Good Friday 2019

We're gonna be in the book of John.

So if you have a Bible or a device to be able to open up your app today, we're also gonna have the passage on the screen.

But we're gonna be in the book of John, and we're gonna be looking at chapter 19, verses 31 through 37.

So go ahead and turn there if you would.

You can get out your devices, and we'll also have it on the screen for you to follow along with.

It says this, chapter 19, verse 31, Since it was the day of preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they may be taken away.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

He who saw it has borne witness.

His testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, that you also may believe.

For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Not one of his bones will be broken.

And again, another scripture says, They will look on him whom they have pierced.

This is the word of the Lord.

May God bless the reading and the proclamation of his promises.

Now we come into the scene of this text after Jesus has already died from crucifixion.

And what we're seeing is that some of the Jews are coming in and asking that the bodies would be taken off the cross and that they would actually expedite the process of death for the people that were being crucified.

Because if we remember the story correctly, Jesus isn't being crucified alone.

He's got a thief to the left and to the right of him.

He's crucified with two other men.

Now, to understand why the Jews would ask for their legs to be broken, we have to understand how the process of crucifixion actually takes place.

You see, ultimately, when a person is crucified, their death comes by asphyxiation.

They are unable to breathe, and that is the end result of their death.

But what they would do is that typically this crucifixion method, this method of execution would take days to actually accomplish.

Because with the victims on the cross and their hope that was within them to try and fight for some type of life, they would use their feet and their arms to pull themselves up so they were able to uh inflate their lungs with oxygen and breathe.

And then when they drop down from weakness, they would then exhale their breath.

And they would do this for uh at times days on end.

But what's happening here is that the Passover feast is taking place during this time.

And so the Jews said, Hey, look, look, Roman soldiers, we need to expedite this because there's a law in Deuteronomy that states that if there are dead men hung from trees, then it actually spoils the ground.

It actually tarnishes the very earth, and we cannot have uncleanness at this ceremony, at this Passover meal.

And so they ask for the death of these people to be expedited.

And so they go to one and they break his legs, and they go to the other thief and they break his legs, so that they would no longer have the power from their lower body to be able to lift them up.

Now they would eventually try to raise themselves up by their arms, but they would very quickly fatigue and begin to fail and begin to die.

Now, as the Roman soldiers approach Jesus to break his legs, they discover that he is already dead.

And so, to kind of give some validation or finalization to Jesus' death, a soldier extends a spear into his side, and out comes blood and water.

Now, John is writing this passage, and what he's saying is he's giving the account of what had happened, and he gives this very particular reason of why he's giving this account.

He talks to him about himself and he says, The one who tells you this is telling you so that you may believe.

And he's doing it in this way.

He's giving two different Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah to give confirmation and affirmation that Jesus truly was who he said he was.

We see the first one coming from Psalm chapter 30, the 34th Psalm, verse 20, in the breaking of bones.

Psalms 30 · chapter mention

It was prophesied the Messiah would not have one bone broken in his body.

And in Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10, we see this other prophecy that he would be pierced.

Zechariah 12:10

And so John says, Listen, I'm telling you this, I've seen it with my own eyes.

I gazed upon this event transpiring, and I'm able to tell you, so that you may believe that not a bone of his was broken, and he was pierced.

And it's interesting to me as we look through these two prophecies, there's one of them that kind of remains in obscurity.

There's one of them, the breaking of bones found in Psalm 34, it's only found there, and it's only mentioned again here about this fulfillment.

But the prophecy of the pierced Messiah is not just found in one place, but it's found in another in the scriptures.

And there's something interesting about this prophecy written hundreds of years before the crucifixion of Jesus, that it says that they will look on him whom they have pierced.

Our main idea for this evening out of this text is that we should, as a people, look on him whom you have pierced.

You see, John is calling to set our gaze upon the pierced Messiah that we might behold and believe.

And we have to understand that we are the ones of whom Christ was pierced.

We're the one inflicting it on him.

Our sin is the hammer that drove the nails.

Isaiah 53 tells us that he, the Christ, was crushed for our iniquities.

You see, it was our rebellion that demanded the cross.

It was our sin that yelled, crucify him.

And it was Jesus, the Lamb of God.

He is our sacrificial pierced king.

Church, behold him.

You see, the reality of every single one of us is that we all will look on him.

We all will look on him whom we have pierced, either in mercy or in justice.

We will either look on him whom we have pierced, either in mercy or in justice.

For those of us in mercy, it is because he has graced us to behold him in mournful repentance.

Let's look at the prophecy in Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10.

Zechariah 12:10

Says this, and I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and please for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.

You see, those who behold him in mercy are those who are found under the blood of the Lamb.

Because of God's graciousness, because of his sovereign pouring out of his own spirit upon his children, there will be some who gaze upon the pierced one and find rescue.

They've looked on him whom they have pierced, and they see the fruit and demand of their sin.

They know that it should have been them there on the tree, but he so joyfully took their place.

They rejoice in freedom from the wrath of the Father because Jesus was crushed under the full weight of it in their place.

There will be some of us who, when we look on him whom we have pierced, we will look on him with life and hope and joy, because the Father has extended mercy to us that we may be found under the very blood our sin demanded.

For those of us in justice, it's because the pierced one will come for vengeance for his glory.

You see, Revelation 1:7 recounts this pierced one.

Revelation 1:7

It says this, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.

Even so, amen.

You see, the first time there was mournful repentance as these people were able to gaze on the pierced one.

This time there's wailing.

And the scope of his coming, the scope of those who would see him is all.

All of the tribes of the earth will wail as they gaze upon him whom they had pierced.

Jesus is coming back, and all will see the pierced warrior king, not the pierced sacrificial lamb.

There is still wrath to be poured out, there is still justice to be executed on account for our rebellion.

They will look on him in wailing, for they are his foe.

They will see him who they have pierced, and they will know that it is their ruin because they refuse to be found under the blood of the Lamb.

They will be found with their blood spilled on the ground.

God the Father demands blood to pay for our sin, to pay for our iniquity.

And he's either going to accept Jesus' blood on your behalf, or he's going to demand your own as payment.

Did you see Jesus was pierced for our sin so that we may not see death, but so that we might have everlasting life.

How gracious is Jesus.

How patient is he with us, even in the midst of our rebellion and our hard-heartedness.

You see, the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul tells us that it is the kindness of God which should lead us to repentance.

There's many of us who go through life and we understand our sin, we understand the weight and consequence of our actions, yet because we don't feel or encounter immediate consequence of it, we think we can just keep going on in the rebellion and in the hard-heartedness of which we are.

But do not be fooled.

His kindness is not meant for us to stay in sin.

His kindness toward us that he does not demand consequence now is that we might repent and believe.

As we would read further in the gospel accounts of what happened after the resurrection of Jesus, there's one of his apostles named Thomas who says, in such pride, and such arrogance and such fear, unless I place my finger in the nail holes of his hands and feet, unless I place my hand in his side, I will not believe.

And Jesus comes in such gentle grace and shows himself to his apostle and he says, Thomas, here, take your hand and place it in my side.

Gaze upon the one Thomas of whom you have pierced.

And Thomas's response, because of the grace extended to him through Jesus, my God, my Lord.

You see, we should realize something.

All of us will gaze on the one whom we have pierced.

Our prayer, my prayer for you, is that when you gaze on him, though it may bring sorrow, it is followed by eternal assurance that it was that blood and that piercing that brought you into the family of God forever.

There's a hymn called, Come ye sinners, and there's a stanza in this hymn that reads this agonizing in the garden, lo, your maker prostrate lies on the bloody tree, behold him, hear him cry before he dies.

It is finished, it is finished.

Sinner, will this not suffice?

Let's pray.

Father, we pray this evening as we reflect on the cost of heaven to ransom us your church.

As we are in this moment able to gaze upon the one whom we have pierced, I pray that, Spirit, you would break our hearts to be able to look on him in mercy.

I pray, Father, that you would open our eyes to not just the depth of our sin, but the infinite depth of your grace.

For those of us who are here and don't know you, Lord, I pray that you would give a sense of urgency to respond in faith to the gospel of Jesus, that we would no longer continue in the very actions that demanded the son would be pierced in the first place.

But experiencing your kindness, we would embrace the freedom of the gospel that He was pierced so that we wouldn't have to be.

Spirit, come in Jesus' holy name.

We pray.

Amen.