Crucifixion! – The Spirit of Grace
.. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23
And how is this the Spirit of Grace?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that He might suffer and die on a Cross for sinners like us, that we should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com – on Christ’s Crucifixion & John 3:16
The Apostle John presents the Good News of Jesus Christ in light of the love of God the Father.
Yes, the LORD of Old Testament Scripture to which John will point IS the Almighty God who must judge sin! Yet John testifies of Jesus who reveals God as the Father, the One of relationship who willingly shows mercy for the sake of the Son and saves sinners like you and me by grace.
A brief reintroduction to John
John had unique access to witness the questioning of Jesus by the High Priests of Jerusalem. At the beginning of our journey through the Gospel of John we introduced the Apostle, this youngest Son of Zebedee who we now know was also known in the house of Herod.
It is important to note here that the Apostle John later became the last surviving Disciple of Jesus Christ, living more than fifty years more until nearly the next century.
John wrote the gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia Minor when he was advanced in age (Against Heresies 2.22.5; 3.1.1) – source
John’s Good News is NOT a News Alert to our phone, a BREAKING NEWS HEADLINE interrupting our life at home or even a well-researched story for an Ephesus News Courier.
The Apostle, therefore, has not written the Gospel of John as events unfolded at the horrific scene of the crime of Jesus’ Crucifixion.
In Conclusion
The beloved Apostle and recognized authority of witness to these historical events some decades ago will soon assure the reader of John’s Good News (Gospel): Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
.. but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:31 ESV
John now begins the conclusion of his Gospel even before the climax of the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.
Intermingled with John’s conclusive evidence, he includes reporter-like facts (which we will address in a later post), but his purpose now is to reveal why Jesus did some of what the Lord came to accomplish.
Every mention of Scripture (of course) refers to the Old Testament. John links the events of Jesus’ crucifixion to Old Testament prophesy.
John 19:
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. 3 And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face.
Isaiah 50:
6 I gave My back to those who strike Me,
And My cheeks to those who pull out My beard;
I did not hide My face from insults and spitting.
7 For the Lord God helps Me,
Therefore, I am not disgraced;
Therefore, I have made My face like flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
14 It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon…
17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.
This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, John tells us.
Scripture includes more than the Law, which Jesus promises will be satisfied; but also the Psalms (or songs of worship), historical scrolls and also writings of the Prophets who Jerusalem’s religious leaders seldom heeded and like now, rarely taught.
Here is this Scripture, a Psalm most descriptive of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Psalm 22:
READ ALL of Psalm 22, if you dare. And looking upon the scene of the Place of the Skull, with Jesus’ Blood pouring forth from His broken Body on the middle Cross, know His suffering for our sin endured for the grace of God’s love.
18 אֲסַפֵּ֥ר כָּל־עַצְמוֹתָ֑י הֵ֥מָּה יַ֝בִּ֗יטוּ יִרְאוּ־בִֽי׃
18 They divide my garments among them,
And they cast lots for my clothing.
This is what the soldiers did, John tells us.
John 19:
28 After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.”
Psalm 69:
21 They also gave me a bitter herb in my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
31 Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath…
32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him.
33 When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead.
John 19:
Jesus’s Side Pierced
34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.
Isaiah 53:
The Suffering Servant
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
5 But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
John’s Testimony is True
Jesus replied [to Pilate]. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
“What is truth? ” said Pilate.
John 18:37b-38 CSB
The Apostle here answers Pilate’s earlier question before he pronounced the sentence of DEATH ON A CROSS for Christ Jesus.
John 19:35 He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth.
John 19:
36 For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of his bones will be broken.
37 Also, another Scripture says: They will look at the one they pierced.
Psalm 34:
But the Lord rescues him from them all.
20 He protects all his bones,
Not one of them is broken.
Zechariah 12:
12:10 וְשָׁפַכְתִּי עַל־בֵּית דָּוִיד וְעַל יוֹשֵׁב יְרוּשָׁלִַם רוּחַ חֵן וְתַחֲנוּנִים וְהִבִּיטוּ אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר־דָּקָרוּ וְסָפְדוּ עָלָיו כְּמִסְפֵּד עַל־הַיָּחִיד וְהָמֵר עָלָיו כְּהָמֵר עַֽל־הַבְּכֽוֹר׃
Here is John’s Gospel GOOD NEWS of Scripture fulfilled.
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10 NASB
The Spirit of Grace
John began his Good News speaking of grace. He begins his conclusion by quoting Zechariah’s imagery of the Spirit of grace and of supplication.
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
John 1:16-17 NASB
Yet rather than supposing that we know what grace is, let’s look at grace through John’s eyes.
Technical NOTE on Strong's Concordance linked here. H-#'s = Hebrew equivalent & G-#'s = Greek equivalent
χάρις – charis
Even Pilate would share some understanding of this Greek concept of grace.
- that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
- of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
- (This, of course, is that love of the Lord Jesus which John frequently shares freely as grace.)
John later greets his fellow beloved believers in his second letter (mailed in about A.D. 90–95):
Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
About 5-10 years earlier in about A.D. 80–90 John would have had his Gospel delivered to these same saints of the churches where he quotes Zechariah (from about 520 BC, five centuries after David and before Christ), whose name means: “The LORD remembers.”
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace..,” John encourages from Scripture, as one who witneesed and had mourned for his beloved friend Jesus near the foot of the Cross.
chen – חֵן
The Hebrew meaning of grace from Zechariah understood by Jews is:
- favour, grace, elegance, kindness, acceptance, (even beauty, preciousness or gratitude)
You are fairer than the sons of men;
Psalm 45:2 – A Song Celebrating the King’s Marriage.
Grace H2580 is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
The Spirit of Supplication
.. and of supplication, which John adds from the prophet Zechariah,
Do we even know what that is?
ἱκετηρία –hiketēria
- an olive branch
- supplication
Hebrews 5:
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
tachanuwn– תַּחֲנוּן
- earnest prayer:—intreaty, supplication.
- supplication for favour
Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
And give heed to the voice of my supplications!
Grace by God in the Person of Christ Jesus
John began his Gospel by hope in the Messiah who was hung on a Cross.
No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.
John 3:13-15 NASB
As Jesus gave up His Spirit while John and other witnesses sat beneath the Bloodied Cross with the corpse of their Messiah and Savior they must have wondered why.
John 3:35–36 “.. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
“It is finished.”
Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit…
They will look at the one they pierced.
The Gospel of John 19:30b,37b NASB
To be continued...
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