After today’s sermon, several of you asked for this. So here goes. Also please know that I didn’t write this. And regretfully I tried to find where I found it (and could not). If you’re able to search it better than I, please reach out to me.
In Genesis, Jesus is the seed of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent.
In Exodus, Jesus is the Passover lamb who takes away the sins of God’s people.
In Leviticus, Jesus is the great high priest who intercedes for us.
In Numbers, Jesus is the water in the desert. Our living water.
In Deuteronomy, Jesus is the coming prophet who is greater than Moses.
In Joshua, Jesus is the commander of the Lord’s army, defeating our ultimate enemies.
In Judges, Jesus is the true judge, delivering us from evil and injustice.
In Ruth, Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer.
In 1 & 2 Samuel, Jesus is the greater prophet and priest.
In 1 & 2 Kings, Jesus is the greater king.
In 1 & 2 Chronicles, Jesus is the son of David who comes to reign eternally.
In Ezra and Nehemiah, Jesus is the one who restores worship and protects His people.
In Esther, Jesus is our advocate. Putting His life on the line to restore us to royalty.
In Job, Jesus is the mediator between God and man.
In the Psalms, Jesus is the holy one who would never see corruption.
In Proverbs, Jesus is the personified wisdom of God.
In Ecclesiastes, Jesus is our true meaning.
In Song of Solomon, Jesus is our faithful and devoted love.
In Isaiah, Jesus is the suffering servant.
In Jeremiah, Jesus is the weeping Messiah.
In Lamentations, Jesus is the one who assumes the wrath of God on our behalf.
In Ezekiel, Jesus is the Son of Man.
In Daniel, Jesus is the one in the fire with us.
In Hosea, Jesus is the husband who stays faithful to us when we betray Him.
In Joel, Jesus is sending His Spirit to His people.
In Amos, Jesus delivers justice to the oppressed.
In Obadiah, Jesus is the Judge of those who do evil.
In Jonah, Jesus is the greater missionary who pursues the undeserving with mercy.
In Micah, Jesus is the one who casts our sin into the sea of forgetfulness.
In Nahum, Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
In Habakkuk, Jesus is the one who crushes injustice.
In Zephaniah, Jesus is the warrior who is mighty to save.
In Haggai, Jesus restores our worship.
In Zechariah, Jesus is the pierced Messiah, pierced for our transgressions.
In Malachi, Jesus is the son of righteousness who brings healing to His people.
On Sunday we learned from Jesus’ sermon of how futile anxiety is. Jesus’ primary reason was the brevity of life and the length of eternity. Jesus loved the Psalms. As a matter of fact, our next series is called the Songs of Jesus, Psalms Jesus quoted or leaned on in difficult times in his life. I’m so excited to study the songs Jesus sung, the Psalms he prayed.
I wonder if Jesus was leaning on Psalm 90 when he talked about anxiety.
So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
If you read what precedes this famous quote from Psalm 90, you’ll see that numbering our days requires that we see the brevity of life and the eternality of God.
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass this is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
Psalm 90:1-6
God has always been. And will always be. He is eternally past and eternally present. (Think on that for more than two minutes and you’ll need another cup of coffee.) Compared to eternity, our earthly life is a leaf carried along in the flooding waters, a dream that comes and goes with a night’s sleep, a blade of grass that fades by evening.
Second, if we are to number our days we must remember our sinfulness and God’s holiness.
For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
psalm 90:7-8
God is holy. Without him we are not. As we discovered Sunday, God solved our greatest problem (the one with eternal implications). Every other problem pales in comparison to our sin problem. Our nagging aches and pains have never hurt us like our guilty conscience has.
God sees us as no one else does and loves us like no one else will.
Third, we must remember our frailty and God’s faithfulness, our weakness and his strength.
For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?
Psalm 90:9-11
We toil and trouble. The sin of Adam is your sin and mine. Work is hard. Parenting is hard. Our bodies and minds feel the pain and the weight of sinners living life in a sin-soaked world. Yet, because of the power of God’s answer was poured out on his Son on the cross, the rest of Psalm 90 is our every day reality. Let this sink in.
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
Psalm 90:12-17
Because Jesus came and fully became one of us, minus the sin, we can be fully satisfied in this life because God is fully satisfied with us. That should calm our nerves, lessen our fears. The favor our Lord can also be interpreted the beauty of our Lord. I pray that today you will see the beauty of the Lord more than the anxiety of the world. And in so doing, this day will be numbered as one where God again made you glad.
Each year Cathleen Shrier, associate professor at Azusa Pacific University presents a special lecture on the science of Christ’s crucifixion. She details the physiological processes a typical crucified victim underwent and teaches her students to see Christ’s death on the cross with new understanding. The exact events in this scenario may not have happened in Jesus’ specific case, but the account is based on historical documentation of crucifixion procedures used during that time period. Please be aware that the following is of a realistic and graphic nature.
It is important to understand from the beginning that Jesus would have been in excellent physical condition. As a carpenter by trade, He participated in physical labor. In addition, He spent much of His ministry traveling on foot across the countryside. His stamina and strength were, most likely, very well developed. With that in mind, it is clear just how much He suffered: If this torture could break a man in such good shape, it must have been a horrific experience.
Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:37-42, Luke 22:39-44
After the Passover celebration, Jesus takes His disciples to Gethsemene to pray. During His anxious prayer about the events to come, Jesus sweats drops of blood. There is a rare medical condition called hematohidrosis, during which the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands break down. Blood released from the vessels mixes with the sweat; therefore, the body sweats drops of blood. This condition results from mental anguish or high anxiety, a state Jesus expresses by praying “my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). Hematohidrosis makes the skin tender, so Jesus’ physical condition worsens slightly.
Matthew 26:67-75, Mark 14:61-72, Luke 22:54-23:25, John 18:16-27
Traveling from Pilate to Herod and back again, Jesus walks approximately two and a half miles. He has not slept, and He has been mocked and beaten (Luke 22:63-65). In addition, His skin remains tender from the hematohidrosis. His physical condition worsens.
Matthew 27:26-32, Mark 15:15-21, Luke 23:25-26, John 19:1-28
Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged as required by Roman law before crucifixion. Traditionally, the accused stood naked, and the flogging covered the area from the shoulders down to the upper legs. The whip consisted of several strips of leather. In the middle of the strips were metal balls that hit the skin, causing deep bruising. In addition, sheep bone was attached to the tips of each strip.
When the bone makes contact with Jesus’ skin, it digs into His muscles, tearing out chunks of flesh and exposing the bone beneath. The flogging leaves the skin on Jesus’ back in long ribbons. By this point, He has lost a great volume of blood which causes His blood pressure to fall and puts Him into shock. The human body attempts to remedy imbalances such as decreased blood volume, so Jesus’ thirst is His body’s natural response to His suffering (John 19:28). If He would have drank water, His blood volume would have increased.
Roman soldiers place a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head and a robe on His back (Matthew 27:28-29). The robe helps the blood clot (similar to putting a piece of tissue on a cut from shaving) to prevent Jesus from sustaining more blood loss. As they hit Jesus in the head (Matthew 27:30), the thorns from the crown push into the skin and He begins bleeding profusely. The thorns also cause damage to the nerve that supplies the face, causing intense pain down His face and neck. As they mock Him, the soldiers also belittle Jesus by spitting on Him (Matthew 27:30). They rip the robe off Jesus’ back and the bleeding starts afresh.
Jesus’ physical condition becomes critical. Due to severe blood loss without replacement, Jesus is undoubtedly in shock. As such, He is unable to carry the cross and Simon of Cyrene executes this task (Matthew 27:32).
Matthew 27:33-56, Mark 15:22-41, Luke 23:27-49, John 19:17-37
Crucifixion was invented by the Persians between 300-400 B.C. It is quite possibly the most painful death ever invented by humankind. The English language derives the word “excruciating” from crucifixion, acknowledging it as a form of slow, painful suffering. Its punishment was reserved for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and the vilest of criminals. Victims were nailed to a cross; however, Jesus’ cross was probably not the Latin cross, but rather a Tau cross (T). The vertical piece (the stipes) remains in the ground permanently. The accused carries only the horizontal piece (the patibulum) up the hill. Atop the patibulum lies a sign (the titulus), indicating that a formal trial occurred for a violation of the law. In Jesus’ case, this reads “This is the King of the Jews.”
The accused needed to be nailed to the patibulum while lying down, so Jesus is thrown to the ground, reopening His wounds, grinding in dirt, and causing bleeding. They nail His “hands” to the patibulum. The Greek meaning of “hands” includes the wrist. It is more likely that the nails went through Jesus’ wrists. If the nails were driven into the hand, the weight of the arms would cause the nail to rip through the soft flesh.
Therefore, the upper body would not be held to the cross. If placed in the wrist, the bones in the lower portion of the hand support the weight of the arms and the body remains nailed to the cross. The huge nail (seven to nine inches long) damages or severs the major nerve to the hand (the median nerve) upon impact. This causes continuous agonizing pain up both of Jesus’ arms.
Once the victim is secured, the guards lift the patibulum and place it on the stipes already in the ground. As it is lifted, Jesus’ full weight pulls down on His nailed wrists and His shoulders and elbows dislocate . In this position, Jesus’ arms stretch to a minimum of six inches longer than their original length.
It is highly likely that Jesus’ feet were nailed through the tops as often pictured. In this position (with the knees flexed at approximately 90 degrees),4 the weight of the body pushes down on the nails and the ankles support the weight. The nails would not rip through the soft tissue as would have occurred with the hands. Again, the nail would cause severe nerve damage (it severs the dorsal pedal artery of the foot) and acute pain.
Normally, to breathe in, the diaphragm (the large muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity) must move down. This enlarges the chest cavity and air automatically moves into the lungs (inhalation). To exhale, the diaphragm rises up, which compresses the air in the lungs and forces the air out (exhalation). As Jesus hangs on the cross, the weight of His body pulls down on the diaphragm and the air moves into His lungs and remains there. Jesus must push up on His nailed feet (causing more pain) to exhale.
In order to speak, air must pass over the vocal cords during exhalation. The Gospels note that Jesus spoke seven times from the cross. It is amazing that despite His pain, He pushes up to say “Forgive them.”
The difficulty surrounding exhalation leads to a slow form of suffocation. Carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, resulting in a high level of carbonic acid in the blood. The body responds instinctively, triggering the desire to breathe. At the same time, the heart beats faster to circulate available oxygen. The decreased oxygen (due to the difficulty in exhaling) causes damage to the tissues and the capillaries begin leaking watery fluid from the blood into the tissues. This results in a build-up of fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion) and lungs (pleural effusion). The collapsing lungs, failing heart, dehydration, and the inability to get sufficient oxygen to the tissues essentially suffocate the victim. The decreased oxygen also damages the heart itself (myocardial infarction) which leads to cardiac arrest. In severe cases of cardiac stress, the heart can even burst, a process known as cardiac rupture. Jesus most likely died of a heart attack.
After Jesus’ death, the soldiers break the legs of the two criminals crucified alongside Him, causing suffocation. Death would then occur quicker. When they came to Jesus, He was already dead so they did not break His legs. Instead, the soldiers pierced His side to assure that He was dead. In doing this, it is reported that “blood and water came out” (John 19:34), referring to the watery fluid surrounding the heart and lungs.
While these unpleasant facts depict a brutal murder, the depth of Christ’s pain emphasizes the true extent of God’s love for His creation. Teaching the physiology of Christ’s crucifixion is a constant reminder of the magnificent demonstration of God’s love for humanity that was expressed that day in Calvary. This lesson enables me to participate in communion, the remembrance of His sacrifice, with a grateful heart. I am struck every time with the stunning realization that as a flesh and blood human, Jesus felt every ounce of this execution. What greater love than this can a man have for his friends?
Breathing. We typically think nothing of it and take it for granted. That is until we have a hard time with it, or until someone we love is on their last breath. When this happens we are saddened and grieved–because the last breath means death. The last breath brings life to an end. However, when we hear the last words of Jesus before He breathed His last, there is a different emotion that should come over us. His last words were…
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Leading up to these words was a battle for the souls of humanity. From the garden of Gethsemane to the cross, Jesus had been feeling the separation from His eternal Father. This separation caused by the sin of humanity, punishable by death, was placed squarely on the shoulders of the perfect Son of God.
While hanging on the cross Jesus writhed in pain because of our sin. While hanging on the cross Jesus felt the consequences of sin for the billions who have walked this earth–and have yet to walk this earth. Yet His last phrase brought life and hope.
On the cross Jesus took His last breath, so that we could breathe our first.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sinsin which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-30
The spiritually dead cannot be raised to live unless someone who is able can raise them.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
Because Jesus committed His spirit to His Father in death anyone who commits their life to following Him will have the Spirit of life breathed into them.
One word in the Greek. Translated into three words in English. It came at the end of oppressive physical darkness, brought on by the Father. For three hours sin loomed large. Satan surely thought he had won. The evil work he started in the Garden of Eden was brought to a climax on the side of a street outside the city gate.
When God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden, God didn’t hole himself in the Garden. A thousand times no! Jesus left the comfort of heaven for the discomfort of earth and died outside the city gate so that we could enter the city gate. Through his death on the cross, he opened a way into the new Jerusalem, a city that will one day come down out of heaven, with twelve gates that never close! Heaven on earth.
How did Jesus accomplish such a remarkable feat? What was finished?
John Stott gives great insight about this:
Being in the perfect tense, it means “it has been and will for ever remain finished.” We note the achievement Jesus claimed just before he died. It is not men who finished their brutal deed; it is he who has accomplished what he came into the world to do. He has borne the sins of the world. Deliberately, freely and in perfect love he has endured the judgment in our place. He has procured salvation for us, established a new covenant between God and humankind, and made available the chief covenant blessing, the forgiveness of sins. At once the curtain of the temple, which for centuries had symbolized the alienation of sinners from God, was torn in two from top to bottom, in order to demonstrate that the sin barrier had been thrown down by God and the way into his presence opened.
John Stott, The Cross of Christ
The work of man does not last. It is temporary. The work of Jesus Christ lasts forever. Our punishment delivered to a sinless king. Thank you Jesus.
When thinking through Jesus’ desperate cry from the cross, I went searching to see what would have contributed to his extreme thirst. I found the following. I do plan to include the entire article in Good Friday’s post. (https://www.apu.edu/articles/the-science-of-the-crucifixion/) What Jesus endured is beyond description.
Each year, Cathleen Shrier, Ph.D., associate professor at Azusa Pacific University, presents a special lecture on the science of Christ’s crucifixion. She details the physiological processes a typical crucified victim underwent and teaches her students to see Christ’s death on the cross with new understanding. The exact events in this scenario may not have happened in Jesus’ specific case, but the account is based on historical documentation of crucifixion procedures used during that time period. Please be aware that the following is of a realistic and graphic nature.
It is important to understand from the beginning that Jesus would have been in excellent physical condition. As a carpenter by trade, He participated in physical labor. In addition, He spent much of His ministry traveling on foot across the countryside. His stamina and strength were, most likely, very well developed. With that in mind, it is clear just how much He suffered: If this torture could break a man in such good shape, it must have been a horrific experience.
After the Passover celebration, Jesus takes His disciples to Gethsemene to pray. During His anxious prayer about the events to come, Jesus sweats drops of blood. There is a rare medical condition called hematohidrosis, during which the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands break down. Blood released from the vessels mixes with the sweat; therefore, the body sweats drops of blood. This condition results from mental anguish or high anxiety, a state Jesus expresses by praying “my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death”. Hematohidrosis makes the skin tender, so Jesus’ physical condition worsens slightly.
Traveling from Pilate to Herod and back again, Jesus walks approximately two and a half miles. He has not slept, and He has been mocked and beaten. In addition, His skin remains tender from the hematohidrosis. His physical condition worsens.
Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged as required by Roman law before crucifixion Traditionally, the accused stood naked, and the flogging covered the area from the shoulders down to the upper legs. The whip consisted of several strips of leather. In the middle of the strips were metal balls that hit the skin, causing deep bruising. In addition, sheep bone was attached to the tips of each strip.
When the bone makes contact with Jesus’ skin, it digs into His muscles, tearing out chunks of flesh and exposing the bone beneath. The flogging leaves the skin on Jesus’ back in long ribbons. By this point, He has lost a great volume of blood which causes His blood pressure to fall and puts Him into shock. The human body attempts to remedy imbalances such as decreased blood volume, so Jesus’ thirst is His body’s natural response to His suffering. If He would have drank water, His blood volume would have increased.
These are harrowing words, cried out in anguish from a son to his Father. Never had he known anything but love from his Father. He had never experienced anything but sweet harmony. Now, with the sky darkened at midday, Jesus cried out in anguish. He felt completely abandoned by the Father, the one he loved and the one who love him. Why? Isaiah answers that question.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
isaiah 53:4-6
On the cross, he was smitten by God so that we might live, forsaken by God that we might be accepted, suspended in utter darkness that we might live in radiant light. His wounds led to our healing. Our sins were this costly.
Tim Keller writes:
Christianity is the only religious faith that says that God himself actually suffered, actually cried out in suffering. Now what good is that? To Jesus’s followers assembled around the cross, it certainly seemed senseless: that there was no good in it at all. But in fact, they came to realize that Jesus’s suffering was of immense good to them, as can we. Why? Because they would eventually see that they had been looking right at the greatest act of God’s love, power, and justice in history. God came into the world and suffered and died on the cross in order to save us. It is the ultimate proof of his love for us.
The King’s cross, Tim Keller
The cross was the great exchange: our sin for God’s righteousness, Jesus’ rejection for our acceptance, Jesus’ disgrace for our grace, Jesus’ suffering for our healing.
Take a few moments today to thank Him. Let your heart overflow in love to one whose heart was pierced in love for you.
Lord, help me worship you with an undistracted heart.
Heavenly Father, this morning—and all of history—is about you. Please help me worship you with an undistracted heart. You know how my mind wanders to my upcoming week, present worries, and thoughts of others and other things. Help me put those thoughts away and focus on you and your glory. Would your Spirit cause my heart, soul, mind, and strength to exalt your Holy Name in my singing, listening to Your Word, and interacting with your people.
As a mother you spend years not only protecting your children, but also wondering if everything you are doing will help them become the person they are meant to be. You spend long nights praying for their future and hoping the help and advice you’ve given will be enough. As they grow you look back at “the hard years” thinking they were never going to end but they seemed to have passed little by little. You realize that those sleepless nights, when you and your baby are alone–you holding them, rocking them, are irretrievable. You will never get them back.
As they grow into school age years one day you wake up and realize they don’t need your help getting ready because they have gotten ready without you. Oh you would never dress them like that, but you’re proud of their independent spirit! Then you think to yourself, “If I could have just one more opportunity to help them; to tie their shoe, fix their lunches.”
Fast forward to the teenage years, you argue as they begin to grow into their own person and you wonder if you will both survive. Despite all of those disagreements and not seeing eye to eye as they leave your home, you often long wrap your arms around them and protect them from hurt while at the same time wonder if you have done enough to prepare them for what is to come. You think to yourself, “If I could just hold them one more time.”
Now put yourself in Mary’s shoes. From the time she found out she was going to have a baby, she knew he was to be great and that he would be the savior of the world. She knew from her conversation with the angel in Luke that he would be great despite the mistakes all parents make… I mean they did leave him at the temple only to go back and find him not scared and looking for them but teaching. Although Mary was worried, she knew this was all part of what the angel had told her. In Luke 2:51 we are told that “she treasured all these things in her heart.”
Fast forward to where Jesus is grown and starts performing miracles. If you’re a parent, you know how proud Mary must have felt, not in a prideful way but a “that’s my boy way” as he ministered to people through his healing and teaching. Then everything changes. The crowds who once followed him turned on him. The ones who shouted Hosanna now shout “crucify him!” Mary’s son is beaten, mocked and crucified.
She is there through all of it. Does she longingly reflect on memories of his childhood, teen years (yes, Jesus was a teenager!), and his young adulthood? Regardless of our temptation to dehumanize Jesus, he was the son of a mother who loved him deeply and cared for him compassionately.
On the cross, all that changed. She couldn’t stop this. Jesus was dying for her! Her son was also her Savior. Her once newborn would now give her new life. The one who depended on her for food and a roof over his head would become for her the bread of life and go to prepare a place for her. Everything changed. Everything.
In the middle of the greatest and most awful moment in human history, Jesus remembered her. Dying for the sins of humanity (and Mary’s too), Jesus made sure she would now have a roof over her head and food on her plate. Looking at his best friend, John, he said, “Woman, behold your son.” In other words, Mary, John will take care of you now.
What humanity and divinity–Jesus, the God-man dying for Mary his mother.
Enough for Today 