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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 at 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 second hand

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

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.

then said jesus unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written i will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad but after i am risen again i will go before you into galilee

peter answered and said unto him though all men shall be offended because of thee yet will i never be offended jesus said unto him verily i say unto thee that this night before the [ __ ]

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're 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's 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 begin 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 and 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 recognized 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 gethsemanes 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 seven 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 strong 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 thee 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 and 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 christ to the father

in matthew 26 still in verse 38

he says to those who are with him tarry ye hear 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 uh 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 the 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 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 forty three

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 up on 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 shall 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's feet so that as they hit the ground they would appear to be red or brown and would recall to his mind uh 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 saith 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 oh 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 awakened 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 awakening themselves in a rather uh dis

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 saith unto 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 seem 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 and 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 ask 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 taking 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 in 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

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 in 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 malcus 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 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 does 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

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 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 servant was malcus

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

uh it seems reasonable that this 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 malcus 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

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 men laid hold on him and he left the linen cloth and fred 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 with 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 or 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 days 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 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 for getting 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 anas 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

annus 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 uh 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 was 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 uh 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 whether 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 might 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 answereth 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 smiteth thou me again jesus calls attention to the law

we're told then in verse 24 as it reads in the authorized version now anas had sent him bound unto caiaphas the high priest but the revised standard version and other more modern versions translate this anas then sent him bound unto caiaphas the high priest as though what we have been reading previously happened in the presence of anas 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 turned 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 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 these 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 and 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 spirits 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 bear 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 answer us 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 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 into 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 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

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've 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 priests 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 thank ye he said to those who are 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 if you 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 was 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 [ __ ] 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 [ __ ] crew and peter called to mind the word that jesus said unto him before the [ __ ] crow twice thou shalt deny me three times and when he thought thereon he wept

the gospel of luke verse 22 chapter 22

and verse 61 tells us that we need to look it up tell us 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

[Music]

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 you 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 did this man pilot

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 no time and no inclination for their foolish speculations about god in 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 in 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 and 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 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 priest 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 council 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 judgment hall 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 you against this man

and they answered and said unto him and i think we detect here a note 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 pre-arranged 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 male factor 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 uh 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 judah upon jesus

john 18

31

then said pilate unto them with this background now as we just said 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 threw out 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 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 it the 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 eck 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's mind

but now is my kingdom not from hence these are the words of jesus jesus's 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 accustomed 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 and verse 3.

we read that

the chief priest accused him of many things but he answered nothing and pilate asked him again saying answers 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 realize that if the fullness of the day comes and the night in 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 refused 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 uh 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 and pilate when he heard of galilee verse six 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 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 and 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 is that they set him at not 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 they 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 they 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 pilot'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 perverted the people i've 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 planted 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 you may know that i have found no fault in him then came jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the people 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 and 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 his throne and his power then said pilate unto him speaketh thou not unto me don't you know that i have power to crucify thee and power to release thee jesus answered calmly

thou good it could 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.

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 closed him with purple and platted 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 worshipped him

and when they had mocked him they took off the purple from him and put his own clothes on him

and let him out to crucify him

jesus is standing in pilate's hall

friendless forsaken betrayed by all

hearken 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 one

verse 11.

[Music]

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

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 forge 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 under foot 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

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 gal al which means a circle something which is round that we find reproduced also in the name galilee are 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 illusions 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 first 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 gaul goliath 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 sirenian coming out of the country and on him they laid the cross that he might bury 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 sirenian 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 too 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 listened 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 it's 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 laid down in the dust held mine in mute appeal

a curse on you roman dogs i cried and i never felt the lash the soldiers 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 into 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 into 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 into 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 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 will 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 women'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 are 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

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 in 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 in 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's 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's 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

that 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 apart 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's 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

thus brought me into the dust of death

for dogs have come past 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 destroys the temple and builds 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 one 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 in us but the other answering finally rebuked him saying dost 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 has 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 suffered 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 well 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 cleophas 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 sayeth 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

or 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 pm

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 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 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 hearst not

and then as the darkness would come upon him

and in the night season i cry and i am not silent

but thou art holy oh thou that inhabitest the praises of israel our fathers trusted in thee they trusted thou just delivered them can i do 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 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 in 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 in the truth witnessed to jesus in his death by the water in 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

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 the 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 are 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 for 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 the scripture record a just man at the beginning of jesus's 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 and to pile it again saying sir

we remember that that deceiver notice they 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 has 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

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 second hand 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 happened hearing rumors that they couldn't substantiate by the evidence of their own senses and therefore there were difficulties involved even for those who are 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 uh 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 uh seem to imply that and we'll defer until we get to that to make the 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 his 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 and realize that it is apparently safe for them then they 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 seven first day of the week it reminds us doesn't it very much of genesis chapter one

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 where 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 uh our position in regard to the pre-existence of christ to those who are not crystaldelphians who are not believers notice however what follows thereafter and i think the point will become clear

far by him are 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 are 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

or 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 and his beams to shine forth upon them and now their lives would never again be the same as they were before the sun 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 second 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 there 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 uh precise word and a very strong word it doesn't mean simply move 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 a frighted 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 seven 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 angel's 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 sepulchre 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 sepulchre

then went in also the other disciple following after peter which came first to the sepulcher and he saw and believed very significant now 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 far 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 mary magdalene following behind the men returns the second time to the tomb and notice as i as i pointed out already uh 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 angel's 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's 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 hast 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

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 is 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 that 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 and twain 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 as 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 uh 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 realize 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.

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 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 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 it 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 unto him rather scornfully are you a stranger in jerusalem that you has not known the things which are come to pass there in these days

notice

their friend their 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 indeed 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'd 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 in their thinking and their discussion

the stranger says to them o fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ought not christ who 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 second 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 whether 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 meat 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 holden 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 hearts 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 or the feet of those who bring glad tidings who bring glad tidings of joy who publish peace who say unto jerusalem and 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 written 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 supposed 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 is 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 are 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 are 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 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 serve to confirm more strongly to our minds the truth the absolute unshakeable 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 behooved 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 in 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 opened 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 uh 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 uh 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 tells us something that 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 nathanael 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

as thou he's actually speaking to the father about the disciples as thou the father has 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 4 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 in 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 5. so while keeping in mind we'll be right back to john 21 before long let's read a few verses from luke chapter 5.

beginning with verse 4.

you might keep john 21 on hand there for ready access

luke 5 and verse 4.

at the very beginning of his ministry as jesus

we're told in verse 3 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 thy word 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 under 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 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 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 onto 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 than 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 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 200

cubits about 100 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 bred

it seems to me the very thing that would 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 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 153 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 six

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 end of the nets becoming truly and completely in the spiritual sense of 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 and simon answered said master we have toiled all night and taken nothing nevertheless if thy word 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 ecclesias are foundering uh floundering and finding great difficulties all of this is uh 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 uh being in heaven already having been glorified as he was in john 21

under jesus's 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 parable of 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 in 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 of matthew 13

the 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 in 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 and 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 is rather curious

the greek word for fish is icpus

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 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 uh fearful of revealing his identity in certain circumstances for fear of persecution or 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 iesus

jesus the second greek letter in ichthus is the ch 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 the five letters of that word successively spell out by abbreviation jesus christ god's 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 uh verse 12 of john 21

they have come to the shore they brought this great catch of fish peter the the 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 there 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 significance or 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 what was intended in the first place i don't really know but i will just mention them with as i said the provision uh the warning against becoming too fascinated with the significance of 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 a fish of course but of human beings so that they came out of all nations this would be the significance of 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 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 days of 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 uh 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 ten 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

ten pins if a fifth row were added in the same sequence there would be fifteen so ten is a triangle number we'll put it that way as is fifteen ten is the triangle number of four one plus two plus three plus four uh 15 is the triangle number of five 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 uh 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 uh in the first part of the book of acts the the nucleus of the ecclesia in jerusalem that is a triangle number 666

mentioned in revelation is a triangle number just again a curiosity i'm not sure if what significance we want to take of that but i thought just uh as a brief passing note you might be interested

and then another one occurred to me the the first four came as a result of of reading various commentaries a fifth one occurred to me and and it really surprised me i was reading in second kings chapters one and two 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 three times 50 plus one is 153

another little curiosity uh the sort of thing that causes us to marvel a bit and wonder uh 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 loveth thou me more than these

they sit and they eat

peter's staring into the coals of fire there and staring into the eyes of jesus and remembering his previous denial

simon son of jonas

does peter 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 loveth 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's 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 filio 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 filio 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 filio 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 our feed our 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 kohl's

in the first place peter denied jesus three times now jesus in a threefold 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 threefold 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 uh two different figures of speech enter in here uh 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 wither thou wouldest but when thou shalt be old thou shall 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 ii peter 1 and verse 14.

ii 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 first peter chapter 2 beginning with verse 19

when he says this is thank worthy if a man for conscience toward god endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your false you take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently this is acceptable with god for even here unto 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 something 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 two and then we seem to detect just a bit of anger in the spirit of peter perhaps he felt that he was going to be 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 of 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 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 reached 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're 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 euclesias 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 uh sometimes these days we have difficulty separating christadelphian traditions that have long-standing uh 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 post script 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 the which if they could be written and they are they're 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 open 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