John (34)

Calling the following witnesses to the stand...

Pilate

Soldiers

John the apostle

a. Is it true that you have written an account of what you observed concerning the death and burial of jesus from your own eyes? John: Yes

b. Are you the disciple whom from the cross of execution Jesus gave the responsibility to care for His own mother? John: Yes “Ahh .. you must be a special kind of disciple to Jesus.” John: All of Jesus’ disciples are uniquely loved by the Messiah, but yes, I understand myself beloved by Jesus.

c. So your telling me your testimony about His death and burial is objective and true without any mixture of error. John: Yes, I saw Him die with my own eyes and I am telling the truth.

d. How can you be so sure? John: because even though I saw it with my own eyes, I understand with that what was happening in front of me was the fulfillment of what God had revealed in His Word years and years before I saw it happen.

e. And I suppose you have some example of this?? John: Yes, for example…

In Numbers chapter 9 God had His servant Moses record the commands for celebrating the passover for His chosen people the Israelites. In verse 12 He required that no bones of the sacrificial passover lamb would be broken. We know from the testimony of the prophet John the Baptist… that Jesus is the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Okay, so that's one example… do you have another?

John: Actually there are hundreds examples of Jesus fulfilling the prophecies of the Old testament but, yes I’ll refer to just one more. In chapter 12 of the prophet Zachariah, How long before Jesus was pierced in the side did you say, “They will look on Him whom they had pierced?” God had the prophet Zechariah write that prophecy ____ years before the crucifixion of My Son.

Transition: No further questions...

Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph, it has been said of you from Dr. Luke, who is a disciple of Jesus that has written extensively on the history of Jesus by tracing down many of the eye witness, one named Dr. Luke, that you are and I quote.. “ Luke 23:50-51”

Nicodemus

Transition: We have no further witnesses to call to the stand today your honor. And so we rest, and ask a final question…

Application: So What? 19:35 So that “you” might believe.

The true verifying evidence of Jesus’ death and burial is presented so that you might believe in Christ, and that believing you would have life in His name. It is not evidence that makes your head nod in affirmation, but rather this is truth that the Holy Spirit uses to ignite spiritual life to your spiritual dead heart. He uses this truth to convict and convince, and convert . To convict us of our sin that was responsible for nailing Jesus to the tree, to convince us that the great love of God has been demonstrated to us in that Christ died and as buried in our place for the judgment and condemnation of our sin against God, and to convert us by changing the condition of our heart from that of stone unbelief, to good soil of faith in Christ.

The verdict is in. The witnesses have testified. We who are gathered here in this court room will either go on rejecting Christ, submit to Him in faith, or have our faith strengthened again by the multitude of true evidence that we are trusting in the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s . That, as those who belong to Christ… we can walk in courage, contentment, peace and power. We walk in hope that the one to whom we have entrusted our life will sustain us and return to rescue us for eternal life with Him.