Welcome to Connect with Skip-Heitzig Weekend Edition. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip-Heitzig wants to connect you to God's never-changing truth through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. And that's why we make messages like this one today available to you and so many others on air and online.
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Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heidzig. Several years ago, a man by the name of Hugh Schoenfeld wrote a book called The Passover Plot. As an unbeliever, Schoenfeld was convinced that Jesus Plotted planned his own death. And knowing that the Jews would not keep the bodies of crucified victims on the cross for the Sabbath. Yeah.
Jesus had prearranged A pseudo death. According to Schoenfield, Jesus got one of his supporters. To get a drink given to him during the crucifixion, laced with a drug that would render him unconscious but not dead.
so that he would appear to be dead. He would then be taken off the cross, placed in the tomb of another supporter, Joseph of Arimathea. Who? would then nurse him back to health. And appear to be a resurrected Savior.
in the subsequent days. But according to Schoenfeld, the plot went awry when one of the soldiers who was there at the cross placed a spear and jabbed it into the side of Jesus, effectively killing him and destroying the plot.
So, for the resurrection, the disciples had to use a stand-in. A person who was roughly the same build as Jesus to be there at the tomb standing outside. Posing as the gardener, showing up on the road to Emmaus, talking to two disciples, showing up at the Sea of Galilee. And that is one of the reasons, says Schoenfeld, that the disciples did not recognize Jesus after the resurrection. I certainly do not agree with Schoenfield's story.
Okay. But I admit that I have to agree with his premise. The death of Jesus Christ was a plot. Not an earthly plot. Hatched by some wannabe messiah who configured certain events in advance so it would look to be a certain way.
But rather a divine Plan That came from the heart of God. That was predicted by all of the prophets.
Well in advance. It was part of God's eternal. Plot, if you will, or plan. One of the most upsetting things about death is its suddenness. It happens without warning.
It comes unexpectedly. And when that happens, People are shocked. If you have ever received the sudden news of the death of a loved one, like I did when my brother died, it just sends you into. A spin. All of those plans unfinished, all of those words unspoken, all of those dreams unfulfilled, shattered in a moment.
That was not the case with Jesus of Nazareth. He predicted his own death in advance. He told his disciples how it would happen, what would happen afterwards, all of the details. In fact, when Jesus died, The scripture says, he bowed his head and he dismissed his spirit. He said, okay, you can go now.
Now it's time for me to leave. His was death. Under control. I had the privilege of being at the bedside of my mother when she died. I held her hand, and I was able to tell her God loves her.
Read a psalm to her. It was a privilege because It dawned on me. This very woman Who was there when I came into the world? I'm watching her exit this world. It was such a holy moment.
I imagine that the Apostle John felt some of that as he was there at the cross. It was horrible to watch. It was something nobody could stand or stomach. And as difficult as it was for John to see and hear what he was experiencing, at the same time, the holy and high privilege of being there when his friend, his master, his Lord, though he didn't make sense of it at that moment. was being killed.
John would later on write about it, and we have his writings here. And as we read the writings of John, We understand that John was impressed by certain details that happened during that event. Details he did not understand at the time, but later on, it's as if he could connect all of the dots, and he had this epiphany. that he writes about.
So Let me take you back 2,000 years to the scene. Travel with me 7,200 miles from Albuquerque to Jerusalem. Place yourself underneath olive trees. See behind you the ancient stones of the city wall and the buildings. Listen to the hubbub of the Passover traffic.
Smell the Passover lambs, the roasting waft in the air. And then you feel the eerie silence as you discover that of those three figures on the cross before you. Only two are still alive, the central figure has already died. And then you feel the nausea rise in your stomach. As two soldiers Circumnavigate the cross with Iron mallets.
Ready to perform their lugubrious task of smashing the legs of the victims so that they would die. quickly. John was there. John writes about it. Perhaps the candles that we've arranged will help you be carried back at least a little bit.
Maybe the candles could represent. The dwelling places of the Jews in that city who would light the lamps for the Passover. or for the Sabbath that they were about to bring in. We'll let the menorah up here, the seven-branch candlestick, represent for us Judaism. The very system and nation that Jesus came into.
As the scripture says, he came unto his own things but his own ones would not welcome him. We'll then let the eleven other candles that are interspersed up here represent for us the 11 loyal disciples. Those who remained true to Jesus, but were at this moment very shocked and bewildered as to how this could happen. They are in fear of the Jews. They are behind locked doors and.
Now let the passage that I read to you. fall on fresh ears as if you've heard it for the first time. 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. 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.
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. Allow me to take you through three lines of thought with that passage. First, the predicament of the scene. Second, the placement of the spear. And third, the fulfillment.
of the scripture. We begin with the predicament. I call it a predicament because there's some things that we haven't wrestled with yet as to timing that are sometimes brought up. often by skeptics And I want to reconcile those. Here's the rundown.
We know that Jesus died very quickly for a crucified victim. Six hours. After six hours, He was gone. He was placed on the cross at nine in the morning. He died at three in the afternoon.
Most crucified victims lasted two. To three days on the cross. But our passage says it was preparation day. You'll notice Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body 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.
that they might be taken away.
Now, the preparation day was the day that the Jews prepared for the next day, which was the Sabbath day. Because that was a Friday And the next day would be Saturday, the Sabbath. Because that Sabbath was during Passover week, it was called a high day. It was the high and holy Sabbath of the year because it was during Passover week.
Now here's the problem we have. If it's a Friday, and we believe it is because the scripture would indicate that it is. The problem is the timing of the Passover itself and when it was eaten. Let me explain that to you. A chapter back.
Uh At the beginning of the trial of Jesus, in chapter 18, verse 28, it says, Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium, and it was early morning, but they themselves did not go into the praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. You say, I don't understand the problem.
Well, If it's Friday morning and they are anticipating the eating of the Passover, we have a problem because Jesus and his disciples have already eaten the Passover the night before.
So, if they as Jews ate the Passover the night before, which was Thursday, and then we read here that they're waiting that they might eat the Passover, the Jews in Jerusalem. How do we reconcile that fact? You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Before we return to Skip's teaching, what would your life look like if God's fingerprints were all over it? In God Print, The Life of Abraham, Pastor Skip takes you through seven powerful messages on the faith journey of one man who learned to trust God through crisis, fear, and uncertainty.
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Now let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor Skip.
Well, that's where the writings of the historian Josephus help us, as well as the writings of the Mishnah, the codified oral law of the Jews. in both of those sources. We are told that the Jews in the north, including the Galileans, had a different calendar than those down south in Judea, around Jerusalem. Those in the North reckoned The days of the week from sunrise to sunrise. Whereas down south, they recognize the days from sunset to sunset, which is the typical traditional Jewish way of reckoning days.
Sunri uh sunset to sunset. That's because in Genesis it says, and evening and morning were the first day. If those two sources are accurate, then it solves the problem. It would mean if you're from Galilee, like Jesus was and his disciples. That for them, Passover, the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan, began Thursday morning at sunrise and ended Friday morning at sunrise.
Whereas if you're from Jerusalem, Judea, the holy city. Passover began Thursday evening and lasted until Friday evening.
So, you would have Galileans eating the Passover Thursday evening, whereas the Judeans would be eating it Friday evening. because of the reckoning of their time. It would also solve a logistical problem. How on earth are they going to kill that many lambs and give them to people to have a meal that evening when there were millions of people that they were servicing?
sometimes for the Passover.
Well, it would help if you could do it in shifts.
So let's let the Galileans kind of keep their schedule, and those from the north we can service on Thursday, and those from the south on Friday.
So you could do the Passover in shifts, killing lambs and having a meal on Thursday and another one on Friday. Which would mean that when Jesus hung on the cross and was dying, at that very moment they were killing lambs in the temple for those in Jerusalem. While lambs were being slaughtered, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was being slaughtered on the cross. There's also another predicament that we have, and this is a pretty typical one. I get this question asked a lot, I bet you do too.
If Jesus died on Friday and he rose on Sunday, how do you get three days?
Sounds to me like a couple days at the max. And that is because here in the West, for some reason, we have to have three 24-hour periods to make a day. That's how we think. We have to have the total of that or it's just not going to work. But again, in ancient Judaism, they did not think that way.
They would count a part of a day as a day.
So, that because there's Friday involved and Saturday involved and early Sunday morning, it's three days. It spans The allotment. of a three-day period. I know that because I'm quoting to you out of A passage written by Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah, an ancient rabbinical source, and he says, and I quote: A day and a night make an onah. An onah was a cycle of a day and a night.
A day and a night make an onah. And part of an onah is as the whole. That's how they saw it.
So, if he dies on Friday, he's in the tomb on Saturday, he rises early Sunday. In their minds, that's three days. That's what Jesus predicted, and that problem is solved. But the predicament for the Jews at that moment is It's preparation day. It's the Sabbath that is coming.
We want to go home and celebrate the Passover with our families and light the candles to welcome in the Shabbat. And there's bodies hanging on the cross. We'd like those bodies removed so we can go home and have a nice meal.
Now, typically, the Romans left the victims of crucifixion on the cross to rot, frankly, for days. The sun would rot their corpses, the birds, the scavenger birds would pick away at their flesh, and if there were dogs that could reach that far up, the Romans would let it happen. But the Jews don't want it to happen. They want the bodies removed. And here's why.
They want the bodies removed because of a passage. In the law of Moses. This is Deuteronomy chapter 21. If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you will surely bury him that day.
So that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for he who is hanged is accursed of God. That's the reason. Get those bodies off the crosses so our land isn't defiled, so we can go home and have Passover and welcome in the Sabbath. Talk about the pinnacle of hypocrisy. They are so concerned about the minute details of the law while they're killing the one who fulfilled their law.
That's what religion will do. That's what legalistic religion does. It focuses on the outward precepts that a person keeps so that person can go home and feel smug about the outward precepts that he has kept. and not about the heart of the law.
So that is the predicament of the same.
Now let's look at the placement of the spear in verse 33. 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. The Roman soldiers Though typically they would leave the bodies up on the crosses, there was. From time to time, A procedure.
known as the curavragium. Which was the breaking of the legs? It was done. Not for torture, but for Mercy. I know that sounds wacky to some.
Because you're thinking breaking the legs of a crucified victim, I mean, that is like adding insult to injury. That is horrible. But let me explain. When a person is crucified, as we mentioned before, in that erect position, his rib cage is. Affixed.
There's really no movement of their rib cage. Mm. The only thing that can bring in air is a single muscle, the diaphragm. But over a period of time, the diaphragm is fatigued and becomes. Paralyzed.
There's a paralysis that sets in.
So, knowing that, the Romans would take the feet and pin the feet to the cross, not letting the victim just hang by the wrists, but also by the feet, to provide a a fulcrum so they could push up on it. And bring in air.
So as long as That person was pinned to the cross in that position, as excruciatingly painful as it sounds, he could. Um Surge. And slump. Surge and plunge, up and down, up and down, surge and plunge. For two to three days.
Horrible, horrible, long death. Yeah. When the legs were broken and they were smashed in several places, shattered really, it removed the leverage. that the nail of the feet was providing.
So that it was just a matter of time, they would die very quickly of asphyxiation, respiratory failure. The soldiers Got the one on the outside. The criminal on the other side, but they noticed that Jesus was already dead.
Now, these were Roman soldiers. They've done this before, they're experts at this. They know when a person's dead. But to make sure that this criminal in the middle is dead. One just took a spear and thrust it in Jesus' side and Out came blood and water.
Now, all of these details are important. Why? Because the author wants you to know that when Jesus went into the tomb, He went in as a dead man. He was dead. There was no life in him physically.
Because if you don't believe that, then you don't have a resurrection, you only have a resuscitation. For there to be a resurrection, there has to be the end of life. And so Matthew makes that clear when he writes, He yielded up his spirit. Mark and Luke say he breathed his last. John records Jesus saying, It is finished, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
And now, A soldier notices he's dead. Through Jesus. Died. I'm underlining that because there is a theory that Jesus never really died, he just swooned on the cross. He fainted, essentially.
He'd lost blood, he'd lost a lot of energy, he was totally exhausted, and so he just kind of slumped over and he was swooning, nearly dead, but still there was life in him.
So they took him off the cross. And here's the funniest part of the theory. The damp, cold tomb revived him. How lame is that? That's like saying Um Yeah, I drove down the street accidentally hit a guy Left him by the side of the road so he'd get better.
Not going to happen. Not going to happen. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's resource, GodPrint, The Life of Abraham. This powerful seven-message study from Skip-Heitzig shows how God's presence shaped one man's life and how He can shape yours.
It's our thanks for your generous gift of fifty dollars or more to support this ministry. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional email to grow deeper in your walk with Christ.
We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Make a connection now. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
