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Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. We'll let the menorah appear, the seven-branched 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 11 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.
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?
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, holy city. Passover began Thursday evening and lasted till 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're 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 saint.
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. You're listening to Connect with Skiff Heitzig Weekend Edition. Before we return to the message, consider this.
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Now, let's rejoin today's teaching. 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 Kuravragium. 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. 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. 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. 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.
So 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. It's not going to happen for several reasons. Reason number one. When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane, he was sweating great drops of blood.
We told you that is a medical condition known as hematidrosis. Though rare, it does happen, it is recorded. Number two, Jesus faced not one trial, but six trials: three religious, three civil. At those trials, he was. beaten, tummeled.
Number three. He went through a scourging, we believe not one but two Roman scourgings, the flagellum across the back, lacerating the. The skin and the muscles on the back. Number four, a crown of thorns placed on his brow, which would also increase the bloodletting. Number five, Jesus carried at least part of his cross, the petibulum weighing about 75 pounds, out of the city.
Didn't even make it to the place of crucifixion, he was so exhausted. And then the crucifixion itself. for six hours in that position. With spikes through his hands, his wrists, and his feet. And then Jesus was placed in a tomb.
Okay. But before that the soldier thrust in his spear, And out came blood and water, which is post-mortem evidence that this man died of heart failure. The constriction of the heart by the pericardium, the fluid around the heart. As well as shock, and here's the proof: he's dead.
Now, these are details that John notices, and he writes about them. And we're left with the question, and we want to answer it before we take the Lord's Supper: why? Why is that? And we have the fulfillment of scripture. Verse 35, 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 scriptures should be fulfilled. Not one of his bones should be broken. And again, another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced.
So here is John writing, saying, I get it now. I'm connecting all the dots. What I saw, what I heard, what I experienced, this wasn't just coincidence. It's just providence. That God had written about these things in advance by the prophets, and they're being fulfilled right before my eyes.
The first prediction? Not a bone of his would be broken. Quoting Psalm 34. Psalm 22. Exodus 12, Leviticus 9, the Passover lambs, none of their bones to be an appropriate sacrifice could be broken.
The second scripture is the piercing of the side with the spear, as horrible as that was. Zachariah predicted in chapter 12, they will look upon me, God said, They will look upon me whom they have pierced. If Jesus wouldn't have died at the exact moment he died. His legs would have been broken. If his legs were broken, Then his side would not have been pierced with that spear.
And if his legs were broken and his side wasn't pierced with that spear, you could take your Bible and throw it away. You could throw it away. It is not true. But it is true because everything God predicted in advance with intricate detail because of his foreknowledge came to pass. John says, I'm writing this because I now get it and I want you to get it.
I want you to believe. That's the theme of the book, as we have discovered. Believe 8, 7, 9. 879 verses in the Gospel of John. You know a lot of them now.
After two. Years and three months. But the theme, the major theme, has been believe, believe. 98 times he uses that word. Here's the epiphany of John.
Let it be yours this morning. Uh John is realizing, I am dealing with a God who knows all of the intricate details of history. Time And even the details of the death of his son, and has written them into the fabric of scripture so that I can. Look at it. And I can say I'll trust this God, this God who knows so much and predicts it in advance.
Why I'd be a fool not to entrust my life to him.
So that's the question I ask you this morning. Are you afraid to trust? Your life to the one who can manage all of the intricate details like this. And the follow-up question is: Will you entrust your life to one who is willing to manage the details of your life? As you take communion, you are saying, I trust him.
I trust his promises. I trust his word. And I will entrust my life to him. Years ago, when the Canadian Pacific Railroad wanted to build a railroad line from Medicine Hat to Calgary in Alberta, Canada, they knew they had to go through Indian land. The Blackfoot tribe managed the land, so they went to Crowfoot, who was the chief of the Blackfoot tribe, and they got permission.
He gave them the permission. In exchange for the permission to build a railroad, the Canadian Pacific guys gave to Chief Crowfoot A lifetime railroad pass. At any time, the chief could get on board from one destination to another all day long, every day if he wanted to, for a lifetime. Yeah. The chief was so thankful he took the pass, it is said, and put it in a little leather pouch.
With a leather strap around it and wore it around his neck proudly his entire life and never used it once. And I read that and I said, boy, does that sound like lots of us Christians. We have all of God's promises in our nice little leather pouch. Here it is. Here's my leather Bible.
All these neat promises. Boy, what a cool Bible I have, man. It's so supple and soft, and it reads easy and it smells.
So good when it's new. I like that. But that's where they stay. The real secret of the Christian life is when we take the promises out of the pouch. And we walk in them, we take them to the bank, and we trust them and entrust our future to Him.
We're so glad you joined us for Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Before we go, we want to remind you to request this month's featured resource, GodPrint, The Life of Abraham. This seven-message series from Pastor Skip traces Abraham's walk with God and invites you to discover how faith can grow even through fear, doubt, and delay. It's our gift to you when you support Connect with Skip Heitzig with a donation of $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect the Skip-Heitzig Weekend Edition. Make a connection never before. Of the crossing cast your burdens on me.
Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
