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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Most everyone in the world is familiar with the image of the cross. It is iconic.
It is literally an icon. People see a cross, and for many people around the world, it's not just a symbol of Christian belief. To some people, it's actually the symbol of Western civilization, which I've always found interesting because it began in the Middle East. As we told you, the cross as an implement of death was invented by the Persians. But over time, because Christians have adopted it as a symbol, and we see it on churches, and we see it at cemeteries, and we see it on people's necks, we get very used to it.
And because we're very used to it, we can sometimes disconnect from it. I grew up in a church where every Sunday I looked behind the altar where a huge crucifix was on the wall. A picture of Jesus dying on the cross. I still can see in my mind's eye that very crucifix from my upbringing. When I went home, right there in the hallway, between my room and my brother's room, another crucifix on the wall. So I grew up seeing it, but it's been said familiarity can sometimes breed contempt.
We just get used to it. We even get used to the grim depictions in the Scripture of Jesus' own death, as horrifying as that was. We find ourselves taken there by John at the foot of the cross in John chapter 19. It was Oswald Chambers, some of you are familiar with his writings, who said, heaven is interested in the cross. Hell is terrified of the cross.
Then he said, it's human beings that for the most part ignore its meaning. We don't want to do that. In fact, we could look at tonight's Bible study as a preparation for next week when we take the Lord's Supper communion. By that time, Lord willing, we're going to be in chapter 20, which is the resurrection.
So we can get our hearts primed, ready, prepared by looking at this account in John chapter 19. Now just a little bit of backtracking. I told you the Persians invented it and the Romans perfected it. The Romans took crucifixion and used it to execute what they regarded as the worst criminals in their culture, the very worst. First of all, all Roman citizens were exempt from crucifixion. Only the people they called slaves, whom they also called non-persons. They really weren't Roman citizens. They really didn't have full personhood in the empire. Only slaves could be crucified and the crime had to be pretty serious. It was reserved for murderers, armed robbers, and insurrectionists, or those who would mount some kind of a rebellion against the Roman Empire. So you know the story.
We have followed it through. Jesus has had six trials, three religious trials and three civil trials, finally being sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate that we read last week in chapter 19. Jesus has already been in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Garden of Gethsemane, as he prayed, the Bible tells us he sweat great drops of blood. A medical condition known as hematidrosis, where the tiny capillaries in the forehead can burst into the sweat glands. And so as the person begins to sweat, it's mingled with blood.
And it happens when people are under extremely high stress. So Jesus has lost blood and physical energy through that ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's betrayed by Judas. He goes through all of those trials. He stands before Pilate, Pilate wanting to appease the crowd, commands the Jesus be scourged.
And that's where we began our study last week. We talked about the Roman scourging, the flagellum that was used to tear open the back of the prisoner, to ready that prisoner for capital punishment, to weaken the prisoner. Then Jesus, on the way to the place of execution, carried his cross, not the entire cross, for the vertical pole was already being put in place at the place of execution, Golgotha. But the upper part, the cross beam, the horizontal cross beam known as the patibulum, that weighed between 75 and 100 pounds was placed on the prisoner's back and Jesus carried that toward the place of execution. He didn't make it all the way.
He was already weakened by the ordeal that he fell down a few times and that patibulum, that upper beam, had to be carried by Simon from Cyrene. And so finally Jesus made it to the place of execution, we're told in verse 17. And he bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, the Latin is calvarium. That's where we get the term of this church, Calvary. It's funny, when I go to different places, they go, oh, you're from Calvary. You go to that church, you're the pastor of that church, Calvary. I said, no, we're not mounted guards on horses with swords.
That's a cavalry. We are Calvary, the place of the skull. Calvarium is the place Jesus was executed. So our church is named after the place where Jesus paid the ultimate penalty for our sins. Usually the Romans wanted the victim to travel the longest possible route to the place of execution.
Why? Because it was sort of a morbid parade. By carrying that cross, the longest route to the place of execution, more people could see here is what happens to anybody who defies Rome by being a murderer, an armed robber, or an insurrectionist. Jesus was none of those, and yet he traveled that route. Now, when you go to Jerusalem, see, that was the statement of faith right there. When you go to Jerusalem, and by the way, you're going to make it either way.
You know that, right? If you don't make it in this life, one day you'll go and be part of it in the Millennial Kingdom. So you are going to Jerusalem, you are going to the Holy Land, but it's always nice to have a comparison. It's always nice to have a before and after. So those of you who have been to Jerusalem in the Millennial Kingdom, it's going to look so vastly different that you'll be able to go, man, I remember when that didn't even exist, or when that was over there, and look how this place has changed. You'll be able to appreciate the differences.
So I would recommend you check it out as soon as you can. So anyway, they traveled the longest possible route. And when you go to Jerusalem, you will see a sign that is from the Antonia Fortress, the remains of where Pilate and his cavalry's were. And the road that went from that Praetorium where Jesus was sentenced to Golgotha is called the Via Dolorosa.
Many songs have been written about the name. But that is on the walls that are Via Dolorosa. What some of you should find fascinating, because it's Spanish. It's the way of sorrows in Spanish. And you're thinking, well, I'm in Israel, they speak Hebrew here, they speak Arabic in other parts of the city.
It's not in English, it's in Spanish. Until you realize that the whole 10th Legion of Rome was from Spain. And Pontius Pilate himself was Spanish.
So you can have fun with that one. So verse 17, He bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. In putting that title on the cross, he is in a sense, coordinating Jesus as king.
Now one might wonder, why would Pilate do this? He asked Jesus, are you a king? Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. Pilate said, so you are a king then? He said, if my kingdom were of this world, Jesus said, my servants would fight, but my kingdom is not of this world.
You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, misunderstandings about Jesus abound. Some see him as a prophet, others as a moral teacher, and still others as just a myth or mere historical figure.
But the Bible tells a different story about who Jesus is. We want to help you know the real Jesus of the Bible by sending you Skip Heitzig's nine message CD series, Who Is This Jesus? In this eye-opening series, Pastor Skip addresses common misconceptions about Jesus, clarifying both Jesus' humanity and his divinity to equip you to confidently answer questions about who Jesus really is. We'll send you the Who Is This Jesus series, as well as Skip's booklet for new believers titled Life Change, as thanks for your gift of $50 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Now, the reason Pilate probably put this title on the cross was to anger the people who wanted Jesus killed, the chief priests, the religious people, the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas, Annas, all of these prime movers who were trying to get Jesus killed. They hated Jesus.
They thought what he said and did was blasphemous. So as his final dig, I believe Pilate coronated Jesus, King of the Jews. Then many of the Jews read this title for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Last week we made mention that those three languages are important.
Hebrew, the language of religion, Greek, the language of culture and education, Latin, the language of law and order, the language of Rome. Therefore, the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. So saying, Pilate, we're your editors here.
We want you to pull the sign off and just write above what you have written, this man said he was the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Now here is a case where knowing some of the Greek tenses in the text can be helpful. So notice in verse 21, it says, Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, the word said is in the imperfect tense, meaning they said it and they repeated it.
They kept saying that. But then notice in verse 22, Pilate answered what I have written, I have written. That's put in the perfect tense.
So here's a better translation for our understanding. The Jewish leader said and kept saying and kept saying and kept insisting, take that down, don't write that, write that he said that he was that. And they kept hounding him to edit the statement. But Pilate said, what I have written once and for all, I have written and will always be written. That's the idea, that's the force of the text. What I have written, I have written and it will always be written. It will stand as written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to each soldier apart and also the tunic.
Now the tunic was without seam woven from the top in one piece. So Jesus is lifted up on the cross. The sign is placed above him, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. It angers the religious people.
Now backtrack a moment. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there was a group of people that came from the east looking for him. Remember their names, what we call them? The Magi. And they go to Jerusalem and they find Herod the Great and they said, where is he who has been born the king of the Jews? Interesting, the people outside of Israel, all the way from effectively Iran, are in Jerusalem looking for the king of the Jews.
Then fast forward to the end of Jesus' life but before the crucifixion. He comes into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. And the people shout, Hosanna to the son of David, to the king of Israel.
Magi acknowledged king of the Jews. Some of the people in Jerusalem, when he was coming in on that donkey a few days before this, acknowledged this is our king. Pilate now puts that up on the cross. But Jesus told Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world.
Now that doesn't mean it's not going to be of this world. At that time when Jesus came, he came to deal with sin, but he is coming a second time. And when he comes a second time, Revelation chapter 19, John says, And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. And he who sat on it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and he makes war. And he had a name written on his robe and on his thigh, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Not just the king of the Jews, but the king of everybody else, including the Jews.
Now that's going to come. But here he is dealing with the most important transaction ever, dealing with the sins of the world. So, at the place of crucifixion, we just read that the soldiers took his garments, made four parts to each soldier, and also the tunic. Verse 24, They said therefore among themselves, Let us not tear it, but let's cast lots for it. Whose it shall be, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
When a person was convicted of a capital crime like this, and he was brought to the place of execution, every single thing that prisoner had, everything he owned, became the spoils of the Roman government. And so the soldiers typically would divvy up whatever that person brought to that place, whatever he owned, including his own clothes. We know, according to Roman tradition, that there were four soldiers at the cross because the unit assigned to an execution was called a quaternion. A quaternion, as the word implies, means four. So four soldiers. But the typical Jewish male had five articles of clothing.
The outward coat or outward tunic, the inward tunic that lay close to the body, the belt, a headpiece or a headscarf, and shoes. So dividing them up in four left one piece out, and they decided that robe that is seamless, let's cast lots for it, not knowing that they were fulfilling a scripture out of Psalm 22, which is a fascinating text. And we may get to it in our series, Against All Odds, because David, hundreds of years before crucifixion is even invented by the Persians, writes with more detail about crucifixion than any other place in holy writ in scripture. And so as the narrative goes and as we see Jesus on the cross, John wants us to remember that this isn't some cosmic accident. This is something that was planned by God in advance. It was even prophesied in Psalm 22 to show us that God is completely in control.
Jesus is not a victim. Again, I remind you what he said. Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself.
I have the power to lay it down and take it again. So all of these events were carefully staged and prophecy was being fulfilled. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Therefore, the soldiers did these things. Now you could divide the people at the foot of the cross into two groups.
In fact, John sort of does that. He compares now these soldiers with his followers. There are four unbelieving soldiers, but there are four believing women, plus one apostle, and that is John, the author of this gospel.
Four and four. On the cross, Jesus uttered sayings called the seven words or the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross. He was put on the cross at nine in the morning. From nine in the morning till 12 noon, he uttered three things from the cross.
That is recorded. First of all, and you have to put Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to get the whole picture of what he said, those seven sayings, but the first utterance out of his mouth, the first statement, the first word was a word of forgiveness. There on the cross, his first statement is, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing, which must have arrested those soldiers who were looking up. They've never heard a man cry that who was being executed. They've killed many a prisoner.
And most of them said, get me out of here. I didn't do it. I don't deserve this.
This is wrong. This is the miscarriage of justice. So it was strange for this prisoner's first words to be, Father, forgive them. And it must not only have gotten the attention of that quaternion of soldiers, but those two prisoners crucified on either side looking at that. I'm sure that they looked at him and thought, what did he just say? Father, forgive them?
Because they're not thinking those thoughts. They're thinking, if there's a God up there, kill them, roast them, get them back and harder. But Father, forgive them, I think was the hook that caused one of the prisoners to have hope well up inside of him as he looked toward Jesus. And as one cursed Jesus, the other said, hey, we deserve what we're getting, but this man has done nothing wrong. And then he said to him, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And then Jesus uttered the second statement from the cross. Surely I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. The third statement Jesus made on the cross is the statement we read about here.
He sees his mother at the foot of the cross, Mary, and says with John the apostle, woman, behold your son, son, behold your mother. And those words were uttered from 9 in the morning till around 12 noon. At 12 noon, something happened. A darkness covered the land that was so significant and so pervasive it is not only mentioned in Scripture, but it is mentioned in some of the ancient Roman history books. A darkness that was profound that covered the land. During those hours of darkness, Jesus said nothing at all until finally he broke the silence. And he uttered four more things. The first is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The fifth statement was, I thirst.
We'll read about that. The sixth statement was, it is finished. And the seventh statement, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And with that Jesus died.
He uttered those seven statements on the cross. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Pastor Skip's series, Who Is This Jesus?, and his booklet, Life Change, to help you better understand both who Jesus is and why you can trust what the Bible says and who you are as a believer in Christ. To request your copy of these resources, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. For more from Skip, be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskip.com slash store.
Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
