Sermon Nuggets Tues Dec 2
Theme- Crucifixion
Verses- John 19:17-18 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
18 Here they crucified him, and with him two others-- one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
The Cross Points to Christ’s Saving Love.
The cross is believed to be used by the Persians a number of years previous as a means of execution. The Carthians continued it’s practice, and the Romans adapted it for foreign criminals and slave executions by having the victim carry a horizontal bar on his back to where a pole or upright bar was already arrested. The person was stripped and nailed to the beam. He then was lifted up and then have his feet nailed to the standing vertical beam. The cause of death would often be a combination of shock, exposure, loss of blood and commonly suffocation. It was a cruel death physically. Ciscero said it was the most cruel and horrifying death possible. It was a despicable death. The Romans had a law that a citizen would not be killed in such a manner. This was only reserved for slaves and foreigners. In keeping with John’s purpose of his Gospel the cross was God’s means of our redemption. It was the saving act of love that was consistent with the prophecies of Jesus method of execution.
You may remember that the common means of execution by the Jews was stoning. Normally a person would be brought to a common pit, or valley where tried, and convicted people would be thrown. Large stones and boulders abound in Israel. The accuser or witness was the first to shove the person over and throw the stone upon the heart. Others would join in and crush the body of the person to be killed.
The Roman execution was a cross. It was a much longer death and far more painful. For a short period of time Rome would not allow Jews to have anyone put to death. This must have happened once again to fulfill the prophecies that Jesus was to shed his blood, be lifted up on a pole, like the symbolic serpent on the pole talked about in the time of Moses. Isaiah 53:7 tells us that he was led as a sheep to be slaughtered, yet he opened not his mouth. Jesus was led away. You don’t drive sheep you lead them.
The cross points to the saving love of Jesus Christ taking the curse of sin as the one substitute for our punishment identified with the sinners as he is placed between two thieves. Prophecy after prophecy points to the cross for our salvation. I sometimes wonder how Jews can read from t heir own Old Testament prophets, particularly Isaiah 53 and miss the direct detailed account of the cross of Christ. Moishe Rosen, founder of Jesus for Jesus explains most try to explain it away. But it frustrates the theological Jewish teachers it because it is so close to the life and ministry and death of Jesus of Nazareth. They have one theory that the passage refers to the entire nation of Israel. It is omitted from the liturgical synagogue reading during that calendar year.
Rosen writes that most Jewish people are unaware that Isaiah 53 even exists. A very common response from a Jew who looks at it for the first time is “That’s not from the Jewish Scriptures. It sounds New Testament to me.” When individuals come to faith in Jesus as the true Messiah they see the passage for the first time and are startled to discover it was there all along.
Isaiah is talking about a God who is sending in love a substitute willing to suffer so that by his stripes we are healed and by his sacrifice we are saved. Psalm 22 highlights the piercing of the hands and feet.
Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me. The cross points to this saving love.
Pastor Dale
