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Christ’s Death, Burial & Resurrection

FTGC-32

210808AM

John 19-20

Christ's Death Burial Resurrection

Greetings this new Lord’s Day. This is our next small group session of the 52 Greatest Chapter Summary of the Bible. As we reported in yesterday’s July update, we are still on the road teaching (after the wildfire smoke circuit of classrooms in the northwest for July). But the good news is that we are in the East now where it is green, and the air is clear. What a blessing. Thanks for praying. I am teaching my new updated classes explaining the Book of Revelation.
Week #32: In John 19 Jesus speaks from the Hill called Calvary. His words ring out loud and clear: forgiven, secured, cared for, suffering, fulfilling, triumphing and resting! In John 20 He applies the power of His sacrifice upon the lives of His beloved disciples.
HE SPOKE A WORD OF FORGIVENESS so we can know we are forgiven. HE SPOKE A WORD OF ASSURANCE so we can know we are heaven-bound. HE SPOKE A WORD OF DEVOTION so we can know we are not going alone. HE SPOKE A WORD OF ANGUISH so we can know He feels our pains. HE SPOKE A WORD OF AGONY so we can know He will never leave or forsake us. HE SPOKE A WORD OF TRIUMPH so we can know that our salvation is secured and finished. HE SPOKE A WORD OF CONFIDENCE so we can know we are accepted into the beloved!

Transcript

John Barnett here. Welcome to week 32, as we look at the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ. It’s such a joy to welcome you to the small group study. I have my journal, which I’ll show you in just a minute. I have my Bible. I want to look up 1 Corinthians 15 with you. All week long as I was studying for our time together, I kept thinking about what Paul said about this portion of Christ’s life that we’re studying. He said, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to Scripture, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” That’s what we call the historic record of Christ’s passion week. His death, burial, and resurrection. Look what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 just before that. “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the Gospel.” The Gospel is Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That’s what we’re going to focus on, the heart of the Gospel.

You see in the slide; we want to unleash transforming truths from the heart of the Gospel. “Christ died for our sins according to Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day.” Those three elements are what John 19 and 20 really focused on.

You see where we are, Week 32. We started back in January, and this is our eighth month of meeting together. I remember snow blowing, the incredible snows that we were getting near the studio when we were working on this in January. John 19 and 20, after eight months. Christ died for our sins. We’re going to look at His death. He was buried. We’re going to look at the burial place, the tomb, the whole biblical record of that. Then, His resurrection.

You might be wondering what’s going on there, on the left side of the slide. This is an olive tree, right here, planted in the ground. This is actually a figure from an archaeological guide and book that I use. This shows the only archeological evidence of the biblical account of crucifixion. Crucifixion occurred on olive trees. I bet that might be a new idea to you. See the olive tree sticking in the ground with all the branches trimmed up? You would only need a cross piece that would be attached. Then the person crucified would be nailed to that very solid olive tree. Olive trees would grow right along every road.

Remember, the Romans were crucifying people rapidly during Christ’s ministry. During the time that Jesus ministered, 30,000 people were crucified according to Josephus the Historian. This was a huge endeavor. The idea of getting a four by four, a log this way and another crosspiece that way, with Roman efficiency, why not just trim up a good solid post that’s already in the ground and attach them at eye level to that post. They deter crime because everybody walking down the road would see those crucified. This is an image of what archeologists believe was the most likely form of crucifixion.

Let’s go through the slides. Remember what we’re doing? I’m leading this study. This week, what I’m doing is, I’m preparing you for a whole week looking at John 19 and 20. Some weeks when I would gather with my group, we would compare notes and we would take turns studying. This one is so big that I want to show you all the elements I’ve been studying this week. Then, I’d like to launch you to spend a whole week finding them as you journey through these two key chapters at the heart of the Gospel.

What we’re using as we survey the whole Bible, we’re using the 52 Greatest Chapters. People say, how’d you get those 52 Greatest? I’m going to mention today that I’m altering even my list a little bit, because every time I read through the Bible, I have to struggle with what are my favorite chapters. I added a couple more new ones, and so I’ve changed the order. You’ll see that in a minute. Historically the heart of these chapters, that we’ve chosen, are the chapters that theologians believe, that if you had to take away most of the Bible and only have a portion of it, that would represent everything the Bible taught. It would be what are in these 52 chapters. Every doctrine, every major theological truth, every practical application for us as believers living in the Church, are all summarized in this 52 passage selection that we’re doing.

We use the devotional method. We’re not using the Greek keyword or the Hebrew keyword or the theological premise. There are 12 forms of Bible study, and you’ll find that on our Facebook page. If you want to download the little chart that describes this, it’s right on our Facebook page, I glued it right here in the front of my notebook. Everything in the description, that I talk about, is in the description of this video, links. You can look at them online on Amazon. I have the index of everything we’re studying. What the devotional method is, and basically you see on the slide in front of you, the devotional method has three parts. We write a title. I also personally do a summary of the key ideas, but that’s just because I love this method and I want to always be maximizing. Your three parts are title, lessons, and application prayer.

If some of you want to teach and you want to lead small groups, or you maybe are in some form of ministry, (I hear from some of you, your pastors and elders and women’s ministry leaders and men’s ministry) the summary is where I pick up the huge mega themes that are reflected in the book that as I’m reading here in the study Bible. I notice in the MacArthur Study Bible that there are these mega themes, like the book of Acts having the three parts, Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Jerusalem and Judea are the first part of the Gospel, then Samaria, then the outer most parts of the world. I reflect items like that, that I find in the study Bible. Also, I don’t mention very often, the systematic theology here. Especially when we’re covering the death of Jesus Christ, the atonement, all of the doctrines that are crucial, Grudem covers them in his theology with all nine facets of visible Christendom. Anglican, which are the Episcopal Church of England come to America, is Anglican called Episcopalians. The Armenians, which are the Wesleyans and the Methodist. The Baptist. The dispensationalist, like Charles Stanley, Chuck Swindoll, John MacArthur. The Lutheran, Martin Luther. The Reformed or Presbyterian, John Piper, and the great reform leaders of the past. The Renewal or Charismatic or Pentecostal. Within all of those groups, we have true born again believers. Even the last section, the Roman Catholic. Traditional and post-Vatican II. All of those are streams of different groups of believers. Not all Baptists are Christians. Not all Lutherans are Christians. Not all Catholics are Christians. Not all Reformed are Christian. Do you understand what I mean? Only truly born again people are Christians, but there are all these different, what I call flavors.

Bonnie and I, she’s over here recording, we were at a restaurant when we were teaching up north of here. We are always looking for a way to share the Gospel. We were talking with our waitress and I said, do you go to church? She said, oh sure. I said what denomination or flavor? She really got a chuckle out of flavor. What I was trying to say is, there are many varieties of Christians and to know how to share the Gospel I’d like to find out your variety, of what direction, you’re coming from.

We use the devotional method. We write a title, find as many lessons as possible, and then from that, write our application prayer.

This is what I wanted to show you. I’ve mentioned it, but some of you don’t realize week 28 has combined Luke 10 and 15. We already covered that a few weeks ago, but that gave me one extra chapter to cover. Then this week, Week 32, we are combining what used to be two separate weeks we used to do. For the five years I led this in small groups, at Panera and Starbucks and Chipotle and wherever else, I would separate chapter 19 and 20. I decided that we really, these unprecedented times we live in, we need to do three solid weeks on the three major sections of the book of Revelation. I needed to find two more weeks, so I truncated Luke 10 and 15, or combined them actually, and John 19 and 20. Next week Acts 2, and then we’re getting into Romans.

This is the chart available on our website. You can download this. It’s very important that you use it. It’s the 250+ events of the life of Christ. This is the section on the death of Christ. Look, here’s the Gospel of John we’re covering. Look at all the events over here, on the right, which are in John 19. We see that John covers the journey to Golgotha, the three hours at on the cross, the second three hours, Jesus dies, laid in the garden tomb, and that ends this whole section of John 19. Then John 20, which starts right here and goes all the way to the end of this chart. Why I’m showing you that is, look at how much is covered in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that is parallel with chapter 19. Look, how much is covered in Matthew, Mark and Luke that is parallel with the Gospel of John. All of these are so important to help us understand the different Gospel writers in the Synoptics. Remember, synoptic? The seeing together. The three Gospels that see together, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Then, the unique Gospel, the fourth Gospel, John… who had a very clear framework. He was working with the seven sign miracles.

Here’s my Bible. Basically, what I’m going to do is, I’m going to take you over here to my Bible. We’re in John 19. I want to just show you some tips for your Bible study. First of all, I actually was reading chapter 18 here and I noticed Pilate said, “I find no fault in Him at all.” I just noticed that. I was reading down here and when I got in chapter 19, verse 4, it says, “I find no fault in Him.” I said, wait a minute, he said that already. I underlined it and wrote number one, then I wrote number two. Look at this verse 6. “I find no fault in Him.” Pilate three times said, there’s no fault in this man. Jesus, I wrote, is sinless. The highest law of the land, the Roman Governor said, He’s sinless, there’s no fault. Then, I wrote up here Gabbatha, because look at this, “The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.” We find that there are these names, Gabbatha here in verse 13, then look at this Golgotha, verse 17. Then, in chapter 20 there’s this garden tomb, a garden where there was a tomb. I’m just starting to, as I read through, remember I read through every day, I just start noting things. Then, look over here, “release someone to you at the Passover.” There’s Passover again, then Preparation Day, all in verse 14. Look in verse 31, it’s repeated, “Preparation Day.” Then, I started noticing Jesus said, “It is finished.” Then he said, “Woman, behold your son!” Jesus is talking from the cross, but when I read all this, I noticed that there are things that John doesn’t record.

Stop for a second, think about this. That’s why we have four Gospels. Each Gospel is built around a theme. Remember way back when we were in Matthew, I told you write it down, Matthew is to present Jesus as King. Mark is to present Jesus as the Servant; he builds his Gospel around that. Luke presents Him as the perfect man. Look at John’s purpose, to present Him as God. As King, there’s an emphasis on the royal pedigree of Jesus Christ and all of his genealogy. Basically, Matthew is for the Jews. Do you remember? We covered that.

Mark, the servant, this powerful servant is for the Romans. It really communicates the Gospel to them. Mark is the shortest Gospel, has the most events because the Romans were not messing around, they just were on a schedule. You know people like that. Mark really ministered to them. It’s almost, the Gospel by Mark, reads like a shooting script for a movie. Constantly the Greek word kai, the conjunction and, is constantly through there. It’s like a non-stop picture. Luke… This perfect man is for the Greeks. Remember all their emphasis on the human body and the human mind? Jesus is wise and has all the perfection of humanity. John is written for everyone because everyone needs God to transform their life. Jesus is present in all four Gospels, but the events and the details are each coinciding with their purpose as the King for the Jews, the servant for the Romans, the man for the Greeks, God for the world.

Back to my Bible. That’s why we have certain words. I’m going to show you, Jesus actually spoke seven times from the cross. Seven times. These are only two of them in verse 26, “Woman, behold your son!” Verse 27, “Behold your mother!” That’s one of what we call words, the statements from the cross. Then this one, “It is finished!” is Christ’s last words in John’s Gospel. We’ll see in just a minute that he says one more thing after that. As a part of the study, I would encourage you to get your notebook and like me, I have spread over 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 pages of notes and could have gone far more than that, but I had to start typing cause there’s so many. Back here, again notice this, “Preparation Day” in verse 42. Then, when we get into chapter 20, “the first day of the week” is important. That’s a Sunday. It’s interesting, I’ll show you in just a minute the scripture framework. John uses, feasts in Jerusalem as a chronology of Christ’s life. I’m going to show you a whole chart on that. It’s going to be fascinating. These are all ideas, the seven statements of Christ from the cross, the four Gospels harmony of all the events in chronological order, the mentioning Pilate’s, sinless declarations, all of these are details that we write into our journals.

Here’s another thing that’s interesting. Look at verse 5 of chapter 20. These will show up, by the way, when I take you through my notes. I just want to show you these in the text. In verse 5 it says… “They both ran together,” verse 4. “The other disciple outran Peter.” The other disciple is John, he outruns Peter. “And came to the tomb first. And he,” that’s John, “stooping down and looking in, saw…” I’m reading from the New King James. All of you asked what kind of Bible I have, that’s down in the description of this video so you can look at it. It’s just a very plain, $19/$20 Amazon Bible. I love to write in the margins, and you can see that right now. I have this space over here, just enough to write in. I noticed it says, saw. Then, look at verse 6. “Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw…” Then it says in verse 8, “Then the other disciple,” we’re back to John, “who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw.” It looks like, in English, three times they did the same thing. No. That’s the benefit of using a resource that I’ve told you about earlier. Some online Bible or the Logos Bible Study Program. When you touch on these words in your English Bible using a resource that unlocks the Greek language, the underlying foundation that the translation comes from, look at what happens.

Verse 5, the word saw is the Greek word blepō. The Greek word blepō has come into English as… what English word sounds like blepō? Blip. B L I P. Just a blip on the radar screen. Blip. What does that mean? Blip, it just went away, it’s not important. It means to glance. John’s running as fast as he could, outran Peter, looks in. Right by him, Peter’s storming past in his inimitable fashion, as the one who is always the middle of everything. All John got was a glance, a blip.

Then Peter saw, theōreō. That’s come into English too. That’s a Greek word, theōreō. What does this sound like in English? Theory. I saw something and I have an idea, a theory of what might be going on. It says he; Peter had a theory because he saw the linen cloths lying there. That’s the word theōreō. Look at this and the detail in verse 7 which adds to this theory, “but folded together in a place by itself.” What I wrote is, see right here, a sign of no grave robbers.

Do you remember National Geographic or some History Channel special, The Valley of the Kings, The Pharaohs, King Tut? Have you ever noticed when they open those tombs up 99.9% of them are ransacked. They tore apart the mummies, they broke everything, and they took the gold and ran. That’s not the image that these eyewitnesses have of Christ’s resurrection place. There’s no sign of grave robbers here. There’s a book written by Bishop Latham. It’s not in any of the resources, but I just thought of it. He wrote his entire 300 page book based on the words of verse 7. What he said, is in the Greek, the carefully wound mummy… they actually did wind the body. If this is the body, they wound cloth around the body from the shoulders to the feet. Then they wound from the chin to the top of the head. They left, always, the neck open so that they could find when the body had decayed. When the bones were white, it was time to take the grave clothes off and stack the bones in a bone box called an ossuary. That was the Jewish burial method, uncovered neck, but totally wound up, bound up. Remember Lazarus couldn’t unbind himself. Jesus said, unbind him, he’s going to suffocate. They’re totally wrapped up head and feet. That’s why Lazarus probably popped out of his he couldn’t have walked the way they wound him, but we’re not doing Lazarus today.

Jesus, the wounded body of Jesus with the hundred pounds of spices that Nicodemus brought. Do you remember from reading, or you’re going to see from reading, a hundred pounds? The Greek kind of implies that the grave clothes were laying there. They just went like an air mattress that you pulled the plug on. It sags, but it’s still laying exactly in the shape of an air mattress. Do you know what Peter saw? He saw a complete body shape of grave clothes untouched, unbothered, unmolested, but he saw a head wrapping unwrapped, and folded, and set down. It’s just like Jesus sat up out of the grave clothes, unwrapped His head, folded them, set it down, and walked out.

Look at the next word, verse 8. “Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also.” Peter has been theorizing theōreō-ing, but look at this… “and he saw.” That’s the Greek word, eidon. Eidon is a form that means you see with understanding. All of a sudden, John understood that Jesus wasn’t robbed, stolen, that he wasn’t taken by grave robbers or those women that wanted to properly bury Him and wash His body and everything that they didn’t have time to do. That’s why they came, prepared for that. “He saw,” look at this, verse 8, “and believed.”

That’s why, keep going to chapter 20 and verse 30, “Truly Jesus did many other signs.” Remember the seven signs we covered in the last two weeks? “In the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.” Jesus performs so many powerful miracles. These seven signs, that are the framework of the Gospel by John, verse 31, “are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” That’s John’s testimony of what you see in verse 8. He saw, he glanced, blip. Peter charged by theorizing. John walks in and saw with understanding, and believed. That’s a quick overview of this class.

I also wrote a few other things. In chapter 20 Mary Magdalene. I wrote, He was sought by the defiled. Remember Luke 8:2? I wrote there, that she had seven demons. Here He sought out the depressed, in verse 19. Remember they were hiding behind locked doors? Then, He sought out the unbelieving Thomas in verse 28. As I’m reading, I’m trying to find as many trues as possible. Back to this. Remember the fourfold structure, Matthew the King to the Jews, Mark’s portraying Christ as a servant to the Romans, Luke is presenting the perfect man to the Greeks, and John show He is God to the world. That’s a quick look at my Bible.

I just want to give you a tiny bit of geography and a little bit of being able to understand the flow. As you look at this there’s so many things going on. I call this Christ’s Last Supper Walk to the Cross. Jesus is in the upper room. We see that when He is with His disciples and He’s doing the foot washing. Chapter 13, remember that’s part of the Lord’s supper, the preparation for the Passover? They came in to celebrate the feast. In chapter 13 of John’s Gospel, they wash feet in the upper room, which is on Mount Zion. Then, after the Passover meal is over, Jesus institutes communion. It says, they start walking to Gethsemane.

Let me show you what I wrote in my Bible. I wrote over here, ended the Lord’s supper and started going to Gethsemane. It says, “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron.” What happens between these two is, that we have Jesus in chapter 13, at the feast of the Passover, all that Jesus does, identifying the betrayer and he leaves. Judas leaves in verse 31 of chapter 13. Peter says, what do we do? Jesus says, it’s time for us to go. They start walking and Jesus starts talking. He says, “Let not your heart be troubled.” We go through His talking about the Vine and the branches. Then He starts talking about the Holy Spirit in chapter 16. Then He prays in 17. All of that is walking, Jesus is walking. Do you remember they sang a hymn and went out. Jesus gives chapter 14, 15, 16, and 17 as they’re moving across the city. In chapter 18, they’re finally outside the city of Jerusalem crossing the Brook Kidron. It’s fascinating to see. They get to Gethsemane right here in chapter 18.

Looking back at the slides, then you remember that Peter denies Christ. Jesus is taken off. After He stays in the basement or prison of Gallicantu He goes to Pilate’s Palace at the Jaffa Gate. Then, the Antonian Fortress where He is scourged, taken to Golgotha. Do you remember that? Right here, look over in my Bible, chapter 19, is in this Antonian Fortress, number five. Golgotha, in verse 17 of chapter 19, is the crucifixion place. Back to the slides. He’s in Golgotha. He’s hastily taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. He’s put in the garden tomb. That’s the seven steps of the last supper walk.

In the next slide, I want to show you all those places. I want to tell you and remind you, because I say this every time that the, any of these incredible photographs, especially the drone photographs are from Todd Bolen, faculty member at the Masters University. His website is called Bibleplaces.com. I have purchased all of his resources he has available. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? If you can see, look at this picture, you can see all of Christ’s last supper walk. Let me take you to it. Jesus is right here at Mount Zion, that’s the south side. The south side of Jerusalem, and this is the north side of Jerusalem. Here is Mount Zion, the upper room. Jesus walks to the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane. That’s the Church of All Nations, this is the Church of the Dormition, which is right next to the upper room. Jesus prays here. He’s arrested and brought from there to the High Priest’s house. This is Gallicantu right here. Also on Mount Zion, same hillside here. Then after it becomes morning, at first light, they take Jesus over here to the Jaffa Gate area to Pilate’s Palace. Pilate is living in King Herod’s, who has been dead for 30+ years. The Wisemen come to this place at Jesus’ birth. When Jesus was brought there at first light, Pilate is the Roman Governor living there in that sumptuous palace. Then they take Jesus, actually somewhere we don’t know where, and the Sanhedrin meets with Him. When they get done meeting with Him, they bring Him to the next spot that’s mentioned in the Bible, which is to the Antonian Fortress where the Roman soldiers are. He’s scourged and Pilate meets with Him. Then, Jesus was taken to be crucified right here. This is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha. Then, He’s buried here, in the rich man, Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, at the garden tomb. Upper Room, Garden of Gethsemane, High Priest’s house, Pilate’s Palace, Antonian Fortress, Golgotha or Calvary, Garden Tomb. There you see the order and also, a drone view of Christ’s last supper walk.

This is what the Church of the Dormition looks like. Actually, this right here is the upper room. Any of you that have been to the Holy Land and any of you that haven’t remember, we’re leading, right now, a virtual study tour for any of you that would like to join. It’s an amazing journey. We go to one site per week for a whole year. There’s so much to see there. I just want to reflect a little bit to you. That’s what Mount Zion looks like, the upper room.

This is what Gethsemane looks like. The Church of All Nations. You notice it’s looking right at the Eastern wall right here, which is where the early Church met, the eastern gate. Of course, you recognize the Dome of the Rock there.

Then Jesus goes to the High Priest’s house. Notice this, behind here is the Mount of Olives. Down here is the Kidron Valley. This is on Mount Zion where the High Priest lived.

This, the only part that you can see today is the Jaffa Gate, right here, called the Citadel David. This is what the archeologists have said what Herod’s palace looked like. This is where the Wisemen came. This is where Pilate lived, of course the Roman Governor would want the biggest and best place. These are the walls of Jerusalem in Christ’s time.

This is the Antonian Fortress. See the four towers? This is the temple mount here and the four towers that join it. It’s how the Romans kept law and order. This is the Damascus gate. This is a quarry, which we’ll see is the place where Jesus was executed by Roman crucifixion, right next to major roads. Jesus came out of the Damascus gate. People would be going in and out of the city. Romans always used the roads for crucifixion next to the roads as a deterrent.

Then, the church called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built over that quarry, just outside the Damascus gate.

This is the garden tomb, the empty tomb, the rich man’s tomb. That’s just a quick glimpse.

This is my journal. What I want to do is take you through, I’ll just read to you. I did each chapter separately. Chapter 19, Jesus is crucified, the Lamb was slain, the crescendo of the Creator, Redeemer, and King. The summary, Jesus came as a promise lamb. Then, I have all these lessons. Then, I have a prayer. Lord Jesus, you came as the Lamb of God to be my Good Shepherd, and on and on. Then, here’s my next chapter, chapter 20. Jesus rose, the ultimate sign. Then, all the lessons, and then the prayer. Those are all that I found in my study for the whole week, and all of my extra studies is I looked up everything, read the cross-references, read the footnotes here in the MacArthur Study Bible. I typed it up for you. Let me take you to that.

First thing you see is this, Jesus spoke seven times from the cross. Now you all know this, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” “Woman, behold your son!” and “Behold your mother!” “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” “I thirst.” “It is finished.” The last words of Christ were, “Into thy hands I commit My spirit.” I made a chart of those. This is in chronological order using, remember from discoverthebook.org our website, using that 250 key event chart that I showed you a few minutes ago, I found these in order. The first one’s in Luke 23:34, I call it the word of forgiveness so we can know we’re forgiven. “Father, forgive them.” By the way, if you do a little study, a word study of the Greek words behind the English words, Jesus didn’t say that once, he said it’s an ongoing present active. “Father, forgive them,” “Father, forgive them.” He said it over and over again.

Verse 43 of Luke 23, I call it the word of assurance. “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise,” He said to the thief, so we can know we are Heaven bound. Jesus said, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Do you know how Paul put it? For us as believers to be absent from the body, 2 Corinthians 5, is to be present with the Lord, today, the instant. That’s why the instant that we start looking at the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus comes to take us through the valley. He actually leads us from this life home. That’s the word of assurance.

John 19:26, the word of comfort so we always know we’re not alone. Jesus took care, He passed the responsibility of the care of His mother, Mary, to John His beloved apostle. Widows, women that were bereft of their husband were needing care. Jesus wanted to, as the oldest son say, John, you take care of her. By the way, Church history tells us that Mary followed John as he went to minister in Ephesus, the largest church in the ancient world. The one Paul founded, John pastored it, so did Timothy and a galaxy of others. Mary is buried in Ephesus because she was there at that church with John. Word of comfort.

Mark 15:34, the word of anguish so that we can know He took our sin. He says, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Jesus was forsaken on the cross by God the Father, as God the Son. God the Father turned His back when Jesus became our sin. You say whoa, that’s a big topic. Yup. That’s why all the different ramifications of the doctrine of atonement are in Grudem’s Systematic Theology. You might not agree with all of them, I don’t agree with all of them, but I sure do like to see what believers throughout all the centuries have through their studies come to. We have the same Bible. We have the same inspired account. I love to look at all the implications of the atonement and the meaning of what Jesus did when He became sin for us. For those of you that are teaching, and those of you that are leading, it’s important to not just know what you believe but to know why you believe it, and also understand how you got to that. You will find in one of those nine different streams of theology among Christendom, you will find the backdrop for what you have come to as your settled conviction from the word of God by using a systematic theology.

The word of agony, we go back to John 19:28, so we can know He feels our pain. This is the shortest one. It’s the Greek word dipsō. D I P S O. By this time, Jesus can hardly talk and he’s speaking in one word sentences. Dipsō means I thirst. That’s His agony. That’s why Hebrews says He’s acquainted with our pains.

Then John 19:30. John has 1, 2, 3 of the seven right here. Luke has 1, 2, 3. Mark has only 1. John 19:30, Jesus said, “It is finished!” Again, one word sentence. “Tetelestai,” is that what He said, what He cried out. Remember He said, “I thirst.” They gave Him a little sour wine so He could wet His lips, so he could boom out, taking every last ounce of strength He had, “It is finished!” That’s His word of triumph so we can know salvation is secure. It’s not, if I sin one too many times Jesus can say oops, I didn’t cover that one. I always tell people that are struggling the same thing. This is what I tell them, if Jesus didn’t die for all of your sins, He didn’t die for any of your sins. Why? Because He only died once. He died once in the past, 2000 years ago. When He died in the past, He was looking forward at all of us who would ever live and all who would ever believe on Him. By one sacrifice forever, He has justified those who come through faith to Him. That sacrifice, look at this, was finished. “Tetelestai!” Triumphantly. Our salvation is secure.

Finally, His last words are these words of confidence so we can know He’ll never leave us. Look what He said, “Father into thy hands I commit My spirit.” He is the one who holds our life’s breath. He is the one who said, I will never leave you or forsake you. He said, I want you to be confident, just like I could say to my Father, “Into thy hands I commit My spirit.” I want you to know I am watching over you and I will keep you to the end. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will be with you. Remember the Great Commission several weeks ago? I will be with you always, to the end. Remember? That’s the last part of the Great Commission.

I want to show you some of these resources. We’re in week 32, but look at this, 32a. This is a video that is uploaded right next to this one. This is video 32, week 32. The next video is week 32a. I do an entire study on Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the men who buried Jesus. There was so much that I want you to be able to study this.

Week 32b. Also on John 19 and 20, is an entire study of Christ’s seven words from the cross. An entire study, all the meaning of the words, the implication, the application, illustrations of it. That’s an entire support video.

These are my notes that I’ve typed in for you legibly, from my journal. I always put at the top the week, week 32. Here’s my title, The Crucifixion of Jesus the Christ and His Resurrection from the Dead- Who He Was, What He Did, Why He Came! Here’s my summary, the Greatest Day of the Greatest Week in the History of the Universe. The Gospel was powerfully presented, I read this to you at the beginning of our classes, “Christ died for our sins.” This is just what really was on my mind as I studied. Remember, when you look at the background, when you look at the footnotes, notice what the rest of the Bible says about the crucifixion.

Jesus died on the exact place that God picked, Golgotha in Moriah. That’s what Genesis 22 revealed to us. There’s a great study. Go back to the Akedah, the account of Abraham offering Isaac and seeing Moriah, where the father offered his beloved son. That’s what’s happening on the cross. God the Father is offering His beloved, God the Son, just like Abraham the father was putting on the alter as a sacrifice, his beloved son Isaac. By the way what’s amazing about this is the law of first occurrence. Another thing as you study the Bible, look for the first time words occur in the Bible. Like the first time the word grace occurs in the whole Bible, guess where it is. The flood of Noah. I told you that, eight months ago but that’s the law of first occurrence. Do you know when the first time love occurs in the Bible? Genesis 22, “For God so loved the world,” for Abraham so loved Isaac. John 3:16 is prefigured in Genesis 22 in that event.

The exact event was prophesied in Psalm 22.

The exact moment that Christ would die would be shown us in Exodus 12. The Passover lamb was slain at the evening sacrifice, 3:00 PM. How long did Jesus hang on the cross? From 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, for six hours. The Passover lamb was led out by the High Priest and tied to the alter at 9:00 AM. It stood by the altar all day long, till 3:00 PM. When the Passover lamb for the nation was slain by the High Priest, at the exact moment the High Priest in the temple was putting the knife to the throat of the Passover lamb, God the Father said that’s enough and Jesus gave up His spirit and died, exactly the same moment as the Passover lamb. Amazing. The exact moment.

Then, the exact confirmation. God gave five mighty miracles in Matthew 27, to show what was going on.

Real quickly. This is the traditional view of the cross. This is a good traditional view because you see what you see right there, you see the walls of Jerusalem. This is Jesus outside the walls of Jerusalem. Very likely, it was that quarry I showed you of Golgotha.

Here are the lessons I found. I already told you about them. Jesus was sinless. “No fault” is repeated three times. As it says in Isaiah and 1 Peter. Look at this, Pilate became afraid while he was looking at this beaten and humiliated and mocked Jesus. Pilate fears. That’s the awesomeness of Christ’s divine character. His sinlessness made people uncomfortable in His presence because they became aware of their sinfulness. That’s part of, the more that we worship and serve and come close every day to the Lord in His word, the more we see our need of His cleansing and His filling. It’s so beautiful. Pilate called Jesus a King. In Acts 17, it says we have another king, Jesus. Great correspondence there. The casting of lots fulfilled scripture. I showed you Jesus taking care of Mary. I noted, Jesus had the word of God on His mind. He memorized, he knew the scriptures, He learned them. It tells us in Luke 2, He grew in wisdom and knowledge and learned. He was meditating on that. He was pierced to prove He was dead and fulfill Psalm 22. Jesus was buried just like Isaiah 53 said He would be, in the tomb of the rich.

How I looked at these two chapters is, John 19 is what Jesus did. What He did is, He died for our sins. I already quoted that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” He came, He died, He was buried, and He rose. “I delivered to you first of all […] Christ died for our sins.” Just like the Bible says, “He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Jesus was horribly crucified for us. Psalm 22 has seven explicit details that are reflected in the Gospels. The unnatural darkness. From 12 noon to 3 PM when God turned His face away from His Son becoming sin. The mocking of the priest at the foot of the cross, the cruelty of those who jeered and mocked. The fact that even the thieves were mocking Christ as He hung there. All of that is spoken of in Psalm 22. His hands and feet pierced. They gambled over his possessions and garments. His awful thirst, remember dipsō? Despite the intensity, none of His bones would be broken. All of that, those are the details that we find in the scriptures.

Go on from Psalm 22, look at what Isaiah 52 and 53 say. He would be abused by soldiers. He would be serene as they mocked Him. He would die with criminals. He’d buried with the rich. All the details God foretold, and we’re going to study this week.

Roman crosses were often used as olive trees in Palestine. This is what you can find in the Israel Museum. This in the right hand corner is the only archeological proof of crucifixion. I’ll show you what it is. A is the spike, notice it’s bent, B. That’s why it couldn’t come out. It’s in a heel bone. It’s actually a human bone and they found olive wood right here attached to it. You say, what is that? That was a person that was crucified, and they couldn’t get the spike out. They chopped off the wood, right off the cross, and threw them into a grave. The family, if someone was crucified and the family came and asked, they would let them bury them. They were buried in the grave with the chopped off piece stuck to their body and the olive wood cross. That’s the only archeological proof. It shows this right here, this is what you’re seeing. You’re seeing the spike that was pried out of and took some of the olive tree with it. The piece of olive wood that was used, plus the tree and the spike were buried with the heel bone. Amazing.

This is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that was built over the quarry. This is most likely the walls of Jerusalem. What happened in 30 AD? Jesus was crucified on one of these olive trees by the road. Then, He was taken over here to the tomb. This is what you see. How do we know it’s the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? Because Hadrian the Roman Empire Emperor did not like the growth of Christianity, he put the temple of Jupiter over the spot where Jesus was buried. He put the temple to Venus in 135 AD, a hundred years after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, he put the temple of Venus over the site of the cross. This is the tomb, and this is the cross. Basically that’s, when we tour the Holy Land, how we know where Jesus was buried and crucified. The Romans marked it with these huge temples.

Here in my notes, the ninth thing I found in John 20 is, the first at the tomb was Mary. She was also the last at the cross, you see in John 19. She’s the first one to see the risen Christ. Jesus was sought by those who love much because she was forgiven much. He was sought by those defiled by sin. These are just lessons that I’m writing down. I already told you this about Peter and John running. They glance, look, and believe. They see the evidence. Mary sees, believes, and enters into a new relationship with Christ. Jesus comes through the closed door, gives them peace. This is the fourth of the great commissions, every Gospel has a great commission. John 20:19- 23, Jesus commissions them as He breathes on them, gives them His Spirit. Jesus tenderly brings doubting Thomas to make one of the great confessions. “My Lord and my God!” Look at this, Jesus knew his doubts in verse 25. He comes to solve his struggle. He says, just plunge your hand into my side, put your hands into the nail piercings. Thomas bows in faith and believes and worships Christ. Then, I’ve already read to you the purpose of the Gospel.

Just for you to see, this a tomb. Right here is a first century tomb in this quarry under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is what a first century tomb looked like. This is dug into that quarry of the stone that was rejected, that Peter talks about in Acts, which will we’ll talk about later on when we get to Acts. This is what they looked like. They just hacked it in, there was this inner level where they put the body. That’s most likely what was going on when Peter and John glanced in there.

I told you about the mighty miracles of Calvary when Christ hung on the cross of wood for you and me. God confirmed who He was by the five mighty miracles of Calvary. This is the backdrop for chapter 19. There are five supernatural signs. The day darkened, the temple curtain was torn, the earthquake, the graves were open, the Centurion was saved. I did a special study this week on all five of those and worked on them, typed them in for you. You can think about this as you think about the backdrop of the crucifixion. Because Jesus was the light of the world God the Father stopped the light of the sun. To remind everybody Jesus is the new and living way God tore open the temple curtain to the Holy of Holies, said there’s no barrier now, the way is open to the Father through the Son. You don’t need the temple anymore. Jesus was the creator of the universe, so God the Father had the rocks cry out as they roared during this terrible earthquake that scared everybody in Jerusalem. Jesus was the resurrection and the life, so God touched the graves and brought forth dead saints. It actually says that in chapter 27:52-53, it says many graves were open and the saints were raised. Those were what 1 Corinthians 15 talks about, the first fruits. When we get to 1 Corinthians 15, I’ll show you that in a chart and everything else. Jesus was the Lamb of God dying for the sin of the world. God reached down and touch the heart of the Centurion. I want you to just think about that, when the Centurion and those who were with him, watching, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, the darkness, and all the rest, they feared greatly. They said, “This was the Son of God.” A centurion was trained to never fear. As most trusted of soldiers and Caesar’s legions these were the men who look death in the face unflinchingly. They would lock their mighty shields in battle and march against countless foes. Have you ever paused to think about this scene? What amazing events these must have been to make a tough, calloused, hardened centurion fear greatly.

Then, I started thinking about his biography. The more you work on this, the more I studied all about the idea of this centurion, and what Church history, and what the different writers have said. This soldier had been born somewhere in the empire. Maybe his father was a Legionnaire. He’d listened to the stories, he grew up with of the wonders of ancient Rome, its nobles, its temples, and its fearless Legionnaires. As he grew, maybe his dad took him to the Holidays, and he saw the gladiators and the chariot races. Then he chose to enlist and become one of Caesar’s finest. The barracks became his home. He was taught to discipline his body, obey orders, and fight without fear. He learned to drink, and kill, and cursed by the gods. He was calloused and hard. He was a soldier of Rome. He distinguished himself, became a leader of a hundred. That’s what a centurion was.

One day on the bulletin board at the barracks he noticed that there was a dispatch to the most despised corner of the Empire. He was sent to Palestine. He wasn’t in the lovely coastal port of Roman Caesarea; of all places he was in Jerusalem. A city seething with religious fanaticism and zealots ready to explode at any moment, a place where Rome was not respected or obeyed. He served Caesar in Jerusalem. One morning, the Roman Governor, Pilate, summoned Him to the palace. Take those three, crucify them, and report back when they’re dead. Who were they? It didn’t matter. 30,000 had already been crucified. Today was just a job. One of them thought he was some kind of king; we’ll show him what Rome thinks of rival Kings. Now it’s 3:00 PM and this is the record God gave us of what happened.

“Jesus, when He cried again with a loud voice,” one of the seven sayings from the cross, He “yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.” I thought about what that means. It says they didn’t come out of their graves until after His resurrection, but they were raised then. Did you know that they laid there? In my mind, I don’t have any video of this, but all over Israel, the saints got picked as the first fruits. This earthquake came and God raised them up. Their tombs were open, and they sat up. They were looking out. Can you mention people looking into tombs and seeing eyes looking back at them? That’s what I picture. I have a phonographic mind. I’m telling you what I see as I read the scripture. “And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” From all over Jerusalem, people started walking towards Jerusalem on resurrection day. People said, who are you? They’d say oh, I’m so and so. I can imagine, I’m Abraham used to be Ur of the Chaldees, most recently from Machpelah, but I was raised. I don’t know if God raised Abraham to walk back into Jerusalem, but I do know Jesus took him with Him to Paradise.

Verse 54, let’s get to what we’re working on. “When the centurion, and those that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”

God the Father confirmed who Christ really was hanging on the cross. As God reached up and touch the Son, He reached over and touched the temple. He reached down and touch the rocks. He reached under and touched those graves. Then, He reached in and touch that centurion’s heart. That’s the greatest miracle of all. That’s the one He’s still doing, saving people. I’ve often wonder what it was like when that centurion went home after his tour of duty. People came up to him, said hey, you’re different. What happened to you? I can hear him say, I met a man at a place called Calvary. He was dying on a cross. That man was God, and God changed my life. Hallelujah, what a savior. Wow. The question for us is, have you met Jesus and has He changed your life?

Why He came: Jesus is the door to abundant life. That’s what John 20 is all about. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” Once we’re saved, we “go in and out and find pasture.” Jesus said, I’ve come to give life and it’s overflowing life. That’s what Jesus offers.

Everything we marvel at in the Gospels is what Jesus is still doing today. Think about it. He sees us. He knows us. He cares about us. He comes to us. He prays for us. He provides all we need. He cleanses us. Those are all the things He was doing in the Gospels. Most of all, He saves and gives life that is guilt-free, anxiety-free, hope filled, love filled, abundantly joy filled, and overflowing with peace no matter what is happening. Jesus gives us a life that’s detached from our circumstances. That’s what the resurrection’s about.

Some applications for our life. We should live our lives yielding to God’s will like Jesus did. Do you remember what Jesus said? “Behold, I’ve come- in the volume of the book it is written of Me- to do Your will, O God.” That should be our heart’s cry. I want to do your will.

We should live our lives not only wanting to do God’s will, but obeying God’s will. Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but…’ “ This is God’s will, that we live “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The way we obey God’s will is hearing His voice in His word

Finally, we should live our lives wanting God’s will. Do you remember what Jesus said? “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” The next part of the verse, “not as I will, but as You will.” Thine will be done. I want God’s will. I would say there’s probably nothing I pray more for in my life than saying Lord, I want to serve You. Do you know what serving means? A servant is someone that does the will of another. That another is God, I want to do His will.

This is after all of the studies and all the prayers I wrote, I just summarized them in one and I’ll pray it with you. Jesus, You’re the perfect sinless sacrifice for my sins. I thank you for being my King, who died for me. You knew the Scriptures, You obeyed the Scriptures, You had them on Your mind to the end. Thanks for purchasing me so I can forever live for You as my King, my Lord, and my God, as Thomas said. Thanks for helping me in my doubts. I bow, I worship, I believe. Amen. One from each chapter.

Three final challenges. Find someone you can share everything you find this week with. In other words, why don’t you get in a small group, start one, start sharing, and seeing God change you. Start memorizing scripture. You can read about that in the description. Finally, pray for us. Bonnie and I are preparing. We’re going off to our next teaching center. I’m preparing right now to teach a course. I’ve been asked to teach a three-part course on the book of Revelation for a group of high schoolers that are doing remote education, a Christian education. What a blessing, starting them in high school, preparing for their serving the Lord, the next generation. So many things. Pray for us.

Have a wonderful week examining the heart of the Gospel, John 19, John 20. Spend the week finding all those trues, writing those application prayers, asking God to change you. Lord willing, when we come back in a week, when we’re on Acts 2, we’re going to look at the full impact of the Gospel unleashed through those disciples, and the apostles, and the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost. Until then, God bless you. As you study John 19 and 20. Have a great week in the Lord.

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