We’ll this is Hour 16 of Learn the Bible
in 24 Hours the Final Week of Christ's ministry on earth. A tough session for just the opposite
of the usual reasons. Many sessions we’ve had ... are very
difficult to somehow summarize so many different things within the 1 hour. The Book of Genesis there
and whatever. This is difficult in a different sense. We’re just talking about 1 week and our
problem, our frustration will be that we can’t possibly probe the depth of this 1 week. It has significance and meaning that we will
spend an eternity trying to understand. But having said all that, let’s take ... let’s
take a look at what we can glean from this final week. And the ... it is ... I call this week
the Agony of Love. Six hours that He spent on our behalf to
free us for eternity. Well one of the ... first questions that
people get concerned about, was it Friday or was it Wednesday? And let me say right up front there are many
good scholars that will support a Friday crucifixion. That is the traditional view of the church. I can remember vividly, I was a cohost
on a worldwide television broadcast and we had as our guest ... the
guest that was scheduled at that time was, Dr. John Warwick Montgomery, the famous
apologist and my associate host got in a discussion with him about ... where he was
explaining how you get 3 days and 3 nights between Friday and Sunday. And John Warwick Montgomery, this very august
apologist was explaining ... defending the Friday thing. When he finished I turned to the cohost and
explained, “You need to understand that John is also an attorney and that’s the
way they bill.” And Dr. Montgomery almost fell off the
couch laughing because he knew I was pulling his leg. I knew a lot about him because he was such
a close friend with Walter Martin. And Walter and I were very close. But, indeed, eminent scholar. He would defend the Friday but they, they all try to argue various ways that a
partial day counts as a day and that’s how they get the 3 days from Friday to
and I ... I’m saying that because, there are people that still ... it’s not
just a church tradition. There are people who will try to support that. But there are 3 reasons why I don’t think
that is correct from the scripture. We mentioned last time that He went from Jericho
to Bethany 6 days before Passover which means in effect that that Passover could not
be on a Friday because you wouldn’t be ... 6 days before that would be a Shabbat and that’s ... from Jericho to Bethany is more than a Sabbath’s day journey and as an observant
Jew he would not violate a Shabbat. There’s another verse and that is the morning
we call Easter morning when the girls were going to the tomb with their spices and things. It says after the Sabbaths were passed. Your English Bible may or may not notice this
but in the Greek it’s very clear its plural. The Sabbaths were passed that Sunday morning
which means there was more than 1 Sabbath. On the Jewish calendar there are 52 Shabbats. That is a ... what we call Saturdays. There are also 7 high Sabbaths in addition
one of which is the feast of unleavened bread the day after Passover. Passover itself is not considered a Sabbath
but the day after is in ... the formal reckoning. So the fact that Sunday morning there was
more than 1 Sabbath passed means that not only Saturday had passed but either Thursday
or Friday was the feast of unleavened bread. When the Sabbaths were passed, they were free
to go to the ... to the thing. So that again is a refutation of a Friday
crucifixion. The one that’s also the third thing is Jesus
Himself said as Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of fish so shall the son of man
spend 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the earth. And the way that’s expressed seems to reject
it being simply idiomatical. Three days and 3 nights is clearly a ... you
can’t shoehorn that in between Friday evening and Sunday morning. It doesn’t work so much as you might try. So we hold doesn’t mean they’re right. I just want you to know where we're coming from
as we go through some of these other discussions. So 6 days before Passover He came to Bethany
in John chapter 12. And and it was more than a Sabbath’s
day journey from Jericho and 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth in Matthew
12 verse 40. Okay so those are 3 reasons. So Friday we be see Him at Bethany from
John 12. Saturday we have the triumphal entry by this
reckoning and there’s understand there’s different scholars will have slightly different
resting. We’re lean ... we've leaned heavily on the very
interesting work by Rista Cilanta that’s been finally translated into English and it’s a very excellent reconciliation of much of this. Sunday is when the fig tree is cursed
and so forth. Monday is when the conspirators counselled
together. And I want to point something to you. The plan by the conspirators expressly was
not to take Jesus on a holiday cause they feared the Romans. The Romans almost didn’t care what you do
as long as you did it orderly. They ... the thing ... their report card to
Caesar gets punched by whether or not there’s an insurrection. So the Romans were very tight in keeping things
peaceful. They couldn’t care less about the other
controversies. The conspirators wanted to take Jesus on a
non holiday. That was the plan. And, I think it’s very, very fascinating
that Jesus controlled all the details. And at the upper room it’s Jesus that
announces that someone is going to betray him. See you have to understand the spot that put
Judas in. He wasn’t going to do it that night. It’s Passover the next day you gotta be
kidding. But Jesus announces that someone is going to ... who’s going to betray him, the one that dips with me in the sup. He turns to Judas and says, “What you do, do
quickly.” Who’s calling the shots here? Jesus is. I think that’s fascinating. Judas has to fish or cut bait. He’s got to do it that night or ... the
word is out. So he splits. He’s got to find his ... the co-conspirators. They’ve got to make arrangements. They’ve got to make ... get an
appointment with Pilate early in the morning. There's ... a whole bunch of things ... that’s why
they’re in Gethsemane so long. It took them that long to get their act together. Jesus is calling the shots interestingly enough. And of course, we have the Last Supper which
... and of course the Passover that was between the evenings. And that’s ... so it’s, it
starts that ... at sundown ... it goes to sundown the next day and He’ll be
crucified before sundown the next day. And so there we have it. And it fascinates me that ... it’s controlled by Jesus Christ. That put ... this chronology
would support a Wednesday crucifixion as we see ... and when we put John 19 and Mark 15 and Luke 23 together that seems to be the profile, if you will. And then, of course, we have ... the next
day is the feast of unleavened bread as is specified in Leviticus 23. And then Friday is when the women prepared
the spices and so forth. And Saturday they ... in rest they ... this
is ... as after the Sabbaths were passed in Matthew 28 verse 1. It’s a very key verse. Check it in the Greek. You’ll discover it’s plural. And that’s important to get an insight
here. And, of course, Sunday morning they discover
He’s risen. Now there’s ... some scholars that would argue
that He actually was resurrected that night before, obviously before sunrise. And we get ... that’s splitting hairs
in my view. The net of it is, is that clearly Sunday
morning the women discover ... it’s interesting the women discover that He is risen and the
apostles learn about it subsequently. And we’ll talk a little bit more about that
in a minute. But that’s, that’s a quick profile. It’s one of the candidate reckonings
of the final week, the so called passion week of Jesus Christ. And so let’s talk a little bit about
the triumphal entry then. This is by way of review from our excursions
into this area when we were in Daniel chapter 9. We have of course the prophecy that Jesus
deliberately arranged to fulfill. In Zachariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and
having salvation; lowly, riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” This is recorded in all 4 gospels and
they’re to take everyone a lamb. It’s interesting that the Passover was technically
not a Levitical feast. It was at ... in the home not in the temple- ... blessed by the temple, of course. I don’t want to make too much of that. But Jesus deliberately arranges to fulfill
this. It’s the only day in the gospels that Jesus
allowed Himself to be proclaimed as a King. “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.” Unto who? Unto Jerusalem. He’s presenting himself to Jerusalem as
their King formally. Very real. And it’s interesting when you get to Luke
19 the crowd is singing Psalm 118 saying, “Blessed is the King that cometh in the
name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” All of us ... how many of you have heard the Psalm ... this is the day which the Lord has made we shall rejoice and be glad in it? See we apply that to any day but that’s
not what Psalm ... that’s from Psalm 118. What it’s really alluding to is this day,
the day that the Messiah presents Himself as a King. That’s what’s really in view
in Psalm 118. But that’s what they’re singing. And you and I miss the point. Whenever we run the risk of not understanding
the Pharisees come to our rescue. Some of the Pharisees from among the multitude
said, “Master, rebuke thy disciples.” Why? What’s wrong with singing that song? You and I would ... as Gentiles especially would
miss that. But the Pharisees understood that the crowd
singing that Psalm are proclaiming Him the Messiah. And they assume He doesn’t want His disciples
blaspheming. Well, He never said He was God. Gee, the Pharisees thought so. See because the significance of this
is He’s declaring Himself the Messiah and they understood that is blasphemy. And He assu- ... they’re assuming ... that He doesn’t want in the enthusiasm moment His disciples to blaspheme. Master rebuke Your disciples. It’s fascinating to see His very diplomatic
reply. He said, “He answered and said to them,
I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” I love that and I usually admonish our ... the people on our tours as they walk down from over that very road which we do from
the Mount of Olives down to pick up a few rocks, put 'em in your pocket, take 'em
back home and mount them on a plaque. And people ask, “What’s that in your living
room or den?” That’s one of the stones that
didn’t cry out. And you can give them the whole story of Daniel
9 and Luke 19 and so forth. And, of course, we ... just by way of review
you may recall that Gabriel gave Daniel a ... four ... verse prophesy in Daniel chapter 9. Gabriel said "from the commandment
to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Meshiach Nagid," the Messiah the
King, would be in effect 173,880 days. This is all by way of review. We know the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem was the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus which is dated March 14 of 445
BC. Of course, the big enigma is, when did Jesus
allow Himself to be proclaimed as King? And that’s what we’re watching here in
Luke 19. And as I indicated before in the
previous session, Christ's ministry began in the fall of 28 AD. Why? Because Tiberius is appointed in 14 AD and
it was in the 4th ... it was in the 15th year Tiberius in other words 14 years later. So its 14 plus 14 is 28 so it’s in AD 28 that the ministry began. It’s on the 4th Passover that this is all
occurring and so that is date-able. What’s interesting about that date if you
do the arithmetic you discover several things. That ... all of this is written by the way
in the Septuagint translation which was codified in 270 BC, 3 centuries before the gospel period. And if you ... and in other words, 300 years
before all this and if you go through the arithmetic you’ll discover that between
those dates occur by the time you go through the leap year and all of the rest of the stuff
is 173,880 days. And all of this is documented in Sir Robert
Anderson’s classic work in 1894 called the Coming Prince. I encourage you to take a look at that. But it’s interesting as Jesus riding this
donkey to Jerusalem when He comes near, comes up over the brow of the hill Mount of Olives
and He sees the city, what does He do? He wept over it. He knew what was coming. Said “If thou hadst known, even thou, at
least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from
thine eyes.” This is this thy day. This ... the ... He held them accountable
to understand Daniel 9. He expect them to understand that this is
the day they were supposed to be expecting Him. And, of course, He also knew that 4 days from
now He would be ... that the same crowd would be yelling crucify Him. But he goes on in Luke 19. He says, “For the days shall come upon thee,
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee
in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee;
and they shall not leave in thee 1 stone upon another.” He’s talking to Jerusalem. And we all know from history 38 years later
the Roman legions 5th, 10th, 12th and 15th Roman legions laid siege to Jerusalem for
about 9 months. Slaughtered over a million people, another
half a million died from the pestilence and what followed. And they literally ... they had planned to
take the temple as a trophy but a torch went through 1 window, started a fire. The wood burned, the gold melted. Titus has to instruct his troops to take it apart
stone by stone to recover the gold and that was literally true. They did not leave in thee 1 stone left upon
another. Question, the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD,
one of the biggest milestones, most terrifying milestones in Jewish history. Over a million and a half people, men, women,
children killed. Why? Why was Jerusalem destroyed in 70 AD? There are a lot of good answers to that. Let’s look at the answer Jesus gave. Why was this going to happen? Because though knewest not the time of thy
visitation. That just gives me chills. Jesus held them accountable to know the prophecies
of Daniel 9. That’s the same prophecy that Jesus tells
His 4 disciples in Matthew 24 to understand. Matthew 24:15 and “When you see the abomination
of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.” That’s an allusion to that same passage. Thou knewest not the time of visitation. Well after those ... incidents ... they said, “Gee,
what’s coming next? Well after those 3 score and 2 weeks shall
the Messiah be karat, executed but not for Himself. For whom? You and me. And the people of the prince shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary. We know who destroyed the city and the sanctuary is
the Roman army. So in some sense they’re the people of what? The prince shall come. That’s a title of a leader yet to show
up. At the end thereof shall be a flood
or a diaspora and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Karat, to cut off, to eliminate, to kill,
to execute. The Old Testament has a prophecy in Daniel
9 verse 26 that the Messiah will be killed, be executed. That shocks many Jewish scholars. It’s in the Old Testament. It's in their words.
Indeed He was. If you want a candidate for the Messiah of
Israel find someone that was killed just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. I’ve got a good candidate in mind. Huh! The prince that shall come. That’s, that’s 1 of 33 titles in the Old
Testament of this world leader yet to show up. He has 13 titles in the New Testament. So obviously the 69 weeks were fulfilled to
the very day. You and I are dwelling in that interval of
verse 26. After the 69 but the 70th week has not started
yet but we know from a lot of indicators that it’s not far away. This last 7 year period is about to start. I mean on the relatively near horizon. In that interval we have the crucifixion. We have the destruction of the temple. That’s 38 years there, but we
know it’s actually lasted for 2000 or so. This interval by the way is also implied in
a lot of different scriptures. They’re in your notes for the Daniel 9 review. It’s defined for you that they’re
blinded from the ... from the missing that from the day that Jesus made that
declaration verse 42 of Daniel ... of Luke 19. Until Romans 11 Paul tells us until the
fullness of the gentiles be ... come in. That’s in the interval. When the fullness of the gentiles come in,
the rapture of church that’s going to close that interval. And we’ll be getting into the 70th week
of Daniel. This interval is the period of the church,
an era that was kept secret in the Old Testament according to Jesus’s own remark in Matthew
13 and is revealed to us by Paul in Ephesians 3. A critical study in eschatology. The church was born at Pentecost and the prerequisite to the church was the atonement and the resurrection and the ascension. The spiritual gifts are only given after the
ascension. Christ was taken out so that the Comforter can
come in in His ... in His unique way during this period. Okay, the final week. Let’s take now ...
take a look at the Last Supper in detail. Interesting time. It was not to be on a feast day according
to Matthew 26:5. That was the instruction, but Jesus after announcing
its going to happen in public among ... in the meeting He turns to - what
thou do, do it quickly and Judas has to split and somehow figure out what he’s going to do
here. Then we’re in the Garden of Eden. It’s interesting when you get the Garden
of Eden. When you get to the Garden of Gethsemane and
they’re praying there. And these soldiers show up. Jesus advances to them. I love this. If you look closely at the narrative, He’s the One
running the show. He advances to them. Who do you seek? Jesus of Nazareth. He says, “I am He.” And they fall they’re
smashed against the wall. They’re shook by
that declaration because I believe He’s making a very key theological statement,
doesn’t He? He doesn’t say, “I’m the guy you’re
looking for.” He says, “I am.” He’s using His ... key title there. He says that 7 times in the gospel of John. Then He starts giving orders. If I’m the one you’re seeking, let these
go their way. Who’s calling the shots here? Not the soldiers. Jesus is. Understand all the way through, He’s in
charge. He’s controlling the timing. Why? Because there are hundreds of specifications
that have been and will be fulfilled in the next few hours. Every detail has been laid down in advance,
centuries before. The crucifixion is not a tragedy, it’s an
achievement. It’s what He came to do. But notice who’s
in charge. Jesus Christ is in charge. There are 6 trials that will occur between
His arrest and the crucifixion. There are 3 Jewish trials before Annas,
before Caiaphas and then before the Sanhedrin. And those are obviously recorded in the scripture. And then there are Roman trials. He’s put before Pilate. And Pilate hears the word Galilee. Aha! Herod’s in town. It’s his problem. So he sends Him over to Herod. Herod says, “No way! Back to Pilate.” So, these administrators are trying to wash
their hands of this problem. Six trials, every one of them, every detail
of every trial is illegal. It’s illegal. Interesting. The illegalities. The binding of a prisoner before he was condemned
was illegal. He’s bound. That’s illegal. The judges participated in the arrest of the
accused, that was illegal. No legal transactions including
a trial could be conducted at night. This is a kangaroo court as we
would call it going on in the middle of the night. While an acquittal could be pronounced the same
day, any other verdict required a majority of 2 and had to come on a subsequent day. That was in the law. That was the law. They didn’t obey any of this. No prisoner could be convicted on his own
evidence. Of course that’s the only evidence he had. That’s what finally does it. When the high priest finally said, “I adjure
thee ...” They couldn’t get the ... well they couldn’t get the witnesses to agree. “I adjure thee by the living God, tell us
who you are.” Well He’s under oath now. That’s the only time He makes a statement
is when He’s under ad juris. You know, you said it buddy. Next time you see Me I’m coming and
you know the statement. So it’s interesting no prisoner can
be convicted on his own evidence. That evidence convicted Him. And incidentally the evidence that convicted
Him was His claim that He was the Creator. That’s staggering. It was the duty of the judge by the way to
see that the interest of the accuser was fully protected. You've got to be kidding. This is a ... this is a railroad job as we
might call it. The use of violence during the trial was apparently
unopposed by the judges. They slapped Him around. The judges sought false witnesses against
Jesus. The judges sought these false witnesses. Tried
to get them to agree. They couldn’t agree. In a Jewish court the accused was to be assumed
innocent until proved guilty by 2 or more witnesses. These ideas by the way you notice have their
roots Biblically. They’re cherished rights that
we try clumsily perhaps ... we try to imbue in our juris prudence in our
legal system. But in any case they’re certainly violated
here. No witness was ever called for the defense
except His own self-incrimination in their mind. By the way the court lacked the civil authority
to condemn a man to death that’s why they had to make these arrangements to see Pilate. And seeing Pilate took special arrangements. They couldn’t just go see Pilate. I mean he’s the personal representative
of the ruler of the world. He happens to be in town but they have
to go to him to get done what they want to get done. It was illegal to conduct a session of the
court on a feast day. And it's certainly a feast day. It's, you know, it’s
Passover, for crying out loud. The sentence is finally passed in the palace
of the high priest but the law demanded that it be pronounced in the temple in the Hall
of Hewn Stone. They didn’t do that. It was in the ... it was in the pal-
in the high priest’s own palace. And also the high priest tears his garment. That was against the law. He was never permitted to tear his official
robe. That’s in Leviticus 21 verse 10. And by the way without his priestly robe,
he couldn’t have put Christ under oath. So you've got to ... you can’t have it both
ways. If you put Him under oath, he must have had
his priestly robe or he couldn’t do that. If he had his priestly robe, he wasn't supposed to
tear it. There is a habit of tearing a robe under
certain things but he wasn’t allowed to. That was against the law. Let’s talk about Pilate. Pilate tried hard to get out of this. I’m ... I feel very sympathetic to Pilate’s
dilemma understanding the pressures on an administrator. Jesus Christ was pronounced innocent by the
personal representative of the ruler of the world. “I find no fault in this man,” he declares
to the crowd. He tries to get out from under this. He passes it off to Herod. And Herod’s a pretty slippery character
too. He will ... he passes to ... and he tries
to pass it off to the crowd. Every year we let a prisoner go and
you, you know, he thought surely they would, they got this murderer that’s His rival
here. Certainly they’re gonna take this guy that
... there's so many, you know, apparently follow Him. Tries to pass it off to the crowd but they’ve
been bribed and managed by the experts. Prisoner of choice is released. You want Barabbas or your king? It kind of interesting that he, you know,
that he declares Him the King. Well you know the story. Barabbas is an
interesting story. You need to understand Barabbas. We don’t do much studying of Barabbas here. Understand he stood under the righteous condemnation of the law. He did not declare any basis of being innocent. He’s guilty. He knows he is. He knew that the One that was about to take
his cross and take his place was innocent. Barabbas knew was himself guilty. He knew this guy that was being accused, that
was going to take his place for freedom was innocent. He knew that. He knew that Jesus Christ was for him a substitute. From his point of view Christ was substituted
into his shoes otherwise he wouldn’t have been freed, right? No, I mean he would have been condemned. But because they picked him, he’s freed
and Christ is condemned. They switched places in a sense. Okay? And he knew that he had done nothing to merit
going free while another took his place. So get the ... I want you to understand Barabbas’s
situation here. They’re changing places. The murderer’s bonds, his curse, his disgrace
and his mortal agony. That’s Barabbas’s were transferred
to the righteous Jesus while the liberty, the innocence, the safety and the wellbeing
of the Nazarene became the lot of the murderer. You understand how they switch places? Barabbas’s installed all the right and privileges
of Jesus Christ while the latter ends up on all the infamy and horror of the rebel’s
position. The delinquent’s guilt and cross became
the lot of the Just One and all the civil rights and immunities of the latter were property
of the delinquent. Where are you and I? We are in Barabbas’s shoes. We’re not innocent. We know we’re guilty. We have nothing to justify anything but the
punishment that we deserve. Jesus is innocent and we are switching places. We gain Him, His situation and He endures
ours. That’s what’s going on here. Barabbas is more than just a bystander here. He’s a representative of you and I. Okay,
so we get to the crucifixion itself. And thanks to Mel Gibson’s work many people
are critical of some of its ... some of it’s, colorful overtones, but at the same time
it’s an incredible piece of work to which we’re indebted. Now to refresh your memory from Genesis chapter
22 you may recall that the Mount of Olives, that the Mount Moriah is a ridge
system starting at Salem or Ophel near the base about 600 meters above sea level. You get up to the temple which is a saddleback, the threshing floor of Arunah but the ridge continues up hill. The bedrock goes up to 777 meters above sea
level a place called Golgotha and the place that Abraham offered Isaac I believe
is the exact spot that ... another Father offered His Son as an offering for sin. There’s a Jewish tradition that Abraham
offered Isaac at the temple mount but that’s just a Jewish tradition. It doesn’t seem to conform to either the
topography or the scripture. It’s at Golgotha that I believe Abraham
offered Isaac and it’s at Golgotha that Jesus Christ is offered on our behalf. Old Testament prophecies. We went through a lot of these in the previous
session about being born of David’s family, born of a virgin, born at Bethlehem and
live in Galilee, raised in Nazareth, announced by a Elijah-like herald, John the Baptist. The massacre of Bethlehem’s children, the
jubilee to the world, the mission that includes the gentiles, His healing ministry and teaching
through parables, all that we covered in last session. Now we have these whole series of these just
in this week the triumphal entry is ... because to be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of
silver. He be like a smitten shepherd His flock being scattered. He be given vinegar and gall the Psalmist
tells us. They would cast lots for His garments. The
very vocabulary is quoted this ... it’s like it’s
following the script from Psalm 22. His side would be pierced. Not a bone would be broken. That was a specification in Exodus for the
Passover lamb. It’s also Numbers 9 and Psalm 34
and it was also fulfilled by Jesus Christ. A Roman soldier was ordered to break the legs
and this guy refused his orders. He got to Jesus Christ and threw up a spear
in the side instead. Did he know he was fulfilling prophecy? I don’t think so. Was he fulfilling prophecy? Absolutely, absolutely. He'd die among malfactors and indeed He did. His dying words were foretold. He would be buried by a rich man and He’d
rise on the third. All this stuff was written in the
Tanakh, the Old Testament. His resurrection be followed by
the Destruction of Jerusalem. That’s in Daniel 9, 11 and also in 12 and, of course, Jesus amplifies that also. He was crucified on a cross of wood yet He
made the hill on which it stood. What Held him to that cross? It wasn’t the nails. Here’s the Creator hanging there. He could have at any time said, “Enough
already. I’m out of here.” No nails could hold Him if He didn’t want
it to. What held Him to that cross is His love for
you and me. Staggering, staggering thing. It was His love for you and me. My friend Joe Focht from Philadelphia. We were together in Yorkshire, England
and Joe gave a message that he doesn’t give very frequently. There was an incident in his life where his
son, one of his sons, was seriously in need of emergency care in the hospital. When he got to the hospital, he got a lot
of harassment by filling out forms and (laughs) he admits his witness wasn’t too good as
he explained to them that if they don’t take care of him, they’re going to need
emergency care (laughs). Anyway, as he describes the agony of a father
in his anxiety over his son, he pointed out something that few of us think about probably. We focus on the agony of Jesus Christ hanging
on that cross and so dramatized, at least the physical aspect, dramatized in the movie. Can you imagine the grief of the Father as
He watches them spit on His Son and beat Him and insult Him? The forbearance of the Father is astonishing
to reflect on in this whole scenario. Imagine a Father having to endure that being
done to his Son yet knowing if He appears He'll blow the mission. An interesting thing occurs when Pilate is
there in John 19. It says Pilate wrote a title or titlon
is what is actually and put it on the cross. I’m interested it wasn’t Pilate’s servant
or his assistant, Pilate personally, apparently, put this title on the cross. And notice what
Pilate said. The writing was Jesus of Nazareth the king
of the Jews. And that read ... this title
then read many of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city and
it was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Now that first of all intrigues me that Pilate
is fluent in those 3 languages. It’s written in Hebrew because he’s on duty in
Judea. So he learned to speak and write Hebrew apparently. He’s also fluent in Greek as everyone was
in that world cause that was the standard commercial language. He’s also obviously competent in Latin cause
that was the official language of the Roman empire. As the years go by, Latin will begin to you
know ... supplant Greek in many places but still. What’s interesting Pilate wrote this personally. I think this is interesting for a number of
reasons. Let me show you a surprising one. When you and I miss the point, there again
the priests and the Pharisees come to our rescue. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to
Pilate, “Write not the King of the Jews.” but ... That he said I am the King of the
Jews. Notice they’re willing to say if He says
I am the King of the Jews, they’re happy with that. That’s surprising, isn’t it? What are they upset about? What’s the difference? Whatever the difference is, Pilate did what
he did deliberately. He said, “What I have written I have written.” He wasn’t about to budge. Now you and I as we watch this can’t figure
out what’s the difference. I’ll show you the difference. Here’s what Pilate wrote. He wrote it in Hebrew, right? Remember Hebrew goes from right to left, right? He wrote Yeshua HaNazarei v Melech HaYehudim. That in Hebrew will be 4 words with 4 initial
letters. The initial letters of those 4 words is a
yod, a heh, a vav and a heh, the unpronounceable name of God. Now (whew) whew is right. Now you could conclude from this that Pilate
is authenticating Jesus Christ's deity here. I might not go that far but clearly he knew
that it was the habit of the Jewish leadership they love acrostics. Many of the Psalms are acrostic. The Jewish leadership loved word
games. They always took great stock in the first,
you know, in acros- what they call acrostics. Pilate is deliberately writing this as an
acrostic of the ... yod heh vav-heh. As the Jews might say or Jehovah or
Yahweh or however you want to pronounce it. It’s the unpronounceable name of God. Either he was just doing this to tweak them,
probably upset that these guys put him in the spot of having to be entangled in this
controversy or maybe just possibly he may have had insights that go beyond what we generally
accredit to him. He was profoundly impressed the way Jesus
conducted Himself personally. Jesus pointed out to him “You have no
power over Me unless God gave it you.” I mean his, his ... that whole interview with
Jesus out of which he brings Jesus out to the crowd. Says, “I find no fault in this man.” What a statement. How simple it would have been for him to say, “Fine,
you know, kill this impostor or whatever.” No, I find no fault. He wanted Him off. Now his wife was telling him in dreams of “Hey
you’re dealing with something here that’s bigger than you think it is.” Now there’s another incident that comes
forth and I’ll show that too. I ... it would supri- I have no evidence
of this. There may be documentation to the contrary
of what I’m about to tell you. But I personally will not be surprised if
when I get to heaven I meet Pilate. I wouldn’t be surprised that the ordeal
of that day when coupled with subsequent reflection and maybe other reports he hears would cause
him to suspect that Jesus Christ really is who He claimed to be. And if that’s true, it’s possible I don’t
have any evidence that he might have come to faith. It wouldn’t surprise me if we meet him there. I feel very much for Pilate because I understand
the ... having been in those kind of predicaments. Someone that’s in charge and has administrative
responsibilities often gets torn with the decision he has to make. And he was in a tough spot. And he is there his job from his boss was
to keep the peace. And he tried hard to try to do that and couldn’t. (sniffs) Now there is an unrecorded conversation of
Pilate that I want to touch on. And as you may know Joseph of Arimathea
comes to Pilate the next day to beg the ... or that evening actually to beg the body of Jesus Christ. That tells you a great deal about Joseph of Arimathea. We do know from a lot of indications he was
a very powerful person, very rich. One of the most powerful guys there. In fact, the very fact that he can approach
Pilate tells you he had stature. What’s even more astonishing Joseph was
in hiding. The scripture that he was ... the
way it’s recorded in your Bible he was secretly a follower of Jesus. That’s a mistranslation. The Greek word there if you change 1 letter,
you have to change 1 letter to make it, you know, ... an adverb. In the sentence, in the Greek it’s an adjective. It should be translated that he was secreted
as a disciple of Christ meaning he was in hiding. He wasn’t just secretly ... he was undercover. He had to hide cause they were trying to kill
him. He had defended Jesus before the Sanhedrin in
a previous occasion. That’s another reason why Pilate was probably
startled that he shows up but he certainly has access to Pilate and he begs the body. That tells you a second thing. Joseph of Arimathea legally apparently
had to be the next of kin. It was Roman law and maybe ... Hebrew
law that the next of kin had the responsibility of disposing of the body even of a criminal. No one ... not just anyone could
go and get the body. It had to be there next ... the one responsible. And Joseph of Arimathea apparently was the next
of kin. So he had personal access to the procurator
and he was the next of kin. Pilate was surprised. Now what you don’t read in the scripture
but I have it on good authority what Pilate said to Joseph of Arimathea "I don’t understand,
you’ve got this brand new tomb for your family and you’re going to give it to this
criminal?” And Joseph says, “Oi Vey, it’s just for
the weekend.” (laughs) I’m indebted to Chuck Smith for
that apocryphal story. I have it on good authority cause Chuck wouldn’t
say so if it wasn’t true. So "it’s just for the weekend." That’s just a little toss away for you. What did happen the next
morning is the - scribes and Pharisees came to him ... chief priests
came to him and said, “Sir ...” speaking to Pilate, “We remember that, that deceiver
said while he was yet alive after 3 days I will rise again.” You know it’s interesting the disciples
didn’t get it. Jesus told them several times on the third
day I’m going to rise again. They ... it didn’t register. The only people that understood it were
His enemies. They knew ... they were expecting Him to rise
the third day and also some women. They understood. The disciples didn’t get it until later. Anyway, the ... they say after 3 days he,
he ... there, there ... that was the boast that they’re afraid of. He said, “Command therefore that the sepulcher
be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away
and say unto the people He is risen from the dead. So the last error shall be worse than the
first.” I think that’s an interesting remark. They’re admitting that it was a mistake
what they did so far. See they didn’t plan to do it on a holiday. But it all went from their point of view pretty
sour. And I love Pilate’s response. Notice what he says. Pilate said unto them, “Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.” I love that phrasing. Do you hear ... do you hear in his words a
certain cynicism? I don’t think Pilate was surprised when
his ... when his own soldiers come and say “By the way he’s gone.” I mean, you know, I think
that’s a hint- Pilate was ... Pilate I suspect was not surprised with the resurrection. “Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as
sure as ye can.” You know I dare you so to speak almost you
hear it in there. A taunt if you will. You have your way. Make it as sure as you can. Well okay. So we get to this incredible day
He is risen ... He is risen and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The most important validation in the history
of the universe. Now, just to review a little bit. You may
recall when we were in Genesis the ark came to rest in the 7th month, the 17th day
of the month on the mountains of Ararat. That’s when the new beginning starts under
Noah remember in Acts ... I mean in Genesis chapter 8. Why did the Holy Spirit give you that detail? I mentioned then the ... that time when you
normally ... if you’re not a bi- normal well-adjusted person the ark rested in 7th month,
the 17th day of the month on the mountains of Ararat, you read on. But if you’re into one of my Bible studies,
you are no longer qualified as a normal well-adjusted human being you remember that
I made this ridiculous remark that every detail in the scripture is there deliberately by
design. Why did the Holy Spirit want you to know that
the ark came to rest on the 17th day of the 7th month? I mean ... why is that important? Well ... as you know the Jews have 2 calendars. The civil calendar is Tishri in the fall,
Rosh Hashanah, the new year its typically in our September time period roughly. The religious year is in- starts in the spring
because of Exodus 12 when God ordains the Passover He says to Moses, “This month that
is the month of Nisan shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to
you." And that means the Jews have 2 calendars,
the Genesis calendar, the old calendar is the one they celebrate in a civil sense. Rosh Hashanah is in Tishri in the fall, first
month. The 7th month is to them Nisan. But since the Exodus, since the Passover was ordained,
the religious years starts with Nisan and it rolls around so that Tishri is the
7th month of the religious year. Do you get the picture? Okay. So here’s the situation. He’s crucified on the 14th of Nisan. He’s in the grave, how long? 3 days. That means His Resurrection occurs on the
17th of Nisan. Nisan being the 7th month of the Genesis calendar. So God’s new beginning on the planet earth
for Noah was on the anniversary in advance, in anticipation of our new beginning in Jesus
Christ. I think that’s significant. I think it’s fascinating. It demonstrates God seems to love to deal
in very precise ways. I never use the word approximate and God in
the same sentence. Well there are a lot of appearances after the
Resurrection. Mary Magdalene sees Him first early Sunday
morning. I’ll come back to that one. Other women that morning, 2 on the Emmaus
road that afternoon. We talked about that briefly. Peter sees Him sometime that day. The 11 see him that night but without Thomas. A week later actually 8 days later the 11
see Him with Thomas and we have that famous confrontation. Then the 7 are up in Galilee in John 21 and
there’s a breakfast there that I want to talk about before we’re through. And then the 11 see Him again in Galilee. Then there’s 500 that see Him in Galilee
and what’s interesting to understand is many of those 500 are present in the church
at Corinth when Paul is writing his letter to the Corinthians. He makes reference to them in his first Corinthian
letter. One of the things, you know, how many of you
would buy the idea if I try to sell it to you that John F. Kennedy was killed in Dailey
Plaza in 1963 with a bow and arrow? You laugh of course because you’re like,
“I could not fly that story.” Why couldn’t I fly that story? Too many eye witnesses here. Too many of you have firsthand experience
to the contrary. And that’s exactly the argument that Paul
makes in his Corinthian letter. He’s talking to people who are up in Galilee
that witnessed His post Resurrection appearances. And, of course, James is the
... there are 2 James at the cross. The third James was Christ's brother. He believes in Him after the Resurrection
and that’s also alluded to there in first Corinthians. And then of course Luke. Then there’s the final appearance of Ascension
recorded in Luke 24 and following in the book of Acts and so forth. And then there’s another appearance that
we often overlook and that’s to Paul on the Damascus road. But, you know, all of us have things in the
Bible that bother us. People have difficulties with various things
and I want to share with you a difficulty that I have. It’s been bothering me for years and let
me just be candid to you. What really bothers me is I can’t help but
notice that it seems that after His Resurrection people seem to have difficulty recognizing
Him. It’s never quite overt and yet it just lurks
behind these encounters. The encounter with Mary in the garden. For in the ... in the interest of I would
try to put all the scripture on, I'll just ... recall it. She goes there in the garden, and she
stoops down, looks in there and He’s gone and she’s crying. And she hears a voice. “Who you looking for?” I’m looking for my Lord. Where have they laid Him? And she turns and she thinks the person she’s
talking to is the gardener. Right? Remember that? And she says, “Tell me where you've laid Him?” And He says to her, “Mary,” in Aramaic. And she says, “Rabboni Master.” She apparently doesn’t recognize Him when
she said I ... maybe it’s because she’s got tears in her eyes but she was not a, you
know, a casual acquaintance. This is Mary Magdalene. She loved Him. And, it isn’t until she hears that familiar
voice that she puts it together and realizes its Jesus. That bothers me. Something doesn’t quite compute there
in my mind. That afternoon 2 disciples are on their
way to Emmaus. That’s about 7 miles out of Jerusalem. On that road He encounters these guys and He says to them “Why you guys so sad?” Cause they’re really down obviously. Talking to each other really blue and He says,
“Why are you so sad?” And they turn to Him and say in effect, “Where
have You been fellow?” And they recount to Him the events of the
last few days. How they took the Lord and they crucified
Him and now His body is missing and they’re all shook up. And it’s interesting what He says to them. He doesn’t say “Hey guys its Me.” He didn’t say that. He says, “Wasn’t that what Christ was
supposed to ... supposed to happen to Him?” And then He gives them a 7 mile Bible study. He starts at Moses, goes through the prophets
and the signs. He goes through the Tanakh. Appar- I don’t think He’s carrying scrolls. All these were well versed enough they could
do it from memory. But He recounts to them how all these things
were the things that Christ ... and He's speaking of them ... to them in the third person Christ
that guy. They’re walking with Him. Right? These are 2 guys that will be in the upper
room that night. They’re not strangers yet they don’t recognize
Him. They walk 7 miles with Him and don't recognize Him
until they get to where they’re going and by then they’re so entranced they insist
He stay for dinner. He was going to keep going. “No, no, no, no you've got to stay.” They, they insist He come for dinner. And they’re sitting around having dinner
and Jesus breaks the bread. Now that’s a violation of normal protocol. The guest doesn’t do that. The host in a Jewish home breaks the bread. Right? No, Jesus takes it and breaks it. And when He does, they realize who He is and
He disappears. And they say to each other ... didn’t our hearts
burn within us on the way? But what’s puzzling, what was it they didn’t
recognize His face but when He broke the bread they realized who He was? What do you suppose it was? Right ... exactly right. They saw the nail prints. In fact, they go to Jerusalem that night and
when they’re mixing with the disciples they explain what happened and they recognized Him
they say in the breaking of the bread. Well, does something bother you ... why does
it take the breaking of the bread? Didn’t they recognize who He was? He’s tangible. He’ll say to them later “Handle Me and
see a spirit does not have flesh and bone.” He’s tangible, yet for some reason they don’t
recognize Him. In the upper room that night, they’re all
there behind locked doors frightened, confused, feeling that ... they're probably wanted men,
they’re worried. And He shows up right in the middle of them. He says, “Be not afraid.” They’re terrified. “Be not afraid.” And, handle Me and see spirit
does not have flesh and bones you see Me have. Well there’s a couple of other things. But let’s skip ahead to John 21. They’re up, they ... they’re all sort of frightened. Some days have gone by. Peter says, “I go fishing.” You know that’s good therapy. You know, if you’re under stress one of
the things you should do is indulge in something you’re good at that’s a change of scene. Maybe a game a handball or golf or
just a good workout or whatever, but you do something that is unrelated that you’re
good at. That’s a normal ... it’s
a good healthy hygiene from the stress. So, Peter says, you know, he’s a fisherman. “I go fishing.” “Yeah we go too.” So there's a group of them that go out on the Sea of Galilee all night long and catch zip, nothing. And John 21 it records how in the morning
... in the early mists of morning there ... they’ve struck out not a thing. They see someone, and I can understand they
can’t tell who ... there’s somebody on the shore that says, “Hey guys you catch
anything?” “No.” “Put your net on the other side of the boat”
(laughs) Like that’s gonna make a difference, you know. But they do and the net gets so full of fish
they can hardly handle it, and John connects the dots. That’s the Lord. How did you know that? Cause that happened once before early in the
ministry. Same kind of thing roughly. Well John recog- that’s the Lord. Peter,
(laughs) lovable Peter he drops his coat and dives in. He can’t wait for them to pull in. They’re all struggling to get these fish
in but anyway he gets ... so they pull it in. And when they get there, this is the part
that’s interesting. When they finally get there ... to shore,
Jesus has cooked breakfast for them. How many of you have had a Biblical breakfast,
had fish this morning? Huh? Fish and bread is what He had ... over
the fire. He had breakfast cooking. But there is a statement ... there’s ... when
I get to heaven, there’s lot of things I probably want to do, but among the first things
I want to do, I want to go to John and say, “What on earth did you mean by verse 12 of your
last chapter of your gospel because it puzzles me?” Verse 12 Jesus said, “Come and dine.” And none of the disciples durst ask Him “Who
art Thou?” knowing that it was the Lord. What on earth does that sentence mean? That’s one of those sentences that creates
doubt rather than resolves it. Let me give you an example what I mean. Let’s assume you’re a driving to a social
engagement an hour away from home and you’re halfway there. You turn to your wife and say, “Did you
turn off the stove?” If she says, “Yes I did.” You keep driving. But what if she says, “I’m sure I did.” What do you with that? You know, it’s one of those kind of
statements. It’s sort of creates doubt rather than end. Who are ... none of us dared ask Him, “Who
art Thou?” cause we knew it was Him. Do you hear in this some kind of enigma lurking
behind the scenes? Well our whole premise in our ministry is
that there are prophecies that are fulfilled when it's fulfilled ... they're fulfilled ... fulfilled precisely. And I’m going to suggest to you that there
is a detail of the crucifixion. First of all, I’m glad that Mel Gibson apparently
didn’t take advantage of in his movie. Or it would have been even worse than ... to many
than it was? There is a detail of the crucifixion that’s prophesied
in Isaiah that I believe was fulfilled that you don’t find recorded in the gospels. There are descriptions of the crucifixion
in Psalm 22. Many details, the vinegar and the
rest of it. Isaiah 53 is an eloquent summary of this. In fact, in Isaiah 52 verse 14, Isaiah 53 really
starts a couple of verses before that chapter. You may recall we went through it. But the last verse in chapter 52 before 53
starts says He was so beaten He no longer looked human. I mean that’s, that’s as far as
Mel Gibson went that even goes perhaps a little further. But there’s ... and there’s also a verse
in Isaiah chapter 50 verse 6 that I'll call to your attention. Isaiah 50 verse 6 says, “I gave my back
to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from
shame and spitting.” Apparently this verse by Isaiah indicates
prophetically that they ripped off His beard. Now that’s vivid to me for a number of reasons. There was a time when I was in charge of a
large company that had a very substantial software department. The head of that department happened to be
a guy that had a very large full black beard. That was just his style. And, one day I came to work early and he
was coming down the hall and I would not have recognized him but fortunately another employee
said, “Hey Joe!” and got into conversation. I picked up, “That’s Joe.” I was so used to this big full beard when
it was gone I wasn’t prepared for the face that you saw. It was just a different shape than you'd think. And it was ... he just looked so different
I would not have recognized him. And he didn't have scar tissue or any of that
sort of stuff. What I’m beginning to suspect is the reason
they didn’t recognize Him ... well the reason that Mary didn’t recognize Him is she was
used to seeing His beard and there was scar tissue where the beard was. The reason that these 2 disciples on the Emmaus
road could go 7 miles in a Bible study with Him and not realize who it was until they saw
the nail prints cause they were looking perhaps at disfigurement, scar tissue, whatever
in lieu of the features that they were used to seeing during those years of training. That evening in the upper room when they’re
so startled it took a while to "handle Me and see," you know, so forth. And I suspect that’s what’s lingering
in John's summary when he says, “None of us dared ask Him who are You cause we knew it
was Him.” In other words ... the other indications His voice,
His nail prints overcame some other aspect that was ... that was in the way. One other thing I might mention
to get this across perhaps. I’m told of a woman who had a little daughter,
single mom that had a very disfigured face. And she was so disfigured that the little
... the girls in school when the little girl went to school the kids in school made fun
of her because of the disfigurement. You know ... you know how cruel little kids
can be sometimes. She often came home crying. When the girl ... little girl became old enough,
the mother explained to her that when they ... when she was a baby and they lived in
an apartment there was fire and she saved the baby’s life but at the cost of sustaining
very severe facial disfigurement. Well from that day on the little girl was
no longer ashamed of her mother cause every time she looked into her face, she knew how
much she was loved. Now one of the things that I don’t know
the answer to I don’t know what its going to be like to view the face of Christ. I do understand that He still bears the marks
of His humiliation because they’re the marks of His glory. But I don’t know what it’ll be like to
look into His face. I don’t know what we’ll see. I do know we’ll know how much we’re loved. There’s a passage in Zachariah 12:10. I think we touched on when I was in Zachariah but let's look at it again. There’s a passage there its often quoted. “They shall look upon me whom they pierced.” This is a ... an allusion to Jesus' return,
His Second Coming and they ... the Israel will look upon Me whom they've pierced. When you look at that in the Hebrew there
are 2 letters that are not translated. They shall look upon Me the Aleph and the
Tau whom they've pierced. That’s the Jewish equivalent of
the Alpha and the Omega. The Aleph and the Tau, the et if its linked
with the makef it can be the indication of a direct object of a verb. It also has 3 other uses about 4 different
uses for that. It also can be an indefinite pronoun in the
second person masculine singular, which I believe it is here. It’s called a hypocatastasis in the Greek. It’s a putting underneath. Its hidden but declarative implied metaphor
expressing a superlative degree of resemblance and this also occurs in Genesis chapter 1
verse 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth and so forth. If I look at the book of Revelation we
have that climactic event occurring in Revelation chapter 5 where John says, “I beheld and
lo in the midst of the throne and in the 4 living creatures and in the midst of the elders
stood the Lamb as it had been slain.” Not a lamb as in your Bible, it’s the Lamb
actually, but the point is, Who is this the Lamb of God? It seems to indicate that He will bear the
marks of His glorification. I think we may spend an eternity trying to
understand what it really cost Him that we might be there in fellowship with Him. Let’s stand for a closing word of prayer. Let’s bow our hearts. Father in Heaven we come before Your throne
acknowledging our unworthiness, acknowledging our sin, sins of commission, sins of omission,
sins of presumption, sins of ingratitude more than we can number, and yet Father we come
before Your throne with gratitude for what You’ve done. We thank You for the extremes that You have
gone to that we might live. We thank You for the gift of Your Son Jesus
Christ who gave Himself for us. We thank You Father for His enduring the shame,
the pain yes ... and yes the isolation from You that He endured on our behalf. We acknowledge Father that even an eternity
may be inadequate to convey to us the price He paid. We recognize God He didn’t get a discount,
that He paid for each of us and each of our individual sins of each of us that we might
live. Father we just thank You and we do pray Father
that through Your Holy Spirit You would make ever more clear these extremes that You have
gone to on our behalf. That You would open Your word to our hearts
and lives that we might more fully understand and apprehend our Savior, our Redeemer and
the lengths He went to for us. And we also thank You Father for the lengths
You went to on our behalf in providing Your Son that we might live. Father we would ask that through Your Holy
Spirit You would help each of us to grow in grace, knowledge and understanding. Help us Father as we live each day to recognize
that we have the opportunity if I can use that word to add to His suffering on that
cross as He stepped outside of time to pay for our eternity. Oh Father help us to be more effective stewards
of these treasures You’ve given us. Help us Father to grow in grace in the knowledge
of Him. And help us Father to be more effective stewards
of these things. As we commit ourselves without any reservations
whatsoever into Your hands pleading the name of Yeshua our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Amen. God bless you.
