Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The day our Lord and Savior died was the darkest day in history of time yet it was the brightest of all days.
Sunday, March 7, 2004
PHI 4:8 From now on, members of the Royal family of God, whatever is true [doctrinal], whatever is honorable [noble or worthy of respect], whatever is just [fair or right],… let your mind dwell on these things.
Just – dikaios = righteous, equitable, fair or just.
There are a lot of injustices in life and unfairness, and if you let your mind dwell on those things, they will drive you mad.
People are going to be unfair and unjust and you must not lower yourself to their level and become unfair and unjust or filled with MAS such as bitterness, hatred, revenge, anger, etc.
No greater example exists for us of one being just and righteous while being treated unjust and unrighteous than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the only celebrity of the Christian faith.
Six = the number of man or humanity; the entire human race was involved in these trials in some way, including you and me.
HEB 12:2-3 Be concentrating on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
A paradox is a seemingly contradictory statement but is true nonetheless.
The day our Lord and Savior died was the darkest day in the history of time, and yet strangely the brightest of all days.
The injustices that nailed Him to the tree, satisfied, strangely enough, the justice of God.
The sinful activities that caused men to turn against Him with a murderous plot that would end His life, proved they were mere instruments in the hand of a sovereign God whose purposes were being carried out, precisely as He planned.
ISA 53:10 But Jehovah was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
There has never been a series of trials conducted in the history of jurisprudence more illegal, unfair, unjust, biased, or shameful.
Because He died, we can live forever.
Because of those unfair treatments leveled against Him, we have the hope and the promises of eternal life, and our sins forgiven.
Any study of our Lord’s death is a bittersweet study, for it represents that which is cruel and ugly and unfair and unjust, yet at the same time that which gives us forgiveness and righteousness and eternal life.
ISA 52:14 Just as there were many who were appalled at Him – His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness –
– NIV
ISA 52:14 They shall see my Servant beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know it was a person standing there.
– TLB
Caiaphas was the ruling high priest whose single agenda was to find Him guilty, not prove him guilty.
It was illegal because it was held at night and based on false witnesses, and because violence and prejudice were allowed in the court.
TLJC was now a pawn in the hands of an unjust prejudiced group of people and a religious system that was determined to take Him to the cross.
70 men who were like our Supreme Court Justices, at least in public.
All charges must be supported by the evidence of two witnesses, independently examined.
For acquittal, a majority of one was all that was necessary. For condemnation, there must be a majority of at least two.
Sentence of death could never be carried out on the day in which it was given. A night must elapse so the court might sleep on it and perhaps their condemnation might turn to mercy.
With blasphemy on their minds, they parade him before Pilate for trial number 4, LUK 23:1-7.
Pilate served as governor of Judea from 26 to 36 AD. He was appointed by Tiberius, the current emperor of Rome, the ruling emperor at the time of the crucifixion of Christ.
Not once do they mention blasphemy when they brought Him before Pilate, because for the Romans blasphemy meant nothing because the Romans had many gods.
MAT 22:21 “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”
Treason was a basis for capital punishment under Roman law.
TLJC treated him with the ultimate insult, not in rebuking him, but in simply ignoring him.
It was the Father’s plan to bring Him to the cross, that is the paradox of it all.
All the wickedness and all the wrong reasons from the people behind the trial and behind the crucifixion, were merely pawns in the hands of a sovereign God.
PRO 16:4 The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.
They thought they were putting an end to His life when in fact they were giving His life to the world.
MAT 27:19 Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.
*39** He drags the crossbeam along the Via Dolorosa, His route from Pilate’s judgment hall to Calvary.
The victim was pinned to crossbeam. The cross was then lifted up and dropped in a hole and left as he hung there.
Like the thousands of other lambskins stretched in the mid-morning sun that day to prepare for the Passover, so the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, lay stretched beneath the burning skies of Judea.
MAT 27:46 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
2CO 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God took all of our sins, past, present, and future, and poured them out in that moment upon His Son.
As we believe in Him by faith, God takes all of his righteousness and pours it into us.
Such an extreme price for our salvation, calls for such extreme gratitude and obedience to our Lord.
ACT 16:31 Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved,