A necessarily long post today – but it’s worth it!
JOHN 19
Flogged, crucified, died, and buried. That was the sequence of events for the Hero of so-called ‘Good Friday’! Pilate, in his attempt to avoid this unjust execution, had one more throw of the dice: have the prisoner scourged, dress him up and humiliate him, and the crowd might just have their sympathies aroused and their thirst for more pain quenched. A scourging was no token gesture either: many men never made it to the cross after the soldiers had ‘softened them up’ with a whip of leather strips into which were tied pieces of bone and lead.
However, by now, Pilate had begun to realise – and Jesus confirmed this – that he, the Roman Governor, had zero power over the situation, and that more powerful forces, including God, were in control. Pilate’s strategy to sway the crowd’s choice by just half-killing their Messiah had failed. “Crucify! Crucify!” their leaders yelled, followed by everyone else repeatedly, drowning out Pilate’s reasoned judicial findings. Pilate had no options left if he were to placate the crowd and avoid a damning report finding its way back to Rome. The prisoner was no help to him, since Jesus refused even to help himself: “Don’t you realise that I have the power to free you or crucify you?” was Pilate’s desperate entreaty (i.e., “Give me something”!). But no. “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin” – said Jesus in response.
It is interesting to note, in passing, that there are degrees of sin, in God’s view. He is a fair judge and would not consider that the theft of a loaf of bread is in the same league as the rape of a child. Some Christians mistakenly think that God views all sins as equally bad; not so! This heresy may have originated by extension from the valid doctrine that even one small sin is sufficient to condemn the sinner to judgment and to Hell. If we want to ‘pay the price’ ourselves, then the ‘pass mark’ is one hundred percent! Better to have outside help!
Despite wishing to set Jesus free (v12), Pilate’s own political future was teetering in the balance and, in the face of united opposition from the Jewish people, he quickly capitulated to their demand. Seated on the Judge’s seat, at the Stone Pavement, Gabbatha, at noon on Preparation Day, he handed Jesus over to a detachment of soldiers to be executed by crucifixion.
Matter-of-factly, John describes the logistics and the setting for the crucifixion. Of all the Twelve disciples, only he was an eyewitness now. Pilate made one final pointed comment on the entire sordid process by insisting that the written charge, displayed for all the world to see above the cross, said: “The King of the Jews” – which duly offended the chief priests in a very pleasing way!
John noted that the soldiers – as was their entitlement – divided up Jesus’ limited set of clothes amongst them but drew lots for his valuable full-length undergarment. Unknowingly, they fulfilled Psalm 22:18, which is the same psalm that Jesus quoted in saying “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”, later in the proceedings. Jesus, meanwhile, divided up his remaining family: giving his mother into John’s care. (Jesus’ biological brothers, who would have been the obvious first choice, were at that point nowhere, in every sense.)
John’s account of Jesus’ last words ends with the stirring (verse 30) “It is finished” (‘Tetelestai’ in Greek) – the same statement applied to a bill that has been “paid in full” or a battle fully won. We now know that this was a very apt analogy indeed! It represented the full and complete satisfaction required by the God of Justice for our sins. Jesus had paid the price for your sins and mine, so that we have a clean spiritual bill of health. Looked at in another way, he paid the ‘dowry’ to secure his future Heavenly Bride, the Church.
Another key verse is John 19:34: …Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. Evidence for a future resurrection requires proof of a prior death. John spends time detailing the medical evidence – separated blood cells and serum – that indicated that the heart had stopped. But behind this medical evidence is a much deeper theological and redemptive story:
The great altar of the Jerusalem temple was the place where the blood of the myriads of different animal sacrifices throughout the year was poured out. It was necessary for a substantial drainage system to exist to remove the huge volumes of blood away from the city. Historical records show that there were two large drain holes at the base of the altar that collected the shed blood and channeled it into a complex system of drains and cisterns that allowed it to mix with water from the nearby springs and ultimately to be drained out of the city into the Kidron Brook.
However, at Passover itself, a fascinating variant of this process was adopted: the drain holes were temporarily plugged to allow a vast pool of the blood of the tens of thousands of Passover Lambs to accumulate at the base of the altar. Once the sacrifices were complete at around 3pm, the drain holes were opened and the entire lake of blood was allowed to empty into the drainage system, washed clean by the water system of the temple courtyard. Then the entire day’s mixture of blood and water would then pour as a vast torrent into the Kidron Valley, giving the impression to outside observers that the temple itself was bleeding!
All this occurring over hundreds of years was a powerful symbolism inspired by Almighty God to await the day when His Own Son would be the Passover Lamb, and when a mixture of blood and water would pour of His wounded side! John 2:19 “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
More historical details on the Temple Passover can be found here:
https://www.randomgroovybiblefacts.com/the_bleeding_temple.html
John 19:31 mentions that crucifixion day was not the special Passover Sabbath itself, but the day before, and therefore the crucified, dead victims had to be removed and buried. It is not often realized that there were possibly two Sabbaths in between the crucifixion and the resurrection – one the special Passover one, and the other being the regular weekly ‘Saturday’ as we know it. Also, a Jewish day began with the night at 6pm, turned into day at 6am, and ended at 6pm. For this reason, and for a more literal explanation of Matthew 12:40, some scholars propose that the actual day of the crucifixion was not a ‘Friday’ (as we would call it), but a day or so earlier. Compare also Mark 16:1 with Luke 23:56.
Finally, and urgently, the body had to be buried before sundown. Two secret wealthy disciples at last served their master well by providing a prominent tomb and preparing the body for burial. Large amounts of spices and perfumes were mixed – such as royalty would be entitled to – and these sweet-smelling fluids were interleaved with strips of linen and the whole body covered with a shroud. (No-one was going to just resuscitate from that!) John is setting the scene for the miracle of the next chapter – having proved that Jesus did die and was buried and couldn’t just revive.
And so, we wait for a Sabbath… or maybe two…
1 SAMUEL 25, 26 and 27
Samuel died and, with that, David lost a great friend and ally. As a result, he moved into the desert regions for greater security, but that meant that food was scarce. Hospitality is seen as an absolute responsibility of every household in Middle Eastern societies; to withhold it is the ultimate insult. So Nabal, whose name means ‘Fool’ acted in character and denied David and his men the basic courtesies that a host would normally extend without thinking. The knowledge that David had guarded Nabal’s shepherds and his sheep as an act of kindness, did nothing to change the fool’s mind and he sent David’s messengers packing! David seemed to be naturally quick-tempered and only became gentler in spirit as God had influence in his life; on this occasion, he tooled up his warriors and they thundered down to Nabal’s territory.
The one thing that Nabal had in his favour was a beautiful, intelligent, and wise wife (don’t we all, guys!) who acted quickly on this occasion to spare her husband’s life and the household complete shame. Greeting David and his men properly – at last! – she placated them with a wonderful spread of food and asked for forgiveness on behalf of her family. Prophetically (or even just flatteringly) she foretold that David would triumph over all his enemies; and she praised God that he had kept David from bloodlust and vengeance, which would have tainted his conscience forever. The key verse that probably struck home to David was (25:28): “The Lord you God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the LORD’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live”. As long as we live for the sake of his Kingdom, he will meet our needs and preserve our inheritance. (See also Matthew 6:33.)
Vengeance is the Lord’s not ours; and as we wait for his justice to descend to Earth, he will count us as faithful servants (Romans 12:17-21). We see in David’s case that very quickly, Nabal was dealt with by the Lord himself – and that David gained a wonderful wife in the process. God always gives us more than we expect or deserve.
For the second time in quick succession, David also refused to exact vengeance upon Saul, despite the king falling into his hands again. Saul and his bodyguard were sleeping, and God put them into a still-deeper sleep. David again denied himself the opportunity to kill his master, and as a result demonstrated again that he was a man after God’s heart – exercising faith in the capability of the Lord rather than in human agency. Faith always takes the long-term course of action, whereas ‘sight’ takes what is expedient in the short term. We need to act as people who will live forever – which we will – and adjust our decision-making to be consistent with an eternal perspective. In the Kingdom of God, the horizon is the least distance you should be viewing, and faith takes you beyond human vision altogether.
So David spared Saul and made fun of his bodyguard, Abner, who was in reality a good and loyal servant.
David emphasised his own innocence against the accusations of treachery by Saul’s supporters. His complaint of being unfairly treated as an outcast contains an interesting phrase: They have driven me today from my share in the LORD’s inheritance and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods’. 20 Now do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD (1 Samuel 26:19-20). Under the terms of the Old Covenant, only the lands of Israel were considered to benefit from the Lord’s presence, blessing, and protection, whereas the remainder of the world was (since Genesis 11) delegated to other ‘gods’ – powerful supernatural princes who ruled the lands for their own benefits (e.g. the Prince of Persia). By being banished from Israel, David was technically being required to serve other gods, although, of course, he refused to.
Saul was, as usual, penitent for a short while. Nevertheless, David was wiser than to return home, and he actively sought shelter outside Israel in the company of the Philistines. Every day he raided peoples and territories beyond Israel, whilst pretending to be attacking Israelite towns instead. Of course, to keep his secret, he needed to completely destroy all the people in his path. Furthermore, this fulfilled the command of God to Joshua so many years previously – another way in which David was a man after God’s heart! As a result of David’s activities, the Philistine kings trusted David to stay on their side against the Israelites in the future.
The Big Picture 