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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. 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, give 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 nine 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. Verse 25, now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, we know her name is Mary Miriam, and his mother's sister, so that's the second woman. Third woman, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. So you've got four women at the cross, one dude.
They're outnumbered. Hey, where are those apostles? In his greatest hour of need, where's Peter?
Lord, even though all forsake you, I'll never forsake you. Okay, where is he? He's not there. The only one there of the apostles is John.
It's amazing, really. When Jesus was dolling out the food, thousands of people come. When Jesus preached the words, hundreds of people heard him.
Unless it was a hard sermon, then a lot of people left. When Jesus was at the hour of his sorrow, before his death in the upper room, there were 12 and then 11 as Judas left. In the garden there were Peter, James, and John that Jesus took to a private place. But at the cross, only John. You know, it's not that different today. How many people show up when you announce a prayer meeting?
How many people show up when you announce a concert? Jesus at the cross, surrounded by women, three of them named Mary. Just that's interesting. There's Mary and then, oh, there's Mary. Oh, and there's Mary. So by now can you figure out that Mary was a pretty common name back then? In fact, if you tally them all up, there's six or seven Marys in the New Testament. Just a very common name, named after Miriam, the sister of Moses in the Old Testament.
It was very common. So first of all, there is Mary, the mother of Jesus, and she's looking at her son dying on the cross. And no doubt, if she looked at Jesus up there, something came to her remembrance when Jesus was just an infant and he was brought to the temple to be dedicated. And there was an old man named Simeon in the temple. Remember the story in Luke chapter 2?
And what I love about Simeon is God had told this old man that he wouldn't die until he saw the Lord's Messiah. So I just picture this old codger going through the temple every day, looking at young couples with their babies, just looking at them, just wondering, could that be the one? Maybe walking a little bit closer, waiting for the Holy Spirit to give an impression, like that's the one.
But every time it's like, nope, that's not the one, not the one. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, some people think that Jesus was nothing more than a prophet or a good teacher.
These misconceptions existed 2,000 years ago, and Jesus is still misunderstood today. Discover who Jesus really is with Skip Heitzig's riveting nine-part series, Who Is This Jesus?, which examines Christ's humanity and deity to equip you to confidently answer questions about Jesus. This resource, along with Skip's Life Change booklet designed to help new Christians embrace their transformed life in Christ, is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer, or call 800-922-1888 and request your copies when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. One day, Joseph and Mary walk in the temple with this little baby, and he looks over. His heart must have skipped a beat. And he walked over to Joseph and Mary, and he probably said something to them that was unusual for them to hear. Could I hold your baby? Of course, Mary would size him up. Is he stable enough to hold my baby? Would he drop my baby?
He seems a little odd, but sane enough. And taking baby Jesus in his arms, he craned his head back, and he said, Now your servant can die in peace, Lord, for my eyes have beheld your salvation. And then he turned to Joseph and Mary, and he said, This child will be for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against and, and a sword will pierce your own soul.
Mary heard that, and she probably had no idea what that meant. It's like, Give me my baby back now, please. Okay, that was a weird dedication. Right?
Can you imagine if I had a baby dedication to start praying for the baby? Oh, and you guys are going to really be bummed out soon what's going to happen, but I'm going to leave that for later. It's like, What? A sword's going to pierce my soul?
What does that mean? Now she gets it. Now she understands as she looks up, and she sees her son dying on that cross.
A sword will pierce your own soul. So we are told, When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, that's John standing by, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. And he said to the disciple, Behold your mother.
And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. Mary from that day forward was brought to John the apostles home. What happened to Mary? She tells us that Mary died 11 years later at age 59, 5'9", in Jerusalem, John's second home. Another tradition says that Mary traveled with John to Ephesus. We know that John passed her there for a while and that she died in Ephesus.
So there's two traditions. We don't know which is which. One thing we know is true, she wasn't raised into heaven. She wasn't assumed into heaven. The Catholics have a doctrine called the Assumption of Mary, where they believe that Mary didn't die at all. Like Jesus was taken into heaven, Mary too was taken miraculously into heaven. They call that the Assumption of Mary. And I've always found that an appropriate designation, because that is quite an assumption to make.
Because it's not founded on anything in the Bible and it's not founded on history nor even the tradition of the earliest church. But John took her, cared for her. You know, it's amazing to me. There's a lot of things that are amazing to me.
Here's one amazing thing to me. Suffering is all consuming. If you have deep pain, you're not thinking about anybody else, you're thinking about yourself. You feel that pain. I've been dealing with a chronic back condition and when it flares up, it's just about all I can think about.
It's very distracting. It takes your mind off every other thing and focuses that inwardly. Here is Jesus during the most painful part of His life, before His death, and He's concerned about somebody else. He's thinking about how can I honor my mother and my father? How can I show honor to her? This woman who birthed me, I want to make sure that she is taken care of.
I want to make sure that one of my own will look after her. So rather than thinking of himself, He's thinking about others. Father, forgive them.
They don't know what they're doing. That's thinking about others. Today you'll be with me in paradise. That's thinking about others. Woman, behold your son.
Son, behold your mother. That's thinking about others. Not even thinking about himself. Now He will say, I thirst.
He will feel this pain, but at this point He is consumed with others. From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. Now just go back and notice that little list of women again. Second, after his mother, was his mother's sister. From other biblical accounts, we know her name is Salome, aka Mrs. Zebedee, the mother of James and John. Because we're told here that it's his mother's sister, that means that James and John were Jesus' cousins.
Interesting FYI. Then, Mary, the wife of Clopas. Now we don't know who that is, except some believe that this is the Clopas mentioned in Luke chapter 24. Remember the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? One was named Cleopas.
Clopas is often a shortened version of the longer name Cleopas, Clopas, sort of a nickname. So it's believed by some that this is the wife of that disciple, not among the twelve apostles, but one of the followers of Jesus, and that his wife was there at the cross. And then finally, one of the most famous women in all the Bible, Mary Magdalene. Some of us, this last trip to Israel, had the rare privilege, it was the first time I got to see the archeological digs of Magdala. I've seen them from the road, but they have really dug down into the ancient synagogue that was there at the time of Jesus. And to sit around that synagogue on some of those original seats, you're sitting in a place where Jesus went because he went to the synagogues around Galilee. It's quite a feeling.
It was amazing. But Mary was from this little town just a few miles northwest on the shore of Galilee from Tiberias, that city where the tetrarch reigned. Mary Magdalene was that notorious sinner. The Bible says, out of her was cast, how many demons, you remember?
Seven demons. So she had a pretty gnarly background. She's the one probably Jesus referred to when he said, the one that has been forgiven much, the same loves much. There she is at the foot of the cross showing love to Jesus. Now, verse 28, after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of wine was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
This is the second time they offer him wine. The first time, Matthew 27 tells us, he didn't accept it because the first time they were giving him wine mixed with gall. Gall was an analgesic, a pain reliever. It produced a narcotic effect, disassociating a person from the depth of their pain. Jesus refused the medication.
And why is that? Why wouldn't he say, yeah, give me some painkillers? Because he was taking on himself our sin, the sin of the world. He was in biblical parlance drinking the cup of the wrath of God. And when he was drinking the cup of the wrath of God, he didn't want anything but the full measure of that wrath.
He knew that he needed to embrace this and feel it all because he was our substitute. So he embraced and he drank the cup of the wrath of God, so he felt it all. Now, toward the end of his crucifixion, he's about to dismiss his spirit. He says, I thirst. Now he cries for it because the effects of crucifixion, I don't need to go over them again, creates a burning, raging thirst.
And so he said one word in Greek, the shortest statement on the cross, dipso, which is I thirst, dipso. And so they filled some hyssop. Now, hyssop is a weed. It grows everywhere in Jerusalem. There's the long stalk, the fluffy end, and they could dip it in wine.
It would soak and then they could, like a sponge, and then they could lift it up so he could drink. But hyssop, interestingly, if you have a Jewish background, you understand, wait a minute, hyssop was that plant at the Passover that they were told to take hyssop and dip the blood of a lamb in it and put it on the lintels and the doorposts of the homes so the death angel would pass over. That was hyssop. During the moment Jesus is on the cross, thousands of lambs are being killed in the temple, just down the hill. So it's interesting that out of Exodus 20, this hyssop used for the blood of the lambs at Passover, there on Passover, Jesus was given this sour wine to drink. Now, sour wine was probably the cheap wine of legionnaires.
Think Boone's Farm, you know, not a great brand, just like base stuff, just something that was easy to get a hold of back then. They drank it, they had it. So it was when Jesus received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Now please notice the words, it is finished. He's not saying, I'm finished, it's all over, this is the end, goodbye cruel world, I'm done for. He didn't say I'm finished, you'll be back. He didn't say, we're finished, I've worked hard for this movement for years, but boys, this is it, women, this is it, we're done, it's all over now. He said, it is finished.
It was a cry of victory, not defeat. It's a single word in Greek, the word tetelestai. Now tetelestai, that single word had an interesting set of uses. When a servant would fulfill his master's bidding, whatever it was, master said, do this or do that, and a servant completed that, he would go to his master and say, tetelestai, I finished what you told me to do. Jesus being the servant of the Father, the ultimate servant, this is so appropriate for him to say, it's finished, because Jesus said, I have come to do the will of my Father and to finish his work.
Now on the cross, he could say, as a servant to the master, it is finished. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you confidently answer questions about who Jesus is and understand the new life you have as a believer in him. Pastor Skip's nine message series, Who Is This Jesus?, and his life change booklet are our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today.
Request your copies when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
