The Gospel of John - Crucifixion Clock
John · Vern Peterman · Sep 22, 2013
Gospel of John (2013), No. 36
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492642265909

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Last week what we did is we went through the crucifixion as recorded in the Gospel of John. Today we'll want to put that together using this crucifixion clock that's on one side, and then we'll take a brief look also at the drawing of the Temple Mount and the area around it related to the crucifixion and Christ's burial.

Let's first take a look at the slides and then we'll shift over to our handout. This is the crucifixion and burial, the traditional timing for that given on Friday. This is location of the trial, at least as Lynn Rittmeier identifies it. This is traditional Golgotha, which Dr. Rittmeyer has shown here on the drawing we'll get shortly. Here would be an aerial view. This is the Temple Mountain.

Of course, right now, instead of having the temple, you have the Dome of the Rock. and then this would be the approximate location of where the crucifixion took place, given that. At the time, the crucifixion site, the traditional crucifixion site would have been a quarry where they would get a lot of the rock material for the buildings around there. Here is the drawing that you have, and so here's Golgotha, which would be a soft spot in the query, so they'd leave it because the rock material would not be of good quality.

Yeah, Pat? How far do you think that is? Do you probably know how far that is from where he started the process? What they would do, here's the deal, he would be sentenced here, here is the Fortress Antonia, where they would take them over in preparation for crucifixion, and they'd do their whippings and that kind of thing. Christ was beaten twice. The first one was a light beating, and the second one was a heavy beating. Some people didn't survive the heavy beating. It was that severe.

And so He would have gone from here over to here, and of course there isn't any nice direct pathway, but they would have taken them from here over to here. to here and through some indirect route, I'm sure they would just pick one fairly direct, but there isn't a straight way between the two. And then a possible place of the tombs would be right in here at the edge of the quarry.

This would be a dramatic presentation. Of course, this is shown as is often done with the whole cross, the actual you know, carrying the cross is usually the petibulum, the cross piece, which is shown like this in a dramatic presentation, usually just the cross piece, and the crucifixion shown like this.

Let's take a look at the clock that you've got there. And one of the things to point out, I put a red box around it. Thin lines indicate sequence of events only, exact times are not recorded in scripture. In other words, for example, it looks like something happens at about 1.30, and in reality that's just to show sequence, not that something happens specifically at 1.30.

Actually, those things right towards the time that Jesus died appear to be more right close together rather than spread apart, but they just haven't spread apart just to show sequence and have room for the things that are in there. All right, let's start at the bottom, which is where Pilate declares to the Jews, Behold your King.

So here it is, you know, early morning and So then you see, that's John 19.14 as we looked at there, then you see before Pilate, Mark 15.1, sent to Herod.

The reason Christ was sent to Herod, anybody recall why Christ was sent to Herod? Yeah. Wasn't he the governor? So Herod and the other people didn't want to make that decision, so they sent it down to him. Yeah, in other words, basically, oh, you're from Galilee, right? And so here's the Herod that he's talking about, because there's the whole Herod family. The Herod he was talking about happened to be there, and he was the guy over Galilee.

And so Pilate's thinking, oh good, I can get this hot potato off my hands and pass them on to somebody else. And then Herod just, no, sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, and sent him back to Pilate. So Pilate was unsuccessful in getting this Jesus off his hands. So return to pilot, and again the timing of this is not spread out quite like they have, that's just for sake of sequence.

So return to pilot, that's recorded in Luke 23.11, sentenced, not exclusively, but it shows in Luke 23, 23 and 24. led to Calvary, Luke 23-26. Calvary is simply the Latinized version for Golgotha. It basically means skull. Golgotha is skull. Calaveras is skull. Those are just alternate languages for skull.

And then it says at 9 a.m. Jesus was crucified. Actually during those times they didn't go around with watches like you and I have, not even sundials on their wrists. So typically things were looked at more like 6 a.m., 9 a.m., 12, 3. Those were kind of the key times throughout the day. And a lot of people didn't keep track of times between those all that carefully.

Okay, so Jesus was crucified. How many nails? Three, right? And so they would crucify and it would not be here like is often shown. Matter of fact, I think even this represents it not quite correctly. Not in the middle of the palm, that's going to tear out.

But more right at the base of the palm because then you'd have some substantial structure of bone and tendon and whatnot to hold things together. So Jesus crucified three nails. One reason why that's important, it got into vines, which is a reference for Bible words and that kind of thing.

And it's also claimed in the more recent decades of the Jehovah's Witness group that Christ was not crucified but impaled and just one nail through the wrists, like that, on one pole. And that's not correct. Even the Jehovah's Witness translation, their special translation of the Bible, talks about the nails in his hands. So even that contradicts what they teach.

So Christ was crucified with three nails. And, you know, like this. And then at one, through the feet. And the reality is, however they did it, it didn't particularly matter. I mean, they put it through a bone. They put it, you know, sideways, you know, into the vertical piece. You know, off to the side. They weren't particularly careful about how that got done, just as long as it did get done.

And then, so Jesus was crucified. It says in Mark 15, 25, it was the third hour when they crucified him. Zero hour would be 6 a.m., so the third hour, 9 a.m. So, then Jesus says, Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. That's Luke 23, 34. Why would Jesus say that? Why would he say, Father forgive them?

Yes. Wasn't that the whole reason why he was on the cross was for the forgiveness of sins? Yeah, okay. Yes. It was a declaration of his deity showing how much he loved. Yeah, showing how much he loved, good. And I think something else, he was the only one present who had any idea what was going on. Right? I mean, look at it. He had followers, some, who were present. Some of them were off, more in the distance. We saw last week the Three Marys were at his feet. Sympathizers of different ones. Who knows? May have even been Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea may have been there. So people who were sympathetic, but nobody understood what was going on except for him. Yes.

He was dying for the sins of the world? Yes, dying for the sins of the whole world, right. And his purpose there that day, there that hour, his purpose was not, boy, these guys are really going to get it. But his purpose was, in fact, to die for the sins of the whole world.

His purpose was, as we touched on last week, to do all the things that were intended to be accomplished on the cross. We were identified with him in that death. Everything that goes along with identification could be now separated, for those who believe, separated from the sin nature, the world, and the law. So it was also paying the bride price for the church. It was the confirmation of Israel's new covenant.

All these things. So a great deal was going on during that day. No, they had no idea. They were just doing their job and putting the nails in. The closest we can get to somebody else knowing what's going on is the Centurion, who at the end of the day said, truly this was the Son of God, we just crucified an innocent man. He recognized it, but his job to see that it gets done. Rome ordered it. So then we have G, the next one up, the soldiers divide up his clothes and cast lots to see what each would get.

It says here Mark 15.24, we also saw it in the Gospel of John. You might notice that the listings of which verses are called upon there is not exhaustive, so you could go through and make additional notes as to other places where that's recorded since we saw that in John. Now, one of the things we'll summarize and that is from 9 a.m. to noon is where all the conversations go on. All the conversations go on where Jesus is saying things, other people are saying things, so 9 to noon is conversation time. Isn't that interesting?

So, as they get up, here's H. Those who passed by hurled insults at him saying, come down from the cross if you are the son of God. As a matter of fact, he was the son of God and he was there on purpose. And coming down from the cross was not what he wanted to do. Since he gave himself, So their taunt was exactly the opposite of what he was intentionally doing and he was in fact the son of God. Right? In I, the chief priest mockingly said he saved others but he can't save himself. Now, what's wrong with that? He didn't intend to save himself from the cross, right? And in fact, why was he on the cross? To save others, right?

So they really have it backwards. Yes. I kind of see that as a validating process for them. In other words, they said all along that he wasn't the Messiah, that he wasn't the Christ, that he wasn't this, he wasn't that. He was just an indigent teacher. And so here he is on the cross and he can't deliver himself. So they were right, correct? Yeah, as far as they saw, hey, we won, you lost, you know. And so we're just going to taunt and, you know, mock and all that. But the reality is what they said was upside down.

He was there to save everyone, and he was there intentionally. If he did not want to be there, he could most certainly have taken care of that problem far earlier. When he comes again, he will come with a sword. Revelation describes a ramphaya, a five foot long barbarian battle sword, from his mouth. All he would have to do is speak. and these people would be dust, and the nails would be gone, and it would all be over. So it would be that easy. But that's not what he was there for. That's not what he was there for.

So, Jay, the soldiers who came up and came up and mocked him, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Notice that the Romans are the ones who keep coming up with the title, King of the Jews. Why would the Romans keep pushing that? I mean, Pilate did it. The soldiers are now doing it. There's a sign over his head that has, you know, King of the Jews in three different languages. In Hebrew or Aramaic, Latin and Greek. Why is this King of the Jews thing so big to the Romans? What's that?

We talked last week, it was sort of mocking the Jews. Yes, in other words, you know, okay, here is, we're mocking the Jews. You guys got your, you know, guy crucified. Okay, you know, check. You got your guy crucified, but we're going to use it to mock the Jews. You know? That's right. It was an insult to the Jews. And so the Jews got what they wanted, but the title isn't what they wanted. And it was a way for the Romans to mock them. You know, hey, Rome wins, you know.

Yes. Isn't that also the only charge against him that legally lets them do what they're doing? The only charge against them that legally lets them do what they're doing. That's correct. And that was the last strategy that the Jews shifted to. And now it's come back to Biden. And I think it's also interesting, I was just noticing, if you look at H, I, J, and K, it all has to do with saving himself and coming down off the cross. And that's the worldly perspective and that authority and power. In other words, demonstrate your power by coming down. He's doing just the opposite of what the world...

Yeah. Isn't that something? Yeah. Yeah. And notice, here's all this mocking, and it's not just from one group and not just from another. You've got the soldiers at it, you've got the chief priests at it, you know. Everybody's joining in. The Jews aren't particularly liking the King of the Jews title, whether it's said verbally or up on the sign. They're not particularly liking that, but nonetheless the mocking goes on. In fact, there was no legal limit as to how much you could mock and spit and do other kinds of abuse. That was perfectly okay. It accented even more Don't mess with Rome. And that's power and authority, right? Yes. And so the Jews didn't like the Romans because the Romans didn't accept their power and authority. And the Romans didn't like the Jews because they didn't like the Jews' power and authority.

And so there's always this constant conflict. And everybody's happy, right? Yeah. Everybody's happy. So then we find, this is K, one of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Jesus, aren't you THE Christ? Aren't you THE Messiah? Save yourself and us. Here's more of this, you know, save yourself. Is he saving us? Yeah, he's paying the price so that all who believe might be saved, right? So save yourself and us.

And actually as we look at the initial accounts, both of the criminals initially mocked and insulted Jesus. But, here's we look at L, but the other criminal rebuked him and then he said, Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. That's very interesting. What do you think happened to change that one criminal The thief on the cross. What do you think happened to save that one criminal to change his mind about things?

An aha moment. An aha moment. And it seemed to be just the one, right? Any indication we have? Just the one. But somehow, wait a minute. This guy isn't dying like everybody else. And he's not your run-of-the-mill rebel the guy who's going to come and push out Rome.

Yeah, Gene? I think it was Jesus' loving testimony that changed his mind. Yeah, isn't it interesting? He looked at this and saw this and it really profoundly affected him. Yes, and what's interesting is you have a bunch of people mocking, but let's think about that. Who were the people who were changed that day? There was the centurion was changed that day. And what did he do? He just saw what was going on and he saw Christ. And he said, truly this was the Son of God. We have crucified an innocent man. Those were some of the things that he said.

So the centurion was changed that day. So far as we know, sequentially, however, it was the thief on the cross the one who says remember me when you come in your kingdom, he seems to have been the first one to have been actually changed that day. He had to have, well he didn't have to I guess, but you would think that he would have had some background knowledge to even be able to make that connection. Yeah, you know, in other words, if you think about it, okay, your kingdom, so here is the guy who believes in the kingdom, and he recognizes that this man here is on the cross next to him, is the one who is going to come in his kingdom.

That's pretty amazing. So here he is, he's got front row seats, front row crosses, to the pivotal event in Christ's first coming, And he says, remember me when you come in your second coming. So this is quite a recognition for this one man. Isn't that something? Yeah.

I think it also shows, we heard a talk last night on We went to a dedication ceremony and he was talking about how Jesus forgave this criminal right after he was mocking him. It shows you the true compassion and mercy of God. I mean, it's almost instantaneous. Here this guy is totally against God and he's agnostic or whatever you want to say. And then all at once he gets this aha moment and he's totally forgiven.

Isn't that something? Here is a guy, he's a bad dude, otherwise he wouldn't be up there. He's a bad dude, that's why he's up there, and in the middle of this thing, all of a sudden, ding! So Jesus says, well, you know, you're not as bad off as you used to be? No. What does he say? Jesus answered him, he said, M, I tell you the truth, today you shall be with me in paradise.

Today. Which tells you several things. One, God can save anybody. God can save anybody. Ever hear anybody say, I've done too bad? Hey, this guy is, you know, this guy is a rotten fellow. That's why he's there. God can save anybody. And before that day is done, where is he going to be?

Paradise. This is the first use of the word paradise in the New Testament. The first one is here, the next one is the Apostle Paul, where he kind of in a backwards way says that he was taken up into paradise, but he can't talk about it. And then in Revelation, John is told, you must talk about it. Right? And so that's the third place where this word paradise shows up. It's actually a Persian word that means pleasure garden. But here's the first one. So you can imagine, here's this guy in ultimate misery. He's being crucified. Before the end of the day, because it's coming up on Sabbath, they're going to break his legs so he'll die of suffocation. He's being crucified.

He's in ultimate misery and the Lord's saying today, you'll be with me in paradise. And by the way, does that also tell us about where Christ went when he died? He went to be with the Father. Father into your hands, I commit my spirit, later on he would say.

I think there is a lot to be gain from thinking about these two thieves on the cross on either side. Jesus died for the sins of both of them, didn't he? He died for the sins of both of them, and yet only one took advantage of it. And the one had a change of heart between nine and noon. came to a realization, the other apparently did not.

Yes? Isn't that something? Yeah, he was there, hearing, yeah, everything that had been said, good point. And what were people calling him, calling Christ? King of the Jews? Okay, so here's the one. In truth, that title applies to his second coming. You're the son of God, okay? And so there's all that talk. You're the son of God.

There's all this talk about saving and somehow with what was said and the way Jesus behaved, this guy Had an aha moment. He had an aha moment. Listening to these things, watching Jesus, and whoa, I've got an opportunity right now to change my forever. Because I sure didn't change up to this point. Right? Yeah. Yeah, what's it going to cost him, right?

And the reality is we're all in that spot. We just don't realize it. People go around thinking they've got some other plan that's somehow better than what God has in mind. And the reality is we're all in that spot. Yes? It's similar to those psychological puzzles where you can't solve them unless you remove yourself from where you are and put yourself in another person's position to see the true perspective of the problem. And this criminal took the view off of himself and his position and his condition and he actually allowed himself to see Christ and what he was doing, whereas the other criminal was so tied up in himself that he was unable to see what actually was being done. And is that not true for us today?

We have to stop looking at ourselves so much, but looking at what Christ did for us. That's part of the identification. To give up ourselves and to identify with what he did. Let's think also about the identification, our identification with Christ, which isn't addressed in this clock. But when were we identified with Christ on this clock? At what point were we identified with Christ? Because we died with him, that scripture teaches that.

Is that all? And why would you say 9am? That's when he was first put on the cross and is there some verse that tells us that we were identified with him at that moment? Yes. He died for everyone. He died for everyone's sins, that's correct, but our identification with Him, that is our being joined to Him, when did that begin? And you're saying it's crucifixion, and that fits very well with I have been crucified with Christ.

So if Christ was crucified, Galatians 2.20 says that we were also crucified with Him, starting at 9. It says that He died and we died, So that's New Testament teaching. So from 9 to 3, this top part of the clock, while he was on the cross, from his crucifixion to his death, we were identified with him.

We were identified with him during that time. And who knew? People look up and some of them are mocking Jesus and a few are responding. But who knew that you and I were there too? He knew that you and I were there too. Here's Paul making it very personal. I was crucified with Christ. I died with Him. The cross was spiritually a crowded place.

But it's important that we also take that personally, as Paul did in Galatians 2.20, and say for ourselves, I was crucified with Christ. So a very crowded place, but also not to lose the individual truth for each one of us who believes. I was crucified with Christ, I died with him. I was there that day. I was there that day.

What you see here in the O at the top of the clock, at the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And what we see is from that time on, no more interaction from twelve to three. No more talking, you know, here's your mother and all that, because that's the last thing we see there. Jesus said to his mother, dear woman, here's your son, and to the disciple, here's your mother. And then, starting at noon, at the sixth hour, 12 noon, that's when Jesus goes silent until towards the very end. And why would Jesus put all this, you know, interaction 9 to noon and then go silent until the very end? Why would that happen?

Yeah, in other words, the indication would be that though we are identified with him from his crucifixion until his death, the six hours, that it appears that this is the time when he's actually bearing our sins, from about noon until his death. Yes. I think that was his greatest time of suffering. Yes, it was in fact. I mean because all of crucifixion physically is painful and difficult. But his suffering during this time was because he was in fact bearing our sins.

Now, I've had the question asked, why is it that Christ can bear the sins of the whole world in a few hours, and yet if one individual goes to eternity, to the lake of fire, they take forever to pay for their own sins. Why is it? that Christ could get done for everybody in a few hours, what people will otherwise take eternity to carry on.

The truth is that we don't have some nice mathematical answer except to say this, is because of Christ's infinite capacity. Because He was the Son of God, He had infinite capacity to take on the sins of the whole world. It wasn't like, okay, He took on all the sins, but boy, two or three more would have been over the top. No, it doesn't work that way, does it? Christ had infinite capacity to take on all of our sins for the whole world, for all time, from Adam to the last person born on the planet.

In the period of time between 12 and 3 p.m., Christ at that period of time was separated from God the Father. And that's what we're going to get to next here. P, which is shown around 1.30, but the reality is probably later. Jesus cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it's actually Aramaic. So here's Jesus on the cross and he's Elohim! Elohim! Lama Sabachthani!

So he's calling out in Aramaic, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And because there are others around who are not, some of them aren't literate in the Aramaic that he's speaking, some of them are maybe not quite in the position to understand him clearly, so some think he's calling out for Elijah. clearly heard and understood, it's my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And why would Jesus, who had fellowship with the Father, I mean we've read John 17, where he's praying to the Father, and talking about an intimate relationship with the Father, and praying for the disciples, and praying for you and me, about an intimate relationship with himself and the Father. It was just a little bit earlier, John 15. He says, Abide in me, and I in you. My Father is the bind dresser.

Why now, my God, my God, why have you forsaken? First of all, in his human nature, but I think there's more to it. He was bearing the sins of the whole world, and why would the Father forsake him at this time? Yeah, he was, the father turned his face away. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

So here, here at this three hours, if you will, Jesus is bearing the sins of the whole world, where from prior to that, in eternity past, and on into eternity future, there had been perfect, unbroken fellowship between he and the father. except for this time. So this was a time that split eternity, where the Father and the Son were alienated because of your sin and mine.

Don't you think if you'd been standing there watching this and the whole world went dark, you'd say, what's happening? Yeah, you'd be asking questions. And I think what's amazing is that as you look at this, that you didn't have more people go, oh, man, what's going on here? Right? So far as we know, the two people who were radically turned that day was one thief on the cross and the centurion. And the rest of them didn't get it. You know, hey, this is a weird day, you know. Pardon?

You know, there doesn't seem to be an indication. If you look at Pilot, he didn't make any statements later. He did grant permission for the body to be taken care of, but he wanted to make sure that the death had taken place. So he wanted to check on that, and the centurion testified, yep, he's dead.

Pilate's wife sent Pilate a warning, but that was basically about a dream. There is an outside of scripture account. But it comes later that she became a believer, but it doesn't have good founding to be able to count on. And we studied earlier that Jesus said that he who turned me over to you had greater sin, indicating that Pilate was sinful in what he was doing.

That's the way I took that. And I don't see that Pilate actually asked for forgiveness from that sin. Yeah, you don't see it. Let's take a look here. Jesus says, I am thirsty, and we saw that in our study of John 19. And this I am thirsty is actually a prophetic fulfillment, as we saw in John 19. And they took up a sponge, you know, and gave him some vinegar, basically.

And then Jesus says, and we saw that in John 19.30, it is finished. John's the only one who records that.

It's the Greek word tetelestai, an accounting term. It's all paid. And it's in the perfect tense. In other words, it's a completed past action, ongoing, results in the future, implying permanence. So Jesus It would be like him yelling out, it's all completely paid forever! To put the full sense of it. So here's Jesus calling out, it's all paid. You can imagine all these people, what's he yelling out in accounting terms for? That's puzzling.

But it's all paid. At that point in time, it was a declaration that by then he had paid for the sins of the whole world. I'm sure the Romans had all preparations made for these horrible events like crucifixion. But I've wondered all these years I've been a Christian, why didn't they give him a sponge with vinegar on it? Because it's acid, acetic acid. And that would just torture his throat even more. Yeah, it would even burn. Probably even burn. More torture. probably even burned, because by that time you'd be pretty raw and hoarse. But they had it there, and they were prepared for it, apparently. Yeah, oh yeah.

Isn't that one of those things that validates the truth of Scripture, that Jesus prophesied in the Old Testament? That's right. And the truth is, you go through, detail by detail, hundreds of prophecies from the Old Testament, fulfilled in Christ's lifetime.

In round numbers, there are about 10,000 prophecies in scripture by detail and about 5,000 have been fulfilled. So it's that fulfillment of those 5,000 that stand. And the 5,000 that are yet to be fulfilled are things that are yet future and will be fulfilled starting with the rapture. I started with the Lord taking us home and then going into the tribulation period and the second coming in the Millennial Kingdom.

Okay, so Jesus last says, Father into your hands I commit my spirit. This and Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise, both of these tell us there's some mythology among Christians developed in part because of what's called the Apostles' Creed. By the way, the Apostles never knew the Apostles' Creed. That Christ went down into hell during this time until he was resurrected. but in fact this says today you'll be with me in paradise as he went to heaven not to hell and father into your hands I commit my spirit and that also says that he went to be with the father spiritually speaking his body remained there on the cross into your hands I commit my spirit now let's ask this question did Jesus die because of the crucifixion or did he die voluntarily? He died voluntarily. So into your hands I commit my spirit, it means I'm out of here.

I'm done. And why would he say that? Why would he say that? It's all paid. And by the way, just before that, he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When it was all paid and all done, his fellowship with the Father was then restored, right? Fellowship with the Father was then restored. And it was no longer, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Yeah, Roy? What's interesting is that all the different revelations appear to be with regards to the Father. although certainly alienation from the Holy Spirit is something that would have been the case as well. But the direct revelation seems to point to the Father as the one who is alienation.

Yeah, yeah. Well, one thing, remember in Hebrew, and you may be on to something there, but remember in Hebrew that saying something twice is a point of emphasis. Example, you ever hear the passage out of Isaiah, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is still in me. It's actually not perfect peace, it's peace, peace.

It's doubled. So doubling something in the Hebrew language was one of the ways of emphasizing something as being more so. So Jesus would say, truly, truly, example, in the Gospel of John. So my God, my God would be emphatic, an emphatic statement, possibly because of, you know, we're talking about two persons of the Trinity that he was alienated from. But it may well just simply be the double emphatic way of saying things. Okay, let's look at the events immediately following.

This is T, the earthquake and the tearing in two of the curtain. By the way, the curtain is several inches thick. This thing is like, you know, real heavily woven. So to have that thing torn, people must have been really puzzled. I mean, it's just like, how could you possibly tear that thing? You couldn't tear it from top to bottom with a team of oxen, you know, on each end. That was a phenomenal event and to have to replace it was, I'm sure, a real puzzle. How do we explain this, right? Why was the curtain torn in two? What's behind the curtain?

The holy place and the holy of holies, right? Yeah. Yeah, and now with Christ's death, all of a sudden access, direct access is available. Pardon? New covenant. Yeah, okay. And then we have here the tombs break open. This is one that's a bit puzzling. Matthew 27, 51. That's the only place that one verse where it talks about around Jerusalem, tombs break open. And you can imagine, you know, oh wow! Here is Uncle Yakov walking around, and here is Aunt Mary walking around. It was a bit like a plural Lazarus event. There isn't a whole lot more explanation given other than just that one verse. Yes? I've wondered about that for years and years. Tombs were opened. Why is it mentioned?

And it says it doesn't tell how many people came out. I would think that all of those people who were believers came out. Why would the Lord exclude some and allow others to come out? So I've never understood that. What's the significance of it? How does it fit into the picture? The veil to the temple, I understand that, but people coming out of there, maybe just to show the power of God? Yeah, interesting.

It only appears to have happened around Jerusalem. And we're just not given a lot of explanation other than that. So it would be hard to do more than just speculate. But certainly it would show some power of God. And the other thing is, you think about it, what everybody was thinking, with a couple of exceptions, was here is this guy and he, you know, tried to call himself the king of the Jews and he lost and Rome won and pretty much the Jews got their way other than calling him the king of the Jews and so now we've got this guy and he lost but some things happened that day that said hey wait a minute something different happened today than we thought and one of them is all of a sudden you know This veil gets ripped in two. And then you have people coming out of the tombs only around Jerusalem. It doesn't say all of them, some of them.

Can I read this? Oh, please do. How the NASB has said that the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. Okay. And coming out of the tombs after the resurrection they entered into the Holy City. Isn't that something?

Yeah, there's like a whole bunch of Lazaruses. Many bodies. Yeah. So here's a whole bunch of Lazaruses is kind of what we have their sense of. Yeah. Is it still dark? I think so. And here are these bodies coming out? Well, look at this. There's zero. At the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. So we're just at about three o'clock that things somehow, you know, passed.

So by this time, it would be, from the sound of things, by this time it would be, okay, things are not quite as dark as they were at the same time these tombs were opened. And then the centurion exclaimed, surely he was the son of God. And it says, The Confession of the Multitude. What's the Confession of the Multitude?

Somebody look up Luke 23.48 for us. It says, And the whole crowd who came together to that site, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and turned.

Ah. Wow. Okay. What does the beating the breast mean? Repentance. Repentance? Grief? Yeah. Confession? Yeah, yeah. There may have been, we aren't told exactly what that is, but some people are starting to have some kind of a realization of some kind. And we're not told the specifics of that.

X is the thieves legs are broken. And it's John 19, 31 and 32. So both thieves would have their legs broken so that they would suffocate. With the cross, you would have, even a person that weighed like 150 pounds or something like that, you would have hundreds of pounds of tension on each arm. And the tendency would be to kind of compress the lungs. And so they would press up on the nails, on the feet, to get a breath. And once you break the legs then, then they can't press up and they're going to die of suffocation. So both thieves, Even though one of them is going to be in paradise. Both thieves had their legs broken. Jesus had already voluntarily died. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Yes. And with the nail through the heel bone, prior to the breaking of the legs, every time they push up, they have excruciating pain. Yes, excruciating pain only to get the next breath. Yep. Excruciating pain so you can get your next breath. It's like, do I have pain or do I breathe? You know? Do I not breathe?

The next one here, the soldier pierces Jesus' side, and so by that time, by the time the side is pierced, the blood and water begin to come out separate. They start to separate out. And then in John 19, 38-42, which we'll get to, the burial. The tomb is secured by a seal and a guard is posted. But that actually takes place the next day. Takes place the next day. Let's take a last look at the backside here. Back up to this. So here would be Golgotha.

People going by, there was a roadway kind of in front of what you see there. So people going by would see it. People who would be up on this walkway up here called Wilson's, this is Wilson's Arch, which is this part still visible. This walkway would see it, so from various places people could come and see the crucifixion at no charge.

Okay, so this is the crucifixion. We've talked some about the significance of it and what was going on. I think it's helpful to put this together and walk through the time to get a perspective of what's taking place and who understands. Jesus is the only one who really understands what's going on. The next one behind that is the thief on the cross. And the next one after that is the centurion. Anybody else that was or became a believer was catching up later. as to its significance and what took place.

So, we'll get back into the John sequence which talks about the burial and that kind of thing next week. Any other thoughts, comments, questions? Yes, Morgan? One more question. You said that he was buried the next day. No, no. He was buried that day. The sealing of the tomb and the setting of the guard was the next day. Okay. We don't have that footage to contradict the These are Romans. They don't care. It's a Roman guard and they don't care. Every day is the same to them.

I want to go back to real quick. You said it was voluntary that he gave up his spirit and that's true. But his physical body was dying because of all the torture and everything else. So his humanity, his humanness was an involuntary death. He just died. His body died. But he had to give up his spirit. He gave up his spirit voluntarily.

Because he was also God. Because if you don't say that the body dies, then when they say that he came out of the tomb, and he lived and he never really died, that's not possible because of all this stuff that he went through. There's no way, even a nail through the heel bone, he couldn't, no way could have he walked, even if somehow he was able to survive this event. So humanly, he died. Yeah, humanly he died. He died, his spirit went to paradise, into the Father's hands, but physically he died. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus and those who came along with them took care of the body.

Yes? I'm just curious because did you say the word paradise is a Persian word? It's a Persian word means pleasure garden. Paradise or pleasure garden. Yes. And then you also mentioned Aramaic in the meaning and Hebrew and so With all the timeline, are there other languages that you used?

Well, let's talk about the Aramaic was one that actually came originally and starts back into the Assyrian Empire and was continued to be used into the Babylonian and even the Persian Empire. And so the Aramaic that was used in Israel came from that time. And it had taken on a Jewish form, and so sometimes the Jewish form of Aramaic is called Hebrew. And it's because it's the Hebrew's way of speaking Aramaic. But there was also explicitly a Hebrew language and writing, which is not the same as Aramaic. But both of those would have been specifically Jewish. So far as there were Romans there, Latin would have been commonly a tongue that they would have used. Greek would have been used most commonly between both the Jews and the Romans and others. Now the Jews are all descended from Jacob, right? But the Herod family is actually descended from Esau. They're descended from Esau.

So you've got that aspect of things as well. So you have Hebrew and Aramaic, and you've got Greek, which is from Alexander the Great. He brought in Koine Greek and enforced it. Militarily enforced, you're going to learn Koine Greek. So that was in the eastern part of the Mediterranean. So Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, those are the four main languages that you see.

The word paradise, paradiseo, came in from the Persian And just like our own language, we've got words that creep in from other languages. Pistol is pistola. Corral, that's another one that's Spanish. So we've got words that creep in from other languages. If we say hallelujah, there's Hebrew that we have in our English language. So we actually have a similar thing where we adapt words in from other languages that we don't even speak. So a similar kind of thing. Today you will be with me in paradise is a borrowed Persian word, but just a single word, not that everybody knew how to speak Persian.

Yes, in other words, what would happen, what would happen is before, it was actually before the Sabbath, before Sabbath, because it was Friday afternoon, and actually Passover season had already just begun the night before, right? Because that's why Jesus had the Last Supper, right? But before the Sabbath, they needed to get the bodies off the crosses. That was an agreement with the Romans and the Jews, right?

Get the bodies off the crosses. And the typical thing was to break the legs. Just come in there with a big heavy bar and just bang! And smash the legs. But with Jesus, he's already dead, we don't need to smash him. So the thieves each got their legs smashed. Jesus didn't and they just didn't make sure he's dead, you know, poke him on the side water and blood come out separately. Yeah, he's already dead So and that's why for the Old Testament prophecy not one of his bones would be broken say contrary to the thief on either side We need to close up here as we got people starting to come up to the back door.

Okay, and Lord, we do thank you for what you've revealed here. What an amazing, amazing event. A pivotal point in history in all of eternity. And we thank you for what you've revealed here because you love us. We thank you for this immense love that you showed when you loved and you gave. We're beyond words for what you've done for us. We pray in Jesus' name.