John - Chapter 19
BEFORE PILATE – DEATH & BURIAL
The death of Christ may be viewed from five main viewpoints:
From the standpoint of God the cross was a propitiation in which full satisfaction was made to His holiness and justice (Romans 3:25-26):
“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forebearance of God; To declare, I say at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
From the standpoint of the Savior, it was a sacrifice (Ephesians 5:2), an offering (Hebrews 9:14), an act of obedience (Phil 2:8).
5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God...”
9:14 “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God...”
2:8 “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
From the standpoint of believers, it was a substitution, the Just offering for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18). ((The forever blessing of His Atonement for OUR sin))
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit:”
From the standpoint of Satan, it was a triumph and a defeat. He triumphed by bruising the heel of the woman's seed (Genesis 3:15) but was a defeat in that through His death, Christ destroyed him that had the power over death, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).
“For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise himself took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
From the standpoint of the world, it was a brutal murder (Acts 3:15).
“And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.”
It is the last point that much of John 19 brings to us. From the “human” side, the Jews are responsible. From the “judicial” side, Pilate bears responsibility.
Each of the gospels treats the Lord's death with a different degree of detail. The birth, the baptism, and the temptation of Christ appear in only two. Several of His miracles and talks appear in only one, but the Savior's passion (suffering) is in all four, which points out to us it's supreme importance.
When we began our study we looked at the difference in how each gospel treats the details of the life and ministry of Jesus.
Matthew - presents Christ as the Son of David, king of Israel.
Mark - presents Christ as God's workman, God's servant and the service of Jesus.
Luke - presents Christ as the Son of Man, with human perfections and relationships.
John – reveals Jesus as the Son of God, incarnate in flesh like ours, dwelling among men in His divine but human form.
John says nothing about the agony in the garden but John alone reveals the power of His spoken word when all fell backward.
John omits most details of the time with Caiaphas, but describes the time before Annas. John alone reveals the words Jesus spoke about His kingdom (18:36), of His coming to bear witness to the truth (18:37), of Pilate having no power except what had been given from above (19:11), of His seamless robe (19:23), His legs not broken (19:33), and the blood and water from His side. John omits the awful cry of “why hast thou forsaken me” replacing it with “it is finished”.
We are well taught from childhood in the church about the cross and the death of our Lord. We know well the story of the Jews and how they conspired to have Christ killed. We know more than a few times in our study of John that Jesus moved away from their violent wishes as His hour had not yet come.
NOW THE HOUR IS HERE.
We have several times looked into the power and the will of the Lord meeting no obstacle that can deter it.
It is likely that nowhere in scripture will we find a greater example of the sovereignty of God than in Pilate's treatment of Jesus the Christ. Look at what holy scripture reveals to us concerning this matter:
Pilate was assured of His innocence, acknowledging it at least seven times. He said “I find no fault in him”.
Pilate desired to release Jesus (Luke 23:20) and said “I will let him go” (Luke 23:22). Pilate sought to release Him (John 19:12). Pilate was determined to release Him (Acts 3:13).
Pilate was urged to release Him by no one less that his own wife (Matt 27:19).
Pilate tried to arrange the acquittal of Jesus by bidding the Jews themselves to judge Him, knowing they could not execute (John 18:31). He sent Him to Herod only to have Him returned to himself (Luke 23:7). He sought the Jews to retain Barabbas in place of Jesus (John 18:39).
In spite of all of these efforts, Pilate DID sentence Jesus to the cross and death.
What does the will of man amount to when it runs counter to the will of God?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
Here was Pilate, the Roman governor, determined to release Jesus but he was prevented from doing so. From all eternity, before the foundation, God had decreed that Pilate WOULD sentence Jesus to death and no power on earth or in hell could refuse. Acts 2:23 is our best teaching on this point:
“him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God”.
Pilate did order His scourging and the beating was of the most severe type, stripping flesh from his body and causing the loss of blood and likely bodily strength. As Jesus had foretold, now was the hour of darkness (Luke 22:53) and Satan's work after he had possessed Judas, was proceeding.
Christ was at this same hour atoning for all sin for all men for all time. Sin had to be revealed in it's enormous power over mankind and this hour displayed it well.
Christ was dying for sinners so what was actually due to all of us who are indwelt with sin from birth is also on display.
Now, as in all other things, Jesus fulfills OT prophecy as Isaiah 53:8 teaches of Him being cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of the people. After His terrible scourging, He was displayed by Pilate bloody and robed in purple and crowned in thorns with the words, “Behold the man”. Here Pilate was sarcastically showing the people that this bloody spectacle was no god, but simply a man tortured. Pilate hoped the people would be appeased, but it was not to be as God had long before determined the cross was to be used as the instrument for Jesus to WILLINGLY lay down His mortal life for us.
The Jews insisted that Jesus be executed and when Pilate heard their cries we are told in verse 8 that he was MORE afraid. Notice the word “more” meaning he had the emotion of fear before and now it was increasing in strength inside him. He preferred to please the crowd to avoid any discord and trouble rather than obey his own conscience, knowing all the while Jesus was not guilty. Jesus had steadfastly remained almost completely silent. Pilate tries to remind Jesus in verse 10 that he had the power to crucify Him or to release Him.
Now Jesus reveals the truth of the moment and gave His last official testimony before going to the cross. He tells Pilate that he would have NO power over Him if it had not been given from above. He could have easily used power that Pilate never dreamed of, as He had shown the power of His word in the garden, but he did not. He accepted the cup of bitterness with grace. Paul later wrote of this moment in Romans 13:1 when he said that there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God.
Finally Jesus reveals to Pilate that He knew the precise measure of Pilate's guilt and of the one who had delivered Him to Pilate. Here in 19:11, just as in Luke 12:47-48 Jesus taught one final time on the degrees of guilt and sin, bringing degrees of future punishment.
We observe the last word spoken by Jesus to Pilate was “sin”, and likely the next word Pilate heard from Jesus one moment after his own death was the sentence of eternal doom.
As we conclude this chapter as Jesus freely chooses the cross and death we should notice that He spoke his last words in mortal life from the cross and these words were of seven matters (the holy and perfect number of God):
He spoke forgiveness for His enemies (Luke 23:34).
He spoke salvation to the dying thief (Luke 23:42-43).
He spoke affection for His mother (John 19:25-26).
He spoke anguish to the Father (Matthew 27:46).
He spoke suffering to those watching (John 19:28).
He spoke victory to His people (John 19:30).
He spoke fulfillment to the Father (Luke 23:46).
After his suffering he told the Father the work was finished and He perished from His mortal body. As was the custom then, those on the cross had their legs broken to hasten death but when the soldiers came to do so, Jesus was already dead.
Joseph of Arimathaea asked Pilate for the body and was given it for burial. No bones were broken in his body. Here in verse 36 is quoted Psalms 34:20 “He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken”.
All the legions of Caesar could not have broken a single bone in His mortal body. They had no power except what had been given them from above. The preservation of His body with unbroken bones was a fulfilling of the type seen in Exodus12:46 which speaks of the Passover lamb commanding that “...neither shall ye break a bone thereof...”.
For 1500 years the Jews had carefully observed this command each Passover and none of them (as far as we know) had any idea as to its meaning in full. Now the Holy Spirit makes the meaning clear.
Now he was taken to burial by Joseph and Nicodemus, who brought the proper spices for the tomb. He had been born of a virgin woman, and was now buried in a virgin tomb, there to rest His mortal body for three days & nights while His spirit harrowed hell.
THEN TO ARISE GLORIFIED AND VICTORIOUS !!!!!!!!!!
