John 19:31 - 20:18
Sunday Morning Bible Study
March 30, 1997
Introduction
We have seen Jesus hanging on the cross for an agonizing six hours.
He is now dead.
:31-37 A Death Certificate
:31 (for that sabbath day was an high day,)
In other words, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread fell that year on a Sabbath, making it a "high day" or "special" festival.
This made the Jews anxious about getting things cleaned up and put away, wanting the criminals to be dead and buried.
:31 legs might be broken
A person might die from loss of blood, or exposure during crucifixion, but more often the cause of death would be asphyxiation, as they could no longer keep pushing themselves up on the nails to get a breath. If the legs were broken, it all happened much quicker.
:32 brake the legs of the first,
When the soldiers came up to the criminals, they could see that they were alive, and so their legs were broken to hurry things along.
:34 forthwith came there out blood and water.
The piercing of a person's side with a spear was a way of certifying whether or not the person was alive or not.
The blood and water were proof that death had occurred.
Some people claim that Jesus never died in the first place, but simply fainted on the cross, and was revived in the tomb. This is called the "swoon" theory.
But take note:
The trained Roman executioners, on their first observation thought He was dead.
The blood and water proved He was dead.
From Josh McDowell's Evidence that Demands a Verdict (pg.206-207):
Samuel Houghton, M.D., the great physiologist from the University of Dublin, relates his view on the physical cause of Christ's death:
"Repeated observations and experiments made upon men and animals have led me to the following results -
"it ... would occur in a crucified person, who had died upon the cross from rupture of the heart ... There remains, therefore, no supposition possible to explain the recorded phenomenon except the combination of the crucifixion and rupture of the heart.
He died from a broken heart.
:35 he that saw it bare record,
John is telling us that this is his own testimony about what happened that day.
:36 A bone of him shall not be broken.
Several prophesies fulfilled - (Ex. 12:46; Ps.34:20)
:37 They shall look on him whom they pierced.
This one comes from Zechariah (Zec 12:10)
Have you noticed how many times John has mentioned that Scriptures were fulfilled in the life of Jesus?
Just in this chapter he's mentioned it four times already (19:24,28, 36,37).
The Point:
What do you think of Jesus?
Is this just a coincidence that Jesus happened to have so many things in His life that were mentioned in the Old Testament?
Did you know that there are over 300 specific prophesies in the Old Testament concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ?
Objection! Maybe these prophesies were written AFTER Jesus!
Even if you don't accept the traditional view that the Old Testament scriptures where completed by 450 B.C., you have to take into account that during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.) there was a famous Greek translation made, known as the Septuagint.
No matter what, you have to agree that the Old Testament prophesies were AT LEAST 250 years before Jesus!
Objection! Jesus simply read these prophesies, then set out to fulfill them!
The problem with this view is that there are quite a number of the prophesies that would be out of a person's ability to manipulate, such as:
Place of birth (Mic. 5:2), time of birth (Dan. 9:25; Gen.49:10), His betrayal, His death by crucifixion (Ps.22:16), etc.
What's the odds?
Peter Stoner wrote a book called Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963), that applies the science of probability to the prophesies of Jesus.
First, Stoner looks at just eight of the prophecies and considers the probability of just these being fulfilled by one man. (from Evidence ... pg.174-176)
Stoner concludes that the odds of any man that might have lived down to the present time fulfilling all eight of these prophecies are 1 in 1017. That's a one with seventeen zeroes after it!
To grasp the size of this number ...
"Suppose we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wished, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom."
But keep in mind, that's with only EIGHT of the prophecies!
Mr. Stoner considered the odds of 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10157.
To grasp this number, we need something smaller than a silver dollar.
The electron is about as small an object as we know of. It is so small that it will take 2.5 times 1015 of them laid side by side to make a line, single file, one inch long. If we were going to count electrons in this line one inch long, and we counted 250 each minute, and if we counted day and night, it would take us 19,000,000 years to count just the one inch of electrons. If we had a cubic inch of these electrons and we tried to count them it would take us, counting steadily 250 each minute, 19,000,000 times 19,000,000 times 19,000,000 years or 6.9 times 1021 years."
"With this introduction, let us go back to our chance of 1 in 10157. Let us suppose that we are talking this number of electrons, marking one, and thoroughly stirring the whole mass, then blindfolding a man and letting him try to find the right one. What chance has he of finding the right one? What kind of a pile will this number of electrons make? They make an inconceivably large volume."
Such is the chance of any one man fulfilling 48 prophecies.
And don't forget that there were over 300 prophecies concerning Jesus
Lesson #1:
Take God's Word Seriously
This is no flimsy collection of writings claimed to have been received from some non-existent spaceship, or some never to be seen again golden tablets.
What more can you want for God to clearly get His message to you, than through such an incredible book!
God desires that you live your life based on this incredible, supernatural book.
Illustration
Jesus told a story of a house that made it through the storm:
Mat 7:24-27
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: {25} And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. {26} And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: {27} And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.The man made it because he paid attention to Jesus' words.
It saddens me to read how some of the followers of this UFO cult got sucked in by reading their materials on the internet.
That says to me that people are searching for the truth. They're just looking in all the wrong places.
Lesson #2:
Take Jesus Seriously
As you've seen, it's more than just about God's Word, this is all about Jesus.
When Jesus says something like: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)
Are you going to take it seriously?
Or do you think He's just as believable as someone who tells you you're going to rendezvous with some spaceship?
When Jesus says something like:
John 3:16-18
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.Are you going to take Him seriously?
Do you realize how important it is that you pay attention to Jesus? Your eternity depends on it.
Well, that's all nice, but I'm not ready to follow Jesus yet ...
I have to be honest with you and say to you, "How much time do you think you're going to have to decide to follow Jesus?"
The Incredible Bible says
Heb 9:27 ... it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
In other words, once you die, it's too late to decide to follow Jesus.
Jesus told this story:
(Luke 12:16-21 NKJV) ... "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. {17} "And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' {18} "So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. {19} 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."' {20} "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' {21} "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
The Bible says,
"Today is the day of salvation" (2 Cor.6:2)
Now is the time to turn to the Lord.
There is no guarantee that you will have tomorrow to turn to Him in.
:38-42 The Burial
:38 Joseph of Arimathaea
Joseph was a rich man, thought to be a member of the Sanhedrin.
Arimathea was a town 20 miles NW of Jerusalem.
:39 Nicodemus
This is the same man that Jesus told in John 3, "You must be born again".
Apparently, Nicodemus had become a disciple of Jesus.
:39 a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
The spices were not used to embalm the body, but to perfume it as it decayed.
This is roughly equivalent to 75 of our pounds.
This is a lot of spice, very, very costly.
These wealthy men are sparing no expense in the burial of their Lord.
:40 linen clothes
Strips of cloth wound around the body with the spices packed in.
:41 a new sepulchre
Matthew tells us that this was Joseph's own tomb, a new tomb (Mat. 27:60), fulfilling another prophesy, that Jesus would be buried in a rich man's tomb (Is. 53:9)
John 20:1-18 The empty tomb
:1 The first day of the week
Being Sunday.
:1 Mary Magdalene
We know from the other gospels that she wasn't by herself, she came with another Mary, the mother of James and Salome (Mark 16:1) to apply more spices to the body of Jesus.
:1 seeth the stone taken away
You have to keep in mind that this stone wasn't a little thing.
When the women came to the tomb, they had been discussing how they were going to move the stone to get at the body. (Mark 16:3)
Taken away - airo - to raise up, elevate, lift up
The word that John uses makes it sound as if the stone had been rolled up hill, in being moved from the entrance.
For those still holding the "swoon" theory:
You are asking us to believe that Jesus not only fooled the Roman executioners into believing He was dead, but after lying unattended to in a cold stone tomb, He was able to wriggle out of His grave clothes, roll this huge stone up the hill, overpower the guards Pilate had placed, and then appear to His disciples as the Lord of Glory.
:1 when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre,
Did the ladies go to the wrong tomb?
Here's the answer:
:2 the other disciple, whom Jesus loved
Again, this is John's way of describing himself.
:4 the other disciple did outrun Peter
John is telling us he's a better athlete than Peter.
Such humility.
:5 saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in
Apparently John was a little spooked by what he saw, and didn't want to go into the tomb.
:7 but wrapped together in a place by itself
The picture that John is giving us is the idea that linen cloth strips looked as if the body had just slipped right through them, but the napkin that covered the head was all folded neatly off by itself.
It kind of sounds as if Jesus passed right through the linen cloth, then took the napkin off his head and folded it up neatly.
:8 he saw, and believed
It seems that John was the first to believe that Jesus had rose from the dead.
:9 as yet they knew not the scripture
Up to this point they hadn't been thinking seriously about Jesus rising from the dead.
:11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping:
Mary just can't get herself to go home.
:14 knew not that it was Jesus
Apparently Jesus has this ability in His resurrected body to keep others from recognizing Him until He's ready for them to. (Luke 24:16) Cool. A new version of Hide and seek.
:16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary
Jesus is no longer hiding Himself from her.
It's when Jesus calls her by name that she recognizes Him.
I see here great tenderness in Jesus as He reveals Himself to her.
:16 Rabboni
It's not just "Master", it's "My Master"
:17 Touch me not
literally, "Stop clinging to me"
It seems that Mary had fastened a death grip around Jesus, and she wasn't going to let go for anything!
Yet Jesus explained to her that He still had places to go, people to see, most importantly, He was going to be going home, to heaven.
:18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples
Luke records that when Mary and the other women went back to tell the disciples,
Lu 24:11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
After all, why should they believe these women?
If Jesus was really risen from the dead, why would He bother to appear first of all to simple women?
Let alone, someone who had such a notorious reputation as Mary Magdalene.
She was a woman from whom Jesus had cast seven devils (Mark 16:9)
Some have said she was the prostitute who had anointed Jesus with perfume, and wiped His feet with her tears and hair.
Why believe these women?
Lesson:
Jesus loves sinners.
You may feel as if you are in no way good enough to come to Jesus.
Yet Jesus is in love with people just like you.
Jesus cares about people just like you, just like me.