Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
To be so close to Christ and yet reject Him, is to be far away for all eternity.
Thursday March 11, 2004
They would have stoned Him because crucifixion was not a Jewish punishment.
The Jewish people did not use a cross or a tree for capital punishment – consider the odds of the Lord Jesus Christ having to die on a cross by the hands of the Jews.
The prophecy of the blood on 2 sides of the door-posts and over the door speaking of the cross.
EXO 12:7 “Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the top of the door frames of the houses in which they eat it.”
1CO 5:7 “For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”
The prophecy of the brazen serpent being lifted up – NUM 21:9 “And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.” This was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, JOH 3:14; JOH 12:32, HEB 12:2.
JOH 3:14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up [the cross].”
JOH 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
The prophecy of certain events which took place around the Cross, PSA 22:6-8.
LUK 23:35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, slaying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen one.”
The prophecy of His hands and feet being pierced, PSA 22:16.
This was fulfilled throughout the gospels when they nailed His hands and feet to the cross, MAT 27:31,
MAR 15:24.
There was the prophecy of casting lots for His garments. MAT 27:35 “And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots;”
The prophecy that not one of His bones would be broken – PSA 34:20 “He keeps all His bones; not one of them is broken.” JOH 19:34 “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water” JOH 19:36 For these things came to pass, that the scripture might be fulfilled, “not a bone of Him shall be broken.”
The prophecy of the false witnesses – PSA 35:11 Malicious witnesses rose up; they ask Me of things that I do not know. MAR 14:57-58 And some stood up and {began} to give false testimony against Him, saying, We heard Him say, “I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.”
The Old Testament prophecy of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot – PSA 41:9 Even My close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted up his heel against Me.
LUK 22:47-48, While He was still speaking, behold, a multitude came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?”
The prophecy that they would offer The Lord Jesus Christ gall and vinegar –
PSA 69:21 “They also gave Me gall for My food, and for My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.” MAT 27:34 “They gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.”
The prophecy of the physical abuse and humiliation of Jesus –
ISA 50:6 “I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spiting.” MAT 26:67 “Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him.”
The prophecy that He would come to die for our sins to save us –
ISA 53:5 “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” This was fulfilled throughout the entire New Testament,
ROM 5:6-8.
The prophecy that He would be silent as He approached the cross – ISA 53:7 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.”
MAR 15:4 And Pilate was questioning Him again, saying, “Do You make no answer? See how many charges they bring against You!” MAR 15:5 But Jesus made no further answer; so that Pilate was amazed.
The prophecy of His crucifixion – ISA 53:12 “And He was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”
LUK 23:33 “And when they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.” LUK 23:34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
The prophecy of the piercing of Jesus’ side – ZEC 12:10 They will look on Me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.
JOH 19:34 “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.”
The prophecy of the nailing of Jesus’ hands and feet – ZEC 13:6 And one will say to Him, what are these wounds between Your arms? Then He will say, those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.
JOH 20:27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.”
It would be impossible for Jesus to have a kingdom of this world until Satan’s defeat at the Cross.
The kingdom of Christ on earth awaits the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, He has a kingdom of regenerate people – the Church or Body of Christ.
At present, the rulership of Christ is invisible and spiritual.
JOH 17:16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
Those who are the recipients of the truth of salvation, believers in Jesus Christ, hear the voice of the Son of God.
Spiritual blindness and lack of a human spirit make spiritual phenomena impossible to absorb, 1CO 2:14.
I find in Him – in Jesus – no guilt.
The fifth trial before Herod, LUK 23:8-12.
MAT 7:6 Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
The sixth and final trial before Pilate, LUK 23:13-25.
Pilate had said – not once but several times – that Jesus Christ was innocent.
Realizing that Jesus was innocent, Pilate would make it possible to release an innocent Person, get himself off the hook, and help the religious leaders save face.
Pilate was a good Roman governor and an excellent student of Jewish custom, and he knew that it was the custom of the Passover for the Roman government to release to the Jews some notorious prisoner, already condemned to death.
It backfired when the crowd demanded the release of Barabbas, one of the worst gangsters in Jerusalem.
“Don’t release unto us the most wonderful Person who ever lived … release unto us Public Enemy Number One – Barabbas!”
He was a habitual professional criminal, possibly the Number One man of the crime syndicate in that area.
Barabbas = “son of the father.”