5 points:
1.
The facts of the crucifixion (the text)
2.
The context – what two groups of people?
3.
The physical pain of the crucifixion
4.
The true suffering
5.
The point for us
1. Mark 15:22-39.
2. Context: Two
groups of people. Mark 15:15-21. Paul wrote that men are, by nature,
enemies of God and children of wrath (Rom 5:10, Eph 2:3). Those who clamored
for Christ to be crucified represent everyone not reconciled by the blood of
Christ - this was you and me before He redeemed us. In Luke's account we read
that the crowd repeatedly demanded Barabbas be the one set free, not Jesus. Carnal
man cannot accept the gospel and they will do what they can to suppress
knowledge of it. When we sin, we stand with those who demanded Barabbas be set
free. The soldiers mocked the Lord of glory and beat Him. Enemies of God. 1Cor 2:8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known
it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
The other group, Jesus' disciples, were not making noise
before the throne of this world, they had run away when He was arrested,
Matthew 26:56 "But all this has
taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all
the disciples left him and fled. In this passage, we see two things: God
had planned Jesus' sacrificial death in pretty precise detail and we see how
those who hate God are often more vocal and active in proclaiming their false religion
than are the people God has chosen for Himself to proclaim His. Brothers, this
should not be so among us!
The two men on either side of Jesus represent these same two
groups of people: everyone belongs to the city of man or to the city of God.
While both of these criminals initially railed against Christ, Luke reports
(23:42) that one became convicted of his sin and cried out for mercy while the
other did not. The repentant man represents all the sheep of God and the
unrepentant man represents all the goats. There are only these two groups of
people. Each one professing the name of Christ needs to examine himself to see
if he is in the faith - it is far too easy to think you are a Christian and not
be one. We learn from these two men that it matters not when or how I die, what
matters is in whom I die ... in sin OR in CHRIST, Who is my righteousness.
In our day, God-haters fill the news, advocating the murder
of infants, all sorts of abominations, and the silencing of Christians. Far too
many professing Christians are willing to go along to get along with these
reprobates who grow bolder by the day; or they remain silent. Just like the
scene at the cross. We who are in Christ should take care not to follow after
the world; must guard against following Christians who want to compromise with
the world in our day; and we must not be silent! No matter our circumstances,
we are to be known as God fearing people; making Him known among the people of
the world.
3. The Physical Pain
of the Cross. Crucifixion is believed to have originated in the Persian
Empire; however, Romans are given credit for perfecting it into a heinous means
of inflicting death. Romans crafted the cruelty of crucifixion to demonstrate
three clear messages. First, it was incredibly painful for the victim (so much
so that the person being crucified often was rendered unconscious during the
proceedings). Second, it provided a lingering death, which was much preferred
for extremely vicious criminal acts. Third, it afforded a horrific deterrent
for anyone contemplating a similar offense. Josephus described crucifixion,
following the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 66-70, as “the most
wretched of deaths.”
Archaeological evidence strongly suggests that criminals
during the time of Christ were not forced to carry an entire T-shaped cross,
but rather only the crossbeam, which would have weighed between 75 and 125
pounds. The vertical post would be laid down and the cross piece fastened to
it, the condemned nailed through the wrists and feet, then the cross would be
lifted up and slammed down into the hole made for the post. Archaeological data
indicate that the specific nails used during the time of Christ’s crucifixion
were tapered iron spikes five to seven inches long with a square shaft
approximately three-eighths of an inch across. In John's gospel, Thomas says he
would not believe unless he saw and touched the nail marks in Jesus' hands.
The spikes would have been driven through the wrist, near
the heel of the hand. If through the palm, the weight of the man would pull the
spike through the flesh. In this part of the wrist (considered part of the hand
in ancient times), major nerves and blood vessels would be missed, allowing the
man to hang freely, unable to breath. For the feet to be fastened to the post,
the knees would be bent and rotated, with the feet lined up side by side and
the spike be pounded through the sides of the feet in front of the heel.
To breathe, the man on the cross would have to push up on
his feet, scraping his scourged back on the rough wood of the post. With all
his weight on the spike through his feet, he couldn't stay up very long - a
couple quick breaths. Then back down - scraping his back - to hang from his
hands. Intense pain and muscle cramping were inventible, hastening the collapse
of the man, leaving him unable to breathe - dying of asphyxiation.
At the ninth hour, which was around 3 PM, Jesus cried out to
the Father. We'll look at what He said in a minute. What we need to see now is
better recorded by John: John 19:28-30 After
this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the
Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a
sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When
Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his
head and gave up his spirit. The sour wine on a hyssop branch - same as
that used to paint the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts during the
last plague of Egypt: Ex 12:21-23 Then Moses
called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for
yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of
hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and
the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out
of the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to
strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two
doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to
enter your houses to strike you.
These details are God quietly screaming His sovereignty and
proclaiming His Son to be the fulfillment of that precious sheep from so long
before. The Jewish Passover lamb shed its blood to protect national Israel's
firstborn from physical death. The Passover Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus, is the
fulfillment of that type. He shed His blood to preserve true Israel's children
from eternal death.
Jesus was crucified outside the city, at the garbage dump.
All these physical things piled one on top of another to humiliate the
condemned. The Creator and Judge of all flesh, treated like the dregs at the
bottom of a cup.
The temple veil was torn in half, foretelling the certain
doom of the temple building, which, in 70AD, would come tumbling down until no
stone was left in place - just as Jesus had said. When the centurion saw and
heard all this, he declared that Jesus truly was the Son of God. The repentant
thief and the Roman centurion both had their ears and eyes opened to see Christ
for Who He is.
But physical death was not the worst of it, nor would it
have satisfied our great need.
4. The True Suffering
on the Cross. Many people, sadly, were crucified by the Roman government.
Only one crucifixion satisfied the Father's wrath against the sin that plagues
the sons and daughters of Adam. When Jesus cried out, My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? He was quoting Psalm 22,
which provides a rich description of what was happening at the cross. The death
of Christ was not an accident of history; it was God’s plan from before time to
redeem sinners. For Christ to be forsaken means He was not being treated as a
son, but as an enemy of His Father; for our benefit.
The wrath of God was poured out on Christ at Calvary, He
drank the cup of death meant for you and me. Earlier in Mark's gospel, we have this response
from the Lord Jesus to the request from James and John to sit on either side of
Him in glory. Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are
you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with
which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to
them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with
which I am baptized, you will be baptized.” (Mark 10:38-39). Note how Jesus
connects these two, the cup and baptism. The other disciples heard this. Other than
the ten being indignant at these two, what might they have thought about the
cup and the baptism? They would soon learn that this cup the Lord spoke of was
not the cup of communion and the baptism was not a water baptism. Jesus had
spoken in terms that left his disciples uncertain, but we know from the record
of Scripture that what He was speaking about was the cup of wrath and the
baptism of death that awaited Him; of which He lamented: I have a baptism to
be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!
(Luke 12:50)
The disciples would drink of His cup and be baptized with His
baptism vicariously through Him. No
mortal man can stand where Jesus did: cursed by God for the sins of others and
lay His life down knowing He would pick it back up again. When we take communion,
we are not drinking His cup, but we drink in remembrance of what He did – to
cut the New Covenant in His blood to reconcile sinners to Holy God. When we are
baptized, it is not merely following His example when John baptized Him in the
Jordan. Paul asks, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized
into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Romans 6:3) And further he
tells us, (1 Corinthians 12:13) For in one Spirit we were all baptized into
one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one
Spirit. We were baptized into
Christ’s death, the death He died for us, to break down what separates us from
God and one another, to make one people that will bring honor and glory to His
name. The cup and baptism signify our union with Christ, reminding us of what
He did for us in drinking our cup and being baptized into the death we deserve.
At the cross of Calvary, what is called
the Great Exchange took place: 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him
to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God. This is what Paul spoke of last week in telling us how Christ drank
the cup of wrath due us and gave to us the cup of blessing. We have an alien
righteousness - that of the God-man - which secures us as beloved in the
Father. Without this union with Christ, there can be no peace with God the
Father.
Hebrews 8 tells us the priests of
the Old Covenant and the sacrifices thereof were copies and shadows of the heavenly
things. Because He was the obedient son, the faithful witness, the
righteousness of God, He was qualified to appear as a high priest of the
good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not
made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into
the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of
his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats
and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer,
sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God,
purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews
9:11-14) The time for the temporary covering of sins with the blood of goats
and other animals was finished when Christ shed His blood. There is no need to
return to the shadows. The promised One has come and He has finished His
redemptive work.
In our day, the news brings us a report of people in the
nation of Israel planning to reenact the Jewish Passover in anticipation of
rebuilding the Jewish temple. They are trying to move backwards in redemptive
history, as if Christ has not come! The Passover was to remind them of God's
rescue of His people from bondage in Egypt, with the lamb's blood as the marker.
And the Passover was to point to another Lamb who would come and have His blood
shed. In a passage where Paul is describing the danger of allowing a bold, unrepentant
sinner to remain in the fellowship of saints at Corinth, he uses the image of
leaven in in yeast: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Do
you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ,
our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the
festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Paul is teaching us that the
kingdom of God is pure, undefiled; and we are to work to keep our local
fellowship as pure as humanly possible. During the Jewish Passover, they had to
make sure no yeast was anywhere in the house, not just in the yeast. This was
in preparation for the Passover lamb being sacrificed so its blood could be
applied to the doorposts.
Something greater that the blood of animals has been shed on
our account: Christ Jesus is the Passover lamb for all who have been given to
Him. If the Jews were to be so diligent in getting the leaven out of their
homes, Paul tells us, should we not be more so in getting publicly unrepentant
sinners out of our fellowship? He applies this to our lives and our message - unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
We should have genuine fellowship with one another and biblical truth in our
conversation, teaching, and preaching. We'll review this in our next, final
point.
5. What This Means
for Us. In real terms, what does the crucifixion of Christ mean to us?
Since this happened so long ago, is it necessary to talk about it? Next week we
will hear about the resurrection, without which we are no different from those who
have no faith. There is no resurrection without a death. And, as mentioned
earlier, the death of Christ was no ordinary death. Preaching Christ and Him
crucified is the means we’ve been given to bring lost sheep into the fold.
1 Corinthians 1:17 For
Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words
of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. This
short statement hits three key points that he will explain in more detail in
chapter 2. Frist, He was sent; this sending was to preach the gospel, not to
baptize; second, the gospel is plain speech, not smooth words; third, the power
of redemption is with God, not man.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And
I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony
of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in
fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible
words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your
faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Same
three points, amplified.
Preaching with power from God does not rest in human wisdom
or cunning. It grieves my soul to see so many Baptists waste their lives
embracing worldly ways to attract people of the world into the local assembly
of the saints! Flashy programs and emotionally manipulative messages are not of
God. When men called of God stand up to preach, there is a recognition of Whom
we represent. We are not our own, we preach a message not of our making. Contrary
to the values of the world, we exalt the God-man who allowed Himself to be
treated horribly, Who has a kingdom not of this world, Who bids us to serve one
another with love as He loved us - giving ourselves to one another. He gave
Himself to us by submitting to taking the cup of wrath due us.
Crucifixion was a humiliating, grotesque method of killing
the dregs of society. The Christian faith embraces what the world considers
shameful; we preach a Lord and Savior who was treated like refuse by the
powerful of the world. False religions pursue charismatic leaders who gather
lots of followers who are eager to hear that they are prized above all. True
religion cherishes faithful servants who preach what they need to hear, that
they are not good in and of themselves and that the only One Who is good in and
of Himself submitted to be crucified by the hands of sinful men and suffer the
wrath of God on our account.
Back in 1 Cor chapter 1 we read about carnal behavior, the
saints were following this man or that. Paul would have none of it. 1
Corinthians 1:10-13 I appeal to you,
brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that
there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and
the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there
is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says,
“I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow
Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in
the name of Paul? Notice how he finishes this rebuke of these dear people -
three diagnostic questions: Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were
you baptized in the name of Paul? When we have a party spirit we follow a man
rather than the God-man. Following carries the sense of being in union with the
leader. The only true leader was crucified for you - no mere man could have
been. Our water baptism reflects our union with the leader, signifying our
death and resurrection in him. The Lord’s Supper declares His death for sin and
soon return. Can any mere man suffice as your leader or mine? Let us not be
drawn aside from the truth of God's Word, the sole sufficiency of the blood of
Christ. The time for shapes and shadows is over. The true Passover is our Lamb
of God. Seek refuge in Him. Trust Him. Speak gospel truths to one another.
John Owen, The Glory
of Christ, as quoted by Rick Holland in Uneclipsing
the Son, page 141:
"A constant view of the glory of Christ will revive our
souls and cause our spiritual lives to flourish and thrive. The more we behold
the glory of Christ by faith now, the more spiritual and the more heavenly will
be the state of our souls. The reason why spiritual life in our souls decays
and withers is because we fill our mind with other things. ... But then the
mind is filled with thoughts of Christ and His glory, these things will be
expelled. ... This is how our spiritual lives will be revived."
If you want your spirit revived, fill you mind with thoughts
of Christ and His glory. Seek those thing which are above, and spur one another
on while it is still today. And tell others where you found bread and water
that truly satisifies.
