“John 19:16-30”

Saturday, June 27, 2020

“So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, ‘JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.’ Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”; but that He said, “I am King of the Jews.”’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be’; this was to fulfill the Scripture: ‘They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.’ Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ From that hour the disciple took her into his own household. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“And He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull” (verse 17). Jesus carried His own cross to Calvary (Golgotha), but that was really our cross He was carrying. We deserved it not Him. The weight of that cross became too much for Him to carry all the way to Calvary’s hill in His weakened condition, and Simon of Cyrene was forced to help (Matthew 27:42). But Jesus carried our sins all alone on that Old Rugged Cross because no one else could take those nails for us and do what He alone had the power to do for us.

“They crucified Him, and with Him two other men” (verse 18). This is one of the multiple fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy written about our Messiah King Savior. Mark 15:27-28 tells us that Jesus was crucified between two robbers to fulfill the Scripture that said, “He was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). Psalm 22:18 was another Old Testament prophecy about the suffering Messiah that was fulfilled at Jesus’ crucifixion (verses 23-24). When those Roman soldiers divided Jesus’ garments among themselves and cast lots for His tunic, they did so without having any prior knowledge of what had been written in the Jewish Old Testament. This proves beyond a doubt that Jesus was the Chosen One sent from heaven.

“It is finished” (verse 30). Jesus did exactly what He came to this earth to do. He completed what He started. There is no promise or prophecy left unfulfilled that Jesus needs to come back to earth to satisfy. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life all the way to the end of His life. When He died on the cross He finished the necessary sacrifice that was required for the forgiveness of the sins of all mankind. When He died on the cross He finished the covenant between God and Israel, contained in the Old Testament, by fulfilling it (Romans 10:4; Colossians 2:14). Soon He would arise from the dead to finish (put an end to) Satan’s plan to keep mankind imprisoned by the fear of death all their lives (Hebrews 2:15). When Jesus comes back for us it will be to raise the dead, destroy the earth and Judge all humanity (John 6:39-40; 12:48; Hebrews 15:23-24).

Please read John 20:1-31 for tomorrow – Jesus is resurrected.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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