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The Suffering Savior

“The Certainty of Jesus’ Crucifixion” Mark 15:42-47

Date:April 2, 2023
Author: Wayne J. Edwards

Introduction:

 

One of the popular hymns of our day is entitled, “In Christ Alone.” The lyrics, written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, express the theological truths of the life, death, and saving power of Christ through His death on the cross.

Some liberal denominations object to the line in the song that says, “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” They can’t (or won’t) accept the fact that Jesus’ death on the cross was to satisfy God’s righteous anger against OUR sin. They want to change the line to read, “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified.”

I’m thankful they haven’t changed it, for to have done so would have negated the essential doctrine of our salvation, for had the wages for our sins that God had established, not been paid by the shed blood of His Son, we would still be lost and looking for a Savior.

We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark, “The Certainty of Jesus’ Crucifixion .” 

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Old Testament Reading – Isaiah 50:1-11

New Testament Reading – John 19:17-42

The Suffering Savior
“The Certainty of Jesus’ Crucifixion”
Mark 15:42-47

Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor

“And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him!”

The Mocking of Jesus:

  • The religious leaders wanted to bring some kind of charge against Jesus they could use against Him, but even the false witnesses they paid to lie could not keep their stories straight.
  • After they arrested Him, they took Jesus to the house of Caiaphas, the High priest, where He was questioned for hours.
  • One man said he heard Jesus say He would “tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days!”
  • Caiaphas asked Jesus if He was “the Christ, the Son of the Blessed,” and Jesus said He was.
  • So, the Sanhedrin condemned Jesus to death, and they covered His head and began to buffet Him.
  • The religious leaders took Jesus to Pilate on the charge of being disloyal to the established religious order – He had blasphemed God.
  • The religious leaders took Jesus to Pilate and stated their charge of blasphemy.
  • Knowing all the charge was false but not wanting to have anything to do with this issue, Pilate tried everything he could to get this decision out of his hands – but to no avail.
  • Even after he had Jesus severely beaten, flogged, and scourged; thinking that would be enough, when he asked the people what they wanted to do with Jesus, they said: ‘Crucify Him”!
  • After the flogging, the Roman Soldiers played their games with Jesus – dressing Him in a purple robe – placing a crown of thorns on His head and a reed in His hand as a scepter – then bowing before Him and mocking Him, saying ‘Hail, King of the Jews!”

   Again, Pilate tried to push the decision back to the people, until finally, the Jewish leaders said to Pilate:

  • “We have a law, and by that law, He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God!”
  • God had so worked it out that the Sanhedrin had to confess their real issue with Jesus – He claimed to be the Son of God!
  • What they saw as the Lord’s blasphemy was, in fact their own apostasy – they had turned away from the truth of God, and in so doing, they had shut the door of salvation for them and that generation of Jews.

The Ministry of Simon:

  • Because of His lack of rest or food (about 15 hours), Jesus could not carry His cross to the place of crucifixion.
  • Soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to carry it for Jesus.
  • Unknowingly, these soldiers only helped spread the gospel, because Simon believed in Jesus Christ, and he took the gospel back to Cyrene, and in a few years, it spread throughout North Africa.
  • Later, Simon and his family joined Mark in his ministry to the church in Rome.

The Main events of the Crucifixion:

  • The third hour – about 9:00 am – Wednesday
  • The two thieves – Isaiah 53:12 prophecy
  • Golgotha – the place of the “skull.”
  • More mocking – this time by the Chief Priests
  • The sixth hour – about 12 noon – Wednesday
  • Darkness fell upon the earth until the ninth hour.
  • At the ninth hour, Jesus cried – “Eloi, Eloi, lamasabachthani?” “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
  • Jesus cried out: “It is finished” and He gave up the ghost!”
  • Jesus’ body was buried by Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and several women.

The Prophecy of the crucifixion:

  • Psalm 22 – David – 1,000 years before Christ – when there was no such thing as crucifixion.
  • Isaiah 53 – Isaiah – 700 years before Christ, yet he described the agony perfectly.
  • Zechariah 12:10 – 150 years after Isaiah – said the Jews would one day see the “One whom they had pierced!”
  • Revelation 1:7 – “Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him!”

The Purpose of the crucifixion:

  • “It pleased God to crush Him” to purchase our redemption.
  • The purpose of the crucifixion was so Christ could purchase a “redeemed community” of believers, from every tongue, tribe, and nation, on earth, to serve as His witnesses in this world for as long as they live, and then spend eternity loving, serving, praising, honoring, and glorifying the One who purchased them with His own precious blood, whose name is JESUS!