FINALLY CRUCIFIED
John 19:16-42
I.
AN ACT OF GOVERNMENT. John 19:16-24
A. The Sentence. (19:16-18) Pilate violated his own conscience and “delivered Jesus to
their will” (Luke 23:35). He had washed his hands of the whole matter (Matt. 27:24)
or so he thought. “And he (Jesus) bearing his cross went forth into a place called the
place of a skull.” Our Lord Jesus Christ bore his cross, but “Simon a Cyrenian” was
compelled to assist him (Luke 23:26). Spurgeon said, “He must go the whole
way…from the throne of highest glory to the cross of deepest woe.” There, they
crucified him between two thieves.
B. The Superscription. (19:19-22) “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross.
And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Pilate
placed this title above our Lord Jesus on the cross where it could be seen by many.
Additionally, the title was written in the three official languages of the country. It
provoked the “chief priests” who desired a revision. They said, “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.” Pilate was weary with them.
C. The Soldiers. (19:23-24) The attending soldiers took our Lord’s outer garment
(cloak) and parted it four ways, thus each taking a serviceable piece of cloth.
However, the Lord’s inner garment (tunic) was seamless and very valuable. For this
reason they agreed not to cut it apart, but rather to “cast lots” for it. In the process
they unwittingly fulfilled Psalm 22:18.
Matthew 27:24, “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he
took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just
person: see ye to it.”
Luke 23:26, “And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the
country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.”
Luke 23:38, “And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew,
THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Psalms 22:18, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
II.
AN ACT OF GRACE. John 19:25-27
A. Those Who Were Standing by the Cross. (19:25) It appears that
John was the only one of the Lord’s apostles present at the
crucifixion (Compare John 19:25 with 13:23). However, the
women were there.
B. Those Who Were Sent from the Cross. (19:26-27) As the Lord
Jesus suffered on the cross he made final provision for his mother.
How very is the Biblical account from Roman dogma. Outside of
the main Mary basilica in Rome (Santa Maria Maggiore) there is a
large crucifix with Jesus hanging on one side and a crowned Mary
hanging on the other.
John 13:23, “Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.”
September 2, 2012
III.
AN ACT OF GREATNESS. John 19:28-30
A. The Lord Received the Sponge. (19:28-29) The Lord Jesus had initially refused the
soldiers’ vinegar, but “all things were now accomplished.” In other words, the scriptures
concerning our Lord’s sufferings were all fulfilled except for one. He had been pierced
(Psalms 22:16); he had been mocked (Matthew 27:42, Psalms 22:8); his garments were
parted (Psalms 22:18); and he had cried out (Mattew 27:46, Psalms 22:1). Psalms 69:21 alone
remained unfulfilled. Jesus said, “I thirst.” Then he received the sponge of vinegar.
B. The Lord Released His Spirit. (19:30) The prophecies concerning the crucifixion being
fulfilled, our Lord said, “It is finished.” He then “gave up the ghost.” Compare John 10:18.
Jesus Christ is the “author and finisher of our faith.”
Matthew 27:34, “They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not
drink.”
Matthew 27:48, “And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed,
and gave him to drink.”
Psalms 22:16, “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands
and my feet.”
Psalms 22:8, “He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”
Psalms 22:18, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
Psalms 22:1, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the
words of my roaring?”
Psalms 69:21, “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
John 10:18, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
IV.
AN ACT OF GOD. John 19:31-42
A. Divine Protection for the Lord’s Bones. (19:31-37) “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.” Pilate consented and dispatched soldiers. However, “when they came
to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs.” This was a fulfillment of
Exodus 12:46 and Psalms 34:20. Zechariah 12:10 was also fulfilled.
B. Divine Provision for the Lord’s Body. (19:38-42) Joseph of Arimathaea was a member of
the Jewish council (Luke 22:66) but he did not consent to the arrest of Jesus Christ. Along
with Nicodemus (John 19:19), he was a secret disciple. Joseph used his influence to secure
our Lord’s body and he placed the body in his own tomb (Matthew 27:60). In the process,
Joseph of Arimathaea fulfilled Isaiah 53:9.
Psalms 34:20, “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.”
Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of
grace and of supplications: 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 firstborn.”
Isaiah 53:9, “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.”
CONCLUSION. (John 19:35) John Zebedee testified to the truthfulness of his eyewitness account.
Remember, he was the last living apostle and his gospel was written to third generation Christians.