Group Bible Study

We are continuing our meditation on the crucifixion of Christ, and specifically, the seven statements of Christ during the six hours He hung there. The second thing Jesus spoke was to the repentant thief crucified alongside. 2) "I tell you the truth today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). Let’s look at why Christ said these words, and the implications of His statement. Mark’s Gospel tells us that , “Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him” (Mark 15:32).  In the beginning, both of the men crucified with Christ insulted Him in the hope that, if He were the Son of God, they could goad Him into coming down from the cross and help them, too. Later, Luke tells us that one was silent while the other continued in hurling insults:  39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"  40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "sin...

The last things a person speaks before he dies are usually very important things that they want to convey. There are seven last sayings of Christ while He was on the cross. We will examine these sayings in order: 1) "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). Who was Jesus forgiving because of their ignorance? This first saying is directed to the soldiers guarding Him as they divided His clothing among themselves. John writes that the four soldiers guarding Him cast lots for his clothing in fulfillment of another prophecy (John 19:23-24; Psalm 22:8). Most pictures of Christ on the cross usually show an undergarment over his loins, but in reality crucified criminals were usually hung naked for reason of humiliation and to dissuade others from criminal paths. It seems that as soon as the cross had settled into its socket, the chief priest and elders mocked Him. He did not retaliate or curse or wail. In the midst of His pain, He did ...

Today let’s talk about the place Christ was taken. Typically, a man to be crucified was paraded by the longest route to a place outside the city walls, a site seen by most people going in and out of the city gate. The early church fathers felt that Isaac's carrying the wood on which he would be sacrificed by his father, Abraham (Genesis 22:6), was symbolic of Jesus' carrying His cross. Each person to be crucified would have a squad of four soldiers, a  quaternion , one on either side of Him. The leading Roman soldier would parade a sign with the reason for crucifixion. This indictment would create fear in the people who read it so that all would think twice before committing a similar crime. There were four reasons the Romans used crucifixion as a form of punishment: 1) the death was agonizing, 2) the process of crucifixion was slow, 3) it could be observed publicly, and 4) it was humiliating and served as a deterrent to crime and rebellion. Pilate instructed that the...

We are meditating on the drama that led up to the crucifixion of Christ (Scroll down for yesterday’s meditation). In the scene presented to us in the gospels, we see rebellious men behaving their worst to the Creator of the Universe. After Pontius Pilate washed his hands of the whole affair, the soldiers clothed Him in a scarlet or purple cloak, the color of a king, and put a reed into His right hand instead of a scepter. They put a crown of thorns upon His head and kneeled before Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews,” mimicking the “Hail, Caesar!” while at the same time spitting upon Him. With all the open wounds in His back, they then pulled the purple robe away, causing further blood loss, before putting His clothes back on Him (Matthew 27:27-31). They then prepared Jesus for crucifixion. Typically, the Roman soldiers would tie the cross beam, the  patibulum , usually weighing at least one hundred pounds, to the victim’s shoulders. At the front of the procession to the...

After the scourging and beating by the Roman soldiers, Jesus was taken before the Jewish crowd assembled outside the Roman fortress, Antonia. The scourged Lord Jesus standing before the general public was prophesied more than five hundred years previously by Isaiah: Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness (Isaiah 52:14). The Roman soldiers beat Christ so severely that His form was disfigured to the degree that He hardly looked human anymore. Pilate presented Jesus to them,  "Here is the man!" (John 19:5b).  Before them all was the most perfect, loving, and compassionate Man the earth has ever witnessed. Here was God in the flesh, showing us what God is like in a way that we could understand, yet humanity rejected him. The Scriptures describe Jesus as rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). Pilate, wishing to release Je...

In our meditation yesterday, we talked about Jesus not confessing any sin to lessen the scourging of His back by the Roman soldiers. According to a forensic pathologist, the scourging typically resulted in rib fractures, severe lung bruises, and lacerations with bleeding into the chest cavity and partial or complete pneumothorax (collapse of the lung). Six hundred years before, the prophet Isaiah wrote of the suffering of the Messiah in these terms: 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.  5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by  his wounds  we are healed.  6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet  he did not open his mouth ; he was led like a lam...

Over the last few days, we learned that Pilate pronounced Jesus not guilty, but the Jews would not accept it and persisted in demanding Jesus' crucifixion (John 18:38-39). Pilate then gave them a choice between Jesus and a notorious insurrectionist and murderer by the name of Barabbas. They chose Barabbas over Christ, and both John and Matthew record that. after the freeing of Barabbas, Pilate had Jesus flogged (Matthew 27:26).  1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.  2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe  3 and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they slapped him in the face.  4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him."  5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Her...