AN EXPOSITION OF JOHN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
By
ROBERT GOVETT
John 19: 1-3. ‘Then, therefore, Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns,
and put it on His head, and clothed Him with a purple robe. And they were coming to Him, and saying,
“Hail, King of the Jews,” and they buffeted Him.’
Pilate was bent on saving Jesus, yet now he treats Him still
worse, as if guilty. He seems to have
thought, that the Jews’ enmity against our Lord would be turned into
compassion, if he showed how little he thought of their accusation of Christ,
as one likely to be dangerous to the Emperor and his government; and if he made
them see the severity of a Roman scourging inflicted on Him. Jesus, then, was scourged for the first time.
That was a terrible infliction; not like the moderate and limited
scourging allowed to the judges of
Pilate by this act has taken a step still further back in evil
and injustice. He thought probably that
by yielding partly to them, they
would surrender to him the prisoner’s life.
Thus he grants part of their desires against his duty, and that
encourages these men of enmity to demand the whole. He cannot, since he has made their wishes his
compass, keep back their full desire.
The torture and humiliation inflicted on one so innocent, so
gracious, so miserable, do not touch their hearts.
The soldiers ridicule, with crown and purple robe, the
pretensions of the sufferer to be a King.
This is not the scene which Matthew depicts, for that occurred after
Pilate’s sentence of crucifixion. That,
too, was the mockery with a scarlet robe, and with a reed on His right hand,
when the whole regiment was gathered in the guard-room. Jesus wears the thorns as one of the
consequences of the fall; a part of the curse laid by
the Lord on the ground for man’s sake (Gen. 3: 8).
In the new world which this passion of Christ has won for His saved
ones, there shall be no more thorns, and His people shall reign for ever and
ever (Rev. 22.)
The remembrance of this scene once threw a momentary ray
across the darkness of Crusading times.
The Jews under Caiaphas ridicule our Lord’s pretensions to be
the Prophet; and the men of Pilate ridicule His
claims to be King. We must learn hence,
therefore, that ridicule is no test of
the truth. That may seem foolish to
the eyes of men, which is a part of God’s own truth. We
must hold God’s promises in prophecy to be really true, though all seems
against them. What are all opposing
powers against the might of God, fulfilling His word [literally
and] in truth?
See, reader, of what importance in the eyes of God Jesus’ Kingship
is. The Heavenly Father had given Him the throne of His earthly father David, by
His decree (Luke 1: 32, 33). The Son asserts it, when He is stripped of all human resources, and
when to own it is death. But the
word of the Lord shall one day prevail;
and where the Saviour was mocked, His Supreme Majesty shall be owned by earth
and heaven (Zech. 14: 9-16). To Him every knee shall bow, and every tongue
confess the ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’
The Most High is wonderfully patient, but not for ever will He allow
wickedness to prevail over innocence and holiness. He is patient, for He is calling to repent,
and His patience has been blessed to the salvation [and
reward] of thousands untold. But at
last the claims of justice will be heard, and the holy exalted, while the
wicked are stripped of power misused.
‘The King of the Jews’ shall one day be the sovereign of
earth and heaven. And if we would have part with Him in that day,
we must now confess Him in His kingly character.
4, 5. ‘Pilate therefore went out
again, and saith unto them – “Behold, I bring Him out to you, that ye may know that
I find in Him no fault.” Jesus therefore
went forth, bearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And he saith to them – “Behold the Man!”’
Pilate’s confession of Jesus’ innocence was good so far as it
went. The Lamb of God was without spot or
blemish, enemies themselves being judges.
But how terrible the iniquity, to treat righteousness
as if it were the worst wickedness!
If there was no fault in Jesus, how great the fault of Pilate and of the chief priests! Many go so far as this -
they find no fault with
Christ. But they do not find in
Him salvation; for they own Him not as ‘the Way, and
Truth, and Life.’
Jesus then appears with the ensigns of mock royalty, to let
all
‘Behold the Man!’ What a
contrast in Jesus, thus bowed down in misery and contempt, to Adam, as he came
first from the hand of the Most High; invested with empire over the new-formed
world, clad in beauty and might!
‘Behold the Man’ now!
He is suffering for the sin of that transgressor and his posterity. Shame, weakness, torment, and mockery gird
Him and clothe Him. How surely, then,
shall torment, and reproach, and shame, assail for ever those who refuse to
turn from sin, after the warnings of the Lord, so many and so solemn! Jesus’ sufferings for sinners tell us what
will righteously befall the transgressor.
How different now the
lot of Jesus! Our faith beholds Him on high
on the Father’s throne; a name given Him beyond all others. Who is the Head over all ranks and orders in
the heavenly world? A Man,
glorified, exalted of God as worthy! And
one day, the Blessed and Only Potentate, His Father, will cause all creatures
to confess this Son of Man as the Heir
of all things, the King of earth and heaven.
Moreover, Jesus shall exalt to a platform of power and glory
far above the angels, those whom He shall raise in resurrection to dwell with
Himself.
6, 7. ‘When, therefore, the chief priests and the servants saw Him,
they shouted, saying, “Crucify, crucify!”
Pilate saith to them – “Take ye Him, and
crucify; for I find no fault in Him.”
The Jews answered Him – “We, have a Law, and by our Law He ought to die,
because He made Himself the Son of God.”’
How deep the hatred that refused to [a] compassionate One so misused, and tormented against
His desert! But if His persecutors can thus push matters against justice, how
surely will they themselves be tormented by God according to justice, for this iniquity among others!
Pilate is vexed, and wishes to escape the responsibility they
would force upon him. But here again he
shows his sad injustice. He would give
up to a robber’s death the Faultless One! if they will
only charge themselves with the guilt of it. (v. 16), What, then, must God think of the rulers of earth, judged
of by this fair specimen presented to us?
He means to take away their power, and to give it all into the hands of
His Son, the Righteous.
Pilate and his men having thus turned into ridicule the Jews’
accusation of Jesus as a rival King to Caesar, they
recur to the ground of their condemnation of Him before Caiaphas. He deserves to die (by Leviticus 24: 16) because He is a blasphemer. Here the strict sense of ‘Son of God’ alone can stand.
There is no blasphemy in asserting one’s self to be a ‘son of God,’ figuratively..
Thus Pilate is forced to decide this case, which so perplexes
and troubles him. The Most High intends,
that each shall come to a decision concerning Christ. ‘What think you of Him?’
is the question of life or death to each. (1) Is He a mere
man? (2) Or is He Son of God, in a sense which belongs to none else? Is He God, of God? Saviour? or blasphemer? Is He one who atones for others’ sins? or one who deserves to die for His own? He is either a stumbling-stone over which men
fall and are broken; or a corner-stone, the builder on which shall not be
ashamed.
We see in Pilate’s case, that it is only truth hold previously
and previously practised, which can stand the day of storm. Pilate knew the right, but his house was built on the sand alone, and hence it
could not sustain the rain, and floods, and gusts of power that now beat
against it. It fell, and great was the
fall. Stephen would not have stood against the accusations and outcries of his
murderers, had not his soul been rooted by faith and practice in the truth of
God.
If Jesus were to die by Jewish Law, then, it must be, not by
crucifixion, but by stoning. But they
regard not Law or justice, who are urging all onward
to His death.
8, 9. ‘When Pilate, therefore, heard this word He was the more
afraid. And he went into the Praetorium
again, and saith to Jesus, “Whence art Thou?
But Jesus gave him no answer.’
‘Whence art Thou?’
This referred not to His earthly place of birth or life. Pilate had dealt with Him already as a
Galilean. ‘Art Thou of heaven or earth?’
Had Jesus been a mere man He ought to have replied, ‘I am a man, and nothing more!’
Pilate was awed by Christ.
He was unlike all other men whom he had seen, in His powers of miracle,
in the hatred with which he inspired His foes, and in His silence when He had
the power to stop the accusers’ mouths.
This accusation then frightens him. There were heathen stories of vengeance sent
on those who did injury to the gods or their sons, while travelling in
disguise. At Iconium
we find, that at once on Paul’s miracle, they shouted – ‘The gods are
come down to us in the likeness of men.’ Might it not be
so here? Pilate feared to encounter such
unknown perils. He would learn, then,
from the prisoner’s lips who He was.
‘Whence art Thou?’ A good
question on Pilate’s part, going deeper still than ‘What is truth?’ But he wins no reply.
Why not? Perhaps we may not know
all the reasons; but one seems pretty clear.
It was because of the way in
which Pilate had dealt by the Saviour’s former teachings. He had shown himself indifferent to what was
truth. Had he accepted the Saviour’s
testimony to Himself as sent to proclaim truth, he could have been led on by
the answer here. But how can he enter
the house who falls at the threshold?
This question, however, to which Pilate obtained no response,
is for us answered in many passages - specially in the
opening words of this Gospel. The
Saviour had again and again testified to the Jews, respecting Himself as the
Sent One from the Father. His forerunner
had borne witness to Jesus as superior to himself, and to all others; in that,
while they were of earthly origin, He was from above (John 3: 31). The Saviour had
testified to the Jews in the temple, that He was about to leave them. They speculated in a jesting manner
respecting the locality to which He would go; but their thoughts do not rise above some region of earth, or the place of
the dead. Our Lord enlightens them.
‘Ye are from beneath; I am from above. Ye are of this world; I am
not of this world. I said, therefore, unto
you, that ye shall die in your sins. For if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins’ (John 8: 23, 24).
10.
‘Pilate saith unto hin,
“Unto me speakest Thou not? Knowest Thou
not, that I have power to crucify Thee, and power to release Thee?”
‘I have power.’ Power was given to Pilate, to use only in
accordance with law and justice. And had
he so used it, as it was intended, he must have dismissed Christ in freedom; as
not innocent only, but righteous. But, specially in those times, crying acts of injustice were of
continual occurrence. Pilate was ruler
at a distance from
The ‘power to crucify’ comes first. Not of
right, but of might. And it was, indeed,
then nearest. But the Saviour behold in His power the Father’s will, and to that He
bowed. If Jesus were guilty, Pilate had
no right
to release; if guiltless, none
to crucify. But he speaks after the usual manner of
men, as if the whole matter lay simply in his choice.
Pilate is displeased at this silence. He is astonished that one so completely in
his power is not more alive to His perilous position, anxious to make friends
with him, and to obey him in all things.
He might be silent to accusing foes; but to the governor, who had his
life in his hands, silence was death.
11.
‘Jesus answered, “Thou wouldst not have had any
power against Me, except it had been given thee from
above, therefore he that delivered Me to thee hath the greater sin.”
The Saviour teaches him a lesson of the utmost moment to all, specially to those possessed of power as the
magistrate. Pilate looked no higher than
the earth, and to him the one source of authority was, the Emperor at
Our Lord now hints whence He came. ‘From above.’ Thence He
descended as the bearer of truth thence came the power
of Pilate. Heaven really rules earth it will visibly rule in the millennial days.
There can be no true sovereignty or right rule without the confession of One higher than man, the Judge of rulers and of ruled
alike. Pilate had authority from God to
judge, and therefore his sin in judging wrongly was less than his, who, having
no judicial authority, urged on the death-cry, against Pilate’s wish. Pilate’s part in the matter was unsought for,
and judgment was incumbent on him as an officer of
Notice how our Lord in these words speaks as the Judge,
measuring the guilt of his Judge.
This delivery of Jesus, then, into the hand of Pilate was a
part of God’s counsel. The Saviour
confesses the power he had over Him, though he was a bad man; and though the
Emperor who appointed him was a worse; and though He knew that Pilate’s power
would be exercised in putting Him to death.
Our duty then to the rulers of
earth is to own the source of their power, and to obey them as God’s ministers,
set to keep the world in some degree of control and order. This gift of power from on high is very often
noticed in the Apocalypse. It comes out
especially, in the day when God in His wrath surrenders the whole earth into
the hands of Satan’s King (Rev. 13: 5, 7, 14, 15).
Power is so given to him, that to rise up against that power is to draw
down God’s displeasure unto death.
How completely the world and its power are against God, was
shown by both the Chief Priests and Pilate sentencing the Righteous One to
death. Vain are all attempts to set
authority right, and to keep out injustice from among rulers. While Satan is the master, injustice will
be. And Christians who attempt to rule the world, find that they must do many things
contrary to Christ’s commands and principles. Not
till He comes, whose right it is to reign, will the governments of earth be
just, and approved by God. And
Christ shall then give power unto those that patiently waited for God’s time,
and to those who now walk obediently
in Christ’s ways and commands (Rev. 2: 26, 27).
What is the meaning of – ‘He, therefore, that delivered Me unto thee, hath the greater sin?’ First, it tacitly tells Pilate, that in thus managing all
unjustly, and especially in his scourging of the innocent One and his delivery
of Him unto death, he was sinning. Injustice is not only a
crime against men, but also a ‘sin,’ or offence against God.
We should supply, in thought, after ‘hath greater sin,’ the words - ‘than
thou hast.’ As from God came the
power, so from Him also came the principles on which that power was to be
exercised. And injustice is a sin, for
which Pilate would have to answer before God.
Pilate was one of the rulers of earth tested by the call – ‘Kiss the Son,
lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way.’
How different was his treatment in scourging and crucifying the Son!
But who was the
deliverer of Jesus to Pilate? (1) We
naturally think of Judas. But Judas did
not betray Jesus to Pilate. (2) Some
think it was the nation of
This, then, is a great and solemn truth - the responsibility
arising out of light. It applies all
around. The heathen that know not God
act contrary to their conscience and understanding, in serving idols; and in
committing offences against men. That is
sin. It is, indeed, far less awful than
sinning against revealed light, but it is enough to condemn them. But it
shall be more tolerable for them in the coming day of
judgment, than for those who have had the Bible in their hands, and have
been pressed to turn to the Lord and His ways, yet refused. There are degrees of sin, and of punishment
for it; while the wrath for all the lost is eternal.
This sentiment is also true of us - that none has any power
against us, save as it is given of God.
The sparrow's fall is of God’s providence. And God,
who calls us to the encounter, will supply the strength and patience necessary
for our day.
12.
‘From thenceforth Pilate was seeking to release
Him. But the Jews shouted – “If thou let
Him go, thou art not Caesar’s friend; every one who makes himself king, speaks
against Caesar.”’
Some regard the two opening Greek words of this verse as
meaning - (1) ‘As the effect of this speech.’ Others - (2) ‘From this as a point of time.’ But both come nearly to the same thing. The speech was the cause from which the
effect sprung; it was also the point of time from which Pilate’s attempt to
rescue Jesus sprang.
The Jews saw, that their statement of His claim to be Son of God, had hindered their cause. They return, therefore, to the appeal which
was most likely to win with Pilate. They hint about accusing him as
unfavourable to the Emperor if he only did his duty, and did not comply with
their wishes. And the Emperor then on
the throne was very jealous of his dignity, and would not scruple to take away
the life of any one who should dare to put himself
near the high place of imperial authority.
His word was law. And human life was then very lightly esteemed. Moreover, Pilate had offended in other ways,
and was afraid of being accused for past acts of injustice.
Pilate has no principles of truth. Hence, he acts according to his own views of
his interests, which shift continually.
As he fears not God whom he cannot see, he fears man. He must, he thinks, sacrifice either himself
or Christ. Will he be ‘friend of Caesar,’ or ‘friend of justice and of Christ?’ When things have come to this issue, the
matter is very soon decided. ‘Let us eat
and drink for to-morrow we die,’ is a very sandy foundation for right conduct.
Is there any one of my readers who has hitherto preferred the
world to Christ? Let him take warning by
Pilate.
Pilate chooses at last rather to be Caesar’s friend, by
putting the Son of God to death, than to have Christ on his side, as an honest
judge.
13.
‘When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he
brought Jesus forth and sat down on the judgment-seat in a place that is called
the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.’
This induces an immediate and visible change
in the whole procedure. Before that, he
had hoped to be spared the necessity for judging at all. He expected to be able to manage the matter
without a direct judicial trial. Hence these comings out and in. But now he is called on as the Emperor’s
lieutenant to judge a rival king. The
last arrow had smitten him between the joints of his harness. He takes his seat now in his official place
as judge.
The judgment-seat took notice of
offences between the king and his subjects.
John notices the very spot. It was placed on a pavement - a mosaic-work
of stone-tesselated.
Has not John’s touching upon this a tacit reference to some other
scenes? After Jehovah has taken
When the Most High represents Himself
as the Judge of Israel and of the world, He is seen by the Prophet Ezekiel as
seated on a throne, the throne resting on a pavement, and that upborne by the four living creatures,
and moved to and fro at his pleasure (Ex. 1: 22-25).
Thus the thoughts of men about the ornaments of the seat of
justice, and the thoughts of God, seem, in a remarkable way, to agree with each
other.
14.
‘Now it was the preparation of the Passover, and
about the sixth hour. And he saith to
the Jews – “Behold your King.”
How can the time of the day here
mentioned accord with the notice given by one of the evangelists, that Jesus
was nailed to the cross at ‘the third hour?’ (Mark 15: 25).
How could He be crucified at the third hour, when He was not condemned to the cross till the sixth? The answer turns on the mode of reckoning the
hours of the day.
It was ‘the preparation of the Passover.’
That would seem to prove, that the Passover was to be celebrated that
day, and was not yet slain. John
especially notes this, as perceiving the rites of Moses summed up in this the
Lamb of God, bearer of the sin of men.
As the True Passover, He was to die at the hour commanded in the Mosaic
rite.
It has been suggested, that at this moment Jesus was seen by
Pilate, who was now seated on the judgment-seat, returning from His mission to
Herod, clothed in the royal robes in which the king had arrayed Him in mockery;
and that this suggested to him the sarcasm-, ‘Behold your King!’ ‘You see Herod and I
are both of one mind! We both consider
it ridiculous to speak of this religious teacher, as likely to cause any fear
to Caesar!’ But this is their
last chance of gaining their end, and therefore they hold it fast. They will not own Him their king. It was the first utterance of a rebellious
speech, to be thundered out yet more fearfully by Gentiles, in a day near at hand. ‘We will
not have this man to reign over us. Let Him die the slave’s death - He is
no king of ours!’
Now Jesus was really their king, as Son of David, by promise,
oath, and prophecy of God. But four days
before, he had presented Himself to
15, 16. ‘But they yelled, “Away, away, crucify Him!” Pilate saith unto them, “Shall I crucify your
king?” The chief priests answered, “We
have no king but Caesar.” Then, therefore,
he delivered Him to them, that He might be crucified, and they took Jesus, and
led Him away.’
A new word points out to us their increasing violence of
demand. The shout has become a ‘yell,’ a
‘roar’ demanding His death. Pilate’s
last feeble reed is then hurled at them – ‘Shall I crucify your King? Will it not be a disgrace to your nation and to
yourselves?’
Then followed the open and un-resisted surrender of all their
high hopes attached to the Son of David. To
obtain Jesus’ death they sacrifice the promises of the
How men contradict themselves under the influence of their
passions! Their usual boast was – ‘
Had Jesus shown Himself really hostile to Caesar, and willing
to do battle for this crown of
This speech, then, stands as accusation against them on the
page of God. They have never withdrawn
it, never denied it. Accordingly,
(2) The last and clearest prophecy of the New Testament
discloses to us the great and terrible day, in which this their evil word will
be punished. As they refused the Son of
David, and Lamb of God, God will give them a Caesar, the first-born of Satan
- the ‘Wild Beast’ of the Apocalypse. We have his description as a blasphemer of
God, and slayer of His saints,
requiring the worship of all, and receiving it at the hands of all but God’s
elect, in Revelation
13. And Revelation 17. tells us of the Seven Heads of the Wild Beast. The angel declares, that they are seven
sovereign kings, belonging to the royal city of
17, 18. ‘And He bearing His cross went out into the spot that is
called the spot of the skull, which is called in the Hebrew “Golgotha;” where
they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on the one side, and one on
the other, but Jesus in the midst.’
The cries of the multitude, led by the chief priests, prevailed
against all righteousness. When the day of partial recompense came, the
Romans crucified so many, that wood was wanting for the crosses, and space to
set them up.
Jesus bore His cross, as it was customary. To this He prophetically alluded more than
once. (1) Where He was commissioning the
twelve, and giving them their charge; He demands the first place in their
souls. He is to be obeyed and loved more than the nearest relatives. He
Himself would tread first the same path of rejection and death to which He
called them (Matt. 10: 37-39). He is not truly a disciple who is not
willing to surrender all things, yea, life itself, for Christ. And this, far from being a bare loss, shall
issue in the blessed and eternal life of glory.*
(2) Again, after Jesus has distinguished His disciples from the people
of Israel, because of their unbelief, and has drawn out that confession of
Himself as Son of God, having life in Himself, on which the church was to be
founded, He foretells His own death at the hands of the Chief Priests at
Jerusalem; and then He generalizes the matter, and bids disciples to bear the
cross after Him (Matt. 16: 24).
[* Would be better to have written: ‘And this, far from being a bare loss, shall issue in the
blessed millennial glory as well as the blessed “free gift” of “eternal life,”
(Rom. 8: 17b-25; 6: 23, R.V.)’]
He went out of the city, in order to be put to death as the
evildoer.
The Saviour, in His parable of the Wicked Husbandman,
foretold, that they would cast Him out of the vineyard, ere they slew Him the Son
and Heir.
He is stripped of His clothing. And that answers to the stripping off the
skin of the victims destined for sacrifice.
To be stripped naked, in pain and death, was a sore suffering.
But He bore sin; and, as none but He could do, He put it away.
He took away from Satan his power, and
soon the strong man armed shall be cast out of the world he has deceived,
and be ‘tormented in fire and brimstone, day and night, for ever and
ever.’
Jesus has by bearing death taken away its sting, so that now
to His people to depart is to be with Christ, which is very far better. He went to the spot called ‘Cranium.’
It is generally supposed that skulls and bones of the dead were lying
about the place of execution, as being the unburied remains of criminals. But
this is certainly a mistake. (1) The
Jews were careful to bury the dead. The
Law commanded the criminal’s burial on the day of his putting to death (Deut. 21:
23). (2) Moreover, the touch of any portion of a
dead body entailed a week’s uncleanness on him who touched. This was so great an inconvenience, that it
would not be lightly incurred. Had
skulls been lying about, so great a multitude could not have stood around the
place, and read the title, without some of them being defiled by the dead, and
that in Passover-time! (3) In the last
place, it is not said, ‘the spot of skulls,’ which would be the natural
expression, if the usual ideas were true ; but ‘the spot of a
skull.’ Tradition has fastened
on the expression, to affirm, that the skull in question was Adam’s, who dwelt
near
The spot is usually supposed to be a hill; and is commonly
called, ‘the Hill of Calvary,’ or ‘
Jesus must suffer outside the gate; for His blood was to be
carried into the Holiest above, to atone for sin. He must be cast out of the
city of God, that we may enter it and dwell there (Heb. 13:
10-14). Therefore now we bear His reproach, and men
are to cast out our names as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. But such
present disgrace is the token of future [millennial] glory.
Its name is in the Hebrew, ‘
Jesus is crucified first.
He must in all things have the pre-eminence. Also He is fixed in the midst, between the
two robbers, as if He were the worst.
For this must needs be fulfilled in Him, ‘He was numbered with the
transgressors.’
Our Lord was the sin-offering, and therefore He suffered
without the gate. He was the sacrifice
tried with fire: burned without the camp. He was thus lifted up like the serpent in the
wilderness, that the bitten might look and live. And
one day to Him, as the centre of glory, all the earth will be drawn. He was nailed to the tree, for from the tree
of knowledge of good and evil sprang the curse.
That tree was a beautiful one, with leaf, flower, and fruit. This a bare dead tree, bearing pain
and death alone! Adam and his wife were
pleased with the juicy fruit. But he who
bears the penalty of sin has a devouring thirst, which ends in death. Eve stretched out her hand to take the fruit,
and her feet moved towards it. But He who bears the penalty has His hands and
feet nailed for death, to the tree of the curse.
Before He was fastened to the cross, He bore it, that He might
fulfil the type of Isaac, who bore the wood of the burnt offering before he was
laid upon it.
Adam, was driven out of
If so great were the sufferings of the Holy One, what will
those of the transgressor be? If the
green tree be cast into the fire, how much more the dry?
But while the cross and
the curse are so closely allied, out of them springs the blessing. The pains were in our stead! He hath borne them to put them away! Blessed be His name evermore!
19-22. ‘Moreover, Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. Now it was written – “Jesus the Nazarite, the
King of the Jews.” This title,
therefore, many of the Jews read, because the spot where Jesus was crucified
was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. The Chief Priests of the Jews, therefore,
said unto Pilate, “Write not ‘the King of the Jews,’ but that He said, ‘I am
King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered,
“What I have written, I have written.”’
John discerns God’s hand in this seemingly small
circumstance. It was customary to affix
to the cross a notice of the reason for which the culprit was put to death,
that all might be satisfied of the justice of the execution. Pilate wrote with his own hand the
title. Matthew calls it, ‘the
accusation.’
The title, then, was, ‘Jesus the Nazarite, the King of the
Jews.’ Now this was no offence worthy of death. Jesus was by birth King of the Jews, as being
of David’s line; and it was proved by Mary’s travelling to David’s city from
‘Jesus the Nazarite.’ In Pilate’s mind the only thought was that he was thus
distinguished from the many other Jews who bore the name of ‘Jesus.’
This Jesus was to him the man born, or living at,
Moreover, significance is added to the title, if we look at the
matter as illustrated by the typical histories of those Old Testament worthies
who wore Nazarites.
(1) To Joseph the name is given (Gen. 49: 26), and he, before he became Viceroy to
Pharaoh, was rejected and sold by his brethren; but at length is reconciled
with them. (2) The history of Samson is, as a later
type, still more distinct. He was to be
a Nazarite from his birth, and also a Deliverer to
The Saviour’s smiting of His foes is yet to come (Rev. 19.)
The bonds of death He has burst in resurrection. As yet He is patient. But
the deliverance of
The title on the cross was much read, on two accounts. (1) The place of execution was near the city,
so that all could saunter out, and see it.
(2) The accusation was uttered in three languages; so that those who
knew but one of them, could understand the ground of the Saviour’s death. They were the three languages best known in
the world of that day. First comes ‘the Hebrew’ - for the crucifixion was at the
instigation of the Jews, and Pilate wished them to be sensible of the scorn he
felt of them. Next came ‘the Greek,’ the language spoken by the educated,
and by multitudes of Jews, who were thence called Hellenists. Lastly came ‘the Roman,’ the language of the rulers. The sin of man is exhibited in these three
chief languages. And God would cause the knowledge of the death and ransom
of His Son to be celebrated in these tongues.
It was a hint of the undoing of the confusion of
This order of the languages is not followed by Luke, who gives
the order as ‘Greek, Latin, Hebrew’ (Luke 23: 38).
Luke, as the Gentile Evangelist writing in Greek to a Greek, puts that
language first, and Roman next. The
Gospel was first proclaimed to
This little notice enables us to answer satisfactorily an
objection of some force, ‘How can we trust the Gospels
as accurate, when no two of them agree with regard to the words on the cross?’ We answer, that there were three different
inscriptions; and while they were alike in the main, they differed in detail.
Probably different persons wrote the title in the different languages.
But the title did not please the Jewish leaders. And no wonder! For it seemed as if they had agreed to own
Jesus as their King, while they had expressly disavowed Him. ‘We have no King but Caesar.’
How, then, should they be pleased with the words which implied that
Jesus was really their King? They wish
for a change, then - a trifling change, which should make the Kingship not a
real thing, but resting only on Jesus’ unauthorized assertion. Were they really crucifying their Messiah,
the Son of David? Far from it! He was only the Pretender. But Pilate, though he yielded to their petitions
in other points, here is firm. He had
written it, and it should stand! Ah! if
he had but been as firm before that, in dismissing Jesus from the hands of His
foes!
Now this firmness of Pilate’s accorded
with God’s mind. On Pilate’s part, it
was probably due to his secret displeasure at the Jews for compelling him to
condemn Jesus, whom He knew to be innocent.
He despised
This sin of theirs shall one day strike home to the heart of
the nation of
If the writing of Pilate is not to be altered, variable as he was,
how much less shall what God has written, be changed! His sentence of death and the curse cannot be
moved at last from the lost; awful as will be their woe, deep their
anguish! ‘What I have written, I have
written,’ is their
eternal sentence.
23, 24. ‘The soldiers, therefore, when they crucified Jesus, took the
garments and made four portions; to each soldier a portion, and the tunic. Now the tunic was without a seam woven from
the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves – “Let us not rend it,
but casts lots for it, whose it shall be:” in order that the Scripture should
be fulfilled – “They parted My garments among themselves, and for My vestment
they cast lots.” These things therefore
the soldiers did.’
Around the cross of the Christ clusters the fulfilment of many
[prophetic]
Scriptures. Some of these are noticed by
one of the Gospels, some by others. The cross is one of the great centres of
prophecy. Here is the stripping
naked of Him who was the Righteous One.
A sense of nakedness was the first effect of the fall. This consequence our parents sought to remedy
first of all; and God, after He had proved the vanity of their attempt, stepped
in to give the true and
needed covering. But now He has
come, who is to bear the penalty of the transgression. Before, then, that He is fixed to the tree,
He is stripped of His raiment, as though He had been guilty. Law exacts all from Him who would atone for
its transgression. The sacrifice must be stripped of its skin. As numbered among the transgressors and under
sentence of death, the Saviour has nought as His own His very raiment is
forfeited to the executioners. But out
of this stripping of Himself as bearing the penalty of Law for the guilty, He
provides for us the robe of righteousness, in which we may stand before God.
Jesus, eternally rich, became poor,
that we through His poverty might become rich.
If the degradation of our Lord was fulfilled in all its minuteness, how
much more shall ‘the glories after that’ be accomplished?
‘He made Him to be sin for us who knew
no sin, that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.’
Under the Levitical law, as soon as sin is transferred from the offender
to the sacrifice, the skin is stripped off.
So here the spoils are divided among the four executioners. The turban, the girdle, the outer coat, and
the sandals, probably made up the four parts of the Saviour’s dress. But there was yet a fifth garment - the inner
one - answering to the shirt with us.
There was a peculiarity in the make of this, which prevented the
soldiers from dividing it into four parts.
Each part, if torn, would have unravelled, and become useless. They, therefore, dispose of it by lot. In this matter they were led by their own
natural choice. They knew not that they
were fulfilling God’s counsels, expressed in His book of prophecy. But so it was. God
serves Himself of the ignorance of His enemies, as well as of the knowledge of
His friends, to glorify Himself. (1)
See, then, the minuteness of prophecy;
how it touches not only the things which men think great, but on the small
things also. We have to do with a God,
who not only made the vast
Why is that statement added ? – ‘These things therefore the soldiers did.’ It is not easy to say. Probably John (or the Holy
Spirit by him) wished us to observe, how in this chief sin of man the soldiers
bear a conspicuous part, to deter
Christians from becoming soldiers.
The Chief Priests are the prominent ones in the plot; the soldiers in
the execution of the plan. These last
are conspicuous in the mockery, and the guarding of the tomb; and chief agents
in raising the false report under whose shadow of death unbelievers abide to
this day. In the earliest days of Christianity, Christians would die rather than
become soldiers; for Christ’s Sermon on the Mount forbids war to
the Christian (Matt. 5:
38-48).
25-27. ‘Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s
sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary
Magdalene. Jesus, therefore, seeing His
mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, saith to His mother –
“Woman, behold thy Son.” Then saith He
to the disciple – “Behold, thy mother.”
And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.’
How many persons are noticed here? Are there three, or
four? Commentators are not agreed. Is ‘Mary, the wife of Cleopas,’ the same person as ‘the sister of
our Lord’s mother?’ It seems very unlikely that two
sisters should be called by the same name of ‘Mary.’ She might be Mary’s sister-in-law.
The other Evangelists notice the women’s standing afar off but
here we have some standing near the cross.
This difference, probably, turns on the difference of the points of time
described. At first, while the work of
crucifixion was going on, they withdrew a distance. Towards the close these with John drew
near. Here Mary, our Lord’s mother,
stands first. This incident turns on her
relationship to Christ. It is
remarkable, that it is here said of John, that Jesus loved him; while it is not said how Jesus loved His mother, or how she loved
Him.
This was the time of
which the aged Simeon had spoken to Mary. Jesus was now a sign,
lifted up to be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts might be
revealed. This was the time when a sword
pierced through her heart (Luke 2: 34, 35). Why was this last word of the aged servant of
God spoken to Mary alone? Why not to both her and Joseph? Because Joseph would not be there. He had probably died many years before. See, then, how the departure from earth
sometimes hides us from the piercing of sorrows which assail survivors. It may help, too, to fix on our memory that
compendious word - the corollary of prophecy – ‘Pray that ye may be accounted worthy to escape the things that are coming to pass.’
In general, severe pain and the approach of death swallow up
all the thoughts of the sufferer. But the
Saviour in this His sore agony forgets not His mother; and provides her a home
when He Himself would no longer be on earth to watch over and sustain her.
Though stripped of all, He gives her a son and a home. How surely may widows and the destitute of
Christ’s flock look to Him to provide! specially when the resources of nature
are broken up.
It is to John that our Lord’s mother is confided; not to
Peter. Had it been to Peter, how surely
would some have discovered in that act, that Mary represents the church, and
that the Prince of the apostles is to rule it.
It is not to Mary’s protection that Christ commends John, but He
commends Mary to John’s. He heals the
wound in Mary’s heart caused by His own departure, by giving her a son in His
stead.
Her sons were unbelievers at that time. Probably, therefore, they would feel the less
interest in her who believed. John
accepts the charge, and cares for her as a son.
It is well for Christians in view of death to regulate their earthly
affairs, and to honour their parents, if they are still alive.
But Jesus is leaving earth for His Heavenly Father’s
house. He, therefore, addresses Mary,
not as ‘Mother’ but as ‘Woman.’ The Holy Spirit
foresaw the tendency to the worship Mary, and interposed checks in Scripture
against that awful idolatry so fearfully developed in after times, and so
flourishing in Romanism.
28-30. ‘After this Jesus, knowing that all things were already
fulfilled, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, “I
thirst!” Now a vessel of vinegar was set
there; and they having filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it on hyssop, put
it to His mouth. When, therefore, Jesus
had received the vinegar, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head, and
gave up His spirit.’
Men may vilify and quarrel with the Scripture, and account it
‘a mere dead letter.’ Not so our Lord! As the word of His Father, it was of deepest
moment and value to Him. In the midst of
His (dying agonies, His eye is on that.
Let us always value it, and increasingly! He was silent about His other pains on the
cross. But respecting His thirst
He was not to be silent.
His thirst was to be known, in order that the reply to His
word, on His enemies’ part, might fulfil the Scripture. As Messiah He must accomplish this. Thirst was one of the signs of the curse, the
contrary to that refreshment and pleasure which the juices of the fruit of the
tree of knowledge had supplied to Adam.
Now the natural effect of the wounds of the Saviour, and the punishment of
the cross was to produce a fearful thirst.
That, then, was foretold, as a part of the sufferings of our Lord* in the
crucifixion-Psalm (22: 16). The reply made to it
by the Saviour’s foes was also predicted.
‘In My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink’ (Psalm 69:
22). Thus Jesus fulfilled wholly what was written
byway of pointing out to us Messiah as
the sufferer. He fulfilled, as has
been observed, the type of Samson in His thirst. Only, Samson’s thirst arose out of his
exertion and victory. Jesus’ thirst came
before His victory. Let us
remember, that the glorious part of the life of Samson has yet to be fulfilled
by the complete deliverer of
* Thirst is also part of the foretold sufferings of the lost (Luke 16: 24).
How different the treatment of David the King, when he
expressed his thirst, and longed for a draught of water out of the well at the
gate of Bethlehem. Then three mighty men
burst through the Philistine host, drew him a draught of the water he desired,
and brought it. But, as bought with the
peril of their lives, he would not drink it.
Life belongs to God, not to men.
But we may and should drink of the spiritual water which Christ has
purchased for us by His death. Moses, to
supply
In order that the vinegar might be presented to Christ, a
vessel of it was standing there;-‘by accident,’
as far as men were concerned, but by ordination of God. And in order to lift the vinegar to the
Saviour’s lips, since He was suspended above them, they needed a stick. They used, therefore, a sponge fastened to a
stalk of hyssop. The hyssop is the caper
plant, which bears a woody stem from two to three feet long. Now this was also
a fulfilment of Scripture. (1) Into the
burning of the red heifer, out of whose ashes mixed with water, the
purification of the unclean was to be made -
wood, searlet wool, and hyssop, were to be cast (Num. 19: 6).
For the work of Christ, and of the Spirit, purges the conscience of
sinners unclean before God, to serve Him.
(2) The blood of the Passover-lamb was to be stricken on the door with a
bunch of hyssop. Christ, then, is the true Passover-Lamb,
by Whose blood comes deliverance from the angel’s sword of justice. (3) The leper cleansed from his disease, was
to be purged by the blood of the two
birds, and by cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop (Lev. 14:
4, 6) dipped in
the blood of the slain bird.
(4) Also at the making of the old covenant, and in connexion
with the sprinkling of the blood on the people at Sinai, Moses took the blood
of the calves and of the goats with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all
the people, saying – ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God hath enjoined to
you’ (Heb. 9: 19).
But we boast of a Mediator better than Moses, Who by His own blood
effects what the blood of bulls and goats cannot. ‘For the Law made nothing perfect; but
there is the bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw nigh to God.’
We have seen how the scarlet wool and the wood enter into the sacrifice of our Lord; and here
we have now the hyssop. How naturally it
takes its place in the history! There is
no effort on the part of God to introduce it.
The men of unbelief unconsciously accomplish it. God
values the smallest portion of His word.
In that He is unlike man. The
smallest jot or tittle shall in nowise pass away from Law or Prophets, till all
be fulfilled.
This is a joyful word to those who are God's saved ones,
walking with Himself. He will fulfil all
His promises: He will even go beyond
them. It is a terrible word to His
foes! Let men deny as they will, the
brimstone and the fire of the eternal lake of woe, both will be there! Let men
spiritualise the ‘fire,’ and declare it is only the remorse of conscience; let them deny that ‘eternal’ torment means that which ends not,
yet God will fulfil His word - His written word. Fear God, my reader! Trust not to Satan’s whispered unbelief – ‘Ye shall not
surely die.’ For the Second [eternal] Death - the lake of fire - will be the everlasting
place of those who are overtaken in impenitence and unbelief.
This point accomplished, Jesus says – ‘It is finished!’
I do not think that this means, that the
Saviour’s sacrifice was complete; for without death and the outpouring of the
blood that was not finished. Jesus had
yet to die, and the Roman spear was needed to pierce His side, and pour out His
blood. But the evangelist cites the
words as the Saviour’s perception, that it was the last of the prophecies of
His humiliation which it was incumbent on Him actively to fulfil. Then, His Father’s last word accomplished, He
surrenders His spirit. He came into the
world to fulfil all righteousness. He
has done it. And now death - His
gracious, voluntary death - ensues. Each
step occurs exactly at its appropriate time, according to the Father’s good
pleasure and prediction.
He must die. Nothing short of that
could save. ‘The soul that
sins shall die.’ And Christ is the sinner’s substitute, the
bearer of sin and its penalty. Jesus’
life alone will not avail. So had the
Law of Eden said: ‘In the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt die.’ ‘The wages of sin is death.’
Wonderful was this voluntary death; not enforced oil our Lord
without His knowledge, or against His will.
He was not driven out of the body by the thrust of disease, as some have
speculated; He surrendered His soul as the priest offering the sacrifice. Partly,
as far as men’s choice were concerned, His death was enforced; but partly also
His death depended on His own choice.
31-34. ‘The Jews therefore, in order that the bodies should not remain
on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath day was a great day), besought
Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers therefore came, and broke the
legs of the first and of the other that were crucified together with Him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He
was already dead, they brake not His legs.
But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and at once came
forth blood and water.’
The Jews, though careless about the greater things, were
scrupulous about the ceremonial of the Law, and therefore desired that the
three crucified should die earlier than usual.
They must not be taken away till dead.
They could not bear to see them on the cross during the Sabbath, their
day of rest. That Sabbath, too, was a
festival Sabbath of especial holiness or greatness - the day of offering the
first fruits. Hence they were more particularly anxious that this ghastly sight
should not be exhibited in the face of
They strain at the gnat, and swallow the camel! Against law and justice they slay Christ, yet
would keep the ceremonial law, while they broke its moral part. They observe the Sabbath, yet killed its
Lord.
Notice here - God hinders one part of their plan, and prospers
another. Let us trust our God in His providence, both for life and in death! He knows His own mind, and will accomplish
it, not only despite His enemies, but even by their hands.
‘Break the legs of the three crucified!’ Forth they go! It seems as if these were a new set of
soldiers, detached from the governor’s castle, armed with hammers, to break the
legs of all the three. Thus Jesus’ word
to the penitent robber was fulfilled, ‘To-day thou shalt be with Me in
What follows shows us somewhat peculiar in the arrangement of
the crosses. They came to ‘the first.’ How did they
reckon the first? Probably that on the
left hand; which, perhaps, was a trifle in advance of the other. His legs they brake, and then turned to the
other, and brake his also. These two
crosses were, I judge, near together, and facing one another. But though man had decreed that the legs of
all three should be broken, God had determined otherwise, and had foretold that
it should not be. This result He
effected in the simplest way. It was
understood by the soldiers, that the intent of the order was to produce death
quickly, and both they and the governor supposed that all three would be
alive. The cross of Jesus, it appears,
was not close to the other two, but higher up the eminence. For it is said – ‘When they
came to Jesus.’
As they mounted, with their eyes fixed on the third cross, they saw that
Jesus was dead already: by His drooped head, and by His stiffened limbs. A soldier - man of battles - knows how to
discriminate between death and life.
They then, though subject to martial discipline, and accustomed to obey
to the letter, ventured to disobey in this case. One pierced with a spear the Saviour’s
side. It is not said which side; but
whichever side it was, it was a wound capable of inflicting death, had it not
already occurred. Thus we see, how
exactly the Saviour’s death was timed, with a view to this result. He would not die, while one word of His
Father’s yet remained to be observed.
But neither would He remain in life any moment longer than was necessary
to the fulfilment of this word of God.
But God would thus establish the reality of Christ’s death, as
the foundation of our faith in the reality of Christ’s resurrection. Had Jesus not died already, this thrust had
slain Him. This wound would prevent any
return to life; even if, as some imagine without evidence, Jesus had only
swooned. Considerable was the size of
the wound inflicted. While Thomas was to
put his finger only in the
hole of the nails, he might put
his hand into the gash made by the spear.
35. ‘And he that saw it hath borne witness, and his witness is
true, and he knoweth that he saith true, in order that ye also may believe.’
The result of this spear-thrust was unexpected. It would appear that its issue was
miraculous. ‘Forthwith
came out blood and water.’ The attempts at
explanation of this matter are not satisfactory. Some have affirmed that the affair was only
an ordinary one; that the heart’s blood had coagulated in the body, and had
separated into its two parts - the watery part (or serum) drawn off by itself,
and the red clot separated from it. But
medical men (I believe) say, that the blood does not so separate while
in the body. And that, on the
piercing of a corpse, blood does not flow out.
We have, then, John’s earnest commentary on the
circumstance. He expects the unbelief of
many in regard to this point, and accordingly lays peculiar stress upon the
certainty of it, as beheld and narrated by himself, an eye-witness close by the
cross of his Lord. If any one way be
credited, it is an eye-witness. John was so.
His character for truth was good.
‘His testimony is true.’ But were not
his senses deceived? No! He was too near
for that. He is certain of the
fact. He testifies it here, on purpose
that others may believe what he saw.
‘That you may believe.’ For this is testified by the Old Testament, as well as
by the eye-witness John. It is essential to salvation to believe in Jesus’
death. God has given you in the Old
Testament His prophecy; and in the New His [literal] fulfilment - both the direct and the mystical.
It would seem, then, that there was something supernatural in
the matter. Probably it is referred to
in the crucifixion-Psalm (Ps. 22.) ‘My heart is like
wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels’ (ver. 14); and again – ‘I am
poured out like water.’
Why is John so
earnest in insisting on this? First, be
it observed - that his solemn attestation does not apply to this circumstance
alone, but to all the three points (perhaps more) which he has just recounted.
This is proved by the citation of two passages of Scripture which were
fulfilled on the present occasion: (1) the non-breaking of Jesus’ legs, though
orders to that effect had been given; and (2) the piercing of His side instead,
which was not ordered by man, but foretold by God. Thus is prophecy fulfilled down to its
details, as well as in its greater features.
Thus is it fulfilled by the hands of the ignorant, and enemies.
Both these things were subjects of prophecy: the one a typical
prophecy, given by Moses; the other a direct prophecy, given by Zechariah.
1. The first relates to the Saviour’s legs not being
broken. ‘A bone of it shall not be broken.’ Though all sorts of indignities were experienced
by the Saviour up to His death, yet as soon as death has ensued, there comes a
turn in the tide of humiliation; and speedily He begins to be exalted. The command alluded to by John is found in Exodus 12: 4, 6, in reference to the lamb of the Passover. The same law is repeated in Numbers 9: 12, where the Passover of the second month is commanded for those who were
unable to celebrate the Passover in the first month, by reason of legal
uncleanness. This was designed then to
point out Jesus as the true Passover-Lamb.
The apostle supposes it in his Gospel, where John Baptist speaks of
Jesus, as being the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world. Now that law, as well as others, might have
been broken by
The second passage is taken from the prophets. Zechariah, who foretold the sale of the Good
Shepherd for thirty pieces of silver, and the sword’s awaking against the ‘Man who was
Jehovah’s Fellow,’ foretells also the day yet looming in the future, when all the tribes of
Israel shall mourn over their fathers’ crucifixion of the Son of God, and their
own attitude of unbelief, and shall be forgiven (Zech.
12: 10).
This thrust of the spear, then, which was the result of
* To this I add that the Greek word …
is generally used in the Old Testament to signify a thrusting through unto
death (Judges 9: 54; Num. 22: 29)
Behold here the Lord’s foretold preparation for, and pledge
of, the better day which one day shall
dawn upon
Let us then trust the powerful
But John says nothing respecting any prophecy or any fulfilment
of the third point - the blood and water
issuing from the wound. And why then
is he so full of emphasis, as soon as thirst is mentioned? 1. He
is so, I believe, in order to refute some errorists of that day, and of modern
days, such as the Docetists
and Swedenborgians,
who affirm that the body of our Lord on the cross was not a real body of flesh and
blood like ours, but only a phantom! This idea is refuted, then, by the fact
that the body, pierced after death, gave forth blood and water. It was a body of flesh, therefore; and the
Evangelist stakes His truthfulness on the assertion, in order that we may
believe the [Holy]
Spirit of God who testifies it through Him, and may give credence to the saving of the soul. For if Jesus did not really become man, and
die in our stead, we must die in our sins, and be lost!
2. But there is another reason, which appears in John’s first
Epistle. And that Epistle, I persuade
myself, was the apostle’s comment on the Gospel which he had written, and was designed
to remove some objections to that, and to add some important doctrines to
it. In that Epistle, as in his Gospel,
John labours to prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; that He is not
two persons, but one. In his fifth
chapter of the Epistle he affirms that the faith that Jesus is the Christ the
Son of God, is saving faith. It makes a
man a child of God, and enables him to overcome the world. Then he adds, ‘This is He that went through* water and blood, Jesus the Christ.
He was not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood; and the
Spirit is He who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For three are the witnesses, the Spirit, and
the water, and the blood, and these three are in favour of the unity. If we receive the testimony of men, the
testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God, which He hath
witnessed concerning His Son’ (1 John 5:
6-8).
* Those who would pursue the subject can
consult my tract, The “Three Witnesses”
and my comment on John’s first Epistle – “The
Trinity, the Atonement.”
This passage cannot be understood, save as the apostle’s
contradiction of false doctrine then current. Some errorists at
Moreover, the ordinances of baptism, and of the Lord’s Supper
(‘water’ and ‘blood’)
are then only binding on Christians, if it was one Divine Person who commanded
them both; while the Holy Ghost had descended at Pentecost, and had inspired
believers as the Spirit of Jesus Christ the Risen. If men had asked any of the Christian
Prophets ‘Whether Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God?’ the inspired
would with one voice of inspiration confess that it was so. Evil spirits of falsehood, the spirits of
Antichrist, inspired those outside the Church: the Holy Ghost, as the Spirit of
truth, inspired and taught the
‘The water’ and the ‘blood’ refer us back to Old Testament
rites. (1) The old covenant was bound on
The water and blood were a sign. From Christ’s heart have flowed the two or
three rites of His appointing. The water belongs to baptism, and the washing of
feet. The blood belongs to the
Lord’s Supper. They are God’s witnesses
to the present dispensation.
They are two out of the three Witnesses given of God. They testify to His people of Christ’s
present absence, and they call on us to believe on God’s testimony truths,
which we have not seen. So the Saviour’s
bones not broken testify, that Jesus is the true
Paschal Lamb.
But the second passage noted here
again tells of
38, 39. ‘And after these things Joseph
of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but
secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body
of Jesus, and Pilate permitted him. He
came, therefore, and took away the body of Jesus. Nicodemus also came (he that came to Jesus by
night in the first instance), and bore a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a
hundred pound weight. They took,
therefore, the body of Jesus, and bound it in the rollers with the spices as is
the manner of the Jews to bury.’
The death of the Saviour, one would have thought, would have discouraged
secret disciples, and made them afraid to be known as belonging to the
Crucified. But it drew forth into the
light two of them. The first and most
courageous was Joseph of Arimathaea. He
was a rich man, and was naturally slower to move, lest he should endanger his
property, his reputation, and his place in the Synagogue and the
Sanhedrim. He asks permission to remove
the body forfeited to the Law. Pilate,
as soon as he is assured that death has taken place, gives leave. For now was to be fulfilled
the word of the prophet, ‘With the rich man was His tomb,’ Is. 53: 9 (Lowth). Jesus
has touched the lowest point of His humiliation, and He begins to ascend. The body then is taken down from the tree of
the curse, in order to be buried. This change marks the passage of the soul of Jesus into [the underworld of]
In Nicodemus we see faith and grace increasing with the
advance of time. At first he was afraid
to peril his reputation on the being known to be a disciple of ‘the strange
man from Galileo.’ As the time runs on, he grows
sufficiently bold, to interpose a word against the injustice and murderous
designs of his follow-elders in the Sanhedrim.
But now that their enmity has fully shown itself against the Son of God,
he, through grace, has become bold enough to bury with honours the body of One hated and slain by the great of his nation. He stands forth now in the light of day, who
at first came by night. He has now seen the fulfilment of that word, ‘As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.’
He fears not the defilement of entering the Roman
Praetorium. He fears not to touch the
dead, even one crucified as a malefactor.
Thus God takes the body of His Son out of the hands of the Romans, and
puts it into the hands of friends. This
is grace to us; for had Jesus’ body been buried with those of the robbers, how
should it have been distinguished with certainty?
He had pondered, perhaps, those words which Christ spake at
His first interview, ‘He that doeth evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that are wrought in
God,’ John 3:
20, 21.
God is glorified in the confession of the Son of God, by those who
believe in Him. The two friends helped
one another. Thus, too, God encourages
the timid to come forth before the world, by associating together in
church-fellowship the disciples of Christ. ‘Union is strength.’
He showed His love and zeal by the large quantity of expensive
spices prepared for the Saviour’s burial. It is remarkable, that these two spices are mentioned in close
juxtaposition, in the Psalm that tells of Jesus’ return as the King of Kings. ‘Thou lovedst righteousness and
hatedst iniquity; therefore, 0 God, Thy God hath anointed Thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows. All Thy
garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and
cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad,’ Psalm 45: 7, 8. The two disciples
disposed of the body honourably, as it was the custom to do with their kings,
for instance in the case of Asa (2 Chron. 16: 14).
The two proved their faith in Jesus by their bearing disgrace
and expense in order to bury the body of the Lord. But
they showed also their want of faith, in attempting to preserve from
putrefaction the body which was so soon to be removed from the sepulchre.
41. ‘Now in the place where He was crucified was a garden, and in
the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid. There, therefore, because of the Jews’
preparation, because the tomb was near, they laid Jesus.’
He who had no house of His own in life,
has no tomb of His own in death. But
what need of a tomb for Him who rises the third day?
In the Garden sin began.
In the Garden Jesus’ hour of sorrow burst upon Him, and from it He was
hurried away to death. But now
His dead body is restored to the Garden, and His first appearance in
resurrection takes place there. The tomb in the Garden shows us how death has entered with
sin, to deface and pollute
Moreover, thus there could be no question as to the identity
of the person buried, and the person who rose.
It was not like the case of the dead man, in haste let down into
Elisha’s tomb, who revived from touching the prophet’s bones.
The burial of Jesus was a part of God’s plan as foretold in
Scripture (Ps. 16: 9). Thus was He to
resemble the soils of men whom He came to redeem. Thus the gloom of the tomb is removed for the
believer. Christ has opened the
The Sabbath was so near, that they had no time to bear the body
to a distance. They were glad to be able
to dispose of it so readily, the tomb being close at hand beside
* That
There is a future fulfilment of the law of the sin-offering,
and of the burnt-offering, respectively.
The whole bullock with which the atonement of the sin-offering was made,
was to be carried outside the camp into a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and was to be burnt on the wood
with fire (Lev. 4: 12). A similar command was
given in the case of the burnt-offering (Lev. 6: 11). For Christ is both
our burnt-offering, as meeting God’s entire claims upon us for a perfect
service, and also our atonement for sin.
Jesus [body] lay during the Sabbath in the rest of the
tomb. Law can only lead to death, and
keep men there. But on the eighth day begins a new life, beyond Law,
in resurrection. On the first day of the Creation-week, light
began to be. Now begins a new light out
of the darkness of sin and death. Jesus,
the first of the select resurrection, was, according to Moses and the prophets,
to announce light to the people of
The morrow after the Passover-Sabbath was to be the day of the
waving of the wheat-sheaf of first-fruits. And Christ is the first-fruits of the sleepers - indicating, that the whole
harvest is to follow.
‘They laid Jesus.’
Here Scripture and our usual phrases agree, in opposition to Swedenborg and his followers. Those errorists maintain, that the body is no
lasting part of the man, that the corpse once laid in the tomb is to be allowed
to decay, and never more to belong to the man; seeing that the spirit-state is
the eternal state of men. Hence, such
errorists could never call the buried corpse, ‘the man.’
But Scripture, indited by the Holy Ghost, does. ‘They laid Jesus’ in the tomb!
* *
*