"Prophecies of the Cross" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

than jesus on the cross and it's like paul said when he had to summarize what his mission was first corinthians 2 2 for i am determined not to know anything among you except jesus christ and him crucified the essence of the whole bible is talking about jesus someone said if you cut the bible anywhere it bleeds because the story of that scarlet thread runs through the entire book it's a book about christ if you were to have a bullseye on the bible and you shot at it maybe not the best metaphor you'd hit the cross because it's the center and this morning we're going to go through a number of scriptures we're going to be talking about prophecies of the cross in our message this morning and we'll be considering a number of scriptures that all point towards jesus throughout the bible most of them from the old testament to me it's the greatest evidence that this is a supernatural book with a supernatural message about a wonderful savior and it's it's as if the the cross is the axle on which the gospel rotates it's all about the cross and i know you know some people say oh you guys chris talk about the cross and there was suffering there was blood and but it's at the cross that you really see the core of the battle between good and evil and why there is a battle between good and evil what would make god go to such lengths to suffer like that what's at stake i remember one time my father asked me to sweep a warehouse and i learned how to sweep in military school and you know when you're sweeping if you don't want to do several pickups along the way then you work everything towards one central spot as you sweep you know what i mean right you just keep sweeping the pile it gets a little bigger and you move it and sweep it and push broom it's easier and you pull it all into one central spot and that's where you do your pickup the whole bible is sweeping towards the cross it all points this direction that's why you look at the hymns that you sing so many of them talk about at the cross at the cross at calvary uh beneath the cross of jesus the hymn writers realize that it was the center the the cross is the vortex of the plan of salvation again it may not be the best analogy but what makes a black hole so unique in cosmology is that you have a planet or a space it could be an imploded planet that has a gravitational pull that is so strong you know what escape velocity is escape velocity as if if i was going to throw a softball if i could i can't but if i was going to throw a softball hard enough to escape the gravitational pull of the earth that would be escape velocity you'd have to get far far enough away from the earth where the gravitational pull of the earth did not pull it in anymore and then you've reached escape velocity the escape velocity of a black hole is so powerful that not only can a rocket ship and a softball not escape light cannot escape light which travels 186 000 miles per second is pulled back in to a black hole the gravitational pull of the cross pulls in everything in the bible it is the center it is the point of the greatest intensity because it's here where people say dog i don't don't understand the cross how could god die and then how could he raise himself up if he's dead and there's so many mysteries paul talks about of the cross well what we're going to do this morning and we're certainly not going to do a comprehensive study but i'm going to take a number of passages from the bible and show that all of it was pointing towards the cross a lot of prophecies many of them written hundreds of years before in some cases over a thousand years before they told exactly what was going to happen when jesus came so that we would not miss it you notice in our scripture reading it said there in acts chapter 1 these are the words that i spoke to you while i was still with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of moses and the prophets in the psalms concerning me jesus said all these things written in the law of moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning me and then on the road to emmaus jesus said oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken ought not the christ who have suffered these things and entered into his glory so jesus said that the sufferings of christ were spoken of by the prophets isn't that what you get from that and then he appears to them later in the upper room and he said that you might know that all these things written by moses and the prophets and again he says the psalms that's because in the mouth of two or three witnesses moses prophet says two in the psalms that be three everything is established the lord wants to establish that he is the long-awaited one that patriarchs and prophets and kings were waiting for the anointed one the messiah when god would become a human being was in jesus and the cross is the intersection of the human and the divine the cross is the latter that jacob dreamed about connecting heaven and earth that the angels ascend and descend on so we're going to start with now we're not doing all the prophecies because there's over a hundred prophecies that just deal with the life of jesus fulfilled in the new testament but we're going to look at some of the prophecies specifically dealing with the theme of the cross and so we're going to begin with the betrayal of christ by judas was that a surprise or was it foretold now you may want to take some notes because i'm going to give you a lot of verses some 41 verse 9 1 000 years before the event actually 1031 years before the event king david said even my own familiar friend in whom i trusted who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me betrayed by a friend did it happen you go to mark 14 verse 10 then judas iscariot one of the twelve went to the chief priests and betrayed him to them he was his friend right after he ate bread with him just like david said and when they heard it they were glad and promised to give him money so he sought how he might conveniently betray him now as we look at these different prophecies about the cross and jesus probably is also a good idea to say what's the lesson in there is it important to be a loyal friend what kind of friend to jesus are you are you loyal are you faithful can you be trusted then it tells the amount for which judas betrayed jesus you look in zechariah 11 same chapter verse 12 and this is written 520 years bc so here you've got the old testament he makes his prophecy here's what it says and i said to them if it is good give me my price and if not let it go so they weighed my price 30 pieces of silver and that's interesting tells the amount tells it's being paid for someone tells what kind of money it is not gold or bronze or copper it's silver and then you go to the new testament that's why i walk to the right side of the stage matthew 26 verse 15 and judah said what will you give me if i deliver him to you and they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver so from that time he sought opportunity to betray him betrayed by a friend the amount for which he'd be betrayed you know you shouldn't miss the fact joseph was also sold by his brothers for silver joseph it was 20 pieces of silver by the time of jesus the price of a slave had gone up there's inflation you know and then it was 30 pieces of silver what about samson was he betrayed by someone who should have been affectionate for silver delilah got even more than judas and then you read on in going back to zechariah 11 verse 13 it tells what happened with the silver now this is very specific how could you fabricate this notice and the lord said to me throw it to the potter that princely price they set on me the 30 pieces of silver so i took the 30 pieces of silver and i threw them into the house of the lord for the potter again written 500 years before this next verse you go to matthew 27 verse 3 then judas his betrayer seeing that he had been condemned was remorseful see judah somehow thought jesus is not revealing himself fast enough jesus is not taking advantage of the moment he could be the king of israel but he is so meek he needs someone a man of action like me a shrewd businessman like me if i betray him it'll force jesus into working a miracle it'll force events i will then get the credit for thrusting him on the throne of israel and make some money on the side see he was a thief too because it says he stole from their offering bag even before that judas did not expect it to go the way it had happened every other time when they came to trap or stone or arrest jesus he just slipped through their fingers judas never dreamed the mob would actually tie him up put something over his head and beat him and that he'd go through these sufferings when he realized he was on his way to execution this horrible reality that he had just betrayed the son of god or at the very least the greatest prophet who had ever lived overwhelmed him you know the devil will tell you to do something then he'll really make you feel bad for doing it the devil will tell you to do something he'll turn you in and he'll make you self-destruct he'll tell you you listen to me you'll be happy you'll be rich then you listen to him and then he makes you feel terrible and empty and judas felt tremendous for morrison he came to the temple notice he brought back the 30 pieces of silver how satisfying was that to him saying he couldn't wait to unload it it was causing him so much shame and guilt i have sinned by betraying innocent blood and he's saying this in front of everybody it became very clear that that he had been bribed by the religious leaders to turn him in so that was exposed he said i betrayed innocent blood and they said what is that to us that's your problem you see to it then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple the house of the lord and he departed he went and hanged himself but the chief priest took the silver pieces and said you know it's not lawful to put this in the treasury because they're the price of blood it's blood money they knew it and they consulted together what do we do with it it is money and with that money they bought a potter's field to bury strangers in therefore that field is called to this day the field of blood what did zechariah say cast it to the potter in the house of the lord the potter ended up getting that money and it was thrown down in the house of the lord that's kind of specific don't you think what are the chances that would happen by accident you know you shouldn't miss that david is also a type of christ david was betrayed by a friend called the hitherfell who later regretted what he had done and he went and hung himself very similar to what happened with judas then there's another prophecy from zechariah zechariah 13 called strike the shepherd zechariah 13 7 a waco sword against my shepherd against the man who is my companion says the lord of hosts strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered now you jump to mark 14 27. wait this is the new testament sign over here i should have done that over there mark 14 27 then jesus said to them all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night for it is written now jesus is quoting zachariah so if you think that pastor doug and other preachers are just on our own bouncing around irresponsibly applying scriptures we're doing what jesus did jesus pointed to the old testament passages such as zechariah and said this is talking about me jesus said for it is written i will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered when christ was arrested they all forced him and fled eventually john got the courage to come and follow peter followed from a distance john mark tried to follow for a while wrapped in a linen cloth and they went to arrest him and he escaped naked you ever read that part of the bible he slipped away but strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter is there a lesson there for us does the devil know that if you want to discourage the church discourage the pastor strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter do you pray for your pastors pray for them their spiritual strength pray that god protects them pray that god blesses them with spiritual blessings that will then show up on your table somehow and so the devil you need to pray for those in leadership not just pastors the bible commands us to pray for leaders because the devil goes after them that prophecy came true it says also in isaiah 53 and this is written 700 years before christ back over in the old testament side isaiah 53 verse 7 he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he has led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shears is silent he opened not his mouth now i don't know if you've ever seen this any of you ever shear sheep yeah we got some we go from the farm you know they bleed and carry on and you take them by the legs and you flip them up on their back and when they're on their back something about the way they're designed they get quiet and i found this out because we actually in a church i pastored once we wanted during the easter season we had a communion service we wanted to illustrate what happened during the passover a neighbor lent us a little lamb we brought into the church and i and i brought a knife in and i flipped the thing up on its back in the church and i scared the congregation pretty good no i didn't kill him but it was carrying on and fussing i just want him to know i mean look how much it bothers you that i might kill a sheep does it bother you that our sins wound the son of god anyway but when i flipped it up on its back it stopped its bleeding as a sheep before it shears is dumb so he opened not his mouth well did that prophecy come true you go to the new testament here and it says in matthew 26 and the high priest arose and said to him do you answer nothing what is it these men testify against you first they had a lot of witnesses that came and they didn't even agree with each other heaven only knows what they concocted the only two they could get to somewhat agree are the ones that said this man said destroy the temple and i'll raise it up well jesus said something very close to that but he said nothing in his defense and you can read a little further if you go to matthew 27 12 and while he was being accused now he's before pilate by the chief priests and the elders he answered nothing and pilate said to him do you not hear how many things they testify against you but he answered him not one word so the governor marveled greatly here's a man who is facing death he's being accused of things pilate knew that it was for jealousy they had brought him and jesus is saying nothing to save or defend himself is there a lesson to learn from well first of all did he fulfill the prophecy he did is there something we can learn from that why was jesus silent was he inviting execution or did he really realize that was his best defense have you ever had people accuse you of outrageous things and you can actually give validity to their accusations by trying to defend yourself it's kind of like when someone throws mud at you you can make a bigger mess by wiping it off you let it dry and it'll usually bake and fall off and it's not near as bad and we can learn something from christ about the meekness of christ of not always feeling like we need to always defend ourselves or justify ourselves or give an explanation best thing you can do is live a godly life and sometimes people will know that you are telling the truth or that you are right because you're silence you don't always need to get sucked into the devil's trap sometimes the devil will try to engage you and they tried to engage jesus he wasn't going to play on their grounds he opened not his mouth the bible foretold the physical abuse that jesus would encounter isaiah 50 verse 6 again 700 years before it happened i gave my back to those that struck me and my cheek to those who plucked out the beard i did not hide my face from shame and spitting he literally turned the other cheek and you go to the new testament matthew 26 67 then they spat on him in his face and they beat him others struck him with the palms of their hands saying prophesy to us christ who is the one that struck you this mob of both the religious leaders and their followers and their guards and then later he was turned over to the romans and those soldiers they all mocked him they had support of him and among the things they did is they took off his robe they put a purple robe on him and they played at a crown of thorns john 19 2. and the soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they put a purple robe on him they put a reed in his hand they bowed to him mocking him then they took the reed out of his hand they struck him on the head driving the thorns in what do thorns represent where'd thorns come from anyway was that part of god's plan you can read in genesis after sin thorns and thistles it'll bring forth to you i cut some roses right in front of my house yesterday and scarcely do i ever watch out for thorns without thinking about sin and how i'm looking forward to heaven because there will be no thorns or thistle there when abraham was about to sacrifice isaac the angel stopped him before the knife came down said abraham abraham do the boy no harm and he directed his attention to a ram which is a large male sheep that was stuck by the horns in a thorn bush so here you have a ram with a crown of thorns another type of christ you know the bible says in hebrews 6 verse 8 that which bears thorns and briars is rejected jesus died on a cross the bible says in the old testament cursed is everyone that hangs upon a tree christ bore the curse adam and eve and the whole human race was under a curse because of sin and christ said look i will take the curse i'll remove the curse i'll give you my blessing i'll give you my spirit you can be new creatures your hearts that are totally naturally inclined towards selfishness and sin i will take those hearts away and i will give you new hearts and this is the gospel this is what's happening on the cross he is offering his blood to make it possible for us to experience that those new hearts a few more prophecies the crucifixion itself now have you ever wondered you read psalm 22 and it says in verse 16 for dogs have surrounded me the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet you know back when david wrote that they didn't even practice crucifixion in israel they didn't practice it in any of the immediately neighboring nations later the persians practiced crucifixion that was much later and so for david to say they pierced my hands and my feet for those writing it back then they wondered what what did that mean you can read also in zechariah 13 verse 6 and one will say unto him what are these wounds in thine hands and they'll answer those which i was wounded in the house of my friends he came to his own and he was wounded in his hands now you know the bible tells us it you know sometimes people were crucified there's different nations picked it up and they did it different ways sometimes they tie you on an x or it would be on a stake the jehovah witnesses make a big deal about jesus died on a torture stake and it is true that there were some they would just tie them on a stake some were tied on a big x some were tied on a t-shaped cross i mean they had a lot of different ways whatever was handy jesus we believe was died on a cross and he wasn't just tied he was nailed how do we know he was nailed you can read where john chapter 20 verse 25 thomas when jesus appeared to the other 10 apostles remember judas killed himself thomas was missing so it was ten of them and they said you missed it the lord was here said no i can't believe he rose from the dead so he thomas said to them unless i see in his hand the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand in his side where his side was pierced i will not believe jesus was crucified they nailed his hands in his feet that's in psalm 22. don't forget that something else interesting after they crucified him not only did jesus pray that they would forgive them you know i was in the philippines a couple of weeks ago we were also in the philippines in 2013 and it just happened that it was right during the easter season and the filipino people are some of the most dedicated and devoted people it's um 83 christian some is muslim and then there's some that are undecided or whatever but of those 83 percent that are christian 90 of those are roman catholic very dedicated it was first colonized by the portuguese and later the spanish and so there's a very strong catholic presence there and they're very devoted they're very dedicated you can drive by churches and see people there praying burning candles giving gifts to the statues and during easter they just really show their dedication they feel like it pleases the lord if they whip themselves because jesus was flogged so they reenact scenes of the crucifixion and brian here with the control booth he was there with me a couple of years ago we walked up the street we saw these men with flogging themselves with these cats of nine tails that were just brutal bamboo strips that would rip their backs and it was so bad as brian was going behind one just to videotape it so that we could put it in our revelation dvd blood splattered on and then they led a number of individuals up a hill and they reenact the scenes of the crucifixion but they really reenact the crucifixion where three or so individuals actually have nails driven through their hands and they hoist them and why i'll never forget you know we were there and i had mixed feelings about even being there but i thought you know this footage would be very valuable for the project and and when they actually started to crucify one of the guys to hear him yell it was clearly not acting and then whenever i think about the crucifixion of jesus it becomes very real to me how much it hurt and it wasn't just the crucifixion then the hours that went by where you're struggling to breathe you have to push down on your feet which are nailed increasing the pain of those wounds so that you can lift yourself up and breathe otherwise you hang too long like this you start your lungs filled with co2 so you have to pull yourself down up on your wounds and it was one of the most miserable ways a person could die crucifixion was so bad romans were not allowed to be crucified that's why paul was beheaded he was a roman citizen peter was crucified he was not crucifixion was the romans way of keeping peace in the empire they wanted to devise the most painful form of execution that would not only teach a lesson forever to the criminal but to those that were watching they want to crucify a person they wouldn't waste a good crucifixion off in the wilderness they did it on a public road so that it might send a message especially in a nation like israel where they had zealots and rebels don't think about rising up against rome and so what they would do is they would publicly put a person through the most painful protracted suffering that they could devise whipping them first no less to send a message and this is how jesus suffered for you and me but the suffering of the cross was not the hardest thing for him the hardest thing for jesus was the separation from the father now can you imagine first of all if you're god you have no beginning like a circle no starting point no ending point from everlasting to everlasting before the mountains are brought forth thou art god he's eternal the alpha and the omega and forever christ was one with the father to never be separated from god and then all of a sudden to experience that separation that's why jesus prayed in the garden if there's any way possible father i mean jesus always immediately surrendered to the father's will but when it came to the cross what frightened him the most was that sin was so offensive that he really looked at it like the lost person faces the second death and the the abject despair and the darkness and the separation from the father he was on the threshold of that he said father if there's any other way but then showing his love for you and me he said not my will thy will be done so when christ was on the cross the greatest suffering was he was separated from the father the sky grew dark you know i think it's interesting jesus was on the cross about seven hours tells us that he was crucified at nine o'clock three hours later the sky went dark can you imagine three hours on a cross and then there was another three hours from there until six o'clock and then from the time he died until they took his body down another hour it's interesting he was on the cross six hours suffering one hour resting you get that that ought to be of interesting significance for sabbath keepers it's like there's going to be 6 000 years where the gospel is spread in this world and 1 000 years we live and reign with christ so they crucified him and he said father forgive them father forgive them then at the scene of the cross they took his mere possessions among those things were his clothing and they began to gamble for those and cast lots psalm 22 how could you predict that they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots the only thing jesus left behind like elijah was a robe that was intact you know elijah went to heaven he sent the holy spirit to elisha he left a robe behind jesus and before elijah went to heaven he went to visit the schools of the prophets christ after his crucifixion he went to visit the disciples several locations and he ascended to heaven and he sent the holy spirit you know jonah before he was sacrificed they cast lots so there at the foot of the cross the roman soldiers are casting lots they're gambling for his clothing did it happen john 19 23 then the soldiers when they had crucified jesus they took his garments and made four parts to every soldier apart and also his tunic but his tunic was without seam woven from top throughout they said therefore among themselves let's not render it but let's cast lots for it to see whose it shall be that the scripture might be fulfilled that they parted right my raiment among them and for my clothing they did cast lots even john is saying this is a fulfillment of the prophecy of david written a thousand years earlier and then you know the statement that jesus makes on the cross that makes a lot of people wonder and ask questions psalm 22 first verse my god my god why hast thou forsaken me now why did jesus say that did jesus lose faith on the cross wouldn't that be a sin did he get discouraged the bible says he would not be discouraged why did he say from the cross my god my god why have you forsaken me because if you turn in your bible to psalm 22 that is one of the strongest messianic psalms in the bible that is telling about the sufferings of the savior and he begins the passover the high priest used to read from one of the messianic psalms so jesus he's quoting scripture from the cross he's quoting a specific scripture he's quoting the scripture that shows that he is the fulfillment of what is in that psalm psalm 22 is a psalm where it says they pierced my hands and my feet psalm 22 is the psalm where it says they gambled for my clothing so as he says that psalm my god my god why have you forsaken me jews who knew the rest would just keep going and go this is what what's happening right here in front of us could it be that's the reason that when he was first crucified between three i'm sorry between nine and and uh between nine and noon i gave you the wrong times before crucified at nine noon darkness then he was another three hours six o'clock and then they took his body off the cross um three o'clock thank you i keep getting it wrong so he was on the cross from nine until three alive and then another hour i said that wrong twice now y'all pray for me could it be that thief it says in the bible the one on the right that it doesn't say it was on the right there's one on the right one on the left i think it was the one on the right that ended up coming to jesus it could have been the one on the left but it doesn't say that you can't prove i'm wrong so i always say he's the one on the right it says both of the thieves started out reviling him but something happened as the hours went by and could it be after jesus said my god my god why have you forsaken me this thief heard jesus say father forgive them he heard others relating about his miracles and the other parts of that psalm came to him the congregation of the wicked has surrounded me they look at me they mock me they pierce my hands and my feet he sees the sign above his head this is the king of the jews they told pilate take that down and finally pilate grew a backbone he said no what i've written i've written i think the holy spirit finally gave him courage because that needed to stay there this is jesus of nazareth king of the jews one more little trivial thought that i think is important you're going to have somebody someday that will ask you the gospel can't be trusted because in the gospels the sign above jesus head is slightly different in all the gospels so they don't know exactly you know it says it was written in greek hebrew and latin so it depends on what language they're quoting but it said essentially this is jesus of nazareth the king of the jews and so this thief saw that and that's when he turned to the lord and said lord holy spirit illuminated his mind remember me when you come into your kingdom and jesus said i am telling you today isn't it amazing in spite of his intense suffering and that his hands were nailed to the cross the devil could not keep the savior from saving and the one claim of joy that came to jesus on the cross came from a helpless dying thief that asks for salvation can you see how desperate jesus is to save anyone that asks he didn't do anything to earn it he called out and said remember me have mercy is what he's asking for immediately jesus promised him i'm telling you today the emphasis isn't today you'll be in the kingdom he says i'm telling you today though i don't look like a king you've just called me lord and king though i don't look like i have a kingdom you're going to be with me in paradise and so i think that after jesus said my god my god why have you forsaken me he also wants us to think it's a rhetorical question sometimes your parents will ask a question to make you think and jesus is inviting everyone to wonder why does he look like he is forsaken by god right now turn with me please to one of the greatest verses in the bible i've been just quoting these scriptures i'd like you to look with me in isaiah chapter 53 you know what's always amazing to me as i i've been to israel and among the books found in the dead sea scrolls is the entire school of isaiah many of them are almost entirely there but they've got the entire book of isaiah complete and it 99.99 is exactly like what you've got in your bible today of course you've got an english translation of it but it's amazing how carefully god has preserved the word now what's amazing to me is in the most heavily guarded museum in israel it's got like four feet of reinforced concrete on the roof it's a museum called the shrine of the book the word of god the torah is in this museum they're protecting it the isaiah scroll is in this vacuum-sealed glass but you can look at the whole thing and i remember walking by with my guide who spoke the ancient languages and i pointed to a spot i said you can read this he said i can read it he said but it you know it's kind of like you guys reading king james english it's a little different and i pointed to a spot and he began to tell me the story about hezekiah and seneca when the rabshaka surrounded israel began to mock god it was just like in the bible i was so excited then i thought to myself i got this jewish guide and i wanted to say come over here with me read this to me i wanted to point to isaiah 53 but there were no chapters so and he didn't have time but i wanted him to read that and say what do you think that's talking about let me read it to you you tell me isaiah 53 verse 1 who has believed in our report written about 700 years before christ who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the lord been revealed for he will grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground he has no form or comeliness and when we see him there's no beauty that we should desire him nowhere does the bible say jesus looked like a model or movie star matter of fact he looked so ordinary that when they came to arrest them they had to get judas to say which one is he jesus could go to the feast down in jerusalem and he'd disappear in the crowd he looked like a regular galilean no former comeliness when we see him no beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we did not esteem him surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows cast your cares upon him smitten by god and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities he received wounds and bruises that day the chastisement of our peace was upon him he was whipped he was hit he was wounded and we like sheep all of we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all all have sinned we have all turned our own way and who had the iniquity laid on them you know isn't it doesn't it move your heart i mean even if you were a cynic and didn't believe the bible whether you believe or not jesus suffered for you whether you accept it or not whether you take advantage of it or not he suffered for your sins how can one man suffer for my sins he didn't suffer like a man he suffered like the son of god could suffer it couldn't be an angel that would take your place or another man it was god the son that did it and the lord laid on him the iniquity of us all he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he's led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shears is silent so he opened not his mouth he was taken from prison and judgment they took him after they confined him from one judgment seat to the other and who will declare his generation for he was cut off that's what it says in daniel 9 messiah will be cut off he was cut off from the land of the living for why for the transgressions of my people he was stricken not just the lost out of the church but for my people and they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich in his death because he'd done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the lord to bruise him he's put him to grief and when you shall make his soul an offering for sin he god will see his seed and he will prolong his days forever and ever is pretty long and the pleasure of the lord will prosper in his hand he will see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many it's the knowledge of christ that gives us eternal life why for he will bear their iniquity so you still are you reading along with me he will bear their iniquities therefore i will divide him a portion with the great and he will divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul he is going to be king of kings and lord of lords because he poured out his soul unto death he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressions you know to me that is just such a a vivid picture of what jesus went through during his sufferings from a divine view so why was he forsaken christ called out eli eli lama and that means my god my god why hast thou forsaken me and then he was mocked that was foretold you can look in psalm 22 verse 7 all those who see me ridicule me they shoot out the lip they shake their heads he trusted in the lord let him rescue him let him deliver him since he delights in him likewise the chief priest also mocking with the scribes and the elders said he saved others himself he cannot save if he's the king of israel let him come down now from the cross and we'll believe he trusted in god let him deliver him now if he'll have him for he said i'm the son of god let him come down now you know whenever i read the story of nehemiah nehemiah was sent from the king to build up israel and in the midst of building up israel nehemiah was opposed on every side the arabians and the moabites and all these different ones were fighting him and finally when they couldn't get him to stop building they said let's negotiate they sent a message to nehemiah saying come down to the plane of oh no because we'll talk together we'll work this out you know what nehemiah said i'm doing a great work why should the work cease why i come down to you and i can just hear christ from the cross when they said come down the devil would have loved it if jesus came down he could have come down they said come down we'll believe it's just like when the devil said turn these stones into bread and we'll believe trying to get him to use his own power to do something outside of god's will and christ by staying on the cross he said i'm doing a great work why should this work cease so i can come down to you he finished his work he stayed on the cross for you and me boy if i had the power if i was being crucified and i knew at any moment i could say enough is enough i mean here you're dying for people that don't appreciate it and you know you can make it stop wouldn't you throw your hands in the air it's like oh that's how you feel okay i will come down now what are you gonna do to live forever but he didn't i remember one time you know sometimes parents answer their kids requests when the kids don't know what they're asking for and i always resented one time my father took my brother and i oh we were four years old and he used to pick us up my mother and dad divorced he'd come pick us up and take us to a movie he didn't know what else to do and he drove us by a drive-in theater and my grandparents had taken me there once before and dumbo was showing or something like that some cartoon i said dad there's a theater let's go there and he said no there's another place and he knew that there were no cartoons at that theater i couldn't read back then there was some perry mason movie or something i said no no that's the theater he said okay is that what you want so he took my brother and i made his watch perry mason we didn't know what the world was so why did you answer that prayer we didn't know what we were asking for it ruined the whole day aren't you glad that god didn't answer that prayer when they said come down because he knew he said you don't know what you're saying some of those in the crowd were later converted he was mocked and he thirsted on the cross psalm 22 15 my strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue clings to my jaws you've brought me to the dust of death psalm 69 verse 3 i am weary with crying my throat is dry describing the sufferings of christ job also alludes to the same thing in his book but now let's read john 19 28 after this jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled you see it again it's saying it's a fulfillment of a prophecy he said i thirst you can read psalm 69 20 reproach has broken my heart and i'm full of heaviness i look for someone to take pity but there was none and for comforters but i found none they gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink so after jesus from the cross said i thirst with his raspy voice it says they gave him sour wine mingled with gall but when he tasted it he would not drink but he they put it up on a pole on a sponge and he thought something moist and he could have drunk it but it was a drug and his self-control was so incredible that he said no i cannot afford for my mind to be numbed with some narcotic right now and as soon as he recognized what it was he turned away wow why save you and me bible foretold they gave me golf my food and my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink and you and i because of what jesus did and because of the thirsty experience he said that we can be filled with artesian founts of living water come to me the bible closes by jesus saying whosoever will let them come and take the water of life freely christ experienced that thirst so we could be satisfied you ever had a good cold drink of good water when you're really thirsty there's nothing quite like it no soda or even juice equals that he thirsted he saved another and then you know there's even a new testament prophecy when mary brought jesus as a baby to the temple simon they placed him in simon's arms before he was named and circumcised and he said to mary yes a sword will pierce through your own soul now virtually every parent if you have children you need to know there'll be times when you feel your heart pierced there's going to be worry there'll be challenges and you get to feel something of the love of god for his children and then when christ was on the cross john 19 25 there stood by the cross of jesus his mother and while she's standing there he sees his mother and in spite of all the suffering he's going through he's thinking about his mother and he sees her standing by the apostle john now mary had only one son and that was jesus joseph probably had some other sons and daughters or at least four boys are named and says sisters we don't know how many girls at least two they were not mary's literal offspring and jesus worrying about who will take care of his mother joseph had died at this point he nods to the apostle john and he looks at his mother and he says woman behold your son not talking about him talking about john who was holding her up and then he says to john behold your mother and from that hour that disciple he understood what jesus meant he took her to his own home the last will of christ was to bequeath the care of his mother to the apostle of love john and a christ said then in john 19 30 when he had tasted the sour wine he said it is finished hebrews 12 we look at jesus who is the author and the finisher of our faith and when christ said it is finished it didn't just mean his sufferings are finished it means there was a debt that humanity owed that word it is finished in greek you know how you ever get an invoice back after you paid they'll stamp it usually in red and it'll say paid in full and it means i've got evidence that there's no debt between us anymore that was the same terminology that was used in the greek world when someone had paid a debt so christ from the cross it did mean it is complete but it also meant it is paid in full and so jesus his closing words were it is paid in full father into your hands i commit my spirit so he didn't lose faith when he said my god my god why have you forsaken me because a little later he says i'm trusting you i'm committing my spirit into your hands just like stephen when he was stoned he said lord jesus received my spirit and then he breathed his last you know in closing i'd like to i'd like to read a passage from the book desire of ages page 754 this is a beautiful section the spotless son of god hung upon the cross his flesh lacerated with stripes those hands so often reached out in blessing nailed to the wooden bars those feet so tireless on ministries of love spiked to the tree that royal head pierced by the crown of thorns those quivering lips shaped to the cry of woe and all that he endured the blood drops that flowed from his head his hands his feet the agony that wracked his frame and the unutterable anguish that filled his soul at the hiding of his father's face it speaks to every child of humanity declaring it is for thee that the son of god consents to bear the burden of guilt for thee he spoils the domain of death and opens the gates of paradise he who still the angry waves and walk the foam cap billows who made devil's tremble and disease flee who opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to life he offers himself upon the cross as a sacrifice and this from love to thee he the sin bearer endures the wrath of divine justice and for your sake becomes sin itself does it touch your heart when you think about the cross that god so loved the world that he gave his son he just didn't give him to become a human to teach and to heal to show us what the father is like he sent him as a substitute and everything you see jesus suffer on the cross is suffering for you even though you may think you're a little sinner and others are big sinners you are a big enough sinner to keep you out of heaven and jesus suffered for your sins to make it possible for you to be there you know i heard one time in england years ago a um a policeman was making his rounds and he heard one of the many children that often swarmed the streets back then sobbing and he came over and there was a four or five-year-old child crying he says what's the problem he says i'm lost and i don't know how to get home so the officer you know they didn't have computer database back then he said well what street do you live on he said i don't know he can't read he was too young he said he named all several streets and the boy didn't recognize any of them he said is there a library is there a museum and he was just trying to probe something that would trigger the boy's mind and see if he could try and help him find out what section of town he'd wandered a long way from home evidently and didn't recognize the streets and and he had a very common name and and so the policeman thought and while he was thinking he looked and he saw in the middle of the town there was a very prominent cathedral with a steeple and a cross on top and he pointed to the boy and he said you see that church up there he said do you live anywhere near that and the boy's face suddenly brightened and he saw the cross he said oh yes i go there all the time if you take me to the cross i can find my way home and you know that's the only way any of us are going to find our way home is it's all going to happen at the cross you know i hope that that really becomes the the core message and mission of this congregation to keep jesus and the sacrifice of christ and the cross of christ as paul said i am determined to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him crucified that that will be at the heart of every message that's why i thought it'd be appropriate for us to sing about the cross in concluding our service today and so if you'll join me we're going to see sing lead me to calvary and it's 3 17 in your song books why don't we stand together as we sing 3 17. [Music] shall my glory [Music] lest i forget [Music] foreign [Music] let's not forget [Music] come with a gift me to calvary [Music] what's but you know you can't talk about the cross without giving people an opportunity to respond and i just felt impressed as the singers were singing i thought there may be some here today that has not yet come to jesus or accepted him there may be some who for whatever reason have he once knew the lord but you know you've drifted away and you'd like to make a decision today to to live for christ to say what jesus said lord not my will thy will be done i want to respond to your love for me and give my life to you as we sing the last verse if you would like to demonstrate that by coming forward and asking for special prayer then we encourage you to do that come as we sing the last verse [Music] is [Music] lord we're so thankful for the cross we all of us would have no hope if it wasn't for what your son did there in giving himself and suffering as he did in demonstrating his love lord i pray that our hearts will be moved by that keep us from allowing our hearts to become callous or indifferent to the scenes of the cross recognizing that it was there that we see the power of love and it's there that we can see the devil's love for power lord i pray that each person here will be fully surrendered to take up their cross and to follow jesus wherever he leads to remember how much that he loves us to live lives that will bring glory to thee forgive us for our sins lord and beyond that give us victory over our sins help us to live lives that are are different that are like our savior bless this church lord we've built it not for ourselves we've built it for your ministry your service and we pray you'll bless it for that cause we do ask that today you'll record in heaven that we dedicate this place to you ask you to surround it with your angels bless the messages that come from this place the ministry that happens here that it will not only reach people in these communities but in the world around and help us to be prepared and to prepare others for your return thank you lord for your presence here today for the sabbath and we just ask all this now in the name of your son jesus amen please be seated

Channel: Daily Hymns

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Length: 58min 54sec (3534 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2021