Proclamation, Prophecy, Personhood, and Purpose of Jesus Crucifixion

Proclamation

When Pilate had Jesus crucified he had written a sign that said “Jesus the Nazarene, The King of the Jews. He had it written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. This is so all passer-by’s could understand what they were looking at. Pilate’s intention was to demonstrate the power of Rome. He wanted to communicate that anyone claiming to be a king will be crucified. This was meant to curtail anyone from starting an uprising against Rome.

The chief priests saw this as an insult and asked him to change the sign to read “He said, I am King of the Jews” They did not acknowledge Jesus as king and didn’t want passer-by’s to presume they did. They went to him to change the sign and he refused.

Though neither one of the two had proper understanding of the sign, it read exactly how God wanted it to read. John Phillips writes:

John, Volumes 1 & 2 The King Acclaimed

A king conquers, provides, rules, and makes peace. Christ our King conquered our enemy the devil, provided forgiveness for our sins, rules in our hearts, and makes peace between sinners and God. All these kingly deeds Jesus achieved by dying on the cross for us, so it is proper for him to have been hailed as King there.

God in this way arranged that while his Son suffered crucifixion, all passersby would learn the reason for his death. John writes, “Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek” (John 19:20). Hebrew was the language of God’s revelation, Latin was the language of power, and Greek was the language of wisdom. Matthew Henry comments: “In each of these languages Christ is proclaimed King, in whom are hid all the treasures of revelation, wisdom, and power.”10

John, Volumes 1 & 2 The King Acclaimed

It was God’s will that truly would not be altered, and God’s declaration of the righteousness, glory, and dominion of his Son can never be annulled by the indignant unbelief of rebel mankind. Thus was established the true cause of Jesus’ death: He died because he was King of God’s covenant nation and because only through his death could his beloved people be forgiven and enter eternal life. As John stated in the first verse of his account of Jesus’ passion, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (13:1).

God orchestrated the proclamation of His Son through a roman governing authority. Everyone who passed by saw the proclamation. Though everyone saw it, not everyone understood it. Only those that understood that the Messiah must suffer at the hands of men, be crucified, and raise again would understand.

Personally I don’t think any truly understood the proclamation as it was intended by God, but today as we look back on Jesus crucifixion we can see and understand that Jesus death on the cross was His victory!

Prophecy

The details of the crucifixion were spoken hundreds of years before crucifixion was even a form of punishment Psalms 22:11-18

Psalm 22:11–18 NASB95

Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

David writes with great detail in psalms 22 about what would happen to the Messiah. Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who has done exhaustive historical and experimental research and has written extensively on the crucifixion. He details the physical aspect of the pain and the bodies breakdown on the cross:

Jesus experienced hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins -- a terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”

It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasps His fifth cry, “I thirst.” One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought me into the dust of death.” A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn’t take any of the liquid.

The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words, possibly little more than a tortured whisper, “It is finished.” His mission of atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to die.

Also, David writes about the casting of lots for Jesus garments. They took all the clothing of Jesus and divided them. The inner garment was one piece that could not be divided so the cast lots for his inner garment.

As one can see the great detail of the suffering of our savior was prophesied with great detail. The question is why? Because it leaves no room for doubt that Jesus died just as the scriptures said in the way he would die.

Person hood of Christ

While Jesus was on the cross taking care of eternal matters, (dying on the cross for our sins), he saw his mom who had earthly needs. She would be without her husband and eldest son. This would not bode well for her culturally. She would need support from someone.

Jesus saw John and told him that he would be in charge of caring for his mother. Jesus recognized an earthly need even though he knew that eventually she would be with Him eventually.

Jesus is the same way with us. Though He is at the right hand of the Father, He sees us where we are and recognizes that we have needs. Jesus takes care of those needs for us. They may come in the form of physical needs or relational needs. Jesus could send someone across our path for a word of encouragement or enlightenment.

Purpose of Christ

Jesus purpose was to redeem humanity to God. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This means that we have no chance of eternal life and every chance of eternal death apart from Christ. His sacrifice was acceptable to remove sin for the sins of the world. Christ’s sacrifice was enough to satisfy the wrath of God towards our sin.

Jesus proclaimed, “it is finished!” Jesus was saying that salvation has come to man!

Conclusion

Though these aspects of the cross don’t seem to flow together, the common denominator is that they all point to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. Looking back on what happened, we have the privilege of seeing all of this from a perspective that removes all doubt that Jesus is the Son of God. One cannot logically see the proclamation, prohectic, humanity and divinity, and purpose of Christ and conclude that He is anything less than He is who He claimed to be. The Son of God!