Audio Archive

Transcript

Quite often on Sunday morning after the memorial meeting is concluded, or at least as the memorial meeting is being concluded, we remember the words that are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And we sing a hymn then and we leave the place where we have kept the memorial supper with Jesus and with our brethren. The story that we're going to be following this week starts where we usually hear it end at the breaking of bread. We're going to go forward from that point with Jesus and the apostles to the garden, to the trial, to the cross, and then beyond the cross. After they had sung a hymn then, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus and the eleven who were with him leave the upper room. They go through the quiet streets of Jerusalem at midnight, out the city gate, over the brook Kidron, through the valley of trees and shadows, up the hill on the other side, into the garden called Gethsemane, the orchard of olive trees. Jesus is seeking the strength that comes only from prayer. Man's fall was in a garden and now man's redemption is being worked out in another garden. We read that Jesus goes to Gethsemane and a special twist the Gospel writer says, and the disciples follow him. It isn't so much that they all go together because Jesus' experience is something extraordinary and very different from that of his disciples, and yet they follow after him to the same place. And I think this thought then gives us a keynote for our classes this week. We must picture ourselves among the disciples following after Jesus into the garden, following after Jesus to the trial as some did, following Jesus to the cross and beyond. Our experiences cannot be the same as the experiences of Jesus, but we must follow after and attempt to make them the same as best we can. And so we recognize in these studies that our experiences of the cross and the resurrection are very much secondhand, even more so than those of the first disciples. But we must try. We must try to be there with Jesus to experience as best we can what he did experience, recognizing all the time the limitations that are inherent in our understanding and also our situation in the 20th century in relation to Jesus who walked upon the earth so many years ago. Jesus went into the garden and the disciples followed him. They went forth with him without the camp of Israel, outside the city, bearing his reproach. And so we do the same in the exhortational words of the Apostle Paul in Hebrews chapter 13, Matthew 26 verse 31. I should point out that because of the nature of the study, we will have to spend some time looking at each of the four gospels. I'll try to keep the page turning to a minimum, but occasionally we will be moving back and forth between the gospels to get the full story of Jesus in each of these different situations. Matthew 26 and verse 31. Peter answered and said unto him, Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cock-crow thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Peter was so strong and yet in reality so weak. It was so easy to say, I will never be offended, I will never let you down. But it was so difficult to do. How pathetic might some of our promises sound in retrospect as we look back over the years perhaps to the time of our baptism and the vows that we took then. I will never be offended by thee. Likewise said they all. Verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. He separated himself along with the inner circle apparently of Peter, James, and John. He left behind the others and brought those three with him a bit further along the way to his own private Gethsemane of prayer and turmoil and suffering. James and John had promised just shortly before this that they would drink of his cup, and now he was giving them the opportunity to do so. He said to them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. Christ went to Gethsemane because he knew that Judas would be looking for him there. We are told in John 18 verses 2 and 3 that Gethsemane was a common place for Jesus and his disciples to spend their time. So here he waits, placing himself in Judas' hands. Verse 37. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be very sorrowful and very heavy. They came with him, as I said, further along this way. He began to be sorrowful and very heavy, very distressed. This of course is the mark not of a god, but of a man. We began to see and experience perhaps just a bit the sufferings through which Jesus was going. It was a sign of weakness in a sense, the trials that he was facing. But also for us, and I think this is very heartening, it was a sign of the compassion which Jesus is able to feel for all of us who in our own rather limited ways suffer as did he. Paul says in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly or confidently unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The double negative there in verse 15, if we omit both of them, we have the plain statement that we do have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities because he was tempted in all points like as we are. And so we see Jesus here in this cameo picture as he kneels in the garden and we recognize that he was being prepared at that time not just for the cross, but he was being prepared also that in heaven itself he might be the true and proper and understanding and loving mediator for all of us who experience our own Gethsemane's, small and limited though they might be. He can have compassion upon us because he has experienced the same weaknesses, yet of course he himself was without sin. And we read in chapter 5 of Hebrews in verse 2 that the high priest who is taken from among men can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And it seems to me that Paul's whole argument here in Hebrews 5 is whatever was true of the high priest under the law in these circumstances is also true of Christ. He becomes the antitypical high priest. Verse 7, now he is speaking of Christ directly and he says, Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. You see, Paul has tried to do what we should be trying to do this week. He has put himself in the place of those disciples who accompanied Jesus to Gethsemane. He sees him there as though he were there with him, the strong crying and the tears, to him who would save him from death, or the word literally means out of death. Jesus knew that death awaited him, but he knew that his Father in heaven would save him out of that death to a new and glorious life. Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. This was a learning process for Jesus, and through him, as we follow in his steps, we learn also. We learn the price that God placed upon our salvation. We learn the depth to which our sins have carried us, out of which we needed to be delivered by the wondrous work of Jesus. And so we see here a man kneeling in the garden in the shadows, very distressed, a man, not a God. Matthew 26 and verse 38. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. We hear so often in the words of Jesus here the echoes of Old Testament prophecies, and especially of the Psalms, which seem to me can be read so often as the inner biography of Jesus. The thoughts of David in all of his experiences reflect and look forward to the thoughts of Jesus in all of his experiences. And so as he says here, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. We're reminded of the words in Psalm 42 that are repeated throughout Psalms 42 and 43, almost as a refrain. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, Psalm 42 and verse 5? Why art thou disquieted in me? And then the response arising out of that difficulty and that inner turmoil. Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of my countenance. And again in verse 11, and again in verse 5 of Psalm 43. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Out of the depths Jesus is crying to the Father, and out of the depths there arises this faith as he clings to this faith and develops it. Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him. Even beyond the grave I shall yet praise him, who will be the health of my countenance and my God. Out of the depths Jesus cries to the Father in Matthew 26 still in verse 38. He says to those who are with him, Tarry ye here and watch with me. It appears as though his disciples were already beginning to fail him. Verse 39, and he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He goes even a little farther. Apparently it seems to me he leaves behind even those closest three of his followers who had accompanied him thus far, and he separates himself from everyone leaving behind him these three. And so we picture in our minds a four-fold division, almost as though we were looking at the tabernacle itself, where Jesus all by himself approaches the Father, Jesus the high priest, ministering in the most holy place, because where he is in the Father's presence is the most holy. And then beyond him at the first remove, Peter and James and John, as though they represented the holy place. And beyond that, the other disciples who had been able to go with Jesus some distance, but not quite as far, the other eight in the outer court. And finally, as we set the stage here, Jesus in the garden, the fourth entity are all of those with Judas who are coming from a distance outside the tabernacle itself, the world outside, Judas bringing with him those who will arrest Jesus and lead him away to his trial. Jesus then remains in the most holy, and there he prays, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. And perhaps a pause, perhaps wondering what the response will be, and then the resignation of statement, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. What did Jesus mean when he said, May this cup pass from me? Mark chapter 14 and verse 35 in a parallel reference says, Let this hour pass. Was Jesus begging to be spared the trials of waiting, the difficulties that would come to him before the cross? That's at least one possibility. Was he possibly asking to be spared the cross itself? And if that were the case, he would recognize and would repeat very quickly. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt, knowing that the cross was inescapable if he was to do the work of his father, if he was to love his brethren to the uttermost, as he had said, Again, we see here a man and not a God, that Jesus had a will of his own that he needed to disavow, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Paul says in Romans 15 and 3, Even Christ pleased not himself. And we see in that, I think, a wonderful exhortation. All of us find circumstances in which we rebel against those circumstances in which we have been placed and we desire to do our will, to satisfy ourselves, to make ourselves comfortable, to please ourselves. And Paul, looking at the preeminent example of Jesus, says, And even Jesus, even Jesus above all others, who should have been able to please himself, pleased not himself, but the reproaches of those who reproached God fell upon him. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. With gentle resignation still, he yielded to the Father's will in sad Gethsemane. Luke chapter 22, verse 43. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, an angel to sustain him. Apparently, the others have already fallen asleep. Verse 44. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. The word agony literally means a contest, a struggle. And the struggle was so great that the sweat was pouring off him as he knelt there in the garden. The shadow of the cross was falling over him. His sacrifice had already begun. And in noting this small point, it seems to me that the gospel writer Luke is looking all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where, as a part of the curse of the first Adam, he was told, In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread. And now the last Adam, again in a garden, beginning to do the work that will undo the curse that the first Adam brought upon the human race finds the sweat pouring from him. And again, the same thought can occur to us as we are directed by Luke. Those words of Genesis 3, In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread. Jesus in the sweat of his brow was preparing the bread of life, not the bread which if a man eats he will hunger again, but the bread of life, the bread of eternal life through himself. He was preparing himself as the bread of life. And there we go with him. And there we feel the sorrow and the struggle and the sweat. And as we partake of that bread of eternal life, we remember Jesus in the garden. His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. It has been suggested, it seems to me rather ingeniously, that his sweat would have been tinged with blood because of the enormity of the pressures upon him that the small capillaries under the skin perhaps would have burst. It seems to me more reasonably or more precisely that Luke, as he envisioned this scene or as he had it described to him, would see the great drops of sweat falling down and mingling with the dust under Jesus' feet so that as they hit the ground they would appear to be red or brown and would recall to his mind blood that he had seen dripping from wounds. This is how Jesus in the scene in the garden impressed him. Luke calling attention to this blood certainly is calling our attention to the fact that the sacrifice of Jesus was beginning here at this point. We go back to Matthew 26 and verse 40. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and sayeth unto Peter, What could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Three times the disciples are wakened and fall asleep again. Three times Jesus prays and then goes to them. Why did they continue to fall asleep? Well, for one thing, there had been long days of activity preceding the Passover that they had participated with Jesus in. There had been the several cups of wine at dinner, which would be traditional with the Passover meal and were probably observed by Jesus. And now we had come to a very late hour, perhaps midnight or later, and they sit with Jesus in a dark garden. Perhaps I think if we could put ourselves in their place, we would see how easy it would be to fall asleep. Even with the continued admonitions coming from Jesus, stay and watch with me. Still, as they would struggle against sleep, it would overcome them. Three times Jesus has prayed and he has met and overcome the crisis, as it seems to me quite interesting also that the high priest went three times into the most holy place on the day of atonement. Jesus now is bringing about the true day of atonement, and three times he finds himself going into the most holy to commune with God, to bring his offering, the offering of his will devoted to God into the most holy place, and then returning to find his disciples rather than waiting expectantly for that return, having fallen asleep instead. And so in verse 45, he comes to his disciples and says unto them, sleep on now and take your rest. He apparently sits with them there as they recline, as they have fallen asleep, and the last time he doesn't even bother to wake them. We don't know how much time passes, but we might suppose that a good bit of time does, perhaps as much as an hour, and Jesus, having overcome his will, having prepared himself now for the next step in God's plan and knowing that it will inevitably come, Jesus sits quietly there with them, no longer disturbing them but allowing them to sleep, as a father perhaps would sit with the sleeping children watching over them. Sleep on now and take your rest. We can imagine he said it very quietly so as not to disturb them, and there they slept, and there Jesus sat with them, and he looked out across the garden, across the valley in between toward the city, and he waited through the dark night. All around was quiet. Everyone was asleep, and then perhaps as he continued to wait, he saw lights, and the lights came down from the city. Through the dark night, he would see them at some distance, a great many lights perhaps indicating a number of people. At first, he couldn't hear them. He could only see, but he waited. The lights went down through the valley and up the other side and began to approach the garden. Now, as they neared the garden, the last part of this verse, Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. And so with these words, Jesus says, Rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. The disciples slept until the last possible moment. Jesus then awakened them to meet what would come. What a marvel, what patience and loving kindness, what willingness there was with him to bear with the weaknesses of others. And then the time had come, and they began to enter the garden. There was noise and confusion and lights, and the disciples were wakening themselves in a rather disjointing circumstance. Jesus would see the approach of the party, and then they had come, and now they were in the garden. Verse 47, While he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people. It is suggested that the swords were the regular weapons of the Roman soldiers, and perhaps there was a contingent of them along with the Jews, and the staves or clubs were the regular weapons of the Jewish temple guard. At any rate, a large detachment with Judas were coming into the garden. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he. Hold him fast, and forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. The question occurs to us, why was there such a plan as this, since Jesus apparently was so well known amongst all the people in Israel and the leaders of the temple certainly, that regular identification would scarcely have seemed to be necessary. Why was this? Well, I think if we envision the circumstances in the garden, it becomes quite clear. A number of people in a dark garden, Judas knew they would be there. He knew that Jesus would be in the midst of a group, and so this sign was developed so that Judas, who was familiar to the group, might be able to come close enough to this party of people to identify Jesus by some sign, so that the guards who were standing at some distance away from that would be able to recognize Jesus out of this group of shadowy figures, and if, as Judas expected and as they expected, they would begin to flee when they realized that danger was at hand, they would know which of those figures to follow after and be able to lay their hands on Jesus. So the circumstances being at night in a dark garden, it seems to me, would necessitate this sort of a scheme by which Jesus would be identified by the kiss of Judas. Of course, Judas and those who came with him failed to appreciate, as they would, that Jesus would remain and wait for them to come. So Judas approaches Jesus, and Jesus said unto him, verse 50, friend, a word which means something like comrade or associate, wherefore art thou come? As if this was one final appeal to Judas. Why have you done this, Judas? Examine your ways. Repent before it's too late. We turn to John 18 to pick up another incident at this very time, John 18 and verse 4. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? He goes forth to meet them. They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus sayeth unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. Things did not go according to plan. Instead of rushing forward to lay hold on him, they seemed to have been seized with some kind of irrational fear, and they fell away backward, as perhaps for the last time Jesus exercised the power that had been given him by the Father, to show them and to show to all those who were there that they did not take Jesus against his will, but that he surrendered himself into their hands. As the good shepherd, he was laying down his own life for the sheep. It was not taken away from him. The soldiers then fall to the ground and recall to our minds Psalm 27, beginning with verse 1. The Psalms of David that it seems to me are so beautifully indicative of the feelings and the experiences of Jesus, Psalm 27 and verse 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell, though an host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Jesus had prepared himself. There was for him now no fear. The host that came to encamp against him, to encamp around him, to attack him and take him, found themselves falling away backward at the power that he manifested. John 18 and verse 7. Then asked he them again, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake, of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. Jesus, still the good shepherd, is caring for his sheep. Even though he is the one whose life is in imminent danger, his only concern is for those who are with him, that he will not lose them. And now we recognize, though it's taken us a few moments to talk about this, that these things have happened very, very quickly. And so we turn to Matthew 26 again, verse 50, and we pick up with the disciples and especially with one of them, Peter, who is even now, just in these last few moments, beginning to wake himself from sleep, being rather distracted by the noise and the commotion around him. We read that in Matthew 26 and verse 50, when they came and laid hands on Jesus, only a few words have passed back and forth as we just mentioned, and they take him. And now Peter, rising up from sleep, bewildered by what he sees, and one of them, who is Peter, of course, stretched out his hand, drew his sword, which he had with him, and struck a servant of the high priest, and smote off his ear. This was Peter, of course. John 18 and verse 10 tells us that. And it seems to me quite reasonable to suppose that in the commotion and the confusion that Peter was trying to strike Judas, because if we take our minds back just a few hours to that last supper that Jesus had with his disciples, Peter was the one who desperately wanted to know who was it that would betray Jesus, as though he could take him out of the way, as though he could put himself between Jesus and danger. And he was very courageous and very strong, or so he thought. And now he realizes, as he wakes from sleep, that Judas must be the one, that Judas has brought the enemies, and taking his sword, he attempts to reach Judas. But perhaps in the confusion, Judas evades him, and Malchus, who is standing nearby, who is the servant of the high priest, is struck instead, only a glancing blow, so to speak, that cuts off his ear, rather than the blow that Peter would certainly intend for Judas, which would take off his head. We see here, it seems to me, a wonderful contrast between the preparation of Jesus and the lack of preparation for Peter. And we see ourselves, perhaps, in how Peter reacted. What had Jesus done in these last few hours? He knew what was coming. He had watched. He had waited. He had prayed and prepared himself so that no longer would his will be dominant over the Father's will, but the Father's will would be his sole concern. He had weighed the alternatives, and only then had he acted in the correct way. Peter, by contrast, had dozed off, had fallen asleep, had wakened up for a bit, had dozed off again, had now awakened suddenly in the midst of confusion, had not prepared himself, had not planned ahead, did not know what to expect, and therefore immediately grabs his sword, which he probably shouldn't have had in the first place, and goes out to fight against an enemy which he scarcely understands, and in the process then strikes off an ear. We look at these two examples, and we say to ourselves, what sort of brother or sister are we? Are we the sort who look at potential problems as they develop, who wait carefully, who weigh the alternatives, who watch, who pray, and finally then act cautiously and carefully and correctly? Or are we perhaps like Peter, who doze off spiritually, who don't pay attention to what's happening around us, and then are caught unawares, and the only thing we can think to do is take up the sword and go out and cut off somebody's head or cut off someone from the Ecclesia? Perhaps all too often we find ourselves acting as did Peter. Peter takes the sword then and uses it, and thus we find in the words of Isaiah, Isaiah 53, and verse 12, that Jesus was numbered with the transgressors, even before he came to the cross, where he was crucified between two thieves, that by the actions of his followers, Jesus was numbered amongst the transgressors. In Luke 22, verse 51, following up this same incident immediately, Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far, as if to say to them, Wait just a moment before we go on. And they waited for him, and he touched the ear of the high priest's servant and healed him. Even in his own sufferings, Jesus was bringing healing to others, again reminding us of Isaiah 53. With his stripes, we are healed. I mentioned that one of the gospel records points out to us that the name of this high priest's servant was Malchus, and it seems to me that it's maybe not a hard and fast rule, but quite often it appears that when the name of an otherwise obscure person is given in Scripture, that this is at least an indication, we can't say positive proof, but an indication that that person later embraced the truth. And I think what more reasonable would it be than that, that Malchus, who was miraculously healed by Jesus on his way to the cross, would reflect upon what he had seen and would eventually align himself with the followers of Jesus. It seems reasonable that would be the case that the name would be mentioned for that purpose because the gospel writers then, by putting in the name, would call attention to the part that some believer played at a much earlier time so that they would look upon Malchus who was in their midst and realize, Yes, that Malchus, that was the one who was there in the garden and who was converted as a result of what happened to him and what he witnessed. And so we have the rather lovely thought, it seems to me, that Malchus, who had begun that day as a follower, as a servant of a corrupt high priest, if he didn't end that day, at least soon thereafter became a follower of the true high priest, a servant of Jesus Christ, the one high priest. Just a suggestion, just a possibility that we can't prove, but it seems to me very fitting. Matthew 26 and verse 52. Then said Jesus unto him, unto Peter, Put up again thy sword into its place, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me twelve legions of angels, twelve legions, one for each of the tribes of Israel. This was the time of the Passover and Jesus remembering and calling their attention to the first Passover would recall their minds to the fact that the protecting angels had passed over, had overshadowed the homes of those in Egypt and had turned aside the angel of death. This is the last Passover and Jesus now commands all the legions of the angels that had watched over the twelve tribes in Egypt, for he is the embodiment and the hope of all the twelve tribes, but Jesus also is the Passover lamb. And so though he could call those angels to protect him, as had been done at the first Passover, instead he must play the part of the lamb and he must be led away to his death, that others who fear death might be saved out of death. So Jesus knows the part then, of course, that he will play. He will be the Passover lamb whose blood will be shed for others. Verse 54. But how then, he says, shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? Mark chapter 14, verse 51. And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body, and the young man laid hold on him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. Who is this and why is this rather extraordinary incident recorded in this place? One suggestion is that this was young John Mark, who later, of course, wrote the gospel, and this is his personal note in his own gospel. How did this come about? Well, perhaps we can reconstruct some of the circumstances. We are told, for example, and the reference is Acts 12 and 12. You needn't bother looking it up, but if you want to note it down, we're told, for example, that the upper room where often the disciples of Jesus met in those early days in Jerusalem was at John Mark's house. So we can reconstruct the events of that last night, perhaps something like this. It was at John Mark's home where Jesus and the twelve had come to partake of the Passover, at least the Passover as Jesus saw it, his Passover that he kept with the disciples. They had spent much of the evening there. Finally, after they had left, Mark, perhaps, who had been serving them or who had been assisting or observing, would go to bed, as would the other members of the family. Judas, meanwhile, had departed, and a while later then, after the whole family had settled down to sleep, there would come a loud knock on the door, and Mark, amongst others, would go to see who was at the door. It would be Judas, and with him were a band of men. Where is Jesus? They would say. He's not here. He's gone, and immediately they would leave because Judas would have an inkling in his mind where to look for him. Of course, the Garden of Gethsemane, where he had spent so much time with his disciples, and Mark, in a daze having got himself up from bed, realizes that Jesus is in danger, and so he throws a cloak of some sort about his body, which is otherwise naked, not perhaps absolutely naked, but with undergarments on. He throws a cloak about him. There's no time to waste by getting dressed, and immediately he leaves the house to go by another route to the Garden of Gethsemane, hoping that he will arrive there to enable him to warn Jesus that Judas is coming with his enemies to arrest him. But he isn't able to arrive on time. He arrives on the scene too late, in the midst of great confusion, and he has almost apprehended himself. They grab his cloak, and we're told he flees away naked. A rather unusual story, a story which perhaps, for modesty's sake, does not include the name of Mark, but perhaps it happened in just that sort of way, or in a very similar way, as we have described. Over this scene then, as it closes, are the words of Jesus. This is your hour and the power of darkness. They have laid hands upon him, his disciples forsake him and flee away into the darkness, so weak in their time of testing, forgetting the resolution, forgetting the words that they had spoken just a few hours before, they now flee from him, thinking only of their own lives. They all forsook him and fled. Darkness closes upon the scene. Jesus is bound, and they lead him away. And we remain there, watching in the garden. The garden with its gnarled, old olive trees is dark and quiet again. Stillness descends upon the night. The silence is broken only by the rustling of the leaves, and there we wait and watch.

Transcript

We pick up the story then with John chapter 18 verse 12, then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him away to Annas first for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. Annas was no longer the official high priest but the title and the power and the wealth that went along with it he retained. It remained in his family as a matter of fact through as we're told five of his sons and now his son-in-law Caiaphas as they became high priest in turn. The family of Annas was a ruthless and ambitious family willing to do anything possible to retain their power and their preeminence over the nation of Israel and to use that power and preeminence for their own self-improvement and self-benefit. Verse 15, and Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest, this is no doubt John, and he went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest but Peter stood at the door without then went out that other disciple which was known unto the high priest and spoke unto her that kept the door and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. And the servants and officers stood there who had made a fire of coals for it was very cold remember we're talking about the middle of the night in the springtime and they warmed themselves and Peter stood with them and warmed himself at the same fire. Peter warmed himself by the fire of the world and denied his Savior who is the living fire, the living light. And as we think of this incident, we remember a passage in Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 11. We'll look at Isaiah 50 several times in the course of these studies. For Isaiah 50 is one of the messianic prophecies having to do with the sacrifice of Christ. Isaiah 50 and verse 11, in the form of a warning, behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand, you shall lie down in sorrow. This very thing was true of Peter. He stood and warmed himself by the fire which the world had kindled, but he got no heat. And he lay down that night, that next day and the next night in sorrow, knowing that he had denied his Master who was the living fire, the fire that the only true fire that could give him spiritual warmth. In John 18 and verse 19, the high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. They were still, even at this date apparently, trying to formulate their charges against him, something that should have been done already, but apparently had been neglected or had been rather confused and botched up by the efforts of those who would take Jesus and put him to death. In verse 20, we read, Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world, I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where the Jews always go, and in secret have I said nothing. Why do you ask me? Ask them which heard me what I have said unto them, behold they know what I said. Jesus shows here a consistent regard for the legal form of the law in requesting other witnesses. Bring the witnesses, let them testify in this court what I have said or what I have done that is inconsistent with your law. The law of the Talmud did not allow questioning of the accused in order to gain a confession. And yet, in utter disregard for the law, so desperate are the leaders of Israel that they try every possibility to bring judgment against Jesus, even to the point of holding what we call a kangaroo court in the middle of the night rather than waiting for the day as legitimately they should have done. Verse 22, and when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, answerest thou the high priest so? To strike a prisoner also is illegal before his judgment. And in verse 23, Jesus responds, if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me? Again, Jesus calls attention to the law. We're told then in verse 24, as it reads in the authorized version, now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest. But the revised standard version and other more modern versions translate this, Annas then sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest, as though what we have been reading previously happened in the presence of Annas, who had been the high priest, and now in the second step of the trial, Jesus is brought to Caiaphas the actual high priest at that time. And so we turn then to Mark chapter 14 and verse 55. As I said before, we need to do a bit of flipping back and forth to put together the full story presented by all four gospels. And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death, and they found none. So here we get the picture of a continuing effort on the part of the high priest and the Sanhedrin, at least those of the Sanhedrin that they had assembled for this special night meeting to find and clarify and put in an orderly and legal form the charges that they would use against Jesus. This of course to fulfill Psalm 27 and verse 12. Now for the second time in our classes, we look at Psalm 27 as regards Jesus. Psalm 27 and verse 12. Remember, we saw the earlier verses of the psalm when they came to arrest Jesus. When the wicked and my enemies come against me, they stumbled and fell, though in host and camp against me, my heart shall not fear. And now we come to verse 12 of the same psalm, the prayer of the messiah looked at prophetically by David. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. The spirit's commentary upon the trial of Jesus at this point. Mark 14 and verse 56 as we continue. For many bear false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. And we're told by the law of the Talmud that these false witnesses who sought to bring a charge against Jesus should have been punished with the very same punishment that they thought to bring upon him. But of course we read absolutely nothing about that. The false witnesses came and went and apparently, at least at the present time, were unpunished for their deeds. Verse 57, And there arose certain and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. But neither so did their witness agree together. Still, this, an obvious misapplication of the words of Jesus, for he spoke of the temple of his own body, we're told in John chapter 2, this obvious misapplication was the very best that they could produce. And now we pause here for a moment and reflect. Why would the leaders of Israel be in such disarray? They had had time to plan this verbal attack against Jesus and to carry through their scheme. Why did they seem to be so disorganized, continually trying to bring witnesses and school them in what they should say and having those witnesses overturned, perhaps by the skillful questioning of a couple of people in the Sanhedrin who were not going along with the scheme of its leaders? Why did they have this difficulty? And it seems to me the answer to that question is bound up in the answer to another question, where was Judas? Because the leaders of Israel, when they sought someone to betray Jesus, would have had much more in mind than simply finding one of his close friends who would identify him in the Garden of Gethsemane. They must have had in mind someone who had accompanied Jesus for years, who had heard both his public and his private statements, who had seen everything that he did, and who could bring charges against him with the expectation of being believed. And so the question, where was Judas? Seems to have the same answer as the question, what has happened to the carefully planned schemes of the high priest and the leaders of the Sanhedrin? Judas had gone and removed himself, whether he'd actually committed suicide at this point were not positive, but he had removed himself from their schemes. And apparently, they had been expecting to use him as the star witness in their prosecution against Jesus. But instead, for some reason, he had deserted and hid himself and possibly even killed himself by this point, throwing their carefully laid plans into complete disarray. At least it seems to me that this is the reasonable way in which we should read between the lines of the gospel narratives. Verse 60, And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? This is now apparently, as I said, Caiaphas. And again, we're reminded of some Old Testament passage, Psalm 109, verses 2 through 4. We just mentioned some of these passages in the Psalms to convey the idea that indeed the Psalms are the inner biography of Jesus, that they express at most every point of his life the thoughts that he must have had as he prayed to God in the circumstances in which he found himself. Psalm 109, verse 2, For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of hatred. They fought against me without a cause. For my love, they are my adversaries. He was in this precise position, his life being threatened because of the love that he had for God, dedicated in absolute service to God. And so the sorrowful thought, for my love, they are my adversaries. They are not just the enemies of me personally, they are the enemies of the one whom I love. They are making themselves the enemies of God. But I give myself unto prayer and hear the indication that as we see in the gospel narratives, Jesus does not fight for his life, he does not defend himself. His spoken words are merely to point out to his prosecutors step by step their failure to keep to the letter of the law as they seek his life. But never does he mount a defense in his own cause. I give myself unto prayer as my adversaries stand before me seeking my life. Back then in Mark 14 verse 61, we see the same thought. He held his peace and answered nothing. His silence then was more eloquent than any words. As a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth as the charges, the false charges were laid upon him. Again, the high priest asked him and said unto him, Are you the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed? And we read here for parallel, keep your thoughts there with Mark 14, but we read the parallel passage, Matthew 26 and verse 63. In this case, the high priest says, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. This is the so-called oath of the testimony. It was a binding oath upon the witness to answer the question directly without evasion. And in contrast to English and American law, apparently, the oath, the swearing of the witness was taken by the high priest on his behalf. The high priest acting as the prosecuting attorney or the judge takes the oath, which as he takes it, is binding upon Jesus to respond. And so Jesus does respond as we see in several of the Gospels. We're looking now at Mark 14 and verse 62. Jesus said, I am. In other of the Gospel narratives, at the same point, we have such phrases as thou hast said, which on the surface appear to be evasive. But if we compare one Gospel to another, it seems quite evident that whatever precise form of the words Jesus used, as it was understood by those to whom he spoke, he was directly without evasion testifying that he was the Messiah, beyond question. Perhaps the phrase thou hast said it should be accepted in the sort of colloquialism that we might use. Yes, you said it, and it is the truth. This was certainly the intention of the words of Jesus. I am the Messiah. And so in Mark 14 and verse 62, I am the Messiah, he says, and you shall see henceforth the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. They were in the role of judges now. This is what Jesus is telling them. You can sit as judges now, but the time is coming when I will be the judge and you will be in the role of the accused. You will see me coming from heaven with the power of God, and you will know yourselves to be those who are held in judgment for your actions here. One day and forever after, Jesus will play the part of the judge. Verse 63, Then the high priest rent his garments and saith, What need we any further witness? This was, we are told, in one place in the law, the prescribed method for dissociating oneself from blasphemy. But as it was mentioned earlier in one of our discussions, it was illegal, apparently, for the high priest to rend his garments, Leviticus 21 and verse 10, if it applies, being the verse that we have in mind. Perhaps out of his frustration or perhaps in triumph, we're not certain, the high priest rends his garments. Now I have achieved that goal that I have sought for so long. But also, unknowingly, it seems to me, the high priest was symbolizing by the rending of his garments the end of his own priesthood, Isaiah 50 and verse 9. For the second time, we look at the prophecy of Isaiah 50. Isaiah 50 verse 9, Behold, the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. It's the same sort of figure that Paul uses in Hebrews when he says, That which is waxed old is ready to vanish away and be removed as a rotten garment. This was the law, and this was the priest who was the leader, the head and the interpreter of the law, waxed old as a garment, the moth hath eaten it up, filled with corruption and ready to be cast aside. This was the priest, and this was the law as interpreted by the priest that condemned Jesus. And now in his death, they were ready to pass away. Mark 14 and verse 64, Ye have heard the blasphemy. What think ye, he said to those who were listening, and they all condemned him to be guilty of death. Ironically, it seems the blasphemy was as much against Caesar as it was against God in their estimation, that by making himself a king, he had set himself against Caesar. As they would formulate and express the charge later that, as they said to Pilate, if you are a friend of Caesar, you will condemn this man, and we have no king but Caesar. This man, by setting himself up to be a king, has mocked and offended the power of Caesar. And so they testify in this, that they were not the subjects of God in heaven as their king, but the subjects, rather, of Caesar, the God of this world. Isaiah, excuse me, verse 65, also a quotation from Isaiah, also alluded to in Isaiah, And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy. And the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands. One day he will prophesy and point out those very people who smote him with the palms of their hands. And Isaiah 50, for one final time, expresses the thoughts that are developed here in the Gospels, Isaiah 50 and verse 6. The prophetic words of the Messiah, I gave my back to the smiters, my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. There was a complete loss here of all judicial restraint and dignity. Apparently, even the members of the Sanhedrin participating in a very undignified fashion in this mockery of their longtime enemy. Verse 66, And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth, but he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch in the cock crew. Surely that should have been a warning. And a maid saw him again and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he denied it again. And a little later, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely you're one of them. You're a Galilean. Your speech betrays you. And he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man of whom you speak, and the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me three times. And when he thought thereon, he wept." The Gospel of Luke chapter 22 and verse 61 tells us that, we needn't look it up, tells us that at this point, Jesus, who was standing in the court, turned to look upon Peter. And across that court, the eyes of Jesus met and fused with the eyes of Peter. Even as the words were scarcely past his lips, he saw the eyes of Jesus looking upon him. And he stared, and no longer could he look. And he went out and wept. In Luke 22 verse 66, And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together and led him into their counsel, saying, Art thou the Christ, tell us? And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe, and if I also ask you, you will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God, once again, Jesus testifying to the power that will be his one day. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am, again, a simple declaration of truth. And they said, What need we any further witness? For we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. As soon as it was day then, they carried him away. This final audience with Annas and Caiaphas apparently to formulate the charges. Now they are ready as best they can be under the circumstances to carry Jesus to Pilate. And so we turn then for the second portion of the trial to Mark chapter 15 and verse 1. Where we read that after they had formulated the charges before the elders and the scribes and the whole council, they bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him to Pilate. As the Jews led Jesus to his judgment before the Roman law, they were in effect leading themselves to judgment. Jesus was the judge, they were the accused, carrying themselves to judgment, their very actions testifying against them. And now what of this man Pilate? Pilate was a career soldier on various borders of the Roman Empire for many years. He had a family connection by marriage to Tiberius, the emperor, and this is perhaps why he rose to such preeminence. His origin certainly didn't dictate that. He was a crude and attackless man. The history of the times reveals that in several instances he was completely inconsiderate of the religious sensibilities of the Jews. He had no time and no inclination for their foolish speculations about God and the law. He was a brutal man who did whatever he pleased to whomever he pleased. And yet in the narrative of the Gospels, he appears to be a very different man. He appears to be timid and tentative and weak and indecisive. And certainly we say to ourselves, there must have been some reason for this, that his actions as portrayed in the Gospels are a total and complete reversal of all of his previous form and his previous life. We'll see perhaps in another reference in a moment why he behaved as he did. Meanwhile, we now pause for a moment to look at Matthew 27 and verse 3 to discuss the fate of Judas. And so we read from verse 3 of Matthew 27, Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned. So here perhaps we have an indication of the time at which Judas then acted to take his own life. Judas repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver, which were probably only a down payment for the money that he was to receive if he had successfully finished his task in the betrayal and the death of Jesus. He brought this down payment of the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying to them, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? See thou to that, as though they didn't want to be bothered anymore with Judas. Don't come to us publicly like this. Don't bring this money. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces and in a rather curious and ironic concern for legal form and appearance, they say, it is not lawful for to put this into the treasury. It's the price of blood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in. Therefore, that field is called the field of blood unto this day. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. They took the 30 pieces of silver and gave them for a potter's field. And thus the fate of Judas is sealed. We're told that Judas repented. But it seems to me that that word should be understood in the sense that Judas was grieved and sorrowful for what he did, but he could not and did not bring himself to change. He was sorry, but he could not change. Was it inevitable, we ask ourselves, that Judas die without forgiveness? Could Jesus have forgiven him? Is any sin, for that matter, unforgivable? And it seems to me the real tragedy in the case of Judas, by contrast with the case of Peter, is that Judas did not believe that his sin could be forgiven. And therefore, his sin was unforgivable. In the sense in which Judas betrayed Jesus, I think he differed very little from Peter in the actual sin itself. Peter denied Jesus three times. Judas betrayed Jesus, yet Peter found forgiveness and Judas didn't. And the difference, I think, was not in the character of the sin so much as in the underlying character of the individual. Judas did not believe that God, our Christ, whom perhaps he thought would rise from the dead, could forgive him, and therefore he wasn't forgiven. The tragedy, then, is to see in what Judas did the unforgivable sin and to see it in relation to the sins that we might commit and to recognize that truly the unforgivable sin, as far as any of us is concerned, is not in the degree of the sin but is in our attitude toward the sin, that if we recognize that our sins can be forgiven and we go to the place where we can find forgiveness, then we will be forgiven. But Judas could not do this. He didn't understand the depth of the love and mercy that could have been his, and therefore he not only failed in the betrayal, he failed in the aftermath. And that is the tragedy. John 18 and verse 28. We read here that they led Jesus from Caiaphas unto the Hall of Judgment. It was early, and they themselves, the Jews who brought him there, would not go into the lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. And again, very ironically, there is this legalistic concern for defilement under the law of Moses, while at the same time their hands were dripping with the blood of Jesus, symbolically speaking. They would not so much as enter a house in which was the least bit of leaven, lest they be defiled before the Passover. And yet Jesus, the true Passover, was being sacrificed before their eyes, and their hearts and their minds were filled with the leaven of malice and wickedness, and they couldn't recognize it. Verse 29, Pilate then went out unto them, out of the hall, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? And they answered and said unto him, and I think we detect here a notice of surprise, If this man were not a malefactor, we wouldn't have brought him to you. And it seems to me that what is happening is this, that there had been a previous consultation with Pilate. This judgment had been prearranged. Why else would they come so early in the morning and Pilate go out to meet them? The whole affair had been set up ahead of time. Pilate was to put his stamp of approval and railroad Jesus through to the cross. And now Pilate comes out to them and throws them into disarray for the second time. The first time was with the loss of Judas. Now the second time when Pilate apparently is not going to cooperate with them as they thought he would. What are the charges against this man? And immediately they're surprised. He's a malefactor. We wouldn't have brought him to you if he weren't a criminal. Now that doesn't sound to me like the obvious way in which a trial would be opened, but rather there is a hint of surprise there, as I said. Why the double cross, so to speak? Why did Pilate go back on what he had apparently agreed to do? And now we come to the indication, as I mentioned earlier, why it seems to me that Pilate, who was otherwise a very strong and forceful person, now seems so weak and indecisive. And it's in Matthew 27 and verse 19. A little incident perhaps directed by the providence, the overriding hand of God, to produce the results of the trial as it did and to testify to those who were witnessing and to those who read of the trial ever after of the character of that trial. So Pilate's actions here become very important to underline the kind of trial that Jesus is receiving. And the indication of why this happened, it seems to me, Matthew 27 and verse 19. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man? For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. And if we let our imaginations run a bit, we might suppose that Pilate's wife had learned something of Jesus, that perhaps through some of her associations, she knew of the kind of message that he had brought and had some inkling of the kind of man he was, and her thoughts began to trouble her and manifest themselves in dreams, so that she testified to Pilate, be very careful how you treat this man. He's more than a common criminal. He is a very special man. Disregard what the Jewish leaders have said to you and be very careful. And this is the sort of thing then that plays upon the mind of Pilate as he stands or as he sits and looks upon Jesus. John 18 verse 31. Then said Pilate unto them with this background now as we just set it forth, Take ye him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It's not lawful for us to put any man to death. They want Pilate to put his stamp upon it, and Pilate is evading in every way that he can. That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying what death he should die. The Jews, if they had had the power and prerogative at this time, which apparently they didn't, would have executed condemned men by stoning. But Jesus throughout had spoken of his death as a being lifted up. John 3 and 14, John 12 and 32 that he'd spoken just a few days previously. I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to myself. And of course crucifixion was the Roman method of executing those who were condemned. Verse 33. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Jesus following him into the judgment hall for a private interview. Are you the king of the Jews? Pilate already knew the charges. Notice he hadn't even been told. He knew the charges that Jesus was one who was pretending or so the leaders had said to be a king. He recognizes however as he looks upon Jesus that this is not the conduct, this is not the appearance of a mere political pretender such as Barabbas had been. This is a man of a distinctly different character. And so almost with incredulity Pilate says, are you the king of the Jews? Verse 34. Jesus answered him, do you say this thing of yourself or did others tell thee of me? Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter recognizing what has been happening. Pilate answers almost evasive himself, am I a Jew? Thine own nation has brought you to me. What have you done? What do I know of all this nonsense? It's as though Pilate is trying to remove himself as far as possible from this unsavory and distasteful situation. Verse 36. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. That phrase in the Greek is ek which means out of deriving its power from and the word for world is cosmos, this present arrangement or order of things. So Jesus is saying, my kingdom is not deriving its power out of this current order of things. If it were, then my servants would fight like the servants of Barabbas and they would try to achieve a political solution to the Roman problem today. But that of course was far from Jesus' mind. But now is my kingdom not from hence. These are the words of Jesus. Jesus' kingdom was derived out of heaven. It would be an earthly kingdom, but its power and its authority came from God in heaven. And it was utterly distinct and different from all of the worldly kingdoms deriving their power and authority from one man's oppression of another man as the Roman kingdom and even as the Jewish kingdom as it existed in those days. Pilate therefore said unto him, Are you then a king then? Still trying to forge to this point, still puzzled a little bit by the appearance and the conduct of Jesus, Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born. For this cause I came into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Jesus gives a confident and complete witness to the greatest gentile power, to the representative of the greatest gentile power on the earth, testifying before kings that he is indeed the true king, bearing witness to the one truth. And so Pilate says to him in verse 38, What is truth? As though he's exasperated, as though he fails to understand, as though all of this is beyond him and he wishes he'd never entered into it. If someone could tell me what truth is, I'd surely like to know. And yet ironically Pilate has the truth standing before him and he fails to recognize it. What is truth? And a few moments later he takes Jesus out and presents him to the crowd, Behold the man, John 19 and verse 5, the man in whom is embodied all truth. All truth was standing before Pilate and he failed utterly to understand it. Still Pilate recognizes that there is something extraordinary about this man and so in the last part of verse 38 he goes out again to the Jews who are waiting there expectantly and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. But ye have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover. Will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? And they cried again saying not this man but Barabbas who was a robber and a revolutionary apparently. Pilate's first report of Christ's innocence should have ended the entire trial but the Jews are not going to let him get away with it. They continue to press down upon him to use every devious tactic to bring about his pronouncement of judgment. And so moving over to Mark 15 where we get a fuller picture of this portion of the trial in verse 3, Mark 15 in verse 3, we read that the chief priest accused him of many things but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him again saying answerest thou nothing? Behold how many things they witness against thee but Jesus yet answered nothing so that Pilate marveled. The Jewish leaders were dreaming up all kinds of charges. They're desperate. Time is running out. They realized that if the fullness of the day comes and the city of Jerusalem, the people there become aware of what's happening, they may well mount a counter revolt against what the Jewish leaders are plotting and refuse to allow Jesus to be crucified. So much did some of the common people love Jesus. But the Jewish leaders were desperate to be rid of him as quickly as possible and so they began to fight tooth and nail to be rid of him. And still Jesus does not answer. And we're told that Pilate marvels. Verse 5. In Luke 23, verse 5 in that place, And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. Pilate is in a quandary. Before him stand the enemies of Jesus, desperately desiring his death. Pilate desperately desires to be out of this terrible situation, this quandary. What will he do? And finally, he hits upon this. He stirs up the people, beginning from Galilee. In Pilate, when he heard of Galilee, verse 6, he said, Is this man a Galilean? And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction in Galilee, he sent him to Herod and wiped his hands clean. One brother referred to this as the civil service mentality. Pass it along to someone else. Let somebody else bear the blame. And Pilate was only too eager to do so. Send him to Herod. Let him worry about it. With what relief he must have said that. And so we read in verse 8, When Herod saw Jesus, because Herod was in Jerusalem at that time, he was exceeding glad, not glad to be in the presence of Jesus, to hear what he would say so much as we are told. He had desired to look upon him for a long time, he hoped that he would see some miracle. Herod was just like the Jewish nation of which he was king. He desired to see a sign. There had been many signs done in Israel, and yet Herod always wanted another sign. He was a curiosity seeker. He was interested only in satisfying his own curiosity and not in learning what is truth. And so he questioned him with many words, but Jesus answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes tagging right along behind stood and vehemently accused him, and Herod and his men of war. Notice the sarcasm in that. The men of war of a previous Herod who had put to death the babies in Bethlehem. Now this Herod with his men of war mocks and scoffs at an unarmed innocent man before him. Such men of war as that. They set him at naught. They mocked him. They put upon him a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. And Herod did nothing either. And so we see, however, as verse 12 tells us, that in the same day Pilate, the Greek, the Gentile, and Herod the Jew were made friends together. And Paul comments on this in Romans 3 when he says, we have concluded both Jews and Gentiles that they are under sin. And in a quotation from Psalm 2, Peter says in Acts 4, the very same thing, against the Lord and against his anointed, there were raised up the kings of the Jews and the kings of the Gentiles, all people testifying against Jesus and testifying to their own sin by mocking and criticizing Jesus himself. Against God's anointed, there were raised up both Jews and Gentiles. And Jews and Gentiles both were being condemned in the trial of Jesus. And so finally, Herod lobs the ball back into Pilate's court, and we come there for the final stage of the trial. Pilate has not been able to evade his responsibility. He must continue to face up to it, but he still tries to be rid of Jesus without pronouncing judgment upon him. And so we read in verse 13 of Luke 23, Pilate says unto them, You have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the people. I have examined him before you. I found no fault in him. I wish you would just let me release him. And they cried out once again, verse 18, Away with this man, give us Barabbas instead, who for a certain sedition had been cast into prison. Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spoke again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time, Why? What evil hath he done? I find no cause of death in him whatsoever. I will therefore chastise him and let him go. As Brother Carter says in one place, Pilate hoped that mangling an innocent man with a savage Roman scourge would suffice as a compromise, but even that wasn't enough for the Jews. He hoped that he could release him, but it was entirely impossible. So much did the Jews, the Jewish leaders, press down upon him. John 19, then, at verse 1. So Pilate took Jesus and scourged him, and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and said unto them, Behold, I have brought him forth to you, that ye may know that I have found no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said unto them, Behold the man! As though perhaps in their witnessing of this man, who had been scourged and so mistreated, they would perhaps now have compassion on him and let him go, but still they demand his life. When the chief priest, therefore, an officer saw him, they cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate said unto them, You take him! You crucify him! Of course, knowing that they couldn't, still he contends, for the fourth or fifth time it must be, I find no fault in this man. Ever after, Pilate's words stand as a witness to the world that there was no fault in this man, that he was crucified through the malice and the sin of his own countrymen. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. We have no king but Caesar. This was their intention, that any man who elevated himself up against the civil and religious authorities as they thought Jesus had done, deserved to die, never mind that he might be the Messiah. He was threatening their position, and he must be removed. When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the judgment hall and said unto Jesus, Whence art thou? Desperately he wants something from Jesus that will enable him to let him go and still keep his throne and his power. Then said Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Don't you know that I have power to crucify thee and power to release thee? Jesus answered calmly, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee have the greater sin, and the utter calm and composure with which Jesus answers, must have convinced Pilate what an extraordinary man he was dealing with. And from thenceforth Pilate continued to seek to release him, but the Jews cried out, and finally they hit the nerve in Pilate that he could not deny and evade. If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend, and veiled behind that statement was the threat. If you don't do what we say now, you've been in trouble before in Rome, we'll see that you lose your position because you're not cooperating with us, the delegated leaders of the Jews. You'll be sorry if you do this. And finally this last desperate effort and attempt convinces Pilate that he can only cooperate. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. In Matthew 27 and verse 24, which we won't bother looking up, Pilate now calls for a basin of water, and publicly before them washes his hands of the affair, perhaps calling to their attention Deuteronomy 21 verses 5 and 6, that the elders of a city nearest to a slain man that has been discovered will wash their hands and declare their innocence. Pilate unknowingly plays the part of this elder, declaring his innocence such as he is able to do by washing his hands. And they cry out, we have no king but Caesar, crucify him. His blood be upon us and upon our children, and it has been from that day to this. And so we conclude then with Mark 15 verse 16. Pilate can no longer evade, he has to fear for his own skin, and finally, against everything that is crying out within him, he goes forward and sends Jesus to his death. Mark 15 verse 16. And the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole band, and they clothed him with purple and plaited a crown of thorns and put it about his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him and bowing their knees worshiped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him and put his own clothes on him and led him out to crucify him. Jesus is standing in Pilate's hall, friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all. Harken, what meaneth that sudden call? What will you do with Jesus? Jesus is standing on trial still. You can be false to him if you will, or you can be faithful through good and ill. What will you do with Jesus? What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be. One day your heart will be saying, What will he do with me?

Transcript

We start our class this morning with what seems to me to be a supreme irony. Turn with me first to John chapter 1, verse 11. Here we read, John 1 and 11, that Jesus, who was the Word made flesh, came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, John continues, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Then we turn to John chapter 19, and verse 16. There we read that Pilate delivered Jesus therefore unto them to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led him away. They received Jesus and led him away to his crucifixion. It is the identical thought. They received Jesus not to believe in the sense that we read of in John 1 and verse 12, not to become the sons of God, not to have their sins to be forgiven, but they received Jesus only to put him to death. And we're left then to ask ourselves the question, is it possible that we can receive Jesus in the same way? Paul says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 28, He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. It is just possible that we have received Jesus in the same way that his enemies did, only to put him to death again, only to trample him underfoot and treat the blood of the covenant as though it were an unholy thing. As we go through this study then, as we go through this week, let us ask ourselves, in what way, for what purpose have we received Jesus? John 19 and verse 16, They received Jesus and led him away, as the Lamb was led to the slaughter. And he bearing his cross went forth outside the camp, outside the city, as Paul says in Hebrews 13 and 12, and we seek to follow after him to that place, to a place called the place of a skull, in the Hebrew, Golgotha. Golgotha in the Hebrew signifies skull. It is from the Hebrew word, apparently, galal, which means a circle, something which is round, that we find reproduced also in the name Galilee, or the circle of the Gentiles. Most likely, Golgotha was a hill north of the city of Jerusalem, on the Damascus Road, where criminals were executed on a regular basis. It got its name, perhaps, from the fact that it was the place of death, perhaps because the hill itself was shaped like a skull, with recesses in its sides for the eyes and the mouth and so forth. Perhaps, also, there are certain scriptural allusions implicit in this name. It is suggested by ancient Hebrew tradition that Adam died and was buried near Jerusalem at the place called Golgotha, again, its association with death. So, perhaps, where the first Adam died, where the failure of the first Adam was sealed permanently, the last Adam, in his death, was successful to remove that curse. It is suggested, also, on the basis of 1 Samuel 17 and verse 54, that this was the site of the burial of the head of Goliath, and perhaps even Goliath's name is reproduced in Golgotha, or Golgoliath, the head of Goliath. And so the place where the great enemy of Israel, the head of the Philistines, came to rest was the place where Jesus won the great victory over the Philistine power of sin. An English explorer named Gordon discovered and excavated a tomb, commonly referred to as the Garden Tomb, just under a hill north of the city, a hill shaped roughly like a skull, this in the late 1800s. As far as we can determine, this is the place, the location, where Jesus died and was buried. Luke 23, verse 26. And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. There are a couple of parallel passages here, we won't bother looking them up for the sake of time, but you might note the references. Mark 15 and verse 21, where Simon is spoken of as the father of Alexander and Rufus, and Romans 16 and verse 13, where the same information basically is passed along. Putting these passages together with what we read here in Luke, it appears very strongly as though Simon himself later became a Christian. If he had no awareness of Jesus at this time, or little awareness, that awareness would be deepened by those things which he witnessed in the next few moments, in the next few hours. Jesus says that if any man loves him, he must take up his cross and follow after him. And Simon, the Cyrenian, was the first, in a very literal way, to take up the cross of Jesus and follow after him. Jesus said in Matthew 5 and verse 41 as a part of the Sermon on the Mount, if they, the Roman authorities, compel you to go with them one mile, go with them two, do more than is required of you by the authorities. And it was apparently under this very law that Simon was compelled to bear this burden at the instigation of the Roman authorities. And it presents us the lovely thought that Simon, this man from Cyrenia, Simon, who was compelled perhaps even against his will at the beginning to bear that cross, continued to bear that cross for the rest of his life as he followed after Christ. The journey he began, this fateful day, he followed to his own grave. I came across a poem recently, the words of Simon, as imagined by a writer. And I like to think of it as something like the reminiscences of the old man Simon. Years and years later, as he recounted, perhaps for the hundredth or the 500th time, what had happened to him on that day. So we listen then to Simon. There is no mark, of course, but I can feel here on my shoulder to this very day the grinding weight where that rough timber lay and left an hour or two its vivid seal. I had no thought, no patriotic zeal that morning there, a hero's part to play. Only I saw his eyes, which as he lay down in the dust held mine in mute appeal. A curse on you, Roman dogs, I cried, and I never felt the lash the soldier swung. Then we went together, side by side. My back bent double as we climbed the hill to Golgotha, where on the cross he hung. And I'm proud to say I feel that burden still. The old man Simon speaking to his children and his grandchildren of that day. Luke 23, verse 27. And there followed him a great company of people and of women which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bear and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If this is what your nation is capable of now, think what will be your fate in the days to come. This was the warning word of Jesus. Verse 30. They shall say to the mountains, Fall upon us and to the hills, cover us. Are a conscious quotation from Hosea chapter 10 and verse 8. Let's turn to that prophecy. And we see that these illusions are not haphazard, but that a pattern is developed here. Hosea chapter 10 and verse 8. They shall say to the mountains, Cover us and to the hills, fall upon us. Is a part of a prophecy developing through the last few chapters of Hosea. A prophecy looking vividly with great detail upon what we are witnessing today as we read from the Gospel narrative. Hosea 9 and verse 12. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them that there shall not be a man left. This the judgment coming upon the nation of Israel, even as they nationally pretended to judge Jesus. Verse 14. Give them, O Lord, what wilt thou give them? Give them miscarrying womb and dry breasts. All their wickedness is in Gilgal, almost the equivalent in the Hebrew of Golgotha. All their wickedness is there, for there I hated them. For the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of mine house. That very thing happened to the nation of Israel. Verse 17. My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations. Chapter 10 and verse 3. For now they shall say, We have no king, we have no king but Caesar. And they denied the true king given to them. Verse 5. For the glory thereof, the glory is departed from Israel. The glory of Israel was dying in the midst of Israel, and God veiled the scene with darkness. Verse 8. They shall say to the mountains, Cover us, to the hills, fall upon us. And verse 15. That awful last phrase. In a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off. John 19 verse 18. And so they came to Golgotha, where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst, as though he were the worst of the lot. And again, Isaiah 53 and 12. He will be numbered with the transgressors. Mark 15 verse 23. Mark 15 verse 23. And they gave him to drink wine, mingled with myrrh. The parallel passage, Matthew 27 and verse 34 says, with gall, and he received it not. By tradition, this drink was said to be provided by a woman's society of Jerusalem as a humanitarian gesture to ease the excruciating pain and torture of crucifixion. Jesus recognizes it for what it is. He recognizes that taking this drug would distort the sacrifice of his will, if not the sacrifice of his body. And so he refuses, maintaining to the very end, despite the pain that he must have felt continually, a conscious reasoning, obedience of his mind and his will to God. So that Paul, when looking back upon this in Romans 12, says, let us follow his example and present ourselves as living sacrifices, which is our reasonable duty and responsibility. And that word reasonable means our reasoning or our logical duty and responsibility. Jesus was conscious of the work that he must do, and that work continued right onto the cross until the moment of his death. And so he maintained, through the pain, through the billowing clouds of pain that must have come upon him, he maintained his consciousness that his mind might continue to function, that he might continue to pray to the Father for strength, for forgiveness for his brethren. He was the perfect living sacrifice in contrast to the sacrifices of the law of Moses, which, when their throat was cut, died almost immediately. Jesus continued to live, continued conscious upon the cross that he might finish the work that was there for him to do. The Gospel record says it was the third hour, approximately 9 a.m. in the morning, and they crucified him. Have we tried, have all of us tried from time to time to imagine what the crucifixion was like? They would take the rough beam that was carried by Simon to this place of death and would lay it upon the ground in Jesus on top of it. The nails would be affixed through his hands or his wrists to the rough wood. Then the cross piece would be lifted and attached to the upright piece to form the cross. Spikes would be placed in his ankles. The whole affair would be jolted down into the hole in the earth, ripping the muscles and the flesh. There he would hang. I think we can scarcely imagine the waves of pain that continued to engulf him there. Coupled with the heat, the thirst, the flies that would circle around the blood that flowed, the dust that would billow up from the earth, the difficulty continually more so in breathing and in maintaining his consciousness, the abuse from observers who were there, the shame that that sensitive soul must have felt with the nakedness that was probably arranged for him by his enemies as they looked upon him. The psalmist says, Yea, though I walk through the valley, the shadow of death, thou art with me. Jesus here was experiencing the shadow of death. And we go with him there, trying as we can, as we can in a second-hand way, to experience something of that day, something of that time, but failing, no doubt, really to appreciate what happened that day. Luke 23, verse 34. Out of the mists and the shadows of death, out of the sea of pain in which he was drowning, there comes the voice, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. It's commonly supposed that Jesus' prayer was for mercy on behalf of the Romans, who had no way of knowing truly what they were doing. And I think that's true. But it seems to me quite reasonable to suppose that Jesus' prayer was on behalf of the Jews as well. That if there were any opportunity for repentance and recognition of what they had done, would God please forgive them? Perhaps his prayer was for Saul of Tarsus, who began at this point or soon thereafter a hateful campaign against the Christians, until finally he was arrested by the vision of the glorified Jesus. Why are you persecuting me? Perhaps his prayer was for Saul of Tarsus. Perhaps his prayer there was for all of us, who through our indifference and our weakness and our forgetfulness, time after time turn aside from the way in which we should go and have to come back to this place, to this cross, to see the effect of our sins. Perhaps he prayed for us. John 19, verse 19. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. The four gospel records give somewhat different versions of the precise wording of the word Jesus. It was on the cross. This is perhaps most reasonably explained by what follows in verse 20. This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. So we might suppose that each of the languages gave a slightly different version of the words. This one in John can perhaps suffice for the rest. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, don't write the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. And Pilate, quite obviously shaken by the things that he had been witnessing this day, replies bluntly, what I have written, I have written. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Pilate perhaps beginning to wonder and to doubt the part that he had been forced against his will to play in this vile act. Verse 23. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it might be. John inserts then the thought that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, Psalm 22 verse 18, they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. Here we see the disposal of the personal effects of Jesus. His purse, his money had already gone to Judas. Who better to receive it? His clothes now went to the Roman soldiers, leaving his naked body upon the cross. Jesus himself, in verses 26 and 27 of this chapter, bequeaths his mother to John to care for. Where were Jesus' brothers? And finally, as he dies, he commits his spirit, his life force, to his father. Leaving nothing of Jesus himself, but the body, empty of the spirit, which goes to Joseph, who carries it away to the tomb. Naked he came into the world, and naked and without possessions, he departed the world, blessing the name of God. Luke 23 verse 35. And the people stood beholding, and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others. Let him save himself, if he be the Messiah, the chosen of God. The words of Psalm 22, fulfilling as they spoke these words, Psalm 22. Verse 8. He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him, spoken scornfully as they directed their taunts toward that figure on the cross. Verse 13. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws. Thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked, that word assembly, the word used for the Sanhedrin, have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. In Luke 23, verse 36. The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar and saying, If you be the king of the Jews, save yourself. The words of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by and see my sorrow, we are being called to see that sorrow. Does it mean nothing to us? Mark 15, verse 29. And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save yourself, come down from the cross. Come down from the cross, they said to him. But if he had done so, how could God's will have been fulfilled? Instead, he would come up from the grave, a greater miracle yet, and still the nation would not believe. We read that the two thieves also, observing this treatment of Jesus, began to speak against him, to rail upon him, save yourself and save us in the bargain while you're at it. Look at the fate we have brought ourselves to. But gradually, as the hours pass, one of those thieves, observing Jesus, hearing his words, seeing his actions, begins to change his mind, begins to remember what he has heard before about this man, Jesus of Nazareth. And so we read in Luke 23 and verse 39 that one of the malefactors which were hanged, railed on him, continued despite what he saw, his own pain, his own torment, blinding his eyes to what he saw before him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other, answering, finally rebuked him, saying, Does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Consider the statement of faith of this second thief. In verse 40, as we see it before us, he acknowledges his fear of God, his own mortality and condemnation. In verse 41, his sinfulness, we indeed suffer justly, the due reward of our deeds. Implicit in that, his repentance. He looks at Jesus and sees in him a man, but a very special man, a man who has done nothing whatsoever amiss, a man who has been perfectly obedient and yet is dying upon this cross. And in verse 42, as he speaks to Jesus, he acknowledges his lordship, his kingship, the hope of a kingdom to go with that king, and the hope of a resurrection. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom in that future day. Notice also that the thief was being baptized with Jesus in a way that none of us can approximate. He was literally being crucified with Jesus, as Romans 6 implies that we should be in a spiritual sense. What we should be in a spiritual sense, he was literally, as Jesus had said to James and John, can you be baptized with my baptism? Can you die my death? This man was dying the death of Jesus. And somehow, any question at this point of baptism or otherwise seems rather pointless. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee today, we understand how that sentence should be read, Thou shalt be with me one day in paradise in the garden. They were in a garden at that very time. Jesus' body was to be laid in a tomb nearby where there was a garden. All of this harking back to that picture in the beginning, the Garden of Eden, where man had failed. And now the last Adam succeeds in another garden. Thou shalt be with me in that Garden of Eden restored. Paradise, the kingdom of God. With this promise in his heart, the thief will die. John 19, verse 25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. Even in intense suffering, the first thoughts of Jesus are for the welfare of others, for his mother. And from the sixth to the ninth hour, there was darkness over the whole land. From approximately noon until 3 p.m., darkness covered the scene. Matthew 27, verse 46. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The words are the first words of the Bible. This is Psalm 22, which we've already looked at in some detail. The words of Jesus, the prayer of Jesus upon the cross. And perhaps we worry over much what Jesus might have meant when he supposed that God had forsaken him. Because if we can enter into his feelings upon the cross, no doubt there would be the fleeting sense of withdrawal of the father from him as he faced death on his own. The one place that he would go without his father. Why have you forsaken me? The doubt, the fear that came into his heart. And yet dispelled rather rapidly as the words of the Psalm 22 impressed upon his mind began to assert themselves and strengthen and uplift his faith out of that possibility of doubt and despair. The words of Psalm 22. The words of Jesus on the cross. Psalm 22, in verse 2. Oh, my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not. And then as the darkness would come upon him. And in the night season I cry, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, thou didst deliver them. Can I do any of these things? Anything less? We continue through the words of the Psalm. Verse 19. Be not thou far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword. My darling, thine only one, from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth. Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. Verse 25. We sense the elevation of his spirit, even as the body was slowly drowning in death. The spirit was being lifted up in faith. As the body grew weak, the spirit grew stronger. My praise shall be of thee, verse 25, in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. Verse 28. The kingdom is the Lord's, he is the governor among the nations. Verse 30. As perhaps he looked upon those around him, not those so much who were mocking him, but those who had been close to him throughout the last few years, his family, his friends, as they stood apart from the cross. Verse 30. A seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. In the words of Isaiah 53 again, he saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. It was given to him a vision of what would come in the future when those who were gathered about the cross and those as yet unborn throughout the world would have new life through what he was accomplishing. A seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come. They shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born that he hath done this. John 19. Verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith I, Thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth, and he received this drink. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the spirit. It is finished. The last words of Psalm 22. They shall come and declare that it hath been done. This is the sense of those words, Psalm 22 and verse 31. And now Jesus, with his last breath, says, Yes, it is done. It is finished. The first recorded words of Jesus at the age of 12 in the temple, Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business? That I must be doing those things, that I must be in those things that pertain to my Father? And now, his last words as he died, It is finished. The work of the Father was finished. The Old Testament prophecies and symbols and types and sacrifices had come to an end as Jesus died. The New Testament activity and teaching of Jesus reached its climax upon the cross. It is finished, he cried. It was the cry of a sufferer whose sufferings have come to an end. It is finished, he cried. The cry of a servant whose work had come to an end. His work is finally done. It is finished. The cry of a conqueror who has won his last battle. It is finished. He bowed his head, he breathed his last. The Spirit, the life, returned to the giver of life. Matthew 27 and verse 51 tells us that the veil of the temple was rent entwined from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake and the rocks rent. Perhaps this is a hint to us of the reason for the conversion of so many priests that we read of in Acts chapter 6 and verse 7. Perhaps who had witnessed this miracle and recognized vaguely the significance of the rending of the veil and the opening of the way into the Most Holy precisely at the time that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross. The veil was rent from top to bottom as though done by the hand of God, and the way into the Most Holy was opened. And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many. A rather strange miracle, a miracle that perhaps leaves us with questions that we can't quite satisfy. How long did these saints remain alive? Who were they? What was the effect of their appearance? We're not told. Verse 54. Now when the centurion and they 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. This was a righteous man. We read briefly in the narratives that now as the end of the day approached, they came and broke the legs of the two thieves that they would die rather quickly, not being able to support their bodies and suffocating. But when they came to Jesus, they marveled that he was already dead. Why did Jesus die sooner than the two thieves? Perhaps that intense period of work and sleeplessness preceding his arrest and his trial. Perhaps the thieves had not been scourged. Perhaps they had not been mistreated to the extent that Jesus had been by his vindictive enemies. At any rate, Jesus, before the others, was already dead. They did pierce his side, and there came out water and blood. The Apostle John picks this up in his first letter, chapter 5, when he says that Jesus came and was witnessed by the water and the blood. And so we, in our lives and the truth, witness to Jesus and his death by the water and the blood, the water of baptism, the blood symbolized by the wine which we drink each first day of the week. Jesus came and died by water and by blood. And we remember that to this day. In John 19, verse 38, And after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, he's also called an honorable counselor in Mark 15 and 43. That is, he was one of the priests who sat in the committee just under the jurisdiction of the high priest, a very important man, a very educated man in Israel. This Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate and besought him that he might take away the body of Jesus. Willing to affiliate himself with this man and his death when he had been afraid to do so while Jesus was alive, surely Joseph had seen through portions of the trial and that which followed that this indeed was the Messiah. And Joseph, before any of the disciples perhaps, believed that Jesus was the Messiah. And so he took the body of Jesus and there came also Nicodemus, another who had been fearful to associate with Jesus while he was yet alive, who had come to him by night in John chapter 3. And now, in the light of day for all to see, he associates himself with this dead body. And Joseph and Nicodemus bear the body of Jesus away with a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight, and they take the body of Jesus and wind it in linen clothes with the spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher wherein was never man yet laid. Here is the second garden, where the second or the last Adam overcame and undid the damage that was brought by the first Adam. In this garden, the last Adam was put to sleep so that out of his pierced side would be created a bride, the multitudinous bride, to share with him in subjecting the earth, the last Adam succeeding where the first Adam had failed. And they laid him in a tomb where never man was laid. Such a tomb would be very uncommon in Palestine, but here Christ when raised would in the words of Psalm 16 and verse 10 literally see no corruption because there were no dead bodies around him. Also, no one ever after would be able to produce out of that tomb a corpse and contend that the claim of the resurrection was invalid. And so Jesus was laid in a tomb where never man, where never body had previously been laid. The one who began his life in a virgin womb is put to rest in a virgin tomb. As there was a Joseph who is called in Scripture record a just man at the beginning of Jesus' life to care for him, so as he died there was another Joseph, also a just man, to care for his dead body. And they marked the place we were told where his body was laid. This did the women so that they might return at the appropriate time to finish the acts of burial. And then finally, Matthew 27, verse 62. Now the next day that followed, the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate again saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver, notice they refused to use the name Jesus, which means Savior, that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again. Now they've got their story right. Now they are beginning to wonder. Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead. So the last error shall be worse than the first. And notice the subtlety in that statement. Worse than the first error. Already they are beginning to doubt what they have done. Though they hate the man who is in the tomb, still they doubt and pilate. His doubts impinging upon his mind says unto them, you have a watch, you have a guard, go your way, use them, make it as sure as you can. And in that last word, an element of doubt entering in the mind of Pilate, as sure as you can. So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. It was a somber weekend. The disciples fleeing and hiding in fear, confused over what had happened, the women alone and grieving, the Jewish leaders vaguely worried about this chain of events which they had set in motion, the common people bewildered and angry at their would-be king who was taken from them. And in a new tomb, dark and damp, behind a large stone, a body, scarcely cold, lies wrapped in grave clothes. The evening air grows chilly. The night falls.

Transcript

At the end of our previous class, we waited and watched as we saw the dead body of Jesus being laid in the tomb. Now we try to experience as best we can in a secondhand sort of way the sorrow and the sense of loss that the Brethren of Christ, the women that accompanied Him for years must have felt when He was taken away from them. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 28 and verse 1. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. As soon as the Sabbath restrictions were passed that kept them bound in their homes, that is apparently after sunset on Saturday, these women who were the close companions of Christ in His life prepare now to give Him their last token of love in His death to prepare the body finally and completely for burial. Early on Sunday morning, as the first light of the sun appears in the east, they set out for the tomb. It should be pointed out, of course, that as we look at certain portions of the four gospel records, there can be some difficulty in reconciling the four gospel accounts with one another. This is true in any portion of the gospel story, but it's especially true with these last events concerning the death and resurrection. And it seems to me that one of the ideas that is conveyed by this rather confusing presentation if we try to bring the four gospels together is the very thing that must have happened on that day. There must have been serious confusion as people ran back and forth wondering what had hearing rumors that they couldn't substantiate by the evidence of their own senses, and therefore there were difficulties involved even for those who were on the very scene in piecing together what actually happened on this day. So some of the things that I'm suggesting, and certainly the order of the events that I'm suggesting, might be open to some counter-proposals, and I recognize that. We're simply trying to see how it might have happened, and of course I would expect that you would make some allowances for the possibility of there being different ways of putting these verses together. So we read in Matthew 28 and verse 2 that when they came to see the sepulcher, behold there was a great earthquake. Apparently this is something that had happened just previously to their arrival, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulcher there in the garden and sat upon it. The angel perhaps rolled the stone back some considerable distance from the door itself. We're going to see some verses in a moment that seem to imply that, and we'll defer until we get to that to make the actual point. But it seems as though the angel rolled the stone back some considerable distance from the sepulcher, he laid it flat so it couldn't be easily lifted up again to be rolled back, and he also for a time sat upon it. Therefore it would be impossible to replace it without a lot of time and effort. And the angel by his action sealed the tomb open. And we hearken back in our thoughts to what was described the other day that the Jewish leaders attempted in their misguided zeal to seal the tomb of Jesus shut, that it could not be opened. Now the very reverse of that is being brought about by the power of God. The tomb is being sealed open with the angel sitting upon it, putting the divine seal upon this action. The great earthquake reminds us of the earthquake that had happened just previously at the death of Christ. And we can imagine then that the earth which trembled with horror at the death of Christ now leaps for joy at His resurrection. In verse 3 of chapter 28, we read that the countenance of the angel was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of Him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men falling to the ground at the spectacle of what they had seen. The soldiers who had been assigned to guard the dead, quite an irony, isn't that, now become as dead men themselves, paralyzed with fear. They cower on the ground. They faint. And when they finally come to their senses and realize that it is apparently safe for them, then they come to their feet and they creep and they scuttle away back to tell of what they have seen to their leaders, to their captains. John chapter 20 and verse 1 is the next step now in the picture. We read that on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early while it was still dark to the sepulcher. Very interesting phrase there, the first day of the week. Literally in the Greek, it is on day one of the seventh, first day of the week. It reminds us, doesn't it, very much of Genesis chapter 1 of the new creation on the first day of the seven days, the beginning of the new creation when God said, let there be light. And the world that was filled with chaos and darkness received the light and God's literal creation was begun. Let there be light. Here again in the New Testament is the beginning of a spiritual creation, a new creation after the pattern of the original creation in Genesis. And so this is indicated by the opening phrase of John 20 on the first day of the week, day one of the beginning of a new creation. There are several New Testament passages that it seems to me refer to this and fill out this picture wherein the writer, Paul, for example, in one place certainly seems to have in mind the resurrection of Christ as the beginning of a new spiritual creation. Let's look at one of those, which is Colossians chapter 1, beginning with verse 15. Colossians 1.15, Paul says, speaking of Jesus, that he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, or we might say by paraphrase, the firstborn of all creation. This is the kind of verse that can present us some difficulty when we're trying to explain our position in regard to the pre-existence of Christ to those who are not Christadelphians, who are not believers. Notice, however, what follows thereafter, and I think the point will become clear. For by him or in him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. All things were created by him. The word there is literally dia, which means through. All things were created through Christ and for him, that is, directed toward him. All things were created through Christ and toward Christ. And he is before all things, and by him or in him all things consist. And still we have a problem. We've read these three verses. How should they be explained to someone who doesn't believe or someone who does believe in the pre-existence of Christ? Verse 18 makes it quite plain and shows the vantage point from which Paul is looking at the coming of Christ. He is, Paul says in verse 18, the head of the body, the church, or the ecclesia, who is the beginning, the creation. Remember what we read in verse 15 and 16, the beginning of God's creation. In that he was, and I'm paraphrasing, of course, but that is his point, in that he was the firstborn from the dead. And so the resurrection of Jesus from the dead marks in Paul's mind the beginning of a new creation, light shining out of darkness, the light of renewed and glorious life shining out of the darkness of the grave. He is the beginning of God's new creation. Everything that comes into a spiritual existence after the time of Christ comes as a result of the resurrection of Christ himself. This is the point. And so verses 15 through 17 are explained, it seems to me, quite amply by what follows in verse 18, that Jesus, in being the firstborn from the dead, not the first one literally to be raised from the dead, but the first one through whom the process was completed, bringing him on to immortality. Thereby, Jesus is the beginning of God's spiritual creation. All of it begun on the first day of a new creation week. To the disciples then, this day, when they understood it more fully later, would mark the beginning of their new lives. Jesus, as the Son, S-U-N, of righteousness, had arisen with healing in his beams to shine forth upon them, and now their lives would never again be the same as they were before. The Son had arisen in this new creation to drive away the dark shadows of despair and lost hope that they had experienced before, and to create a new spirit within the disciples. And so we refer again to a second passage from the apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6. For God, he writes, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, pointing all the way back to Genesis 1, hath shined in our hearts. Now he's putting it on the spiritual level. God hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the face of the risen Jesus Christ, in whom the glory of God shone forth in a reassuring way to the disciples to whom he appeared. Paul says, it is as though that light still shines, and it shines not upon us physically, but it shines in our hearts to give our lives new and glorious meaning. The apostles and disciples then one by one had to fully understand what was being accomplished on their behalf. For the present time, Mary Magdalene, as she has seen the empty tomb on this first day, is not quite able to conceive of the events that must have brought it about. She assumes, as we see in these chapters, that his dead body had been stolen away, and so she runs to tell Peter and John about it. Meanwhile, and remember what I said, that we're trying to reconcile some records that are rather difficult, and there may be other possibilities to see the chronology of the accounts. But meanwhile, it seems to me, as Mark 16 tells us, as Mary has run back to tell Peter and John, they now approach the tomb. The other women who are referred to, Mark 16 verse 2, very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun, and they are described in verse 1 as Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Mary Magdalene, we've already explained her situation. Apparently, she was a bit in front of the others and came to the sepulcher first, saw the empty tomb, and then left to tell Peter and John. The others now, apparently, come unto the sepulcher, and they say to themselves, verse 3, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. Now, that's the verse that I was mentioning to you earlier. It literally means the stone was rolled away, backward, away from the sepulcher. It's a very precise word and a very strong word. It doesn't mean simply moved to the side a little bit so that one could enter into the tomb, but rather moved all the way away from the tomb, quite some distance. And this, of course, attracts their attention, especially as the last part of verse 4 tells us, because the stone was very great. And, of course, it would be impossible, humanly speaking, for one or two people to have moved that stone, especially for women to have moved it. So they realize immediately that something extraordinary has happened. They come up to the entrance of the tomb, and they enter into the sepulcher, verse 5. There they see what Mary Magdalene apparently did not see just before, a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and now they were frightened, naturally. And he saith unto them, be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. So they are told very plainly, he is risen. And perhaps their minds now began to turn over what they had been told previously by Jesus, what they had seen when the scriptures were open to them, that their great teacher, their master, their rabbi had prophesied his own death and resurrection, and they had continued to suppose time after time when he told them that he was speaking in parables. Verse 7, the message from the angel continues, but go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. Notice a nice little touch there. Tell the disciples and especially tell Peter. The message was being sent to Peter especially that his master was risen. This was certainly Christ's way of conveying to Peter the fact that his sins could potentially be forgiven, that his denial of Jesus would not destroy his relationship with him. All of the apostles, of course, needed to be saved from the despondency and bewilderment of the crucifixion, but none needed that so much as Peter. Peter had been so strong, or so he thought. He had been so willing to even die for Jesus. He had been the most loving, the most ambitious, the most desirous of serving Christ. And he had failed the most miserably and his fall must have been great. Peter would have died for Jesus, but he failed terribly. Instead, the message is sent to him that Jesus had died for Peter. So after the women now go their way with this new and wonderful message, Peter and John apparently coming in a different direction so as not to intersect them in response to the message brought to them by Mary Magdalene that the tomb was empty, that the body was apparently stolen. Now they come, not yet knowing of the angels' revelation to the other women. Peter and John now run to the tomb and we're back in John chapter 20 again, John 20 and verse 3. Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came to the sepulcher. So they ran both together and the other disciple did outrun Peter. This is the way it seems to me by which John always refers to himself and came first to the sepulcher and John stooping down and looking in saw the linen clothes lying there inside the sepulcher, yet he did not go in. There's apparently some feeling of deference to Peter who may be older. Then cometh Simon Peter following after John running to the sepulcher and he goes in immediately into the sepulcher as John stands aside to let him go and seeth the linen clothes lie and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the other clothes but wrapped together in a place by itself, two portions of grave clothes there in the sepulcher. Then went in also the other disciple following after Peter which came first to the sepulcher and he saw and believed, very significant. John records his immediate belief on going into the sepulcher and seeing the grave clothes lying there and then a rather unusual verse by way of explanation but it seems to me it presents more of a problem than it explains. For as yet he knew not the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead and yet he believed. This is the point that John is making and we say why this note of explanation. It seems to me this is the point. John believed in the resurrection of Jesus based simply on what he saw on the evidence of his own senses not on a full understanding of the scriptures concerning the resurrection of Christ which would come much later. What did he see that convinced him? He went into the sepulcher and he saw the linen clothes lying there and immediately the realization dawned upon him which apparently it didn't upon Peter yet that no men in their right senses would first of all unwrap a corpse before carrying it away to another place. The presence of the wrappings of the body then was to John in his perceptive mood the plainest possible proof that no one had carried away a dead body. Instead Christ had risen from the dead had put aside his old grave clothes and put on new robes that had been provided for him no doubt by the angels. So apparently Peter and John go their way. Peter's still puzzling over what they've seen but John beginning to understand and believe that there has been a resurrection as Jesus had mentioned earlier. Now it seems as though Mary Magdalene following behind the men returns the second time to the tomb and notice as I pointed out already there are some difficulties here in understanding how there seem to be so many visitations and so many people returning from the tomb and yet apparently not exchanging information with one another since we don't know the actual topography of the area or the situation of the individuals and we don't know the exact time element then we have to it seems to me postulate something like this in order to make all the accounts fit together. As I said there may be other ways of putting it together as well. At any rate Mary seems to be following behind them and she comes the second time to the tomb still unaware of the angels appearance to the other women unaware of Peter and John and what they had seen. Now she comes back to the tomb and so we pause here for a moment with Mary. There was no reason why she should come to this place again except perhaps that she felt this was the last place where her dead master her lord had been laid and perhaps she wanted to be there as close as she could to where his body had been. In the past two days she had shed tears as never before and now more than ever her crying could not be restrained. If only she might be able to express her love in one last act of devotion in caring for his poor wretched body but even this is apparently denied her for it seems as though his body has been stolen away and she doesn't know where it is. To this rather pathetic downcast figure this figure of sorrow and despair was about to come one of the greatest privileges of all time the first sight of the resurrected Jesus within moments that depth of despair in which she had been cast would give way forever to the greatest possible joy and so we read in verse 11 of John 20 that Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher and there she saw not one but two angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. Apparently she supposes that they were simply workmen in the area and they said unto her woman why weepest thou? She saith unto them because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him and when she had thus said she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing beyond her and knew not that it was Jesus. Perhaps because of the early morning shadows as the sun was just rising perhaps the sun was behind the figure of Jesus as she turned from the door of the sepulcher so that she couldn't recognize the features of the one whom she loved so and she supposed it was someone else perhaps this is one of Joseph's men come to this place. So in verse 15 Jesus speaks to her woman why weepest thou? The very same words that the two inside the grave had asked her. She supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him Sir in an act of beseeching Sir if thou have borne him hence tell me where thou has laid him and I will take him away. Reading between the lines here it seems that she really expects no help or comfort from this direction in response to her appeal and so she is apparently moving away when one word spoken by this figure turns her around in her tracks and she realizes with a great explosion of understanding that this is the master in verse 16 the word Mary. Was it the way he spoke it? Was there something familiar in the ring of that word? And she turned herself and saith unto him Rabboni great master. She turned around and stared in shock and then at a moment she is at his side reaching for him to hold him to confirm by the evidence of her own touch and her other senses that it is Jesus that it is not an apparition that he is there with her. There was nothing to say except that one word Rabboni the silent road from which no traveler ever returns had yielded back the one that she loved above all others and she couldn't let go of him. How blind she had been not to recognize it sooner. A wild jumble of emotions plays upon her mind and all the while she seeks to hold him closer to herself and understand that truly he is there. Verse 17 Jesus says to her touch me not Mary and the words mean literally do not keep holding to me. There's no suggestion here once we understand the meaning in the Greek of any action on the part of Jesus to stop her from touching him at all for any legal defilement or any such idea but rather this expression do not keep holding to me do not cling to me Mary there is something I must do instead. I am not yet ascended to my father but go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my father and your father and to my God and your God. Jesus had other duties to perform and they involved what he called an ascending to the father. Now could this be Jesus referring to what he would do 40 days later that seems to me very unreasonable in that it doesn't suit the context. Why would Jesus say don't hold me now because 40 days from now I'm going to heaven. There seems very little relevance in that. It seems to me that something else altogether is going on that when Jesus says I must ascend unto the father that he has in mind going to some particular place and there are at least three possibilities it seems to me. Jesus as the high priest who has offered himself as the perfect sacrifice must now following the analogy of the high priest on the day of atonement take the tokens of his sacrifice. The high priest on the day of atonement took the blood of the offerings for himself and for the people and carried them into the most holy. Jesus must now take the tokens of his sacrifice which are the wounds in his hands the scar in his side and he must carry them as the high priest would into the presence of God that the sacrifice might be accepted. So it seems to me at least three possibilities of where Jesus intended to go. One would be that he simply intended to go to another place of seclusion where in a private communion and prayer with the father he could present himself as the finished sacrifice and there receive immortality that he might return to his brethren. That's one possibility. A second one is it seems to me he could have been intending and did in fact ascend to heaven very quickly after this point for a brief interview in the presence of the father again after the analogy of the high priest going into the most holy place from thence to return to the earth after his immortality after his glorification and to go with the message to his brethren. And the third possibility occurred to me recently when I was considering what we studied or what we referred to briefly in a previous class that at the death of Christ the veil in the temple between the holy and the most holy was rent entwined from the top to the bottom. This would indicate as Paul says in Hebrews the veil representing the flesh of Jesus that the way into the most holy place was made open through the death of Christ. And now that that way was made open it seems to me is the third possibility that that might have been precisely the place to which Jesus went that he would go into the most holy place where the presence of God dwelt among Israel and there he would present as did the high priest on the day of atonement the token of his sacrifice. It seems to me in following up on this significant that when Jesus does appear to his assembled brethren in the upper room the first thing he says to them is peace be unto you. We think about that phrase that is the phrase or a variation of it which the high priest would use when he would return from the offering of the sacrifice to the people who were waiting outside the tent to inform them that yes indeed the sacrifice had been accepted. And so it seems to me that this or some variation of this intention is what Jesus had when he says to Mary do not keep holding to me for there is somewhere I must go there is something I must fulfill before I can be with you and with the other the other of my brethren in the near future. Mary apparently then goes with the message in verse 18 to tell his disciples that she had seen the Lord that he had spoken these things unto her. Apparently as we see from other of the gospel records the disciples who had not yet witnessed any of these things had great difficulty in believing what Mary told them. So now we can imagine the scene as it existed that Sunday morning in various houses in and around Jerusalem there were on that Sunday groups of disciples who had come to the Holy City to celebrate the Passover. They had come some of them in the expectation that the kingdom of God would immediately appear but instead of acclaiming Jesus as king they mourned for him. For them there was no Passover feast of joy and triumph but rather misery and lamentation and danger as they realized the threat to them as well as to Jesus of the Roman authorities and the Jews. Is it possible that in the midst of their gloom they might have remembered the words of Jesus when so many days before he had sat on a mountain with his disciples gathered about him and had said to them blessed, happy are they that mourn for one day they shall be comforted. From place to place now the various women scurry to see all of the disciples and tell them of what they've witnessed telling these marvelous stories but apparently they are not believed. Their reports are met with scoffing and ridicule. The disciples can scarcely bring themselves to believe in the possibility of the resurrection. We now go to Matthew 28. While these wonderful events were going on among the small and scattered band of the followers of Jesus equally strange events were transpiring in the Jewish halls of authority. Matthew 28 and verse 11 tells us that those who had been assigned to guard the tomb brought their story into the city. Now when they were going behold some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders they took counsel together and gave large sums of money unto the soldiers saying say ye his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept and if this come to the governor's ears we will persuade him and secure you. So they took the money and did as they were taught and this saying is a commonly reported one among the Jews until this day. Thus these rulers who had repeatedly come to Jesus demanding a sign from heaven were now given a sign from hell a sign from the grave which they could scarcely believe. And thus the Jewish leaders and the nation deceived themselves with lies which were perpetuated have been perpetuated generation after generation to this very day that his disciples stole away their body his body. They closed their eyes to the truth. Their ears became dull of hearing in the words of Isaiah that they could not open themselves up to receive the revelation of the resurrection of Christ. The story became true of them therefore even if untrue of the Roman soldiers the very story they had concocted that they lost the messiah because they were fast asleep. Not fast asleep literally but fast asleep spiritually that they could not perceive the truth that was being presented to them. Luke 24 verse 13. We now have an incident that apparently occurred later on on this same day the Sunday of the resurrection and we begin with verse 13. And behold two of the disciples went that same day to a village called Emmaus which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs about seven to eight miles. As they went they no doubt were talking together verse 14 tells us of the things which had happened. They had probably heard some of the rumors that had been circulating wildly in the city that day as various of the followers of Jesus met one another and reported what each one had seen or what they had heard someone else say that they had seen. So as they walk along they speculate. They had been thinking of the ritual of the feast of the Passover the trial and the crucifixion of this prophet this leader Jesus and now on the third day reports from the disciples of an empty tomb and angels and other rather outlandish things. What were they to make of it all? They were so wrapped up as they walked along in their speculations and their discussions that they didn't even notice as on a converging path a stranger approached them and then began to walk with them. Perhaps they didn't look closely at the stranger. Perhaps he had a hood or a veil about his face and they didn't take time to look at his face. Or perhaps there was some other reason why their senses were blinded so that they did not recognize who it was. So verse 15 tells us it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned the sense of arguing vehemently about what they had seen apparently one believing and the other not disposed to believe at all. Jesus himself came near and began to walk with them. They did not know who he was verse 16 tells us. And finally after listening for a while he speaks to them. What manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad? And the one of them whose name was Cleopas answering said into him rather scornfully are you a stranger in Jerusalem that you have not known the things which have come to pass there in these days? Notice their friend their comrade as he walks with them does not say he does not know but rather he says verse 19. What things? Asking them to explain what they have in mind. So they began to tell him this story. They say unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how the chief priest and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him and then the rather plaintive but we trusted that it would have been he who would have redeemed Israel. And beside all this today is the third day they said since these things were done. Yea and certain women of our company made us astonished which were early at the sepulcher and when they found not his body they came saying they had seen a vision of angels which said he was yet alive. They turned these things over in their minds and certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the women had said but they didn't see him. And so now they continue to puzzle as they walk along their minds dwelling longingly on what might have been what could be but could it really? Then as they walk and as they continue in their thinking and their discussion the stranger says to them oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory and beginning at Moses and all the prophets even as they continued in their travel he expounded to them as they walked along by reference to various passages all that the scriptures had said concerning the Messiah. This confidence with which he spoke so much in contrast to their confusion came from an understanding of the scriptures and he begins to convey to them this understanding. We don't know of what he spoke but we can well imagine he might have spoken to them of Isaac the beloved son of the father the seed of promise who was typically slain and raised up from the dead by a figure. He might have spoken to them of Joseph the beloved son sold into slavery cast into a pit and then raised up and exalted later that he might help his brethren in their distress and their affliction. He might have spoken to them of what we refer to as Isaiah 53 the prophecy of the suffering servant of God who would see the travail of his soul who would be saved out of death to live forever with those whom God had given him. Perhaps these and many other scripture passages prophecies were opened up to them as he walked along and they would recognize that always in the scriptures there was the double element of suffering and the glory that would follow and slowly gradually as the light dawns in the east a new dimension would enter into their understanding a sixth sense. In the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 again God was shining in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ even as he spoke to them. And so verse 28 they drew near to the village whither they went and this stranger still as yet unrecognized by them made as though he would have gone further but they constrained him saying abide with us. He had opened their hearts so much to the understanding of the scriptures he had given them hope where previously there had been only confusion. Please stay with us and continue this talk continue this teaching abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent and he went in to tarry with them and no doubt his talk continued and it came to pass as he sat at meet with them that he took the bread and blessed it and break and gave to them. He assumed the role of the host at the meal and perhaps it was that and perhaps it was also miraculously that their eyes were no longer holding but immediately we're told they knew who he was and at that point he vanished out of their sight and they're left behind in wonderment and they say one to another didn't our hearts burn within us while he opened to us the meaning of the scriptures. Brothers and sisters we put ourselves in the place of those two disciples. We also the brethren of Christ have Christ with us to expound the scriptures. We have the New Testament gospels with his very words. We have the New Testament letters in which men who were inspired by the power that Jesus gave them expound the Old Testament history and prophecies. The Emmaus disciples are really then no more privileged than we. When we go to a Bible class when we gather together with friends for the readings we have Christ with us to open the scriptures. The New Testament opens up and amplifies and explains the old to the extent in which our Bible classes lack the excitement of this class. It is to that extent that we are failing to take advantage of that which we already have the wonderful benefits of God's word to be open to us. Our heart should also burn within us every time we open our Bibles and see the words of God there. In verse 33 they rose up the same hour they couldn't contain themselves they couldn't lie down to sleep with the knowledge that they had. They must share it with others and they returned to Jerusalem. Can we imagine how much more quickly and with how much more excitement they made that return journey to the city than they had made the previous trip to Emmaus. Now their excitement knows no bounds and cannot be controlled and we remember Isaiah 52 how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring glad tidings who bring glad tidings of joy who publish peace who say unto Jerusalem in Zion thy king reigneth and they race back to the city their feet light as air bringing this very message to the city to the disciples there that the God of heaven reigns and his son has been raised from the dead thy God reigneth. Back in Jerusalem however the disciples were gathering in the upper room there was more evidence coming in all the time that something extraordinary had happened but they can't quite make sense of all the conflicting reports. The two from Emmaus returned to the room bringing their story as Peter perhaps had told of the Lord's appearance to him as well and that of course is reading between the lines but at some point it did happen but still the doubts remain and in their cold analysis the majority are still unconvinced. Mark 16 and verse 13 tells us neither believed they them though the evidence kept mounting up those who had not seen directly with their eyes who had felt with their senses the resurrection of Jesus are still unconvinced. It's apparent at this time that Thomas rather disgusted with the whole affair leaves and goes off into the night and is not there for the later appearance of Jesus. He was perhaps the most stubborn in his unbelief but a general mood of skepticism prevails over the whole group. Still however the talk goes on without ceasing. There were now in the group several different parties who were thoroughly convinced of the resurrection of Jesus and they will not be stopped from continuing to testify and so in Luke 24 verse 36 as they thus spoke to one another Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them peace be unto you the high priest returning from the successful sacrifice saying to the nation and its representatives I have brought back the peace of God as a result of the work that I have done peace be unto you but they were terrified and affrighted and suppose that they had seen a spirit that word for spirit is phantasma it means a ghost it is not the word Pneuma as is so often translated spirit and he said unto them why are you troubled why do thoughts arise in your hearts Jesus shows them in verses 39 and 40 his hands and his feet by many infallible proofs as verse 41 and 42 the eating of meat he demonstrates to them that he has been raised from the dead and he sweeps away for those people who were there in the upper room the last vestige of unbelief the disciples rejoice that once again they're in the presence of their master and he is a new and glorious master the wrinkles the sorrow the pain that was there before is now gone they look into the glorious face of Jesus reborn made new and they rejoice to be with him to be close to him to hear his words and now they say to one another continuously surely the kingdom will appear now but no we listen to Jesus and the words that he is giving them are words of counsel and words of exhortation words of command go ye forth and preach the gospel the father loved the son yet he sent him into the world to suffer and die for others the son loves the brethren yet he sends them on the same message ye shall drink indeed of my cup he had told them take up your cross and follow me he had said to them and now after this glorious experience of seeing the resurrected Jesus they are prepared they're Jesus begins to prepare them to fulfill their work the commission that he will give them soon they will begin to learn the meaning of these very words as they act out in their own lives the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow can we not share their enthusiasm how do we expect the kingdom of God to appear for us if we are not prepared to suffer any discomfort on the part of Christ if we are not prepared to preach the gospel in whatever circumstance whenever we find opportunity certainly learning the truth and learning and experiencing the resurrection of Christ is not learning how to keep a secret Jesus sends them forth with a great work to do and now finally at the last there comes Thomas the last holdout of those intimately associated with Jesus we turn to John 20 verse 26 one week after Christ's appearance to the others once more apparently on the first day of the week the disciples are gathered together in the upper room and now Thomas is back with them perhaps he's overcome his doubts perhaps he wants to believe but still there is that lingering feeling that he cannot because he hasn't yet experienced what they have experienced and so in verse 26 the latter part of the verse Thomas with them then came Jesus the doors being shut and once again stands in their midst and says peace be unto you and then turning directly to Thomas doubting Thomas reach hither thy finger and behold my hands reach hither thy hands thrust them into my side be not faithless but believing and Thomas who had said precisely except I can touch him I will not believe now believes without touching and Thomas says my Lord and my God there's no confusion in that passage it seems to me Thomas sees that the resurrected Jesus is God made manifest in the flesh the name of God and the authority of God is upon him Jesus saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed the doubters like Thomas help us to strengthen our faith these fishermen were not starry-eyed visionaries willing to believe anything that came down the pike they had to have evidence they had to see and understand they were down to earth matter of fact men they would not be swept away in a mass hysteria in believing that a ghost that had appeared was the resurrected Jesus they would never put their lives on the line for a hoax they must believe and we see in Thomas this reflected especially the doubts of Thomas served to confirm more strongly to our minds the truth the absolute unshakable literal truth of the resurrection and there can be no doubt these men were not prepared to believe until every bit of evidence was presented to them and then finally reluctantly they did believe and we know that they had some grounds for that belief Luke 24 and verse 45 as Jesus continued with them during this 40-day period He opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures and He said unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins would be preached in His name during this last 40-day period there was a systematic instruction of the eleven and perhaps others that they would be prepared these unlearned and ignorant men as they had been called to be the world's finest Bible scholars and preachers to go forth with a message that would confound the greatest scholars in the Jewish world as they showed them from the scriptures and by the evidence of their senses that Christ had been raised from the dead and so we stand with them in a manner of speaking and we recognize therefore that a man needs more than the printed page of the Bible and a good memory to make him wise to salvation he needs a mind opened to give earnest heed to the heavenly message he needs eyes open to behold wondrous things out of God's law he needs to have Christ dwelling within him in the scripturally understood sense and when this takes place he steps by faith into a new world a world in which there is no longer doubt there is no longer fear there is no longer distress a world in which no shadow of gloom can isolate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus this then must be our faith in the resurrected Christ the resurrection of our Savior is more than a fact to believe in it is a reality to live by and we conclude then with the words of Paul as he says I am crucified with Christ brothers and sisters we have come to that point where we could feel ourselves crucified with Christ nevertheless Paul says I live as Christ lives I live also yet not I not the same person that died I don't live Paul says but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me

Transcript

Before we go to John 21, let's look for just a moment at one verse for background, and that would be Matthew 28 and verse 10. There we read that Jesus said unto them, Be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. So though Jesus did appear to the disciples at least a couple of times as a group in Jerusalem, the message that was conveyed to them was that if they were to go to Galilee, there they would meet with Jesus. And we know that there were several appearances of Jesus to them in the region of Galilee. One very significant of those appearances that we read of in John 21 is what we intend to discuss in this class. John chapter 21, this would have happened, it seems to me, sometime after the first week or so when the disciples had made their way north from Jerusalem, and there they waited, and finally Jesus appears to them. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. On this wise, he showed himself. That's a rather unusual name for the Sea of Galilee. This name appears only in the Gospel of John. The city of Tiberias was of no great consequence until sometime after 70 A.D. So this might give us a pretty good indication, as has been surmised elsewhere and otherwise, that the Gospel of John was the last of the four Gospels to be written, and it was written sometime quite later than the others after 70 A.D. This seems then to fix that date of the writing of the Gospel. And it tells us something, it seems to me, about the Gospel of John that we just mentioned in passing, that John appears to have written some considerable time after the other Gospels were written so that he could fill in some of the gaps. And whereas the first three Gospels are quite often referred to as the synoptic Gospels, meaning they have many points of similarity amongst themselves, the Gospel of John is quite different and was written, it seems to me then, with the idea of supplementing by certain stories what was already quite familiar to the followers of Jesus in the first century, the latter part of the first century. Verse 2, There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and sons of Zebedee, James and John, and two other of the disciples, making a total of seven disciples who were there present. Peter said unto them, I go a fishing. And they respond to him, we'll also go with you. So they went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. The seven apostles here go back to sustaining themselves by their old livelihood as they wait for the appearance of Jesus. But in this they are totally unsuccessful. They catch nothing, we're told, all night. And the thought occurs to us that perhaps they were doing the wrong kind of fishing. Jesus had said to them, just previously in John 17 and verse 18, He's actually speaking to the Father about the disciples, As thou the Father hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. They had already been sent, they had already been given a commission. In chapter 20 and verse 21, the same point. Jesus had already told to them, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And now, it seems, oblivious to what they had been told, they have returned to their old way of life, their old occupation. In this, as we pointed out, they are absolutely unsuccessful. Now, verse four tells us, when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? And they answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it in for the multitude of fishes. Now, we're going to look especially, as I said, at John 21. But in doing so, I want us to compare it with an incident that happened at the very beginning of Christ's ministry that is recorded in Luke chapter five. So, while keeping in mind, we'll be right back to John 21 before long. Let's read a few verses from Luke chapter five. Beginning with verse four. You might keep John 21 on hand there for ready access. Luke five and verse four. At the very beginning of his ministry, as Jesus, we're told in verse three, was sitting down in the ship, just a bit removed from the shore, and was talking to the people who had gathered to hear his words. Now, when he had finished speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out now into the deep, and let down your nets for a draft. And Simon, or Peter, answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, we have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, we have taken nothing. And Simon said, I will let down the net. And when he had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net break. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship. We may be talking about the very same men here. That they should come and help them, and they came and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. Notice these two incidents, one at the very beginning of Christ's ministry, one at the end of his ministry, after his resurrection. Both incidents occur in the Sea of Galilee. In both incidents, the men had been toiling all night. In both incidents, they had no success whatsoever. On both occasions, at the express command of Jesus, they let down their nets again. And the second time, on both occasions, they were very successful, miraculously receiving a great catch of fish. Now, we're going to look at Luke 5 a bit more later, but there are some of the comparisons. We're going to come back to it in a minute, and look at it in a little more detail, and try to work out what symbolically might be taught by these two passages. Let's go back then for a moment to John 21 and verse 7. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Recognizing that this draft of fishes, this multitude, and this miracle must indicate that the man who had spoken to them from the shore was Jesus. John says this immediately to Peter, It is the Lord. John, as before at the tomb, when he was also with Peter, is the first one to grasp the truth, of what he has witnessed, and he speaks. But then Peter is the first one, as before at the tomb, when John stepped aside and Peter went in, Peter is the first one to act. So the latter part of the verse tells us, When Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his farmer's coat, his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and cast himself into the sea. Curious point there in the last phrase. The word that is translated into, in the King James Version, is identical with the word to, as it appears in verse 9, when they were come to land. The suggestion has been made, and it seems to me quite possible, that Peter here reproduces his earlier aborted miracle by successfully walking upon the water. Let's look at some of the reasons for that. Why would Peter, as it tells us, put on a heavy coat in order to jump into the water and swim to shore? That seems very unreasonable. If, however, he intended to walk across the water to Jesus, then to put on the heavy coat would have been quite reasonable. In verse 7, where we are told in the King James Version, he cast himself into the sea, the word literally could be translated, and he cast himself to the sea and made his way to the land. There are also other implicit miracles in the chapter. For example, when he reaches the shore, he finds that there are fish already laid out on the fire. Where did they come from? Obviously a miracle. In verse 11, when the boat has made its way to the shore, Peter drags up the net all by himself, something that had been impossible for several men to do previously. And also in verse 11, the net, contrary to what might be expected, was not broken. All of these things, implicit miracles at least, and certainly paving the way for the possibility, it seems to me, that Peter performed the miracle by walking on the water to come to Jesus. Just a suggestion, something that certainly we can't hold to, definitely, but at least it seems to me a possibility. We're told in verse 8 that the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, as it were, two hundred cubits, about a hundred yards, dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid there on, and bread. It seems to me the very thing that was happening here was a flashback that Peter was involved in, that as he came to the shore, realizing that it was the Lord, the first thing that he saw was a fire of coals, just as when he went to stand in the palace of the high priest, that there again were coals of fire. Once before then, Peter had looked into a fire, and then lifted his eyes and denied his Lord, and now he looks into the fire again and lifts his eyes, looking into the eyes of his Lord. Jesus has prepared a meal for him, and this reminds us of Romans chapter 12, verse 20. In this situation, let's read those verses, Romans 12, verses 20 and 21. Paul says there, Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. And this is the very thing that happened. Peter, by his denial of Jesus, had made himself the enemy of Jesus, and now that Jesus appears to him, Jesus is preparing to feed him. So Paul says, in quoting an Old Testament passage from Proverbs, If thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. The very thing that Jesus was now prepared to do for Peter. Significant now, the last part of verse 20. For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. And there knelt Peter by the fire of coals, being fed by the one whom he had denied. And it was as though the coals of that fire were being lifted up and heaped on his head, searing and burning in the pain that he realized in the enormity of his sin that he had denied his master, the one whom he had professed to love, to care for, and to go with even to death. And yet, as the fire, the coals thereof would burn and would sear his conscience, still he looked at Jesus, and he realized that through the sorrow and the pain that he was feeling that Jesus was forgiving him. And this is of course the intent of the words of Jesus as given to him later in that chapter. So Paul continues then in verse 21, Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. And it seems to me, no matter what peculiarities of interpretation we might attach to these verses about the coals of fire, that there is a scriptural allusion to what happened in John 21. Peter being the enemy, the coals of fire being there as he was fed by Jesus, Jesus preparing him and paving the way for Peter to repent fully of his sin and to be brought back into the fullest fellowship with Jesus. Therefore, Jesus provides the example of the means by which evil can be overcome by good. In the latter part of verse 9, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. This is as unexpected, it seems to me, as the washing of the disciples' feet had been when Jesus was with them for the Last Supper. Though Christ had now risen from the dead and transcended the limits of humanity and weakness, still, nevertheless, he is willing to act the part of a servant caring for the needs of his brethren. The immortal Christ is still a servant of his followers. So we remember back to that earlier incident when as he prepared for his death, he took a cloth and a basin of water and knelt and washed their feet and said, in effect, go and do likewise. Still, the immortal Jesus does not expect to be catered to by his brethren, but he serves as a servant, as a slave, for their needs. There is a glorious feeling in that, that Jesus, who is so far removed, it seems, from our experiences today, is still our servant, still to care for us and protect us and keep us and provide for us whatever we need. I am with you always, he said, even to the end of the world. Jesus saith unto them, verse 10, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. They are invited to take their great catch of fish and add it to what Jesus is already preparing on the fire. And so there is a meal of fellowship here between the disciples who have come to Jesus and Jesus who is there waiting for them. The meal of fellowship is made up of contributions from all. They bring what they have to add to what Jesus has produced, and together they share the meal. Verse 11, Peter went up and drew the net to land all by himself, as I pointed out earlier, full of great fishes, and a hundred and fifty and three, and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Peter by himself is more powerful than all seven men had been earlier, as we saw in verse 6. This act, Peter going and dragging in the great catch of fish, is typical and prophetic of what Peter will do in Acts chapter 2, when in response to the commission of Jesus, Peter preaches the gospel and drags in the gospel net filled with a great number of fish as a result of his preaching. The latter part of Acts 2, when Peter preaches to the men of Jerusalem, repent and be baptized, and they are, and there was added to the church or to the ecclesia, such as were in the process of being saved. Here was the foreshadowing of the great work that Peter was to begin on the day of Pentecost and continue for the rest of his life, the dragging in of the nets, becoming truly and completely, in the spiritual sense, a fisher of men. Now that we've seen a bit more of this incident in John 21, let's go back again to Luke chapter 5. We saw in Luke 5 previously the comparisons between that incident at the beginning and this incident at the end of Christ's ministry. Now let's look at some of the contrast, and perhaps we'll understand the reason for those contrasts. Luke 5, the same verses again, verse 4. When he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Cast out into the deep, let down your nets for a draft. Then Simon answered, said, Master, we have toiled all night and taken nothing. Nevertheless, if I were, I will let down the net. And when they had done so, they enclosed a great multitude of fish, and their net break, and they beckoned others to come and help them. And they came and filled up the boats, and the boats began to sink. So now we notice some of the contrast. As mentioned already, Luke 5 is at the beginning of Christ's work, in John 21, at the end of his earthly ministry. In Luke 5, Jesus was in the ship with them, whereas in Luke 21, he is on the shore, speaking to them in the ship from his position on the shore. In Luke 5, the net is broken. This seems to me to indicate that at the beginning of the work of the preaching, as it was in the Gospels, that good and bad fish together came into the net, that there were schisms in the Gospel net, reflective of schisms within the Ecclesia. However, in John 21, at the end of the ministry, the net which is specifically said to be cast on the right side of the ship, the right being the direction of approval and honor, that net takes in all good fish. And so by continuing contrast in Luke 5, the effort of the fisherman meets with failure. The ship almost sinks, whereas in John 21, there's no danger at all or nothing that is spoken of. And again, another contrast, a final contrast, in Luke 5, a great number of fish are brought in, but they are uncounted, whereas in John 21, there is a precise number of fish, and they are counted, and that number is reckoned up. It seems to me then, looking at the two incidents together and recognizing that both of them have to do with the preaching of the Gospel, because as Jesus said, I have sent you, I have commissioned you to be fishers of men. Therefore, the two parts, the two stories, fit together and present a complete picture, a picture in the first place of, at the beginning, preaching work that meets quite often with failure, that sometimes takes good fish as well as bad fish into the net, that finds the ships beginning to sink, even as we see in our own day the Ecclesiastes are floundering and finding great difficulties. All of this is inherent in the first miracle. Difficulties galore. When we come to the final miracle, however, in John 21, nothing of the sort. Jesus is on the shore, which seems to me to be typically Jesus being in heaven, already having been glorified, as He was in John 21. Under Jesus' direction, everything is done precisely as it should be. The net is lowered on the right side, and only the good fish are caught, and they are brought to the shore successfully without any possibility of danger or failure. And when they are brought to the shore, another significant point, they are counted, and there is a precise number. So it seems to me that John 21 completes and rolls up what was begun in the enacted parable of Luke 5. The preaching of the Gospel amidst worldly difficulties and dangers and distresses and failures still begins the work that finally comes to a conclusion in John 21. John 21 then represents the end gathering of the Gospel nets at the time of the judgment, when only those that are righteous will survive through the process and be taken into the Kingdom. And so, whereas at the beginning in the first miracle, there were a great number of fish that were uncounted, Jesus says there are many called, a great many called to the Gospel. In the parable of Matthew 13, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is like the net cast into the sea that brings in all kinds of fish. Many are called into the Gospel net. So whereas the first miracle symbolizes the preaching of the Gospel in rather imperfect times with imperfect results, when we come to John 21, we have come to the final end gathering. And the fish representing the saints themselves caught in the net and finally to be kept are precisely counted. So whereas the first miracle we could summarize under the heading, many are called in the midst of failure and confusion and distress, yet few, the 153, are actually chosen to be brought to the shore to be with Jesus. It seems to me we have now put together the two miracles and made them one, the beginning and the end of the work of the preaching of the Gospel. There should of course be no problem with seeing both incidents as symbolic since as Jesus says in Luke 5 and verse 10, I have sent you to be fishers of men. The fish itself was symbolic in the first century of the Christian community. Perhaps some of you are aware of this. It was used as something of a secret symbol by which one Christian or one Christian community could identify itself to another Christian or another Christian community. And the reason for that is rather curious. The Greek word for fish is ichthus. We see it reproduced in English words like ichthyology, which means the study of the life of the sea. The word ichthus in the Greek consists of five letters. I won't bother trying to discuss the Greek names themselves, but rather to put it into the English equivalent. Those five letters then stand as the first letters of five successive words, which became something like the password, the secret code word of the Christian in the first century who was fearful of revealing his identity in certain circumstances for fear of persecution or execution for that matter. And it is this, ichthus consists of five letters. The first one, again I'm just using the English instead of the Greek, is the word I, which was the first Greek letter in the name for Jesus, I-E-S-U-S, Jesus. The second Greek letter in ichthus is the C-H sound, which is of course the first letter in the word Christ. The third letter, T-H or theta, is the first letter in the Greek word theos, which is God. So we have Jesus, Christ, and God. The fourth letter, the U, is the first letter in the Greek word for son, huios. And the fifth letter, S or sigma, is the first letter in the Greek word for savior, which is in the Greek soter. So the five words together, and apparently this is how the symbol of the fish was derived as a symbol for the early Christian community, the first letter of the five letters of that word successively spell out by abbreviation Jesus Christ, God, Son, and Savior. And this was the means by which the early Christian community quite often identified itself. Of course, very fitting in that the fish, the ichthus, was also a symbol of the believer in the sense that Jesus said, I send you to be fishers of men, not fishers of literal fish. Going on to verse 12 of John 21, They have come to the shore, they brought this great catch of fish. Peter the great fisherman has pulled them into the shore at the behest of Jesus, and now Jesus says unto them, Come and dine with me. In other words, forget your concerns for your own subsistence, your own welfare. Listen to me, trust in me, and I will take care of you. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all other things will be added to you. Here he was providing them the other things that they needed for this life, if they would but serve him first. He was paving the way, it seems to me, to turn them away finally and forever from their being fishers of literal fish that they might give themselves over wholly and completely to being fishers of men. Come and dine with what I have provided for you. This is the message that Jesus is conveying to them. Before we go further into the story, I might just pause for a minute here and note the possible significance of that rather peculiar number 153. There may be some of you who are quite interested in the study of Bible numerology. In Christadelphian circles, there are some who give a good bit of time to that, as there are outside amongst other Bible students. I would say in the first place, by way of warning or admonition, that this sort of study could get out of hand. We could get caught up in a fascination for numerology that completely misses the point of the main teachings of the passages themselves, and we certainly wouldn't want to be guilty of that. I have read a number of suggestions as to the possibility for a spiritual significance of the number 153. I'll just mention several of them briefly, just to give you a smattering of insight into the way some people handle the Scriptures and the possibilities that are open. I wouldn't say that any of these possibilities are absolutely certain as to what was intended in the first place. I don't really know, but I will just mention them with, as I said, the provision, the warning against becoming too fascinated with the significance of numbers in Scripture. One possibility is that 153 is the numerical value of the individual letters, and we know that both the Hebrew and the Greek letters had numerical value, of the Hebrew expression, sons of God, so that the fish themselves, the 153 great fish, were the numerical significance of the sons of God. The second possibility that has been suggested is this, that the ancient people in these days understood that there were 153 species of fish, precisely, in all the seas. So the 153 then would indicate that those who were brought in by the gospel net and who were brought into the kingdom were captured out of every possible variety, not of fish, of course, but of human beings, so that they came out of all nations. This would be the significance of the 153. A third possibility, the Jewish year commonly had 51 weeks, and the Jewish law was arranged in something like our daily reading planner, our Bible reading companion, so that over the course of three years, all of the text of the law was read in the synagogue on successive Sabbath days, going from Genesis right through to the end of the law. 153 daily readings, as we would call them, but they were done on the Sabbath day. So three years of Sabbath days would amount to precisely 153 Sabbath days, and the law itself would be completed. So here, perhaps, is the suggestion that these 153 great fish have come into the net as a result of what the Scriptures have taught them. Out of all the Scriptures, they have been prepared to accept Christ and believe. You see some of the ideas that are suggested, sometimes rather far out. There may be some semblance of reality about them, but sometimes rather fanciful, too, it seems to me. Here's another one, one of my favorites. There are such a thing as pyramid or triangle numbers. If any of you ever went bowling, you recognize that the general sort of bowling has 10 pins at the end of the alley when you take your bowling ball, and they're consisted of four rows. In the first row, one, the second row, two, the third, three, and the fourth, four, making a triangle or a pyramid of 10 pins. If a fifth row were added in the same sequence, there would be 15. So 10 is a triangle number, we'll put it that way, as is 15. 10 is the triangle number of 4. 1 plus 2 plus 3 plus 4. 15 is the triangle number of 5. And we carry this out, add infinitum, and the triangle number of 17 is 153. And you all smile and you say, so what? It is curious, however, that several of the larger numbers in the New Testament are such triangle numbers. And you realize, as you get into the larger numbers, the possibility of any given number being a triangle number becomes rather small, and yet the Scriptures are filled with triangle numbers for some reason. The 276, which were the number of people on board the ship with Paul when the ship was in danger of sinking, that is a triangle number. The 120 who were in the upper room in the first part of the book of Acts, the nucleus of the Ecclesia in Jerusalem, that is a triangle number. The 666 mentioned in Revelation is a triangle number. Just again, a curiosity. I'm not sure what significance we want to take of that, but I thought just as a brief passing note you might be interested. And then another one occurred to me. The first four came as a result of reading various commentaries. A fifth one occurred to me, and it really surprised me. I was reading in 2 Kings chapters 1 and 2, where Elijah was being sought by the king, and the king sent forth his soldiers to capture Elijah, and they came, the captain with his band of fifty, and two successive bands of fifty, each with their captain came, and they were destroyed by fire. And then a third band of fifty with its captain came, and because he begged and beseeched Elijah, the life of himself and his men was spared. Precisely, if you haven't figured that out already mathematically, 3 times 50 plus 1 is 153. Another little curiosity. The sort of thing that causes us to marvel a bit and wonder what we might be missing out on in our study of Scripture, that there might be much more there than we ever imagined, but beyond that I'm not sure where we should go in the matter. So I think we should probably leave the 153, but just for a few moments I thought I would mention some of those possibilities that I had uncovered. John 21 and verse 15. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? They sit and they eat, Peter staring into the coals of fire there and staring into the eyes of Jesus and remembering his previous denial. Simon, son of Jonas. Does Jesus use the name Simon instead of Peter because he is rebuking Peter because he's telling him, you have forgotten that I gave you a new name and a new purpose and you have gone back to your old way of life. Simon, is that what he intends? And is that further amplified by the fact that he refers to him as the son of Jonas, Jonas who was probably a fisherman also before his son Simon? Is all of this designed to awaken Peter to the fact that he has seemingly forgotten what Jesus intended for him to do and he's returned to his old way of life? That's quite possible it seems to me. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? What does Jesus mean by that? There are at least two possibilities. One is that he is saying to Peter or he is asking Peter, do you love me more than you love these fish? In other words, do you love me more than you love your old occupation? One possibility. The other one, and I think this is probably the better possibility is, Simon Peter, do you love me more than these other men love me? And this would then be Jesus' way of asking Peter, are you still proud of your devotions? Are you still lifted up above your brethren thinking that whatever they can do, you can do it better, thinking that though all men forsake me, yet will not you? Is that what you think? Do you still have that attitude about your capacity for obedience and service to me? That I think is the best possibility of the two. So in verses 15 and 16 and 17, three successive times, Jesus asks Peter the question, do you love me? In the first two cases, he uses the word, as probably most of us recognize, agape. Simon, son of Jonas, do you have agape love for me? That is the exalted self-sacrificing love which Jesus exemplified in all of his works. In each of the first two cases, Peter responds with the answer, yea Lord, you know that I love you, and he uses the word phileo, I have an affection for you. It seems to me that Peter is really responding to that question as I phrased it in the second possibility, where Jesus is saying to him, do you love me more than all these other men love me? And Peter says, Lord, I have great affection for you, but I can't say that I have greater love than these others, and I wouldn't want to say that anymore. It seems to me this is the essence of Peter's answer. Finally, then, the third time in verse 17, Jesus rephrases the question. He says, do you love me? And he uses the word phileo, as if to say, Peter, I'm not sure I can believe you. Do you even have great affection for me? And Peter then, in response to this last question, is grieved, and he says the third time, Lord, you know all things. You know that I have phileo, affection for you. And in response to each of the three answers that come from Peter, Jesus says to him in varying ways, feed my lambs, or feed or tend for my sheep. So three times, Jesus asked Peter the questions, as if to remind him even further of the three times when Peter has denied Jesus. So here is the second interview, as it were, over the fire of coals. In the first place, Peter denied Jesus three times. Now Jesus, in a three-fold question, restores step by step, following that same process, restores Peter back to his favor, as Peter answers his questions. And three times, he gives Peter a commission corresponding to Peter's three-fold denial, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. In other words, Jesus is telling Peter, the test of your love will be seen in your obedience. It isn't enough, and I think you recognize that now, Peter, it isn't enough for you to profess that you love me without being obedient to what I tell you. And now you will show your love for me by all that you will do hereafter. Curious also that two different figures of speech enter in here, where Peter, first of all, is the fisher of men who brings in the gospel net, those who hear the preaching and are baptized to come into the truth, and now he is commissioned by Jesus to be a tender of the flock, a shepherd. Two capacities which are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but represent different phases of the work that we might do in the truth, and Peter is commissioned to do both of them. He's commissioned to cast the gospel net and be a fisher of men to bring them into the truth, and then he is commissioned thereafter to be a shepherd and tend and care for the flock that is put under his trust. The two separate but rather related ideas of the evangelist who preaches the truth in the first place and the shepherd and the pastor who cares for the flock that is put under his attention. Both of these Peter will fulfill. Verse 18. Verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, Jesus says, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. This spake he, signifying by what death, Peter would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, Follow me. Peter is remembering this very statement of Jesus when he writes the words that we find recorded in 2 Peter 1 and verse 14. 2 Peter 1, 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Peter is remembering what Jesus had said to him so many years before on the Sea of Galilee. Yes, Peter, you will show your love for me by a lifetime of service, and you will follow me even to death in dying a death as I died. Hence also the exhortation of Peter in 1 Peter chapter 2, beginning with verse 19, when he says, This is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye take it patiently? But if when ye do well and suffer for it and you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. Precisely the words that Jesus had spoken to Peter on the Sea of Galilee. Follow thou me. So of course then in John 21, when Jesus had finished these words, he says to Peter, Follow me. And apparently this is what was happening. As the meal is being concluded, Jesus stands up and he begins to walk along the shore of the sea while the others are still finishing their meal and perhaps conversing with one another. And as he walks along, he turns and he says to Peter, Come and follow me. So the Follow me is not just a figurative sort of statement of what Peter will do later, but it is a request that Peter obeys immediately. Peter leaves those who are gathered around the fire and begins to follow Jesus as they walk away from the group, as though Jesus intends to tell Peter something further in private. Then, verse 20, Peter turning about, Seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, following. So you see something is actually happening here that is inspiring these thoughts. Jesus walks away, Peter follows after, and then Peter turns and looks back to the group at the fire and he sees that John has now gotten up and wants to follow after too. And then we seem to detect just a bit of anger in the spirit of Peter. Perhaps he felt that he was going to have some special confidence revealed to him by Jesus. And here's John again. John is always there. John wants to be involved too. And so Peter replies rather bluntly in verse 21, Lord, and what shall this man do? As if to say, what is he doing following us? And perhaps also there is implicit in what Peter says the question, Lord, you have already told me that I'm going to die a death after the pattern that you set. What about this man? What will happen to him? And Peter, it seems to me, commits the common mistake that we all make of not seeing ourselves in a relationship with Jesus only, but always seeing ourselves in a relationship with our other brethren. Looking at some other brother and saying, why does this brother get along so well and I have such difficulties? I think probably most of us have had those thoughts from time to time. Why is it I have to struggle along with the job and so forth and this brother has all that he could possibly want? Why is God treating me differently than he treats brother so-and-so? Why is it that I've had suffering and illness and pain and sister so-and-so seems to sail through life without a care? Is that fair? What's going on? Why does this happen? This is the sort of thing, it seems to me, that Peter is saying and he is wrong in asking such a question. Each person is tried according to God's will for that individual. Remember Romans 8 and verse 28, all things work together for good to those who are the elect, who are called according to the purpose of God. That is true. And those all things include sufferings and persecutions and distresses and sorrows, as well as the things that we might otherwise characterize as good. We must not question our fate. It is in God's hands. And so Jesus answers in verse 22, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? You follow me. That's what I've told you to do and that's what you must do. If I will, the words of Jesus indicate that our lives are ordered by Jesus. What he wills is what will happen. And who can protest such an arrangement? Who would really want to know, for that matter, what Christ has in store for any one of us in our lives year by year? Who would have wanted to know? Which of us would have wanted to know at the age of 20 what was going to happen to us by the time we reach the age of 40 or adjust the ages correspondingly? Those things are in the hands of God. All things work together for good. And I think it would be a real cruelty to have revealed to us ahead of time those experiences through which we might go. That we might anticipate them, that we might be fearful, that we might be filled with anxieties looking forward to the future. So Jesus says to Peter, What is that to thee? Follow thou me. And he reasserts what he had said previously when he said to Peter, Follow me. The cure for our anxieties about the future is not to know the future, we don't need to know, but to know that the future is in God's hands. Follow me. That if we are following Christ, whatever happens to us will ultimately be for our benefit. For those who believe in Christ, there is no ultimate evil. Many things may happen in their lives that appear to be evil, that appear to be something they would rather have passed by and had nothing to do with. But God knows what is best. And all of us are tried in one way or another by the circumstances of our lives. The longer we follow Jesus, and that's the only thing we can do, the clearer our path will be. In verse 23, John adds the thought, Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die, but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? John did of course die. In this case, the tradition that was commonly reported among the Ecclesiastes proved to be false. And in this point, I think there's a very useful lesson to us. Tradition is of no consequence compared to the Word of Christ. This tradition was passed along from generation to generation, at least until the time that John did in fact die. And it was commonly reported amongst all the brethren that John would not die. And yet he did. And so the lesson, that even a commonly reported saying among all the brethren is not by itself sufficient foundation on which to base the truth. Truth only comes from the Word of Christ. Very interesting, it seems to me, when sometimes these days we have difficulty separating Christadelphian traditions that have long-standing usage behind them from the actual facts of the truth of what the Scriptures say. And we should be able to make the distinction between the two. Verses 24 and 25. This is the disciple which testifieth of these things and wrote these things. And we know that his testimony is true. As though to the final testimony of John confirming this Gospel, there is added the testimony of the elders of the Ecclesia perhaps to which he belonged, who confirmed that it was indeed John who recorded these words. And we, by the power of the Spirit, testify that all of these words are true. And finally, the little postscript, verse 25. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, that which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. A silly exaggeration or perhaps something very meaningful. Jesus was the Word made flesh, and he dwelt among men. And as we assimilate to ourselves the teachings and the example of Jesus, then we can become the Word made flesh. And as we do so, Jesus is continuing to work with us. So that there is, for each one of us in our lives, a Gospel being written. Not just the Gospel of Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, but the Gospel of George, the Gospel of Bill, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Tom. Every one of us writing in our lives a Gospel, the good news of what Jesus has done for us. This is what it seems to me the verse is implying. And so we could read the verse not only in the past tense, but in the present and the future tense. There are many things which Jesus does, which he continues to do to this very day, that which if they could be written, and they are, they are being written in God's books of remembrance, the world itself one day will scarcely contain all the books that will be written. Because when we stand before the judgment and the books are opened and our lives are examined, it will be decided then by Christ. Have we reproduced in our lives the Gospel that we were taught, the character of that man in all that we did? If so, then Jesus will say, this is a book, this is a Gospel worth preserving. And if you want to follow through with the figure then, that book, that person will be bound in a new and glorious binding that will never be destroyed, and that book will be kept. The life of that person will be preserved to all eternity. The world itself will scarcely contain all the books that will be written when God's glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And so then we conclude also with the words of John. This is written that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that believing you might have life through His name.

Transcript

Through the classes this week, as we said at the beginning on Monday, we have followed Jesus through some of the most crucial, crucial events of His life. We have attempted to be there and experience as much as we could of what He was experiencing, to see in His sufferings examples by which we might live. So we followed Him to the garden, to the palace of Pilate, to Golgotha, into the tomb. And then along with those who were so close to Him in His earthly ministry, we waited through several dark days of despair. And then we found Him again in our presence, alive and glorious. God was with Him, and the glory of God shone out from Him, and we were there to see it, to feel a part of that vitality, the dynamics of that new and glorious life that we might have a part of, that we might share in. We have rejoiced with Him. We have listened in the last day or two to the words that He spoke when He came new and glorious to His disciples again. And now, in our last class, it's time to say goodbye. We look at what the Gospel writers have to say about Jesus' final appearances, the words that He speaks to His disciples, the final commission that He gives them, the final words of comfort before He is taken up into heaven, never to be with them in this life again in the same way that He was with them before. Each of the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record something slightly different about these last words of Jesus. And perhaps we have recounted by several witnesses the final words of Jesus, each writer recounting what seemed to Him most important, most relevant to the message that He had been developing in His particular Gospel under the inspiration of God. So, I think, first of all, we'll just look at each of those Gospel writers and what they record of these last few moments, these last few hours before Jesus left them to go to heaven. First of all, Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28 verse 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. All power, all authority, Jesus says, has been given to me. And we say to ourselves, how could this be? And Paul explains it in Philippians chapter 2 as he looks upon this very Christ in these very circumstances, Philippians chapter 2. And verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. The more modern versions translate this last phrase, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasp. And this, I think, fits very well with what follows in these verses. Though he was in the form of God, and that word means something like the position in which God placed him, it doesn't have to do with nature, it doesn't have to do with the essence of his, the nature of his body, but rather a position, a situation in which he was in the place of God standing before the people. Though he was in this exalted situation by virtue of his birth, he did not consider that equality with God was something to be reached out and grasp of his own accord, but rather he made himself, Paul says, of no reputation, took upon him the form or the office of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It is Paul's very brief statement of the work of Jesus as it applied to his relationship to God. He did not elevate himself in pride, he did not exalt himself above others, he did not, in contrast to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, try to make himself like the Elohim, but rather he was content to put himself and remain in the position of a servant. He humbled himself, therefore, we're told in verse 9, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, which is the name of God, the power and authority of God being pronounced upon him, that in this name and this authority, every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This is what Jesus was saying when he came and appeared to the disciples and said, all power, all authority is given unto me as a result of what has been done through me. All this power and all this authority flows through me to from God. So we look in Matthew 28, verse 18 then becomes the preparation for the exhortation that will now follow in verse 19 as Jesus continues to speak to them, because I have received all power and all authority, now my words are of the utmost consequence, he says, verse 19, now I say to you with that authority that came from heaven itself, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, go therefore, he says, and teach all nations. In contrast to what he had said earlier in this same gospel as recorded by Matthew chapter 10, that they were to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This was to be their first commission when he sent them out amongst the people of Israel. Now that is being expanded in an extravagant way, go into all nations and make disciples out of all people, baptizing them, he says, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Some people profess to see a conflict between this and other passages that speak of baptism solely into the name of Jesus Christ or the name of Jesus perhaps. There is no conflict precisely for the reason of what we have described in verse 18. All authority was given unto Jesus by God, therefore the name of Jesus, as Paul says in Philippians chapter 2, is in that sense the name of God because the name of Jesus conveys all the power and all the authority that comes from heaven upon him who was perfectly obedient, who suffered in every way like his brethren, yet without sin, and now all authority upon him. Baptism in the name of Jesus is the same as baptism into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit because the name of the Father has been placed upon the Son. This is my Son in whom I delight and now in the fullest possible sense that is true. God's name is upon him so that the words of Isaiah 9 and verse 6, he will be called the mighty God are perfectly meaningful and understandable in relation to Jesus. Not that he was a God by nature, not that he was a portion of a trinity, but the name of his Father in heaven has been placed upon him and that name conveys power and authority. The name of the Father placed upon the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit which raised him from the dead and gave him eternal life. Now these three entities as it were brought together in one in the person of Jesus. Jesus can now speak with the power and authority of God. Verse 20, as you go he says teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. He recalls their mind briefly then to the many wonderful words that passed his lips, that changed their lives, that helped them to see themselves and the world around them in a new and glorious way. Jesus was to be with them. His words were to be their life, their meat and their drink and lo he said I am with you always even unto the end of the world, the end of the age, I am with you always. He encouraged them now after this commission by reminding them of his perpetual presence with them. He had said something very similar in Matthew chapter 18 verse 20 where two or three of you are gathered together in my name there am I the midst of you. He would continue to be with them wherever they were gathered together wherever even one disciple was striving to the best of his ability to fulfill this commission. Jesus says I will be with you. You won't see me but you will feel my presence and you will know that help is with you as you seek to do my work. We look then at the last words of the gospel of Mark. Mark chapter 16 verse 15 and he said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Very similar to what Matthew had recorded. We now see however that Mark adds certain other features. There is a negative side to the positive commandment. He that believeth not shall be damned. So the reminder of the negative to go with the positive. There is in what Mark records here a great stress upon the gospel the word which as we all know I believe means the good news the good news of the coming kingdom which is intertwined with the good news that it was already being realized in the resurrection of Christ the name of Jesus Christ the name of Jesus Christ doesn't it reminds us of what we just read in Matthew that the name of God was placed upon him that all power and authority had been given to him and now he was giving this commission on behalf of God to his brethren. Paul says in Romans chapter 1 in verse 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe this was the power that in a sense was conferred not simply upon Jesus but was now being passed along to his disciples a power which is in a way much more powerful much more meaningful than the power of the Holy Spirit by which miracles could be performed. The gospel itself is the power by which if we believe it we might be transformed into new creatures we might be prepared for that coming kingdom. This is what Jesus is telling them verse 17 and these signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out demons that's the word in the Greek they shall speak with new tongues not gibberish of course but tongues with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover these were the signs which Jesus gave the disciples in the first century for the authentication of their preaching effort they are all valid in the first century they are all invalid in the 20th century I think we recognize that we certainly should. An interesting point about these verses so often today various Pentecostal evangelical groups profess to be speaking in tongues they profess that God's spirit is upon them in a way very similar to what it was in the first century that they are the recreation therefore of the first century church because they have the power the ability so they would say to speak in tongues in gibberish that is completely unintelligible except to those who have been initiated in this and of course they refer to verses such as this and other verses that we find in the new testament relative to the speaking in tongues a very meaningful approach it seems to me to that kind of position would be simply to read the rest of the verse to point out that the drinking of poison without harm the handling of poisonous serpents without bringing harm to the person as well as raising the dead for that matter which was practiced in the first century should all be equally valid authentic signs of the power of the holy spirit along with the speaking in tongues why choose only the one that is most easy to reproduce or appear to reproduce and deny all of these others anyone that we speak to who believes that the power of the holy spirit is with them in the way it was in the first century should be brought firmly to look at such as this I have read occasionally of certain rather fundamentalist type churches generally in what's called the bible belt of Kentucky and Tennessee and so forth who attempt to practice all of these signs and there have been some rather grave tragedies of professing believers who attempted to handle poisonous snakes without harm and were killed in the process but certainly to call one's attention to what has been what has happened in the past and what has been tried I think would be very meaningful in establishing what we can truly expect by way of authentication in the 20th century compared to the first century we shouldn't throw out those that are inconvenient and keep the ones that we think we can reproduce but rather it should be all or nothing precisely as given in the words of mark here the gospel of Luke chapter 24 we'll read from verse 44 through verse 48 and he said unto them these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law Moses and in the prophets and in the psalms concerning me then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures and said unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem and ye are witnesses of these things here is Luke's version of the same commission being given to the disciples that previously we saw in Matthew and Mark Luke however speaks of a longer period of time he appears to comprehend in his statement the whole educational process through which the apostles went with Jesus during most of that 40-day period that Jesus would speak to them that he would teach them that step by step almost as with continuing Bible class they would come to see more and more of the Old Testament scriptures how they applied to Jesus they would come to see more and more what their duties and responsibilities would be after Jesus was taken from them he opened their understanding that's the words of scripture as Jesus taught them there is also in these verses the stress upon forgiveness of sins as a result of the preaching of the gospel and baptism of the gospel there is the point which is of course tremendously important that the forgiveness of sins would come to them through by means of the death of christ the atonement as we call it and that the atonement of christ involved his perfect life his sacrificial death his resurrection and his mediation in heaven the office into which he would soon enter all of these things comprehended in the words of Luke in his variation of this commission now of course there is the final statement in the new testament of Jesus's words to his disciples before ascending into heaven and it brings us to the title of this class the mount of olives of course we go to acts chapter one we can think of acts it seems to me as something like the fifth gospel because it is in the words of the last verse of john's gospel the continuation of those things which Jesus did amongst his apostles upon the earth though Jesus himself bodily and physically had ascended into heaven it is still the continuation of that work it has been called by some the gospel of the holy spirit because acts is the continuation of god's work among men by the holy spirit his power which in the first place conceived Jesus in the womb which led Jesus to baptism which led him into the wilderness to be tempted which led him back from the wilderness into the work of ministry which he proceeded in for the next few years the holy spirit led him also to the cross and brought him up from the grave to a new and glorious life the acts of the apostles therefore is simply the continuation of everything that Jesus began to do and so we see in acts chapter one and verse one that luke is continuing his treatise his history of the work of Jesus with these words the former treatise if i made oh theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach and now we have the continuation of what Jesus did and taught until the day in which he was taken up after that he through the holy spirit had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs some of those proofs were mentioned in the earlier class dealing with the resurrection being seen of them for 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God so the first three verses then are the summary as we saw a previous summary of what Jesus did in the last 40 days before his ascension into heaven verse four and being assembled together with them he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father which saith he ye have heard of me for John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the holy spirit not many days hence here was the promise of the holy spirit that he gave to them this holy spirit that did come upon them in a greater fullness than they had had before and enable them in the words that we saw in mark to authenticate their preaching work by the miracles that they were able to perform this is what Jesus also called previously in the last few chapters of the gospel of John the comforter that would come to them and he spoke of the comforter in a very personal way because it seems to me that though the comforter was if we were to think of it theoretically the power of the holy spirit still at the same time the comforter was the presence of Jesus himself with his disciples in the closest way in which he could be with them after he had ascended to heaven so Jesus was the comforter was the one who stood alongside his brethren through the power that was given them that they might not only perform miracles as they had occasion but they might understand more fully the teaching of the scripture in which he had begun to instruct them during the three and a half years of his ministry and the 40 days after his resurrection the power of the comforter the power of the holy spirit continued this work and provided for us the finished product of the new testament in which now this very day Jesus is speaking to us through the pages of scripture as directly and as meaningfully as he taught the disciples and others who heard them in the first century verse six when they therefore were come together they ask of him saying lord will you at this time restore again the kingdom to israel still they have in their mind what they have been thinking about practically from the beginning of his ministry what reached for them a climax perhaps as a week previously Jesus had ridden into the city of Jerusalem and the crowds had acclaimed him the one who was to be the king of the Jews the one who was to set up the kingdom he had had to die first and now they recognize that but still it is in their minds that the kingdom of God must soon appear that Jesus will now begin that work of setting up the kingdom despite what he has been telling them about the commission given to them still they earnestly desire the kingdom and they hope that it will soon appear lord will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to israel perhaps they ask it also for this reason and we need to look at a couple of passages that seem to me relevant considering the location of Jesus with his disciples at this very moment on the mount of olives turn with me Zechariah 13 and verse 7 the words that had been fulfilled a few weeks before this time in those tragic and yet exciting events which we've been discussing earlier this week Zechariah 13 verse 7 awake oh sword against my shepherd against the man that is my fellow my kinsman saith the lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered and I will turn mine hands upon the little ones the very thing that happened there in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus was taken and he was carried away to be smitten and they recognized this as they would many other passages as finding their fulfillment and what they had been witnessing in the life of Jesus up to this point the point that I am making is notice how Zechariah 13 and 7 leads very quickly into chapter 14 of Zechariah as we make our divisions Zechariah 14 and verse 1 behold the day of the lord cometh and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle perhaps they had in mind the roman army and the other nations represented by this great roman empire that were in fact gathered together in Jerusalem that were there continuing to oppress the people this was the great power that needed to be removed notice how these verses follow so quickly after the smiting of the shepherd who could know that almost 2000 years at least as we speak was involved in the fulfillment of prophecy between chapter 13 7 and chapter 14 verse 1 and notice then verse 4 in this immediate context of Zechariah and his feet the feet of the lord of hosts and the person of Jesus to whom all power and authority has been committed his feet the feet of the lord will stand in that day upon the mount of olives which is before Jerusalem and there will be a great earthquake and he will go forth to fight against those nations to set up his kingdom and the name of the lord shall be won throughout the earth Jesus had spoken of the power and authority that he now had he was now standing on the mount of olives with his disciples what more natural than for them to ask are you now ready to set up the kingdom all the parts were in place as they could see here was the time for the kingdom to be established Zechariah 14 and verse 4 to be fulfilled his feet standing upon the mount of olives ready to go forth in battle to set up that kingdom if we understand perhaps some of this background some of the teaching that Jesus had given them just previously the things they had been through and now they stand with a glorified Jesus it would seem to me quite understandable that their thoughts would proceed forward to the kingdom and look for it to immediately come notice that Jesus also had been speaking with them in verse 5 of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that would come upon them great power would come upon them as it had come upon Jesus and so what better use of this great power than to go forth and establish the kingdom at that very moment from that time forward also he had said in verse 3 he had continued to speak to them for that 40-day period of the kingdom of God all of this in preparation certainly and how their minds would rush forward and long to stretch out and grasp that kingdom and have it and become a part of it and so what more natural than this question Lord will you now establish the kingdom notice also just briefly that the kingdom of God is to them absolutely equivalent to the kingdom being restored to Israel perfectly plain the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Israel being equivalent Jesus however gives them an answer I suppose which was difficult for them to accept which they didn't expect and yet they must now accept in verse 7 he said into them it is still not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father hath put in his own power but you shall receive power he reinforces what he has said previously you shall receive this power to authenticate your preaching work but you must go forth and preach this gospel before it will come you shall be witnesses unto me he says both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth the time for the restoration was not yet first must come the preaching of the gospel and Jesus gives specifically four stages of that preaching it seems to me that this indication of the scope of the acts of the apostles is given in the very first chapter so that we can appreciate the subject matter of this book the acts of the apostles we can appreciate at the same time why it appears in acts chapter 28 in the last verses that it's cut off rather abruptly we've been following the life of Paul as he goes about preaching we find him going to Rome in effect to the uttermost parts of the earth and then we're not told what happened with Paul there the the narrative stops immediately it does seem a bit puzzling when we look at it in that way but when we look at this outline as it were in the first chapter of acts then it becomes quite plain the acts of the apostles was written to describe the preaching of the gospel as outlined by Jesus as accomplished in the first century by Paul and by others in these four stages there was first of all the preparation as we're looking at here in chapter one the commission being given then there was the preaching in Jerusalem from chapter two beginning with Peter on the day of Pentecost through chapter seven with Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin this was the first stage in the development there was the preaching in Judea the next part of this concentric circle as it expands as the preaching influence goes out further and further the center in Judea and Samaria that we read of in Acts chapter 8 verses 1 to 25 there was the preaching in Africa that began with the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch in the last part of chapter 8 there was the preaching toward Asia in the work of Barnabas and Paul and others Peter included as well in some of those efforts there was the preaching toward Europe and in Europe and finally to Rome itself the center of the Roman Empire what may be referred to here in verse 8 as the uttermost part of the earth and that is particularly significant because once the gospel was established firmly in Rome then because Rome was the center of the world the center of the empire out from Rome would radiate along all of the Roman highways to the uttermost parts of the Roman Empire England itself for example would radiate the preaching of the gospel and so once the gospel was established in Rome then the work of that first generation seems to have been brought to its climax brought to its conclusion now the gospel could be spread through Rome the capital of the world as as was then considered important in those days to the rest of the empire this then is the commission that Jesus gives the disciples in the first century and we say to ourselves is that meaningful to us in a sense what Jesus set in motion there is not complete yet and it all falls under that last category to the uttermost parts of the earth there's where we come in there's where what we can do today feeble as it might be is meaningful in fulfilling the words of Jesus there is where Jesus is continuing to work not only in the first century through the power of the Holy Spirit in the 20th century through the power of the Holy Spirit in the pages of scripture as we believe and obey the gospel is still being brought through a rather feeble witness certainly but it is still being brought into the nations of the world to the uttermost corners Jesus himself had said in Matthew 24 which I think is more than a coincidence as being set on the Mount of Olives Jesus on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24 and verse 13 tells his disciples looking forward to future he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come I know that these verses can be read as though they find their fulfillment in the first century with the end that Jesus had in mind being the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews the end of the Jewish commonwealth I wouldn't dispute that interpretation but it seems to me that we're missing out if we don't take these words and apply them in a secondary sense to ourselves as well certainly within the last generation amongst Christadelphians the gospel has been preached in many more nations feeble though that witness might be in in numbers and in outward result it has still been preached in many more nations than had been covered previously by the work of the ones whom we might call the pioneers in the truth that work continues and we see in that the calling to each one of us wherever we might be to continue that work to bring it forward curious thing isn't it that Jesus as long as he was upon the earth as long as he was possessed of the mortality that we possess the weaknesses that we possess even though he had the power of the Holy Spirit that during that time he was an effective preacher of the gospel but the moment that Jesus was glorified he now steps away from the scene and commissions his disciples possessors of that same mortality and that same frailty to go forth with his commission and preach the gospel and we stop for a moment and we ask ourselves certainly wouldn't it have been much more practical much more reasonable for Jesus to have continued his witness after his resurrection to have taken with him a host of angels and gone out to convince Caiaphas and Pilate and Annas and the whole crew as well as every other nation that he in fact was Christ the Son of God and that he would set up his kingdom why didn't he do that he left it for his brethren weak and frail as they were to continue as best they could the witness of Jesus himself and now he's saying the same thing to us there is something in the divine plan certainly something in the mind of God that sees and understands that the only realistic preaching effort to human beings must be done by other human beings it is perhaps what Paul says in first corinthians chapter 1 when he says by paraphrase that God has rejected those things that are powerful those things that are wise and he has chosen instead us the weak the frail the foolish people of the world to do his work and the purpose is this that no flesh should glory in the presence of God as God says to Paul in second corinthians as perhaps Jesus says to Paul speaking the words of God my strength is perfected in your weakness it's an awesome thing to consider that the power that made the universe that omnipotence itself is committed to us gives its commission through us that the work of the preaching of the gospel should be carried forward we have this treasure in earthen vessels weak and frail as we are there's a verse in the proverbs that i always thought was a rather curious verse the coney are a feeble folk yet they make their house in the rocks and i thought if you wanted a one verse description of christodalphians what better than that and what better than that reason for us to build our house upon the rock than the recognition that we are a feeble folk that we are small that our resources are limited and yet God has chosen to work through us out of all the possibilities that he might choose that he has chosen us to do that work that no flesh should glory in his presence surely that is the message back to acts chapter one notice the comparison between acts one and verse six and acts three verses 20 and 21 in the first of those verses the disciples presumably including peter asked jesus the question will you at this time restore again the kingdom to israel he responds it isn't for you to know the times but you will receive great power and authority now in chapter two peter uses this great power and authority to preach the gospel on the day of pentecost and to set up the church are ecclesia with many being added to the church in the first early excitement of the preaching of the gospel message in jerusalem many churches particularly one i have in mind being the church of christ looks at acts chapter one and then acts chapter two and sees in acts chapter two the fulfillment of the promise that the kingdom would be established they see the church itself as the kingdom and equate the two the two are parallel the two are consistent with one another the two are the same the kingdom was set up in acts chapter two when great power was poured out through the apostles and the church was established god's dominion was set up on the earth it's quite common among the church that is referred to as the church of christ but in a similar way it is the understanding of numerous other religious bodies as well i mentioned that because i want to call to your attention acts chapter one in verse six and acts three verses 20 and 21 in the second of these references after peter has preached the gospel on the day of pentecost and a great church has been set up even after that time peter continues to preach and this is his message borrowed directly from the words of acts one and six the words of peter acts 320 he shall send jesus christ which before was preached unto you whom the heaven must receive until the restitution of all things which god has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began until the restitution of all things make a direct link in your margins between chapter three verse 21 the restitution of all things and chapter one verse restoring the kingdom to israel he is talking about the very same thing he is saying that the restitution of the kingdom to israel has not yet happened even after the preaching on the day of pentecost and the establishment of the great ecclesia in jerusalem and elsewhere very important point if we were speaking to those who believe that the kingdom can be equated with the church still then in acts chapter one verse nine and when jesus had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight a bright luminous cloud perhaps which symbolized the presence of god in their midst quite often in scripture the clouds are a look at matthew 24 in verse 30 and the context there would be one example and there are others he will come with the clouds of heaven the angels will be with him and the two seem to be in tandem at least with one another so perhaps this is the understanding that we should take of the cloud that received him out of sight not so much a literal cloud but something like that cloud in the that enshrined the glorious light which was god's presence among israel now it was coming down from heaven to receive the one whom who in his own body was the glory of israel and to take him up where he belonged to sit at the right hand of god this glory accompanied by the angels came to transport jesus from the mount of olives up to heaven and while they looked steadfastly toward as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel two of that heavenly host of angels apparently remained behind for the final words to the rather bewildered perhaps we might say the rather bewildered apostles as they watched jesus disappearing through the clouds into heaven and they said verse 11 ye men of galilee why stands ye gazing up into heaven there's an implied rebuke in that you have better things to do than to stand here gazing up into heaven desiring jesus to come back and the better thing you have to do is to do those things which he told you to do go forth and preach why stands he gazing into heaven don't stand here staring and dreaming get about your work he'll be back soon enough and you'll be better for the experience of having done what he said while he was gone this is their intent this same jesus then they say by word of promise this same jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go and without looking up the references again we could call attention to that verse zechariah 14 and verse 4 that at a time of great distress for the nation of israel when israel is compassed about with armies that the feet of the lord of hosts will stand in that day upon the mount of olives as he was taken up from heaven so he will return certainly that means visibly certainly that means physically it seems to me quite reasonable to suppose that it means also that he will return to this very place this very place the mount of olives where he had given his own prophecy of the last days the very place where he stood with his disciples and gave them the final commission before ascending into heaven and along with zechariah 14 and four we match ezekiel 43 where ezekiel as he received the vision of the great temple in the millennial age saw that the glory of god returned from the mount of olives which was east of the city and east of the temple mount and returned into the house ezekiel 43 the first few verses of that chapter the glory of god returning to the city certainly a prophecy of the return of christ coming to the mount of olives and then from the mount of olives returning from the east into the city into the temple that once again the city of jerusalem would know the glory of god in its midst then returned they unto jerusalem from the mount called olivet which is from jerusalem a sabbath day's journey they returned with a renewed sense of dedication that what god had said to them through christ they must do they must preach they must be the ones who prepare the way for the coming of the kingdom as john the baptist had been the forerunner of the messiah in his first appearance so they and so we might be the forerunner of jesus in his returning again to set up the kingdom they had seen the heavenly glory they had heard the heavenly voice jesus had said to them i am with you always to the end of the age there are a couple of verses in isaiah 49 that i think would be very appropriate to share with you at this point isaiah 49 verse 13 and it seems to me from what i've heard of brother tenet's class this week that these verses would be especially appropriate isaiah 49 verse 13 the words of jesus are ringing in our ears lo i am with you always to the end of the age there isn't that great comfort there is in these verses that same comfort isaiah 49 verse 13 sing oh heavens and be joyful oh earth break forth into singing oh mountains for the lord hath comforted his people he will have mercy upon his afflicted but zion said zion that the city of people of jerusalem knew jerusalem itself those who have coalesced around jesus who is the glory of god we are that zion we are that jerusalem but zion said never mind those promises i've heard them before the lord has forsaken me my lord has forgotten me how often in our experiences we have said something quite similar the lord has forsaken me the lord has forgotten me we find that our trials that we're facing at the moment are simply too much to bear and we began just for a moment to doubt that christ is truly with us that god truly cares for us the lord has forsaken me to this attitude comes the response from heaven itself can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yay they may forget it is just barely possible that the mother of a sucking child might forget that child very unlikely but just barely possible they might forget god says yet will i not forget thee and then the words of verse 16 behold i have graven thee upon the palms of my hands we imagine ourselves with the disciples in the upper room distressed and afraid jesus appears in their midst did not i say i would be always with you but we thought you had forsaken us lo i am with you always he says reach hither touch my hands thrust your hands into my side behold i have graven you upon the palms of my hands this same jesus which was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you have seen him go we stand there with the disciples now our experiences are the same as theirs they have lost their messiah who has gone into heaven and we stand at one with them and yet we have not really lost him we have been with him through this week he continues with us still as the clouds receive him up into heaven the history of the first century merges into the reality of our present day and we all stand together with those men looking up into heaven and waiting for the return of the messiah but continuing to do the work that he has set for us to do we now hear the same voice as they we wait for the same return those men who stood upon the mount of olives and countless others in successive generations now wait in the dust of the earth but we are alive we can stand upon the earth and do his work and wait for him to return from heaven and we might just still be here when he does perhaps we will hear that trumpet that raises the dead and the voice of the archangel when the lord himself will descend from heaven will we be ready will our lamps be trimmed will our garments be spotless and white ready to go forth to meet him if so and perhaps we will hear those words which to me are among the most beautiful in all of scripture fear not a little flock it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom