POWER OF THE EASTER EVENTS

INTRODUCTION

Pilate’s order was carried out almost immediately.

An execution squad of four solders was organized.

Since Jesus was to be crucified now, the Romans decided to execute two “other” criminals at the same time.

There had been some concern that Pilate was crucifying them during the Judean Passover, but Pilate believed that it sent a strong message, and that there was little chance of a riot because the Judean Jews would be busy celebrating their Passover.

The squad gathered the three criminals to be crucified and assigned the 100-pound wooden crossbeams for each to carry.

The beams were tied to their shoulders, and then the criminals were lined up.

Then began the procession, with Jesus, as the most important criminal, to be the first of the prisoners leading the procession.

As the procession moved through the streets of Jerusalem, some people lined the way. Some were supporters of the religious leaders, and they verbally assaulted Jesus.

Some had been followers of Jesus, and they cried with this injustice.

Some shopkeepers and their customers were curious, while others who just happened to be walking down the street, were forced to stop and wait until the condemned went past.

As the procession left the “Seat of Judgment” in the public square west of the Fortress of Antonia western gates [model], it became quickly obvious that Jesus was far too weak.

The guard had not been sufficiently careful.

Jesus staggered repeatedly and the wood gouged his exposed muscles.

Jesus was kicked to “encourage him” to get up and keep moving, but though he tried, and did in fact go a short distance, he eventually fell down and could not rise.

So one of the guards picked a man from the crowd, who looked strong, to carry the crossbeam of Jesus to the site of the execution.

They happened to pick a foreign Jew who had come to Jerusalem for the festival, from the North African city of Cyrene, west of Egypt.

He had rented a place outside the city and had come into Jerusalem today to worship at the temple.

The solders untied the crossbeam from Jesus, and Simon picked it up and joined the procession right behind Jesus.

Simon had a vague sense of who Jesus was, but little suspected that this “random selection” would radically change his life as well.

Most of the people were sorry that the Romans were executing these Jews.

The local women expressed their anguish with loud cries and other physical displays, such as hitting themselves with their hands.

Jesus became aware of these expressions of sorrow, and he tried to reach out to them.

As he walked past them he tried to warn them.

‘My suffering is ending, cry for Jerusalem.

A time is coming, soon, when you will wish for death to release you from the suffering.’

Jesus led the convicted through the gate in the west wall [model], just north of the three towers [model] near the Palace of Herod, to the site [model] where the crucifixion would occur.

The place was called Golgotha, the place of the skull, which was the site of a rock quarry [model].

Golgotha was at the northern extension of the Valley of Hinnon that had served as the city dump.

There are some challenges from the Easter weekend that we could take a look at,

I} IDENTIFICATION WITH THE CROSS

pHIL 3:10

Philippians 3:10 KJV 1900

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

The VERSE ABOVE GIVES US SOME INSIGHT INTO THE RELATIONSHIP THE BELIEVER SHOULD HAVE WITH THEIR Savior Jesus Christ.

But allow me to take this challenge a bit further,

How do you relate to the Cross.

To Many today the Cross is only a symbol,

A Piece of jewelry,

Something to carry and hold hoping it might be of some assistance to us in time of need.

An ornament for one to worship.

The CROSS is Much more than just those things , it speaks of the suffering of our saviour who Hung on the Cross and shred His precious Blood for our sins .

It speaks of the penalty that a Holy God demanded for Sin, That God’s Holiness might be satisfied.

A. CONDEMNATION OF THE CROSS

THE CROSS was a place of condemnation people were condemned to die as Jesus was

Here are some common definitions of condemnation:

1. the expression of very strong disapproval

2. the action of condemning someone to a punishment; sentencing

3. to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence

4. to pronounce guilty

5. to adjudge unfit for use or consumption.

The Greater we God’s People Identify with the Cross the greater the condemnation from the World.

Do you identify with the Cross that Jesus Died on for you.

Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 KJV 1900

1 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: And we hid as it were our faces from him; He was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, And carried our sorrows: Yet we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way; And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, Yet he opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: For the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, And with the rich in his death; Because he had done no violence, Neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; For he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, And he shall divide the spoil with the strong; Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: And he was numbered with the transgressors; And he bare the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

The Above passage speaks of What would call the Offence of the Cross.

B} THE CRUCIFIXION ON THE CROSS.

The Crucifixion of Christ The Crucifixion of Jesus (Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22-23; John 18-19) History of crucifixion

The cross has become the most universally known symbol because since the death of Christ, the history of the world has been decisively shaped by that crucifixion event. 

The widespread use of the cross as a common Christian symbol and the distance in history has made it difficult for a contemporary people to understand the harsh reality that underlies the theology of the cross.

When Paul preached the message of the cross, any person would have understood that Jesus had died an especially agonizing and humiliating death, the kind of death reserved for rebellious slaves, political rebels, traitors, enemies, or criminals. 

The Jewish historian Josephus, who lived in the first century A.D. and was an eye witness to many gruesome crucifixions, characterized this form of execution as "the most wretched of deaths." 

The pain was so horrible that our English word "excruciating" is formed from the Latin word crucis, meaning "cross". 

The origin of crucifixion cannot be determined with certainty, but it is believed to have begun with the ancient practice of making public displays of corpses, heads, etc. on on pointed stakes. 

These ancient and primitive forms of impaling were practiced by the Assyrians, Phoenicians, and Persians around 1000 B.C. 

By the first century B.C., the Roman Empire adopted this method as their own and refined it to a sinister art. 

Although the Romans used the cross daily at times, their abhorrence for it was expressed by Cicero:  "Let the very name of the cross be far away not only from the body of a Roman citizen, but even from his thoughts." 

He called crucifixion "the supreme capital penalty, the most painful, dreadful, and ugly." 

So dreaded was this penalty that the very words "Crucify him!" released an agony of emotions in the heart of any criminal upon hearing his sentence. 

The Jewish people understood that anyone who was hung on "a tree" as a form of execution was considered accursed of God(Deuteronomy 21:23;  Galatians 3:13). 

When Pontius Pilate presented Jesus before the Jewish people and they cried out, "Crucify him!," they knew they were asking for the most agonizing and disgraceful form of public execution.

Rome used crucifixion extensively.  Beginning in 71 B.C., Rome lined up the Appian Road stretching from Caua to Rome with 6,000 crucified rebels.  In 7 A.D., a minor revolt in Judea was brutally squelched, resulting in the crucifixion of 2,000 Jews in Jerusalem. 

During the siege of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D., 500 Jews were crucified each day for several months.

  In times of war, crosses were roughly constructed, and the victims were nailed to them in every imaginable position.

During peace times crucifixion was carried out in cities like Jerusalem with sadistic formality. 1.     What did Jesus experience at His crucifixion?   “…and they crucified Him” ( Mark 27:35 )

a.      Prophecy fulfilled: Jesus foretold his death on the cross

b.     Love: Jesus said that no one took His life but that He would give it as a ransom.

c.     Betrayal:  Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of His closest disciples

d.     False accusation by His enemies

e.      Injustice: Jesus was tried at night against Jewish law

f.       Scorn and humiliation by the Jewish leaders: The High Priests, scribes and elders spat in his face and stuck him with the palms of their hands, mocking him

g.     Cruel plotting of His enemies: Jesus was sent to Caiphas, the High Priest, and then to Pilate because the Jews could not carry out the death by crucifixion (a sign of being cursed by God).

h.     Mockery by royalty: Pilate sends Jesus to Herod. The soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him and put a purple robe on Him and send Him back to Pilate.

i.        Rejection: Jesus was declared innocent by Pilate.  He offered to release Jesus but the crowd demanded that a thief, Barabbas, be released and Jesus crucified. Pilate washed his hands and delivered Jesus over to be crucified. Jesus was made a scapegoat.

j.        Turned over for crucifixion: Jesus was turned over to the Roman Carnifix Sererum who was in charge of the entire crucifixion process.

k.     The crucifixion process began with a process of humiliation: Jesus was taken by Pilate’s soldiers to the Praetorium where he was stripped and a scarlet robe was place on him. 

They twisted a crown of thorns and put it in on his head, and a reed in his right hand. 

Then they bowed down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews.” 

Then they spat on him and took the reed and struck Him on the head.  Isaiah 50:6 says that they also plucked out his beard.

  After this they took the robe off of Him, put his own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.

l.        Beatings:  Jesus was then led from the Praetorium to an outside court where he was stripped, bound to a column, and savagely scourged with a flagellum, a short whip consisting of leather thongs, each loaded with jagged pieces of metal or bone and weighted at the end with lead.  The whipping was administered by two legionnaires called lictors. Each strike of the whip would tear open Jesus’ skin on his back, buttocks, and legs.  Fragments of flesh would be torn from him.  Many did not survive this process. Jesus was beaten with 39 stripes. There are 39 classifications of diseases.

m.   Public parade: Four legionnaires and a centurion then escorted Jesus through the streets of Jerusalem carrying His cross to the place of execution. At the head of this grim procession was a Roman soldier carrying a wooden sign called the titulus, which stated the offender’s name and offense.

n.     Physical weakness:  Jesus was so weak from dehydration, the loss of blood and muscle damage from the scourging that he was unable to finish the they found a man of Cyrene (a black man), Simon by name, and compelled him to bear His cross

o.     Anticipation of excruciating pain: At the site of execution, Golgatha (“place of the skull”), they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink as a sedative for the pain which He was about to experience.  But after tasting, He did not drink.

p.     Profuse bleeding: They took off his clothes to place Him on the cross.  This effectively reopened the wounds on his back as the garment had stuck to the coagulated blood on His back.

q.     Excruciating pain when spikes were driven through His hands and feet: They threw Him down upon the cross and drove nails (spikes) into His hands and feet, nailing Him to the cross. The nerve endings in these areas are very sensitive and would have created a type of pain that would shoot throughout His entire body.

r.       Mockery in His execution: The titulus was nailed above His head with this message written in three languages, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin:  “This is Jesus, The King of the Jews.” Greek was the common language; Hebrew was the religious language, and Latin was the legal language.

s.      More pain:  They raised the cross and dropped in into a hole.  The jar of his body on the nails would have created unimaginable pain and forcing many of His bones out of joint.

i.      Read Psalm 22:6-21  Description of what the Lord was feeling

t.       Waiting for death: While hanging on the cross Jesus was subject to weather, insects, intense pain from the wounds and stretching caused by strained positions, and slow suffocation caused by fatigue. Most victims could hang there for a few hours or even days depending upon their stamina. Therefore the offender’s legs were often broken to hasten death. Sometimes the dead bodies were left to putrefy on the cross and become the prey of carrion birds to complete the humiliation.

u.     The robbing of his possessions:  They divided the Lord’s garments, casting lots for them.  The tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece, so they cast lots for it rather than to tear it.  Then they sat down and kept watch over Him there.

v.     Blasphemy and mockery in His writhing torment

i.      The people who passed by blasphemed, wagging their heads, and mocking Him, saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself!  If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

ii.      The chief priests, scribes, and elders also mocked Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God, and we will believe Him.”

iii.      The soldiers mocked Him, saying:  “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”

iv.      The two criminals who were crucified on either side of Him also mocked Him. w.   Love:  Jesus looked down from the cross and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

x.     Torture:  He hung from early morning until 3:00 p.m.  From 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. there was darkness over all the land.

y.     Abandonment:  Around 3:00 p.m., when the Passover Lambs were beginning to be sacrificed at the temple, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

z.      Thirst:  Jesus said, “I thirst.”  One of the bystanders filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.

aa.  Difficulty breathing:  Those being crucified would eventually die of suffocation. 

In order to breath, they would have to push up on the nail in their feet and pull on the nails in their hands in order to allow their diaphragm to pull in air and then to they would exhale by dropping back down. 

This up and down process would also create pain as the tender back of the victim rubbed against the rough timber, reopening wounds. 

The victim would eventually wear down to the point where they had no more strength to continue this breathing process and, thus, suffocate.

bb.            Sacrifice accepted:  Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “It is finished!  Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” After crying out, Jesus bowed his head and breathed His last. 2.     What happened after Jesus died?

a.      The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

b.     A Roman centurion, when he saw the way Jesus died, said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

c.     In order to hasten the death, the order was given to break the legs of those crucified. This they did to the two other thieves. Jesus, being already dead, did not have his legs broken in order to fulfill prophecy.

d.     His side was pieced by a Roman spear: To insure that Jesus had really died, a soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a spear. 

Immediately blood and water flowed out. 

The strenuous effect upon Jesus’ body had taken its toll. 

Because Jesus died so soon and after crying with a loud voice, it is believe that He actually died of heart failure---a broken heart. 

“Dr. Stroud (On the Physiological Cause of the Death of Christ, London, 1847) basing his remarks on numerous postmortems, pronounced the opinion that here we had a proof of the death of Christ being due not to the effects of crucifixion but to “laceration or rupture of the heart” as a consequence of supreme mental agony and sorrow.

It is well attested that usually the suffering on the cross was very prolonged.

It often lasted two or three days, when death would supervene from exhaustion.

There were no physical reasons why Christ should not have lived very much longer on the cross than He did.

On the other hand, death caused by laceration of the heart in consequence of great mental suffering would be almost instantaneous.

In such a case the phrase “of a broken heart,” becomes literally true.

The life blood flowing through the aperture or laceration into the pericardium or caul of the heart, being extravasated, soon coagulates into the red clot (blood) and the limpid serum (water).

This accumulation in the heart-sac was released by the spear-thrust of the soldier (which here takes providentially the place of a postmortem without which it would have been impossible to determine the real cause of death), and from the gaping wound there flow the two component parts of blood distinctly visible.”  (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) 3.     Consider Jesus Christ

a.      Consider His sufferings

i.      Your Substitute

ii.      Your sins

iii.      Your trial

iv.      Your sentence

v.      Your punishment

vi.      Your execution

b.     Look upon Him

i.      He loves you

ii.      He is willing to forgive you

iii.      He wants to give you a new beginning

c.     Call upon Him

i.      Come to Him

ii.      Confess your sins

iii.      Repent of your sins

iv.      Believe in Him as your Savior and Lord

v.      Receive His forgiveness