THE SUFFERING ON THE CROSS....FROM PSALM 22

Psalm 22 is a stark prophetic message written about 1000 years before the actual Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, on what we now call Good Friday.

It describes in detail what the Messiah suffered in the Body, on the Cross, and what His thoughts were at that pivotal time in all History! 

As we read this, let us therefore keep in mind, not just the fact that it was prophesied 1000 years before it happened, but that Almighty God, the Great Father of Heaven, had this great plan for the Redemption of All Mankind,  way before the first man walked the face of planet Earth. Jesus, the One Son of God, fulfilled that plan and created the narrow path for our own Salvation, on that great and glorious day, called Good Friday. Amen

PSALM 22 (NKJV)

1   My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

Why are You so far from helping Me,

And from the words of My groaning?

2   O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;

And in the night season, and am not silent.

3   But You are holy,

Enthroned in the praises of Israel.

4   Our fathers trusted in You;

They trusted, and You delivered them.

5   They cried to You, and were delivered;

They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.

6   But I am a worm, and no man;

A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

7   All those who see Me ridicule Me;

They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

8  “ He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;

Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

9    But You are He who took Me out of the womb;

You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.

10  I was cast upon You from birth.

From My mother’s womb

You have been My God.

11   Be not far from Me,

For trouble is near;

For there is none to help.

12   Many bulls have surrounded Me;

Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.

13   They gape at Me with their mouths,

Like a raging and roaring lion.

14   I am poured out like water,

And all My bones are out of joint;

My heart is like wax;

It has melted within Me.

15   My strength is dried up like a potsherd,

And My tongue clings to My jaws;

You have brought Me to the dust of death.

16   For dogs have surrounded Me;

The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.

They pierced My hands and My feet;

17   I can count all My bones.

They look and stare at Me.

18   They divide My garments among them,

And for My clothing they cast lots.

19   But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me;

O My Strength, hasten to help Me!

20   Deliver Me from the sword,

My precious life from the power of the dog.

21   Save Me from the lion’s mouth

And from the horns of the wild oxen!

You have answered Me.

22   I will declare Your name to My brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.

23   You who fear the Lord, praise Him!

All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,

And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!

24   For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;

Nor has He hidden His face from Him;

But when He cried to Him, He heard.

25   My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;

I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.

26   The poor shall eat and be satisfied;

Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.

Let your heart live forever!

27   All the ends of the world

Shall remember and turn to the Lord,

And all the families of the nations

Shall worship before You.

28   For the kingdom is the Lord’s,

And He rules over the nations.

29   All the prosperous of the earth

Shall eat and worship;

All those who go down to the dust

Shall bow before Him,

Even he who cannot keep himself alive.

30   A posterity shall serve Him.

It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,

31   They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,

That He has done this.

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CHRIST AND THE CROSS

The account of Good Friday is more than the Redemption of Mankind. It contrasts the fallen depraved nature of humankind with beauty, stark accuracy and the Promise of God’s Word - The Bible.

TEXTS USED: VARIOUS....(INCLUDING):

Isaiah 53 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

53 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender [a]shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should [b]be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of [c]sorrows and acquainted with [d]grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely our [e]griefs He Himself bore,
And our [f]sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
[g]Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was [h]pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our [i]well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us allTo [j]fall on Him.

CLICK HERE FOR REST OF THIS PASSAGE

New American Standard Bible (NASB)Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman FoundationCLICK HERE FOR REST OF THE PASSAGE

HOLY WEEK: - THURSDAY ....."PROPHESY REVEALED, REALITY UNVEILED"

The Ultimate Sacrificial Death on the Cross, of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, was both predicted in the Old Testament and confirmed in the New Testament, sometimes almost word for word!  About 740 years before Jesus gave His Life as a ransom for many, that all the world could be saved, the Prophet Isaiah wrote and prophesied in one of the greatest Chapters of the entire bible – Isaiah 53.

Jesus was the propitiation – the acceptable to God the Father sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, for all time.  Jesus, the Perfect Lamb of God, came meek and humble, yet knew what He taught and the reason for it. While He spoke a few words in front of His corrupt religious accusers and Pilate, He said not a word to the heathen King Herod.  As for Herod, Jesus will have a lot to say to Him on Judgment Day.

Here, we present the Word of God, from selected verses from Isaiah 53 (blue),Matthew Chapter 27 (red),Matthew 28 and 1 Corinthians 15:3, without comment:

ISAIAH 53:

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.

Matthew 27:
11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.” 12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer.  13 Then Pilate *said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” 14 And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.

ISAIAH 53:
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:3
"Christ died for our sins".

ISAIAH 53:.
10 But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

Matthew 28:
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

THE DECK WAS STACKED - 6 ILLEGAL TRIALS IN 6 HOURS

Everything done in western courtrooms had its origins in the Bible.  The system of Justice practiced in most civilized countries of the West for almost 2000 years, came from the Book of Deuteronomy and the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20. From the swearing on the Bible to the calling of witnesses- all were given by God for our current Judeo/Christian paradigm.

Still when the religious authorities, who were persecuting Jesus for allegedly violating the same Law (Torah) that HE gave, brought Him up on the night before they killed Him, they violated every single letter of the Law they claimed to uphold! In less than 24 hours, there were, therefore, six (6) illegal trials conducting against the Messiah by evil men, bent on temporarily getting rid of the Man Who had threatened their corrupt lifestyle.

The deck was stacked against Jesus. Although He went willingly to the Cross to pay the penalty of sin for us, was nonetheless, railroad through a corrupt system. There were six illegal trials under both Jewish and Roman law:

RELIGIOUS TRIALS (BEFORE TEMPLE PRIESTS):
Illegal Religious Trial #1: TRIALS WERE ILLEGAL (AT NIGHT/NO CHARGES): Jesus was arrested at night after being betrayed by Judas and immediately taken to trial in front of a man who had no legal right to question anybody, far less some arrested by the official Temple Guard. Annas was the former high priest with no legal standing AND he was also questioning a man, under this illegal authority, who was not charged with anything.

Illegal Religious Trial #2: FALSE WITNESSES: The second trial, less than two hours after the first corrupt one in front of Annas, was before the real Jewish High Priest - Caiaphas, who was appointed by his father-in-law Annas. It is against ANY law to have false witnesses (Commandment #9). We know from John 8:6 that the religious authorities were looking for something they could use against Jesus to bring a charge against Him. Still the Gospels showed that many of their pharisee priests lied openly about Jesus' teaching even though He did so openly in the Temple for three years.

Illegal Religious Trial #3: PASSOVER: Apart from the fact that the "trials" were conducted at 2 am (night) with no charges and false witnesses, it was against the Law of the Hebrews to conduct a trial on a Feast Day! To wit, it was Passover, the most sacred of days on the Jewish Calendar and which God had instituted into perpetuity for them.  But powerful men, full of hate and acting irrationally, cared nothing about breaking the same Law they claimed to be standing up for.

SECULAR (ROMAN) TRIALS BEFORE PILATE:
Illegal Roman Trial #1:  CHARGES CHANGED: When the Temple priests brought Jesus to Pilate the first time, they had by that time "cooked the books" and changed the charge from "Blasphemy" against God to "treason" because they knew Pilate would not prosecute a religious charge which he knew or cared nothing about.
Illegal Roman Trial #2: FALSE IMPRISONMENT: Pilate violated supposedly civilized European (Roman) law when he kept Jesus under arrest, knowing he was innocent. Jesus did not absolve him of that sin, in fact He told Pilate that those who handed Him over to Pilate had the greater sin. This too will be closed one day, on Judgment Day before the Great White Throne of Judgment when death and hades will be cast into hell forever.
Illegal Roman Trial #3: KANGAROO COURT JUSTICE: This final one was the kicker. Pilate knowingly let an innocent Man be killed. He could wash his hands with all the water in all the oceans, the Blood stains will never come off as the stain was on his soul. He did the bidding of evil "religious" men to save his own temporary powerful status and lost his soul. There was no proof of anything, no evidence presented and still, Pilate allowed Jesus to be sent to the Cross to die. The thing is - He knew the Truth and put it in writing at the top of the Cross for all History to note "Jesus, King of the Jews". What Pilate meant for mocking, God used for the facts of the matter.

VERDICT OF ALL SIX ILLEGAL TRIALS: GUILTY 
Even the verdict was illegal (apart from Pilate's) for the following reasons:
- The Law said the Sanhedrin council should have been polled (like a real jury). This did not happen.
- The Law said that Jesus was supposed to have a defense counsel. None was allowed.
- The Law said there should have been 24 hours before any verdict and sentence and that if the sentence was execution, there was to be a period of waiting of three (3) days before execution, so that the Sanhedrin- the Jewish religious "supreme court" could pray and fast to see if they made the right decision! NONE OF THIS WAS DONE!

Jesus was rushed through this ENTIRE six trial process in less than six hours and was executed by the priests and Pilate in less than 12 hours. But He turned those three (3) days of waiting upside down on its head. He rose from the Dead on the Third Day and has been turning this world upside down for almost 2000 years now!!! As for these illegal trials, all of this will be addressed in God's Courtroom on Judgment Day when the Chief Judge of the Universe will be the same Jesus Whom they did all this to, on that fateful day for Mankind, on Passover, 33 AD.

THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT.

GOSPEL REFERENCES FOR THE SIX ILLEGAL TRIALS OF CHRIST:

"Judge"	Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
1.     Annas	Matt 26:57-58	Mark 14:53-54	Luke 22:54-55	John 18:12-23
2. Caiaphas	Matt 26:59-75	Mark 14:55-65	Luke 22:56-65	John 18:24
3. Sanhedrin	Matt 27:1	Mark 15:1	Luke 22:66-71
4.     Pilate	Matt 27:2-14	Mark 15:2-5	Luke 23:1-6	John 18:28-38
5.     Herod			Luke 23:7-12
6.     Pilate	Matt 27:15-26	Mark 15:6-15	Luke 23:13-25	John 18:39/19:16

Credits Here
Photo Credit: Google

"RISEN" ABOVE EXPECTATIONS

PERSONAL REVIEW OF SEQUEL TO "PASSION OF THE CHRIST"

After taking a week between seeing the movie RISEN and writing this, what may be considered, a kind of review on it, I think it is even more relevant to mention the importance of even the most diehard skeptic, of seeing this movie. One of the final scenes of RISEN really drove that point home to me, with a solid punch, to where even a Christian with questions can get it.

Despite what those who killed Jesus Christ on 14 Nisan 33 AD say, Jesus did rise from the dead. Graves were open and He was seen by 500 people – and James. There is even secular evidence, via the great historian Josephus, who was commissioned by Rome to write the history of the Jewish people. 

Josephus wrote in Jewish Antiquities, 18.3.3 §63: “About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.  For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had  first come to love him did not cease.  He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him.  And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared”.

RISEN is the natural progression of the narrative of the Resurrection and the harsh reality of life in post- Crucifixion Jerusalem. For the many followers of the Way (Jesus followers), there was fear and hiding but for the religious and corrupt there was genuine panic. When the entire city knew that the Body had disappeared, both persecuting parties – the Romans and the Religious rabble – had “skin in the game” to cover up their crimes. After all, the Pharisees and Sanhedrin had conducted six illegal trials in less than 24 hours against the Judge of the Universe!

To this day, non-believers, academics and assorted ones like that, spread the same fallacies about the Death and Resurrection of the Risen Christ that the same religious authorities of Jerusalem and their Roman partners-in-crime did in 33 AD! As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes – there is nothing new under the sun. The Resurrection was fact. Roman records were as diligent as those that the Nazis used to their own detriment at the Nuremberg trials. Roman records were used by historian Dugard and Bill O’Reilly in his book “Killing Jesus”, which was the biggest of his oddly titled bestsellers.

As one immersed in Biblical worldviews and apologetics as well as evangelism, the most stunning part of the entire movie RISEN for me was the brief conversation which the former Centurion Clavius (Ralph Fiennes) has with Jesus just before the Ascension. While this actual event is not recorded in Scripture, it is the gist of the matter for those who are seeking more than just a head knowledge of God through Christ.

“Jesus” in RISEN is asking Clavius, basically, what is that he is really really afraid of, and searching for…..and the final question is what spoke volumes of all the others “…is it peace”? This is the eternal quest of mankind – how to find that peace we claim. In the final analysis, that peace that passes ALL understanding can only be found in Christ, and through Christ. Clavius (the Fiennes’s Character) goes through the same doubts which many have in attempting to reason Faith in Jesus. To me, this is the most poignant moment of the Film as far as directing this film as a tool for Evangelism. Because Clavius also mentioned he was afraid of being wrong. This is an extremely serious thing. To make the wrong decision about Christ has absolute deadly consequences! The powerful acting, authentic locations and actual Jewish looking disciples brings the viewer into the entire experience, thereby helping to deliver this eternal question to spiritual seekers everywhere. The screenplay and production here were extremely well executed.

Finally, the Ascension scene itself was a really dynamic metaphor for me. Dynamic because it is like the aorist tense of the Biblical New Testament Greek language. The cinematic portrayal of the post-Ascension “nuclear-bomb-type” fallout spoke out loud, the following statement in my spirit “Jesus Christ is still blowing up the World today as He did almost 2000 years ago!

Many will find all sorts of Scripture errors or textual differences. They will be technically correct. For me, I do not get my theology from a movie. I look for inspiration which will spur thinking that the Holy Spirit can use in me, and through me, to help further the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth – for such a time as this. This is what found in the Christian hit movie of 2016 so far: RISEN!