That the Scripture Might Be Fulfilled — John 19

0:00 Good morning. Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here with you. Greetings from a faraway place. My family, of course, sends their greetings and they're all sick at home.

0:16 So I'm the healthy one, I get to leave, which is convenient. And it's a... But it's nice to be here, it's nice to be back. Have you ever witnessed someone die? It's a horrible thing.

0:35 Even when someone goes, quote, before their time, it still is a tragedy. But whether it happens to someone who is older or younger, say 33, like myself, or is a very young child. Whatever the circumstances, the occurrence of death shouts that the world is not the way God designed it. Though David described death as going the way of all the earth, death isn't God's intention. God doesn't even take pleasure in the death of the wicked.

1:25 Death is the great enemy, the weapon in the hand of our arch enemy, the devil, the one who has the power of death. Some die relatively peacefully and some die painfully. But the Bible assures us that it is appointed unto men once to die. But how sad, how exceptionally horrendous for a younger person, a young man to die, a good man, in pain surrounded by his enemies, who haste his death and cheer it on. Have you ever thought how strange it is that Christians like to celebrate that this is what happened to the lover of their souls?

2:28 That we sing songs about the cruel torture and execution of the friend of sinners. Well, this morning we're going to meditate on this terrible event in John chapter 19 and we're going to start in verse 16 and work our way through the end of the chapter through verse 42. But in studying this great tragedy, John will make it abundantly clear that as horrible as this is, all of this was still a part of God's plan. That the Lord Jesus was no victim, but that the terrible things that happened there at Golgotha, that this is the climax, the apex of history. Everything before it was leading up to it, And everything afterwards just seems to flow from it.

3:26 So again, we're in John chapter 19 and we will be starting in verse 16. Let me briefly lay out the structure of this chapter. It starts in verses 16 through 18. The lord Jesus ascending Mount Golgotha and there he's crucified between two criminals. The end of the chapter from verses 38 through 42 concludes this part by two individuals taking him down, religious leaders, the Pharisees, taking him down and burying him in a garden.

4:11 And between these two pathetic bookends is a really important middle. In this middle, with the exception of a small aside, each section stresses that what is happening happens because this is God's eternal unbreakable plan, which no one can stop. So with that in mind, the beginning, the really important middle, with scripture being fulfilled, and then the end. With that in mind, let's read this text together. John chapter 19 starting in verse 16.

5:29 And the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Then many of the Jews read this title for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore, the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but he said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus took his garments and made four parts.

6:04 To each soldier apart and also the tunic. Now, the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, let us not tear it but cast lots for it. Whose it shall be? That the scripture might be fulfilled which says, they divided my garments among them and for my clothing, they cast lots.

6:27 Therefore, the soldiers did these things. Now, there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopus, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her into his own home.

6:58 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be accomplished, fulfilled. He said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

7:33 Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who is seen has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe.

8:15 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, not one of his bones shall be broken. And again, another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him permission, so he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds.

8:52 Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus because the Jews preparation day for the tomb was nearby. You've been studying John And hopefully, you remember from the last time that you studied John. Was that last week?

9:29 Okay. The last time that you studied John that the the scene is coming to this big climax in which Pilate brings out the Lord Jesus and he says, behold your king. And they ask for his death and crucifixion. And Pilate says, shall I crucify your king? And they say, we have no king but Caesar.

9:56 So Pilate is forced with doing what he knows is right and what will be politically expedient and benefit his own own his own occupation, and he chooses wrongly. And he delivers the Lord Jesus to be crucified. As Isaac carries the wood for his own sacrifice, so too this son of Abraham carries the wood of his own cross to the place of his execution. This was probably not the cross beams as in the horizontal and vertical, but probably just the horizontal bar, in Latin called the patibulum. It's the it was just a cross beam that they would have placed on him.

11:23 And the muscles would spasm throughout the body, but as painful as it is, the body fights to live on. And so if you extend a little bit of help, this prolongs death to where it could last several, several days. And eventually the person would die of asphyxiation. This practice of crucifixion was invented by the Greeks and mastered by the Romans, and is still practiced today. The fact that God's creatures do such things to one another speaks volumes of our depravity.

12:02 The wickedness of this scene is also manifested in in the people who are there. The criminals, one on one side, one on the other. In fact, the very place is Golgotha, the place of the skull. And then we read these dramatic words at the end of verse 18, and Jesus in the center. Now, Roman practice was that the accused or the victim would have to have the reason for his execution clear for everyone to see.

12:42 And that was nailed up on the top. And this was a good political move, so that way anybody who was toying with the idea of fighting against Rome would walk by and they would see, this is what happens when you try to fight the superpower. If you think you can be like David and overtake Goliath, you're going to lose. This is what happens with those who try to fight the emperor. Now, Pilate writes this title not because he's sympathetic with the Lord Jesus, but because he's he feels slighted and humiliated by being outwitted by the Jews.

13:26 And so to get in one last dig, he writes on the title, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Only John had that little phrase of Nazareth. No doubt, another jab, as in, your king, the king of the Jews, is from the sticks. He's a redneck. He's from nowhere.

13:46 And this is what happens to Jewish kings. Obviously, the Jews don't like it. We could have guessed that. It makes you wonder, why did... Why do we read this next part about them coming to him?

14:02 Isn't that kind of self evident? All of this though serves John so he can write these important words recorded on the lips of Pilate. They want him to take it down and he he doesn't just say no. What does he say? He says, what I have written, I have written.

14:28 Remember that the word scripture it's not the word Bible, it's the word scripture. And the word scripture just means the writings. Maybe imagine like a capital W, the writings. But it just means the thing that is written. The verb form is just writing.

14:45 And Pilate says it in a very fascinating way. What I have written, I have written. It's in this thing called the perfect tense, which often means that it's something, it's like a mix between the present and the past, in which something happened in the past and it stands as valid or with some significance for the present. And and and Pilate is saying, listen, I've written what I've written and you can't change it. This is very significant for John because it introduces what he's about to say.

15:20 That the Jews for all their trying cannot change what is written. What is written stands written. And there ain't nothing they're gonna do about it. Try as hard as they may. It also reinforces the significance of what Pilate has just said.

16:12 But John says he did not speak this of himself because he was given authority as the high priest. So what he says has this deeper significance that Caiaphas could never begin to imagine. What he was really saying was he was testifying to the truth that this man would die for the people. And so to Pilate, another man who would know, would have no power at all, except it were given to him from above, speaks words that are more profound than he realizes. The one that is hanging there is the king of the Jews.

16:48 And he has written it in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. As in, let all the world know. He's the king of the Jews, but it's not just in Hebrew. This is something that's important for everyone to understand. You remember early, we've kind of come full circle.

17:06 There's this time in which Nathaniel, a bit skeptical about this new figure. And so Jesus says to him, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. And whatever that means, whatever the backstory was there, there's this tree and Jesus says, I saw you under there. And it leads Nathaniel to say, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.

17:37 And here we have him now hanging on the tree. And with the eye of faith, we can look and say, I know who that is. Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. So with this device, John introduces the theme of the unbreakability of scripture.

18:04 He then goes on to this first actual fulfillment of of god's scripture. Now, Matthew and Mark both record the Lord Jesus saying, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is Psalm 22 verse one in our Bibles. John doesn't record the Lord Jesus saying that, but he does record this from Psalm 22. He says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

18:37 Again, Roman practice was very cruel and it was meant to not only be violent, but shameful. The common practice was that crucifixion victims would be executed in nudity. So we draw sometimes the loincloth of dignity for the sake of our children's Bibles, but that wouldn't have been what actually happened. They stripped the Lord Jesus of all of his clothes, and they divided among themselves into four pieces. Probably his sandals, his headpieces, belt, and his tunic.

19:18 Or maybe they took it and divided it into quarters. It could go either way. But when they come to this other piece, his tunic, which was without seam, woven from the top in one piece, they don't want to break it or they don't want to rip it. So they gamble for it. John says, this happens that the scripture might be fulfilled, and notice how the verse ends after quoting it, after quoting Psalm 22.

19:47 Therefore, the soldiers did these things. That's why they did this shameful, despicable thing. It's because God said they would. Psalm 22 is the most frequently quoted Psalm in the New Testament. The first century Christians loved it because for them, it spoke of the Lord Jesus.

20:12 And if David were here, he'd say, well, yes, I was speaking of the Messiah. Peter tells us in Acts two that David wasn't writing about himself, he was writing about his seed because God had promised him that one of his descendants would sit on his throne forever. In fact, go ahead and turn there to Psalm 22. Let's look at it a little bit. This was so well known to the first century Christians that they would not have just thought of this one verse, that they would have thought of the whole context, the whole song.

20:53 Yeah. The song begins by describing the figure's feeling of distance from god and that god is silent to his cries. Just instead of reading, I'm just going to outline it very quickly. In verses three to five, that god had saved the fathers in the past but then in verses six through eight that he is ridiculed by men because god has not saved him. In verses nine to 10, the figure says he has belonged to God since a child.

21:19 In verses 11 through 18 graphically portray his unjust suffering. Verses 19 through 21 conclude the section of Psalm by repeating the prayer for salvation from the beginning. And then at the end of verse 21, this is why I wanted you to open up your Bibles. At the end of verse 21, there's a huge shift and everything is different because of the ending. At the end of verse 21, we read, you have answered me.

21:50 He prays to god for deliverance and god hears. Verses 22 to 25 explain how the sufferings end and god does save his suffering servant and then verses 26 through 31, it proclaimed that what has happened will benefit all the ends of the world. The those who seek the lord will as a result of the vindication of this suffering one that their heart will live forever and they will worship the lord. They will eat and they will be There's a word from this morning. They will eat and they will be satisfied.

22:32 So, the thing that I want to impress upon you here is that the the idea of Psalm 22 is more than it's talking about someone who has suffered unfairly. But it is about the restoration of this one. And that because of the events that happened to this unjust sufferer, all the ends of the world, all the ends of the earth will be blessed. And we'll recount this of the Lord to the next generation. It is a story that will be told again and again and again.

23:27 Jesus' mother, his mother's sister, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopus, and Mary Magdalene. The other gospel accounts also mention women, three women, and they don't include Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus. But if those other three are the same as these other three, then it seems like what follows is that Mary, I'm sorry, Mary's sister turns out to be Salome, who is John and James's mother. It's kind of an assumption built off an assumption. But some people buy it.

24:10 I'm not sure. But that would mean that Jesus is John's cousin. If these four people are the same in the different gospel accounts. So the Lord Jesus here is talking to his cousin, and he commits John's aunt into his care. But whatever the relationship is between the different figures here, something very touching is moot...

24:36 Is going on. Here you have the great central figure of history, the king of Israel, the word made flesh. And he is putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He is destroying the works of the devil. He is reconciling all things to God.

25:03 But this selfless one turns and he sees old mom. And he thinks, what would happen to her? And so he presses up against the nails, gasps for breath, and makes sure that his mother is taken care of. John then returns to this important theme of the fulfillment of scripture. It kind of heightens here in 28 through 30.

25:32 Now, the other characters of this story all unwittingly accomplish scripture. The soldiers don't care about Psalm 22, But what they're doing, they don't know what they're doing, but God is superintending all of it to make sure that things are going according to His plan. But the Lord Jesus is different. He knows. That's incredible.

25:55 I marvel at that, at the Lord Jesus, that at these events, nobody knows what's happening but Him. Jesus knowing, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished. The word for accomplished is interesting. It kind of has two ideas that both seem to be prominent here. One means that it's done.

26:24 As in finished. It's the same word translated finished, in it is finished. And it's also the same word translated fulfilled, that the scripture might be fulfilled. And it kind of has that wide range of meanings. It means that it's done, no longer to continue.

26:40 But it also has this idea that it's done because something has been accomplished. A task has been performed. So he knows that all of these things are about to end. And that they were actually performed by himself. And in order that the scripture might be done, might be fulfilled, might come to an end in himself, he says, I thirst.

27:06 Now you can search your Bible for a very long time looking for a prophetic scripture which says the Messiah will say, I thirst. Psalm 22 that we just read earlier does describe him as one who is thirsty. It says that his tongue sticks to the roof of his jaws. It's not I thirst, but it's about him being thirsty. But that doesn't explain what happens next with the sour wine and the sponge.

27:37 Instead, it seems like what's happening is there's an allusion here to Psalm 69 verse 21. They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar. The Greek translation of the Hebrew says, sour wine to drink. And since we are specifically told that the Lord Jesus did all these things to fulfill scripture, the way I understand the thought process that is that the Lord Jesus wants to receive the sour wine now. They had offered it to him before.

28:07 They had offered him wine before he was crucified to dull the dull his senses. And he wouldn't drink it. And they had offered it to him in mockery. Remember, let's see if Elijah will come and save him. But he had rejected it then.

28:22 But now he knows that the scripture say that they gave me sour wine to drink. And so in order for that scripture to be fulfilled, he says, I thirst. So they will respond by giving him the sour wine. So he wants that scripture to be fulfilled and thus he says, I thirst. Psalm 69 is another favorite among the first century Christians.

28:43 It's quoted often in the New Testament, though not as much as Psalm 22. And it's very, very similar. So again, the idea of an unjust sufferer, very graphically describing the pains that this righteous one is going through. And just like Psalm 22, there's a hinge. And after that hinge, everything is different.

29:03 Where God steps in and he rescues. He redeems the soul of the righteous sufferer. And just like Psalm 22, in Psalm 69, all of this happens so that way all the earth will be saved. And just like in Psalm 22 and Psalm 69, all of this happens and will be retold again and again. Both both Psalms say that because of the suffering of this one and his vindication, people's hearts will live.

29:32 The poor will seek this and be glad. So John's use of the psalms here shows that these... His sufferings are not just a tragedy, but will end in glory and provide salvation for the world. Provide salvation for the poor and the humble who seek the Lord. However, this use of Psalm 69 isn't where things stop.

30:20 And they put the blood in the basin and they took the hyssop. And they sprinkled the door posts. So with that, the Lord Jesus, when he was crucified, he wouldn't have been much higher than your hand could reach the top of his head. So it didn't need to be a long pole. Just a small little, why they picked hyssop?

30:37 Could it be a coincidence? No, all these things happened that the scripture might be fulfilled. It is the foreshadowing of another important theme. John has reminded us several times, Passover's here. Some people say it was Passover.

30:50 Some people say it's the preparation of the Passover. John says it was a preparation, so I go with him. But anyway, there's a mention of the hyssop. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. I love grammar.

31:13 I hope you love grammar too. So this is another use of the perfect tense. Or just like it is written, something that happened in the past but it still stands written and it's relevant for right now. It's done and it's important for right now, not just that it happened in the past. Same thing here.

31:30 It is finished. It's finished and it stands finished. To where all believers can then point to what happened and say, it is finished, and it remains finished. So he says these words. Perhaps if we compare this with Mark, this is the victor's cry.

31:51 Mark says that he cried out with a loud voice, but doesn't tell us what it is. Maybe this is what he shouted out. It is finished. Again, it's the same word. It is accomplished.

32:04 It is done. As horrible as the agony had been, the Lord Jesus knew that it was now over. He's speaking a few moments into the future. He can't say these words after he dies. He could because he's God, but the idea of the progressions that he's saying it in anticipation for what's about to transpire.

32:28 It's like when he said in John 17, I have glorified you on the earth by finishing the work which you gave me to do. He's speaking in anticipation of his very soon death. So again, his suffering was not that of a victim. He bows his head and in doing so he gives up his spirit. That expression give up his spirit is use of other human beings.

32:57 It could just have the idea of he died. But with the rest of John's theology in mind, it probably means more than that. He said, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down. In fact, I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of him that sent me.

33:16 And again in the garden, the cup which my father has given me to drink, shall I not drink it? His death was something that he accomplished and did. And he gives up his spirit. It is finished. As he laid down his, he gave his flesh for the life of the world.

33:44 At the Lord Jesus' death, that is when the work of atonement was done. I don't know. Do you... I don't know what children's songs, kids songs. You ever sing the song Done Done, d o n e?

34:00 That's when it was done, and the work was over. All his suffering ended. That is how sin was put away. What an insult to the Lord Jesus to think that we put away sin by the small little things that we do. I've come to church every single week this year, perfect attendance.

34:33 And somehow, maybe even if we wouldn't mark this answer on a theology quiz, in our minds we can think, well that must somehow make up for something bad I've done. Somehow that puts away sin. God is impressed. God is satisfied by my perfect attendance. And I've been very good.

34:53 I have contributed. I participated. No, the work of atonement, the work of putting away sin was done once and for all by the Lord Jesus on the cross. The hymn writer put it so well. Nothing either great or small, nothing sinner know, Jesus died and paid it all long, long ago.

35:34 Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death. Cast your deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet, stand in him, in him alone, gloriously complete. It is finished. Yes, indeed.

35:49 Finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? But though the work of atonement was finished at the cross, finished at his death. The finishing of the scriptures, the completing of the scriptures goes on.

36:13 And the scriptures continued to be fulfilled. Because the same word there, continue to be finished even after he dies. And that's what happens next. Crucifixion, again, takes several days, or it usually took several days. Because the people, the victim would suffer for their breath and push up against the nails.

36:38 But if their legs were broken, that would be almost impossible to do for very long, and the victims would soon die. And so the Roman practice was to bring an iron mallet and to smash the the legs of those being crucified. They do this to to both the criminals, one on left... The left hand side, one on the right. But wait, when they come to the Lord Jesus, they realize that he's already dead.

37:05 We can't talk about... Right now about Pilate's reasoning behind the whippings. But it seems like Pilate's idea for having him whipped was that this would be a replacement punishment for the Lord Jesus. The Jews would see it and say, that's enough. He's no longer a threat.

37:23 Clearly, will be... Will think he's the king anymore after they see him like this, but works against him. And so the Lord Jesus ends up being executed twice as he's whipped so badly, and then he's crucified again. So they come to him and they find that he's already dead. And so they stab him with a spear and much to John's amazement, blood, of course, would come out.

37:56 But the thing that impresses him is that it's blood and water. Now there are medical studies about this that when they pierce the side of a cadaver, in some cases where there's been a lot of stress on the heart, there's been some sort of clear fluid that has come out looking like water. And this is medical confirmation that the person is dead. That may be so. There are some other medical people who have different theories.

38:28 But I think we went back in time and asked John, is that what you were talking about? He looked at us like we had two heads. No, don't you get it? Blood and water came out. It's a miracle.

38:42 This is incredible. Think of how water has been used in the Gospel of John. Jesus Himself says in John three that you need to be born of water and of spirit. If you don't, you can't see the kingdom of God. When he was talking with a woman at the well, he said, whoever drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst again.

39:07 Water is a symbol for eternal life. And in John seven thirty eight, the Lord Jesus said, He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. The Lord Jesus is the source of eternal life, of that living water. Going back to John seven thirty eight, that was said on the Feast of Tabernacles, on the great day of the feast. Somebody here must have been assigned John chapter seven.

39:37 I'm sure you talk about this at length. At 07:38, the great day of the feast, right? And so what happened on the great day of the feast is they would pour out this water commemorating when Moses struck the rock and out of the rock came water. So if we were to connect this out, this water coming out of Jesus' side with John seven thirty eight, which connects to Israel in the wilderness, perhaps that's the correct background. The Lord Jesus is the great rock, and he was struck and out came living water.

40:12 That's very possible. There's another possibility which I hope to make clear in the next few minutes. John gives us his own explanation. He clearly sees this as a big deal. He's emphasizing I've seen it, I'm telling you the truth, and I'm writing this so that way you may believe.

40:49 But it's a pretty, pretty good quote from Psalm 34. Again, like Psalm 22, like Psalm 69, if we had another hour and a half, we could go there and we can talk about it. The verse before said, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. Not one of his bones shall be broken. The Lord Jesus is the son of David had many afflictions, but the Lord would deliver him out of all of them.

41:18 Keep him safe. It also refers to Exodus and the Passover, in which not one of the bones should be broken. Again, John emphasizes that all these things happened on the Passover. He is the great sacrifice and fulfillment of that type there. And then he says in verse 37, you could have just stopped there.

41:43 That's enough Bible verses for you. Go and look those up. We've got more story to tell. But he gives us another one. And again, another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced.

41:57 John has altered the quote just a little bit to make it flow in his story. The actual quote is from Zechariah twelve ten. And it literally reads, and they shall look on me whom they have pierced. Man, are you sure you don't want to just stay for another hour? Okay, so that's great homework.

42:19 If you want to go home and do some homework, challenging to study Zechariah, but there's a lot of great stuff there. Zechariah chapter 12. He says, They will look on me. I'll pour on them the spirit of grace and supplication. This is going to restore Israel and they will look on me whom they will whom they have pierced.

42:38 Yahweh himself speaking and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son. Of course, that's one of John's favorite titles for the Lord Jesus, is the only begotten, the only son of God. And if you were to study Zechariah a little bit more, Zechariah tells us who really struck. The native of Israel struck him. That's how he was pierced.

43:09 But then just in a few verses later, he says, here's really how he was pierced. In Zechariah thirteen:seven, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. The Lord himself is striking the shepherd, his companion. And in between those two quotes, we read the effect of this being struck, where a fountain will be opened for cleansing.

43:41 We sing that song. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. This section has... We haven't gotten to the burial, and I won't do it in the next two minutes. It begins and ends, again, I think kind of pathetically or sadly, like a tragedy.

44:18 They take Jesus. They hand him over. Right? That's what we read at the beginning here. Pilate hands him over.

44:31 Notice that the same word is used then when Jesus said, he hands over his spirit. But Pilate is taking him, the soldiers are taking him, leading him up, and then it finishes with the Jews, the religious leaders. They come out of the darkness, out of the hiding, out of their fear. It's too late now. So they do the best that impotent human beings can do in such a situation.

45:01 They give somebody a nice burial. What else can you do to somebody who's died? But the middle, well the middle, none of this was by accident. This was God's great plan, the great fulfillment of his great drama of redemption from eternity past, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He says, he concludes here in verse 37.

45:34 The scripture says, they shall look on him whom they have pierced. Again, we've come full circle. John the Baptist said, behold, look. Look at him. The lamb of God.

45:51 He takes away the sin of the world. Will you look on the one who has been pierced? The Lord Jesus made it very clear. He said to Nicodemus in John three, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. And that story back then, whoever looked would live.

46:13 He promises, look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth. He was struck for our sins. This is the great work, the work of atonement. I don't know what your occupation is, what you do for a living, if you're a teacher, if you're a construction worker, if you're in management, no work is like his work. No work actually does something like Jesus' work did something.

46:46 His work takes away our sins. And there's nothing that we can do that ever gets close to comparing with that. Our place is to look to Him, not look to ourselves, but to believe in Him, to trust Him for that cleansing, for that eternal life. And He promises that whoever comes to me, I will in no way cast out. He who believes in me shall never hunger.

47:17 He who comes to me shall never thirst. Let's pray. Our father, we are very thankful. We are right to rejoice and to celebrate what happened there at the cross. We're following the example of Paul who said, God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

47:47 We do glory in that terrible, awful, degrading, shameful method of execution. So barbarous. But this was your plan, to take away sin. There was no other way. If righteousness came by the law, then Christ died for nothing.

48:13 This is the way, the only way for sin to be dealt with, for my sin to be paid for, for the sins of the world to be paid for. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for this marvelous sacrifice. We love to tell the story. It will be our theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Father, I pray that if there's anyone here who is unclear about the significance of Jesus's death, that they would realize that your word is so clear that this was not just a tragedy to a victim.

49:41 Amen.