Bible Study Materials

IT IS FINISHED

by   08/21/2008  

Question

1. Read verses 16b-27. Where and how was Jesus crucified? What notice was fastened to the cross of Jesus? How firm was Pilate this time? What did the soldiers do? Why was such a thing written? Who stood near the cross of Jesus and what was Jesus’ concern? 2. Read verses 28-37. For the fulfillment of the Scripture, what did Jesus say? What did the people do for Jesus? What was Jesus’ last word on the cross in John’s gospel? What does this reveal about him and God’s salvation work? What did the solders do after Jesus’ death? 3. Read 38-42. Who buried Jesus? What did each of them contribute to the burial? What does this burial say about Jesus?

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Question

1. How was going to Golgotha expressed? (16b-17) Where and how was Jesus crucified? (17-18) What notice did Pilate prepare and fasten to the cross? (19) How effective was it? (20) Why did he do this and how and why was his unswerving decision stressed? (21-22) 2. What did the soldiers do with Jesus’ clothes? (23-24) What does this tell about them? What did the author John see in this act of the soldiers? What did Jesus say to his mother and to his beloved disciple on the cross? (25-27) What does this show about him? 3. Why did Jesus say, “I am thirsty”? (28) What did the people do at this? (29) Why such a detailed description? (cf. Ex 12:22) What did Jesus finally say on the cross? (30) What does this mean? 4. After Jesus’ death, what did the soldiers do further with his body? (31-34) What comment did the author make on this? (35-37) Through these descriptions about Jesus’ death, what do you think the author assures concerning Jesus? 5. Who were involved in Jesus’ burial? (38-42) What does this tell about them? Where was he buried? What does this burial of Jesus mean?

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Message

A young man came to the cross warehouse and knelt down praying. “Lord, I have a cross too heavy to bear.” The Lord replied, “My son, if you can’t bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then, open that other door and pick out any cross you wish.” The man was filled with relief and said, “Thank you Lord,” and he did as he was told. Upon entering the other room, he saw many crosses; some so large the tops were not visible. Then, he spotted a tiny cross leaning against the wall. “I’d like that one, Lord,” he whispered. The Lord replied, “My son, that is the cross you just brought in.” Sometimes we think my cross is the heaviest. But it may not be true. Today’s passage is about Jesus cross. And when we think about Jesus cross, we realize how light cross I have. Verses 1 through 16 show the conversation between the Roman governor Pilot and Jesus. And it proves that Jesus did not commit any crime of death sentence. Pilot said, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” Look at V16b. “So the soldiers took charge of Jesus”. Jesus was handed in to the soldiers. So the soldiers were in charge. Usually soldiers are cruel. M. David was a prison guard. Even gentle M. David Kim yelled at the prisoners when he was a soldier “Move. Move. You sons of dogs!” Especially the Roman soldiers were proud and brutal. The soldiers had already inflicted unimaginable pain on Jesus. They struck Jesus in the face and mocked him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” They pushed the twisted crown of thorns on Jesus head and the blood drops fell to the ground. They flogged Jesus mercilessly. The strips of broken skin were on the body of Jesus with the smashed flesh and the clotted blood. Now it was the time for them to execute the death sentence the Roman governor announced. Look at verse 17. “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which is called Golgotha). Jesus took his cross to Golgotha. When he went out of the governor’s palace to the street, people gathered around to see the parade. At this point Jesus was completely exhausted. And the cross was heavy. Jesus could not walk anymore. He fell down to the ground and the heavy wooden cross hit him to the ground. Then the soldiers whipped him on the back and kicked him. “Get up!” “Get up!” And he got up and moved with all of his strength. Soon he fell again. And the soldiers were getting wilder and rougher in handling him. After the numerous fallings, he reached to the point that he could not get up. He was speeded on the ground completely with no more strength. Then the soldiers appointed Simon from Cyrene to carry it. Jesus carried his own cross to the end with all his strength. Once he said in Mt 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Taking up one’s cross is not easy. It requires a self denial. Also it requires a commitment. And Jesus set an example how to carry our crosses. Bearing a PhD. study is a huge cross. It is a rare cross. Not many people get a chance to get it. And in some sense it is a glorious crosss.(Oh PhD. not Diploma. Toronto chapter is blessed with the two PhD students.) But definitely it is not an easy cross. Without the whole hearted devotion, how can God’s glory be revealed? M. Moses Chung came as a PhD. student. And I pray that he may meditate a lot on Jesus who carried his cross. In Old Testament Esther brought God’s glory with one attitude, “If I die, I die” “If I perish, I perish”. Our second gen missionaries are going to start a new semester, which is a new challenge. May they win through Jesus. May God help us to bear the cross of fishing and one to one ministry by the name of Jesus. We need a whole hearted devotion for this cross. Revelation 3:16 says, “So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” May God help us to please God by serving the fall ministry whole heartedly. Look at verse 17 again. “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull(which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.) The parade reached to the place of the Skull. Jesus walked to the palace where he had to be crucified. The place was called ‘Golgotha’ in Aramaic. The shape of the hill was like a skull with white stones and black soil on it. In Latin it was called, “Cal very” and we are familiar of the word, ‘Calvary’.(Hymn, O Calvary) It was the meaningful place. Scholars discovered that long time ago the place was called ‘Mt Mariah’. What do you remember about Mt. Mariah? In Genesis 22:2, God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Mariah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on the one of the mountains I will tell you about.” ‘Here one of the mountains I will tell you about’ was the Calvary. From the thousands of years ago, God already set a mountain to sacrifice his own son for human beings. God said to the man Abraham, “Go to the place and try to feel how it is to sacrifice your son”. God saved Isaac, Abraham’s son. But God did not save his own son, Jesus. Look at verse 18. “Here they crucified him, and with him two others-one on each side and Jesus in the middle.” Here they crucified him…silence. Why did John who saw the crucifixion directly written like this, so simple? Why? It was simply because he could not describe it with human terms. He could write about the splitting of the blood and the ripping of the muscles, and the moaning of the Son of God. He could find any human words to write about the breaking of the body of the Lord. He did not know how to deliver the pain of the cross when the nail pierced Jesus hands and arms, “Uuuuuuuuuuh!” “Uuuuuuu…uh!” The crucifixion was the most cruel and horrifying death. It was invented by the Persians. The Romans never employed it for a Roman citizen, no matter how vile his crime. It was the dreaded death brought upon foreign slaves and foreign criminals. Then why the pure son of God who came into the world without sin and helped the helpless people had to die like this? Isaiah 53:5 says, “… the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Simply it was to save us from our sins. It was to restore us to the Father God. He was the Pascal lamb who would wash our sin stained heart with his own blood. The lamb of God was slaughtered and was offered as the guilt offering to justify us. He was oppressed and afflicted in our place to give us the true freedom. There was no single sinner in the world that God could not forgive through his son who was crucified. In Christ we are free from any guiltiness. Our past transgressions, faults, and mistakes are all washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. “Oh freedom in Jesus!” We can come to God freely through Jesus. We can restart freely in the name of Jesus. We are new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 1. The power of forgiveness is in the cross. What do you think when you see the cross? The famous preacher Spulgeon used to meditate looking at the cross every morning. One day he was crying when he came to his wife. He said, “This morning the cross does not move my heart. Something is wrong with me.” He could not bear even a day without the deep grace of the cross of Jesus. Some people use the cross as a decoration only. So they put a really big cross on their necklace.(Especially black women.) But the size of the cross does not decide the devoutness of their faith. We should know how dreadful thing had happened on the cross to save us from our sins. We should believe that the crucifixion of Jesus was enough to wash away all our sins and we are completely free. 2. The love of God is in the cross. The most vivid expression of God’s love is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The sovereign Almighty God did not need to take the pain of killing his son on the cross. But his love enabled him to do this. The sinners cannot doubt God’s love once they accept the cross of the Lord. Once there was an air plane accident in Grand Canyon and the three boys died by the crash. The funeral was held in the same spot and some friends and class mates were invited. On the middle of the solemn ceremony presided by a priest, one of the kids raised a voice and yelled, “Where was God when all these things were happening.” And his voice echoed through the valleys of the Grand Canyon. “where where… where.. happening. Ing. …ing.” And everybody looked at the pastor’s face to see what he would say. Then the pastor raising his head said, “God was at the same place where he was when men took his son and nailed him on the cross.” Nobody in the world is enabled to doubt of God’s love with the things of the world because of the cross of Jesus. Let’s read verse 18 one more time, “Here they crucified him, and with him two others-one on each side and Jesus in the middle.” Jesus was crucified between the two other men who committed the real crimes. It symbolized the intercession of the Lord for the real sinners. Jesus was sinless but he died with sinners to intercede for the sinners. Isaiah 53:12 says, “…he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Look at verses 19 to 22. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read the sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” There was a note on the cross. ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Then the Jews protested to change the title. But it was stayed to the end. Jesus came as the spiritual king. But the people misunderstood and accepted him as national deliverer or political opponent. But Jesus who gave up his life for us is the king who would rule us as our spiritual king. If Jesus is our king, what do we feel in our mind? Obligation or confidence? If we think only how to serve him, we feel obligation. But when we think about his power and love, we feel confidence. By giving his life for us, Jesus proved his eternal love for us. And having this king gives us a deep confidence wherever we go. When we live in the world what makes us strong? It is the fact that we have our king Jesus who is with us all the time. We don’t need any sense of inferiority because our king Jesus is the supreme king. Sara Lee Jr. is small and weak comparing to the Canadian men and women at the campus. But she is doing what the ordinary people could not do. For sure sometimes she cries not knowing what to do. But she has a confidence because she has a king whom the worldly people do not have. She can do it as long as the king is ruling. And Jesus already promised to be with her to the end of our life. Jesus is holding our one hand.(Shape…) Which hand is Jesus? Right had is Jesus hand. Our king Jesus came to us with his initiative. And he does not leave us because he came to us by himself. When we have no strength he gives us strength. When we don’t know what to do, he guides us. Praise Jesus who became our king by being crucified on the cross. Look at verses 23, 24. “When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom."Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did. The soldiers who crucified Jesus were merciless and greedy. They did not care of the sufferings of the one on the cross. They were eager to gain material benefits. They picked one clothes each from Jesus and casted lots for the last garment. Psalm describes them as dogs, “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.” And this event was prophesied thousands years ago. “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” Look at verses 25, 26. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” Jesus was not ignorant of his own physical mother. He entrusted her to the beloved disciple. Mary’s presence before the cross was another fulfillment of the scripture. Her heart was so painful when she saw everything about Jesus crucifixion, from the flogging to the painful death. It was prophesied by an old man in the temple, Simeon, “…a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Look at verses 28 – 30. “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” When Jesus knew that the Scripture was fulfilled, he said, “I am thirsty.” Jesus endured until everything was completed to fulfill the Father’s words. Then he indicated his thirstiness by saying “I am thirsty.” This was the extreme thirstiness coming from much bleeding. A journal describes it in this way: “The suffocating pressure on the lungs causes a lack of oxygen, bringing carbon dioxide levels in the blood way up. This makes the prisoner struggle to breathe more and the heart begins to beat as fast as possible to oxygenate the blood. Instead of its usual 5 liters per minute, it is now pumping out 20 liters per minute. At this rate it will become fatigued and the person will die of high output failure. The blood pressure becomes so high that plasma is actually forced out the walls of the blood vessels into the area between the thorax and the lung. This fluid lost from the blood and filling this area can amount to a gallon. The only way for the body to replace it is to drink liquids.” People soaked a sponge with wine vinegar and offered it using a stalk of the hyssop plant. When Jesus received it he said, “It is finished.” And he gave up his spirit. Jesus said, “It is finished”. It means it is completed. The ransom sacrifice was completed. His payment for the sins of the world was completed. “It is finished” is “te tel-EH-o Stai” in Greek, which means ‘paid in full’. In Roman prison there was a balance chart in front of each cell of the prison. It showed the progress of imprisonment. When they finished their duty of imprisonment, it was written, “te tel-EH-o Stai”. It indicated he paid in full and now he was free. Jesus proclaimed that he paid in full for our sins and we are completely free. “te tel Eho Stai”, “Amen”. Abraham, “te tel Eho Stai” for you. Jesus’ mission is completed but how about us? Is our mission also completed with his death? At the group Bible study, M. Susanna proclaimed, “Jesus mission is completed and our mission started”. She seems to have a new spirit after the surgery. Jesus completed the gospel and we started our mission to share this gospel with the people in the world. This is the completed gospel which saved our life. And it will save any kind of souls when it is accepted. Livingstone was the English missionary to Africa. He shared this gospel with the most dangerous tribe of the continent. Especially he preached to the numerous man-eating people in Africa. Oxford University decided to give him an honorary PhD degree. At that time, students used to jeer when the unqualified person received the honorary degree.(Wooo Wooo …) But when Livingstone’s name was called and he came to the stage, the audience became completely silent. He was limping. The presider said, “Look at this man of God who did not take care of his own but to share the gospel with the dangerous people in Africa. He was saved from the numerous life threatening situations and now look at his arms. Not long ago he was attacked by a lion and his arm is just dangling on his soldier. At the podium, Livingston began to say, “When I was leaving my homeland England I believed in Matthew 28:18-20. And I believed God would save me from all the dangers of life. And I still believe in it. As long as my belief continues, I am intending to go back to my mission field. Years later he was found dead in a small tent near a lake in South Africa. He was dead in a shape of praying kneeling down beside his bed and Matthew 28:18-20 was written in his diary notebook. Jesus completed the gospel of Christ. And sharing it requires pain and suffering. But it is a glorious thing that we can participate at the remaining suffering of Christ. Look at verses 31-37. “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced.” By the Jews’ request, they wanted the process quicker. They broke the two criminals’ legs. But Jesus was already died and they did not break his leg. Instead they pierced Jesus’ side and the sudden blood and water flew out. Why this happened? Exodus 12:46 says about the sacrificing lamb, “…nor are you to break any bone of it.” Jesus bones were not broken to fill the qualification as the lamb of God who was sacrificed for the sin of the world. When they pierced Jesus’ side, a sudden flow of blood and water came out of body, which happens on only the dead body. John the writer narrates why he wrote this book of John in simple words, “…so that you also may believe.” Look at verses 38-42. “Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” The hidden disciples Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus became bold after Jesus’ crucifixion. They asked Pilate for the body of the Lord and laid him in a new tomb with the mixture of myrrh and aloes. In conclusion Jesus paid in full for our sins and we are free from the debt of sins. But we now have the debt of grace. How can we show our thanks to God for the sacrifice of his Son? It is to deliver the completed gospel to the people who are still suffering and moaning from the shadow of sin and death.

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