Let the water and the blood...

“A True Testimony”

(John 19:31-37, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 29, 2010)

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 might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 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. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Since it was the day of Preparation... (31-32)

Jesus died. Those who were plotting against Him for some time, achieved their goal. But now they have other concerns. The opinion they hold about the good life has not changed. They have not adopted Jesus' view of the Old Testament Law. They have their own view, and life goes on. A very holy day was coming, a combination of the weekly Sabbath day and the Passover festival. The good life, the religiously observant life, required something of them as defenders of purity in Jerusalem, and the bodies of the crucified victims were in the way, including the body of Jesus.

These bodies, still publicly exposed on their crosses, offended their understanding of ceremonial holiness. What is holiness? For the enemies of Jesus, the pursuit of ceremonial holiness was everything, and holiness of heart and life was another matter. True-life holiness insists that an innocent man not be murdered. But they want the body of Jesus and the other bodies down from the cross for fear that the curse of one who dies on a tree will pollute the land. Isn't the land already polluted by what they have done? What can ceremonial holiness do for you? What are the limits of that kind of holiness? What are your goals of holiness?

But when they came to Jesus... (33)

Jesus is holy. Yet on the cross He became the sin offering for all our moral failure. His willingness to live and die for us has become the most glorious display, not only of His love, but of His holiness. It is this full obedience of Jesus to the will of the Father that sets Him apart. The obedience of His death is the opposite of the evil of those who schemed to see Him die.

Psalm 69:21 is the verse in the Bible that the crowd fulfilled by giving Jesus sour wine to drink. Listen to the verse before it: “Reproaches have broken my heart.” What is in the heart of Jesus Christ, the Man of Sorrows, as He gave the last measure of holiness and love in a sacrifice that is now finished? The heart of His enemies reproaches even His crucified body. “Clean this place up. It's a special day. Move along the death of these men by breaking their legs.” But when they came to Jesus, He had already given His heart willingly in perfect holiness. He was dead.

But one of the soldiers pierced His side... (34)

Then, in verse 34, something unusual happened. Perhaps one of the soldiers wanted to confirm that Jesus was dead. He took his spear and pierced the body of Jesus, making a gash in His side. Out of that wound both blood and water immediately flowed. John wants us to know what happened that day, yet the Apostle does not tell us what it all means.

Jesus had given up His Spirit. His heart had stopped working. People have considered the medical facts that are reported here and in other places and have reached their own tentative conclusions about what precisely happened to the body of Jesus. Their thoughts are informative, but more significant to us are the truths of the Scriptures that are brought to our attention in the pouring forth of both blood and water from the dead body of Jesus. There is something here that is more than biological. A physician can take an educated guess concerning the brokenness of Jesus' heart. A good hymn writer might add some other insights. “Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee. Let the water and the blood, from thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power.” Both blood and water are referred to many times in the Old Testament as agents of cleansing. Now they are flowing out of the side of Jesus in a way that is unusually striking to the observer. Add to that the fact that our Lord had spoken these words earlier in John's gospel: “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” See Isaiah 11:10, 12:1-6, and water from rock/temple.

He who saw it... (35-37)

John insists that we pay attention to this testimony of what came out of the pierced body of our Savior. Repeating himself for emphasis, he indicates that this fact that he reports is true. Surely this testimony is an indication that Jesus was really dead, but John says only this about the reason for reporting this fact: “that you also may believe.” And then He cites how this is a fulfillment of some specific Scriptures. See v. 36-37.

John says you need to believe. Don't miss that. You do need to believe. You might think that if you are a believer already, that your pastor is talking to someone else and not to you. Remember that the Bible regularly calls people of faith to grow in the grace of faith, and that love proceeds in growing measure from hearts that are growing in faith. Faith is more than factual assent. It is trust, and trust is a life-long issue. What are you leaning on? Most are leaning on their own opinions and habits, and not on the cleansing blood and water that comes from the Son of God. Let the present reality of Christ's holiness cleanse and renew your Christian life.

What was in the heart of the Passover Lamb? What came out of Him when He was pierced? Do you see the strength of His broken heart, the heart of a Man who faced the unjust reproach of men? He had cleansing water and blood for you, that you might believe and rejoice forever.

Let me close with a reflection on the self-authenticating nature of the Scriptures. Not one of His bones was broken. That was one of the rules from Passover. See Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12. And He was pierced, fulfilling Zechariah 12:10. The soldiers looked on Him that day. Consider the Scriptures:

1. A prophet records something impressed upon Him by God that He does not really understand.

2. For centuries that mystery lies hidden in the Scriptures, and those who use them faithfully do not understand what it might mean.

3. The people that God eventually uses to bring about the events described are not religious professionals trying to make Jesus look good. They are soldiers only doing what makes sense in light of their normal tasks and goals.

4. No one standing by connects the original prophesy with the events happening that day.

5. Years later, when the New Testament is written, suddenly the disciples and the church have all become brilliant, and they see in Christ the fulfillment of these and of hundreds of other perplexing passages in the Hebrew Scriptures. How did they all get so smart? How did it happen that the persecutor Paul, and the eleven disciples, who were plainly afraid after the death of Jesus, suddenly were preaching and writing New Testament gospels and letters that quote hundreds of confusing passages, showing them in the brightness of their religious significance?

Answer: The resurrected Jesus showed this to them, and the Holy Spirit enabled them to see in brighter light what only God could have tucked away for us in the Old Testament shadows. Believe more and more, and let your increasing belief lead you to true holiness.

1. Why did the Jews want Jesus' body down off of the cross?

2. What was unusual about Jesus being dead already?

3. What is John's point about the blood and the water?”

4. How were these events a fulfillment of Scripture?

OT Passage: Psalm 34, Zechariah 12:10

What did Jesus finish?

“It is finished”

(John 19:30, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 22, 2010)

30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

When Jesus had received the sour wine...

In the verse before us, our Savior dies. From the beginning of this gospel it has been clear that Jesus understood what He was doing, and that the way that grace and truth would come to us, would be through the Lord fulfilling the role that is His alone as the Lamb of God. It has also been clear that those around Him did not understand what He was doing. When He came to His own people, they did not receive Him as King and Savior on His own terms.

Jesus came to fulfill something. He fulfilled the divine plan between the Father and Son. He fulfilled all of the Law of God, keeping it to the end. He fulfilled the penalty of the Law, taking upon Himself the wrath that we deserved. He was faithful in all of this. And He understood what He was doing.

The list of those who did not understand what Jesus was doing in His life and death is a large list. Mark 3 and Mark 7 tell us that His family did not understand Him. They were trying to take Him away from the crowds, and they were afraid that something bad had happened to His mind. The religious leaders certainly did not understand Him, and what they did understand they rejected. They conspired against Him in fulfillment of this very unflattering role of being the rebellious builders when He was the Rock of the new Israel, as Psalm 118 had predicted, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Jesus would be the number one solid rock in the new temple of the Holy Spirit, and the political and religious leaders in Israel were the blind builders who did not see Him for who He was and is. Finally the crowds that observed Him in these last hours did not appreciate what Jesus was doing. As He patiently fulfills passage after passage from the Old Testament Scriptures, they show no sign of seeing what this was all about. Most recently, as almost His final words, He says, “I thirst,” and they do not see the greatness of the Man who had been cut off from the presence of the Father in order to be our sin offering, who from the depths of His righteous soul thirsts for God, the living God. They can only see the obvious, that a man dying on a cross is thirsty, and they lift up something for him to take in. The sour wine, the vinegar, is at hand. They unwittingly fulfill Psalm 69:21, “for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

He said, “It is finished,” ...

They did not understand, but He did. This is important to remember. You and I do not really understand what was required for our salvation. We can look at the cross and wonder, but we need to understand the whole Bible, and even more, the mind of God, in order to really know what it took for sinners to be saved. We can do what the hymn writer wrote about in “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted.” We sing, “Ye who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly, here it's guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed, see who bears the awful load. 'Tis the Word, the Lord's Anointed, Son of Man, and Son of God.” Yet we only get a glimpse of what these words mean. Hopefully we see enough to appreciate the seriousness of what it means that “Christ Jesus came to save sinners,” and to begin to accept the call that He gives to His disciples when He says, “Follow Me.”

But He needed to know what He was doing. There are some jobs and even some games in life where close is not good enough. There can be little doubt that atoning for our sins is in that category. It is of the greatest importance for the glory of God and for your eternal well-being that when Jesus says, “It is finished,” that He be entirely and completely right about that.

What needed to be finished for your sins to be atoned for?

1. The being who lived and died for you as the Lamb of God had to be the right one. He had to be both true man, to be our accurate substitute, and truly God, who could face an infinite penalty in a finite period of time. Someone less than the mystery of Jesus, the Son of David, and David's Lord could not have said with any credibility, “It is finished.”

2. He also had to fulfill all divine prophesy. The list of passages that Jesus had to attend to are far more numerous than we could consider now. But isn't that the point? Even if someone else could have somehow done some of the things that the Messiah was supposed to do, how many passages would He have not understood to be about Him, and how many would He have just missed, or not fulfilled with the richness of the Lord's divine intention. Earlier this year I went through the New Testament to identify all the Old Testament passages that were directly quoted or alluded to there, and tried to identify all of the Christian doctrines supported by those passages using a basic historic statement like the Apostles Creed. My spreadsheet had 1,184 rows, from hundreds of passages. How many did I miss? And these are just the Old Testament passages that are noted in the New Testament. Think of all the passages from the Old Testament that the Lord fulfilled that were never quoted in the New Testament. But everything had to be faithfully done, or the Lord could not have said, “It is finished.”

3. Specifically, all of the requirements of the Law of God had to be satisfied... Think of the enormity of the task of obeying the Law of God without fault. One sin of thought, word, or action, one duty omitted, or one prohibition transgressed, and Jesus could not say, “It is finished.”

4. Finally, all that God required in the everlasting curse that was against us, all of what eternal hell is, all of what can be seen in the sufferings of the cross, and all of what no man could ever see, but was there, had to be accomplished for Jesus to say, “It is finished.”

There is no other Messiah. No one else is the right being. No one else could understand and fulfill all of the Scriptures about Him. No one else could have obeyed all of the Lord's holy commandments, culminating in that great work of love that is the fulfillment of the Law. No one else could have taken the curse and fully done the job that had to be done. It is finished.

And He bowed His head ...

So when He had given the last measure of devotion, when He was utterly spent, when the Man Jesus had done it all, He bowed His head.

This is a sad moment. The precious head of Jesus rests.

And gave up His Spirit.

And He gave up His Spirit. It was finished. Jesus died. Where did His Spirit go? There can be no doubt. We know from Luke's gospel that Jesus had earlier said to one of the other men who died with him that day, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise.” This paradise is the present heaven. His Spirit went there. Home again. Then back again to earth for the resurrection unto immortal human existence. This is the same pattern for all of the Lord's people who die in this age.

Application: All that was necessary for your sin to be atoned for was accomplished by Jesus Christ. There is no other Savior but Him. See in the cross a Person and an action that is infinitely impressive. Then be moved in love that this amazing fullness of obedience was for you.

1. Why did people give Jesus sour wine?

2. In what sense was the work of Jesus now finished?

3. What does this account reveal to us of the weakness of Jesus' body”

4. What does it say to us of the strength of His Spirit?

Ready to go home...

“I Thirst”

(John 19:28-29, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 15, 2010)

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

After this... (28)

After Jesus spoke to His mother and His disciple, He was ready to die. He had been eager to go to the Father for some time, but there was work to be done that only He could do. So after He said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son,” and to John, His disciple, “Behold, your mother,” He was ready to fulfill the last little portion of Scripture. It was all essentially finished.

He had been through much. For the purpose of understanding these words, “I thirst,” I want to draw your attention to three episodes in His life that were now long gone. They are the other places in John's gospel where this word for being thirsty is used. Many months before, the occasion of His physical thirst led to a discussion with a Samaritan woman about a different kind of thirst. Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” The second time he spoke about thirst was after providing bread to a large crowd in John 6. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Then in John 7, in Jerusalem, at a time when there were large crowds because of one of the Old testament festivals, Jesus got up and spoke. This is what He said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

All three times before the cross in John's gospel when He talked about thirst, His point was always the same: He said that He was the key to water from heaven that would really satisfy the thirsty soul. This was an important part of His entire ministry. He is the answer for our thirst. That combined with one additional fact: In order for us to have the benefit of that heavenly water, Jesus had to obey the Law as our substitute, and then He had to die in our place. This is seconds away; so close that John tells us that Jesus knew at this point that all was now finished, a fact we will examine more thoroughly next Sunday.

“I thirst.” (28)

For now, I want you to notice that on the cross, “after this,” after doing everything He came to do, at the very last moment, instead of talking about Himself as the answer for our thirsty souls, He talks about His own thirst. He says, “I thirst.”

He was thirsty. We could just let this be, except every other time He uses this word in John's gospel, he takes the meaning further than physical thirst. Very often, the Psalms and the prophets do the same thing. That's important, because John says here that Jesus uttered the words “I thirst” to fulfill something from the Old Testament Scriptures. What was it that Jesus was fulfilling when He said these words?

The most obvious passages are two psalms about the suffering righteous servant of God, both of which have several details about the facts of Jesus' death in them, Psalms 22 and 69. Psalm 22:15 says, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.” That just points to the reality that the death of the Messiah would involve some method of suffering that included extreme thirst. Psalm 69 says something more directly significant. Verse 21 reads, “for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

That obviously fits in well, and it is true. We'll look at this some more in verse 29 in just a moment. Two things drive us further to a deeper meaning to this thirst. First, we have already seen that Jesus can use a true physical thirst to make a point about the thirst of His soul. Second, Psalms 22 and 69 refer to the Lord's condition of thirst in the extreme suffering of His body, but neither of those psalms actually contains a cry of a thirsty man. John could say that the Scriptures were fulfilled because Jesus is bringing about their prophesied response to His thirst or that the condition of His thirst on the cross is enough of a fulfillment of what is being described in these two psalms, and Jesus simply draws attention to this thirst now that He has done everything that needed to be done. That's possible.

Yet it would be worthwhile to see if there are places where a righteous man cries out in thirst in the Old Testament, and then see what the thirst there was all about. We do find places like that in the psalms. Psalm 63:1 “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 143:6 “I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.” Psalm 42:1-3 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

These intense longings match exactly what we know about Jesus from John's gospel. Particularly as our Lord came to the end of His ministry, there can be little doubt that He wanted to go home to heaven and to His Father. That's where He begins to talk about the fact that He was going back to God, to His Father, and to His Father's house. In John 16:28 Jesus says plainly, “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” When Jesus prays in John 17, the first thing He says is, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son...” and then He says. “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” He is ready to go home. Why? His soul thirsts for God.

A jar full of sour wine... (29)

This is not generally understood by men. Certainly those who were there took His words to simply indicate His physical thirst. Therefore they got Him some sour wine to drink before His last words, thus literally fulfilling the words of Psalm 69:21. They did not show any indication that they understood anything about the thirst of the soul of Christ, that though His body is dying, His overwhelming impulse now that His work is virtually finished, is to return to the Father. They did not understand that.

Do you understand the thirst of Jesus for His Father? There is a part of man that requires more than normal food and drink to be satisfied. The soul was made to thirst for God. Jesus' soul worked perfectly, even at this desperate moment, when his body has been so badly hurt.

Think of what Christ resisted on the way to the cross. See Luke 4:5-8. That's what some people are thirsting for. How about you? Jesus could resist the devil so well because He thirsted for something better than what Satan could give Him. Just to admire the purity of the thirst of our Savior is a good thing. Before He died, to fulfill the Scriptures, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

1. What is the connection between these verses and the prior events?

2. In what sense was the work of Jesus now finished?

3. What did Jesus mean by the words “I thirst?”

4. What did the crowd that day not understand regarding Jesus?

Jesus, the King of All Compassion

“Mother and Son”

(John 19:25-27, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 8, 2010)

25 … but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Standing by the cross of Jesus... (25)

This morning we began this service with a hymn based on Psalm 103. Part of the message of that psalm centers on the Lord's compassion. We sang, “Good is the Lord, and full of kind compassion.” Do you believe that? Do you think that there might be someone in heaven who is more understanding, more on your side, more full of kind compassion than Jesus?

One temptation that we need to resist is the idea that Jesus is not the most compassionate resident of heaven because someone else there knows us more intimately than he does, perhaps our own parents, or some other loved one. We might hope that a departed loved one, who surely cares for us, will convince Jesus to help us. Another idea that many find it hard to give up on is that some other person in heaven is more understanding than Jesus, because Jesus is a man.

Our passage this morning does mention some amazing women. We do not know for certain whether John refers to four women or to three. If three, then the woman called “Mary the wife of Clopas” would be the same woman who is called “his mother's sister.” At first this may seem strange, since the mother of Jesus also has the name Mary. However, the word “sister” can refer to a cousin or to someone in the extended family.

In any case, whether there are three women here or four, perhaps like your own mothers, you could easily say that these are some phenomenal women. To be with Jesus at this moment required courage. Several women had been supporting Jesus throughout His ministry. Mary Magdalene was someone from whom the Lord had cast out seven demons. Of course, the mother of Jesus knew about the extraordinary fact of the virgin birth as no one else could. Even after her divine Son was born, she was warned by the prophet Simeon in the temple that this baby would have something to do with the rising and falling of many in Israel. And then, he turned to Mary and said directly to her, “A sword will pierce your heart as well.” From several verses in the gospels we are brought to see that Mary did not always comprehend all of what was going on with her Son, and she was very concerned about His well-being. But we also remember these interesting words, that from the beginning she “treasured these things in her heart.” Even before Jesus was born, by the Holy Spirit she proclaimed, “my soul rejoices in God, my Savior.” The boy that she would give birth to would be God, her Savior. Now all generations call her blessed, but she was a mother too, a mother who did not understand everything that was happening in the life of her Son. And surely at this great and sorrowful moment, a sword is piercing her heart as she sees His suffering.

When Jesus saw his mother... (26-27)

Mary had a mother's compassion, but do you imagine that Jesus had less compassion than Mary? That would be wrong. Do you imagine that Jesus has less compassion for you than anyone else in heaven? Don't forget what Isaiah had written so long ago. Even back then, six centuries before Jesus, Israel was tempted to think that God did not have compassionate love for His people. So the Lord says this through the prophet Isaiah: “Zion (or Israel) said, 'The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.' Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” God knows that our mothers love us. Sometimes they don't know how to express it, but God knows that they love us. So He refers to a mother's love in Isaiah 49, and He says, “Even if your mother forgot who you were or rejected you, I will not abandon you. I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”

He knows that you might feel that no one could ever care for you as much as your own mother. At that point He does not direct you to blessed Mary, or to some other very compassionate woman. He directs you to Jesus. Your names are engraved on His hands. When He died, He had you in mind. Jesus is such a compassionate Savior. Draw from the grace that flows freely from Him. Think of Him personally as Someone who knows, loves you, hears you, and helps you.

Perhaps it will help you to remember the compassion of Jesus if you consider that when He was dying on the cross for your sins, He paused to care for His own mother. He saw His mother there. He had an eye for His mother. He has an eye for you too. He knew that she would be needy. Silence about Joseph makes us guess that he had died by this point. Mary was a widow. She had other children, James and Jude to mention two who went on to write the letters in the New Testament that bear their names. But at this precise moment of John 19 at the death of Jesus, the half-brothers of Jesus apparently did not believe. Our Lord would appear to James after the resurrection, and James would a great leader of the church in Jerusalem.

But it was the wisdom of the Son of God, the Son of Mary, Mary's Savior to make a provision for Mary that was not from her own family circle. He is not only compassionate. He is also knowledgeable and wise beyond anyone else. He knows the best place for Mary. Without a lot of words, in a brief and moving display of powerful care, the Savior simply says, “Women,” which was not disrespectful, “behold, your son!” And then to John, the young one, the disciple Jesus loved, “Behold, your mother!”

And from that hour... (27)

And so it happened. “From that hour the disciple,” John, “took her to his own home.” It is only a small story. But the timing of it all makes it a very powerful display of love.

God cares for you. There is no one more compassionate. Jesus is the perfect Son of God. His cross is the greatest display of love that there could ever be. He has not forgotten you. He has an eye for you. He sees what you need, and He looks at what He has planned for your life. He considers the timing of all things, and how everything will work together for God's glory, and your good. Then He provides, and we receive. If that's the way it is even on the day of the cross on this earth, how much more is it that way in heaven where He lives and reigns?

Some final thoughts: How can you honor the mother of Jesus? She was saved by her Son. She would want you to worship her Savior, and to come to Him as the God of all compassion.

Finally, love your own mother. If she is alive, provide for her, defend her, protect her, and honor her. If she has died, honor her memory in the best way that you can. If she loved and loves Jesus, remember her God, and may it be your privilege to show the greatest respect to your mother by worshiping the true and living God, who saved you and her. This is what she wants for you more than anything else. And this is what Jesus wants for you. Do this for Him. It will be good for you, body and soul.

1. What do we know about the women that were witnesses to the cross?

2. What do we know about the relationship between Jesus and Mary?

3. What do we know about the relationship between Jesus and John?

4. What do we know about the compassion of Jesus, and how does that affect our prayer lives?