[0:00] Seeking the Lord's blessing, let us turn back to the portion of Scripture that we read together, the Gospel according to John, chapter 19, and we'll read at verse 31.
[0:12] The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was an high day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
[0:29] Then came the soldiers, and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs.
[0:41] But one of the soldiers with a spear pushed his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bear record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
[0:53] For these things were done, that the Scriptures should be fulfilled, a bone of whom shall not be broken. And again another Scripture saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced.
[1:06] Among the many events that took place at Golgotha on the day that Jesus died, we are going this morning to look at two events that took place after he died, to which the Apostle John draws our attention, namely the unbroken bones and the pierced side.
[1:32] The timing of the death of Jesus was no coincidence. The Jews didn't want to arrest him at the Passover, lest there be an uproar.
[1:45] However, their desire was overruled by a higher authority, the authority of God's counsel and purpose. In Acts 2, Peter reminds us, Ye men of Israel, hear these words.
[2:01] Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
[2:26] Now we know that Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation before the feast of unleavened bread. As the day drew on at sundown, the Sabbath would begin, and this Sabbath would begin with a holy week of feasting.
[2:44] John writes, The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was an high day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
[3:03] The reason for this request was that the Lord declared that if an executed man was hung on a tree, his body was not to remain all night on the tree, but he was to be buried the same day, because a hanged man was cursed by God.
[3:28] So the priests asked Pilate to hasten the death of those crucified, especially since it was going to be a special Sabbath the following day.
[3:40] Pilate granted them their request. And the Roman method for hastening the end of crucifixion was to smash the shin bones with a mallet or an iron bar.
[3:56] And as a result, the victim would experience shock and would no longer be able to push up and relieve the pressure on his body.
[4:09] And within a short time, death would come about, very often because the person choked. John Calvin in his commentary says, In order to keep a strict observance of their Sabbath, they are careful to avoid outward pollution, and yet they do not consider how shocking a crime it is to take away the life of an innocent man.
[4:38] According to John, this was carried out upon the two thieves that were crucified with Jesus.
[4:49] John records for us, Then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other, which was crucified with them. Having carried out the deed upon the two thieves, the soldiers approached the cross of Jesus.
[5:08] And this is what John, being an eyewitness, records for us. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs.
[5:21] This information given to us by John proves to us that Jesus truly died on the cross.
[5:33] Those soldiers were so convinced that Jesus was dead, that they simply ignored an order that was given to them and concluded that there was no point in breaking the legs of a dead man.
[5:49] However, to make sure that he was dead, we are told that one of the soldiers with a spear pushed aside and forthwith came there out blood and water.
[6:06] Now it is only in the Gospel of John that we have this information. And its purpose for bringing us this information is that we might believe in Jesus Christ, that we might believe in Jesus Christ with saving faith.
[6:24] And he that saw it bear record, and his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
[6:37] John was well aware that the law required that at the mouth of two witnesses, two or three witnesses, that shall the matter be established.
[6:49] So John asserts that he is not alone in citing these events that he had witnessed at Golgotha, but that his witness is joined by the witness of the Old Testament prophets in their writings.
[7:08] We cannot but be amazed at how thorough and complete was the prophetic preview of the sufferings and death of Jesus.
[7:21] His betrayal by a friend, the disciples forsaking him, the false accusations, his silence before the judge, he had been numbered with transgressors, his crucifixion, the mocking of the onlookers, the taunt about his failure to save himself, the soldiers gambling for his clothes, his prayer for his enemies, his being forsaken by God, his yielding up of his spirit into the Father's hand, and his burial in a rich man's tomb.
[7:57] All told to us, witnessed to us, by the Old Testament writings. The Old Testament points forward towards the cross by promises and by types.
[8:15] After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem, and there he explained his crucifixion and resurrection. In these terms, all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms concerning me.
[8:35] Therefore, Jesus insisted that each portion of the Old Testament had to do with him. They were part of his approach to the cross.
[8:46] They foretold it through both promises and types. Now, here we come to the Golgotha, then. And we come to what John witnessed at Golgotha.
[9:01] After Jesus had died, after Jesus had bowed his head and committed his spirit into the Father's hand, John records for us the events that took place after.
[9:22] For these things were done, he says, that the scripture should be fulfilled. The unbroken bones.
[9:33] John obviously saw a great significance in the fact that Jesus' bones were not broken. And he writes, For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled.
[9:46] A bone of whom shall not be broken. Now, this could be a reference to one of the Psalms that we have already sung this morning, Psalm 34, verse 20, where it reads, He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken.
[10:05] However, I think because of the timing that John is probably thinking of the Passover lamb and the observance that not a bone of food was to be broken.
[10:21] The law that was given to Israel regarding the Passover lamb was this, In one house shall it be eaten, and there shall not carry forth out of the flesh a brought out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
[10:42] John was not merely recording for us a historical effect that not a bone of Jesus was broken, but he was also tying it in with its theological meaning and proving for us that Jesus is the lamb of our salvation, or as Paul puts it, for even Christ, our Passover lamb, is sacrificed for us.
[11:14] Despite man's action, which God allowed, they could bind Jesus, they could scourge him, they could spit on him, they could crucify him, but God was in control, looking after the lamb of his Passover, so that not a bone of him was to be broken.
[11:41] God was in control. At the time of the first Passover, the Israelites desired divine judgment, just like the Egyptians.
[11:58] But unlike the Egyptians, they would be saved by grace through faith. What Israel needed was atonement, and God provided such in the form of a lamb, or the Passover lamb.
[12:14] And so we all deserve divine judgment, and we all need atonement. And God, in his mercy and in his grace, has provided such in the form of his own son, as John the Baptist proclaims and bears witness to Jesus, and he says, the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
[12:42] Now, there were characteristics that belonged to the Passover lamb that was also true of Jesus Christ as our Passover lamb.
[12:56] Characteristics that was true of him as the lamb of God. The Passover lamb had to be pure and spotless.
[13:08] It had to be physically flawless. So, he was to be set apart on the tenth day and killed on the fourteenth day.
[13:20] And you may ask, well, why these three days? Well, during these three days, he would be inspected. The lamb had to be without blemish, without spot.
[13:35] It had to be flawless. So, these three days, they would be inspecting the lamb to make sure that there was no defect, spot, or blemish on the lamb.
[13:47] Just as our Passover lamb was inspected for thirty-three years and found to be morally spotless, without blemish, he was perfect.
[14:01] by virtue of his virgin birth, his nature was free from the corruption of original sin. Jesus never committed any actual transgression.
[14:15] He never sinned. Peter testifies of him, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Even his enemies testified to that fact.
[14:28] Pilate, as we see here, twice says, I find no fault in him. Even Judas, who betrayed him, came to confess that he had betrayed innocent blood.
[14:47] The writer to the Hebrews testified that Jesus offered himself without spot to God. the man on the cross, the Son of God, was our Passover lamb without spot or blemish.
[15:08] The Passover lamb had to be killed and its blood had to be shed. The Passover lamb helps us to understand a very crucial text that we have in the Bible, in the letter to the Hebrews, where it is written, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, or without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
[15:37] And God proclaimed that at the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, after man sinned. It was God who instituted sacrificial worship.
[15:48] It wasn't Moses, at the time, at Mount Sinai, it wasn't man that instituted sacrificial worship, but God, in the Garden of Eden.
[16:03] And there God was proclaiming, what the writer to the Hebrew writes down for us, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And Israel was reminded, it, in their form of worship, that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.
[16:24] And that same voice is proclaimed in the gospel today, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, there is no forgiveness. The same with the sacrament, the coming Lord's day, if he wills, the same proclamation is made, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
[16:45] forgiveness. Now the emphasis is not on the blood flowing in the veins, the symbol of life being lived, the emphasis is on the blood being shed, the symbol of life coming to an end.
[17:07] The Bible makes it clear that it is the shed blood that makes atonement. the Passover lamb was a sacrifice, for the people were told that they were to tell their children, when the children would inquire, what meaneth this feast, what meaneth the Passover, they were to say, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses.
[17:51] They were to remind the children what the feast meant, and that's what we did in some, perhaps weak measure, but tried to emphasise to the children this morning, what God willing is going to take place next Lord's Day here, word, regarding the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[18:14] We are to pass that information on to our children. The Lord Jesus, when he died, he died a sacrificial death.
[18:29] What that means is that the Passover lamb was a substitute for the firstborn in Israel. The death of Jesus was a substitutionary death.
[18:46] He did not die for himself, but for his people. It was a covenant death. He died for all those that were given to him by the Father in the covenant of redemption.
[19:03] He took our place. He bore our son. He became our curse. He endured our penalty.
[19:16] He died our death. However, it was not enough for the lamb to be killed and the blood poured out.
[19:30] It had to be sprinkled or applied. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the house.
[19:46] It is not enough to know that Jesus died and that he shed his blood. It is not enough to know that he was a substitutionary sacrifice.
[19:58] sacrifice. You have to receive the benefits of his death personally. The sprinkling of the blood was a vivid picture of receiving Christ as our crucified saviour and to receive him into our hearts by faith.
[20:24] The benefits of his atoning work must be applied to us if we are to be saved. For Jesus to give his body and blood in his death was one thing.
[20:42] For us to make the blessing of his death our own is another thing. For the Passover lamb to be killed and his blood shed was one thing.
[20:55] But it had to be sprinkled in the way that the Lord instructed in order for the firstborn of Israel to be saved from the angel of death that was to pass through the land of Egypt that night.
[21:15] Also Jesus was crucified right at the time of the Passover feast. The day that he made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem was a day that the Passover lambs were driven into the city.
[21:29] And when Jesus celebrated the last Passover with his disciples in the upper room he instituted the Lord's supper saying this is my body this is my blood.
[21:42] In other words he was saying all this that we have here on the table today the Passover all this is about me.
[21:56] I am the sacrificial lamb of the Passover. He was proclaiming it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.
[22:14] what the blood of the Passover lamb signified for the firstborn of Israel was that a substituted had died in their place.
[22:31] And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.
[22:48] What saved the firstborn of Israel was that they took refuge under the blood of the slain lamb. That they sheltered under the blood of the slain lamb.
[23:04] The judgment that they deserved had been executed upon the lamb. The lamb died in the room and in the place of the firstborn of Israel.
[23:18] And the lamb of God died in the room and in the place of all those who will trust in Jesus Christ. King Josiah when he celebrated the Passover we are told that he sacrificed 37,000 sheep.
[23:41] sheep. Just imagine all those sheep and the amount of blood that was shed and yet it was not sufficient to take away sin.
[23:54] It required a more and a better and a higher sacrifice. It required a more precious blood than the blood of sheep and goats.
[24:12] Peter testifies for as much as he know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
[24:35] Our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us and John that is what he's testifying so that you and I might believe he is saying that not a bone of him was broken so that the scripture would be fulfilled a bone of him shall not be broken.
[25:03] In other words what John is saying to us is this here is the Passover lamb. This is what all the Passover lambs that were sacrificed throughout the Old Testament this is the one this is the lamb this is the person to whom they all pointed towards the son of God our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us.
[25:33] And then John notes that one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out blood and water. This would have been a deep wound for the Lord invited Thomas to thrust his hand into his side.
[25:52] And we know that this wound bore testimony testimony that Jesus was truly the one who was resurrected.
[26:04] Remember when he appeared to his disciples he showed them his hands he showed them his feet but he also showed them his side because those who were crucified with him bore the pierced hands and the pierced feet but their side was intact.
[26:27] Only one person that day had a pierced side and that was Jesus Christ. And so when he appeared to his disciples he showed them his hands and his feet well that could be true of anyone who was crucified but then there was another proof that he was truly the Christ that died and was buried and that was his side and he showed them his side and he said to doubting Thomas thrust your hand into my side and be not faithless be not doubting be not full of unbelief but believe have faith that it is I and no one else and again John saw great significance in what took place what he says another scripture said they shall look on him whom they pierced and that scripture is to be found in the book of Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 which reads and I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born rebellion and rebellion and blindness which leaves them convinced of their sin and the convincing us that we are convincing us that we are convincing us convincing us of our sin but the Holy Spirit is also a spirit of supplication and he works within the same person as seeking for forgiveness and mercy.
[29:06] he brings before us a what is very interesting and he says what is very interesting in this verse is the sudden transition from the first person me to the third person him and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him.
[29:52] and you wonder why this transition from the first person and you wonder why this transition from the first person to the third person well I think this reminds us of the trinity one God three persons.
[30:03] You see scripture is very bold and he says that God has saved us by his own blood.
[30:13] by his own blood. And this morning is deep and intense morning.
[30:25] It refers to the beating of the breast in deep distress. although John does not say that God has saved us by his own blood. Although John does not sight what took place among the crowd at the cross. Luke records for us and he says and all the people all the people that came together to that sight beholding the things which were done smoked their breasts and returned.
[30:47] whether this morning is to be associated with what happened there it certainly has to be associated with what took place when the people responded to Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost.
[31:04] Now when they heard this that is Peter's sermon when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do?
[31:17] But you know this morning is not only to be confined to those who were around the cross and those who were there around Peter when he preached his sermon on the day of Pentecost but it is also true today.
[31:33] This morning is shared by all who see what their sin has done to Jesus Christ. We cannot come to the foot of the cross and have a true understanding of the death of Christ and of what our sin deserved as shown forth in the death of Christ without mourning without mourning.
[32:00] So this morning is shared by all those who see what their sin has done to Jesus Christ. His broken body and in his shed blood we see what our sins have done to the Son of God to the Darling of Heaven and that causes us to mourn.
[32:26] This is the sacrifice the offering that is pleasing to God a broken and a contrite heart and where shall we receive that broken and contrite spirit and a broken and contrite heart only at the foot of the cross in contemplating upon the person of the Son of God and understanding that it is our sins that leaves them there.
[32:52] Our sins that leaves them hanging between heaven and earth. There is no mourning for sin until the Holy Spirit is poured out.
[33:05] True repentance goes hand in hand with a correct understanding and appreciation of what took place at the cross of Golgotha. Should we not mourn over what made Jesus sink so low?
[33:22] Jesus Christ hangs on the cross pierced for my sins but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities.
[33:35] And through the effectual work of the Holy Spirit a person comes to acknowledge his or her personal part in piercing Jesus. If I hate sin only because of the punishment then I have not truly repented of sin.
[33:54] If I hate sin just only to escape hell then I have not truly repented of sin. I just regret that God is a just God who punishes sin.
[34:04] But if I see sin as an offence against God and if I loathe myself for it and understand that only God in the person of his son by suffering and dying could bring me salvation then that is through mourning through repentance.
[34:26] and the verses that follow there in the prophecy of Zechariah if you were to look at them brings forward the intensity of that mourning.
[34:39] The first is a grief of a family over the death of an only child and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
[34:52] just take that image with you and see the intense mourning that a person has in the death of an only son of the firstborn.
[35:07] The second comparison is with one of the most tragic instances of public mourning in the history of Israel with the death of the man that we already mentioned today King Josiah.
[35:18] We have that in Zechariah 12 verses 12 to 14 The mourning is so deep that they separate themselves they isolate themselves from others.
[35:37] The piercing is in reference to what took place at the cross after Jesus Christ had yielded up his spirit. The mourning is the action of those who have identified themselves by faith as those whose sins was placed and who pierced Jesus Christ those who have been brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
[36:07] Repentance is not a one-off experience it is a continuous experience. We repent all the time.
[36:20] John records for us that the soldiers when they pierced the Lord that out of his side came blood and water. Now there are various explanations given for the blood and water and I'm not going to enter into them today.
[36:36] But John in his first letter writes this is he that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and blood. So John attaches some significance to the water and blood.
[36:50] Let's hear what Matthew Henry says. He says guilt contracted must be expiated by blood. Stains contracted must be done away by the water of purification.
[37:05] These two must always go together. You are satisfied you are justified. Christ has joined them together and we must not think to put them asunder.
[37:16] They both flow from the pure side of our Redeemer. In other words what he is saying is this brought before us in the following chapter of the prophecy of Zechariah which I think belongs really the first verse there belongs to chapter 12 where it is stated in that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
[37:44] A fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Blood for atonement and the water for cleansing. There we have justification and sanctification.
[37:58] Justification in the blood, sanctification in the water. Blood to deal with the guilt of sin and water to deal with the power of sin. Washed judicially by the blood once and for all in our justification but we need the washing of sanctification each day in order to be cleansed.
[38:20] The washing of the blood is complete and perfect but the washing with water is in the work of sanctification which is progressive and one day shall be perfected in our glorification but that day is ahead of us.
[38:36] But they all come from the one sacrifice. Like the water and the blood came from the one sacrifice.
[38:47] So just justification and sanctification. The need for blood and water was always kept before the eye of Israel. If we go into the Old Testament worship as they came to the tabernacle they had the altar, they had the blood but before they entered into the tabernacle water.
[39:06] They had to wash their feet in the laver of water that was by the door. Blood, water before they entered into communion, fellowship with God.
[39:20] Remember the words of Jesus to the disciples that we looked at in recent weeks. after he had washed their feet in the upper room what did he say to them?
[39:30] He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet but is clean every way. He that is washed as a person takes a bath or a shower completely washes his body complete.
[39:46] But then as he goes out and in those days he wouldn't be wearing shoes and their feet would be getting dirty. but he that is washed, he that has taken a bath or the shower needs not but save to wash his feet because his feet is dirty.
[40:01] He needs to wash them continuously. And that is a picture of justification and of sanctification. And John saw the significance of all this after Jesus had died.
[40:18] He looked at what took place and he says this is our Passover lamb. This is Jesus, the Passover lamb of God.
[40:30] This is the one who will save us from our sins. His sacrifice is totally effectual to wash away our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, to reconcile us to God, to restore that communion and fellowship that we lost by sin.
[40:57] His death is effectual. Justification, sanctification, all from the one sacrifice. do you know Jesus as your sacrifice lamb?
[41:15] Do you know Jesus as the one who died for your sin? As do you know Jesus as the one who restores you into communion and fellowship with God?
[41:30] God? Do you know Jesus as the one who bore your sins on the cross of Golgotha? Can you say today he was pierced for me?
[41:45] My sins pierced the son of God. He bore my death so that I could have life.
[41:58] Well these are our words of testimony and witness God willing on the coming Sabbath for those who have come to acknowledge and know God through Jesus Christ as their Passover lamb will acknowledge that that he is their sacrifice for sin.
[42:26] May the Lord bless our thoughts let us pray.