THE KING OF THE JEWS IS CRUCIFIED
(Suggested Reading: Chapter 23)
The Sanhedrin had become the seat of Satan's power, for it led Christ away to the Roman governor. Official religion is always closer to Satan than the civil power which it manipulates. This comment applies to all the religions of the world, whose influence over the civil power is vast. Even communism is a religion. The heart of man cannot live in a vacuum. If man will not serve God, he must serve Satan, for he is a servant. When Christianity became corrupted, it was no better than the Sanhedrin. The Lord says to the angel of the Church in Pergamos, "I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is" Rev. 2:1313I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. (Revelation 2:13). Religion without Christ is worthless, as we see here.
The Lord Before Pilate and Herod—23:1-25
The Lord's enemies now press false accusations before Pilate. The first charge, that of perverting the nation, was uppermost in their minds. What they meant was that the Lord exposed their shallowness before the people and so undermined their usurped authority over them. Pilate, like Gallio, "cared for none of these things" Acts 18:1717Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things. (Acts 18:17). Their second charge, "forbidding to give tribute to Caesar" was false, for the Lord had said, "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." Pilate questions the Lord briefly and quickly senses the true state of things. Though a cruel man himself 13:1 he disliked finding in others the cruelty he found in himself. Three times Pilate declares that he found no fault in Christ 23:4, 23:14, 23:22 a solemn witness to the Jews. A politically sensitive man, he looks for a way to release Jesus without offending the Jews. He knew that they had led Jesus to him because the Romans did not allow them to inflict capital punishment, but he had found no reason to put Him to death. So he sends Him to Herod, for He belongs to his jurisdiction.
The Lord had compared Himself to a mother hen who would gather her chicks— Jerusalem— and Herod to a fox who went about to destroy. Now the Lord appears before the fox, and rebukes him by remaining silent. The chief priests and scribes vehemently accuse the Lord. Herod and his soldiers mock Him, but His composure is unaltered. He is dressed in a gorgeous robe and returned to Pilate. God disallows Pilate's act of political expediency. God had set the Roman Empire up as the last form of Gentile government in the world and its responsibility to give a righteous trial to Christ cannot be avoided.
Pilate is disturbed. Even though Herod had mocked Christ, he had found Him innocent. He calls together the rulers and tells them that both he and Herod have found Christ guiltless. Yet there is a subtle irony in Luke's remark that "the same day"— that is, the day Herod mocked Christ by dressing Him in a gorgeous robe and sending Him back to Pilate— Pilate and Herod who had been enemies, became friends. They could unite against Christ, but not until they had both admitted He was guiltless. Pilate will make a confession to them— even though Christ had done nothing wrong, he would punish Him and release Him. As soon as they hear of the possibility of releasing Christ, they cry out, "away with this Man and release unto us Barabbas." Tradition permitted the release of a prisoner at the feast. Barabbas was imprisoned for murder. His name means "son of his father." Truly he was the son of his father, the devil, who "was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth" John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44). But the world began with Cain, who was a murderer; morally it ends at the Cross when the world preferred another murderer to Christ. But the blood of Christ speaks better things than that of Abel Heb. 12:2424And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:24). Abel's blood cried to God for vengeance; Jesus' blood speaks of peace and pardon. The Jews demand that Christ be crucified and shout aloud until Pilate gives way. Just as Pilate and Herod, former enemies, had both united against Christ, so the Jews unite with their hated conquerors, the Romans. Caesar is preferred to Christ, Barabbas to the King of Israel! The disunity of the world ends. The uniting force is common hatred of Christ.
The Crucifixion—23:26-46
Luke gives us only the barest details of the crucifixion. He presents the grace of God to sinners in his account. He paints a great moral picture the bearing of the crucifixion on the Gentiles and how it reaches and affects the heart.
On the way to the Cross, Simon and the daughters of Jerusalem are in contrast. The women lament Jesus' fate, showing Him the pity and mercy which should characterize women. But their condescending pity implies a superiority of position which fails to recognize Him as their King. So He turns to them and tells them to lament for themselves and their children. This is a veiled allusion to the fate that was to befall their children at the siege of Jerusalem later. What a contrast to the angel's words to Mary at the beginning: "blessed art thou among women" 1:28 and the testimony of a certain woman: "blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked" 11:27. All that is naturally fair is now just part of the nation under judgment "behold the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck" 23:29. Christ was the only green tree, full of life the Jews were dry trees, dead and lifeless, like bones bleached in the sun. This is all in marked contrast to Simon, who says nothing but carries the Lord's Cross. His sons are found in the book of life— see Mark 15:21,21And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. (Mark 15:21) Rom. 16:1313Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. (Romans 16:13).
Luke simply records the fact that Jesus was crucified on a center cross together with two thieves, one on His right hand, the other on His left. The Romans did not crucify these men for simple theft. They were guerrilla soldiers who stole to finance their rebellion against the Roman occupation of the land. Jesus is led to the place called "skull." Man's brain is located in his skull. That is what makes him great in the world. It is picture of death putting an end to all that.
The Story of the Two Thieves
Luke records the opening cry of the Cross here, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Here is the answer to the infidel's question, "Why did God allow sin?" Would a great artist paint a picture in white paint on a white canvas? Certainly not. Then, why should God? Sin is in contrast to God. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. But when God dwelt alone in past distant eternal ages, who could know Him? None. He must remain unknown and unknowable. The holy angels shouted for joy during creation Job 38:77When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:7) but understood only His might and power. Only when we see the Creator of all things allowing His creature to clothe Him with a gorgeous robe to humiliate Him and even allowing the creature to crucify Him, does the outline of the great painting of Scripture live before our eyes. It took sin— the contrast with God revealed in Christ— to make us know God. But the Holy Spirit, the Great Artist of the Scriptures, completed the outline of the painting with the story of the Cross. If God allowed sin, only He could put it away. He did this by making His own Son sin on the Cross and heaping on Him the sins of everyone who will trust in Him. In this way, God is righteous in saving the vilest sinner, for "the wages of sin is death" Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) and "Christ died for the ungodly" Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6). Who, then, can say, "Why did God allow sin?"— seeing He has put it away righteously? And if sinners had never risen up against His Son and crucified Him, what would we have known of the revealed Father's love expressed in the words of His well-beloved Son, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"?
Man's reaction to these words is now grouped morally by Luke. The soldiers react by dividing up the Lord's clothes. The people look at Him. The rulers mock Him, acknowledging the truth that He had saved others. "Let Him save Himself," they gloat but His love to sinners was too great for that.
"Himself He could not save,
He on the cross must die
Or mercy could not come
To ruined sinners nigh.
Yes, Christ the Son of God must bleed
That sinners might from sin be freed.”
The soldiers join the mockery, repeating the words of the Jewish rulers like parrots without understanding them. They had been merely tools in their hands. Over the Cross a sign was erected in the three languages of the ancient world. This sign contradicted the doubting railings of the rulers and the soldiers by stating publicly what they questioned: "This is the King of the Jews." So the sign over the Cross confirmed the Lord's words, "for they know not what they do." But what about the first part of His prayer, "Father forgive them"? In the largest sense, this prayer was answered in resurrection. But there is also a direct answer here.
Luke tells us that one of the malefactors picked up the words of the rulers and the soldiers, saying, "if Thou be Christ, save Thyself" and then added something more, "and us." The Spirit of God works a great work in the soul of the other thief. He asks his fellow prisoner why he doesn't fear God, considering what has happened to him. Being crucified, he has nothing more to fear from man. But death, and after death the judgment, brings in the fear of God. This is the beginning of wisdom Psa. 111:1010The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever. (Psalm 111:10). Who is this man who can talk of God after a life like his? Listen— "And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds." Thus he condemns the other thief. Next, he condemns the world and justifies Christ— "but this Man hath done nothing amiss.”
How God strengthens the man who repents and turns to Him through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, at the very jaws of death, the Holy Spirit puts words of amazing truth into his mouth truth even the Apostles hadn't yet understood. "Lord," he says, now "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit" 1 Cor. 12:33Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. (1 Corinthians 12:3); "remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." What faith that took! The sign over His Cross said that He was a King. But He wears a crown of thorns— not a crown of gold. And what kingdom can He have, He Who is about to die?
“Remember me"— he had heard those words, "Father forgive them" and he had railed on Christ at the beginning like the other thief Matt. 27:4444The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. (Matthew 27:44). "When Thou comest into Thy kingdom." He looked beyond the period of nearly two thousand years, during which time the King has been rejected, on to His coming earthly kingdom. The Lord's answer was swift and sure, "verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in paradise." Paradise had once been Eden, but when man sinned, the Lord drove him out of there and into the world. Now man drives the Lord out of the world and into Paradise. But He will not go there alone— to that enduring heavenly paradise into which sin cannot enter. He will have this thief with Him. Nothing more is said as to the other thief. His challenge was, "save Thyself and us." Before his eyes, his fellow had been saved, his challenge met. Paradise is only open to those who believe on Christ.
"Where deceiver ne'er can enter
Sin soiled feet have never trod,
Free our peaceful feet may venture
In the Paradise of God.”
The Death and Burial of the Lord—23:44-56
And now everything that God has ordained in heaven and earth must unite to show Whose death is taking place. Light gives place to darkness at noon-time, fulfilling the prophecy, "I will cause the sun to go down at noon and I will darken the earth in the clear day" Amos 8:99And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: (Amos 8:9). The darkening of the sun is the temporary blotting out of the great light of the fourth day Gen. 1.
"Well may the sun in darkness hide
And shut His glories in
When the incarnate Maker died
For man, His creature's sin.”
Then the veil of the Temple was rent in the midst. By this action God morally set aside the old religion of Judaism. The veil represented this religion because it shut man out from the Presence of God. The death of Christ lets man into God's Presence. So Jesus must die now. With a loud voice, He cries, "Father into Thy hands I commit My spirit, and having said this, He gave up the ghost.”
Luke gave us a moral picture of those who surrounded the Cross before Jesus died. Now he gives us a moral picture of those who surround the Cross after Jesus died. First, there is the Centurion, representing not only the power of Rome, but of Pilate. Pilate had proclaimed Christ innocent; the Centurion does more— he proclaims Him a righteous Man. The people are in consternation. Deceived by their religious leaders, they lament what has taken place, but cannot understand it. Then we have others, of whom we read, "and all His acquaintance, and the women that followed Him from Galilee stood far off, beholding these things." Now a man arises who followed Christ "far off" in life, but is made bold by the outrage of His death. This is Joseph of Arimathaea. He had stood against the Sanhedrin's judgment. Now he goes boldly to Pilate and asks for the body of Jesus. While the great Apostles do nothing, this man enters the lion's mouth— his heart moved at what has taken place. He was given by God the immense honor of taking the Lord's sacred body down from the Cross. Then he wrapped it in linen and laid it in the tomb he had purchased for his own use. He was a rich man to have such a tomb, quarried out of the rock. His action fulfilled the prophecy in Isa. 53:9,9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9) which, properly translated, reads "and [men] appointed His grave with the wicked, but He was with the rich in His death." The meaning of this Scripture is that men wanted to bury Christ with the two thieves, but God thwarted their plans. Instead, He was buried with the rich— the mark of God's approval among His earthly people. This was another sign to those who would not see.
Finally, the Spirit notes, "the women also, who came with Him from Galilee." These women had followed Him faithfully since they were healed of evil spirits. They "ministered unto Him of their substance" 8:3. They continue this ministry following the Lord's death. They "beheld the sepulcher; and how His body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." This conclusion is full of encouragement to us. Their spiritual understanding was limited to death— which they did not realize could not hold the Lord of glory— and to the keeping of the Sabbath. Their spices and ointments so carefully prepared, were not to be used. But God records the love of the heart and the correctness of the motive. Nothing done for Christ is ever wasted. For nearly two thousand years, believers have been reading the story of their devoted hearts.
The Application of the Death of Christ to Our Lives
Christianity is a love affair. "We love Him "because He first loved us" 1 John 4:1919We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19). Nothing angers God more than the abuse of grace. As Christians, we are not to repeat the sins of our unconverted days— the sins which made the blood of Christ necessary. Our bodies are the Temples of the Holy Spirit, and we are not to take the Holy Spirit where He would be grieved. A school teacher told me a story in this connection which illustrates these truths. In the course of his education, he discovered to his dismay that a fellow student, a girl who was popular at the school dances and who was leading an immoral life, professed to be a Christian. He decided to speak to her and reprove her. She brushed aside his rebuke, saying to him, "once saved, always saved. I can do what I like." This is the sin of the Nicolaitans which arose in the primitive Church and is hateful to God Rev. 2:66But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. (Revelation 2:6). The next time the school teacher saw this girl, she was in her coffin, taken away by the judgment of God. All believers are subject to the overruling discipline of God if they allow sin to reign in the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
By way of contrast, I like to think of a Christian lady I knew who was "full of the Holy Spirit." Even in her old age, she was giving out tracts and speaking to everyone about the Lord. Her face was like sunshine. This dear lady was an accomplished musician who had studied music in the best academies of the old world. Her pupils learned more than music when they went to her, however. And how my heart is warmed when I think back on the happy evening when, in her husband's home, she played "Lord Jesus Come" on the violin. When her end approached, she was conscious of a deep peace. Her nephew, a dear Christian man, went to visit her on her deathbed and came away with these beautiful last words: "My eternal state is perfect.”