Mark 15:1-32 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God as we explore the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational would you turn in your Bibles to the book of Mark the Gospel of Mark the second gospel second book in the New Testament chapter fifteen we're entering into what is probably to most of you the most familiar territory of the Gospel story the crucifixion of Jesus Christ it is the pinnacle it is the part of the story that the authors spend the most time on there's more literary real estate about this last day of Jesus life than any other part of his life and because it's very familiar to most of us even if you're a Christian for a short period of time or you have been a marginal Christian most of your life and then got serious with the Lord you know this stuff it's it's familiar to to most so what I'm going to do tonight is give you some background and some information because these events are well off entik ated in history not just by the Bible but by other sources of history now for me to do that I think it's important for you to know what sources I'm quoting when I quote them to you tonight and because I might just say the Talmud or the mission and you're just going okay whatever what is that so so let me let me kind of back up and tell you that among the Jews when it came to their material their books there was first of all the Torah the Torah you probably have heard you know what that is it means the law and it refers principally to the first five books of Moses the Torah the law of God the words given to God or by God to Moses and then to the people that's the Torah the whole Old Testament was referred to as the Tanakh the Tanakh if you ever hear that term it means the Old Testament Scriptures now beyond that beyond the Tanakh which included the Torah the Jews as their source had what was called the oral law the oral law is what it implies it implies something that is told and retold orally by mouth throughout the ages so you would hear it memorize it hear it pass it on that's the oral law and the oral law were different renderings different decisions different comments by notable rabbis throughout history about the scriptures or about a ceremony or about God philosophy life etc that's the oral law eventually the oral law was written was codified so it could be referred to when it was written it was all referred to as the Mishnah it had 36 know it had 63 volumes sizable volumes the Mishnah out of those 63 volumes there were 38 approximately 38 that had comments on the scripture tradition of the rabbis renderings of the rabbi's and they became known as the tractates the Talmudic tractate so we have the Talmud which is part of the Mishnah the Mishnah is the oral law that eventually was written and codified makes sense so when I say the Talmud says this or the Mishna says this you'll know what I'm talking about one was developed over time written down and one is a subset of another so we're in chapter 15 and our our goal my goal is to get through this chapter don't always hit my goal because we keep our time but let's pray before we start father we um we're thankful that we have a time that we have set aside it's a holy time this night this day of the week where we have said it's important to us to get a reading of larger sections of Scripture and to go over it and to understand it and to make application to our life and our life experience to understand what the original author intended the original audience to understand so that we might then make an interpretation and only then make an application so Lord we want to be responsible with the truth that is your word and we pray that your Holy Spirit will really be the ultimate teacher and help us to understand and rejoice in the fact that what we read here is authentic to be trusted the inerrant Word of God that you have preserved through the ages in Jesus name Amen many years ago in the 1800s a man by the name of William Booth have you heard that name William Booth began a society called the Christian society where it was outreach to the poor in the eastern slums of London England that was his goal to reach out to the poor and preach the gospel to the poor the Christian society as soon as they erected a tent to do outreach the tent was burned down by thugs they moved into a warehouse building something more permanent and their meetings were constantly disturbed by gangs throwing rocks and bricks and even fireworks in through the windows of the building just to disrupt them so as this kept going on in all of this opposition to the Christian mission in 1865 William Booth decided that he was at war this community reaching out to the City of London with the gospel was at war so in 1865 he changed the name from the Christian mission to the Salvation Army that's how it began The Salvation Army began realizing we are at war the world opposes our mission of preaching the gospel or giving to the poor what they need in the name of Jesus Christ the Salvation Army was born and instead of being called William Booth he was called General William Booth and they still kept keep that sort of pecking order in that military organizational set to this day in 1889 alone 669 members of the Salvation Army were physically attacked in London some of them were killed and a few of them were maimed for life all of this as an effort to reach out to Christian England with the gospel I bring that up because we are at war booth was right we are at war Paul wrote to Timothy and he said all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution now here's why I say that to you because mark when he wrote this gospel he was primarily writing for a Roman audience the main recipients of the Gospel of Mark at first were Christians living in the Roman Empire and principally in the city of Rome itself the Roman persecutions were at full swing their faith would be attacked every single day and what you have to know is that their word 10:10 major Roman persecutions against the early church from Nero to Domitian all the way to Diocletian 10 major pogroms or campaigns against the Christian Church so the recipients of this gospel when they get to this section so deeply elaborated so widened with such detail about Jesus their Savior being maligned and beaten and killed would give them encouragement because they're following that one who gave His life on Calvary's cross and to read this section would be very very encouraging to them now if you recall last week and if you don't that's okay because I'm gonna repeat it right now there was not one trial there were not two trials there were no less than six trials that Jesus underwent before he was crucified three of them were religious three of them were secular the first one was with anise the high priest de facto he was the ex high priest but he really held the sway he had the influence he had the authority of that nation his son-in-law Caiaphas was the acting high priest so trial number one was before Anna's trial number two before Caiaphas trial number three was early the next morning before they went to punch his Pilate with the whole Sanhedrin trial number four is what we're gonna get to in verse one is when they bring Jesus to punch his Pilate the reason for the three secular trials after the three religious trials is simple the Jews could condemn him to death but they didn't have the right of capital punishment had been taken away because the Romans occupy the land and the Romans took away from the Judean the right to execute in capital cases any victim for a crime so they had to bring it to the government they had to get a death sentence by punches pilot the reigning governor at the time so after the first three trials which were religious trial number four is before Pilate trial number five is when Pilate ships Jesus off to King Herod Antipas Herod didn't really want to do anything just wanted to look at Jesus and he was amused by him he sent him back to Pilate and Pilate signed his death warrant that gives us six trials now the Mishnah that's the oral law gave a list of 18 rules to be followed whenever you were judging and sentencing somebody to a capital crime they were violated in this trial and I have a little list of those rules I'm just gonna give you a few of them and I want you to hear how what a mistrial what a miscarriage of justice this was rule number one no trial is to occur during the night hours they broke that rule the trial began and ended at night rule number two trials were not to occur on the eve of the Sabbath or during the festivals what festival was going on at that time Passover so they broke rule number one and rule number two their own rules rule number three all trials were to be public trials to be held in the judgment Hall secret trials were forbidden Jesus was taken first to Anna's privately Caiaphas privately and then simply to to put paper work on it they had the Sanhedrin in the early next morning rule number six the accused person was could not testify against himself witnesses were required now in this case the Sanhedrin convicted Jesus on his own words are you the son of the Blessed Jesus said yes I am and you will see the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven based upon Jesus own testimony they convicted him no witnesses they brought in false witnesses but no witnesses rule number 12 the high priest could not participate in the questioning in both trial number one and trial number two the high priests plural interrogated Jesus rule number 18 the sentencing in a capital case was not to occur until the following day Jesus was condemned and the Sanhedrin met the next day to give the appearance that time had elapsed they broke broke their own rules they're trying to push this thing through there's an old saying in American jurisprudence if you can't find a lawyer who knows the law find someone who knows the judge and though they weren't fond of the judge this being punches pilot they at least had a working relationship with him and they manipulated him in getting what they wanted now something else I think you need to know I mentioned here in reading what the mission is said about public trials that it had to be done in a public place there was a section of the temple called the chamber of hewn stone which was where the Sanhedrin the 71 ruling elders met for these cases the chamber of hewn stone is where this should have taken place but this did not take place there rather it would seem that it all took place in a clandestine way at the house of Caiaphas the trial before Anna's before Caiaphas in his house and before the Sanhedrin that they all did it within the confines of the courtyards or the home of the high priest Caiaphas with that as a background we finally get into verse one immediately in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and they bound Jesus led him away and delivered him to Pilate then Pilate asked him are you the King of the Jews he answered and said to him it is as you say and the chief priests accused him of many things but he answered nothing and Pilate asked him saying again saying do you answer nothing see how many things they testify against you very early in the morning after the trial before Anna's and Caiaphas the Sanhedrin which took place in the early morning hours so keep in mind Jesus had left with somebody after his arrest and all of these trials took place he had gotten no rest and now the next morning light Dawn's it's probably 6:00 in the morning because by nine o'clock Jesus is on the cross at 6:00 in the morning they come to our punches pilot is staying where was he staying well on the temple platform on the northwest corner was a fortress called the Antonia fortress were Roman soldiers were kept to quell any possible riots that would take place especially during festivals like this and where the governor of Judea who lived in Caesarea not Jerusalem would travel on the feast days and live in this fortress of Antonio so early in the morning probably woken up by his guard saying there's a bunch of Jewish high priest out here that demand to see you he's now involved in this trial they bring accusations when they wake Pilate up and bring Jesus before this governor and what are those accusations Luke 23 verse 2 tell us exactly what they are they say we found this man subverting the nation number one opposing the payment of taxes to Caesar number two and claiming that he is the Christ a king those were the three charges against him now the first charge he's subverting the nation was that true it was false he never ever suggested that render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's he said number two he's opposing the payment of taxes to Caesar again render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's that was a false charge but that third charge was true he claims that he is the Christ the Messiah a king so when these accusations get leveled against Jesus Pilate verse two asked what you would considered the follow-up question are you the King of the Jews all four Gospels tell us this question that Pilate asked Jesus all four of them write this in their text in all four Gospels the U is emphatic in the Greek language let me tell you how it should be rendered you are you the King of the Jews now why would he ask it that way in that way and that is the way he asked why would he ask it and that kind of condescending way well think of pilots world the only king he knew was in Rome Caesar the only Kingdom he knew was the kingdom of Rome and the only way Rome got its kingdom was by force they conquered it they took it over it was the iron fist of Rome that took over nations and killed people and rule even by violence they brought peace by power so here is Pilate who knows just that words as you this peasant who hasn't had any who has blood-stained peasant garments standing in front of him you are you the King of the Jews and Jesus says it is as you say let's just think about that for a moment what kind of a king was he because in John's Gospel Jesus says to Pilate My Kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world my subjects would get up and fight for me so when he claims to be a king he's not claiming to be a political king he was not a political reactionary but he says it is as you say I am a king he meant that in two ways number one he meant that spiritually there's a throne in your heart and when you come to Christ if you're a true Christian what has taken place is a kingdom shift you get off the throne that you've been on in your life and you put Jesus on that throne there's a kingdom shift your alliances are not your will but his will so there's a spiritual Kingdom that happens that we're working them dwellers so it happened it's true spiritually number two it's true eventually yeah my kingdom is out of this world now but one day his kingdom will be of this world in a Revelation chapter 11 I'm guessing around verse 15 an angel makes a proclamation toward the end of the Tribulation Period the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever now that is an announcement that this spiritual king is going to be the political actual physical worldwide king he's taking over the earth the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and following that will come a judgment and following that will come in Millennium your kingdom so when Jesus said it is as you say he's saying I'm a king spiritually though my kingdom isn't of this world yet it will be one day which means all of that to say who's the real judge here is it pilot or is it Jesus yeah Jesus isn't the defendant Pilate is what Pilate will do and what Pilate will say will determine pilots destiny not Jesus because Peter will say him being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God you have taken by wicked hands and crucified and put to death Acts chapter four now a little bit about punches pilot punches pilot was the fifth fifth the governor of Judea he was appointed as governor by the emperor Tiberius in 26 ad he occupied the position for ten years but get this punches pilot because you're thinking of punches platter thinking he was a Roman well he was Roman but not from Rome see when you say somebody is Roman if they take over the whole known world then you could be from anywhere and be Roman he was actually Spanish punches pilot was from Seville Spain and when he was young Rome took over his hometown and took over the country of what we call now Spain so he joined the Roman legions at a young age worked his way up the ranks but was just like not a great soldier in fact history portrays him as cruel cynical arrogant so if you're wondering well how on earth did he become the governor of Judea well I'm glad you asked have you ever heard the saying well he married the boss's daughter well he married the boss's granddaughter he married a woman by the name of Claudia proculus the granddaughter of Caesar Augustus and because of her relations ship to Grandpa and now his relationship to her grandpa he gets the job as governor of Judea and the idea is Judea that's like the backwater of the Roman Empire who cares about Judea that's like I'm not gonna even I was gonna start naming places and but you know you always offend people so anyway Judea and he became a very tentative governor he wasn't great at his rule and he he was walking on thin ice at this time interesting thing about his wife punches pilots wife according to tradition according to traditional legend and that's really all it is but it is the best traditions we have was a converted to Judaism and was very interested in this man called Jesus and the reports about him according to the written traditions she was Jewish but she was very interested in the Messiah and as you recall the night that Pilate was the one who dispatched the guard to arrest Jesus in the garden that very night she had a dream the night before this trial troubling dream about Jesus and around the time of the trial she said have nothing to do with this righteous man I had a dream very troubling dream about him last night so Pilate is on the hot seat but jesus answered nothing and so Pilate verse 5 marveled to Maude's oh is the word in Greek it means he blew his mind that's the best translation I can give you Talmud so he blew his mind why did he blow his mind because here is somebody having accusations leveled against him and he's not saying anything he was used to being the judge and having countless criminals stand in front of him and all of them would say things like well what do criminals say today in court it's not my fault judge and you know I didn't do it and they would just be in denial a backpedal Jesus said nothing and they've accused him of subverting the nation tax evasion and the claims that he made he said absolutely nothing a pilot is thought man I've never seen anyone like this now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them whomever they requested and there was one named Barabbas who was chained with his fellow rebels they had committed murder in the rebellion then the multitude crying aloud began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them but Pilate answered them saying do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews for he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy but the chief priests 'red up the crowd so that he should rather release Barabbas to them from one source that we have origin that spelled Ori GaN origin and origin let me explain who he was was one of the early church fathers from the second century he was from Alexandria Egypt North Africa he was a theologian a teacher of hermeneutics preaching and quite a historian and according to Origen this theologian from North Africa Barabbas his full name was Jesus Barabbas Jesus was a common name but Barabbas is a Hebrew word that means son of a father ba-da-ba son of a father so his name literally is Jesus son of a father so you have Jesus son of a father next to Jesus son of the Father and origin says notice whom they chose the choice was between Jesus son of a father or Jesus son of the father and they chose Jesus son of a father instead of Jesus son of B father and Origen pointed out people still make the same choice today people still to this day would rather choose the kingdom of men and man's values and reject the father and his son and those values it's a very interesting delineation Barabbas or Jesus what a contrast here's the spiritual King Jesus here's the material King Pilate here's one who gave up his authority who gave up his royal beauty of heaven Philippians 2 tells us he humbled himself he emptied himself the theological term is the canosa's he poured himself out divested himself of the prerogatives of deity technically standing next to one who would grab a hold of any glory he could get and wore proudly the royal robes of Rome but once again Pilate is really the one on trial and Jesus is one who is the judge but the chief priests verse 11 stirred up the crowd so that he should rather release Barabbas to them Pilate answered and said to them what then do you want me to do with him who is called the King of the Jews so they cried out again crucify him and Pilate said to them why what evil has he done but they cried out all the more crucify him so Pilate wanting to know watch this gratified the crowd how many times have we made our choices based upon the crowd what the Billboard says what the song's message is over and over again what most people at work value and say what society believes in wanting to gratify the crowd not wanting to stick out and stand out and be different we do what they want us to do that was Pilate wanting to gratify the crowd he delivered Jesus after he had scourge him to be crucified you've heard that and you've read that before right the scourging of Christ he was whipped now let me fill in a little bit for you we're dealing with Rome here and the punishment that Rome would inflict upon a prisoner was something that the Jews could not do so now that it is in Roman hands and Pilate is in charge of this he allows this prisoner to be scourge if you put all the gospel stories together he did it to placate the crowd hoping that and just seeing enough blood they would say enough is done now let me let me tell you about this there was not one but three different forms of flogging of whipping a prisoner and they all have different names number one was called first agario a latin term first Agati oh and it was a less severe beating a less severe whipping flogging for somebody who committed like misdemeanors you know you want to warn them you want to beat him up a little bit but you don't want to go too far that's the fus to gallo method number two was called flaw gelato and flaw gelato was for more serious crimes short of the death penalty it was a brutal beating but not as brutal as the third called the verb arathi o the verb Aradia was the most brutal kind many prisoners did not live through the beating it was typically coupled with somebody who had been given the death penalty like crucifixion if you've been given crucifixion you go through the Berber audio if you survive that will take you and kill you on a cross which was a slow painful death the way this was done was by using two lictors men with whips the prisoner was tied to a post and bent over the post so that the back would be taut so the skin would be stretched the handle was wood leather thongs attached attached to the leather thongs were bits of lead and glass embedded in it so that when the whip went down it didn't bounce off it grabbed the flesh it's stuck it had hooks sort of speak and then the lecturer would pull back it was called by the Romans the half way death because again many prisoners did not survive having that many diagonal by the way they would whip diagonally from either side and in so doing get further down through the tissues of the back past the subcutaneous layers down into the muscles and literally eviscerate the victim according to one source Eusebius who wrote a whole series of volumes on ecclesiastical history church history said that the victim in going through this type of scourging this verb or audio would have the organs exposed many times to the sight of the people the deep seated tissues exposed to sight then he would be released when he was released Pilate brought him before the people John chapter 18 and if you remember he said something very significant in Latin he said I am law translated into English behold the man look at this poor creature thinking that that would just be a shock to the sight of the people but it was not they demanded his crucifixion then the soldiers verse 16 led him away to the Hall called praetorium and they called together the whole garrison if we were able to stand tonight in the city of Jerusalem I would take you over to st. Anne's Church and I would show you the pavement that is believed to be the very place in the praetorium where prisoners including Jesus stood when they were sentenced to death by Pilate you can stand today on that pavement it's one of the few places you know are authentic places this is where Jesus walked on these stones stones are still preserved and they called together the whole garrison and they clothed him with purple and they twisted a crown of thorns and they put it on his head and began to salute him saying hail King of the Jews and they struck him on the head with the reed and spat on him and bowing the knee they worshipped him of course that's false worship essentially Pilate handed Jesus over to a brute squad there was an ancient Roman game that was played and it's alluded to here was called hot hand and hot hand was you take the victim and you blindfold them and you'd have a circle and you would stand the prisoner in the circle and all the soldiers would be outside and and everybody would take turns and hitting the prisoner now if you've ever been in a fight guys you can see a fist coming at you and you know how to react to it but when you don't know where the fist is coming from and you're just cold-cocked the kind of force that you feel is very very different than bouncing and moving around that's how hot hand was all of the soldiers took turns in smacking the prisoner except one one didn't the blindfold was taken off and the prisoner they said you have to tell us which one didn't hit you you have to guess if you didn't guess they do it all over again cruel game and when they mocked him they took the purple off him that purple robe and put his own clothes on him and let him out to crucify him now I don't want to go into great detail a lot of detail and several sources have been it's out there for you but sometimes we read a phrase and we just pass over it and that's the problem when we're from with the story you know we've heard this we've read it for so many years but now it says they took the purple off him they had to put a purple robe on and they beat him up pretty badly if you know anything about blood and how it coagulates and the lymph that goes into it that acts like glue that once you have garment on when you have a profusion of blood and lymph it dries pretty rapidly exposed to the air so that when you take off a garment you catch my drift you are pulling that freshly mending scab with it opening up those wounds of fresh and the bleeding becomes more profuse they did that they put his own clothes on him and they let him out to crucify him when the sentence was given for crucifixion the victim was given to four soldiers for soldiers in Latin was called a quarter neon quarter neon four soldiers one would go in front of the victim with a placard denoting the crimes he was guilty of in this case it was this as Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews three would then accompany to the side and behind the victim crucifixion was not invented by the Romans according to the Greek historian Herodotus the Persians invented it but the Romans perfected it the Persians originally invented crucifixion because they taught that the earth was holy was sacred sort of like people that a worship the Earth Mother Earth that was an ancient Persian belief and because the earth was sacred they would elevate a victim if you had to kill somebody you would elevate him from the ground and kill him off the ground so as not to touch the earth that's why crucifixion was invented it sort of went away until the Romans found it and they perfected it and they crucified thousands upon thousands of people only one is really remembered and that's Jesus the cross had two pieces the centerpiece that is the vertical stake which is called the crux simplex and the cross beam which is called the particular the particular way between 75 and a hundred pounds let's just say 75 that was usually tied to or carried by the victim he wouldn't carry the whole cross just the upper cross beam does one chunk of wood was laid upon Jesus so I know in your minds because you've seen the movies he's carrying this big cross but the crux simplex the vertical stake was already in place at Golgotha Jesus was given that 75 pound particular to carry and the idea of crucifixion is that we will parade you around the city so that people can see what we're doing to you as a message we send to them do not mess with Rome so it was done in public crucifixion deliberately delayed death to inflict the maximum amount of physical torture they knew to be possible at that time in fact one historian by the name of Cicero made this remark to flog a Roman citizen as a crime just a flog a Roman citizen as a crime to kill him as an act of murder but to crucify him there is no fitting word that can describe so horrible a deed and Cicero said the very thought of crucify or crucifixion should be stricken from the Roman consciousness it was reserved for the worst of the worst like Barabbas a murderer a slave but if you were a Roman citizen you could not be crucified so Jesus carried the particular toward Golgotha they took him out to crucify him and verse 21 says they compelled a certain man Simon a Cyrenian the father of Alexander and Rufus so if you're going who is this Simon guy now you know you oh it's the father of Alexander and Rufus now I'm not just saying that to be funny I'll explain why in a moment because it's put in here for a purpose as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross okay so Simon was a bystander a Jewish bystander who had come from Cyrene North Africa he's called in some translations Simeon or Simon the black he's believed to be a black African who was Jewish who had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover he was a member of the Diaspora the dispersed Jews throughout the world he has come he had no idea that he would be conscripted to carry a cross for a criminal but he's he's brought into it he's made to do it and if Rome tells you to do it you do it you don't say no I don't want to do it you do it but because there's a side note here we're intrigued it says this guy was the father of Alexander and Ruth and Rufus so let me read something to you first of all in Romans chapter 16 when Paul lists several people that are his compadres he says greet Rufus chosen in the Lord and his mother most scholars believe that this was the Rufus whose dad was Simon from Cyrene who helped carry the cross of Christ another Scripture is in Acts chapter 13 which says now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers Barnabas Simeon who is called Niger or the black Lucius of Cyrene Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul it is believed once again that this was that Jewish man who carried the cross of Jesus that God used this seemingly weird circumstance to be a divine appointment to get him to see what he would see and hear the words that he would hear and see that sign this is Jesus and all the hubbub about Jesus and converted and believed in Christ and became a part of the early church so God was using the crucifixion to get to his heart I mean he's already in Jerusalem why not use it to save as many people as you can by the way that is the idea behind Pentecost when at Pentecost Peter preaches a sermon and people from all over the world Jews dispersed from all over the world like this come to Pentecost and they and they hear and they see the signs and wonders many believe and in believing they go back to their homes and a church develops now this is good strategy I don't want to belabor the point but I see a principle here so often we spend so much money poured into mission programs thousands upon thousands upon multiple thousands of dollars and oftentimes we send them where 14 other churches have sent their groups as well a lot of money is being spent while all of that is going on the countries around the world send their very best young people to universities in America at their expense if we were to say part of our mission strategy is to get these visiting students at the universities exposed to the gospel now their government is paying for our evangelism now since they're here in our country like they would have been there at Pentecost let's expand our energy and that kind of evangelism and I think it would actually make more sense or at least do it simultaneously but the Christian Church feels compelled to spend money and sending teams out so they can go we've been on the mission field good great does something for those who go out but when it comes to mission dollar I think we could be more strategic Simon was in town get him to carry the cross become a believer leader in the early church just like Pentecost same principle God gets a hold of his heart and the gospel goes out through his life and they brought him obviously not gonna make it through the whole chapter they brought him to the place called Golgotha which is translated the place of a skull Golgotha is a Hebrew word which means skull the Greek equivalent would be cranny on cranium skull the Latin equivalent of Golgotha and cranny on would be calvarium Calvary means skull there's the place of a skull why not because there were human skulls around there that was forbidden but because the hill still present today looked like a human skull it's made out of solid rock and you can see the eyes in at the bridge of the nose some of it has been eroded over time and Arab bus station sits there today but it's in the same area now I want to throw something else at you just sort of to dismantle another belief that you've had and by history our songs and the movies we make about the life of Christ portray Jesus crucified on a hill on top of a hill where there were three crosses you know that's what the the songs teaches our theology rather than the Bible in history unfortunately so we have in our minds that Jesus crucified up there on that hill and there's three crosses up on that hill and that's what the song says and that's what the movies depict not-so Romans never crucified on Hills especially that Hill it's solid rock at the base of the hill with the hill behind it the skull behind it as a grim reminder right next to the road out in an open kind of a field an open square an open flattened area is where the crucifixion took place so if you go to Jerusalem right where that Arab bus station is today that's the area where Jesus was crucified and I've gone there before and people go oh man they look at they ruined it there's a bus station there and I and I yeah I go why I see your point but I mean if you're thinking you're gonna put a church there and that's gonna make it any better I don't think that's gonna help because Jesus wasn't crucified in a church between two candles either in fact I think it's very fitting that it's a public bus station with smoke and noise and people going back and forth because that's exactly what it was back then there's people moving and traveling and going outside the gate in getting on camels and donkeys and going places the public road so I think it's very fitting in to go there today and see that bus station and stuff is like yep it's very very apropos Golgotha the place of the skull and they gave him wine mingled with myrrh to drink but he did not take it no we don't know who they are but now let me give you another quote the Babylonian Talmud name now you know what the Talmud is right it's that codified commentary section of the Mishnah right and there were two different Talmud to the Jerusalem Talmud and the babylonian time okay so the babylonian talmud has in it a section about certain gracious women who would prepare a narcotic drink to reduce the pain to be given to those victims sentenced to death because of proverbs 31 verse 6 which says give strong drink to him who is perishing in that interesting that's what it says in proverbs 31 and if you've ever read that in a quiet time but proverbs 31:6 gives strong drink to him of his perishing so they thought as an act of mercy given by a commandment of God let's give a pain reducing drink to those prisoners who are about to die and they did that's probably who they are Jesus didn't take it Wow oh that's like going to a dentist and saying no I don't need a shot I believe Jesus wanted to experience to the fall in his body the weight that was his choice he didn't want to emotionally but he made the choice to feel the full weight of all of our sin upon his body took the wrath of God upon him second Corinthians 5:21 God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God in him in other words God the Father treated Jesus as if he had committed every sin committed by every person who ever lived and Jesus took it all that's what he meant by this cup if it's possible at this cup pass from me but he drank it all and when they had crucified him they divided his garments casting their Lots to determine what every man should take now it was the third hour 9:00 in the morning they crucified Him and the inscription of his accusation was written above the King of the Jews so they bring Jesus to Calvary he has carried the particular he couldn't make it all the way Simon carried it part of the way now they get to the place where that crux simplex that vertical stake is already in the ground awaiting the victim they placed the cross beam that particular I'm on the ground the victim would be then placed with his hands stretched out on the particular Malone on the ground and nails actually tapered long spikes would go into the hand area but exactly into the wrist not here it would tear into the wrist in your wrist you have two arm bones that overlap called the radius and the ulna and they form a hook and knowing the anatomy they would feel for those two bones just below the carpal bones and that is where they would insert the spike to the wood of the particular - spikes were inserted there were four Roman soldiers with ropes they would hoist the particular and the victim stapled to it with his hands up into place his feet dangling in midair and once they have fixed him there that's when they would usually put one spike sometimes - into the feet now again maybe this is more graphic but believe me I haven't even touched on a graphic nature of the crucifixion but I will commend something to you March 21 1986 if you want to track it down the journal the American Medical Association Journal put out an article that is to this day the most descriptive medical description of the crucifixion in my opinion ever published I have a copy of it where everything from respiratory distress to muscular spasm etc suffocation and and asphyxiation it's all described in medical terms and and and you can if you want to research to that degree the kind of death that Jesus underwent has put out in that journal within they also crucified two robbers one in his right the other on his left so the scripture was fulfilled which says he was numbered with the transgressors and those who pass by blaspheme him wagging their head saying AHA you who destroyed the temple and build it in three days save yourself and come down from the cross likewise the chief priests also mocking among themselves with the scribes said he saved others himself he cannot save let the Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross that we may see and believe even those who were crucified with him reviled him now when the sixth hour had come that's 12 noon there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour this is incredible this darkness that covered the whole land was unique verified by history and important spiritually but because we're out of time we're gonna have to wait till next time to see why let's go another hour la I love your hearts but the mind cannot retain what the sea cannot endure father thank you we feel like we have attended a worship service in just reading the text reading what mark would write to those suffering believers in Rome who would be reading this document Peter who gave him the information and was around that time an incredible source of knowledge to young john mark but ultimately your Holy Spirit preserved what should be written for our benefit a father we bow before the Savior who gave his life for our sin before the one who said yes to the cup that he drank were humbled and even as Pilate marvelled we marvel that you loved us that's why we glory in the cross as was said at the beginning of this service that's why it never gets old and to see it through a historical light and other documents being brought to bear just help us to fully appreciate the integrity of the of the text and the love of the father we are in a war Lord this is a battle Jesus experienced the forces of Hell against him the forces of darkness against him and all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution I pray we wouldn't shy from it I pray we would see it as a badge of honor and I pray Lord that is as it is a war that we would be found on the right side of the battle firmly rooted in Christ I pray for anyone who doesn't know Jesus personally yet that it would be personal they would surrender their lives to Christ in his name we pray amen let's stand please we're gonna close with a song and after this service you know what let's do this as we sing this final song it could be that you're here tonight you don't know Jesus personally it could be that you've been a church person but you've never surrendered volitionally personally authentically to Jesus you've never stepped out of the shadows and said I'm gonna live for Jesus Christ I'm gonna repent of my sins and turn my life as an authentic believer of Christ maybe you've never done that and you wouldn't want to know what it's like to be clean you are in a battle you got to get on the right side so as we sing this final song I'm gonna ask you to get up from where you're standing find the nearest aisle and stand right up here where I'm gonna lead you right now in a prayer to receive Christ to save you this is your eternity here we're dealing with just like it was for Pilate it is for you you may never have an opportunity like this again seize it now as we sing this song you get up from where you're standing and you come right up here maybe you have walked away from the Lord and you need to make a fresh commitment to the Lord you've been back solid and you need to come home to him as we sing I invite you to come stand right up here as we sing you come [Music] [Applause] see [Music] [Music] Jesus please [Music] you know sometimes I'll have people raise their hands and then follow up the raising of the hand with coming forward but listen some of you just flat know you need to be here that's it you've been putting this off you've been watching you've had these opportunities before and you just kind of know how to blow it off every time you're here tonight for this reason and if God is speaking to your heart your your being dealt with by the Lord get down here now be obedient to him get be obedient to him give your life to Christ he has everlasting life for you [Music] don't put it off another day come right now [Music] [Music] you [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] we're about to close his service anyone else we don't do it to embarrass anyone we really do it so that this decision gets settled inside of you that you make you make a stand you make some kind of a movement that is a public movement you're saying no to the old and yes to him the new anyone else well for those who have come forward um I'm really glad you did I really am we all are congratulations Lily I want the opportunity to to lead you in a prayer prayers just talking to God didn't have to be anything formal or special but so I'm gonna pray out loud and I'm gonna ask you to pray out loud after me say these words from your heart say them to the Lord mean them because you're basically giving you're given the pink slip the owner's title to your life to Jesus Christ let's pray lord I give you my life I know that I'm a sinner please forgive me I put my faith in Jesus who died on a cross shed his blood for my sin and rose again from the grave I turned from my past I turned to you as my savior help me to live for you as my lord in jesus name amen alright congratulations awesome you

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 5,608

Rating: 4.7727275 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Church, Skip Heitzig, Mark, John the Baptist, John Mark, synagogue, missionary, New Testament, clergy, baptism, satan, devil, King of the Jews, kosher, law, disciples, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John

Id: mwALCzsMtt4

Length: 63min 21sec (3801 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018