The Crucifixion

Matthew 27:33 “They came to a place called Golgotha...”

Intro: Most days in our lives are ordinary days, there is little to distinguish them from any other day. However, here and there along the relentless march of history, we will have days that are worth remembering.

Plenty of historians will be able to tell you all kinds of powerful or painful days. We have those days in our lives too— our birthdays, the day a loved one passed away--

The day before us in our text today has the distinction of being both a day of intense evil, but also a day of the triumph of good over that evil. There is no other day in history that rises to the level of the day Jesus was crucified, and then obviously the day he rose from that grave!

What we are describing here is called “Good Friday”— it is infamous because the Creator is put to death by His creation! However, it was a famous day in the annals of history for Christ-followers because sin was defeated; the power of Satan was forever broken; the sin and pain that we have experienced, and also the pain and sorrow that we have caused.

We employed a strategy there within that song— It’s title is “The power of the cross”. Our passage today was read in blocks, within the song. I hope that can serve as a great introduction to the whole idea of the pain— as well as the power— of the crucifixion of Jesus.

For context—

I want to talk about the place and the pain of this day— for Jesus, and for us as we remember it.

I. The place of the Crucifixion V. 33

A. It was a prominent place- Golgotha “The place of the Skull”

1. It was prominent because of it’s location.

- Golgotha - the place of the skull, or in Latin, it is called Calvary! That place is on top of a rocky ridge, and there are rock formations that resemble the skull. That place was probably also littered with the skulls of dead people. It is just outside the gates of the city of Jerusalem, and it was well known to all the people who lived there. They had witnessed the deaths of criminals and others who were considered enemies of the Roman government. Since it was Roman practice to allow the bodies of the crucified to rot on their crosses, you can believe that the people of Israel knew this place very well.

2. It was prominent because of it’s history. I Kings 5:5

This mountain that was being defiled by Romans was a very special area for the Jews. You see, this hill was part of the same ridge upon which the Temple itself was built. The earliest temple was built on this very location during King Solomon’s reign— that’s 957 BC! Over 1000 years of history and sacredness. Makes our 160 years here in Walnut Creek seem pretty insignificant, right? This was a very prominent place for the Jewish people, because of the generations that had worshiped there.

1 Kings 5:5 NIV

5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’

B. It was a prophetic place. Genesis 22:5-14

In Gen. 22, we find the story of how Abraham was commanded to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering to God. That passage is one of the clearest Old Testament pictures of the coming death of God's Son Jesus on Calvary. There, we see a Father willingly giving up his own son to die. In that passage, there are two verses worthy of special note today.

Genesis 22:5–14 NIV

5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

The same place Abraham was about to kill Isaac.

Two verses stand out to my mind in connection with what we are studying today. The first is verse 8.

Genesis 22:8 NIV

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

There, Abraham says, "God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering." The wording of that verse is significant!

John 3:16 NIV

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The second noteworthy is verse 14, where the Bible says, "On the mount of the LORD it will be provided." This is an ancient prophesy telling us that God would give His Lamb on this very mountain. In this very place, Golgotha. A place that the Romans chose to execute all the criminals— to dispose of those who had committed crimes punishable by death. God takes not only the symbol— that cross— that icon of shame and ridicule and destruction— But God also uses that VERY Place to sacrifice His own son for criminals like you and me.

Genesis 22:14 NIV

14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

That is just what we are seeing in Matt. 27. This was a prophetic place—

II. The pain of the Crucifixion V. 35-49

A. He endured the physical pain. V. 35

The Bible says it so simply, "And they crucified Him..." But, those words do not even begin to convey the horror of what Jesus Christ endured on that cross. Consider that fact that before He arrived at Calvary Jesus had been awake all night. He has been through at least four trials. He has been beaten by the Jews. He has been beaten by the Roman soldiers. He has endured the horror of the Roman whipping and flogging. He has been mocked, ridiculed, spit upon and made to carry His cross to Calvary, then He is crucified! An act more horrible than anything you and I can imagine! Here is a brief description of what it must have been like.

What is crucifixion? A medical doctor provides a physical description: As the body bleeds, there could be hours of unbearable pain, cycles of twisting, cramping, asphyxiation, searing pain from the nails driven in, and also all the other wounds and lacerations he would have endured before hand.

Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with fluid and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over--the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level--the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy blood into the tissues--the weakened lungs are making the effort to gasp in small amounts of air. He would feel the chill of death creeping through is body. . .Finally, the His body cannot continue to function— and death occurs.

What love is this? That was what He endured because of His love for you and me, Rom. 5:8! (While we were still sinners, Christ dies for us)

Or sin often carries with it a physical pain. We cause that pain, or we are hurt by that pain. It’s physical, and Jesus endured it all for us.

Some of you are dealing with physical pain right now. Jesus knows that pain— and even worse. Hold onto Him through your pain. Know that He loves you.

B. He endured the emotional pain. V. 35-44

While Jesus endured the physical agony of the cross, those who were there at Golgotha that day did horrible things and said terrible things that made the shame and hate even worse.

The soldiers who had nailed Him to the cross are at His feet gambling over His clothes.

The people walk beneath Him and mock Him.

The religious leaders ridicule this beaten, broken figure hanging on the cross.

Even the two other men who are hanging there with Him that day join in the mocking and cursing of the Lord Jesus!

No one seems to understand at all what Jesus’ mission or what God’s plan is here— they all mock him and challenge him to save himself— When in fact he is suffering for those very people! He is suffering for you and me.

A great deal of our pain— the pain that we have endured in our lives— the pain you might be feeling right now— is emotional pain.

Yet- Luke records that he looks down on all of this, and even in spite of the physical torture— in spite of all the ridicule and misunderstanding— he looks down from the cross and says the first words after he’s been hung there:

Luke 23:34 NIV

34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The only compassion He received that day was from a tiny group of people gathered at the foot of His cross watching Him die. His mother, a beloved disciple, and a woman delivered from a life of sin. These were the only ones there to love Him and mourn His death!

And even those interactions show that Jesus cares for those people— even from the cross, he is making sure those that he loves are cared for.

What a model for us to live by— Let’s consider the emotional pain of someone else’s sin against you. If you have accepted God’s forgiveness through Jesus crucifixion— that is the only way you can bring yourself to the point of forgiving that person.

Our sin carries with it tremendous emotional pain. We have caused that pain for others— and we have been the victim of the emotional pain of the sin of others against us. Jesus, as the sacrificial savior— takes on that emotional pain of both our sin— and the sin of those who have hurt us---during the crucifixion.

But that’s not all— physical and emotional pain is joined by a ‘spiritual’ pain.

C. He endured the spiritual pain. V. 45-46

When I refer to His enduring the spiritual pain, I am referring to that moment in time when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, literally became the sin of the world on the cross, 2 Cor. 5:21.

2 Corinth 5:21

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Some would suggest that the critical moment— the pinnacle of pain and sorrow and desolation comes when Jesus seems to be separated from the Father: Some have called it “the Father turning His face away from the Son”. This moment when Jesus has taken on all the sin of the world— His Father turns away.

Matthew 27:46 NIV

46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

This is a quote from Psalm 22:1-3

Psalm 22:1–2 NIV

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

Matthew 27:47 NIV

47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Matthew 27:49 NIV

49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

I will never understand it, but we praise God for it.. Somehow, all of our sins were transferred to Him as He hung on that cross. He, the last Adam, became sin and He was judged by God in our place! This is the death — the separation from God that we would experience without Jesus. Jesus endured that separation and judgement for us.

God judged Him as if He were every sinner when He died. He paid the price for all of us that we all might be saved.

In essence God followed through with what He had originally asked Abraham to do. He plunges that knife into his own son to be the sacrifice for you and me. Do you get that?

You don’t have to plunge that knife into yourself—Jesus too that pain-- forgive yourself as God does.

You don’t need to plunge that knife into someone else when they hurt you—Jesus took that pain too--- let it go.

There is a powerful illustration I recently heard about people in tropical and jungle climates: The monkeys are quite a nuisance sometimes, and they need to catch them and move them to more remote spaces.

For centuries these people have taken a gourd or a coconut, cut a specific size hole in it— and place some food that the monkey will want inside.

Looks like this:

That monkey can get free from the trap— but all it has to do is “let go”. And if it doesn’t, which most won’t let go— they cannot get their hand out of the trap— and thus they can be easily captured.

The pain that you’ve caused— or the pain that someone has caused you— that’s the bait that the enemy has put into your coconut.

Forgiveness is letting go of the bait.

God’s love — expressed through the sacrificial love and death of Jesus— is the key that can open your lock today. Don’t stay trapped. Some of you may have had your hand stuck in that coconut for years. I did. I still do struggle sometimes.

Forgive yourself— Forgive them.

Jesus died.

I want you to know that the Place , and the Pain of the Crucifixion are both important aspects to consider— They lead us to the place and the pain of our own sin and the sin that affects us everyday.

The next two weeks— I want to dive into the Power of Jesus’ death, and the Victory of his resurrection.

There is undoubtedly the pain of the cross— but there is also the power of this moment— this infamous day in history when the debt was paid in full, and Jesus spoke those powerful words— “It is Finished.”

The cross of Golgotha is and remains the highest point of particular grace, and nevertheless it was on Golgotha that human wickedness was manifest most atrociously.

Abraham Kuyper- Prime minister of Netherlands, 1901-1905

The highest display of grace— and the lowest state of evil present in the same place.

Conclusion:

Friends, has the day Jesus died on the cross really become the day that He died for your sin— and the sin of others that have hurt you?

His death only has value for you if you are willing to receive it, and believe it— and live in it! For those who won’t believe, His death on the cross means absolutely nothing!

Are you living like this is true? Has the truth of this permeated your life? (Worship team come up)

We are going to sing another powerful song— I want to give you just a couple minutes to reflect and ponder— What physical, emotional, or even spiritual pain have you experienced? Jesus knows. Whatever He is doing in your heart today, just respond to Him, tell him thank-you!