Podcast: Play in new window | Download (16.6MB)

This is the final day of the Most Important Man Who Ever Lived. It’s one of the most important days in history. It’s the day the Son of God will die as the Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

After celebrating a Passover meal with His disciples, during which He taught them great things, Yeshua prayed a great prayer – I think the greatest prayer ever prayed. Then He was arrested. He was abandoned by most of His disciples, and denied by Peter three times. He was judged by the Sanhedrin and found guilty of blasphemy.

Since the Sanhedrin didn’t have the authority to execute Yeshua, they sent Him to the Roman governor, to be judged, condemned and executed. However, when Yeshua appeared before him, Pilate did not believe Yeshua was guilty of a crime.

At that time, there was a custom of asking the governor to release one prisoner at Passover. Pilate asked the people if they wanted Him to release Yeshua. But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” – who was a revolutionary.

Then Pilate took Yeshua and had Him flogged. A Roman flogging was carried out with a short whip made of rope or leather straps attached to a handle. Pieces of metal or bone were tied to the straps or rope. Each lash damaged the skin and muscle. The back, shoulders, and legs were usually targeted, but the damage could affect the entire body. In some cases, the victim was so badly wounded that he was disfigured or died. Isaiah 52 foretells this kind of suffering, describing the Messiah’s appearance as so disfigured that He no longer looked human.

And it got worse. The Roman soldiers had contempt for Yeshua and probably all of the Jewish people, and wanted to humiliate Him and inflict more pain on this King of the Jews. So, after the flogging, the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. Purple robes were used by royalty.“Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.

I think Pilate hoped that by flogging and publicly humiliating Yeshua, he would appease the anger of the Jewish leaders and be able to release Him. Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” Then Yeshua came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!” Take a good look at this man. He has been beaten, whipped and humiliated. He has no power. He’s no king. He’s no threat. He’s innocent of any crime. Can’t He be let go?

In spite of Yeshua’s suffering and humiliation, the leaders were not appeased. They did not want Yeshua released. Quite the opposite. When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

The governor did not like their response and again declared Him innocent. “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.” The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.” The leaders understood that Yeshua claimed to be the Son of God, sharing the same divine nature as God. They believed that claim was blasphemy, and according to the Torah, that was a crime punishable by death.

When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever – because not only did he believe Yeshua was innocent, no doubt he heard that He had done miracles. Now he’s hearing that Yeshua claimed to be the Son of God. The Romans believed that the gods could have human sons. What if it was true? It’s bad enough to kill an innocent man – but to kill a son of God? That’s so much worse.

Pilate wanted to find out more. He took Yeshua back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Yeshua gave no answer. Yeshua had already told him enough of the truth, and Pilate had not acted on the truth he had received. When truth is rejected, more truth is withheld.

Most people comply with the demands of those who have power over them. Not Yeshua. “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”

Yeshua informed the governor that any power he had was given to him by God. Then Yeshua said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” Yeshua is teaching us that there are degrees of sin. To whom much is given, much is required and the punishment for failure is greater.

Yes, Pilate was sinning by not believing Yeshua and allowing Him to be tortured and humiliated – but the sin of the Jewish leaders was greater since they had greater knowledge and should have known that Yeshua was the Messiah and treated Him with the greatest respect.

Yeshua’s answer, which was wise and other-worldly, disturbed Pilate even more. Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.” The leaders threatened to accuse Pilate of being disloyal to the emperor because he was protecting a man who claimed to be a king without the emperor’s approval. That accusation, if it was presented to the emperor, could have ruined Pilate’s career or endangered his life.

When they said this, Pilate brought Yeshua out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha). It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. The representative of the Roman empire sat in the place of judgment, ready to make his decision. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!” Pilate, in mocking sarcasm, pointed to Yeshua as their king to ridicule both Him and the Jewish leaders. Yet in doing so, he unknowingly declared a profound truth: Yeshua truly is their King – the Messiah foretold by the prophets.

Pilate’s statement was met with continued calls for Yeshua’s death. “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked – a last attempt to stir their conscience and distance himself from condemning an innocent man. Again, unknowingly, Pilate’s words were true. Yeshua truly is our King.

The leaders of the priests rejected that possibility. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back. Tragically, the spiritual leaders of Israel, who resented Roman rule, expressed their allegiance to Caesar in order to manipulate Pilate into crucifying Yeshua. Expressing loyalty to a pagan king rather than the divine Messiah-King sent by God was a spiritual betrayal of the highest order.

The governor had repeatedly tried to spare Yeshua. He finally gave up and yielded to their demands. Then Pilate turned Yeshua over to them to be crucified. So they took Yeshua away.

Adding to His pain and humiliation, they forced Yeshua to carry his cross – like a man who is forced to dig his own grave. Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Yeshua between them. Messiah was wrongly identified with sinners, fulfilling the prophecy of the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 who would bear the sins of many.

Yeshua’s crime was displayed on His cross for everyone to read. And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Yeshua of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The place where Yeshua was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it. Everyone in that region was familiar with one of those languages. Everyone would know Yeshua was being executed for the crime of being the King of the Jews.

The priests didn’t like that. Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’” But the governor had made enough compromises. Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

The cruel, godless Romans now inflicted the greatest pain and humiliation on the King of the Jews. When the soldiers had crucified Yeshua, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did. John wants us to know that this is the fulfillment of Psalm 22, written 1000 years earlier by King David, Yeshua’s ancestor.

Although all of His disciples, with the exception of John, had abandoned Him, several women were with Him while He was dying. Before you conclude that these women were braver or more loyal than the men, understand that the men were the ones at risk of being arrested – not the women. Standing near the cross were Yeshua’s mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene.

Even though He was in agonizing pain and dying, Yeshua’s thoughts were about others – especially His mother. When Yeshua saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved (referring to John, who out of humility doesn’t mention himself by name), he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

Yeshua had been arrested at night. It was now afternoon. He had been moved from place to place, beaten, whipped and forced to carry a heavy cross for a distance. He was exposed to the sun of spring day in Israel, which could be quite hot. While on the cross, Yeshua experienced another kind of suffering – thirst. Yeshua knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty” again referring to Psalm 22.

A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. In Psalm 69, David, a righteous and innocent king who was being attacked by dangerous enemies, writes: they offer me sour wine for my thirst. If that applied to David, how much more did it apply to King Yeshua, David’s greatest descendant?

Hyssop was used to apply the blood of the Passover lamb to the doorposts of our homes in Egypt. Now as Yeshua sheds His blood, hyssop again appears – not to spread lamb’s blood on a doorframe, but to touch the lips of the greater Passover Lamb, whose death brings a greater deliverance from judgment and death

Yeshua knew that He had done everything His Father had asked Him to do. He had lived a perfectly righteous. He had always spoken the truth. He had revealed God to humanity. He had prepared His disciples to take over His mission. He had suffered and was about to die to meet our greatest need – atonement. He no longer needed to suffer. When Yeshua had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit – which lets us know that Yeshua had authority over His death. No one took His life from Him. He willingly gave up His life for us.

It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. Breaking the legs of a man being crucified sped up his death by preventing him from being able to breathe, causing him to suffocate. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Yeshua. But when they came to Yeshua, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

John wants us to know that he was there and is accurately reporting what he saw. (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.)

And more prophecies were being fulfilled. These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken” – referring to Psalm 34 – “the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken” – and also referring to the instructions for preparing the Passover lamb. This lets us know that Yeshua was a righteous man and the fulfillment of the Passover lamb.

And another prophecy was being fulfilled: “They will look on the one they pierced” – a reference to Zechariah’s prophecy that in the Last Days, when a regathered Israel is saved from annihilation by the armies of the nations, we will recognize that the One who saves us is the One we pierced.

Yeshua suffered. He died. Now He is buried by two members of the Sanhedrin – which lets us know that not every Jewish leader rejected Yeshua. There was a remnant who believed in Him – as there is today. Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who was a wealthy man, and who had been a secret disciple of Yeshua (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Yeshua’s body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Yeshua at night. He brought about seventy‑five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Yeshua’s body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Yeshua there. Joseph and Nicodemus summoned the faith and courage to give Yeshua’s body an honorable burial in a nearby tomb that Joseph owned – fulfilling another prophecy from Isaiah 53: He was with a rich man in His death.

One lesson from this chapter: Yeshua’s suffering, death and burial were not random events. They were the fulfillment of many prophecies.

He Was Silent When Oppressed: “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word … As a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53.

He Was Disfigured: His appearance was so disfigured that He did not look like a man, and His form did not resemble a human being. Isaiah 52

He Was Condemned Though Innocent: “He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. Isaiah 53

He Was Thought To Be A Sinner: “He was numbered with the transgressors/rebels/sinners.” Isaiah 53

People Would Divide And Gamble For His clothes: “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” Psalm 22

He Was Given Vinegar To Drink Using Hyssop: “They gave me vinegar for my thirst.” Psalm 69. Hyssop was used to apply the blood of the Passover lamb to the doorposts of our homes in Egypt and also used in the death of the greater Passover Lamb.

None Of His Bones Were Broken: “He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken.” Psalm 34:20, and also Exodus 12 which states that the bones of the Passover lamb must not be broken.

He Would Be Pierced: “They will look on Me, the one they have pierced.” Zechariah 12

His Death Was Connected To A Rich Man: “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death.” Isaiah 53

The amazing events recorded in John 19 did not unfold by accident. The details of Yeshua’s suffering and death and burial were the fulfillment of detailed prophecies written centuries before. This shows us that Yeshua’s death happened exactly as God had ordained. Yeshua’s death was the fulfillment of God’s sovereign purpose. Yeshua’s death was the outworking of God’s redemptive plan.

No other religious leader in all of history has had detailed prophecies fulfilled in his life or death – only Yeshua. Fulfilled prophecy is one of the clearest and strongest confirmations of the divine origin of Scripture and the truth of Yeshua’s identity as the promised Messiah.

May our knowledge of these events and prophecies build our faith, embolden our witness, and deepen our awe and reverence for the One who fulfilled them all.