The Gospel of John Lesson 87 (11-09-14) John 19:28-37

The Gospel of John Lesson 87 (11-09-14)

Lesson 87 – John 19:28-37

So, Jesus gives His final and most important words of instruction to the newly beginning Church, vs. 26 and 27 in John chapter 19, and it says in v. 28 that after doing so now all things were accomplished or done. At this point He had suffered for man’s sin and payment was complete. He had accomplished or performed every detail of God’s will and the duty assigned to Him was done perfectly being fully obedient in all. All that was left at this point was to take His last drink of the bitterness of this life, vs. 28-9, and to willingly give up His spirit to the final blow that this world had to offer which was death.

The world gave Jesus nothing but abuse, pain and difficulty right up to the end. Vs. 28 and 29 is a prophetic fulfillment of Ps. 69:21 which describe how the world treated the Son of God when He had a legitimate request or need as He walked in this world.

Right to the end, when He had a legitimate request or need this world responded with abuse, injury and/or bitter antagonism. For His suffering and dying willingly, those of this world responded not with thanks, but with a jab, a poke, a slap, spit, a whip, a spear, nails, vinegar and in the end the final blow, the worst this world could offer, death. Yet, Jesus willingly received and even embraced the mal-intent that this world threw at Him, knowing that it was part of His sufferings for us and in reality part of our redemption. He got nothing, but He gave it all!

So, in v. 30 Jesus willingly received the final abusive blow that this world had to offer while He was alive, in the end dying for us completing our redemption. In vs. 31-7 we find this world continuing its abuse Him even after His death even when there was no chance of Him defending Himself. They wanted to be sure that they had indeed dealt their final blow to Him making sure that He indeed was dead.

In v. 31 the Jews go to Pilate wanting to get this thing over with as soon as possible, apparently not wanting to mess up or dishonor their religious observances. Think of it! They had just been the instrument and reason that a man was unjustly put to death and now, even now, having no conscious, they want to get on with their religious services naively believing that they could offer them as an offering to God. How blind!

In v. 31 of John chapter 19 they, the Jews, get permission to have the legs broken of all that were still hanging on a cross, which included Jesus. They wanted to be sure that everyone that hung on a cross would be dead so that they could take them down in preparation for their Passover.

Ironically the Jews knew the Law which said that it was a wrong to let a man, person, to be allowed to hang on a tree after death all night, Deut. 22:23-4. Unlike the Romans that used crucifixion as a tool of compliance, giving onlookers a visual example of what would happen to them if they did not comply, the Jews were given a Law and procedure for this sort of thing so as not to use it for their own purposes to manipulate the masses. Death by hanging on a tree, or crucifixion, was God’s department delivered and carried out by man per the instructions of God for the purpose of God’s justice and not man’s purposes. The Jews were right in wanting to bring Him and the others down. They were just wrong in putting Him up there in the first place. So the soldiers were sent forth to do so.

In v. 32 it tells us that there were some that had been crucified that when they went to carry out Pilate’s order that they had not as yet died. As a matter of fact it could appear that not enough time had passed to cause most that had been crucified at the time of Christ’s crucifixion to actually die needing assistance to do so if they were to die and be taken off of the cross before the Sabbath’s observances. This was the case of the two thieves that had been crucified with Jesus. When the soldiers came to them they were both still alive. To hasten the process of death the soldiers would break their legs.

One with an inquisitive mind might ask ‘How would this act of breaking the legs of someone being crucified actually hasten their death?’, ‘What is the mechanism that would actually cause the quickening of their death in doing so?’

At first one might think that the facilitation of the hastening of death in breaking their legs might be from the additional trauma inflicted or additional loss of blood in doing so. However, in most cases this does not appear to be true. If looked at objectively, the cause of death in crucifixion would possibly, and actually probably, be the same as the cause of death in crucifixion after the breaking of one’s legs, the only difference being the time it would take to die.

It is estimated that the time of death during crucifixion would vary considerably from person to person. It is estimated that death from crucifixion would occur anywhere from several hours to several days. In studying the so called art of crucifixion several methods may have been employed obviously yielding different outcomes as far as time and causes of death. Some accounts appear to employ the use of ropes to secure the victim to the upright posts and cross, whereas, other accounts appear to use large and long spike like nails driven through the wrists and feet.

We know from the Biblical account that the type of crucifixion that Jesus suffered was one that used nails to affix or attach Him to the Cross using John chapter 20 verse 25 and Colossians 2:14 as references. In doing so, those preforming the crucifixion would not drive the nails through the fleshy portion of the hands or feet which would easily tear from the weight of the one being crucified, but would instead drive the nails through the bones of the wrist, there being 8 of them bound together by tough fibrous ligaments, and through the feet in like fashion. Attaching the body to the cross in this way would not only allow for the support of weight, but would also keep the individual being crucified from removing himself from the cross due to the larger nail head that wound not fit through the fastening point.

Also, the ability to support the body weight of the person on the cross was most likely facilitated by the use of a block of wood at the feet by which the victim could temporarily relieve the pain on their wrists by painfully pushing up using the block of wood as a brace taking tension off of the nails in their wrists. No matter how you look at it everything about it, and every move, was full of pain. 

Eventually, time would win out and the victim would lose the ability to bear the weight of their body putting most of the weight on the wrists, making this pressure on the nailed wrists constant, causing a neurological reflex to the upper back, causing the victim to be unable to breathe thus initiating suffocation.

It is true that this process could initiate other physiological failures due to the intense pain or unrelenting muscle spasming. These things could in turn affect the heart or possibly other organs.  However, the most common cause of death in crucifixion when being nailed to the cross was asphyxiation or suffocation.

At any rate the two that were crucified with Jesus evidently were still alive when they came to break their legs, but not Jesus. Jesus was already dead. Jesus dying first had nothing to do with the other two being more resilient or stronger. We remember that in v. 30 of this chapter that it said that Jesus Himself gave up His spirit meaning that no man took His life. If they had had to break His legs that would have in turn forced Jesus to die and that He in doing this would not have given up His own spirit. But, it was His choice. He chose to die for us. It was His time, His place and for His purpose. This was a fulfillment of prophesy. It was prophesied that they would not break a bone in His body, Ps. 34:20.

Some because of the resurrection have conjectured that Jesus had actually not died and was not really dead at the time that the soldiers had come to Him to break His legs. However, these soldiers were on assignment and they had a job to do that must be done. Not only was their reputation at stake, but their lives were at stake if they did not carry out their orders.

We can forget all the conjecture about whether or not Jesus was actually dead because the soldier thinking the same thing took care of that detail for us. It says in vs. 33-4 that when the soldiers came to Jesus that first by visual examination He was pronounced dead. But, after the visual exam, the soldier wanting to be sure that He was indeed dead performed the litmus test. He took his spear and it says in v. 34 that he pierced Jesus’ side. In doing so there came out of the pierced area blood and water, or, a clear water like substance. Seeing the blood and water proved that Jesus had died because the blood had separated from the plasma and this does not happen in someone that is still alive. Convinced that Jesus was dead the soldiers went their way. Their job was to be sure that those on the cross were indeed dead. They had accomplished their task, and, in doing so they went their way.

It is interesting that, in all likelihood, the soldiers still most likely would have, or should have, for good measure, broken Jesus’ legs. Just to be sure. But, they did not do so. It tells us in vs. 36 and 37 that the exact details of what ended up happening was before ordained by God to happen exactly as it did. In v. 36 it tells us that His legs were not broken because God had already predicted it in Old Testament scripture to be this way and in v. 37 another scripture predicted that we would look on Him that was pierced. Amazing! In looking at the crucifixion of Christ, what the world saw was Jesus dying subject to the world’s will and demands. But, in reality, Jesus willing suffered and died for our sins knowing what was necessary, dying in His way, His time and for His purpose… for our benefit.