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Calvary Community Church

Sermon

The King Is Crucified

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 19:17-27

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

We are reminded that the cross—history’s most shameful execution device—is not a symbol of defeat but the crowning revelation of God’s glory. At Calvary, what men meant for evil, God meant for good, and John records eight divine fingerprints in Jesus’ crucifixion so that we will believe He is the Son of God and Messiah.

Key Lessons:

  1. The cross is a beautiful paradox: the greatest display of evil in history is simultaneously the greatest display of love, righteousness, and victory.
  2. Jesus was fittingly crucified among sinners—numbered with transgressors as Isaiah foretold—as the perfect substitute who took our place so we might take His.
  3. Pilate’s public, trilingual inscription proclaiming Jesus ‘King of the Jews’ was no accident—God providentially ensured the right message reached all peoples, kickstarting the gospel’s spread to the whole world.
  4. Even the soldiers gambling for Jesus’ clothing fulfilled Psalm 22 written 900 years earlier, proving the cross was always God’s sovereign plan and that Jesus really is the Christ.

Application: We are called to respond with repentance and faith—not merely intellectual acknowledgment—and to let the same sacrificial love that sent Jesus to the cross shape how radically we serve and give ourselves to others.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does understanding the physical and social horror of crucifixion deepen your appreciation for what Jesus willingly endured on your behalf?
  2. Where in your life are you tempted to say ‘I can’t give that up’ for the sake of another person—and how does the cross challenge that reasoning?
  3. What does it mean to you personally that God sovereignly directed even small details like the soldiers’ dice game to fulfill Scripture and validate Jesus as Messiah?

Scripture Focus: John 19:17–25 forms the core text, showing Jesus crucified among sinners (fulfilling Isaiah 53:12), proclaimed as King in three languages, and His clothing divided by lot (fulfilling Psalm 22:18). Supporting passages include John 3:14–15, John 12:32, John 15:13, Philippians 2, and Acts 4:27–28, all pointing to the cross as God’s predetermined plan of redemption.

Outline

Thank you musicians for leading us in worship. Let’s pray and ask God’s help as we hear his word.

Lord God, we are so much in need of Christ. We need to see him. We need to hear him explain to us so that we can have God explain to us. Jesus, you are the explainer of God. When we see you, we see the father and that is eternal life to us to know you father the only true God and Jesus Christ you have sent. So God please help me to be able to explain the word of Jesus now and help us all God to see him lifted up in glory so that we will believe follow him and be like him in loving others in Jesus name. Amen.

Introduction

In my study for the sermon passage this week, I inadvertently discovered something interesting about the name of our church.

You are all here at Calvary Community Church.

But have you ever asked yourself why Calvary Community Church or even what Calvary means?

Some of you may recognize Calvary as the name of the place where our Lord Jesus was crucified. Though you will not find that exact name in the Bible unless you’re using the King James version.

This is because the name Calvary comes from the Latin Vulgate Bible’s Calvaria, which itself is a translation of the original Greek title Kranion and Aramaic Galgata.

What do all these different titles translate to in English?

Place of a skull.

Yes, Latin calvaria is equivalent to our English word skull.

So, welcome to Skull Community Church this morning.

Why Christians Love Calvary and the Cross

Someone might therefore ask, why would Christians look fondly on the name Calvary? Or why would Christians commemorate their dear Lord’s execution site in their church names?

Oh, but it gets better. We Christians don’t just talk and sing about Calvary. We put up crosses everywhere.

And what is a cross? At least in Jesus’ day, it’s not some cool fashion symbol. It’s a torturous execution device.

A wooden cross represents the most shameful, prolonged, and painful way a person could die. And there it is, nice and big behind the pulpit. We put it on our t-shirts and we wear it as jewelry.

You don’t see people wearing symbols of electric chairs, hangman’s nooses, or firing squads. But what’s up with Christians and crosses?

Well, here is the answer. With Calvary and with the cross, we behold in miniature the beautiful paradox of our redemption.

We have on the one hand the greatest display of evil in history and on the other hand we have the greatest display of love and righteousness. On the one hand, the greatest tragedy leading to the deepest sorrow and on the other hand the greatest victory leading to endless joy.

We have on the one hand the greatest shame—shame so horrifying it would be unthinkable for the Son of God to endure it. And on the other hand, we have the greatest glory.

We Christians, if we truly understand, we cannot help but love Calvary and the cross. Yes, even the place and way that our Lord Jesus died, because by these we sinners are saved.

By these we see the loving heart of God in fullest display. And by these we see the wisdom and power of God overturn all other wisdom and power.

“With Calvary and the cross, we behold in miniature the beautiful paradox of our redemption.”

Setting the Scene: John 19:17–42

Our next passage in the Gospel of John is John’s description of Jesus’s crucifixion.

This is the climax of this book and it is the crowning revelation of the glory of God in Christ.

Our author, the Apostle John, is intent that we see Jesus lifted up. Not merely in agony but in glory so that we will believe in Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah and obtain eternal life.

Let’s open our Bibles to John 19:17-42 where we behold with love and wonder the king crucified.

“This is the climax of this book and the crowning revelation of the glory of God in Christ.”

The king is crucified.

John 19:17-42.

We’re only going to look at verses 20 through 25 today, but the whole section goes to verse 42. You can find it on page 184.

We read the passage earlier in our service, but let’s review the context again before we go verse by verse.

Background: How Jesus Came to the Cross

It is the Passover and thousands of Jews, probably hundreds of thousands of Jews, are gathered in Jerusalem from all over Palestine, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean to keep the feast.

Many of these Jews earlier in the week celebrated the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth. They proclaimed him to be the Jews’ long-awaited Messiah, the anointed one, the long-awaited king of Israel, even the one who is ready to deliver Israel.

But unbeknownst to almost all of them, their Messiah is sold by Judas Iscariot on Passover night into the hands of the jealous Jewish leaders who are intent on killing Jesus.

These leaders, led by high priests Annas and Caiaphas, condemn Jesus in a sham trial during the night. Then, to cover themselves due to Jesus’ great popularity, they deliver Jesus to the Roman governor to carry out the execution.

However, Governor Pontius Pilate has a hostile relationship with the Jewish leaders and is not interested in rubber-stamping their decision. Instead, he conducts his own trial.

Jesus’ Roman trial plays out for most of the morning.

The Jewish leaders present Jesus to Pilate as a rebel king in competition with Rome.

But Pilate finds Jesus, King of the Jews, to be innocent of such a charge.

The Jewish leaders do not accept this finding but insist on Jesus’ death from Pilate.

Pilate then tries multiple strategies to release Jesus. He has King Herod try Jesus, and Herod also pronounces Jesus innocent. Pilate offers to release a prisoner specially for Passover. “Do you want Jesus or do you want notorious Barabbas?”

Pilate even has Jesus beaten and presented in a mock coronation to the Jews. Surely this one is harmless.

But none of these measures satisfy the Jewish leaders. They persuade the gathering crowd of Jews outside Pilate’s residence to reject Jesus’ release and instead cry out for Jesus’ death by crucifixion.

The Jewish leaders eventually reveal to Pilate their true view of Jesus: because he claims to be the son of God, he is actually a blasphemer who deserves death according to Old Testament law.

This word frightens superstitious Pilate greatly. He interviews Jesus again and becomes all the more determined to release Jesus.

But the Jewish leaders then warn Pilate that if he releases King Jesus, he will prove disloyal to the Roman emperor, and the Jews will tell the emperor so. Knowing that Pilate cannot afford any more bad reports to the emperor and seeing that the Jewish crowd is now close to rioting, Pilate decides unjustly to give in to the Jews’ demand.

But he does so in a way that also mocks the Jews.

Pilate finally and officially presents pathetic-looking Jesus as the king of the Jews to the Jews. When the crowd responds by crying out again for Jesus’ crucifixion, Pilate asks them to verify that they want him, the Roman governor, to crucify their king.

To this, the high priests on behalf of the people cry out, “We have no king but Caesar.” And Pilate delivers Jesus to the Jews and to his team of soldiers for crucifixion.

“The high priests cry out, ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ and Pilate delivers Jesus for crucifixion.”

God’s Good Hand in a Terrible Evil

How could all this happen?

How could God’s own people betray their Messiah to the worst death possible?

Truly, no greater evil has ever been committed on earth.

And God would hold the Jews, their leaders, and even complicit Pilate responsible.

It is no accident that about 40 years after these events, the Jews would be utterly devastated in a rebellion against Rome. The Jewish leadership would be wiped out and the temple completely destroyed.

God’s holy judgment would fall on his wild vineyard and on the unfaithful caretakers of it.

Nevertheless, Israel’s rejection of its Messiah had been foretold for centuries, and Jesus’ shameful death was always determined by God for a good purpose.

Recall even some of the declarations we heard about Jesus and from Jesus earlier in this gospel.

John 1:29, John the Baptist says, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

John 3:14-15. Jesus says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life.”

John 10:11. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”

John 12:32. Jesus says, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

John 15:13. Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

John 17:1. Jesus says, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son so that the son may glorify you.”

Jesus is no mere victim of different schemers or unfortunate circumstances.

He is the righteous, courageous and obedient son of God who out of love for his father and for the people the father has given him goes willingly to the cross to die in the place of his people.

Jesus suffers the wrath of God due his people’s sins so that his people will have eternal life.

Really in Jesus’ death we find the ultimate application of Joseph’s profound words in Genesis 50:20, just slightly paraphrased: “What men meant for evil, God meant for good, to bring about this present result to save many people alive.”

The disciples after Jesus’ resurrection in Acts 4:27-28 also confess that it is God’s good sovereignty that played out in Jesus’ death: “For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.”

So then as we now look at the crucifixion account from John, let us not merely see the evil of men, but let us see the good hand of God glorifying the father and son in the gracious work of redemption.

“What men meant for evil, God meant for good—to save many people alive.”

Eight Divine Fingerprints

Indeed, in John’s record of the cross, John highlights for us eight specific details of God’s sovereignty and Jesus’ obedience to further prove to us that Jesus is who he claimed to be: the only Son of God and Messiah.

Think of these details like divine fingerprints on the crucifixion scene given to us so that we might see what God was doing the whole time and believe in Jesus.

That’s my proposition for guiding us through this whole section. In John 19:17-42, John records eight divine fingerprints in Jesus’ crucifixion so that you will believe.

“John records eight divine fingerprints in Jesus’ crucifixion so that you will believe.”

This week we will look at the first three of these eight fingerprints, and over the next week or two we’ll look at the rest.

Fingerprint #1: Jesus Is Fittingly Crucified with Sinners

The first divine fingerprint that we see in Jesus’s crucifixion appears in verses 17 to 18. Number one, Jesus is fittingly crucified with sinners.

Let’s read those two verses.

They took Jesus therefore and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him and with him two other men, one on either side and Jesus in between.

The Road to Golgotha

Notice in verse 17 that we go straight from Pilate’s betrayal of Jesus in verse 16 to the process of crucifixion.

The Jews with the Romans’ help waste no time in seeing their king and God crucified.

You see the “they” of verse 17, by which John probably means for us to understand Pilate’s Roman soldiers. They take Jesus and get him ready for crucifixion.

Now we talked about this last time. John doesn’t mention it specifically here, but such preparation for crucifixion would have included another beating from the Roman soldiers. This time the verberatio, the scourging with the multi-thonged whip with the sharp bits at each end.

Rome always administered this brutal beating before a crucifixion.

In such scourging, the soldiers would take turns whipping the prisoner until each of the soldiers got tired.

This scourging would have been excruciating for Jesus and would likely have severely weakened him.

Nevertheless, we read in verse 17 that Jesus has enough strength, at least initially, to carry his own cross out from the governor’s residence and out from Jerusalem.

This also is standard procedure for Roman crucifixions. The victim would have to carry the heavy crossbar on his shoulders to the execution site.

This march through the streets not only served to further disgrace the prisoner who must carry the means of his own gruesome death, but it also served as a warning to all who saw the prisoner passing by.

Indeed, the victim would have had a notice detailing his crime either carried before him or hung around his neck.

We’ll hear about Jesus’ notice in verses 19 to 22.

Now, John doesn’t mention that Jesus isn’t able to carry the cross the whole way. Apparently, according to what we read in the other gospels, Jesus eventually gives out, probably from blood loss and exhaustion. So the Romans compel a certain passerby to carry the cross of Jesus the rest of the way.

But John records what he does to emphasize the holy determination of Jesus, even to carry his own cross.

Jesus will not resist or run from the cross. Rather, he meekly accepts it and he bears it as far as his human strength will allow him to bear it.

“Jesus will not resist or run from the cross. He meekly accepts it and bears it as far as his human strength allows.”

And to where does Jesus go with the cross?

Just outside the city to a place with a grisly name: the place of a skull, or in Hebrew, Golgotha; in the Latin Bible, Calvary.

Why was the site called the place of a skull? We don’t know. Possibly it was a hill or round mound that looked somewhat like a skull.

Though interestingly, the Bible never says specifically anywhere else that Jesus died on a hill.

Probably the name is not because there were piles of skulls there. After all, the name is “place of a skull,” not skulls. And besides, beheading was not the usual Roman practice.

Perhaps the place got the name simply because of its association with execution and death.

Now, where is or where was this place of a skull?

There is debate, but the best evidence suggests that this site was within the walls of what is old Jerusalem today, in the area of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. You see, in the centuries after Jesus’ death, the place of a skull was transformed first by Roman pagans who were trying to do things against Christians, and then by worshiping Christians themselves. Though the place ended up looking nothing like what it originally did.

Any skull-like features of the original site have now long been lost.

What Crucifixion Actually Was

But regardless, Jesus goes with his cross to this site and then we read simply in verse 18, “There they crucified him.” Such a brief description, isn’t it?

And yet so much is contained in those few words.

Crucifixion had plenty of variations, but the main features were always the same. It began with the victim being stripped completely naked. The loin cloth you see in depictions of the crucifixion is just an artistic convention. Jesus had no clothes.

Then the victim was laid with his hands spread across the crossbar and his hands were either tied or nailed to the wood.

In Jesus’ case, his hands were nailed, probably through the wrists or possibly through the hands near his thumb.

The crossbar was then lifted with the victim and fastened to the vertical piece of the cross so that the victim would hang a few feet above the ground.

The victim then had his feet tied or nailed to the vertical piece of wood.

Again, in Jesus’ case, his feet were nailed, likely with two nails instead of one, with his feet placed on either side of the vertical piece of wood, and then the nails driven in through the sides of each of Jesus’ heels.

Stretched out and fastened to the cross, the victim was then left to hang for hours or even days, all the while in unceasing pain.

How would a crucified person die?

Possibly by going into shock from blood loss, different organs just start shutting down.

But more probably by asphyxiation.

You see the real trick of the cross is that the victim hangs in such a way that he cannot breathe unless he lifts himself up.

This means that he must push himself on and against any nails that are driven through his body.

The longer the crucifixion lasts, however, and as dehydration, exposure, and blood loss take their toll, the more difficult it becomes for the victim to lift himself up.

The Romans did attach a horn-like projection from the cross to serve as a kind of seat for the victim. It partially provided some support, but it only prolonged the agony. It did not relieve it.

Really, the dark spectacle of the cross was watching someone struggle just to breathe and stay alive.

Knowing that no matter how valiantly someone fought, no matter how long, he was still doomed to suffocate in the end.

Dying with barely a whisper.

One writer sums up crucifixion well in this way: “It represented the acme of the torturer’s art, atrocious physical sufferings, length of torment, ignominy, the effect on the crowd gathered to witness the long agony of the crucified.

Nothing could be more horrible than the sight of this living body, breathing, seeing, hearing, still able to feel, and yet reduced to the state of a corpse by forced immobility and absolute helplessness.

We cannot even say that the crucified person writhed in agony, for it was impossible for him to move.

Stripped of his clothing, unable even to brush away the flies that fell upon his wounded flesh, already lacerated by the preliminary scourging, exposed to the insults and curses of people who can always find some sickening pleasure in the sight of the tortures of others. A feeling that is increased and not diminished by the sight of pain.

The cross.

The cross represented miserable humanity reduced to the last degree of impotence, suffering, and degradation.

The penalty of crucifixion combined all that the most ardent torturer could desire: torture, the pillory, degradation, and certain death distilled slowly, drop by drop.

It was an ideal form of torture.”

So, are you getting the picture?

There is no more degrading way at that time that a person could die. If you’re getting the theme of all that I’ve just shared with you, it is shame. Shame.

“The theme of all this is shame—helpless, hopeless, unceasing pain and shame.”

Shame. Shame.

Helpless, hopeless, unceasing pain and shame.

The Cross as Substitutionary Atonement

Yet, how does the son of God and Lord of all give his life for his people?

It is in this way, this specific way.

Why this way?

It is no accident. Rather, this way was the most fitting to display the Lord Jesus satisfying the justice of God.

If you think about it, the cross is like a small version of hell, but on a tree. It’s a multi-layered torment that just goes on and on and on.

The torture of eternal hell is the wages that you and I, each of us, have earned by our sin against God, both by who we are and by what we have done and not done.

Thus, it is appropriate that as Jesus takes on himself the sins of all who believe in him and as the Father’s face of favor turns to a face of holy hatred against sin that God’s wrath should be made manifest against the son in both body and soul.

The hell poured out on the son’s body reflects the true hell poured out in the son’s soul.

The cross, therefore, represents the ultimate humiliation and suffering that we deserve as punishment for our sin.

But if you believe, Jesus took that punishment for you willingly instead of you. And at the same time, he was granting you his perfect record of righteousness along with eternal life.

Think how low the son of God went for his people. You cannot get any lower than the cross.

But what do the scriptures say? For this reason, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. Philippians 2.

What I’ve just been explaining to you is the beautiful doctrine of substitutionary atonement: Jesus satisfying the justice of God on the believer’s behalf by taking the believer’s place.

God is good. God is just. Therefore, God must always punish sin.

But for those who believe, Jesus says, “I’ll take it. Give me the cross. I’ll take his place. Give that one instead my perfect record of obedience. Let me be rejected so that one is accepted.”

Considering what God’s great salvation actually is, it is fitting that Jesus should die on a cross. So horrible and yet so wonderful and beautiful.

“Jesus satisfies the justice of God on the believer’s behalf by taking the believer’s place.”

Crucified Among Sinners

But it is also fitting that Jesus did not die alone.

Notice back in verse 18 that it says two others were crucified with him, one on each side, Jesus in the middle.

Now, who are these two others?

John doesn’t tell us specifically, but for them to be crucified, they must be low status persons who have committed serious crimes against Rome.

We learn from the other gospels that these two other men are robbers. That’s the same term used actually in John for Barabbas in John 18:40. We looked at that term before.

The term—don’t think petty thief. It means something more like bandit or terrorist.

Indeed, we hear that Barabbas was one who committed murder in an insurrection plot.

If these men are just like Barabbas, then probably they were Barabbas’s sidekicks. They were his accomplices.

The whole murderous gang with Barabbas being the ring leader was scheduled to be crucified.

But Jesus takes Barabbas’s place, the very spot. He takes his place at the very spot that this planned crucifixion was to occur.

And again, how appropriate.

Jesus is literally substituted for a terrible criminal and made to suffer that one’s due penalty.

Jesus is also placed among criminals as one of them, even the worst of them, by being put right in the middle.

Is this shameful arrangement by chance?

No. This is God’s fingerprint underscoring the great salvation that the son is accomplishing on behalf of the father.

Such was foretold about the Messiah by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before.

Isaiah 53:12 speaks of the Messiah: he was numbered with the transgressors.

He wasn’t one of them, but he was treated that way.

So friends and brethren, see where God placed Jesus for you. If you believe, in your place as a transgressor, so that you might be placed in Jesus’s place, exalted at the right hand of God.

Jesus is fittingly crucified with sinners so that you will see and believe.

“God placed Jesus in your place as a transgressor so that you might be placed in Jesus’ place, exalted at God’s right hand.”

Fingerprint #2: Jesus Is Fittingly Proclaimed as Messiah

But we see another divine fingerprint of Jesus’s crucifixion in verses 19 to 22.

Number two, Jesus is fittingly proclaimed as Messiah.

Let’s read those next verses now. Verses 19 to 22.

Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.” Therefore, many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the king of the Jews, or I am king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

Well, here we go again. One more tussle between Governor Pilate and the Jewish leaders. Notice in verse 19 that Pilate himself was the one who composes the notice of Jesus’s crime, the notice that was paraded with Jesus as Jesus carried his cross out of the city.

Now we’re told Pilate has that notice affixed to the cross above Jesus according to Luke.

Now what Pilate specifically records on this notice is significant.

First, Pilate writes, “Jesus the Nazarene.” That is Jesus the one from Nazareth. Now, don’t forget where Nazareth is or what Nazareth is. It was that village of no consequence in the boondocks of Galilee.

Remember John 1:1, we heard Nathaniel say when he was being called as a disciple of Jesus, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Well, Pilate draws attention again to Jesus’s podunk origins in this crucifixion notice.

And second, Pilate writes the king of the Jews. This is a reference to the charge that the Jews brought against Jesus that Jesus made himself out to be Christ, the anointed king in competition with Caesar.

Now, as we saw, Pilate found Jesus not guilty of that charge, but the Jews insisted. So Pilate finally condemned Jesus on the basis of Jesus being a king.

You may remember though that the priests, the chief priests, they asserted that the Jews had no king but Caesar. But Pilate now ignores that and he once again officially designates Jesus as the king of the Jews.

Pilate’s Inscription and Its Reach

Notice also in verse 20 that Pilate ensures that this notice is visible to as many people as possible.

Pilate has Jesus crucified in a spot near the city. Indeed, this place of the skull was probably very close to right outside the western city gate of ancient Jerusalem, right next to a main road. The site would also be visible from the walls of Jerusalem.

Further, Pilate has the notice presented in three different languages. We have Hebrew, or really Aramaic, which is the local language. We have Latin, which is the official language of the empire and of the military. And then we have Greek, which is the common language of the Mediterranean.

In other words, Pilate is making sure that everyone gathering or passing by the crucifixion site can read the notice. If you don’t know one language, you will know one of the other two.

And if you can read it all, you will be able to read and know who this man is and why Rome crucified him.

Now, why does Pilate do this? Why does Pilate go all out to have Jesus’s crime so publicly proclaimed?

Well, this is one last attempt from Pilate to get revenge on the Jewish leaders. Remember, he hates that the Jews have blackmailed him into condemning Jesus.

So he will again humiliate the Jews and their leaders by again proclaiming crucified Jesus to be king of the Jews, as if to say, “Let everyone see what Rome does to the wretched king of a wretched people.”

Verse 20 notes that Pilate is successful. Many Jews were probably not present in the earlier back and forth between the Jewish leaders and Pilate. They see Jesus and they read the inscription.

Oh, here struggling for life on this cross is our king and Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

Unsurprisingly, Pilate’s move greatly annoys the Jewish leaders, and the chief priests request repeatedly to Pilate that he change the written notice. Don’t say that Jesus is our king, only that he said that he is our king. Make it ambiguous.

But Pilate is not going to give up this little piece of payback, especially since the Jews cannot get him in trouble anymore. So Pilate’s response is, “What I have written, I have written.” Translation: Sorry folks, already done. Not changing it.

“Pilate’s response: ‘What I have written, I have written.’”

God’s Purpose Behind Pilate’s Revenge

All this gives insight into the selfish pride of Pilate and the chief priests, willing to needle one another at the Son of God’s expense.

But why does the apostle John tell us about it?

Well, it’s not merely to expose the evil of the men around Jesus. It is surely so that we will see the divine hand in all of this. Don’t you see it?

It is no accident that Pilate again affirms Jesus to be the king of the Jews because that is exactly who Jesus is.

God is providentially ensuring that Pilate puts exactly the right reason that Jesus is on the cross.

It is no accident that Pilate puts Jesus just outside the gate to be crucified. For not only does this ensure that the great crowd of Passover pilgrims will learn about Jesus and what happened to him, but this will also align Jesus with Old Testament sacrifices for sin, which according to the law must be offered where?

Outside the camp. It will be burned outside the camp, outside of the city.

And it is no accident that Pilate translates Jesus’ crucifixion notice into the main languages of the day because Jesus’ kingship, his crucifixion, and the good news of the gospel that accompanies these truths should indeed be made known to the whole world, even to the whole universe.

Did not Jesus say—I quoted it earlier—”If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself”? With his vengeful inscription, Pilate unknowingly is already kickstarting God’s purpose.

“Jesus’ kingship and the good news of the gospel should be made known to the whole world, even the whole universe.”

Pilate means to heap shame on Jesus and by extension the Jewish people.

But because Jesus really is king and the cross is the Messiah’s real mission of redemption, Pilate inadvertently brings glory to Christ by heralding his sacrifice to all peoples.

Here then is another divine fingerprint in Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus is fittingly proclaimed to all as Messiah.

“Pilate means to heap shame on Jesus, but inadvertently brings glory to Christ by heralding his sacrifice to all peoples.”

Fingerprint #3: Jesus Fulfills Scripture About Clothing

We see a third divine fingerprint and our last one that we’ll cover today in verses 23 to 25a.

Number three, Jesus fulfills the scripture about clothing. Jesus fulfills the scripture about clothing.

Let’s read those final verses. Verses 23 to 25a.

And the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.

So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the scripture. They divided my outer garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

Therefore, the soldiers did these things. Here again, John reports for us something typical of Roman crucifixions. Since the victim is stripped of all his clothing and is not going to need it anymore, the execution squad gets to have the clothing instead.

And remember, clothes were expensive in the ancient world. They took a long time to make and a lot to buy. The average person only had two or three changes of clothes. So getting some new clothes was a decent perk for an otherwise dirty job.

Verse 23 tells us that Jesus’ outer garments are divided up four ways, a part for every soldier. So that means there were four Roman soldiers responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion.

Four is a convenient number as Jesus likely had four parts to his outer wardrobe: a cloak, a headpiece, a belt, and sandals.

Now, how did the soldiers determine who got which piece?

John doesn’t tell us, but the soldiers probably either asked for specific pieces or they just cast lots for them.

But then the soldiers discovered that Jesus’ tunic, that is his knee-length undergarment shirt, is woven in one piece, meaning that it won’t divide easily and will actually be ruined if they tear it. So the soldiers decide to give the whole garment to just one of the four soldiers and they will decide which one by casting lots for it.

Now what is casting lots? It’s determining the outcome of something by chance. So something like drawing straws, flipping a coin, or rolling dice.

Romans typically loved gambling. So these Roman soldiers probably had some kind of dice on them.

The Soldiers’ Dice and Psalm 22

Now, all this seems like a pretty inconsequential report. The soldiers gambled for his clothes. So what?

Until we read the latter part of verse 24.

This was to fulfill the scripture.

Wait, you’re saying there’s a scripture saying that Jesus would have his clothes divided up by some gambling group?

Oh, yes. It’s part of a messianic psalm that has all sorts of foretellings of Jesus’ crucifixion. That psalm is Psalm 22.

Psalm 22 is a psalm written by Jesus’ great human ancestor David about 900 years before Christ.

In the psalm, David describes himself being in desperate need of God’s deliverance from trouble.

David’s life story shows that David often found himself in trouble in the Old Testament both before and after he became king. Yet, the language that David uses in Psalm 22 is extreme and oddly specific.

David famously begins Psalm 22:1 by saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” David goes on in Psalm 22:6-8 to describe how everyone passing by him is jeering at him and mockingly encouraging him to call upon God for aid. Psalm 22:8 says, “Commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him because he delights in him.”

In Psalm 22:14-16, David describes the effect of his trouble on his own body.

I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaves to my jaws and you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet.

Psalm 22:16: “They pierced my hands and my feet.”

And then there’s this from David. In Psalm 22:18, “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” Do you see the connection between David and Jesus?

What David describes in vivid hyperbole is literally fulfilled in Jesus at the cross.

David talks about being so threatened by men and suffering so deeply that it’s like God himself has forsaken him and it’s like his enemies are preparing to execute him. They’re already dividing up his clothing by lot.

Now David was speaking truly about his own circumstances metaphorically speaking. This is how David really felt.

Yet David, because of his unique position as prophet, king, and the recipient of the Davidic covenant, was also prophesying of his seed—a greater Messiah, a greater David, even Jesus of Nazareth—who would be forsaken by God, who would be executed by men, and who would have his clothing divided up by lot.

Indeed, it is striking how well David’s description of suffering in Psalm 22 lines up with crucifixion.

David even mentions, as I read, the piercing of hands and feet.

Why is this most striking?

Because David never witnessed a crucifixion.

He couldn’t have because crucifixion apparently wasn’t invented until 400 years after David’s lifetime.

How can David describe crucifixion—even the crucifixion of his seed 900 years plus later—so accurately? It is not because of some kind of foresight in David. It is because God was supernaturally prophesying through David beforehand.

“David couldn’t have witnessed crucifixion—it wasn’t invented until 400 years after his lifetime. God was supernaturally prophesying through David.”

Now, back in John. John doesn’t take us through all of Psalm 22. The different gospel writers quote parts of it in their accounts of the crucifixion. I recommend you read Psalm 22 later. I think it will be very edifying for you.

You’ll see the connections to our passage. John just quotes for us Psalm 22:18 to show us that even this seemingly insignificant detail of the soldiers dividing up Jesus’ clothes has God’s fingerprints on it.

God’s Sovereignty Over Small Details

The soldiers think they’re just doing what they normally do. They’re the ones making the decisions according to their own wisdom. Okay, chaps. Let’s divide up the clothes like usual. You want the belt, right? Okay, here you go. Ooh, look at this tunic. It’s all one piece, guys. Let’s not tear it. Let’s roll some knuckle bones for it to see who will get it. Everyone agree? Okay, let’s see who’s lucky today. They’re just carrying on like normal. No thought to God.

Now, they are acting with genuine agency. God is not coercing them.

Nevertheless, they are doing all that they do because God sovereignly has directed them to do so.

They are fulfilling what God had prophesied and validating Jesus as God’s son and Messiah so that we who are reading today will believe.

Notice John’s extra emphasis on this point in John 19:25. Therefore, they did these things.

The soldiers did what they wanted to do, but they also did what God wanted them to do sovereignly speaking. They divided up Jesus’ clothes and cast lots specifically to fulfill the scripture.

“The soldiers fulfilled what God had prophesied, validating Jesus as God’s Son and Messiah so that we will believe.”

So what does this mean?

It means that the cross must always have been God’s plan and that Jesus then really is the king of the Jews and the son of God.

“The cross must always have been God’s plan, and Jesus really is the King of the Jews and the Son of God.”

Now, we have more divine fingerprints of God’s sovereignty and Jesus’ obedience to examine next time. But let’s just consider again what we’ve seen today.

How does Jesus’ crucifixion prove rather than disprove or undermine that Jesus really is the Christ and son of God and that by believing in him, you have life in his name? Well, number one, Jesus is fittingly crucified with sinners. Number two, Jesus is fittingly proclaimed as Messiah. And number three, Jesus fulfills the scripture about clothing.

Application: Do You Believe?

The application question, the main application question from this sermon is quite simple.

Do you believe? If this is the purpose and this is the evidence, do you believe?

God made his beloved son and his savior so obvious to you even by these three fingerprints. So will you not pay attention? Will you ignore this? Will you say, “That’s nice. That’s interesting.” No. This calls for your faith. This calls for your repentance and faith. This calls for your trust.

This calls for your devotion. This calls for your worship. This calls for your forsaking of all others, all other treasures of the world to know and have Jesus.

So, have you done that? Are you doing that? And is your life of obedience now backing up that claim?

Remember, Jesus is the precious son of God and he has gone to the lowest point for sinners.

If you say, “I don’t care,” or if you say, “That’s really lovely, but I don’t need that because I will make up for my own sins by my good works,” do you hear what an offense that is to God?

If this is what he had his son go through for you and you say you don’t need it, what kind of wrath are you storing up for yourself?

Do not refuse the one who is speaking to you. I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about God and his word through this word. He is commanding you today.

Repent of your sins and believe.

It is good for you to do that. That is how you are saved. That is how you gain a saving substitute, the one you need to save you from hell.

Do not trifle with God by saying, “I don’t need that,” or “Yes, I believe,” and then just live however you want. Do not contradict your own profession.

But if you will believe, yes, even today, then the things that Jesus came to do are immediately applied to you. He is your substitute. He is your savior.

He has taken your sins and totally paid them. He has given you his righteous record and now it stands on your behalf forever so that you are justified, acceptable to God. That can be yours right now if you believe. You can be forgiven. You can be cleansed.

“If you will believe, Jesus is your substitute—he has taken your sins, paid them, and given you his righteous record forever.”

You can be made an inheritor of eternal life and of God’s kingdom. What prevents you from doing that?

What lie? What treasure of the world should be a roadblock to your receiving such a gift from God freely?

Do not let your pride, do not let your supposed righteousness get in the way.

Run to the sun as he calls to you from this passage.

Application: Love One Another as Christ Loved

There is another application of this passage that comes to my mind, and it has to do with how we love other people.

What does Jesus call his disciples to do? Even as we already saw in the Gospel of John, it says, “Just as I have loved you, I command you love one another.”

He showed that to us in an extreme way by washing the disciples’ feet, but that only pictured an even more extreme way that he served his people. And that is the cross.

And he says, “Love each other the same way. Sacrifice for one another. Love one another the same way.” If Jesus went so low, he the king went so low to serve you, then shouldn’t you do the same for others?

Is there something you say, “Sorry, I can’t give that up out of love for you.” Have you seen Jesus’s crucifixion? Have you read the Bible? Surely we Christians can never say that if we’re thinking clearly.

No. If he went to the lowest place, then out of love for him, out of imitation of him, out of a desire to please him, we’ll say, “Jesus, I want to do the same.” The lowest way I can serve another person or the most valuable thing that I can give up out of love for another person, I will do it because Jesus, I love you and you are all that I need.

“If he went to the lowest place, then out of love for him we say: the most valuable thing I can give up for another, I will do it.”

Brothers and sisters, is there anything in your life like that that needs to change in terms of serving another person or giving up something for the Lord or for another person? I believe the Lord is also speaking to you from this passage to put Jesus’s love, even this amazing love into practice in your own life.

Well, we have much more to look at, more glory to examine in the next few weeks, but that will do for today. Let’s now pray to God about what we have just heard.

Lord, what a strange thing is the cross. It’s so horrible. It’s so much something we could never believe would happen.

He you who sit and enthrone above the cherubim, you who dwell in unapproachable light, you whose glory is infinite, you whose depths of righteousness cannot be found out, why would you go to such a low place? How could you go so low?

Not for a good man, not for good men and women, but for sinners, for those who have hated you, loved created things rather than you, and have utterly broken your law. Why would you do that for us?

But you did it. And now that we see it, now that we have it explained to us, we say, “Yes, what a great God.” There is no greater glory.

Jesus, truly, you displayed your glory in a magnificent way in the cross.

God, I pray that all of us here now seeing and hearing it would believe. Believe unto salvation. Believe unto further sanctification. Believe unto faithful declaration to this world which needs this word.

Holy Spirit, work in us as we need in response to this word.

And Lord God, I do pray for our church that we would live out this same kind of love that says, “I will hold nothing back for the Lord, for my brothers and sisters, and for those who don’t yet know God in Jesus’s name.” Amen.

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