BACKGROUND:The entire high council of Jewish leaders had already reached their verdict, but they had to make the decision at a meeting during the daytime in accordance with their law. Thus very early in the morning, they made it official that Jesus was worthy of death. So Jesus was bound like a common criminal and sent off to Pilate, the Roman governor. The council had to get permission from Pilate in order to carry out the death penalty.
Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor for the regions of Samaria and Judea from a.d. 26–36. Pilate was a harsh governor who felt nothing but contempt for the Jews; they, in turn, felt the same about him. Pilate was not popular, but the religious leaders had no other way to get rid of Jesus. So they interrupted his breakfast on this early Friday morning, bringing a man whom they accused of treason against Rome! Ironically, when Jesus, a Jew, came before Pilate for trial, Pilate found him innocent.
The Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus and desired his death on theological grounds—but their charge of blasphemy would be thrown out of the Roman court. They had to come up with a political reason for Jesus’ death. Their strategy was to show Jesus as a rebel who claimed to be a king and thus a threat to Caesar. The charge against Jesus in the Roman court was treason.
Pilate asked Jesus directly if he claimed to be King of the Jews. Jesus’ answer was yes, but with a qualification attached (John 18:36). Jesus wasn’t claiming kingship in any way that would threaten Pilate, Caesar, or the Empire. Jesus’ kingship was spiritual. Pilate could sense that the council’s case was embarrassingly weak and that the solemn rabbi standing before him was unlikely to lead a revolt against Rome.
So, the Jewish leaders had to fabricate new accusations against Jesus, so they accused Jesus of many crimes. These accusations were false, but the religious leaders were determined to have Jesus killed. Pilate knew the charges were preposterous, and he obviously expected Jesus to say something in self-defense against the false charges. But Jesus said nothing. Jesus’ silence had been prophesied in Scripture (Isaiah 53:7).
Each year, during the Jews’ Passover festival, Pilate had made it a custom to release any prisoner they requested. Barabbas had taken part in a murder during an insurrection against the Roman government. Although he was a murderer, he may have been a hero among the Jews. Barabbas had no hope of acquittal, so he must have been surprised when the guards came to get him on that Friday morning.
The proceedings of this hearing by Pilate were held in public, so a crowd was hearing all that transpired, and the crowd probably grew larger as news spread. Perhaps this was all part of the religious leaders’ plan—to incite the crowd to ask that Pilate release a prisoner as usual, but that it be someone other than Jesus.
Pilate asked if the people wanted the King of the Jews released. The power of the religious leaders took precedence with the Jewish crowd who would hardly side with the Roman governor. The leading priests stirred up the mob to demand the release of Barabbas. This left Pilate wondering what to do with Jesus.
The people made their choice, stated their preference, and confirmed their sin. This is just what the Jewish religious leaders wanted. Only slaves or those who were not Roman citizens could be executed by crucifixion. If Jesus was crucified, he would die the death of a rebel and slave, not of the king he claimed to be. In addition, crucifixion would put the responsibility for killing Jesus on the Romans; thus, the crowds would not blame the religious leaders.
Pilate asked the people to specify some crime that would make Jesus worthy of death. But the mob kept on shouting more wildly to crucify Jesus. Pilate decided to let the crowds crucify Jesus. Although Pilate washed his hands of responsibility (Matthew 27:24), the guilt would remain. Pilate had no good excuse to condemn Jesus, but he was wanted to please the crowd. So he released Barabbas, then flogged Jesus before handing him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify him.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what i have read today?)
The events that happened on that Easter weekend occurred in a dramatic succession of three events. There was the trial of Jesus, then there was the death of Jesus, then there was the resurrection of Jesus. We’re going to look at all three and the implications.
THE TRIAL
Jesus actually went through six trials. They arrested Him at night and they arrested Him secretly because He was so popular they didn’t want an uprising in the city of Jerusalem. Then He went through three religious trials and then He went through three civil trials.
First He went to Annas, then a trial before Caiaphas the high priest. Then a trial before the Sanhedrin, the religious Supreme Court. Then He went before Pilate, the governor of Jerusalem. Then Herod, the governor of Galilee. Then He was back to Pilate again. He went through six different trials, all night. When they finished those six trials, what did they have to accuse Him of? Nothing. He had done nothing wrong. They had no crime against Him, no accusation that would stick. They brought in people to make up phony charges but they didn’t stick. Finally they got Him convicted on one count. He claims to be the Son of God. That’s why they put Jesus on the cross. He claims to be the Son of God.
Matthew 26 says, “The priests were looking for false evidence against Jesus so they could put Him to death but they didn’t find anything. Then they said, `Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ `Yes, it is as you say,’ said Jesus. Then they spit in His face and struck Him with their fists and others slapped Him.” Notice: Jesus never claimed to be a good man. He never claimed to be a moral leader. He never claimed to be a great teacher. He said, “I’m God. I’m the only way to heaven. No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
If you ever meet anybody who claims to be God, you only have three options. One, believe he’s an idiot. The guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s mentally deficit. The lights are on but nobody’s home. He’s deluded. Like the guy on the funny farm who thinks he’s Napoleon. That’s one option when a guy tells you, “I’m god.” He just doesn’t know what he’s talking about and you feel pity for him.
Two, you could say, “I believe he’s a deceiver. A shyster, a swindler. He’s trying to con me into believing he’s something he’s not and he probably wants my money.” There are a lot of people like that out there. They’re all over. People who will tell you they are something they’re not in order to get something out of you.
Third opinion is to say, “I believe you’re telling the truth. In that case I need to fall down and worship you, obey you, and follow you.”
What option have you taken in regard to Jesus?
THE DEATH
Now, the crucifixion is probably the most brutal and torturous death penalty ever devised by men. But even before Jesus went to the cross, he experienced incredible pain and bruises. Because after six trials and staying up all night and lack of sleep it says that they gave Him to the Roman soldiers who just wanted to make fun of Him. They put a robe on Him and they crowned Him with a crown of thorns which stuck into His head, into His brain.
THE TRIAL
Jesus actually went through six trials. They arrested Him at night and they arrested Him secretly because He was so popular they didn’t want an uprising in the city of Jerusalem. Then He went through three religious trials and then He went through three civil trials.
First He went to Annas, then a trial before Caiaphas the high priest. Then a trial before the Sanhedrin, the religious Supreme Court. Then He went before Pilate, the governor of Jerusalem. Then Herod, the governor of Galilee. Then He was back to Pilate again. He went through six different trials, all night. When they finished those six trials, what did they have to accuse Him of? Nothing. He had done nothing wrong. They had no crime against Him, no accusation that would stick. They brought in people to make up phony charges but they didn’t stick. Finally they got Him convicted on one count. He claims to be the Son of God. That’s why they put Jesus on the cross. He claims to be the Son of God.
Matthew 26 says, “The priests were looking for false evidence against Jesus so they could put Him to death but they didn’t find anything. Then they said, `Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ `Yes, it is as you say,’ said Jesus. Then they spit in His face and struck Him with their fists and others slapped Him.” Notice: Jesus never claimed to be a good man. He never claimed to be a moral leader. He never claimed to be a great teacher. He said, “I’m God. I’m the only way to heaven. No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
If you ever meet anybody who claims to be God, you only have three options. One, believe he’s an idiot. The guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s mentally deficit. The lights are on but nobody’s home. He’s deluded. Like the guy on the funny farm who thinks he’s Napoleon. That’s one option when a guy tells you, “I’m god.” He just doesn’t know what he’s talking about and you feel pity for him.
Two, you could say, “I believe he’s a deceiver. A shyster, a swindler. He’s trying to con me into believing he’s something he’s not and he probably wants my money.” There are a lot of people like that out there. They’re all over. People who will tell you they are something they’re not in order to get something out of you.
Third opinion is to say, “I believe you’re telling the truth. In that case I need to fall down and worship you, obey you, and follow you.”
What option have you taken in regard to Jesus?
THE DEATH
Now, the crucifixion is probably the most brutal and torturous death penalty ever devised by men. But even before Jesus went to the cross, he experienced incredible pain and bruises. Because after six trials and staying up all night and lack of sleep it says that they gave Him to the Roman soldiers who just wanted to make fun of Him. They put a robe on Him and they crowned Him with a crown of thorns which stuck into His head, into His brain.
They put a blindfold on Him. Then it says they began to beat Him and slap Him. They hit Him in the face. The Bible says that they even began to pluck his beard. Just out of sheer torture. They did this it said and said, “Who hit you, Jesus?” And somebody slapped Jesus on the face. “Who slapped You? If You’re God, tell us who we are?” Jesus could have given their names, their father's names, their grandfather's names. He could have traced their family tree back to Adam. But He remained silent because He was taking the suffering of the world upon Himself.
The Bible says He was mocked and He was scorned. He was taken and scourged. Scourging was far worse than whipping. They would been a man over a post so that he couldn’t kneel down but he could stand up either. And you know how that hurts your back when you’re in that half way position. They would tie your hands, strip you down to the waist, then two men called lectors would hold these whips that had a cat-of-nine-tails in it, nine long strands of leather. In each of these strands of leather they’d tie two things – sharp bone that would cut the skin and bits of led in order to bruise the skin. They would whip and when they did it would not only cut the back open but it would bruise it at the same time. By law, you could only give 40 stripes because it would usually kill a man. So they always gave only 39. Because if you miscounted and gave more than 40, the lectors who would be giving the punishment would be given the same punishment they just doled out.
Jesus’ back was one bloody pulp even before He went to the cross. When you figure 39 times 9 that’s how many scars he had on His back even before He went to the cross. Then they gave Him the heavy cross that He was to carry up the hill to Calvary. As He carried the cross up the hill, He stumbled and feel due to the loss of blood and fatigue. The soldiers just grabbed somebody out of the crowd to help Him carry the cross. I’ve always been touched by the fact that they chose Simon of Cyrene, a black man was given the privilege of carrying Jesus’ cross.
When He got up to the top, they would stretch Him out on the cross and nail Him. You’ve seen many things where it looks like the nails were through the palms, but historically they would nail in the wrist, between the two bones. When it would go through it would hit that never that goes up your arm and be excruciatingly painful.
The death on the cross was a death of suffocation. If you hung this way for any period of time, what happens is the muscles around your chest cavity, the pectoralis major, begin to paralyze. And when all the weight of your body is held this way, eventually you’re able to breathe in but you can’t breathe out. So the death on the cross would have been a simple death of suffocation except the Romans didn't want to make it that easy. What they would do is take a person’s knees and bend them a little bit and nail the feet to the cross. So a man would be hanging there in absolute agony until the pain in his chest was about to explode with pins and needles then he would lift himself up on his feet that were nailed to the cross, so he could breathe. He would hold that position until He could no longer stand the pain in his feet and He would let himself back down again. Until the pain in his lungs became unbearable. The death on the cross was up and down, up and down. It was an incredibly torturous event. That’s why the Bible tells us (and history too) that the Romans would eventually break the legs of the person on the cross. They couldn’t stand up anymore and then they’d suffocate.
That’s the kind of punishment that Jesus went through on the cross. Why? Why did Jesus have to die? They took a spear and stuck it in His side just to make sure He had died and it says water and blood came out of the chest cavity. There are many books that have been written on this and doctors say that the only way you get water and blood mixing in the chest cavity is if the heart rips. You can call it what you want, but Jesus died of a broken heart. It exploded. He was saying, “I love you so much it hurts!”
Why did Jesus have to die? Because somebody had to pay for your sins. There’s a law of the universe that says, you reap what you sow. If you break man’s laws you pay man’s penalties. If I go out and speed and I get a ticket, I’ve got to pay. If you break man’s laws, you pay man’s penalties. If you break God’s laws, you pay God’s penalties. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” The Good News is it’s already been paid for. Jesus said, “You deserve punishment.” Because all of us do because none of us are perfect. All of us have blown it. He said, “I love you so much. I created you. I will come to earth and take your punishment for you.”
You probably don’t remember the name Timothy McCarthy. He was the guy who jumped in front of John Hinkley, the would be assasin, and took a bullet for President Regan and saved his life. We think, “What a hero!” He took a bullet for the President from a would be assassin.
Yet at Calvary, the President of the Universe took a bullet for you. He paid the price for you. He said, “I love you this much!” If you don’t think God loves you, take a long look at the cross. You’re blind if you don’t think God loves you. There will never be anyone in history who loves you more than God does.
“God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” You look at creation and see God’s hand but you look at the cross and you see God’s heart, His passion. This is why Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified. Ephesians “By the death of Christ we are set free, that is our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God which he gave to us in such large measure.” Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong. He didn’t deserve to die. He didn’t deserve the penalty. What was He guilty of? He was guilty of love in the first degree.
After Jesus died and they took His body downs and put Him in the tomb. The tombs of the Middle East are different than the tombs we have here in America. They don’t bury people in caskets under the ground. They would dig caves in the side of mountains, into the limestone, kind of like a mausoleum. They’d dig the caves then dig a trench right in front of the cave and put a giant millstone in front (You can still see these all over the Middle East today.) of the cave. They’d wedge it shut. Then when someone else in the family would die they would take it apart – roll the stone back and put another person’s body into the tomb.
It’s interesting that religious leaders after Jesus died felt a little frightened by all of this. So they went back to Pilate and said, “Jesus claimed that He was going to raise Himself from the dead in three days. We know that’s not going to happen. But, we would like for you to put an official Roman seal over that stone so it can’t be moved and we want you to post guards around it.” In the history of the world, Jesus is the only person who they planted guards at His grave to keep Him from coming out. But this is what the essence of Christianity is. The resurrection. If there were no resurrection, we could just all go home.
A few years ago, the top historians around the world gathered together and made a list of what they considered to be the 100 most significant events in the history of the world. There were things like the discovery of America, the invention of the airplane, the invention of the printing press and other things. Number four on the list of most important events was the life of Jesus Christ. When I saw that, I was not offended by that, that they hadn’t put it number one. They had forgotten the most important part anyway. They had put the Life of Jesus Christ. If only Jesus had come and lived and then died like everybody else, that’s probably about the best you could say about Him – number four. Because there have been other good teachers, there have been other moral philosophers, there have been other unselfish martyrs. But what makes Jesus different is He not only died a martyr’s death on the cross but He came back to life. And nobody else has ever done that and that’s what makes this the most significant event in history because it’s never been done.
Newsweek, which is not known as a necessarily Christian magazine, says, “The risen Christ is the center of the Christian faith. The mystery without which there would be no church, no hope of eternal life, no living Christ to encounter today. No other historical figure has ever made the claim that He was raised from the dead. It was this appearance of the resurrected Christ that lit the flame of the Christian faith. It wasn’t the morality of the Sermon on the Mount, which enabled Christianity to conquer Roman paganism, but it was the belief that Jesus was alive. He’d been raised from the dead.”
Easter is not some memorial to a nice, good religious teacher who lived 2000 years ago. It’s a celebration of the fact that He is alive today. I’m living proof and so are thousands of people living around you and approximately one billion Christians who will celebrate Easter this week end.
Romans 1:4 says, “By being raised from the dead, He proved he was the mighty Son of God, with the nature of God Himself.” He showed Himself many times. Historical records say. He showed Himself one time to 500 people. How would you like to be the people, who put Jesus to death and three days later, He’s walking around Jerusalem talking to you again? It would be quite an event! When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the skeptics and the critics, mocked Him and said, “If You’re the Son of God, why don’t You just pull Yourself down from that cross. Why don’t You just come down and show that You’re really God.” Jesus was going to do something far more than just come down from the cross. He had something more spectacular planned. He said, “I’m going to let you bury me for three days then I’ll come back to life to prove that I am what I am.” Can you imagine the joy that the disciples felt, the excitement that they felt when they realized that the man that had been crucified three days earlier was who He said to be He was.
The Bible says He was mocked and He was scorned. He was taken and scourged. Scourging was far worse than whipping. They would been a man over a post so that he couldn’t kneel down but he could stand up either. And you know how that hurts your back when you’re in that half way position. They would tie your hands, strip you down to the waist, then two men called lectors would hold these whips that had a cat-of-nine-tails in it, nine long strands of leather. In each of these strands of leather they’d tie two things – sharp bone that would cut the skin and bits of led in order to bruise the skin. They would whip and when they did it would not only cut the back open but it would bruise it at the same time. By law, you could only give 40 stripes because it would usually kill a man. So they always gave only 39. Because if you miscounted and gave more than 40, the lectors who would be giving the punishment would be given the same punishment they just doled out.
Jesus’ back was one bloody pulp even before He went to the cross. When you figure 39 times 9 that’s how many scars he had on His back even before He went to the cross. Then they gave Him the heavy cross that He was to carry up the hill to Calvary. As He carried the cross up the hill, He stumbled and feel due to the loss of blood and fatigue. The soldiers just grabbed somebody out of the crowd to help Him carry the cross. I’ve always been touched by the fact that they chose Simon of Cyrene, a black man was given the privilege of carrying Jesus’ cross.
When He got up to the top, they would stretch Him out on the cross and nail Him. You’ve seen many things where it looks like the nails were through the palms, but historically they would nail in the wrist, between the two bones. When it would go through it would hit that never that goes up your arm and be excruciatingly painful.
The death on the cross was a death of suffocation. If you hung this way for any period of time, what happens is the muscles around your chest cavity, the pectoralis major, begin to paralyze. And when all the weight of your body is held this way, eventually you’re able to breathe in but you can’t breathe out. So the death on the cross would have been a simple death of suffocation except the Romans didn't want to make it that easy. What they would do is take a person’s knees and bend them a little bit and nail the feet to the cross. So a man would be hanging there in absolute agony until the pain in his chest was about to explode with pins and needles then he would lift himself up on his feet that were nailed to the cross, so he could breathe. He would hold that position until He could no longer stand the pain in his feet and He would let himself back down again. Until the pain in his lungs became unbearable. The death on the cross was up and down, up and down. It was an incredibly torturous event. That’s why the Bible tells us (and history too) that the Romans would eventually break the legs of the person on the cross. They couldn’t stand up anymore and then they’d suffocate.
That’s the kind of punishment that Jesus went through on the cross. Why? Why did Jesus have to die? They took a spear and stuck it in His side just to make sure He had died and it says water and blood came out of the chest cavity. There are many books that have been written on this and doctors say that the only way you get water and blood mixing in the chest cavity is if the heart rips. You can call it what you want, but Jesus died of a broken heart. It exploded. He was saying, “I love you so much it hurts!”
Why did Jesus have to die? Because somebody had to pay for your sins. There’s a law of the universe that says, you reap what you sow. If you break man’s laws you pay man’s penalties. If I go out and speed and I get a ticket, I’ve got to pay. If you break man’s laws, you pay man’s penalties. If you break God’s laws, you pay God’s penalties. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” The Good News is it’s already been paid for. Jesus said, “You deserve punishment.” Because all of us do because none of us are perfect. All of us have blown it. He said, “I love you so much. I created you. I will come to earth and take your punishment for you.”
You probably don’t remember the name Timothy McCarthy. He was the guy who jumped in front of John Hinkley, the would be assasin, and took a bullet for President Regan and saved his life. We think, “What a hero!” He took a bullet for the President from a would be assassin.
Yet at Calvary, the President of the Universe took a bullet for you. He paid the price for you. He said, “I love you this much!” If you don’t think God loves you, take a long look at the cross. You’re blind if you don’t think God loves you. There will never be anyone in history who loves you more than God does.
“God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” You look at creation and see God’s hand but you look at the cross and you see God’s heart, His passion. This is why Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified. Ephesians “By the death of Christ we are set free, that is our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God which he gave to us in such large measure.” Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong. He didn’t deserve to die. He didn’t deserve the penalty. What was He guilty of? He was guilty of love in the first degree.
After Jesus died and they took His body downs and put Him in the tomb. The tombs of the Middle East are different than the tombs we have here in America. They don’t bury people in caskets under the ground. They would dig caves in the side of mountains, into the limestone, kind of like a mausoleum. They’d dig the caves then dig a trench right in front of the cave and put a giant millstone in front (You can still see these all over the Middle East today.) of the cave. They’d wedge it shut. Then when someone else in the family would die they would take it apart – roll the stone back and put another person’s body into the tomb.
It’s interesting that religious leaders after Jesus died felt a little frightened by all of this. So they went back to Pilate and said, “Jesus claimed that He was going to raise Himself from the dead in three days. We know that’s not going to happen. But, we would like for you to put an official Roman seal over that stone so it can’t be moved and we want you to post guards around it.” In the history of the world, Jesus is the only person who they planted guards at His grave to keep Him from coming out. But this is what the essence of Christianity is. The resurrection. If there were no resurrection, we could just all go home.
A few years ago, the top historians around the world gathered together and made a list of what they considered to be the 100 most significant events in the history of the world. There were things like the discovery of America, the invention of the airplane, the invention of the printing press and other things. Number four on the list of most important events was the life of Jesus Christ. When I saw that, I was not offended by that, that they hadn’t put it number one. They had forgotten the most important part anyway. They had put the Life of Jesus Christ. If only Jesus had come and lived and then died like everybody else, that’s probably about the best you could say about Him – number four. Because there have been other good teachers, there have been other moral philosophers, there have been other unselfish martyrs. But what makes Jesus different is He not only died a martyr’s death on the cross but He came back to life. And nobody else has ever done that and that’s what makes this the most significant event in history because it’s never been done.
Newsweek, which is not known as a necessarily Christian magazine, says, “The risen Christ is the center of the Christian faith. The mystery without which there would be no church, no hope of eternal life, no living Christ to encounter today. No other historical figure has ever made the claim that He was raised from the dead. It was this appearance of the resurrected Christ that lit the flame of the Christian faith. It wasn’t the morality of the Sermon on the Mount, which enabled Christianity to conquer Roman paganism, but it was the belief that Jesus was alive. He’d been raised from the dead.”
Easter is not some memorial to a nice, good religious teacher who lived 2000 years ago. It’s a celebration of the fact that He is alive today. I’m living proof and so are thousands of people living around you and approximately one billion Christians who will celebrate Easter this week end.
Romans 1:4 says, “By being raised from the dead, He proved he was the mighty Son of God, with the nature of God Himself.” He showed Himself many times. Historical records say. He showed Himself one time to 500 people. How would you like to be the people, who put Jesus to death and three days later, He’s walking around Jerusalem talking to you again? It would be quite an event! When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the skeptics and the critics, mocked Him and said, “If You’re the Son of God, why don’t You just pull Yourself down from that cross. Why don’t You just come down and show that You’re really God.” Jesus was going to do something far more than just come down from the cross. He had something more spectacular planned. He said, “I’m going to let you bury me for three days then I’ll come back to life to prove that I am what I am.” Can you imagine the joy that the disciples felt, the excitement that they felt when they realized that the man that had been crucified three days earlier was who He said to be He was.
Today, you set in judgment of Jesus Christ. You’re deciding. Just like Pilate said, “What shall I do then with Jesus who is called the Christ?” That’s the most important question of life. What are you going to do with Jesus who is called the Christ? Today, you set in judgment of Jesus to decide whether He was who He says He was or not.
But one day Jesus Christ is going to set in judgment of you. And God’s going to say, “What did you do with My Son, Jesus who I sent to earth to die for you and He said I love you this much.” Would you say, “I don’t care… It doesn’t matter…I’m going to live my own life… I’m going to ignore Him… I’m going to try to work my way to Heaven instead of trusting in Christ.” Jesus will either be your savior or He will be your judge. Depending on what you do with Him will determine where you spend your eternity – heaven or hell.
Think upon these things today. I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
What issue of Newsweek was that? I'm interested in locating it.
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