crucial place where it is
• 37:35
  found and it speaks about Jesus. I wonder if you've ever
• 37:39
  considered it in Zechariah 6 verse 12.
• 37:45
  And say to him, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold the man
• 37:53
  whose name is the branch, for he shall branch out from his place,
• 37:58
  and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
• 38:00
  It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord, and shall
• 38:03
  bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne, and
• 38:07
  there shall be a priest on his throne, and the council of peace
• 38:11
  shall be between them both. The title branch is Messianic.
• 38:19
  It speaks of fruitfulness, it speaks of life, and it is indeed
• 38:23
  attributed to the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
• 38:27
  And here Zechariah says, behold the man.
• 38:30
  And we know this is Messianic because whoever this king would
• 38:33
  be would also be a priest. That's the last part of the
• 38:36
  prophecy, right? And there shall be a priest on
• 38:38
  his throne. Never was there a time where the
• 38:42
  priest could become a king or king, become a priest.
• 38:47
  Whenever anybody attempted to do that, it was deadly.
• 38:54
  There's an exception with David, but that's because he pointed to
• 38:56
  Christ. But here we see that there is
• 38:59
  coming a king who's also going to be a priest, sitting on the
• 39:03
  throne that is Jesus Christ. And when Pilate says, behold the
• 39:07
  man, all of them missed it because what they were supposed
• 39:14
  to see is the branch. What they were supposed to see
• 39:18
  is the kingly priest. Instead, what they saw was an
• 39:25
  enemy. You know pilots words here are
• 39:30
  for us as well. Behold the man after this very
• 39:34
  brief time, looking at what Christ endured for the mission
• 39:39
  of salvation. What do you see?
• 39:42
  What do you see? What comes to mind when you see
• 39:47
  this Jesus? Do you see a misunderstood
• 39:50
  teacher? Do you see a revolutionary that
• 39:54
  was caught? Do you see a philosopher who
• 40:02
  provided good moral framework for mankind?
• 40:07
  What do you see when you behold him?
• 40:11
  Or do you see what you're supposed to see?
• 40:14
  The fulfillment of prophecy? The anticipated Savior?
• 40:20
  The Anointed 1. That has been predicted and
• 40:25
  proclaimed centuries and thousands of years ago.
• 40:28
  What do you see today? Come on, with a little bit of
• 40:31
  strength and energy. Now I ask you to see.
• 40:33
  What do you see? What do you behold?
• 40:38
  How do you perceive it? Does it move you?
• 40:41
  What you're supposed to see is the one who is willing to go to
• 40:44
  such lengths to win your salvation and to call you his
• 40:52
  own. I I wonder if that moves you
• 40:55
  today. I wonder if that stirs you
• 40:58
  today. I wonder if that makes you want
• 41:01
  to know Him more, and if you don't know Him, to know Him and
• 41:05
  to experience Him. I wonder if looking at the
• 41:09
  severity of sin causes you to want to shun it with a strength
• 41:13
  that you've never experienced. I wonder if beholding the
• 41:18
  magnitude of God's love wins your loyalty as you realize that
• 41:23
  it has won your salvation. What do you see today as you
• 41:28
  behold the man? I hope today that you see your
• 41:33
  Savior. And if you have not acknowledged
• 41:36
  that today, that today would be the day where you say I will not
• 41:38
  crown him with my betrayal, with my rejection.
• 41:43
  I will crown him with my allegiance and I will give my
• 41:46
  life to him and surrender. And how you do that is by
• 41:49
  accepting His forgiveness and His grace.
• 41:51
  And from that place of gratitude you now live with the energy of
• 41:55
  His love to serve Him with your love.
• 41:58
  Have you made that conscious decision today to make Jesus
• 42:02
  Christ your Lord? What more can He do?
• 42:09
  What more can He offer? God gave all that He can Himself
• 42:16
  so that He can have you. I pray that you would accept
• 42:19
  them if you haven't yet. Let's pray.
• 42:41
  Well, we know that the prophet Isaiah said about the Messiah
• 42:43
  that he gave his back to be smitten.
• 42:46
  And we acknowledge that a man can only say and do so much to
• 42:57
  try to paint the picture of your salvation and the sufferings
• 43:01
  linked to it. But we acknowledge that only the
• 43:04
  Holy Spirit can make this real to us.
• 43:09
  So we do pray in humility that you would open the eyes of our
• 43:14
  hearts to behold the man for those who know him, that we
• 43:22
  would love him more for those who don't know him, that they
• 43:27
  would be won over by his love. Lord, today we worship you.
• 43:32
  Yes, with this very somber scene before us, but also realizing
• 43:38
  that there is a joy in this picture, a joy that you had in
• 43:42
  mind and a joy that we get to enjoy forever at your expense.
• 43:50
  Lord, help us honor you today as a church in Jesus name, Amen.
• 44:00
  Amen. If the priest team can come and
• 44:03
  help us sing.