Good Friday Service

John 19:28-42

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“As It Is Written Of Me” • 4.18.14 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Good Friday Service

Intro.

- I have always been fascinated by predictive prophecy and have considered it a wonder of scripture and confirmation of the Lord's sovereign hand over every event of human history.

- If you took just 8 prophecies about the Messiah, the probability of one person fulfilling all of them would be 1 in 10⁵⁷ power!

- That would equal the amount that it would take to blanket the state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep. The chance of you finding your marked one in that mass would be 10⁵⁷!

- A conservative estimate of total Messianic prophecies rounds out to 48. Jesus fulfilling all of them would be 10¹⁵⁷!

- I would have you notice that thread throughout this section. Jesus had said of Himself that "the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him."

- Jesus makes no attempt to avoid it, but willingly takes the direction that His Father set out for Him and then, even after His passing, we'll note the Father's hand continuing to move.

- This section poetically reads like a scriptural tapestry, as the Lord God weaves the threads of redemption, confirming both The Word, Jesus and His Word, the scriptures!

Text

• John 19:28-30 : "After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, 'I thirst!' 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. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit." : Jesus has just given His disciple John the charge of caring for His mother Mary.

- For all the bravado of the disciples, only a few ladies and John were brave enough to stand near the cross of the Lord Jesus!

- The perfect Man was still a perfect Son, looking out for His Mother's needs even under extreme physical duress. He honored His Mother until the end.

- This charge to John was the Lord's final duty. The task was entirely finished. Every detail had been completed, save one note.

- Our Lord remained on the cross as long as He needed for the sake of that which the scripture proclaimed about Him. That's how important His Word is!

- Jesus needed to utter one final phrase and that in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. "I thirst!" When Jesus said this, one of the Roman Centurions sitting nearby offered Jesus a drink.

- Sour wine according to our consideration today would be akin to vinegar. The hyssop plant transported the sponge to the lips of Jesus and he drank, fulfilling Psalm 69:21.

• Psalm 69:21 : "They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."

- The only other time we see hyssop employed in the scripture is when the Jews used it on the night of the Passover to apply blood to the top and sides of their doors!

- Here, THE Passover Lamb's blood has been spilled, bringing in a new kind of Exodus!

- Having His mouth freshly lubricated, Jesus proclaimed "It is finished!" In the other gospel accounts, the authors tell us that He proclaimed this in a loud voice!

- This was no quiet resignation of life! This was a triumphant exclamation! There is nothing left to be done! All is completed!

- When this word was used in the market place, it meant that the final payment had been made for a purchase! Hear again the Lord's word: "It is finished!"

- When it comes to your salvation, the justification of your soul, the legal transaction in the heavenlies which determines where you spend eternity, for those who believe, "It is finished!"

- Nothing can be added. Nothing is necessary. Nothing will add to the Lord's pleasure to justify you! Jesus has done enough. His work is complete and has satisfied the God of the Universe!

- When it was done, Jesus did not need to spend a single moment more in agony!

- He simply gave up, delivered over His spirit! All breath left His body and His human life was over, the mission to save His people from their sins, complete!

- He surrendered His Spirit, laying down His head in peace.

• John 19:31,32 : "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. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him." : On the Jewish calendar, this was a very special day, as it was both a Sabbath and one that directly preceded the Passover.

- Jesus has died at around 3PM and there were a few hours left to finish all works, including purchasing foods, etc. No work would be done once the first star of the evening showed in the sky.

- If the three men were left up on the cross, they would stay there, essentially until Sunday. It's amazing to me to consider how much injustice the religious establishment has just engineered.

- "Oh, but we can't defile the Sabbath!" Jesus said of them that they strained out a gnat, the smallest creature with blood in, but they swallowed a camel! Amazing!

- In order to expedite their deaths, it was the Pharisees that asked Pilate to break their legs so that they could be removed from the cross.

- The legs were the key to staying alive. The gravity of the body would keep the lungs from expanding to full capacity and the victim would simply suffocate.

- The legs could keep a person alive for days! It is reported that Josephus once discovered two friends who were actually on crosses. He begged for their removal and one actually lived!

- The breaking of the legs took away all options. A person without that movement simply suffocated. That's what the soldiers did here, as they broke the legs of the criminals first.

- This was usually done with a mallot, as the soldiers would crush the femur bone.

• John 19:33-37 : "But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 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. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, 'Not one of His bones shall be broken.' And again another Scripture says, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.'" : When a persons body rapidly loses fluid, the body goes into hypovolemic shock.

- In a trauma experience, such as an automobile accident, the normal pathways of body fluids rush in different directions and can flood both the protective lining around the heart and lungs.

- After He passed, the fluids all compressed in that area and when the soldier pierced him, blood and water came flowing out!

- One has to wonder: He saw that Jesus was dead. Why did He pierce Him? When you are a Roman soldier and you are ordered to break legs and you don't that gets your legs broken!

- On the human plane, this soldier was simply carrying out an order to be sure that Jesus was dead. But there is more to what John is explaining.

- Jesus died a traumatic human death. John wrote to people who believed that Jesus was a ghost or a spirit. Nothing could be further from the truth. He came by water and by blood!

- John tells us that these actions were also fulfilled scripture on both accounts.

- The Lord's bones were unbroken, just as the Passover Lamb pre-figured in Exodus 12 and Psalm 34:19 and 20 predicted.

- When the Lord's body hung there between heaven and earth, those who looked on Him, looked on the One whom they pierced, just as the prophet Zechariah wrote! (Zechariah 2:10)

• Zechariah 12:10 : "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."

- For those who look back, we understand that it was our sin that pierced the Lord's heart! Israel will one day see this same vision and know the same truth applies to them!

- They will mourn when they understand the depth of sin that brought about their Messiah's death!

• John 19:38-42 : "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. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 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. 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. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby." : Joseph of Arimathea had been a secret disciple, living in constant fear of the Jews.

- Mark 15:43 tells us that he was a prominent council member of the Sanhedrin. Matthew 27:57 reveals that he was a very rich man. He had the access to come to Pilate.

- He came and took possession of the Lord's body, along with Nicodemus.

- Nicodemus is the Pharisee who had come to Jesus by night in John 3. He was a renowned teacher, in fact, by the Lord's own words, "the teacher" of the Jews.

- Nicodemus, according to extant sources, was the 3rd richest man in Israel and was purportedly the brother of Josephus the historian!

- It's possible that Joseph brought Jesus down from the cross and that Nicodemus then came with all of these spices, nearly a hundred pounds, and then they both took Jesus to the tomb.

- This was a tomb in a garden area and was a newly hewn tomb which had never been occupied. To have a tomb constructed like this would have been a tremendous expense.

- Hand cut, and according to those who believe that this is Gordon's tomb, large enough for an entire family to be laid there!

- They brought His body and arranged the cloths and linens in the prescribed fashion. They were not mummified but embalmed and perfumed.

- The amount of the spices would have been very expensive, in the neighborhood of $150,000 dollars! The tomb was not the only expensive item here!

- John lets us know that this may not have been the original plan. They did this because of the day that it was and the haste that was now necessary. This was the closest place.

- Let's open to Isaiah 53 in preparation for communion. Allow me to read you the entire chapter as you prepare your hearts to receive communion.

- Did you notice verse 9? "They made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death!"

Conclusion

- What amazing accuracy! What incredible detail! The God of the Universe left nothing to chance and the Messiah went willingly as it was written of Him!

- Surely if He was true to every detail, we can trust that the details lead to this truth: We have been bought and paid for! He has taken our wrath! He has taken away our sins!

- Let's pray!