With Christ at the Cross (Matthew 27:33-54)

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Do you ever wonder why miracles do not happen as often today as it would seem they once did? Of course, there are many who believe that miracles do not happen at all, not now, not then. And there are some who resort to sentimentality and believe that everything is a miracle. But in actuality, Christians live in a different category. We believe that there are miracles. Throughout history, God has intervened in the universe at specific times and in specific ways that can only be called miraculous. But, this does not mean that everything is a miracle. Every flower that blooms and every sunrise are not miracles, they are the normal ordinary workings of the world that God created. Miracles, by definition, are rare. They are rare today, and they have always been rare. There have been periods in history in which miracles occurred with increased frequency and intensity, but those have been relatively short windows of time. The Bible records four of those periods of time: creation, the redemption of Israel from Egypt, the beginnings of the prophetic ministry in Israel (with Elijah, Elisha, and Jonah), and the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ and His apostles. In each of these periods, God was revealing Himself in new, specific, and unique ways. At creation, God was revealing Himself through the things that He made. During the Exodus, God was revealing Himself to Israel through the Law and the establishment of His covenant with the nation. During the ministry of the earliest prophets, God was revealing Himself through human agents who would speak for Him. During the life of Jesus, God was revealing Himself through His Son, the incarnate God-Man. And during the apostolic era, God was revealing Himself through those whom Jesus chose, who taught and wrote the words and works of Jesus which we now possess in the New Testament. In these four periods of time, God’s new revelation of Himself was confirmed or validated through signs and wonders. Outside of these four epochs of time, miracles still occurred, even as they do now, but they are rare and isolated events. God has revealed Himself fully and finally to the world in the person of Jesus Christ and in the pages of His Word, the Bible. There is no new revelation to validate, nor will there be until the end when Christ returns.

We are focusing in these weeks on the final episodes in the earthly life of Jesus Christ, and today we come to His death on the cross. And we should not be surprised, in light of the eternal significance of this moment, to find that it is punctuated throughout by the miraculous, just as His birth was. At Christmas we often discuss the annunciation to Mary, the virginal conception, the star that leads the Magi to Jesus, the angels that appear to the shepherds, and other miracles that heralded His coming into the world. And at Easter, we of course have the most significant miracle of all – the resurrection of Jesus. But the resurrection is not the only miracle that occurred surrounding the death of Jesus. In the account we have read from the Gospel According to Matthew, we read no less than five divine miracles that occurred as Jesus Christ hung on the cross at Golgotha. And just as every miracle points to a divine truth beyond itself, so these both signify and validate divine truth that God has revealed to us through Jesus Christ. When we come with Christ to the cross, our eyes are opened to spiritual truth about who He is and what He has come to accomplish. So, as we examine these five miracles that are recorded in Matthew 27, we want to observe the phenomena that occurred, but we also want to see the truths to which these signs and wonders point.

I. The Miracle of the Sun (v45)

Earlier this year, on January 4, there was a solar eclipse. If you don’t recall it, don’t feel bad. It was only a partial eclipse, and wasn’t significantly visible here in America. Eclipses happen somewhat frequently. Four of them will occur in 2011, but all of these will be partial. Total eclipses are rarer. Of the 21 solar eclipses that have occurred in this century thus far, only 7 have been total. And when they occur, they are so brief as to be rather unspectacular. A few years ago, on July 22, 2009, the longest total eclipse of the twenty-first century occurred. It lasted all of six and a half minutes.[1]

Now when Jesus died, the sky grew dark, and the Bible tells us that it was dark for three hours, from the sixth to ninth hours (that is, from noon until 3 PM). Many have speculated that this darkness was the result of a total solar eclipse. Some twenty years after the death of Jesus, a historian named Thallus was writing about the Passover season in which Jesus died, and mentions that there was darkness that covered the whole world. [2] Apparently, it was written about far and wide. Writing around 200 AD, Tertullian discussed this darkness with a pagan audience and said that the “wonder is related in your own annals and is preserved in your archives to this day.”[3] Thallus, who was alive when it happened, said that this was an eclipse. But the darkness of that day could not have been a total solar eclipse for a number of reasons. First, solar eclipses do not last three hours. Second, solar eclipses do not darken the whole earth. And third, solar eclipses cannot occur during a full moon, and we know that this was a time of full moon for it occurred during Passover, which always fell on a full moon. Therefore, this darkness was no eclipse. So what was it? It was a miracle. But what did it signify?

During these three hours of darkness, the narrative of Scripture falls silent. Before this, we were told about what the soldiers were doing, what the crowds were saying, what Jesus was saying to those around Him, but now there is only silence. But we are told that at the ninth hour, as the darkness was breaking so was the silence. Jesus “cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli Lama Sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’” And that statement is enough to tell us that during those dark and silent hours, the Son of God was bearing our sins and the wrath of God was being poured out on Him for all the iniquity of the human race. Jesus was dying there as our substitute, in our place, an innocent sacrifice for our sins. Out of His great love for us, God became one of us in the person of Jesus – fully God and fully man. And in that body that He bore, He bore our sins and the curse of sin for us. In that moment, the Father turned His face away from His only begotten Son as the Son bore our sin and the wrath that we deserve to bear. And the severity of that judgment was enough to blot out the sun for three hours in the middle of the day. Darkness is frequently indicative of judgment in Scripture, as Jesus says even of hell that it will be a place of outer darkness. During these three dark hours, hell on earth had broken out literally as human sin was being punished in the person of Jesus Christ, who became our substitute on the cross. And the darkness signified that Christ was bearing our wrath.

II. The Miracle of the Sanctuary (v51a)

The temple of Jerusalem was one of the grandest buildings in the ancient world. It had been under construction for nearly 50 years and wasn’t finished yet. It was the place where the faithful Jews believed that the presence of God was most evident. Outside the temple, sacrifices were made for sins, and offerings of thanksgiving were given. Inside the walls of that temple there was a holy place where burning candles represented the light of God shining in the darkness and where incense burned to demonstrate the rising of the prayers of the people. But beyond this was the Holy of Holies, where no common man could ever enter. Only the high priest could go in, and he only once a year, and only carrying the blood of a sacrifice for the atonement of the sins of the nation. To protect the holiness of that place, a magnificent veil was suspended from the rafters of the temple. It measured 60 feet in height by 30 feet wide. It was said to be as thick as the palm of a man’s hand and so heavy that it took a multitude of priests to manipulate it. This veil was a loud and clear declaration that God is holy and set apart from sinful humanity. It announced to everyone near and far, “STAY OUT OF MY PRESENCE.” It said, “When you approach God, you can come this far but no further.” If you enter beyond that veil, you better be the foremost priest of all, and you better come on the holiest day of all, and you better bring the blood with you, and you better not stay long. The whole sacrificial system of that Temple revolved around that understanding. But when Jesus died, that old system met its expiration date. No longer would any man, woman or child come to God by that way again.

When Jesus died, a miracle happened in that sanctuary. When Jesus died, it was the exact moment of the evening sacrifice at the temple, the ninth hour, 3 PM. The officiating priest, entering into burn the incense at the time of the evening sacrifice, would have beheld that veil ripped in half. No man could have torn it. A yoke of oxen couldn’t have torn that thing. With the sharpest of implements, you probably couldn’t make a dent in the bottom of it, but if you did, it would have never reached the top. And yet, when Jesus died, this veil was completely torn asunder from the top to the bottom. It had been torn by God Himself. Because of the death of Jesus, there is no more need for sprinkling the blood of bulls and goats. Every one of them that had died had been an advance preview of what Christ would do in the ultimate sacrifice. His own blood had been shed once and for all. Because of the death of Jesus, there is no more need for an annual day of atonement. This day would become the full and final day of atoning sacrifice for all people and for all time. Because of the death of Jesus, there is no more need for a priesthood because He has become our High Priest, representing us before God and representing God before us. Because of the death of Jesus, that veil that says “KEEP OUT!” has been rendered totally unnecessary. God’s presence is no longer cordoned off by an impenetrable veil but rather is freely entered into through an open door. And the door is Jesus Christ. In the shredded fragments of that veil, God was saying to all who might see or hear of it, “COME IN!” The price of redemption from sin has been paid in full, forgiveness and reconciliation are made possible, and Christ (!) has become the door by which we enter through into God’s holy presence. Because of Jesus’ death, there was a miracle in the sanctuary that signified that access to God’s presence had been granted to sinful men who come by the way of the cross of Jesus.

III. The Miracle of the Stones (v51b)

There is a vast area of the earth around the Pacific Ocean known as the “Ring of Fire.” Around this 25,000 mile “horseshoe” 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur and 75% of the world’s volcanoes are located. When we hear news of a devastating natural disaster, we are not surprised to hear of it coming from that part of the world. Israel, however, is nowhere near that part of the world. It would be wrong to say that earthquakes are rare in Israel. The Jordan Rift Valley that runs through the middle of Israel is active seismically. But most of the earthquakes that occur in Israel would be undetectable if not for sophisticated technology. But on the day that Jesus died, “the earth shook” with such force that “the rocks were split.”

Not all earthquakes are miracles. Of the ones recorded in the Bible, only a small number of them can be called “miraculous.” Earthquakes are a result of sin’s effects in the world. We do not know when the first earthquake occurred, but we know why they began to happen. When God brought judgment on the whole world in the days of Noah, rain fell for forty days and forty nights. But the Bible says in Genesis 9:11 that in addition to “the floodgates of the sky” being opened, “all the fountains of the great deep burst open.” This is most likely the origin of the earth’s tectonic plates and fault lines. And the combination of the atmospheric changes and geological changes that occurred in the flood is the cause of most of the natural disasters that still occur in the world today. So, every time this happens, we are reminded that human sin has not only affected humanity. Sin has affected the entire world. So Paul says in Romans 8:19-22,

19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Every earthquake, volcano, tsunami, hurricane, and other natural disaster is a reminder that this world has been broken by our sin, and will be renewed when God brings about the new heaven and the new earth. And that process of redemption is being carried about by God through Jesus Christ, as a result of His victory over sin at the cross and in His resurrection. It will be completed in His perfect time according to His perfect will, and these things will no longer occur.

The earthquake on the day that Christ died and the one that occurred on the day He arose are reminders of this truth, but they also point us to another significant spiritual truth. As miracles, these earthquakes reinforce God’s revealed truth. When God instituted His covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, when He gave His Law to Moses, there was an earthquake. Exodus 19:18 says, “Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.” And here as Jesus dies on the cross, God is instituting a New Covenant with humanity, giving His Son to the whole world as a sacrificial substitute for our sins. And the whole earth shook and the rocks were split to reinforce that great truth that is written in the Gospel According to John: “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

IV. The Miracle of the Sepulcher (vv52-53)

In the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, 75 percent of the monuments in the Holy Cross Cemetery were either thrown down or twisted off their bases.[4] However, as far as we know, in that 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, no dead people came out of their graves and walked around the city. Nor has this happened in any other earthquake that has ever occurred, except for one. Matthew tells us that this happened in Jerusalem when Jesus died. Matthew is the only Gospel-writer who records this detail, and he does it in a rather matter-of-fact kind of way. There is no theologizing or explaining, just a straightforward report of what happened. “Many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” So, when Jesus died, the tombs were broken open and death’s grip on these corpses began to lose its power as they were brought to life as if being awakened from sleep. Then, following Jesus’ resurrection, while He was making appearances of His own to His disciples, these saints were also making appearances around Jerusalem.

There are far more details that we do not know than those that we know. All we know is what is said here in these two verses. We do not know how many of the dead were raised to life. We do not know if they were well known (David, Abraham, Isaiah, and people like that), or if they were “Average Joe” kind of folks. We do not know if they were people who had recently died or if they had died long ago. We do not know if their “resurrection” was like that of Lazarus, who was raised to life, but certainly died again later; or was this a final resurrection, after which they ascended into heaven. We don’t know who they saw in Jerusalem, or what they did, or what they said. We want to know all of those things, but alas we have to say we do not, and cannot, know. The Bible doesn’t tell us all we want to know. It does tell us all we need to know. And what this miracle tells us is that the death of Jesus has brought unconquerable life to those who believe on Him.

Jesus had told His disciples, “Because I live, you will live also.” But here is Jesus dying, so what kind of hope is that? It is a great hope, because death can neither hold Christ nor those who are His in its grasp. His death and resurrection infuses those who hope in Him with life abundant and eternal. Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 1 Cor 15:20-24 (NASB)

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable , and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 15:51-57 (NASB)

Some, for whatever reason God intended, and according to His sovereign choice, had the opportunity to experience the power of His resurrection in advance of the rest of us. And the partial resurrection which occurred on that day as Jesus died “was a foretaste and a pledge of the final resurrection of all who believe on Jesus.” God was indicating through this miracle that “this is the destiny of all who believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior.”[5] Their appearance in the holy city was proof that Christ had conquered death, not merely for Himself but for all who belong to Him. Jesus said that “an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth” (John 5:28-29a). When Jesus raised Lazarus from death, He told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). And that really is one of the most important questions we can ask today. Do you believe this? Do you believe that the death of Christ has brought life to those who are dead already in their trespasses and sins? The Bible tells us that we are all sinners by nature and by choice, that sin has made us spiritually dead, and that the wages of sin is death, and that to die separated from God in sin is to spend eternity under His just condemnation. But God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting LIFE. Do you believe this? As we look at the final miracle that occurred when Jesus died on the cross, we will find some who did believe it.

V. The Miracle of the Soldier (v54)

The centurion and the soldiers under his command were not passers-by. They were on duty, “keeping guard over Jesus.” Mark tells us that the centurion was “standing right in front of” Jesus as He died. He had been the supervisor of all that had been done to Jesus that day. He had been present, and maybe even gave the orders, earlier in the morning when Jesus had been beaten, scourged and mocked. These soldiers had gambled for Jesus’ garments. They were there and heard Pilate say that he found no fault in Jesus. They heard the accusations and they heard Jesus affirm that He claimed to be the King of the Jews, the Messiah, the divine Son of God. These soldiers had accompanied Jesus as He was marched toward Golgotha. And they were the ones nailing Jesus to the cross and raising Him up to die this cruel, agonizing and humiliating death. Undoubtedly, these men had witnessed more than their share of crucifixions. Hard as it may seem to fathom, they may have become numb to the sights and sounds of watching men die in this way. The entire ordeal had probably become routine. When this day began, Jesus was just another hoodlum being taken out to die. But something happened in the heart of this centurion and his soldiers as the day went on. They saw in Jesus a man who did not fight or resist or protest. He prayed for those who were putting Him to death. He did not rail against those who harassed Him, and He promised a dying thief on a cross beside of Him an eternity in Paradise. They saw Him die like no other person had ever died on the cross. The death could take days of agony. Jesus didn’t linger long. Within hours, almost as if Jesus had command over His very last breath, the centurion and his men watched Jesus cry out to His Father and give up His life with the words, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit. It is finished.” And then He was dead. Others had to have their legs broken to speed the process along. This was not necessary for Jesus. He had clearly laid His life down.

Mark says that when this centurion saw the way that Jesus had breathed His last, something happened inside of him. He’d seen many die upon crosses, but this one was different. When this man died, darkness covered the whole land. When this man died, the earth shook. When this man died, the temple was put into upheaval. When this man died, tombs were opened across the city. And Matthew says that when these soldiers saw these things happen, they became very frightened. But what happened next was the greatest miracle of all. The Holy Spirit of God began to move upon these soldiers’ hearts to reveal spiritual truth to them, and in that moment they confessed, “Truly this was the Son of God!” These men were every bit as dead as those in the tombs. Though physically they were alive, spiritually they were dead in sin, just as every human being is. But they were gloriously made alive by their response of faith toward Jesus on that very day.

And this miracle continues to happen every time the blinded eyes of a human being are opened to the glory of Christ. Every time someone comes to understand the significance of His death for their sins, they receive life in Him. The death Christ died was every bit as much for you as it was for the centurion. He died for their sins, and He died for your sins. What hope do we have apart from Jesus dying on the cross for us? We have no other hope. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness – Nothing but the blood of Jesus. O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Have you come to Him and called on Him to save you from your sin? He has taken the condemnation that you and I deserve for our sins, and He has conquered death through His cross and resurrection. The life He died to give you can be yours if you turn from sin and self to trust in Him. He proclaimed that He was going to give His life as a ransom for many. Are you among those many who have received new life as a result of His death? Jesus said, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.”[6] In other words, believe that He is God in the flesh, and that He has come and done what He promised to do. He has come to save us from our sin through His death and resurrection. Jesus said, “Believe Me … otherwise believe because of the works,”[7] the miracles, the signs and wonders that were accomplished as He came into the world, as He walked through this world, and as He left this world through His sacrificial death. How can you believe that He is who He said and that He has provided the salvation He has promised? He has verified it through these signs and wonders, many of which occurred even as He breathed His last on the cross. And every one of these miracles is pointing your attention to this Man on the Cross, and crying out to you, “Believe in Him. Find life for yourself here in His precious death for you.”

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century
[2] Josh McDowell, New Evidence that Demands a Verdict (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), p. 58.
[3] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew: Volume 2, The Triumph of the King, Matthew 18-28 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), p. 623.
[4] http://bit.ly/hwSjd4
[5] Boice, pp. 626-627.
[6] John 14:11
[7] John 14:11

How to Reach the Hard to Reach (by One Who Used To Be One)

I know a lot about hard-hearted unbelievers. I used to be one. My conversion from atheism to Christianity was rather dramatic and shocking. It was not a long drawn out process. I woke up one morning, another of many mornings in which I believed that God did not exist. By mid-morning I was convinced that He did exist, and late in the evening I gave my life to Jesus. There can be no doubt, from Scripture or my personal experience, that God did the saving ... I did nothing but receive. Salvation is of the Lord. He is mighty to save and He must do the saving according to His sovereign will, by His sufficient power, in His perfect time. But the Bible assures us that the Spirit works through the Word of God and the witness of the believer to call out the ones He will save. And looking back on how this happened in my life, I can distill several lessons on evangelism that I learned from the people whom God used to reach me. 

1. Be a friend with no strings attached. In my life, I had met many Christians who were willing to be my adversary or to be my friend if I would believe in their God. It was a long time before I met any who were willing to be my friends, even though I was not a Christian. They did not make my conversion a condition on their love and acceptance of me. They desired it and they prayed for it and they took opportunities to discuss it with me, but I was never made to feel that I must convert in order to remain within their circle of friends.

2. Be up-front and honest about your beliefs and convictions. One of the first things I learned about the people God used in my life was that they were Christians. They spoke openly and often of their faith, their church, and the Bible. There was not a weekend that they did not invite me to church. If our plans included Saturday nights, we needed to wrap it up early and I was often invited to overnight with them to attend church the next day. Sunday plans had to wait until church was over. Sunday nights were also for church. They were frustratingly inflexible about this, but I came to see it as an expression of the genuineness of their faith.

3. You don't have to be perfect. There's something always telling us that if we try to share our faith with our friends and family, they will think we are hypocrites because they know about our sin. That something is the devil. None of us are perfect, none of us comes close. So Christians tend to err in 2 ways: 1) Pretend you're perfect; 2) Never witness. Both of these are wrong. My friends failed often to "walk the walk." But I never saw it as hypocrisy, because they spoke openly about things like sin, salvation, repentance and forgiveness. I witnessed moments of broken confession and saw them at times holding one another accountable and being strong for ones who were weak. I saw them fall, but I always saw them falling toward the cross.

4. Give them a Bible and find a way to get them reading it. It is not necessary for you "to find the right words." God has given us a whole book full of His own. And this is what He has promised to use to save the lost. My friends invited me to a retreat and gave me a Bible on the way there. Every morning we would read a portion of the Bible that would be the theme of that day's discussions. That quickly became my favorite part of the day. And it was during that time in God's word that I found myself suddenly believing in Him. Now, you may not have a retreat that you can invite a friend to (but you might, and have just never given thought to it), but could you invite a friend over to fellowship with a group of Christians and have a Bible discussion? You could say, "We are discussing the life of Jesus, and in preparation this week we are reading Mark 14. Why not read that and join us?"

I can't promise you that God will save your hard to reach friend. I can promise you that He can. And I can promise you that He will not apart from His Spirit, His Word, and His people. There are many so-called methods of evangelism out there, but I have found that God works best when we abandon methods in exchange for love of others and confidence in Him and His Word. 

Online Giving

Recently, I ran into a dilemma as I wrote my tithe check. It was the last check in my next-to-last book of checks. Years ago, I would have filled out the little form that said, "REORDER NEW CHECKS NOW" without even wondering about it. But, today, I find that the tithe check I write for church is the ONLY check I ever write. Like so many others, debit cards and online bill payment has replaced my need to use checks. So, my dilemma was this: Should I reorder checks just to write tithe checks, or should I begin processing my tithe through my bank's online bill payment service? This was a difficult question to answer.

For years, I have felt that it was important for me to put that envelope in the plate every Sunday. One reason was biblical. In Exodus 23:15, the Lord said to Israel concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread, "none shall appear before Me empty-handed." Instructions and examples like this are repeated throughout the Old Testament. Then in the New Testament, we have this pattern for giving in 1 Corinthians 16:2 of setting aside an offering "on the first day of every week." I felt it was important to honor the Lord with an offering in the plate every Lord's Day. The second reason I felt it important to put the offering in every Sunday was practical, or moral. As the pastor, I felt it was important to lead by example in the matter of giving, and letting the congregation see me placing that envelope in the plate was a way of showing that I am not there just to take from the church. I am giving to it as they are. And as important as this conviction was, and continues to be, I was always uneasy about this because of what Jesus said about giving in Matthew 6:2-4. "So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." I was always torn between my responsibility to lead by example and my responsibility to rest in God's complete knowledge of that which is done in secret. 


As I wrestled with my dilemma (to order checks or not order checks) I came to realize that my desire to lead by example may have actually become an issue of spiritual pride and a seeking after the applause of men. I also came to realize that my adherence to the "letter of the law" concerning "first day giving" and "empty-handedness" had perhaps usurped the "spirit of the law", particularly regarding giving in secrecy and with a joyful heart. Suddenly the answer to my dilemma was becoming clearer. It seemed to me that if checks are no longer a regular part of my personal banking habits, I could continue my stewardship practices in a new way. 


A recent study by Lifeway Research found that 14% of American Protestant Churches offer online giving. The percentages are significantly greater in large churches (55% of those with attendance over 500), and smaller in small churches (9% of those with 100-199 in attendance; 7% of those with 50-99 attending). Though the study does not get into reasons for this, it is easy to speculate that in the smaller churches, the staff is already overburdened and does not have the time to research, implement and administer a system of online giving. In many cases the small church's budget cannot handle the cost of implementing and maintaining a system of online giving. Many of these smaller churches undoubtedly do not even have a website, therefore there is no platform for any online interaction with the church. 


Additional research further illustrated that 53% of Americans were using online banking in 2007. So, lets say that you, like me, are part of that majority. But your church, like mine, does not have a system of online giving in place. What can you do? This is what I have chosen to do, and what I would encourage you to do as well. If you use your bank's online bill-pay system, add your church to your list of "billers", and enter in the relevant information (address, phone number, etc.). If your church relies on "envelope numbers" rather than names to credit your giving, you could enter your envelope number as your "account number." Then you will be able to either set up automatic payments to recur at regular intervals, or process your tithes and offerings as you process your other bills every month or every pay-period. When you do this, assuming that your bank is like mine, they will print and mail your check for you to your church at no cost either to you or your church. So, your bank may have actually solved a significant dilemma for you (in God's common grace). They have given you a portal for online giving that costs your church no time, effort, or money; they have made giving more convenient for you; they have provided you with a "history" file you can use as a check-and-balance on your end of year statement from the church; and they have given you a system that you can use to give more regularly, more consistently, and perhaps even more generously. If you do decide to go this route with your giving, I would recommend alerting your church so that they know to expect that "the check's in the mail," and also so they may be able to reduce the supply of offering envelopes they order. Many churchgoers give little thought to the fact that the church has a significant financial outlay every year in buying those envelopes that they give you. Use them! Or else, if you are going to give online, tell them you do not need them anymore (this may necessitate changing your "number", but I think you can survive the trauma of that).

So, you want to give online, but your church doesn't allow you to? Let your bank handle that for you through their online bill-pay system. And the biggest problem you will have will be letting that plate pass by you on Sunday knowing that someone sitting near you may be thinking that you are robbing God. I heard someone suggest humorously once that churches should provide "online givers" with a badge that says "I Give Online" so people seated near them will not judge them. But remember what Jesus said: "your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." And if you see someone, say for instance your pastor, not put their offering into the plate on Sunday, do not judge that person. Be more concerned about what you are and are not doing. That person will answer to the same God to whom you answer, and on that day your stewardship will be more of a concern to you than theirs. Prepare for that day here and now.

With Christ on Trial (Mark 15:1-15)

Audio (Recording glitch in the beginning, portions of intro omitted from .mp3 file)

Several weeks ago we began a series of messages which we are calling With Christ Through Easter. We’ve been examining scene-by-scene the critical episodes in Christ’s final earthly hours before the Cross. We have been with Christ at the table; with Christ in the garden; with Christ at the scene of the arrest; and today we are with Christ on trial. Now, often in the literature concerning this episode in the life of Christ, we find the process of His trial referred to as a “kangaroo court.” Now, that evokes a humorous image in the mind: a courtroom filled with kangaroos, and they are hopping back and forth from the witness stand and the judge’s bench. But that is not what a kangaroo court is obviously. Nor is a kangaroo court one that bounces from venue to venue, though that is certainly what happened in the trial of Jesus. Rather, the phrase describes a trial in which the outcome is essentially determined before it ever begins, and the whole thing moves along, going through the motions of judicial process in a manipulative way, but in actuality compromising the principles of justice. How it came to be called a “kangaroo court” is actually something of a historical mystery, but in such cases, the entire process is nothing but a sham and a mockery of justice. And that is certainly what we have with the trial of Jesus. This trial began in the middle of the night and was all but finished before sunrise; the charges were fabricated; the witnesses were coerced or bribed; and rather than being innocent until proven guilty, Jesus was considered guilty and not even given a chance to prove Himself innocent. Yet, the Father’s perfect sovereign plan to redeem humanity from sin and reconcile the world to Himself in Jesus was advancing in spite of this perversion of justice.

Today, we are focusing on the final phase of the trial, and we are admittedly jumping over (no pun intended) five other phases which preceded this one. Following Jesus’ arrest in the garden, He was taken in the middle of the night to the home of Annas, who is described in John 18 as the father-in-law of the high priest, Caiaphas. Annas had been the high priest twenty years earlier, from AD 7 – AD 14, and had controlled the office of high priest ever since. He was followed in the office of high priest by five of his sons, and the office was presently held by his son-in-law, Caiphas. Therefore, he is often referred to as the high priest, even long after his tenure had officially ended because everyone knew that he held the power. Annas and his family had amassed significant wealth through their influence over the religious system of Israel. You know how Jesus chased out the money changers and the animal vendors from the temple, not once but twice. In doing this, Jesus made Himself the enemy of Annas and his family because those temple merchants were their source of prosperity. Every time someone exchanged their Roman coins for Jewish ones at the temple, an exorbitant fee was charged, and a sizeable commission was paid by the money changer directly to the high priest and his family. They were also in control of animal inspection for the sacrifices. They determined which ones were fit and unfit as offerings at the temple. So, they had installed merchants at the temple selling “precertified” animals from which they could collect commissions as well. Jesus had said that the temple had been transformed from a house of prayer for all nations into a den of robbers, and Annas was the head boss of the largest organized crime ring in Israel at that time. And Jesus had called him on the carpet about it, and Annas and his entire family hated Jesus for it and wanted Him dead. When Jesus appeared before Annas in John 18, he tried to get Jesus to confess to something that could be twisted into a capital crime charge, but Jesus didn’t fall for it. He refused to answer the questions that Annas asked about His disciples and His teaching, so Annas sent him over to the home of his son-in-law, the present high priest Caiaphas. The journey wasn’t far; they probably lived next door to each other and shared a common courtyard.

By the time Caiaphas came into the picture the courtyard had become more crowded. Mark tells us in 15:55 that the chief priests and the Council had been trying to recruit witnesses to testify against Jesus, and many were willing to give false testimonies, which was itself a capital crime, but none of them could agree. Finally Caiaphas put Jesus under oath and said, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” In saying “Blessed One,” he was feigning piety by substituting titles for God. “Are you the Christ, the Son of God?” And Jesus answered, “I am.” He used the divine name of God, the Great I Am, to affirm the question and to assert His own deity. And He proclaimed to Caiaphas that He was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies that had been written concerning Him in Psalm 110 and Daniel 7. Now they had their charge. Jesus was guilty of blasphemy. Of course, He is only blaspheming if His claim to be the divine Son of God and the Messiah is not true. It is true, but they have no interest in truth. They only want to be rid of Jesus forever.

From Caiaphas’s house, the trial moved to the meeting place of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of 71 priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. There, the question was asked again, according to Luke 22: “If you are the Christ, tell us.” Jesus said, “If I tell you, you will not believe,” and again He pointed to the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 110:1. So they asked again, “Are You the Son of God?” and again Jesus answered, “Yes, I am.” Once again, He stated His claim to be God in the flesh. Since blasphemy was a capital offense according to the Old Testament Law, Jesus could be sentenced to death. But the Romans had prohibited the Jewish authorities from executing criminals, so in order to put Jesus to death, they had to convince the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to go along with it.

Pilate was appointed in AD 26 by the Emperor Tiberius as the fifth governor or “prefect” in Judea. He held that post until AD 37, the longest tenure of the 14 Roman governors in Judea. It was a notoriously difficult place to represent Roman authority. He had failed many times, and he knew that there were many, both in Jerusalem and in Rome, who wanted him removed from office. Though he was not overly corrupt compared to many political figures of his day were, he was described by the ancient historians Philo and Josephus as a cruel and stubborn man. He was a politician in the truest sense of the word, having to stand for the powers of Rome while keeping the peace among the Jews. And for that reason, Pilate really didn’t want to have to make the hard decision about what to do with Jesus.

Mark does not record a detail that Luke provides, namely that at one point Pilate tried to pass Jesus off to Herod Antipas, the same ruthless ruler who had executed John the Baptist. Now Luke tells us that Herod had actually wanted to meet Jesus to see if He would do some miracles for him. But Jesus refused to amuse Herod, so Herod just bounced Jesus right back over to Pilate. No matter how he tries to escape it, Pilate is going to have to make this judgment on Jesus. And while Jesus refused to amuse Herod, He did not fail to amaze Pilate. Mark 15:5 tells us that Pilate was amazed. What was it that he found so amazing about Jesus? It was His quiet confidence. He refuses to mount a defense, to protest the charges, or to answer any questions except the ones that ask directly if He is who He claimed to be. We see here the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:7, a prophecy spoken about the Messiah some 700 years before Jesus was born, which says, “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.” How can it be so? How could He not speak up and bring this thing to a halt? How can He endure the lies and the ridicule and the verbal harassment? We learn why as we examine the details of this text.

I. The Silence of Jesus Reflects the Son’s Confidence in the Father (v1-5)

The Roman Empire was not one that believed in a separation of religion and politics; the two were inseparable. The Emperor was hailed as a god, and his worship was demanded across the empire. But the Jews were exempted from emperor worship, and therefore, the government tended to stay out of their religious squabbles. He knew that the Jewish leaders were bringing a petty case before him, as v10 indicates: “He was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.” But a person claiming to be the Messiah and the Son of God would certainly demand their attention. By this time in Israel’s history the Jewish concept of Messiah was closely related to the idea of a perfect and powerful King who would overthrow all oppression and liberate the Jewish people. In this sense, Christ’s claim to be Messiah could be interpreted by Rome as an act of high treason. His claim to be the Son of God presented Him as a rival to the Emperor. So Pilate asks Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He was hoping to hear a confession from Jesus that would put the matter to rest one way or another. If Jesus said, “No,” then Pilate could dismiss the case altogether. If He said, “Yes,” then Pilate could just kill Him and be done with it.

But notice that Jesus did not give Pilate a “yes or no” answer. This is hard for us to see in our English Bibles, for the translators have tried to help us by adding a few words into his answer. In the NASB, this can be seen by the italicized words in verse 2. When we see words in italics in our Bibles, it is a clue to the reader that the translator has added these words, feeling them to be necessary to our understanding of the passage. Sometimes, unintentionally, those italics actually subtly blur the meaning of the text, as they do here. When I find words in italics, I read them, and then I go back and read the text leaving out the italicized words. Usually, the passage makes just as much sense, and is more faithful to the original without them. The NIV adds the word “Yes,” but not in italics. There is no equivalent to that word in the Greek text. The KJV, in spite of its antiquated English, is perhaps most accurate here, in rendering Jesus’ response, “Thou sayest it.” In John 18:34-37 we find more details about the conversation. There, when asked if He is the King of the Jews, we read that Jesus said, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” And when the question is pressed further, Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” In saying that, Jesus clearly claims that He is a King. When Pilate said to Him, “So you are a king?,” Jesus said, “You say … that I am a king.” In other words, Jesus is putting the ball back into Pilate’s court for him to decide who Jesus is.  That is the sense of the response we find in Mark 15:2. We may understand His words as, “You say so yourself.” It is as if He says to Pilate, “What do you really think?” It is a way of saying, “Yes I am a king,” while at the same time saying, “No, not in the way you imagine.” His kingdom is not of this world. John’s Gospel indicates that Pilate must have been been convinced by Jesus’ answer that He posed no threat to Roman authority, for John says that after this interchange, Pilate faced the people and said, “I find no guilt in Him.”

At this point, the accusations become more intense. From Mark 14, we may infer that they charged Him with plotting to destroy the temple. In Luke 23, we learn that they were also accusing Him of misleading the nation, forbidding Jewish people from paying taxes to Caesar (a bold-faced lie), and stirring up trouble all over the land by His teaching. When Pilate again turns to Jesus to find out what He has to say for Himself in light of these charges, Mark tells us in 15:5, “Jesus made no further answer.” In fact, at least in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus speaks no more to any human being. Upon the cross, He will speak to His Father God, but He has nothing more to say to man. His last words to man are somewhat akin to His question in Mk 8:29, “Who do you say that I am?” From that point on, He is silent. And His silence is a silence of confidence.

Jesus understands that Pilate has authority in this trial, but He also knows that Pilate’s authority is limited. All of us have some measure of authority in life, and all of us are under authority. The people are under the authority of the Council, and the Council is under the authority of Pilate. To some measure, as we see here in the passage, Pilate’s authority can even be swayed by the people leaving us to wonder who is really in charge here. The answer to that question is simple. Ultimately, God’s authority supersedes all other authorities. Paul says in Romans 13:1, “there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” God is the ultimate authority in all matters, giving authority to whomever He chooses and holding them accountable for the exercise of that authority. And so while we may assume that Jesus’ life and death are in the hands of the Council, or in the hands of the people, or in the hands of Pilate, Jesus knows full well that ultimately His life and death are in the hands of His Father God. In John 19, we find that Pilate confronts Jesus about His silence saying, “You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify you?” But Jesus said to him, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been give you from above.”

Because Jesus knew the Father was in full control, He could place His confidence in Him. No decision made by Pilate, the Council or the crowd could undermine the authority of God over the situation. Therefore Jesus did not need to defend Himself with words or actions. He could entrust Himself to His Father, and let God’s sovereign authority be His only defense. The doctrine of God’s sovereignty means that God is in ultimate control of all things, even when we cannot understand His purposes or ways. Those who have come to Christ by faith have been adopted into God’s family, and He has become the Father to all who believe. When we know Him as our Father, then we can know that we are loved by One whom we can trust even in the most difficult circumstances. Nothing that comes our way takes Him by surprise, and nothing is outside of His control. That’s a comfortable pillow for us to lay our heads on. When it seems the world is out to get us, when it seems like nothing is going right, when circumstances are frustrating and disturbing, and even when we seem to be staring death directly in the teeth, we need not panic or lose faith. Like the only begotten Son, the adopted sons and daughters of God can face these matters in the quiet confidence that comes from absolute trust in God’s ultimate authority. Though He may allow us to go through some dark and difficult days, and though He never promises comfort, luxury or even survival in this world, He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. Though the saying has become cliché, it bears repeating: We may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future, and our trust is in Him. As we faithfully endure the difficulties of life in this fallen world with all its hardships, those around us will see the quiet confidence we place in our Father, and like Pilate, they will be amazed. The silence of Jesus teaches us that. We see in His silence the Son’s confidence in the Father.  

II. The Substitution of Jesus Demonstrates the Father’s Plan for the Son (vv6-15)

Let there be no mistake about it – Jesus was innocent of every charge brought against Him and entirely undeserving of a death sentence. Even Pilate recognized this. Though Pilate’s confidence in Jesus’ innocence is more clearly stated in the other Gospels, even in Mark we can see him nearly pleading with the people to let Jesus off. Criminally, Jesus had done no wrong. Even more than this, we can say on the authority of God’s word that He had done no wrong morally. In His divine nature, He could not sin. The Bible says of the Lord Jesus that He knew no sin, and that He was tempted in all ways as we are, yet without sin. The scriptures say that the wages of sin is death. Having committed no sin, Jesus was entirely undeserving of death.

Let there be no mistake about another matter – Barabbas was a guilty man. We know nothing about Barabbas outside of what Scripture tells us, but what Scripture tells us is enough. He was “imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection.” We have no information about this incident apart from what is said here, but it is enough to demonstrate that Barabbas was a rebellious murderer. Both of these crimes were understandably punishable by death. Even in our own nation with all of its modern civility, treason and murder are punishable by death. There is a subtle irony in this man Barabbas. His name means “son of the father.” Compare this to Jesus, who is the true Son of the Father. So in these verses we have Barabbas, a guilty son of the father, and Jesus, an innocent Son of the Father.

We are told that the people pressed Pilate to uphold a custom of releasing a prisoner at Passover. Pilate asked in v9, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” But the priests had incited the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead. This should not come as a surprise. After all, Barabbas was more the kind of person they were looking for than Jesus. At least he was willing to overthrow Rome. What is surprising is that Pilate would agree to it. He’s already deemed Jesus to be no threat to Rome, but Barabbas has already been convicted of an attempted coup! As for Jesus, the bloodthirsty cry of the near-rioutous mob cries out, “Crucify Him!” Even though Pilate initially protests, he ultimately concedes, “wishing to satisfy the crowd.” What is going on here? Why would Pilate grant such a radical request? Why would the people make such an inexplicable demand? The underlying reason is that God was demonstrating through these events His ultimate purpose in sending His Son into the world. As Peter declared in his Pentecost sermon: “This Man, delivered over to you by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to across by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” Though men are having their way with Jesus, their way is still under God’s predetermined plan. And in the substitution of Jesus for Barabbas, we have a perfect demonstration of that plan.

You see, there isn’t a person in this room who is any better than Barabbas. The Bible says that all of us have sinned. We are sinners by nature and by choice, born in a state of rebellion and inclined to disobey God from the womb. Just as Barabbas is guilty of treason against Rome’s authority, the rest of us are guilty of treason against God’s authority. And the Bible also tells us in James 2:10, “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” That means that in God’s eyes there are no degrees to sin. What is the most awful sin you can imagine? Who is the most vile sinner you can envision? Before you answer, you should know that according to God’s word, your sin is no better and you are no better. I must hate no one else’s sin more than I hate my own. That doesn’t mean I hate theirs less. It means I need to hate mine more.

Sin is sin. Jesus explained this in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” He also said, “You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell” (Matt 5:21-22). We may think, “Well, I’ve done some bad things, you know, but I never killed anybody before.” Don’t be so sure. Jesus would have us to examine our lives and ask, “Have I ever been angry with another person? Have I ever hurled insults at another? Have I ever condemned another person?” These, He says, are of equal severity in God’s eyes with murder. Welcome to Murderers Anonymous. My name is Russ, and I am a serial killer.

The Gospel of Jesus is Good News. You say, “Doesn’t sound like good news, you said we’re all rebellious murderers.” Ah, but there is good news for rebellious murderers. Jesus came to be your substitute, your sacrifice. Death is for sinners! The Bible says that: Romans 6:23 – The wages of sin is death. Jesus didn’t deserve death, because He had not sinned. We deserve death because we have sinned. And not just death, but wrath, condemnation, judgment and hell. But Jesus has become our substitute. He took Barabbas’ place in death, and He has taken our place in death, that we may go free. Our sins are placed upon Him and He receives our penalty for us, that we may be pardoned and liberated, set free from sin and death and hell. He receives the scourging and the cross that we deserve for our sins. We receive the covering of His perfect righteousness, and abundant life now, and eternal life forever, if we turn from our sins and accept Him as Lord and Savior. Paul said it this way in Romans 5:8 – “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In 2 Corinthians 5:21, he says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This is grace. This is love. This is mercy shown to us by God in Christ. And so the question of Pilate becomes the question of us all: “What shall I do with Jesus?” And the answer is that we should turn from our sins and trust Him who died to save us. The day will come for every person when we stand, not before an earthly authority such as Pilate, but before the ultimate authority of God. And in that day, if the question were to be asked, “Why should you enter heaven?” what would we say? Would we say, “Well, I’m a pretty good fellow. Never killed anyone, never done any really bad stuff?” God forbid that we should boast in such a way before Him. On that day, if that question were asked, the only response the could possibly be uttered is to say, “I don’t deserve heaven. I deserve death and hell because of my sins. But I believe that Jesus took my penalty, paid my death, and served my sentence for me. I trust in Him alone to SAVE me. He alone is my righteousness.” We say with Paul the words of 1 Timothy 1:15, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” The only thing we can boast of is the Cross of Jesus on which He died to save rebellious murderers like Barabbas, and me, and you. He is the true King. Make Him King in your life today, if you never have before.

With Christ at the Scene of the Arrest (Various Scriptures)

Audio available online here

I grew up, as many of you know, in police custody. My father was a police officer in Winston-Salem for about three decades. One afternoon, when I was about seven years old, I saw a young man carrying a TV through the woods near our home as we were driving out of our neighborhood. I brought this to my dad’s attention because something didn’t seem right about it, and he had taught me that when things don’t seem right, they usually aren’t. I wanted to see my dad bring the car to a screeching halt in the middle of the road, jump out and go tackle the guy. But instead my dad kept driving. He turned the corner, wrote down the license plate number of what appeared to be the getaway car at the edge of the woods, and he radioed it in to the police department. My dad circled the block a few times, and watched them put the TV and several other items in the trunk of the car, and drive off. He followed from a distance, communicating back and forth via the radio in cop-language I didn’t understand. We watched the car pull into a driveway about a block away from Smith Reynolds Airport. Once he watched them unload the stuff, he radioed back in and in no time the house was surrounded by police cruisers, and the officers brought out a young man from the home. I watched from a safe distance in the car as my dad walked over to the man, and hugged him tightly. My dad, with tears in his eyes, came back to the car, and told me that he had coached that young man in youth football. But he did what he what he had to do. He positively identified this young man as the one we saw carrying the TV from the home. I said, “Dad, why didn’t you jump the guy when he came out of the woods?” He said, “Son, when you go after someone for a serious crime, you have to be very careful that you get the right guy.”

There are many ways in which that story has nothing to do with our text of Scripture today. Then there are some ways in which the story is sort of a polar opposite of our biblical narrative. Then there are still other ways in which they are very similar. We are walking with Christ through Easter during these weeks, and today we are with Christ on the scene of the arrest. A plot has been concocted between Judas Iscariot and the religious leaders in Jerusalem to apprehend Jesus and destroy Him. Mark 14:2-3 says that they were seeking how to seize Him by stealth because they were afraid that an uprising would occur. So, they devised a plan to overtake Him at night, with Judas there to give the positive identification. When you go after someone like this, you have to be very careful that you get the right guy. And the Gospel narratives make it clear that the crowd got the One they sought. There was a positive identification.

Now, sometimes people ask why we have four Gospels in the New Testament, and why they differ from one another. The accounts of Jesus’ arrest provide us with a good case study of this. Each Gospel contains an account of the arrest. Each of them records different information, but it is not contradictory. Rather, the accounts are complimentary. By examining each one, we learn different details that give us a fuller picture of the episode. Each one provides us with details about the positive identity of the One that Judas led the crowd to apprehend. So we will look at all four Gospels this morning and see the positive identification of Jesus, here at the scene of the arrest.

I. Jesus is positively identified by His betrayer (Mark 14:43-46)

John’s Gospel tells us that Judas knew where to find Him. Jesus had met often with the disciples there in the Garden on the Mount of Olives. John also tells us that the crowd of people, which included a cohort, that is a detachment of Roman soldiers that may have numbered 600 men or more, brought lanterns and torches with them. This tells us that the garden was very dark. They were looking for a guy with a beard, in a robe and sandals. That described almost every Jewish male in Jerusalem, so they had to make sure they got the right guy. So the signal Judas arranged was that he would kiss Jesus, and when they saw him kiss Jesus, they would know that this was their man.

Now, if you travel outside of the United States today, you will likely encounter cultures where kisses are still exchanged as demonstrations of greeting, respect, and honor. It is an ancient custom, and it was the norm for Jesus’ culture in that day. Slaves would kiss the feet of their masters; disciples would kiss the hem of their teacher’s garments; a person may kiss the hand of another to show respect and honor for them. And, at times, a person may kiss someone on the side of the face, embracing them to indicate deep friendship and affection. Jesus called His disciples “friends” and they had undoubtedly greeted one another like this often in their three years together.

The Greek word for kiss here is intensified, and it can mean “to kiss earnestly, intensively, or repeatedly.” It is the same word used by Luke when he described a sinful woman who came before Jesus with tears in her eyes and poured perfume on His feet and wiped it with her hair, kissing his feet repeatedly. It was an extravagant kiss like this that Judas used as a signal to betray the Lord. To those who were unaware, it would appear to be an affectionate display of great respect and honor, but to those who knew the signal, it was a positive identification of the one they were to “seize and lead away under guard” (v44). This was the teacher, the Rabbi, whose teachings had upset the religious leaders so greatly and threatened the power they held over the people of Israel. Judas had made the positive identification with his hypocritical kiss. But the scene does not end there. There is more to understand about the identity of Jesus, and we find it by turning to John 18.

II. Jesus is positively identified by His proclamation (John 18:1-6)

It is interesting that John makes no mention of the kiss of Judas in his Gospel. This is likely because John was the last Gospel written, and the hideous story of Judas’ hypocritical kiss was well known, having been already told in three other Gospels. John provided details throughout his Gospel that the others had omitted. Presumably after the kiss, but before they seized Jesus, John says that asked the crowd, “Whom do you seek?” And their response is, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

If the present generation of American children will be remembered for the uniqueness of their names, the opposite is true of Jesus’ generation. In our day, it is not uncommon to hear of a celebrity naming their child something original like Apple or Rocket, but in that day there were only a handful of names that parents gave their children. You find many men named Joseph, Judah, Jesus, James, Simon, and Levi, and many women named Mary. “Last names” were not in use at that time, so people were typically identified either by their father’s names or their hometowns. So you have, for instance, Simon Bar Jonah (Simon, son of Jonah), Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala), Simon of Cyrene, and Jesus of Nazareth. In stating that they were looking for “Jesus of Nazareth,” the crowd is positively identifying Jesus as a human being. Nazareth was the village where he had spent much of his life. He was born in Bethlehem, and He lived for a few years in Egypt, but no one ever referred to Him as Jesus of Bethlehem or Jesus of Egypt. He was known as a man from Nazareth. It was there that He matured to adulthood, learning the trade of His carpenter foster-father Joseph.

By calling Him “Jesus of Nazareth,” we are reminded that Jesus was fully human. That is perfectly accurate to say. But it is NOT perfectly accurate to say that Jesus was merely human. He was fully human. But He was also fully God. A foundational doctrine of the Christian faith is the incarnation of Jesus. That is, He was, and is, fully God, but He became fully human. And so when we speak of Jesus we are speaking of someone who has a divine nature and a human nature. And His response to the call for Jesus of Nazareth is somewhat indicative of His unique dual-nature.

In our Bibles, we read the response of Jesus in John 18:5 as, “I am He.” Now if you are using the NASB, you will notice that the word He is in italics. Some of the other English versions have italics here as well, but some, unfortunately do not. When we find italicized words in these translations, it indicates that the translators have supplied a word that is not found in the original language. If you don’t have italics, hopefully you have a translator’s note in the footnotes or margin or something to indicate that Jesus did not actually say, “I am He.” In Greek, He said two simple words: ego eimi. Translated, He said, “I am.” And notice in verse 6 that when He said this, the crowd “drew back and fell to the ground.” What is it about these two little words that caused such a dramatic reaction?

In Exodus 3, when God appeared to Moses at the burning bush, He identified Himself to Moses as, “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:14). From that time forward, the name “I AM” became a special name used by Jewish people to refer exclusively to the one true God. When Jesus said, “I am,” He was making a bold statement, that the Jesus of Nazareth whom they sought was also the Great I Am, the God of the universe. This was not the first time Jesus had used this divine name to refer to Himself. Earlier in John 8:58, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.” And don’t think for a minute that the people didn’t understand what He meant when He said that. John 8:59 says that the Jewish crowd around Him had picked up stones to throw at Him when He said that. This was the prescribed punishment for blasphemy. They understood that when Jesus said, “I AM,” He was claiming to be God. And here, in the garden at the scene of the arrest, He said it again. And they were knocked to the ground by the awesome power of God that this holy name carries.

Now, I want to point out here that Jesus just identified Himself as God, and divine power knocked them off their feet, and what did they do? They arrested Him anyway. The sinfulness of humanity is so intensely radical that even once Jesus revealed His true identity to the crowd, they still wanted to kill Him. This is relevant to us today in a particular way. You know some unbelievers, and you have probably tried to witness to them and pray for them to be saved. And you might have even prayed that God would “prove Himself” to them in order to convince them to believe. But when we see the events of this scene unfold, we see that even presented with incontrovertible evidence, these people were still hard of heart, and their hatred for Jesus was not overcome. So, it may be that your lost friend does not need more evidence. I say that both as someone who is a former atheist and also someone who has a Master’s degree in Christian apologetics. Evidence and argumentation are useful and necessary. But sometimes, even with abundant evidence, a person only hardens his or her heart even more in unwillingness to believe. In Romans 1, Paul does not say that people are lost because they don’t have access to truth. They are lost because they have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness. It may be that a person is fully convinced of the truth of who Jesus is in their minds, but they refuse to submit their will and their heart to Him as Lord and Savior. And more evidence is not going to change that. It didn’t when Jesus revealed Himself to this crowd.

And so here in John 18:1-6, we have the positive identification of Jesus as the man from Nazareth and the God of the universe, the Great I AM. His own proclamation provides positive identification. Now, turning over to Matthew 26, we find more details that further identify Jesus here at the scene of His arrest.

III. Jesus is positively identified by His mission (Matt 26:52-56)

The crowd that came out against Jesus in the garden was sizeable enough to conduct a small military campaign. A cohort, as John describes it, might include 600 or more men. This is the size of a medium-sized battalion in the U.S. Army or Marine Corps. And they were armed to the teeth with swords and clubs. They were powerful enough to encounter a small army … and they were coming to arrest Jesus. He said in Matthew 26:55, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber?” The word He uses here for robber can also mean a revolutionary. That may better reflect the sense of it. Jesus is saying, “Look, I have been with you in the temple every day, teaching people the truth about God, and you didn’t arrest Me there, but you come out here like you are going to squash a rebellion!”

Was this overkill? In one sense perhaps. In another, maybe not. They had already tried to sieze Him at least three times and each time He got away. And Mark tells us that they were afraid that Jesus’ popularity would cause the people would riot. This was the guy that they welcomed into the city less than a week earlier with a royal parade! And it was no stretch of the imagination to assume that they might meet with violent resistance when they try to seize Him. Jesus’ followers were a rag-tag band that included roughneck fishermen and political zealots. They had inside intel through Judas Iscariot, and he knew that at least two of the men were carrying swords. So, they didn’t know what to expect, but they came prepared for the worst.

Now, when they identified Jesus, both by the Judas-kiss and the proclamation of Jesus Himself, they seized Him by force. Now Luke says that some of the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” But before Jesus could even answer, one of the disciples had already drawn his sword and started swinging it. Now, who do you think that was? John is the only one who names him—it was Peter. He drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. John also tells us the name of the slave – Malchus. Luke, the doctor, takes special interest in the fact that it was his right ear. Now, I think it is safe to assume that Peter was not trying to give Malchus a haircut or a shave or a new body piercing. He was either trying to cut off his head or smash his skull. Peter was trying to kill him. But Malchus instinctively flinched and caused Peter to miss the jugular and sever the ear instead.

What does all of this swordplay have to do with the identity of Jesus? Well, we see in Jesus’ response to this turn of events a clear, threefold statement concerning His mission that serves to give further insight into who He is and what He came to do. In His first statement we see Jesus’ concern for humanity in general and for His followers in particular. He said, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” Obviously, this kind of activity is not good for human welfare – it certainly isn’t good for Malchus, and Jesus says it isn’t good for Peter. If you live this way, you will die this way. You will either fall on the bloody battlefield or else you will be recompensed life for life by the authorities. But more important than this general public service announcement, Jesus is specifying to Peter and all the rest that His kingdom will not be advanced by violence and bloodshed. The Bible speaks about Christians being engaged in an ongoing war, but it is clear to specify that our weapons are not physical but spiritual, and our enemy is not humanity but Satan. Some well-intentioned Christians, and some not-so-well-intentioned folks who have hypocritically claimed to be Christians, have either misunderstood, forgotten, or ignored these truths. As Philip Ryken has written, “Few things have done more damage to the cause of Christ than misguided attempts to advance his kingdom with the sword.”[1] One thing I can think of that has been more damaging is when evil men have sought to advance their own empires using the banner of Christ to mask their hidden agendas. History has provided many examples of crusades and inquisitions in which both were the case. And both have brought dishonor to Christ. The Kingdom of Christ advances as His people proclaim the gospel and live gospel-transformed lives before a watching world. Though Jesus warned His followers that they could expect to be the recipients of violence, they must not be the perpetrators of it. Anytime violence is being waged, we can be sure that the Prince of Peace is neither pleased nor honored by it.

Secondly, in Jesus’ rebuke we see also that His mission is being carried out by the sovereign plan of His Father. He doesn’t need a military defense to protect Him. He says, “Do you think I cannot appeal to My Father and He will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?” In other words, if the betrayal, arrest, and ultimate death of Jesus is not within the sovereign purpose of God, He could supernaturally stop it in an instant. A “legion” referred to a military unit of some 6,000 soldiers. Jesus said He could summon 12 of them from His Father. That is 72,000 angelic warriors that stand at the ready to come to His aid if necessary. To give you an idea of the devastating power at His disposal, in 2 Kings 19:35, one angel was said to slay 185,000 of Sennacherib’s Assyrian army in one night. Multiply that by 72,000 to see the potential of the forces that could deliver Jesus from the hands of Judas and a crowd of 600. So you must not see Jesus as an unsuspecting victim of corruption and collusion here. The situation fell completely within the control of His Father, who could have, but did not deliver Him from the scene of the arrest because it was part of His purpose and plan, and part of the mission of Christ.

This brings us to the third statement Jesus makes in verse 54: “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen this way?” In other words, “Peter, if you could fight off this angry mob so that we all run away to safety, you would actually be undermining what God has already decreed and declared to be necessary.” If we resist what is about to happen here, we undo every promise that God has made concerning the redemption of His people. In verse 56 Jesus said that “all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.” Isaiah wrote about this very thing when he spoke of the suffering that would come upon the Messiah for the salvation of humanity. Every other prophet in some way or another wrote of the atonement that God would make for His people through the sacrifice of the Redeemer. Jesus said that all the Law, and the Prophets, and the Psalms (in other words, the entire Old Testament) pointed to Him and the salvation that His life, death, and resurrection would accomplish. This was His mission. Who is Peter, or anyone else for that matter, to step in and try to stop it. In ways that Peter did not yet fully understand, he needs Jesus to go to the cross. You and I need Jesus to go to the cross. It is horrific, it is tragic, it is sorrowful, but it is our only hope. Our sin is horrific, our sin is tragic, our sin is sorrowful. And it cries out to God for justice and for mercy. And the cross of Jesus Christ is the only way that sin gets both justice and mercy. It gets justice because the innocent sacrifice is offered as a substitute, and it gets mercy because the guilty sinner finds forgiveness there under the shed blood of Jesus.

Now, before we conclude, we need to consider one final note about this scene that is recorded only by Luke. Being a physician, Luke is keenly interested in a fact that the other Gospel writers omit. In Luke 22:51, Luke says that Jesus touched Malchus’s ear and healed him. What an incredible picture of the grace of Jesus Christ. Not only does He forbid His followers from fighting to defend Him, He actually heals one of His oppressors who is wounded by His followers. There are so many points of application in this profound statement, but we will just specify a few. First, we must realize that each of us is like Malchus in that at some point in our lives, we have been the enemy of Christ. We are sinners by nature and by choice and from birth our actions and attitudes demonstrate that we are opposed to God. Like the angry mob, we find that Jesus brings a terrible inconvenience to our lives because He threatens to undermine the pursuit of our own agendas and pleasures. And so we suppress the truth in unrighteousness and persist in unbelief and spiritual rebellion. But Jesus has come to heal even the likes of Malchus, and you and me. Also, like Malchus, some today perhaps in this very room have been injured in life by the followers of Jesus. Rather than showing you Christ’s grace and love, some Christian has brandished a sword and cut you. And the pain of that wound has caused you to run away from Jesus. Do not do that! Jesus is the only one who can heal you, even when some of your deepest wounds have come at the hands of those who claim to follow Him. You must come to Jesus, and when you do, He can heal you. And He can even transform the life of the one who wounded you. He will radically transform the life of Peter from the foolish path we see him so often taking in the Gospels, and He can do the same for His hardheaded followers who do so much harm in His name. But finally, and don’t miss this, Malchus will become a lasting reminder to everyone who knows him of the power of Jesus Christ. Malchus is the slave of the chief priest, the very man who will take part in condemning Jesus to death. But every time the chief priest speaks to his servant, the very fact that the servant can hear his words is a testimony to Jesus. Every time he looks at Malchus, he sees a man who could have perished if it were not for Jesus. And if Christ has touched you and saved you, then your transformed life is a witness to everyone you know. They can condemn Christ and renounce and reject Him, but they will have to do it ignoring the evidence of your testimony for Him. And indeed, everyone who rejects Him finds themselves surrounded in life by one testimony after another that Jesus Christ is mighty to save. Your lost friend, family member, neighbor, coworker, or whoever, is surrounded by Malchus’s ears, including your life and witness.

In the midst of our society that says that there are no absolutes, no exclusive claims, many paths to God, many roads to lasting joy, we cry aloud that Jesus, and He alone, can save. We claim without hesitation that He alone is the only hope for sinful humanity to be made right before a holy God. That is a strong accusation to make, and whenever you make that strong of accusation about someone, you better be able to make a positive identification. And Jesus is positively identified by Judas’ kiss, by His own claims to be the God-man, by His mission to go to the cross and save the world, and by the testimony of millions of Malchus’s who have been healed and saved by Him.

He is who He says He is, and He has done what He promised to do. And He did it for you, that you might be saved. He died to receive in Himself the wrath of God that our sins deserve. He lives to cover you in the righteousness of His own life. Do you know Him? Have you placed your faith in Him to save you from sin? If so, then you are His witnesses, advancing His cause in the world, not by the power of the sword, but by the power of His Word, proclaimed through your lips and demonstrated through your life. And if you don’t know Him, this very day you can give your life to Him as Lord and Savior. If you will confess to God that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, and place your trust completely in Jesus, He will save you and you will find in Him a righteousness you can never produce on your own, a life that will be eternal, and a joy that endures forever. All of this is yours because of His life, His death, and His resurrection.

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[1] James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken, Jesus on Trial (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2002), p51.