Good
Friday Bible Study
March
29, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
We’ve been
walking with Jesus through His last week.
On Sunday we
saw the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
Last night (Thursday)
we looked at the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane
Today,
the cross.
23:32-47 The Cross
:32 There were also two others, criminals, led
with Him to be put to death.
:33 And when they had come to the place called
Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and
the other on the left.
:33 Calvary –
kranion – a skull
In Aramaic the
word is “Golgotha”. Did you know that you were
attending “Skull Chapel”? Sounds like a Biker
church, huh? (That’s Greg Laurie on his Harley)
:33 they crucified Him
Though the procedure was subject to wide variation according to the whim
and sadism of the executioner, by the Roman period several features were fairly
standard. With a
placard proclaiming the crime hung around the neck, the condemned prisoner
carried the crossbar,
not the whole cross. The prisoner’s arms were affixed to the crossbar with
ropes or nails, and
the crossbar was then raised and attached to the upright stake. A small wooden
block attached to the stake beneath the buttocks supported the weight of the
suspended body, which was bound to the stake with ropes. Often the feet were also
affixed to the stake with ropes or nails. Because deterrence was a primary
objective, the cross was always erected in a public place. Death came slowly,
often only after several days, and resulted from the cumulative impact of
thirst, hunger, exhaustion, exposure, and the traumatic effects of the
scourging. After death the body was usually left hanging on the cross. Because
of the protracted suffering and the extreme humiliation of this manner of
execution, it was viewed by the Romans as the supreme penalty, the ‘most wretched of deaths’
(Josephus), and generally reserved for the lowest classes and the most heinous
crimes.
:34 Then Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His
garments and cast lots.
:34 Father, forgive them
I still have a hard time understanding this. How can He say this?
Lesson
God’s forgiveness
This is what God’s forgiveness is
all about.
(Ps 103:11–12 NKJV) —11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great
is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12 As far
as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions
from us.
Our God is a forgiving God. Micah
wrote,
(Mic 7:18–19 NKJV) —18
Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the
transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger
forever, Because He delights in mercy. 19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.
God’s forgiveness ought to change us so much, that we turn around and
forgive others.
(Eph 4:31–32 NKJV) —31
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put
away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to
one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ
forgave you.
Illustration
I think one of the most heroic examples of loving like God comes from Corrie
Ten Boom in her book, The Hiding Place:
It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who
had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I
had seen since that time. And suddenly
it was all there—the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s
pain-blanched face. He came up to me as
the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,” he
said. “To think that, as you say, He has
washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust
out to shake mine. And I, who had
preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the
need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of
them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to
ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed,
forgive me and help me to forgive him. I
tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not.
I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your
forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible
thing happened. From my shoulder along
my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into
my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our
forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but
on His. When He tells
us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.
Take a step. Reach out your hand.
:35 And the people stood
looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others;
let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.”
:36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and
offering Him sour wine,
:37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews,
save Yourself.”
:47 also mocked Him
Mockers
There are mockers today,
questioning whether or not Jesus even ever existed.
Through the years they have
questioned things like whether or not there really was a King David. They have questioned whether or not Pontius
Pilate existed. They have questioned the
historicity of the high priest Caiaphas who demanded that Jesus be
crucified. They have questioned the
practice of crucifixion.
It would be like someone
questioning whether or not Abe Lincoln really existed.
Lincoln doubters on Facebook …
“Did Abe Lincoln
really exist?”
Judging by recent
comments, we appear to have struck a nerve. We urge Lincolnists not to retreat
into profanity and vulgarity simply because your beliefs are being challenged.
If you are rational, open-minded, free-thinkers you need to present evidence
for your position, preferably in the form of links to scientific evidence
presented in peer-reviewed publications like Nature or Science. If you cannot
present such data, then you need to consider the possibility that your
long-held beliefs are simply the result of childhood indoctrination and appeals
to authority without any basis in the world of reason and evidence.
:38 And an inscription also was written over Him
in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
:39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged
blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
The cross wasn’t a mistake.
To this thief, as well as the rest of the crowd, it seemed as if Jesus’
death on the cross simply demonstrated His failure as a leader.
In reality, it was the reason He came.
It was His greatest victory, paying for our sins.
:40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying,
“Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
:41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due
reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
:42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when
You come into Your kingdom.”
Lesson
Which thief are you?
The one who
mocked?
The one who asked?
:43 And Jesus said to him,
“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
:44 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was
darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
:44 the sixth hour
Or, to us, noon.
Something supernatural happens and it is dark for three hours.
I wonder if it isn’t during these three hours that the Father is heaping
upon Jesus all of our sins.
(Is 53:3–6 NKJV) —3 He is
despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not
esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and
afflicted. 5 But He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by
His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep
have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his
own way; And the Lord has laid on
Him the iniquity of us all.
(2 Co 5:21 NKJV) For He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of
God in Him.
:45 Then the sun was
darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.
:46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud
voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having
said this, He breathed His last.
:47 So when the centurion saw what had happened,
he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!”
:45 the veil of the temple was torn
in two
Matthew records:
(Mt 27:50–51 NKJV) —50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up
His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the
veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked,
and the rocks were split,
It was torn from the top to the
bottom. Almost as if God had done the
tearing.
In the Temple
in Jerusalem, there were two rooms. The
outer room was called the Holy Place, and the inner room was called the Holy of
Holies. In the Temple there was a
curtain between the two rooms. It was
this curtain, this veil that was torn.
The writer to the Hebrews tells us the significance of this event:
(Heb 10:19–22 NKJV) —19
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the
blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and
living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High
Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water.
God was demonstrating that the “way” had been opened for man to come into
His presence.
Lesson
The Door is Open
God wants us to come to Him. God
wants us to be near to Him.
He has done everything possible for it to happen.
Open your heart to Jesus.
There is a sense in which we are
always in God’s presence.
Yet there is a sense in which we
aren’t always aware of it, and we in turn need to draw near to Him.
(Jas 4:8a NKJV) Draw near to God and
He will draw near to you.
:46 He breathed His last
John records Jesus saying, “It is
finished” (John 19:30)
(Jn 19:30 NKJV)
So when Jesus had received the sour wine,
He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
The word for “finished” is used to
describe a debt that has been paid in full.
The grammar (perfect tense) indicates that the debt has been paid and
continues to be paid.
He had finished paying our debt.
Let’s take communion …
:47 Certainly this was a righteous Man!
Mark records the soldier’s remark a
little differently:
(Mk 15:39 NKJV) So when the
centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed
His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”
He was there. He saw what was happening. He called it like he saw it.