The Last Witness

Good Friday

March 21, 2008

Introduction

Sometimes we wonder just what’s so “good” about Good Friday.

It’s interesting how the world has twisted our Christian holidays around so much.

We celebrate the birth of our Savior with a fat man in a red suit who flies around in a sleigh pulled by magic flying reindeer.

We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead with bunny rabbits, colored eggs, and lots of candy.

And what I feel is probably the most important, at least as important as the other two holidays, Good Friday, we don’t hardly get at all.

It used to be that banks closed on Good Friday. It used to be that businesses closed by noon on Good Friday. Now we hardly even blink as it goes by.

We’re going to take a look at what the apostle John has to say about what makes this Friday so “good”

Play the “Last Witness” video.

As you read John’s account of Jesus, there are a couple of themes that you see woven through the book. These themes are going to deal with mankind’s greatest problem, his separation from God due to his own sin. John’s account is going to show that Jesus was the acceptable payment for our sins. John will be showing us that:

Jesus came to die.

His whole reason for coming to this planet was to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sin. He died for us. He died to pay for our sins.

Jesus is God.

Jesus didn’t just lay down a finite human life as a sacrifice, He laid down an infinite life, able to pay for the sins of the entire world.

John’s witness

(John 1:1-4 NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} He was in the beginning with God. {3} All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. {4} In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

This “Word” is God. He is the Creator.

(John 1:14 NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The “Word” took on human flesh. Jesus is the “Word”. Jesus is God.

(John 1:29 NKJV) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. He came to die.

(John 2:18-19 NKJV) So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?" {19} Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

All throughout His three year ministry Jesus dropped hints that He came to die and to rise from the dead.

(John 3:14-16 NKJV) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, {15} "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. {16} "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Being “lifted up” is a hint at His crucifixion. Salvation takes place when a person chooses to “believe” in God’s Son.

(John 4:25-26 NKJV) The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things." {26} Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

He was the Messiah. He was the Savior. But instead of saving His people with a sword from the Roman government, He saved them with His death from their own sins.

(John 5:24 NKJV) "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Salvation comes from believing in Jesus.

(John 6:29 NKJV) Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

Believe.

(John 7:8 NKJV) "You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."

Jesus knew when His “time” would be. His “time” was when He would die.

(John 8:24 NKJV) "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

There are seven times in the Gospel of John where John has woven the name of God, “I AM” into the text. This is one of the clearest, where Jesus says you will die in your sins if you don’t believe that He is Yahweh, the I AM.

(John 8:28 NKJV) Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

When Jesus dies (is “lifted up”), the world would know that He is the “I AM”, God in flesh dying for our sins.

(John 8:58 NKJV) Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

At this point the Jews took up stones to kill Jesus because they felt He was blaspheming by calling Himself God.

John goes on to continually remind us that Jesus was demonstrating both that He was God and that He had come to die on a cross and pay for our sins.

Zoom ahead to Friday morning, Good Friday…

Jesus had been arrested the previous evening. He’s been on trial before the Sanhedrin. He’s been shuttled back and forth between Pilate and Herod. He’s now back before Pilate, the Roman governor.

It is the time of the Passover festival. Jerusalem is packed with pilgrims from all over the world. The custom was for the Roman governor to make his way from Caesarea up to Jerusalem to be a part of the festivities.

John 19

:1 So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.

The process of scourging:

The scourging was called the “intermediate death” because it was so painful, and because it took a person so close to death.

The condemned person would be led out to the front of the Praetorium, where the crowd was.

The Praetorium was the building known as the Antonio Fortress, located next to the Temple Mount.

The prisoner would be stripped, and tied to a low post, stretching out the skin on the back so the whip would more easily cut through.

The Jewish law had a limit of 40 lashes, but keep in mind, these are Romans administering the scourging, so we don’t know how many times Jesus was beaten.

The Romans used a “flagrum”, also called a “cat-o-nine-tails”, leather strips with pieces of bone or metal weighing down the ends, designed to tear the flesh as they hit.

Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, the church historian of the third century, said (Epistle of the Church in Smyrna) concerning the Roman scourging inflicted on those to be executed: The sufferer’s “veins were laid bare, and that the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure”. (McDowell’s “Evidence that Demands a Verdict”, pg.204)

:2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe.

The crown was made of the thorny twine used to tie firewood together. The thorns would be lone, sharp, and painful.

:3 Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands.

:4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him."

:5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!"

In Latin the phrase is “Ecce Homo”.

:6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."

Pilate has had trouble with these Jews before.

When Pilate was first sent to be the governor over Israel, he set up a parade with the Roman army marching into Jerusalem with big banners covered with the face of Caesar along with the image of a pig, the mascot of the 10^th Legion. The Jews were not excited about this.

Hundreds of Jews rushed down Caesarea and had a massive sit-in where they sat motionless around Pilate’s palace for five days. After five days Pilate told the Jews that he had something to say to the Jews. He asked them to the city stadium, surrounded the Jews with Roman soldiers and told them that unless they accepted the images of Caesar they would be cut to pieces. The Jews fell on their knees, bent their necks and said they were ready to die rather than break the Law of Moses. Pilate ended up giving in and taking down the banners in Jerusalem.

Now Pilate is facing the same kind of religious kooks. The last time he ended up just giving in to the leaders to keep the peace.

:7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God."

:8 Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid,

Pilate is wondering just who he has on his hands.

:9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.

:10 Then Pilate said to Him, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?"

:11 Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."

:12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."

:13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

The Pavement – lithostrotos –a place near the praetorium or palace of Jerusalem

There is a place in Jerusalem in the basement of the church built upon the place where the Antonio Fortress used to be. You see the sign over the staircase going to the basement with the word “lithostrotos” on it.

It was to be the place of judgment. One of the Caesars carried his own portable “lithostrotos” with him so he could pronounce judgment where he went.

:14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!"

:15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"

:16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.

:17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,

Around 300 AD, Emperor Constantine’s mom, Queen Helena, toured the Holy Land and decided to mark where some of these events took place. She had a church built where she thought Jesus died, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A couple hundred of years ago, the Catholics decided to come up with a path, a guided walk where supposedly different things took place as Jesus walked from the Antonio Fortress to the place of His Crucifixion.

The problem is that Helena’s place doesn’t fit. Her spot is inside the city, not outside the city.

Roman crucifixion was done as a sort of deterent, so they always took place along a major road, at a city gate, so people could see what would happen to you if you broke the law like these guys did.

The book of Leviticus talks about sacrifices being on the north side of the altar, Helena’s church is to the west.

A better spot is outside the Damascus Gate, on the north side of the city, where there is a rock formation that looks like a skull.

:18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.

:19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

The typical Roman cross would be made of a cross beam mounted on a pole or the trunk of a tree. It would be a “T” shape, not a cross shape. It’s the title that would be placed on cross that would give it our cross shape.

:20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

The title was written in different languages because people from so many nations would be visiting Jerusalem during the Passover. Kind of like signs in Orange County…

:21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'He said, "I am the King of the Jews."' "

:22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.

It is thought that this tunic might have been the prayer shawl of Jesus. It would be woven with white and blue thread, possibly even with some gold thread woven in. Prayer shawls were always made of wool, reminding the Jews that they were God’s flock and He was their shepherd.

:24 They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: "They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Therefore the soldiers did these things.

:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

:26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!"

:27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

John is talking about himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved”. It was from this time that John took on the responsibility of taking care of Mary.

:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"

:29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.

:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

It is finished – teleo – to bring to a close, to finish, to end; “It is finished or paid”

The word is a “perfect tense” (tetelestai), meaning that it was something done in the past, but the effects continue on into the present.

He paid for our sin once and for all, and our payment continues on into the present.

This is the moment John had been pointing to. This is the moment Jesus came for, to pay for the sins of the world.

:31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

:32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.

:33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

:35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.

John is reminding us that He was there. He knew what happened.

:36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken."

This is a prophecy dating back to Exodus, the prophecy of the Passover Lamb – no broken bones.

:37 And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced."

Another prophecy from Zechariah.

:38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus.

:39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

:40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

:41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

:42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews' Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.

The “Garden Tomb” is right next door to the place we call Calvary. It was called a “Garden” because things were grown there – they have now concluded it was a vineyard because of the wine press that was discovered with excavation.