John, Part 48 — The Revelation of Jesus Christ — Suffering and Death
After being led away from the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was led away in humiliation to suffer and die. After the trials before Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate, Jesus was taken and flogged with a lead-tipped whip.
John 19:1-3 NKJV So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.
Although Pilate said, “I find no fault in Him!”, he took Jesus and had Him flogged and put a crown of thorns on His head and a purple robe on His back. Matthew and Mark added that the soldiers spit on Jesus, (Matthew 27:30; Mark 15:19). When he presented Jesus to the Jews and the mob of people, Pilate thinking this would satisfy them said, “Behold the Man!” Isaiah the prophet was given a clear view of the suffering Christ.
Isaiah 50:6 NKJVI gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
Isaiah 53:1–6 NKJVWho has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall 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 is 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; yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
After Pilate did all of this to Jesus, he delivered Him to the Jews and said, “I find no fault in Him.” Isaiah’s words describe Christ’s appearance. He was despised, rejected, stricken, smitten, and afflicted. He was wounded, bruised, chastised, covered with stripes, and there was no beauty that we should desire Him. We hid our faces from Him. The Jewish leaders were not satisfied with His suffering.
John 19:6-7 NKJVTherefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” 7The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”
At first, Pilate refused to be His executioner. The people brought their real accusation against Him. “He claimed to be the Son of God,” so, He deserves to die. About that time, Pilate’s wife sent him strange words.
Matthew 27:19 NKJV While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”
John 19:8-9 NKJVTherefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
Jesus’ silence fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, (Isaiah 53:7). Pilate was disturbed by Jesus’ silence.
John 19:10-11 NKJVThen Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but the Jews said: “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend,” (John 19:12-13). He did not want an unfavorable report to go to Rome. He had to choose between loyalty to Rome or a despised Jew.
This was Friday, the day of preparation for Passover week, (John 19:14-16).
Passover lambs were slain in the temple courts at noon on the Day of Preparation for the Passover. That was the exact time that Jesus was sent to die on the cross. He became the substitution sacrifice for man’s sin.
John 19:17-18 NKJVAnd He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.
Golgotha (the place of the skull) was probably called this because of its appearance.
Psalm 22:18 NKJVThey divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.
John 19:23-24 NKJVThen the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.
Stripping Jesus and dividing His clothes was a customary part of the humiliation of victims. Jesus died bearing our humiliation, shame, and sin.
Jesus spoke from the cross seven times.
First, Jesus spoke to Father about His executioners.
Luke 23:34 NKJVThen Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Second, He pardoned one thief.
Luke 23:42-43 NKJVThe second thief said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Third, Jesus spoke to Mary and the beloved disciple from the cross.
Four women stood at the foot of the cross in contrast to the cruelty and indifference of the soldiers. They watched in love and grief. The anguish of Jesus’ motherfulfilled Simeon’s prophecy: “A sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:35).
John 19:25-27 NKJVNow there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.
From the cross He saw Mary’s sorrow and entrusted her into the care of John, the beloved disciple.
The fourth of the seven sayings from the cross was about the ninth hour.
Matthew 27:46 NKJV Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Fifth, Jesus said, “I thirst!”
John 19:28-29 NKJVAfter this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.
Jesus was fully aware of all of the details of the prophecies concerning Him.
Psalm 69:21 NKJVThey also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
The sixth saying of Christ from the cross was the single Greek word “te-le-o,” which means: “It is finished.”
John 19:30 NKJVSo when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He was not saying, “I am finished.” His redemptive work was completed. He had finished what He came into this world to do. He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He had suffered the full penalty which God’s justice demands so that sinners may be set free. At the moment of His death, Jesus gave up His life.
Seventh, was His last word spoken on the cross.
Luke 23:46 NKJVAnd when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.
All of a sudden, Jesus committed His spirit into the Father’s hands.
2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV says, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
John 19:31-32 NIV84 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 required that no one who is hanged on a tree should remain overnight on the tree. The exposed body would defile the land. To hasten death, the Jews asked Pilate that their leg bones be broken. The two thieves legs were broken.
John 19:33-34 NKJVBut when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Jesus was a real human who died a real death. The blood and water are testimonies of His death. Piercing His side fulfilled two specific prophecies. Throughout the Old Testament when the Passover Lamb was slain, none of its bones were broken, (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12).
Psalm 34:19–20 NKJVMany are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.
Zechariah 12:10 NKJV And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
John 19:38-39 NKJV After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen strips with the spices according to Jewish tradition. Jewish burial customs did not involve embalming. The normal process was to wash the body and cover it with cloth and fragrant oils or spices.Since Sabbath began at sundown, the burial had to be done quickly. Jesus’ body was placed in Joseph’s new tomb in a private garden, (Matthew 27:60).
