The Scriptures Fulfilled for Us

Read

John 19:28–37 LSB

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been finished, in order to finish the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. 30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. 31 Then the Jews, because it was the day of Preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; 33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 35 And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. 36 For these things came to pass in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

Opening Prayer

Setting the Stage

Jesus has taken His final breath.

He has declared that He has completed the will of God, on behalf of His people.

And, now the RL’s are asking Pilate to make sure those hanging on the cross are dead…

And, they be taken down from the cross now.

Why were they in such a hurry to remove them from the cross?

Were told in v.31 it was…

The Day of Preparation

This day came about from Jewish observance of the Sabbath.

This was the day before the Sabbath day.

It was esteemed indispensable by the Jews.

It was a way of helping structure a period of time for practical and spiritual readiness.

It was so culturally fixed that Roman authorities recognized the practice.

Augustus even issued an edict that all Jews were released from court appearances at 3pm on such days.

This was a day that the Jews prepared food for the Sabbath day, since they forbidden to cook.

They bathed, put on festive clothing, lit lamps, made sure the ovens were hot and the food was insulated.

They set tables with the best dining ware.

The meals and dining was more extravagant than any other day of the week.

This was a customary time to have dinner guests, larger family gatherings, and more.

On this Day of Preparation it would have been even more intense because…

This was the Day of Preparation for a High Day Sabbath.

A High Day Sabbath increased the amount of preparation.

This was a Sabbath day that fell during a major religious festival.

Think of a typical dinner meal compared to a Thanksgiving meal in which everyone is gathering at your house.

The High Day Sabbath increased the religious ceremonial aspect of the day.

It increased the festivities, the extravagance of the meals, and so on.

It added that all the leaven would be completely removed from the house.

At 3pm, the priests would blow a three fold trumpet blast to signify that there were only three hours left to prepare.

Three hours later, the priests would do the same thing to signify the Sabbath had begun and all work must cease.

So, in order to get all things done and not break any Sabbath laws…

Everything needed to be done by sundown.

The Jews days were sundown to sundown.

So, to our time and calendars…

The Day of Preparation would be from Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.

The Sabbath day would be Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

So, the Jewish Leaders were requesting those crucified be taken down so they can leave and finish Sabbath preparations.

But, there was another reason…

To Keep from Desecrating the Land

We know from the OT that anyone hung on a tree was cursed of God.

So, not only was the one hung on a tree cursed…

But, if the person hung on a tree hung over night then the land became cursed.

So, the person hung was to be buried before dark.

We learn this from…

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 LSB

22 “And if a man has committed a sin, the judgment of which is death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (because cursed of God is he who is hanged), so that you do not make unclean your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance.

So, in order to preserve the land from defilement…

The religious leaders request those hanging on the crosses be finished and taken down.

The breaking of the legs would have made it impossible for the one hanging on the cross to push up for breath…

And, they would have immediately died of suffocation.

This would ensure death and enabled the soldiers to take the bodies down.

So, the Jewish Leaders were requesting those who had been crucified to be taken down so they can finish Sabbath preparations.

And, also they are requesting the bodies be taken down so they can keep their land from being defiled. Of all days for the land to be defiled…a High Sabbath

How are we to reconcile the fact that they have just illegally and unjustly killed the Lord of glory…

And yet, they are eager to prepare themselves for the celebration of and worship of God?

Let’s think about this…

Let’s examine this and see the hypocrisy of mankind in it.

And, as we examine the hypocrisy of others, let it be for the purpose of spotting hypocrisy in one’s own person.

And let our examination of others carry with it the purpose of being better equipped to see it in ourselves.

Here we see the RL’s standing at the cross where the Lord of glory hangs…

They have mutilated the Law of God and the justice God requires…in order to appease Caesar…and bring benefit to themselves.

They have killed the Son in order to maintain their power and control over the people.

And, for what?

To pretend to worship the God that all of their criminal behavior has just blatantly demonstrated they actually hate.

They are going to go through the Eve of Sabbath and the High Sabbath day to appear as if they truly worship God…

But, in reality seek to appease the God they Hate.

All false worship is an attempt to appease to gain for self.

This is the accusation of God against Isreal throughout the OT.

How do you know they hate God?

How can I make such a statement?

Well, Jesus brought this very truth out in His confrontations with the RL’s…

—> If you love God you receive Christ with joy.

And, because they just killed the One they pretend to worship.

They just killed the One whom they existed to bring into being.

They just killed the One in whom all the promises of God are held.

They just killed the One whom is the point of all Scripture…the focal point of all of history.

They just killed the One who was appointed to be their Messiah and Lord.

They just killed the One in whom all their religious ceremonies pointed to.

The One…

Hebrews 1:3 LSB

3 who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…

This is a truth that we need to understand…

You can have great zeal to be religious.

You can have great sentiment and emotion about your religion.

You can be very zealous in your works.

But, if you have the wrong God…then you have a false god…

And, that god cannot save you.

And, the true God has revealed Himself so clearly to all of creation that we are without excuse to reject Him.

Paul even says of His own kinsmen…

Romans 10:2–3 LSB

2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For not knowing about the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

This is an indictment of the religious zeal of the RL’s of the Jewish Nation…

A group that Paul once associated himself with.

Their religious zeal is a white, hot flame.

But, it is a false flame built upon ignorance of the true God.

And, their downfall, like all others…

Is by lessening the righteousness requirement of God to make one self feel they have a righteousness of their own.

And, have we not seen this very thing in the RL’s words and conduct, as we’ve studied John?

Now, let’s look at another instance in which we are told…

Scripture Has Been Fulfilled

Again, when we read such words, we are reminded that God is in control of all things.

God, who cannot lie, will bring all of His promises to fruition…and has done so in Jesus Christ.

The will of God is not thwarted by the wicked schemes of man.

Rather they are used to fulfill the purposes of God.

So, the manipulation in which the RL’s brought about the crucifixion of Christ and the haste in which the RL’s feel things need to move on for the coming of the Sabbath…

Actually help bring about His bones not being broken and His side being pierced.

Additionally, the manipulation of the Law to crucify Christ has caused Christ to be scourged much worse than normal…

And, hence causing Him to die sooner than usual…

Has also caused Him to not have His bones broken when they need to hasten along the deaths of the crucified.

Yet, the desire to hasten along their deaths…to make sure Christ was actually dead they pierced His side…which would have finished Him off had He not been dead.

God is sovereign over all the affairs of men.

So, much that the day of your last breath has been appointed by God, Scripture teaches.

This is a truth that Scripture repeats throughout.

And, yet it is a truth that is too rich for the human mind to fully comprehend.

But, another reason the Scriptures being fulfilled is so important is it is also a means used by God to beckon our loyalty and affections to Him, who has fulfilled all His promises for:

His glory

And, the eternal good of his people

So, let’s look at these two fulfillments:

#1 - Not a bone was broken

What does this take our mind to?

What would John’s original readers have been thinking of?

Well, John has told us that Jesus is...

the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world

Jesus is the lamb of God for the atonement of His people.

We are drawn to the Passover Lamb.

The lamb, whose blood covered the people of God in Egypt.

And, in the instruction of preparation for the passover lamb, God says…

Exodus 12:46 LSB

46 “It shall be eaten in a single house; you shall not bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, and you shall not break any bone of it.

This fulfillment points us to the atoning work of the passover lamb…

Which symbolized a physical deliverance…

But would be fulfilled in the Lamb of God who would fulfill complete salvation…

—> Both spiritual and physical

Just like the lamb of passover was not to have bones broken…

God has preserved the bones of His lamb…

So that we would know that He is the lamb that takes away our sins forevermore.

Jesus is the Lamb that Isaiah foretold that would be crushed for His people.

#2 – His side was pierced

An important truth to the gospel, one that has been attacked throughout the history of Christianity, is…

the Word became flesh

the Humanity of Christ

In the past, some have attacked this biblical doctrine and said that Christ is some ghost like figure that is not truly flesh.

Or that it was just an appearance of man-like existence that Christ bore…

but that He could not have actually been flesh.

And, so by the same attack that He could not have truly died.

This fulfillment of Scripture and detail of Christ’s death does away with such heresy and attacks on the God-Man and His sacrificial death.

Not only was His side pierced but John describes what happened when it was pierced…

John 19:34 LSB

34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

John has taught us of the life giving water that flows from Christ in John 4 and John 7.

He has told us about the sin atoning blood of Christ in John 1 and John 6.

So, we’re immediately drawn to these truths as we hear of the His being pierced cause blood and water to flow from His side.

But, also this takes our mind back to Zechariah.

In Zechariah, God condemns the tragic history of wicked shepherds in Israel, meaning those in the charge of guiding the people in the true worship of God…

And, God promises that He will raise up a good shepherd in the land…

And, John has told us that Jesus claims to be this good Shepherd of His people.

He is the good Shepherd who, rather than kills the sheep for His own good like the evil shepherds of the past…

He is the good Shepherd that lays His life down for His sheep.

And, in Zechariah 10, God says…

Zechariah 12:10 LSB

10 …they will look on Me whom they have pierced…

Notice who they will look upon…God.

And, in the next chapter of Zechariah we are told…

Zechariah 13:1 LSB

1 “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.

And, here we have God incarnate pierced in His side and a flow of blood and water…

That symbolizes the purifying work of God on behalf of His people.

And, how did that come about?

—> The Cross

Let’s think about this...

What we are beholding on the Cross…

—> Is the very keeping of God’s promises.

All so that we can be adopted into His family.

So that we can know His blood:

Has secured our forgiveness.

Has secured our righteousness.

Has secured our reconciliation.

Has secured our eternal citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

He is the Lamb that takes away our sin.

He is our good Shepherd.

He is our Keeper & Protector from anything ever separating us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Closing Prayer