The Servant's Sacrifice
Book of Mark Chapter 15
The Lord Jesus Christ will die on that cross on this day that began when the Lord Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Sanhedrin Court met in the wee hours of the morning to finalize the charges against Jesus Christ on this day.
These charges had to be strong enough to convince the Romans, so false witnesses were used.
The only charge that would work would be the charge of insurrection in which Rome could condemn Jesus to death.
They said that Jesus had claimed to be King of the Jews, which He had not because it was not time for this to be true.
Some of His disciples had used the term but not Jesus.
Pilate was the procurator of Judea.
Notice Rome still used the term Judea and Rome only changed the name of Judea to Palestinia just to get back at the Jews.
Without this change by Rome there would be no area called Palestine and no people referred to as Palestinians.
Most of these so-called people follow the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood and this is why no other Muslim nations want them in their nation.
There has never been a nation called Palestine.
Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 132 CE, which incorporated the Levantine regions of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, extending over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Judea.
The name Judaea was derived from the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah.
It included what is now called Gaza and what is called the West Bank.
This is the land that has always belonged to Israel since the time of Moses.
Pilate despised the Jews and the Jews despised Pilate.
When Pilate first rode into Jerusalem he came showing the Roman Standard, with an eagle setting atop a pole.
All previous governors had removed the eagle because of the Jews opposition to idols but Pilate despised the Jews did many things to cause turmoil.
This is what being dominated by a foreign power means!
Pilate launched the construction of a new water supply which was needed but he stole the money for the project out of the Temple treasury.
The Jews never forgave him for these things but they set these things aside in order to murder the Lord Jesus Christ.
They needed the cooperation of Pilate to get this done!
Pilate was a weak and immoral man!
Pilate was indecisive and he rejected the Lord Jesus despite convincing evidence of His innocence.
The major charge against the Lord Jesus was that He claimed to be king of the Jews.
Everyone knew that Herod was a false king appointed to the throne by Rome.
Pilate noted that the Lord Jesus did not dress as a king.
Jesus was humble and meek in His appearance.
Jesus had no supporters or followers who could make Him king.
Jesus dressed as a peasant with no means to dress as royalty.
Pilate surmised, "how could this man be a king of any country"?
Jesus said, "what you say is true".
Mar 15:2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.
But Jesus said He was not a king of this earth.
Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Joh 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice".
Pilate compromised and he offered up Barabbas as a substitute, but the Jewish religious leaders and the Jewish elders convinced the crowd of that day to choose to crucify the Lord Jesus.
Most all the people did not know this was going on as it was done in the night hours and so early in the day.
We should understand that God will never compromise when it concerns His Son Jesus.
It was the religionist who swayed the people to choose Barabbas and not Christ!
Just as we see today, men who are set upon evil will try their best to influence others in order to get their way.
Morally weak men are just too weak to act justly and responsibly.
This is the theme of a certain political party today as they are morally weak men and women.
We also see this today not only in our government but in the false church.
We see this also in the war going on in Israel today.
That terrorists group called Hamas are morally weak men and truly cowards, how could we expect them act differently than they do?
It was a big deal to them that they could overpower babies and people who could not defend themselves!
This is the same thing those who profess abortion do every day.
They are really brave when they confront those who cannot defend themselves!
We are fools if we ever allow our nation to take away our defensive weapons!
Pilate could not do what was right because it went against his character!
Pilate was a man who would always give in to worldly pressure to keep his position in government!
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon that cross was the most phenomenal event in history, in fact the most crucial point in world history.
Eternal salvation for all men and women was secured by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary.
We can see that it was the providence of God to have the right people in place at the precise time in history, for this thing to take place!
Pilate’s soldiers first abused Jesus.
They put upon Jesus the robes of royalty and then took them back off of Him.
They stripped Him of His clothes to do this.
The Jews considered it a great sin to show yourself naked from the time of Adam and Eve and the teachings of Moses.
We can see the actions of Pilate's soldiers were almost as depraved as those men who call themselves Hamas but even, they can be forgiven if that would turn to Christ and repent.
God will not allow men to mock Him for very long!
We can see that this world has not changed very much it its attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Simon of Cyrene bore the cross of Jesus it was a picture of conversion.
We are all to pick up our own cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Simon of Cyrene was a changed man after this thing that he was forced to do!
Our lesson begins with the place that Our Lord Jesus was crucified.
*****Mar 15:22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
Golgotha was known as a place of death long before the Lord Jesus was crucified there.
The Lord Jesus died just like everyone else who had been crucified upon that hill.
The name Golgotha means the place of the skull, the place of death, the place of execution.
It was a place outside the gates of the city but it was still near the city.
Heb 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Joh 19:20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
It was located on a thoroughfare leading into the country and there was a garden at that same location.
Luk 23:26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
Joh 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
It was this place, a symbol of death, where God chose that His Son would die to deliver all mankind from the bondage of death!
*****Mar 15:23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.
It was the Lord Jesus Himself who refused to take this drug concoction.
The Lord Jesus wanted to feel the pains of death at its bitterest moment!
This mixture of alcohol and drugs was intended to ease the pain of death much like what is done in the hospices of today.
Jesus would have no part in it because the Lord Jesus was on a mission!
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
The Lord Jesus died for our deliverance from death!
Men who had witnessed death so many times had no concern for the property of that one who was to die.
*****Mar 15:24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
The Lord Jesus was laid upon that cross.
That arms of our Savior were stretched as far as they could be on the cross beam and His feet were nailed as were His hands and He was lifted and with a jolt that cross was dropped into a hole snapping His joints into but breaking no bones.
Psa_22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
Mary, the mother of Jesus was standing at the foot of the cross, but these soldiers showed no compassion whatsoever in giving her His belongings but gambled to see would get them.
The Lord Jesus wore a particular robe that was knitted without seams.
The Lord Jesus had been stripped of His clothing again exposing Him naked to the world in an attempt to convince the world that this was just a man and not the promised Messiah.
The Lord Jesus allowed His mortality to be stripped from Him so that He might abolish death and bring life and immortality to light.
2Ti 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
*****Mar 15:25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified at 9 AM, (the third hour) and the darkness swept across the land from 12 noon until 3 PM (the sixth until the ninth hour).
God the Father demonstrated His great love for us, not sparing His Son, but allowing Him to die for the sin of all mankind.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
We know that Pilate had a sign placed over the head of Jesus which said "the King of the Jews" in three languages.
We know that there were two thieves who were placed one on each side of our Savior.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Then there was the mob of those who made mockery of our Lord who congregated at the foot of the cross.
There was the mockery of the two thieves.
1Pe 2:23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Then the sixth hour brought darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
It was ninth hour that the Lord Jesus cried out to His Heavenly Father this time saying, “My God" "My God" know that because of our sin, not His, he had none, that His Father had forsaken Him for a moment in time.
This is sure proof that for a moment in time the Lord Jesus was forsaken by His Heavenly Father. His Father became His God!
*****Mar 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
The Lord Jesus Christ cried out because He had never been separated from His Heavenly Father.
For a moment in time the Lord Jesus was just as guilty in sin as we all are, in fact more so because He carried the sin of all the world.
Jesus did not mean the suffering and the terrible treatment He had received on that cross!
We need a clear understanding of what the Lord Jesus means here.
1) The Lord Jesus sensed that God had withdrawn His presence from Him. He sensed that God was no longer with Him!
2) The Lord Jesus sensed that God had withdrawn His deliverance. God had always met His need but Jesus now felt alone for the first time!
3) The Lord Jesus sensed that He was bearing the "curse" of God by Himself.
The curse of being separated from God.
The curse of judgment.
The curse of condemnation.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
4) Jesus sensed that God's holiness had left Him.
Both sin and death are things that God had never felt. God had only known life and holiness!
Psa 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Psa 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
For a moment in time, the Lord Jesus Christ had to bear the sin for mankind, therefore He had to bear the penalty of separation from a perfect and holy God!
2Co 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The only thing that could have caused God the Father to separate Himself from Christ Jesus, His Son, was sin!
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
It was "our sin", the sin of the entire world, which caused this to happen because the Lord Jesus Christ had no sin of His own!
*****Mar 15:35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.
Mar 15:36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.
It was out of total darkness that the Lord Jesus had cried out and many of those standing at the foot of the cross had gotten confused and others just began to mock Him.
Someone just wanted to see if some remarkable thing were about to happen because they did not understand any of these things and they could not understand what was taking place.
The ground is level at the foot of the cross, but there must come an understanding of what the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished.
The Lord Jesus had fulfilled the first part of His mission to provide a means of salvation for all believers!
The Age of Grace had begun for the believer, and the Age of the Curse had begun for the unbeliever!
The Lord Jesus was not calling out to Elijah, who was just a man, but now was a saint of God.
Then the Lord Jesus said that He was thirsty in a pitiful cry.
One man who had compassion of the Lord tried to give the Lord a drink.
Joh 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
Joh 19:29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
This time Jesus was offered water with just enough vinegar in it to kill the parasites in the water.
This is the way the Romans purified the water they drank in any nation where they were located.
It is also true that Elijah will return before the return of Christ, but not at that time.
The Lord Jesus Christ died at this time; His work completed but some other things happened that we also need to understand.
*****Mar 15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
Mar 15:38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
Mar 15:39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
The Lord had been timid when He asked for water, but He is now bold as He completes the work He came to accomplish.
This was a glorious triumph over the acts of the Devil.
The Lord Jesus Christ died for a specific purpose!
The Lord Jesus Christ did not die a martyr, He gave His life for all of mankind to be saved.
He gave up the Ghost, which means that He willingly gave His life and His Spirit so that we can be saved.
While the body of Jesus lay in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, He was busy with a few other important things in His Spirit.
On the cross and after His death:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
After His death:
Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Eph 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
The Lord Jesus Christ died at 3 PM and His body had to be buried before 6 PM by Jewish law.
The veil of the Temple was rent into from the top to the bottom, not the bottom to the top.
This showed that it was God who had done this thing and not some man or group of men.
This now meant that there would be unrestricted access into God's presence, into the throne room of God.
This is the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, the most sacred part of the Temple.
Up until this time, only the High priest could go beyond this curtain and this only one time a year on the Day of Atonement.
At the very hour of the death of Christ, the High Priest was rolling back the outer curtain in order to expose the Holy Place for worship and they were amazed when they saw the inner veil was torn right down the middle from the top to the bottom.
Being torn from top to bottom means that it was God Himself who had ripped this veil.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Now through the body of Christ, any believer can enter into the presence of God, at any time and at any place.
Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
With all the things that happened, the Roman Centurion in charge of the crucifixion of Christ realized that the Lord Jesus Christ was indeed the true Messiah!
This man was a Gentile and in type, he symbolized all those who would confess the Lord Jesus in the coming generations.
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Because of what is going on in Israel today we may be at the end of the time of Grace which began with the resurrected Christ.
Amen
