The Gospel of Luke 23:33-49 He is crucified & dies

All right, so we're going to be moving into this passage, Courtney in Red Forest here, Luke 23, 33 through 49. And we're going into this time of Christ's crucifixion and looking at Dr. Luke's account of it. This day of terrible, horrible injustice. This is just the most wonderful day you could ever imagine. this very, very good Friday, where awful, horrible things happened, and very good things. We've been tracking where the location of these things is. The latest scholarship is placing Golgotha, the otherwise known as sometimes Calvary, the Latin as Calvaria, and the place of the skull, and that's what Dr. Luke calls it. That is just outside the Ganoth gate. The Ganoth means garden gate. And so scholars generally are holding to this location.

There's some discussion among them. Is it a little bit more here, a little bit more over that direction? But in general, the consensus is falling right there. This would be Lene Rittmeyer's architectural reconstruction of the Temple Mount area showing Golgotha and the tomb. And among scholars, some of the locations, Golgotha and the tomb, shift a little bit, but in general right outside the Ganath or Garden Gate. And as you can see, there's the temple in the background.

We're going to take a closer look at that in a little bit here. So here's Luke 23, 33. It says, when they came to the place called the skull where they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. So here would show Jesus being crucified as well as the others in a similar way.

I think for the sake of making movies and whatnot, they'll a lot of times show ropes. That's likely not the case. It's just so they can hold them up there some way without actually nailing them. But the reality is they would be nailed and it would be placed right here at the base of the hand and the wrist.

And these again shows ropes for this picture, but may or may not have been the case You have on page 2 a crucifixion clock. We won't be going through all the detail on that Since we'll be focusing mostly on the gospel of Luke, but this crucifixion clock Gives us about the times and the sequence And I think that's what you look at it for mostly as sequence the reality is that the things that Jesus said and that are shown towards three o'clock in this crucifixion clock were actually said very close together in time and not spread so far away.

So look at it not as specific time but in sequence. One other thing too, they didn't have watches like these or not even sundials like these on their wrists, right? So the estimation of time is likely approximate. But anyway, you can refer to that, I think, in study. It's kind of interesting to clock through the sequence of things that happen. We won't be looking at all the detail because Dr. Luke has some of that, but not all of it, and this is put together from all the Gospels. We'll be pointing to some parts of it in places.

OK, it's said that Jesus was crucified between two criminals. Simon of Cyrene had brought the petibulum, the cross piece, because Jesus had collapsed under the weight of that, to the place of the skull. And I'm sure he was dismissed and eager and happy to get out of there. The place of the skull in Aramaic, Golgotha, or you may hear Calvary from the Latin term. So different names, all the same place. The cross piece was fastened to the post and there were different ways that that was done. This shows using ropes that may or may not have been that.

Jesus, the righteous one, was voluntarily crucified. Now I think this is something different from the other criminals. Jesus went there and said essentially, let's do this. Let's do this for you and for me. So these two criminals, who Mark and Matthew call robbers, were crucified on either side of him.

Nails would be placed where the hand and the wrist meet, here, rather than in the middle of the palm, as you sometimes see. That would tear out. Just to give you an example, if you have someone who is crucified, If it was like this and they weighed 150 pounds, there would be about 75 pounds on each arm, right? When you have someone crucified, 30 degrees up, if it's like that, hanging down, amplifies the tension to 150 pounds on each arm, okay? So a much, much higher tension, and it would tend to tear, connect to the tissues, and that sort of thing.

And then one nail, typically just going through both feet. Boom. So three nails would do the work, and that was it. To the Jewish leaders, it was looking like Caiaphas' plan for Jesus to die, for the people, was going to work out just fine. That's how they saw it. Hey, this is working out just like we had in mind. As for the disciples and the other followers of Jesus, this was a shocking, terrifying event. They had no idea how this was going to turn out good.

The Roman soldiers, another denarius, another day, right? It's just work. Yeah, it's my job. Roman soldiers, by the way, the lowest level Roman soldiers, not all that well paid. They got paid a denarius a day, which was about the same as a day laborer would get.

And so that's one of the reasons why you see the soldiers, you know, gambling for his, you know, garments and things of that sort. Many of those present or passing by mocked Jesus and otherwise verbally abused and taunted him. Right by the Gnos gate would be a roadway, and so that's why you'd have people passing by just to see this. So we'll talk about that more in a minute.

Crucifixion was a billboard. The Romans had in mind that crucifixion was a billboard that said, don't mess with Rome. It was very intentionally, exceedingly painful, intensely shaming, and what you usually see in the dramatic depictions, they have some kind of a piece of cloth, loin cloth, or something of that sort, not necessarily. It was intended to be as painful and shaming and awful as they could make it. It often did not bring death quickly, because this was right before a kind of a double high holy day, They would break the robber's legs with a club, and in Jesus' case, he died voluntarily before that. But otherwise, death might take several days.

But for us, Christ's terrible, horrible, monstrous, and ghastly crucifixion meant something entirely different. The cross was a billboard, yes. Christ on the cross was a billboard that said, I love you this much. I love you this much. It had a different expression than Rome intended.

Luke 23, 34, But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves. So Jesus asked the Father to forgive them based on their ignorance of what they were doing. They had no idea the magnitude of what they'd done or how great an injustice this was. Their ignorance was because they didn't know and believe who Jesus really was, although by the end of that day there would be those who would. Jesus would soon be paying for all of their sins. Everyone present and for you and for me. Everyone from Adam to the last person to be born. Every single one. Every single sin for every single person.

No bargains. No special deals. No 50% off. Jesus paid full price for our sins. Here's Psalm 22, 12 through 18, which a thousand years beforehand prophesies about the crucifixion. And I'll read it through, but explain a few things. Many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. Bashan, you probably recognize it by the Golan Heights on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, they open wide their mouth at me as a ravening and a roaring lion.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax that has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. And you lay me in the dust of death, for dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet.

I can count all my bones and look, they stare at me. By counting all my bones, it basically is an expression of skin and bones, right? They divide my garments among them, and from my clothing they cast lots. Casting lots might be done several different ways. These dice here are actually New Testament era Roman dice found in Jerusalem from the time. So that would be a possibility for what they meant by cast lots.

What happened that day was all about relationship with the Father. As we read in John chapter 17, Christ prayed to the Father before He was arrested. He prayed for Himself, and He prayed for His disciples, and then He prayed for you and for me. Yes, and it was all about relationship with the Father. Christ brought you before the Father. He went to the cross in obedience to His Father's will. He didn't yield to His own will, but to the Father's.

He asked the Father to forgive them. And the Father's wrath towards our sins was taken upon Christ. When John the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, it doesn't mean that it just goes away. He takes those sins off of us and places those upon Himself.

Here's Luke 23.35, "...and the people stood by looking on, and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one, they said mockingly." This is also from Psalm 22, verses 7 and 8, "...all who see me sneer at me."

They separate with the lip, which is culturally that would be sticking the lower lip out, and we might in our culture say stick the tongue out. It would be kind of the equivalent. Stick the tongue out. And they wag their heads. Commit yourself to the Lord. Let Him deliver him. Let Him rescue him because He delights in him.

So the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, at the trial before the leaders of the Jews just hours before, when asked if He was the Messiah, Jesus replied in agreement. But Jesus was not in the form of the Messiah that the Pharisees were expecting. You see, the Pharisees expected, when the Messiah comes, the Messiah is just going to love us, right? He's just really going to think we're the best. That was their idea. And of course, since Jesus didn't do that, of course this guy can't be the Messiah, right? Because he's going to like us, and Jesus doesn't. The Sadducees, of course, didn't even believe in the Messiah at all. So here's Caiaphas asking the question, are you the Messiah? When he asked that question, are you the Messiah? Caiaphas didn't even believe there was such a Messiah. Jesus was and is the Messiah, but he doesn't show up that way in his first coming because he came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Here's Luke 23, 36-38, "...the soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Now there was also an inscription above him, This is the king of the Jews." And you see that inscription written variously based on which gospel you're looking at. Some of them are kind of abbreviated. So here they also offered them this wine vinegar.

Matthew and Mark add that gall and myrrh were mixed with the wine vinegar. Myrrh isn't too bad, but the gall is bitter, and so that would actually make it worse. So wine vinegar, believe it or not, was actually a fairly popular drink with the lowest level Roman soldiers. and so that by itself would be okay but mixing the gall with it would make it bitter and make even more thirsty. So Jesus refused the wine vinegar gall and myrrh mix.

The Romans would typically put a sign over the Criminal and it would be here's the name and here's the charge with Jesus. It was a little different So they had there this is Jesus the Nazarene that would be normal and then but the charges He's the king of the Jews right king of the Jews and this was done by Pilate to spite the Jews so Jesus the Nazarene king of the Jews was what he had put on there and And of course, the Jewish leaders objected, as we find in other Gospels. But Pilate said, no, what I've written, I've written. That's it.

So Luke 23, 39, one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him and saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. Now actually, as you read the other Gospels, both criminals, both thieves initially were abusive of Jesus, but there was a change of heart and understanding in one of them. One criminal continued to speak abusively, and that's the one that Dr. Luke is reporting about now. But the other thief would rebuke him for his abuse. Luke 23, 40, and the other answered and rebuking him said, do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? Essentially we would, probably in more modern lingo, we would say, look, you're about to meet your maker. In a matter of hours, don't you fear the consequences of your abusive words.

That's essentially what he was pointing out to this guy. The man saw the mocking words and the man heard perhaps the sign and what not. He may have even heard what Pilate said, this man is innocent. And begun to think, oh, I wonder if he really is the Messiah. I wonder. And he began thinking and it started sinking into this guy.

Luke 23, 41, "...and we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong." So this penitent thief recognizes that he and this other fellow who was abusing Jesus verbally, they really had done wrong. They really did deserve this sentence of crucifixion. But possibly by several different means, this guy, this thief, this criminal, realized that Jesus did nothing wrong and he didn't deserve the sentence of crucifixion. But he didn't stop there in his realizations.

We'll soon see what this man believes about who Jesus really is right now. Luke 23, 42, and he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. Wow. So let's take this, that's a short sentence, but this man believed that Jesus was the Messiah who would come again.

But that also means he believed in the future kingdom of God. And he believed that Jesus would be resurrected and that Jesus would resurrect him. He believed in the resurrection. He came to a great realization that day. He may well have believed other spiritual things that aren't apparent from the record here. His spiritual belief, however, we'll soon see, was one that he would have eternal life. Imagine going out on the cross First hurling abuse at Jesus and then coming to a realization, this guy really is the Messiah. This guy really will resurrect. He will resurrect me. Wow. It gets better than that.

Luke 23, 43, and he said to him, truly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise. Jesus will resurrect this man bodily when he comes again, but the man does not have to wait until the kingdom to have an awesome spiritual event. Jesus tells them that their spirits will be in paradise, the third heaven, that very day. So he's telling them, you will be with me spiritually, even though our bodies will remain here.

Jesus' body remained here on earth. This man's body remained on earth. Jesus would be resurrected in just a few days. This man will be resurrected at the beginning of the coming kingdom. But spiritually speaking, he would be with Jesus that day, a matter of hours. Luke 23-43 is the first passage in the New Testament that has this word paradise, and it's only recorded here in Luke among the Gospels. Second Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul uses this word, and to shorten it up a little bit, essentially, I was caught up into paradise, this is Paul's claim.

In 12.2, he calls that the third heaven. The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven. The next is the stellar heaven. And then the third heaven is the dwelling place of God.

In Revelation 2.7, in the messages to the seven churches, it says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

So Luke 23, 44 and 45, it was now about the sixth hour and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Here's a depiction of the veil of the temple and what that would look like. There's been some kind of stories going around that this temple's veil is somehow inches thick, and there's actually no basis for that. But probably a fairly heavy curtain, enough so that it would also be quite tall and go across the whole inside of the temple. Here would be the relationship of Golgotha and then the back of the temple right up above there on the Temple Mount.

So fairly close by. Now let's talk about the darkness. The darkness fell over the whole land from about noon to about three in the afternoon. Now this was not explicable or explainable as an eclipse. This is only like a couple days after the full moon that marks the Passover. So it doesn't happen that way. You have to be opposite the full moon in order to get the eclipse. So that doesn't explain it. This is a miraculous darkness.

Besides Matthew, Mark, and Luke all mentioning this great darkness, there are actually several other authors outside of scripture who wrote about this darkness and so there's plenty of attestation about this and it was actually over a very wide area, not just Jerusalem.

Phlegon, who was a Greek historian, actually gave the year, he gave it as the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad. And when you line that up with the date of the Passover, it actually gives the date April 3rd, 33 AD. It's one of the things that lines up for that precise date. We have this insight also from Mark.

Jesus, before he died, and you can see this on the crucifixion clock as well, Mark 15, 34 and 35 says, at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's quoting Psalm 22, verse 1.

Why would He do that? He would do that because after an eternity passed up till that moment of fellowship with the Father, That fellowship was broken for the sake of Christ paying for our sins. That fellowship was broken. He had never experienced that before in all eternity past up to this point. And he would never experience it again. In a few hours, he would pay for the sins of the whole world for all time. Well, how could he do that? Because he's of infinite capacity. Infinite capacity.

Here's John 19, 28 through 30. It says, After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the Scripture, said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. In the Greek, that's just one word, tetelestai. It means paid. And it means it's permanently and completely paid in that form. Jesus paid it all, just like we sing. Jesus paid it all and he paid full price for your sins and mine.

This starts to get very interesting. An earthquake and the temple veil torn. Matthew tells us there was an earthquake, and Matthew, Mark, and Luke all say that the veil of the temple was torn, and Matthew and Mark say that it was torn from top to bottom. Imagine this curtain, fairly substantial, again not inches thick like some people talk about, but fairly substantial, and this thing tearing from top to bottom.

That doesn't happen easily. The earthquake that took place that day has been dated to April 3rd, 33 AD by Christian geologist Dr. Stephen Austin. He reported that to the Geological Society of America November 7th in 2012. So that was only a few years ago. The earthquake, darkness, and the veil being torn would have a huge impact all at once. And why the torn veil? Why the torn veil? Now access to God is not just something for once a year for the high priest. All may have access to Him.

Now, there's something else that has come out along with this April 3rd, 33 AD date. The evidence from the Gospels is that the Pharisees have Passover one day, and that being in this particular time, Thursday evening, and that's the same time that Jesus and His disciples had the Last Supper. But the Sadducees, timing their days differently, had their Passover the next day, Friday.

All right, so guess what happens? The slaughter of the Passover lambs for the Sadducee Passover starts at noon and doesn't end until three. Can you imagine what it was like for these guys? Okay? It's time to start slaughtering the Passover lambs for the Sadducees Passover, and the sky goes dark just when they're ready to start. Can you imagine what that was like? What do you mean, slaughter the lambs? I can't even see them! Right? Now, it gets even better than that. The darkness goes on for three hours, causing delays in the slaughtering of the Passover. Could you get the torch over here?

I can't see the stuff. Oh, also, the Levites are singing Psalm 113-118 all the time the lambs are being slaughtered. That's called the Hallel. They would sing that all the times the lambs are being slaughtered. It gets difficult, however, when you can't see the page in front of you, when it's dark. So the singing was a little awkward, the slaughtering was a little awkward, and very likely delayed. But we're not done. At 3 p.m., when they're supposed to be done, guess what happens?

That's exactly the time when the earthquake hits and shakes everything up in the temple, and the massive veil in the temple, and all the priests and all the Levites are all gathered there for this massive event. They're right there. And this thing goes, right in the middle of them trying to carry on their preparations for the Sadducees Passover. Then the darkness lifts, and then you can go in and see what ripped.

Now, that's not all. The earthquake caused something else that Matthew records. The Sadducees don't believe in a resurrection. But the earthquake opens a number of tombs, and the Sadducees don't believe their eyes. The Sadducees are going to have a very bad weekend.

Here's the way it goes. Matthew 27, 52 and 53 gives us these details. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And they coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Uncle Shlomo, I thought we buried you two weeks ago.

Can you imagine that? You're trying to have the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and this guy that you buried two weeks ago walks in. And that happens again and again and again. Imagine a thousand Lazarus events, right? Especially for people who don't believe in a resurrection. This is very difficult. So the next Monday, as we call it, people are saying, well, how was your weekend?

Don't ask. Don't ask. Here's Luke 23, 46. I commit my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last. What we find in this is that Jesus in the morning, you'll see this in the crucifixion clock, He has conversations. He says, Father, forgive them. He talks to the Father. He has conversations in which He says, John, there's Mary, your mother, right? Mary. There's John. John, take care of her. Right? He talks to this thief next to Him and says, today you'll be with me in paradise.

But from noon to 3 p.m. is when Christ did His cross work, including His dying for all of our sins and all the other things that happened that day. As we outlined last week, there are actually at least six things that Christ accomplished on the cross. Jesus' life was not taken from Him. He gave His life for you and for me. He volunteered. Let's do this, guys. Let's do this.

Luke 23, 47, now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, certainly this man was innocent. And Matthew 27, 54, and you can compare similar with Mark 15, 39, says, Now the centurion and those who were with him, keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, truly, this was the Son of God. So the centurion also came to a great realization that day. First of all, the centurion recognized, this is an innocent man that we've killed.

This man was not guilty of anything. when he saw how Jesus conducted themselves and also was saying, hey, whoa, darkness for three hours in the middle of the day, this earthquake. He probably didn't know about the temple being torn in two. But these are all extraordinary events and hard to explain. He'd never seen a crucifixion like this one. Matthew and Mark also tell us that the centurion understood As much as he could, this was the Son of God. This was the Son of God. He and the one thief on the cross were at least two that had great spiritual realizations that day. Here's Luke 23, 48.

And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts. So in that culture, beating one's breast had the idea of at least mourning and sometimes repentance. Maybe not so much of that here, but in this case there was a realization among many that a great injustice had been done. But the spiritual belief here, as we'll soon see, such that he would have eternal life.

Okay, so Luke 23, 49, and all his acquaintances and the women who accompanied him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things. We read in the Gospels that the disciple John and Mary's mother, and perhaps a few others, would come closer to the cross, and also Jesus would talk to them, but for the most part, Many stood at greater distance and farther away. I'm sure it was quite uncomfortable to be up close and see the suffering firsthand. So that's what Dr. Luke is summarizing for us in this verse. The sadness and pain and bewilderment were immense. They did not understand what was taking place.

We, however, have been given a perspective such that we do understand, and the Bible has revealed to us, what was taking place. And one of the great things that took place is the first of five events in which we are identified with Christ, united with Him. The believer is in Christ, crucified, in these five events.

Galatians 2.20 is one that summarizes what happened at the crucifixion and how that impacts us now. This is expanded and explained, so it's a bit wordy, but I think it gets the full idea across.

So by God's doing, who I was prior to believing in Christ has been positionally and irreversibly crucified with Christ. As Paul put it simply, I have been crucified with Christ, so as to separate me positionally from the sin nature. And who I was prior to that point is no longer the me who lives. Ever since that point in time, the resurrected person of Christ is resident in me. And the living which I am now doing each moment in this human body is by means of faith in the Son of God. His life, not mine. The one who loved me regardless of my prior state and identity and gave himself up for my eternal benefit.

It is important for us to realize that we can say on the one hand that the cross was crowded All of us who believe were there on that cross that day. Even the disciples who did not at that point in time understand what was going on. They were identified with Christ that day. The cross was crowded. But very important to realize, as Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. And we can put our own names there. Vern has been crucified with Christ. And each one of us recognize, I have been crucified with Christ. And the impact of that is that he does the living and not me. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word here. We thank you for what you've laid out. And we thank you for having given your life for us and accomplished so much. And we even would thank you for having been crucified, spiritually speaking, with him, because that is such a gracious act so that your adequacy Your adequacy is what we depend upon. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.