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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. |
Scourged him – As a last resort. R2786:5
Thinking that by scourging him the clamor would cease. R104:1; PD68/81
Influenced more by considerations of policy than of principle. R1810:4
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| 2 And the soldiers having plaited a crown of thorns put it on his head, and put a purple robe on him, |
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| 3 and came to him and said, Hail, king of the Jews! and gave him blows on the face. |
Smote him – After such experiences it seems marvelous that any vitality remained for the ordeal of crucifixion. R1815:3
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| 4 And Pilate went out again and says to them, Lo, I bring him out to you, that ye may know that I find in him no fault whatever. |
No fault – No cause of death. Having proved himself entitled to life, "he gave himself a ransom for all." (1 Tim. 2:6) R105:5
According to Roman law this was the proper ending of the case. R3555:4
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| 5 (Jesus therefore went forth without, wearing the crown of thorn, and the purple robe.) And he says to them, Behold the man! |
Behold the man! – "Ecce Homo!" This exclamation of Pilate concerning Jesus seems to express his admiration of the perfect man. R104:1, 5571:2, 3561:2
Behold the countenance! None can have a really beautiful character without the inner beauty being reflected in the face. His face must have been one of marvelous beauty. R5291:4
Pilate evidently was impressed with our Lord's personality; never before had he seen so splendid a specimen of the human race. R2472:4
Not only the Jew above all other Jews, but the Man above all other men. E154
See the character of the man you are willing to crucify. Note that he has the most kingly features, such as none of your race possess. R4713:2
As though he would say, Do you really wish me to crucify such a noble sample of humanity, and of your race? R4171:4, 5571:2, 3561:2, 3369:2, 2786:5, 1394:3, 104:1; PD68/81
Not before Pilate only does he appear to tower above other men: as a child, he was a marvel; when a man, he had but to say, "Follow me" and his disciples obeyed; as a teacher, the common people heard him gladly. R104:2
Jesus was found in fashion as a man; not in the fashion of a sin-blighted man, but in fashion as a man such as God made Adam--a "very good," a perfect and upright man. R104:5
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| 6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him they cried out saying, Crucify, crucify him. Pilate says to them, Take him ye and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. |
Crucify him – A few days before, they gave him a royal welcome and hailed him with Hosannas; but their unstable and fickle minds were swayed by false teachers and unwilling to act upon conviction in face of opposition. R1795:2
To have stoned him to death as a blasphemer they feared would leave him a martyr, while to have him publicly executed as a criminal would, they hoped, brand Jesus, his teachings and his followers forever with infamy. R2473:1
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| 7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he made himself Son of God. |
We have a law – Thus appealing to the Jews that he was a blasphemer, one whom God commanded them in the Law to destroy. R2786:6
They perverted the truth in their endeavor to uphold their course, for the Law did not prescribe death as a penalty for the claim of being the Son of God. R2472:5
The Son of God – Had our Lord claimed to be the Father he would have come under the terms of the death sentence for blasphemy; but there was no such penalty, nor was it blasphemy, to call himself the Son of God. R2472:5
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| 8 When Pilate therefore heard this word, he was the rather afraid, |
The more afraid – The features of Jesus were impressive of themselves, but if one possessing such features made the claim of relationship to God there certainly was some ground for fear. R2472:5
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| 9 and went into the praetorium again and says to Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. |
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| 10 Pilate therefore says to him, Speakest thou not to *me*? Dost thou not know that I have authority to release thee and have authority to crucify thee? |
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| 11 Jesus answered, Thou hadst no authority whatever against me if it were not given to thee from above. On this account he that has delivered me up to thee has the greater sin.
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No power at all – So it is with all the footstep followers of the Master. Man is powerless to harm a hair of our heads, unless it is permitted by our Father in heaven for his glory and our own highest welfare. R5540:5
This is equally true of every member of the Body, from his begetting. We have every reason to believe that in some measure divine providence extends even beyond the new creation to those whose lives are closely linked to theirs. F646
God permits the wrath of men and of Satan, within certain limits, in connection with the world of mankind; but in respect to the elect Church it is different. Nothing that befalls them is of accident. F646
Our difficulty has been to some extent the same that our Lord mentioned to the Sadducees saying, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." (Matt. 22:29) NS661:4
We need have no fear of the power of evil spirits against us as long as we are the Lord's and are walking in our daily life not after the will of the flesh, but after the Spirit. R4069:5
Thus Paul knew, on his return journey to Jerusalem, that all the powers of darkness would assail him in vain, except as the Lord should permit, and that the Lord would permit nothing that would not be to his real advantage. R3183:4
Except it were given thee – When the door of opportunity for services shuts, we will consider it our duty to use all reasonable energy and maintain our legal rights to keep it open. When it shall close, in spite of our every endeavor, we will accept it as the result of being of divine providence. R3992:3
If the power for the suppression of the truth is given by our Lord, it will mean to us the good tidings that the Kingdom is very near at hand. R3532:4, 3992:4
From above – Watching and praying will cultivate confidence and faith in God. God is still at the helm, and is still working all things according to the counsel of his own will. R4488:6
Permitted him by the heavenly Father. This was the secret of our Lord's composure. So should we be calm under most severe and trying ordeals, the peace of God passing all understanding ruling in our hearts. R3895:4
He hath delivered me – Pilate could do no more; even Jesus himself assented, and claimed that it was in the divine order that he should die. Pilate signed the death sentence. R2786:6
Hath the greater sin – We are not of those who condemn Pilate; he was a servant of the empire. Our Lord in no sense intimated guilt on the part of Pilate. R2472:6
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| 12 From this time Pilate sought to release him; but the Jews cried out saying, If thou releasest this man, thou art not a friend to Caesar. Every one making himself a king speaks against Caesar. |
Art not Caesar's friend – Assuring Pilate that if he let the prisoner go, the Jewish leaders would report him to the Emperor. R4713:4, 2786:3
This was putting Pilate in an awkward position. R5571:4
Maketh himself a king – The accusation brought before Pilate involved the charge of treason, a charge most likely to arouse the indignation and wrath of the Roman rulers. R1809:6
Speaketh against Caesar – Intimating that if Pilate frustrated their designs and refused to crucify Jesus, they would report him to Caesar as an enemy of the empire, a succorer of seditious persons, a fosterer of rival kings in the empire. R2472:5
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| 13 Pilate therefore, having heard these words, led Jesus out and sat down upon the judgment-seat, at a place called Pavement, but in Hebrew Gabbatha; |
The Pavement – In quite recent times excavations on the supposed site for Pilate's palace revealed, at a considerable depth, an extensive portion of a mosaic pavement of fine work, such as would be connected with a palace. R4171:4, 1394:3
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| 14 (now it was the preparation of the passover; it was about the sixth hour;) and he says to the Jews, Behold your king! |
Preparation of the passover – There can be no doubt from the account that our Lord and his disciples ate the Passover Supper on the day preceding the one on which the Jews in general ate it. R2771:5
When the Lord and the apostles celebrated the Passover Supper for the last time together, they partook of it early on the fourteenth. R833:3
If the Passover fell on the weekly Sabbath, i.e., on Friday, they began an hour sooner, that they might dispatch their business by the time that the Sabbath began. Hence, they called it the preparation of the Passover. R2953:4*
About the sixth hour – About noon. The time was the third hour, nine o'clock, according to Mark. Mark may have referred to the fact that the sentence was pronounced in the third hour, while John recorded the time Jesus was actually on the cross. R4172:2
Behold your King! – Pilate exclaimed, when presenting the noble personage of Jesus before the people. R5571:4
Jesus was not the mob's ideal of a king. Had he been coarse, vulgar, a boaster, he would have been more nearly their ideal of a person likely to lift their nation from under the Roman yoke. Neither are the footstep followers of Jesus the world's ideals. PD68/81
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| 15 But they cried out, Take him away, take him away, crucify him. Pilate says to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. |
Away with him – Only when a riot was feared did Pilate consent that Jesus should be crucified, and gave the order therefore. R4171:3
We have no king but Caesar – By this hypocritical course they had forced Pilate to crucify Jesus, on the claim that it was necessary to the protection of the throne of Caesar. R2316:2
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| 16 Then therefore he delivered him up to them, that he might be crucified; and they took Jesus and led him away. |
They took – It was customary to have four soldiers attend each prisoner to execution. R2473:5
Led him away – The Via Dolorosa, or the "sorrowful way," is still pointed out, as well as a portion of the archway known as the Arch of Ecce Homo, reputed to be the place where Pilate said, "Behold the man!" R4171:3
Indeed a sorrowful way. Pilate felt uncomfortable. On the way, tender women, not disciples of Jesus, wept. We even credit that his accusers, out of conscience, were far from happy. R3561:2
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| 17 And he went out, bearing his cross, to the place called place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha; |
His cross – The cross of Christ (not the pieces of wood, but the sacrifice made thereon) is the very center of the great plan of salvation which God prepared for our race before sin entered the world. R4171:2
Place of a skull – The supposed site is on a hill near Jerusalem, which in the distance has the general contours of a skull, with hollows corresponding to eye-sockets. Modern scholars are well agreed as to this site. R4171:5, 3560:3
The site answers well to the general requirements of the narrative--outside the city walls, nigh to the city, in a conspicuous position, near a frequented thoroughfare, and still called by the Jews the "place of stoning." R4171:5, 3562:1
Christian tradition from the fifth century fixes this as the place of the stoning of Stephen. R4171:5
Golgotha – The Hebrew word signifying a skull; the Latin name for a skull being Calvary. R2473:3, 4171:5, 3560:3
Newman Hall suggests: "Golgotha! There is a legend that it was the very center of the earth's surface, the middle point of the habitable globe. We think nothing of the legend, but very much of the truth which it suggests, for the cross of Christ is the true center of the Church where all believers meet, of all tribes and nations." R4174:1
A description of the crucifixion process by Farrar. R2473:1
Another lengthy description of the crucifixion process. R3562:1
Calvary was the fulcrum, as it were, upon which divine love and justice operated for the rolling away of the curse resting upon humanity. R3560:3
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| 18 where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on this side, and one on that, and Jesus in the middle. |
They crucified him – The death of the man Christ Jesus in any form would have been a sufficiency to offset the original sentence; but God was pleased to test our Redeemer's loyalty by arranging a particularly trying death. R4171:2
The death of the cross was intimated in the Scriptures as being the most ignominious--"Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." (Gal. 3:13) R4171:2
Crucifixion particulars are not given, and we may be glad of it, for the picture which suggests itself to the mind is horrible enough without any incidental details. R4172:4
Practiced only upon culprits--usually outlaws, brigands and seditionists. Thus our Lord was, in harmony with the statement of the prophet, "numbered with the transgressors." (Isa. 53:12) R2787:4
Its severity was to intimidate and deter evil-doers, rather than as a gratification of cruel sentiments. R2473:1
A detailed description of death by crucifixion by Ian MacLaren. R4172:4
It was not so much the torture of death which gives us the feeling of sympathy and sorrow (for others went through the same), and not only that it was unmerited, but that it was in payment of our penalty. R3560:3
"There shall no evil befall thee." (Psa. 91:10) No evil befell him as a new creature. All the things that happened to him were necessary. Without these he could not have fulfilled the calling given him. R4767:2
Our Lord's followers have to some extent lost the esteem of friends and neighbors. They have been tested in every possible manner. These things were necessary for them; therefore, these experiences cannot be considered as evil befalling the follower of Jesus. R4767:2
So far as our Redeemer himself was concerned, this disgrace of the cross became to him a stepping stone to glory, honor and immortality, the divine nature. R4171:2
The crucifixion occurred at about 9 a.m., and ended in death at 3 p.m. R1815:6, 3370:3
Two other – Probably members of the band of Barabbas, and were probably considered by the people as more or less heroes. R4172:3
To himself it would mean the depths of humiliation. From the standpoint of his accusers, it was specially desirable; it would help to keep the people from thinking of him as a martyr. R3561:6
Fulfilling Isa. 53:12--"He was numbered with the transgressors." R1815:6
With the members of the Body of Christ also it has been true at times that the Father has permitted experiences to come to them in such a manner as might imply that they did not have his favor, and were really impostors. R2474:2, 1816:1
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| 19 And Pilate wrote a title also and put it on the cross. But there was written: Jesus the Nazaraean, the King of the Jews. |
On the cross – It was customary to publish the crime for which the execution took place by a printed notice over the head of the victim. R3562:2
KING OF THE JEWS – Little did Pilate comprehend the great truth; few yet have realized the truth of this statement that Jesus is a King; comparatively few have yet rendered him allegiance, bowing the knee of their hearts in sincerity and truth. R2473:6
Thus in spite of his enemies, the crucified Jesus was proclaimed the Messiah. Yet how strange! A crucified Messiah! How different are God's ways and means of accomplishing an object from man's ways. R4172:3
Doubtless he worded it especially as a rebuke to them, for he perceived that for envy, malice, they had delivered Jesus to him for death. R4172:3
It was a title of shame and contempt, a brand of blasphemy to those who read it; and the multitude, going and coming from the city, jested him upon his title, and the failure of the fraud he tried to perpetrate. R2787:4
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| 20 This title therefore many of the Jews read, for the place of the city where Jesus was crucified was near; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, Latin. |
Hebrew and Greek and Latin – In three languages: in Hebrew, the language of the people; in Latin, the language of the government; and in Greek, the language of the educated at the time. R4172:3, 3370:3, 2787:4, 2473:5
The different wording by each of the evangelists may all be correct, for the notice was written in three languages. R3562:2, 2473:5
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| 21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Do not write, The king of the Jews, but that *he* said, I am king of the Jews. |
Write not – The Jewish Doctors of Divinity were willing enough to have Jesus condemned as the king of the Jews, but were quite unwilling to have this sentence publicly recorded. R2473:6, 2316:2
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| 22 Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. |
I have written – Pilate refused to alter it, doubtless as a rebuke to the Jews. R4172:3, 2316:2
His refusal to amend the charge was a just one; if there was enough merit in the claim to lead to Jesus' crucifixion, the matter should be plainly stated. R2474:1
His decision not to alter the writing was correct, and ultimately all the blind eyes of the world shall be opened to this great fact that Jesus was indeed divinely appointed to be the King of earth. R3562:2
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| 23 The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took his clothes, and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and the body-coat; but the body-coat was seamless, woven through the whole from the top. |
Took his garments – It was the custom to count the personal property of an executed person the perquisites of the soldiers performing the execution. R3370:3, 2474:1
Four parts – His outer robe, his head dress, sandals and girdle--enough to give one piece to each. R3370:3, 3562:4, 2474:1
Coat was without seam – An under garment which reached from the neck to the feet. R2474:1, 3562:4, 3370:3
The seamless robe appears to symbolize the righteousness of Christ which can be appropriated only as a whole. It is of one piece, and may not be marred. R2474:1
So beautifully represented our Lord's own personal perfection. R2316:1
Perhaps a symbol of the wedding garment. R2474:1
Probably a gift from one of the noble women mentioned as being amongst his friends. (Luke 8:3) R2316:1
The curtain of the Tabernacle court, being without seam, reminds us of the seamless linen robe that Jesus wore--a robe that cannot be put on by inches, and when it covers, covers completely. R100:3*
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| 24 They said therefore to one another, Let us not rend it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled which says, They parted my garments among themselves, and on my vesture they cast lots. The soldiers therefore did these things. |
Cast lots – Not by lot or accident or chance does this robe come to the Lord's people. It is obtained only through the exercise of faith, and held only by the obedience of faith. R2474:1
The Scripture – Psalms 22:18. R2474:1
Parted my raiment – Dividing it among the Roman soldiers. The grave clothes were left folded away in the sepulcher. Therefore the clothing in which he appeared on different occasions must have been specially created. B128; R5222:6
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| 25 And by the cross of Jesus stood his mother, and the sister of his mother, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. |
There stood by – We are not to think too severely of the apparent lack of courage on the part of the others of Jesus' friends. R3562:5
And his mother's sister – Her cousin. R3562:5
The three women might reasonably feel themselves free from danger of molestation notwithstanding their manifestation of interest in the suffering one. R3562:5
They were all sorrowful. They could not deny that apparently the claims of our Lord had been fraudulent. They could not understand how he could be so helpless. They could do naught else but love him and trust him. So it is at times with the Lord's followers since. R2787:5
Cleophas – Who is supposed to have been a relative. R2474:2
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| 26 Jesus therefore, seeing his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, says to his mother, Woman, behold thy son.
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The disciple – John. R4172:6
John seems to have been of a very modest disposition, quite unwilling to make his own name prominent in his writings. R2571:3
We remember that John had a friend in the high priest's household. Quite probably he was present to give a report of the whole proceedings. John's courage may have been influenced by this. R3562:2
The choice of John was doubtless because of his loving, tender disposition, his zeal and courage in being near to his dying Master. R2474:3
Whom he loved – Specially loved. R1254:5
He saith – It is not to be expected that anyone under such conditions would have much to say. It is quite probable, therefore, that the recorded words or message of our Lord were the only ones he uttered. R4172:5
Behold thy son! – Our Lord, so far from thinking of himself and his own anguish, was thinking of others. R4173:1, 3902:6, 2474:2
Thus exemplifying the teaching of Scripture that each should seek to make provision for his own dependent ones. "If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Tim. 5:8) R2474:3, 854:6
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| 27 Then he says unto the disciple, Behold thy mother.
And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. |
Behold thy mother! – Jesus commended his mother to John, possibly because he had some means wherewith to care for her. R2095:3, 3257:2
Shall we suppose Jesus taught others to neglect their parents? R854:6
Had our Lord formed a community, he would doubtless have commended his mother to it instead of to John. D480; R1862:5
That disciple took her – We cannot show our sympathy at Jesus' cross, but we can lend our presence and aid to dear "members of his Body" in their dark hours; and he will count it as done unto himself. R3562:5, 4173:1
Unto his own home – It is far from the truth to claim that our Lord and his disciples dwelt together on communistic lines. He personally cared for his mother, Mary; and evidently John had separately a home and means of his own. R3257:2, 1862:5, 1421:5, 1390:5
While Peter may have been a very poor man (Acts 3:6), there is good reason for supposing that John had some property. R2095:2
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| 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now finished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, says, I thirst.
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Knowing that all things – When all the work which had been given him to do had been accomplished, and not until then, might he refer to his own condition. R4173:2
The scripture – Psalm 69:21. R4173:2, 3562:6, 2474:3
I thirst – Exposed to the heat of the sun, with but slight covering and under nervous excitement and pain, thirst must have been one of the principal elements of torture to the crucified. R4173:2
Doubtless, with a fever raging such as would be induced by the crucifixion, he had been thirsting for quite a while. R3562:6, 3371:2
Our Lord hungered and thirsted that we, with all for whom he died, might have the water of life and the bread of life--might attain eternal life. R4173:3
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| 29 There was a vessel therefore there full of vinegar, and having filled a sponge with vinegar, and putting hyssop round it, they put it up to his mouth. |
With vinegar – Not ordinary vinegar, but more properly sour wine, the common, cheap drink of the soldiers. R2474:3
Not as an injury, but as a kindness. It was supposed that the mixture would assuage thirst to some degree. R3562:6, 2474:3
Upon hyssop – A reed, probably two and one-third feet long. R4173:3
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| 30 When therefore Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished;
and having bowed his head, he delivered up his spirit. |
Had received – Our Lord had refused the stupefying draught, but now accepted the refreshment given him from a sponge lifted to his lips. R4173:3, 3562:6
He sucked some refreshing moisture, when his wounds must have developed a raging fever in his blood. R3371:2, 3562:6
It is finished – The sixth word was one of triumph. He had finished the work which the Father had given him to do; he had been loyal from first to last. R4173:3, 5030:2, 2317:3, 1816:4
The giving of his life at thirty years in consecration was finished at Calvary. R4536:1, 5622:3, 5061:1, 4969:6, 4173:3; OV383:3
The laying down his life, surrendering it, sacrificing it, permitting it to be taken from him. Nothing more could be laid down than was there laid down--a ransom, a corresponding price, for Father Adam. Eii Our Lord's last breath, with all his remaining strength, was exhausted in his effort to utter with a loud voice that last grand truth, "It is finished." R931:2
Our Lord's earthly mission had been accomplished. He came to die to redeem the death-condemned race of Adam. With his dying breath, expiring, he could say that he had finished the work. R2474:5, 2317:3
The Lord Jesus died, not as a convict, but as a sacrifice for the sin of the world. His was a sacrificial death, and began at Jordan when he presented himself in full consecration, and was finished when he died upon the cross three and one-half years later. Q764:4; R5847:2, 4657:5
He had "poured out his soul unto death," "made his soul an offering for sin," (Isa. 53:10, 12) and permitted his life to be taken from him. These things had all been prefigured in the type. R5085:3
The substitute, the corresponding or equivalent price for the life of Adam and all who lost life through him, was paid. R931:5
And thus "made an end of sin," (Dan. 9:24) made full and complete reconciliation toward God for the iniquity of men. B68
Just before his crucifixion he had said, "I have a baptism to be accomplished and how am I straitened until it be finished." (Luke 12:50) R4173:3; HG262:5; Q277:2
His baptism into death was finished. OV242:4; R5847:2, 5621:1, 5104:2
"I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." ( John 17:4) R931:3
This did not mean that our Lord had finished all the work of the Divine Plan, for both the work of calling out the Bride and presenting her blameless, and the work of the Millennial age were yet future. Q277:2
He had not finished the work of blessing the world, but merely his own personal sacrifice was finished. CR367:2; R931:5; Q177:T, 277:2
We are to recognize a difference between providing the ransom-price and giving, or appropriating, or delivering it. It was merely provided at the time when Jesus died. R5880:3
The other side of the great work of atonement yet remains, the converting of the world to God. R931:6
We rejoice that the great sacrifice has been finished (especially in view of the fact that the heavenly Father subsequently declared that it was finished acceptably) realizing that there is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1) R2474:5
Jesus had finished the laying down of the ransom-price; he had fully provided the ransom-price. R5880:3, 4964:4, 2474:5, 1453:2, 931:5
In opposition to the view that our Lord is now making the ransom; that since his ascension he has been expiating the sins of the world in heaven, a work that will not be finished until the end of the Millennial age. R1453:2; E429
Bowed his head – Probably still under the cloud of separation from God, but with the realization of the meaning of the experience. R3563:1
Gave up the ghost – Apparently he died by the actual bursting of his heart. It is the tendency of deep grief to interfere with the circulation of the blood and to cause a pressure upon the heart. R3563:4
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| 31 The Jews therefore, that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for it was the preparation, (for the day of that sabbath was a great day,) demanded of Pilate that their legs might be broken and they taken away. |
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| 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first and of the other that had been crucified with him; |
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| 33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs, |
He was dead already – He died of a broken heart. R4173:5, 3563:4, 2316:6
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| 34 but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water. |
Pierced his side – Before regenerating the world, God has arranged that first from the wound in Christ's side, figuratively, an elect Church shall be formed to be his companion and joint-heir in his Kingdom--the second Eve. R5141:5, 90:1
Blood and water – A positive proof that death, dissolution, had taken place. R2476:2
The separation of the watery portion of the blood gave proof that he was already dead, and had been dead for some time; for had he not been dead, the flow would have been red blood. R198:1*, 3903:2
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| 35 And he who saw it bears witness, and his witness is true, and he knows that he says true that ye also may believe. |
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| 36 For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, Not a bone of him shall be broken. |
Not be broken – Provision was made that the Passover sacrifice was not to be divided. It was to be eaten whole. Not a bone was to be broken. It represented, not Christ and the Church, but Christ alone in his sacrifice. (Ex. 12:46) SM559:2
One of many prophetic predictions of the Messiah. A58
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| 37 And again another scripture says, They shall look on him whom they pierced. |
Look on him – It will not surprise us if, in the Kingdom, God shall show to the world the body of flesh, crucified for all in giving the ransom on their behalf--not permitted to corrupt, but preserved as an everlasting testimony of infinite love and perfect obedience. B130
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| 38 And after these things Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly through fear of the Jews, demanded of Pilate that he might take the body of Jesus: and Pilate allowed it. He came therefore and took away the body of Jesus. |
Joseph of Arimathea – From all accounts he must have been a noble character. Matthew says he was "a rich man;" Luke says, "a good man and a righteous; who was looking for the kingdom of God;" Mark says he was a "counselor of honorable estate," that is, a member of the Sanhedrin. R4173:5, 3374:6
The solemnity of our Lord's dying moments seems to have given greater courage to some of his friends. R2788:6, 4173:6
When the last member of the Body of Christ has finished his sacrifice, there will doubtless be many of the rich and influential to come forward then, to honor the humble ones and to garnish their sepulchers. R2788:6
Evidently he, Nicodemus, and a few others favorable to Jesus, had been carefully excluded from the session of the Sanhedrin condemning Jesus. R1809:2, 5561:4, 3374:6
But secretly – Had this Joseph of Arimathea not been a rich man he probably would have been fully a follower of Jesus. R4173:5
Much more to their credit and advantage would it be for such as these to come boldly forward in the time of sacrifice and bind their own sacrifices to the horns of the altar. (Psa. 118:27) R2789:1
Too careful of their reputations to avow their interest in Jesus previously, their dilatory acknowledgment of Jesus reminds us of the peculiar difficulties which hinders all persons of wealth and influence. R2788:6
We hope that ultimately he became a disciple and footstep follower in the fullest sense. R4173:6
Besought Pilate – According to Mark, he went "boldly" to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. R4173:5
Took the body – Geike remarks: "It was no light matter Joseph had undertaken; for to take part in a burial at any time would defile him for seven days and make everything unclean which he touched (Num. 19:11), and to do so now involved a seclusion through the whole Passover week." R4173:6
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| 39 And Nicodemus also, who at first came to Jesus by night, came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. |
Also Nicodemus – A member of the Sanhedrin; evidently friendly to Jesus. R3374:6
With pleasure we find Nicodemus, another wealthy and influential ruler of the Jews, associated with Joseph in caring for our Lord's body. R4173:6
This is the third time Nicodemus comes into the Gospel records: first, visiting Jesus by night ( John 3); second, interposing on Jesus' behalf ( John 7:44-52); and here, "improving one last opportunity for service." R4173:6
Myrrh and aloes – Aromatic and preservative, supposedly used by the Jews in wrapping up the dead. R4174:1
We should bring our flowers to cheer and comfort in life and not wait until death has prevented an appreciation of these. R4174:1
An hundred pound – A hundred Roman pounds, 67 pounds of our weight. R4174:1
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| 40 They took therefore the body of Jesus and bound it up in linen with the spices, as it is the custom with the Jews to prepare for burial. |
To bury – Apparently, Jesus' declaration that he would rise the third day was not appreciated by his followers. R2476:3
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| 41 But there was in the place where he had been crucified a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. |
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| 42 There therefore, on account of the preparation of the Jews, because the tomb was near, they laid Jesus. |
Preparation day – The Jewish Sabbath begins just as the "Day of Preparation" closes, at 6:00 p.m. Friday night. R4212:5*
Nigh at hand – The tomb in which it is supposed he was buried is within a stone's throw of the supposed location of the cross. R3374:6
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