John 19: 17-42 - The Crucifixion and Burial of the Lord Jesus Christ

My last post from the gospel of John was of Jesus being condemned by Pilate to crucifixion and he was led away.  Because John 19:17-42 covers many verses,  they will be condensed and focus on the highlights and the sayings of Jesus as he hung on the cross.  Jesus said 7 things while he was on the cross, only two of them are recorded in the gospel of John.  Also, this gospel does not go into any detail of the darkness that fell on the land for three hours during which Jesus shed his precious blood and took upon himself the penalty for sin.  This was the reason that Jesus came into this world, to redeem all those who call upon him by faith to be their Saviour.

V17-22  Jesus went forth to a place  called Golgotha and was crucified there with two others, one on either side and Jesus in the midst.  We read in the gospel of Luke that while at first both of these men railed upon Jesus, one of them recognized that he was receiving the punishment for what  he had done and said to Jesus "Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom" and Jesus said to him, "today you shall be with me in Paradise."  There is no age limit when men can be saved, until your last breath is taken, the Lord will save those who recognize that they are lost, and call upon Jesus to be their Saviour.

Pilate had a sign made and had it hung on the cross, this said "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.  Pilate did condemn Jesus because of the threats of the Jews, but he found no fault in him. This sign was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.  The chief priests were not happy about that and said that Pilate should change the sign to say that Jesus said I Am King of the Jews, but Pilate said that what he had written, he had written.

Salvation Simply

John 3:1-19
 
In the darkness Nicodemus stands listening to the Lord Jesus.  This deeply religious man has been told by the Lord that to see God's kingdom he must be born again.  To enter God's kingdom Nicodemus for all his religion, must be the recipient of a spiritual birth brought about by God, the Holy Spirit. V5 "..verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Jesus taught this religious man that true religion is being born again.  Jesus teaches that the true religion is being born again.  Jesus teaches Nicodemus that God initiates this new birth, and Jesus teaches Nicodemus that to be born again is absolutely essential.  It is not an optional extra experience that some Christians have and others don't.  You must be born again or you cannot see God's kingdom. 

We must remember that Jesus is talking to this man who is a religious pharisee.  The pharisees liked to be in complete control of their religion.  That is why Jesus says in V8 that Nicodemus has as much control over being born again as he did over the wind. V8 "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."    You must be born again.  Jesus says that in V7 "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."  did you know that this Greek verb means that it is an action completed in the past..it is a passive verb.  You don't do it.  To be born again is something that God does to you.  To be born again is of God.  John 1: 12-13 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."    Born of God.  The new birth is of God.  Nicodemus is astounded and he says "how can these things be"

To be born again is hard to understand:    This religious man cannot understand the kingdom of God because he is not born again.  He doesn't have spiritual life.  The person who is not born again is a natural man (1 Corin 2:14) who receives not the things of the spirit of God, they are foolishness to him, neither can he understand them because they are spiritually discerned.   Jesus says in V10 "..Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?"   Master means teacher.  Of Israel means renowned in Israel.  Jesus tells Nicodemus that he is a renowned teacher among God's people and yet  he was ignorant in these matters.  

Nicodemus should have had a knowledge of what it says in Ezekiel 36:26 "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."   God is going to take way hearts of stone and give living hearts of flesh.  That is God in the old testament talking about the creation of spiritual life within people being born again.   Nicodemus was a spiritual leader who was unacquainted with the basics of spiritual life.  In V9-13 Jesus goes on to say that these things are real, they can be explained.  People being born again change from the inside out.  How these things originated in heaven in God's plan and purpose, Nicodemus doesn't understand.  Jesus said that he was in heaven and that he had planned it all.

Bible Men: Nicodemus - Ye Must be Born Again

John 3

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and a ruler of the Jews.  A Pharisee according to Websters 1828 Dictionary, was a sect among the Jews, whose religion consisted in a strict observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretended holiness led them to separate themselves as a sect, considering themselves as more righteous than other Jews.

Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.  Perhaps this was because he would have been busy with the duties of the day, as was the Lord Jesus with his ministry.  But Nicodemus sought the Lord Jesus out when they could be by themselves, and Nicodemus could ask the Lord Jesus the many questions he had on his mind.  To Nicodemus, and to some of the others, it was obvious that Jesus was someone worthy of respect and honour.  He addressed Jesus thus "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."(V2)  We know that Nicodemus had seen the miracles the Lord Jesus had done, and known in his heart that God was with Jesus.  But what he did not understand was that Jesus is the Son of God.

 Jesus told Nicodemus, as he is telling every person in the world, "verily verily (truly, truly) I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (V3) But Nicodemus didn't understand this, he was thinking in the fleshly sense, of a baby being born, and how can a man be born a second time when he is old? Could he go back into mother’s womb, and be born? (V4) A very impossible concept to someone who did not understand.  Jesus explained to him that a man must be born of water (the fleshly birth) and of the Spirit (the spiritual birth). And that Nicodemus should not “marvel” that Jesus told him he must be born again.  Jesus gave an earthly example, that the wind blows where it wants to and we can hear it, but we can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so likewise does everyone that is born of the Spirit.  They are led by the Spirit where the Spirit wants them to go, and we don't know where that will be.