#12: AC - suffered under Pontius Pilate

Intro:

J. Gresham Machen is quoted as saying: “‘Christ died’ - that is history. ‘Christ died for our sins’ - that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity.”

The 2nd stanza of the Apostles’ Creed proceeds from Christmas to Good Friday to Easter.  As we continue through the Apostles’ Creed - we are now at the line:  Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

Today - we’ll untangle the events of Good Friday.

Key points:

• Background
• The trial
• The cross

Scripture quoted:

• Matthew, chapters 21-28
• Mark, chapters 11-16
• Luke, chapters 19-24
• John, chapters 12-21
• Isaiah, chapters 52-53

More sources / notes:

• Martin Hengel, Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross

Connect: linktr.ee/3onefive

Transcript

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Gersha Machin's quote is saying, Christ died, that is history. Christ died for our sins, that is doctrine. Without these two elements joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity. Gustin, also on the top of Christ's death on the cross, says this. If he had been unwilling to be deformed, you would never have got back to the form you lost. So he hung on that cross, deformed, but his deformity was our beauty. Welcome to 315. Here we talk apologetics, biblical studies, worldview, just one point, 15 minutes or less. I'm John Oliver. The second stanza of the Apostles' Creed, it proceeds from Christmas to Good Friday to Easter. And as we continue through this series on the Apostles' Creed, we're now at the line suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. So today we'll entangle the events of Good Friday. Now, all four Gospels give an account of the trial and crucifixion. Matthew, Mark, and Luke essentially devote about a third of their text to the last week of Jesus' life. When it comes to the Gospel of John, almost half of that text is dedicated to the last week of Jesus' life. As we walk through this material, I hope to impress upon you that we're talking about real people, real events in space and time. So from the Gospel accounts, what do we know about the events leading up to the cross? We read of the account that after Jesus told the parables of the tenets, that when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this parable, they perceived that Jesus was speaking about them. And though they sought to arrest him, they feared the crowds because the people thought him to be a prophet. Then Luke gives us this point, that they watched him, and they sent spies who pretended to be sincere, so that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and the jurisdiction of the governor. So in that account we read that the Pharisees and Scribes asked him about taxes, and the Sadducees tried to give him a riddle concerning the law of Moses and the resurrection. But both groups were humbled by Jesus' wisdom. Elsewhere we read of other incidences. For example, when Jesus drove out those selling goods at the temple, we read that the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy Jesus, for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. But John may give us the clearest insight of what was going on. And he writes, So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, What are we doing? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. And from the account in Matthew we also read, So they plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and to kill him, but they said, Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. In this thread we find that the religious rulers were afraid of how the crowds would react if Jesus were arrested during the day while he was teaching. They knew if they were going to act, they were going to have to act by stealth to rid themselves of this Jesus. Then one of the twelve disciples, whose name was Judas Iscot, went to the chief priest and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment Judas Iscariot sought an opportunity to betray Jesus. And as we know, as documented in the Gospels, Judas betrayed Jesus in the garden of Gesetamine to a group with clubs and swords were sent by the chief priests and the elders of the people, at night and away from the crowds. And under the cover of night they led Jesus to a group gathered for this trial. The high priest, the chief priest, the elders, and the scribes. The high priest here we're told is Annas, the father in law of Caiphus, and it's here that Annas questions Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. During this time Jesus responds with, I've spoken openly to the world. I've always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I've said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? All those who have heard what I've said, they know what I said. So after this question, Jesus, who is bound, is led from Annas to Caipus, who was the high priest that year. This is about sunrise, probably just before six AM. Now just to clarify, possible point of confusion, the Mosaic Law allowed for only one high priest for life. But it appears that during this time in Jewish history, as we have two men referred as high priests, Annas, who was the previous high priest, and Caiphus, the current high priest, it's possible that the role during this time in Jewish history may have expanded to include diplomatic responsibilities. So it's here, soon after sunrise, and Jesus is before Caiphus. Mark tells us, Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witnesses against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witnesses against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands. Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. Now, among this there's just a bit of subtle humor. There is no aligned testimony against Jesus, and without aligned testimony, charges cannot be made against Jesus, even it appears at a secret trial. And then we read, and the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? In other words, he was trying to find a way to provoke Jesus to be emboldened against these lies. But Jesus, knowing this, remained silent. Next, the high priest asked that first order question, the primary question, the foundational question. Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus did not deny who he was. He said, I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. At this, Jesus is charged with blasphemy, and the guards begin to hit him and spit on him. The council conferred, there in that early morning, and then they sent Jesus on to Pilate. Now, when the Pharisees show up to Pilate with Jesus, the Pharisees change their charges. The charges are now no longer blasphemy, and they begin to accuse Jesus, saying, We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Now, as history tells us, Pilate is no friend of the Jews, and the Jewish leaders knew that Pilate had no interest in their religious affairs, so the council of priests created new charges that they thought would get Pilate's attention. One, misleading the Jewish nation, two, forbidding tribute to Caesar, and three, setting himself up as a king, someone to compete with Caesar. But initially we're told that Pilate, in short, just didn't care. In John 18, we read, Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law. But the Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. In other words, the Pharisees wanted Jesus to be gone, and the only way to do it was to have him executed, and they knew for that execution to be lawful, according to Roman rule in which they were subject, the Romans would have to do it. Now after questioning Jesus, Pilate were told didn't find him guilty of anything. But learning that he was from Galilee, sent him over to Herod, who had jurisdiction over Galilee and happened to be in Jerusalem at that time. This is Herod Antipos, the same Herod who had John the Baptist beheaded. Herod, of course, found no reason to have Jesus executed either. Herod then sent Jesus back to Pilate. Now, a note on this Pilate. History describes this fellow as a man of very inflexible disposition, as exceedingly angry, and in all times a man of most ferocious passions, and that he also had a habit of insulting others cruelly and murdering people untried and uncondemned. This same Pilate saw no reason to press charges or to execute Jesus. So Pilate, discerning the jealousy of the Pharisees, decided to release Jesus. We're then told in John that the Jews cried out, If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. Again, this is one of the charges that the Jews had fabricated when they brought Jesus before Pilate. By this time it appears that some crowd had now gathered outside the Predatorium where Pilate conducted his business. So Pilate appeals to the crowd. Instead of making the decision himself, he decides to crowdsource it. It appears that there had been this custom to release a prisoner each year at the time of the Passover in that region. So Pilate offers up Jesus and Barabbas as the two candidates for release. Now Barabbas, as we're told, had been arrested and prisoned on charges of insurrection and murder. The Jewish priests, desperate to rid themselves of this Jesus, were told persuade the crowd to choose Barabbas. And it appears it's not long before the crowd chooses Barabbas for freedom and demands judgment on Jesus. And we're told they begin to yell, crucify him. So Pilate, trying to keep the peace, decides it's better to send an innocent man to the cross than to deal with a mob. And about 9 a.m. Jesus was led to the cross and put on it. Now as for crucifixion itself, I won't go into a lot of details today, but we know a few things about it. It was a particularly cruel form of punishment. Hanging was a lesser penalty as the gallows killed the victim immediately, but this process of crucifixion was designed to prolong suffering before death. We have a particular image of crucifixion through retelling of Jesus' death, but as it turns out there was little in the way of a normal process, if you will. But there were a few things that were common. The Romans were known for flogging prior to crucifixion. The victims were known to carry their own beam to the side of crucifixion, and they would often have their arms outstretched. After that, and I quote, crucifixion was a punishment in which the caprice and sadism of the executioner were given full reign. As for this process of flogging, as we understand it, it consisted of braided leather that had bits of metal and bone woven into it, and this would create both bruising and would tear the flesh of the person being flogged, and this flogging would have extended from the shoulders down the back of the legs. In Rome, crucifixion was considered the highest penalty and was reserved for crimes such as desertion to the enemy, betraying secrets, incitement to rebellion, murder, prophecy about the welfare of rulers, magic, and theft. It was usually inflicted on those in lower social classes and generally not for Roman citizens. It was often used as a deterrent because if you saw someone crucified, you certainly did not want to be crucified. As for the actual act of crucifixion, it was designed to make it difficult to breathe by putting a person's body in just such a position that it would slump under its own weight, compressing the lungs and the diaphragm. And really the only leverage points the person had to pull themselves upright to take a fuller breath of air were those points that were run through with spikes. As you can imagine, this led to excruciating pain, and this pain only amplified the weariness and suffering of the person being crucified. So through exhaustion, suffocation, and blood loss, crucifixion was designed to kill. So we read that Jesus was led to the cross about 9 AM. And then in three of the four accounts, we read of darkness that covered the land from about noon to three. In other words, a bit longer than your average solar eclipse. And about the ninth hour of the day, or about three PM, Jesus cried out and died. And then, at evening, we read of Joseph, a wealthy man from Arimathea, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate approved, and Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own tomb, which had been cut in the rock. As we read, he rolled a large stone in front of the entrance and went home. So we read of the historical event of Jesus' crucifixion. But we have to ask, why did Jesus go to the cross? To answer that, we have to go back to the beginning, back to the beginning of time and space. Let's start with Genesis. God loved, God created, God created man and woman, and said it was very good. And we read that the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. But Ab and Eve rebelled and chose sin and condemnation rather than God's command. And this rebellion brought the judgment of death to the image bearers of God. And as Paul writes to the Romans, the wages of sin is death. But God, from his love, instead of condemning the entire human race to death, promised a redeemer, and at the divinely appointed time God acted on that promise. John three, sixteen, seventeen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Some seven hundred years before Jesus' crucifixion, Isaiah prophesied about this. 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. God's promise from that faithful day in the Garden of Eden is fulfilled by Jesus in the form of a man who died on that cross, who died for the ungodly and reconciled saints back to a right relationship with God. But when we come to this event in history, we don't despair of the cross. Jesus does not bring us to this point to despair. We're to come to the cross humbly and thankful. For we know that we deserve to be eternally condemned. We know that we're to be eternally separated and away from the beauty of God. But Christ bore that sin on our behalf on that cross. We don't understand exactly what happened there, but we know that our sin at that moment had been lifted from us. And Jesus' perfect righteousness and perfect love was given to the saints from all eternity past to all eternity future. Grace and forgiveness freely given. And so Paul writes, how could there be anything more important than the good news of Jesus and Him crucified? The cross is the apex of history. It is the culmination of salvation. God's people look to this as the second most important moment in history. And so what's the most important moment in history? Well, that would be Jesus' second coming, and we're still waiting for that. Hey, thanks for listening. Check out the show notes for links and more information. Until next time.