The Sermon on the Mount

Link to Lessons: The Sermon on the Mount

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Outline

Section	Subject	Passage	Lesson
I Introduction			1
	Context of the Sermon	Matt 5:1-2	2
II The Beatitudes	“Blessed are…”	Matt 5ff/ Luke 6:20ff	3
	a) The Beatitude of Salvation	Matt 5:3/ Luke 6:20	4
	b) The Beatitude of Comfort	Matt 5:4/ Luke 6:21b	7
	c) The Beatitude of Covenant Qualification	Matthew 5:5	10
	d) The Beatitude of Doctrinal Desire	Matthew 5:6/Luke 6:21a	13
	e) The Beatitude of Giving and Receiving Grace	Matthew 5:7	15
	f) The Beatitude of Spirituality	Matthew 5:8	16
	g) The Beatitude of Witnessing	Matthew 5:9	18
	h) The Beatitudes of Persecution	Matthew 5:10-11, Luke 6:22	21
	i) Inner Happiness Produces Outer Happiness	Matthew 5:12 Luke 6:23	22
	j) Preservation Quality of Inner Happiness: Salt of the Earth	Matthew 5:13 Mark 9:50 Luke 14:34	24
	k) Influence of Inner Happiness: Light of the World	Matthew 5:14-16	27
III Impact of the Mature Believer		Matthew 5:13-16
	a)      Salt of the Earth	Matthew 5:13
	b)      Light of the World	Matthew 5:14-16
IV. The Lord’s Relationship to the Law		Matthew 5:17- 20
	a)      Fulfilling the Law	Matthew 5:17
	b)      Fulfillment Continued	Matthew 5:18
	c)      Jesus Stresses the Importance of the Law	Matthew 5:19
	d)     Superseding Religious Righteousness	Matthew 5:20
V. Jesus Clarifies the Mosaic Law
	a)      Introduction
	b)      The Prohibition Against Murder	Matthew 5:21
	c)      Anger Prohibited	Matthew 5:22
	d)     Reconciliation	Matthew 5:23-26
	e)      Overt to Mental Adultery	Matthew 5:27-28
	f)       Self-Judgment	Matthew 5:29-30
	g)      The Case of Immoral Divorce	Matthew 5:31-32
	h)      The Issue of Oaths	Matthew 5:33-37
	i)        The Case for Revenge	Matthew 5:38-42
	j)        Virtue Love Mandate and Illustrated	Matthew 5:43-48
VI. Warning Against Pharisaic Hypocrisy
	a)      Rewards for Righteousness	Matthew 6:1

Easter Lesson 6: Part E. The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ

Updated Here

E. The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ

Before we continue with our narrative, we need to understand the absolute awesomeness of our Lord’s resurrection.  His resurrection is the pivot around which human and angelic history revolves.  Though our Lord told His disciples about it, they still did not understand that the Father and Spirit would resurrect Him from physical death.  Even Jewish religious leaders highly debated the entire concept of a life after death.  Though so much of this presentation has emphasized the work our Lord accomplished on the Cross, no other fact in human history has greater significance or impact as our Lord’s resurrection from the dead.  That God raised Jesus from the dead is the core message we have to spread to the lost and dying world.  Jesus Christ physically defeated death, the very termini of the unbeliever’s life.  Because Jesus Christ defeated death, human beings no longer need be subject to death.  What fantastic news!  So many churches emphasize, though icons, our Lord’s death upon the cross, yet the most significant news we have to share with the world is His resurrection.  By His resurrection, He proved once again, that He was and continues to be True Deity.  His resurrection also confirmed, beyond His miracles, that everything He taught was completely true.  Also, as Paul repeatedly taught, His resurrection confirms our salvation and future resurrection.

1. Narrative

Let us turn to the Scripture for the narration of this wonderful event.

ü     After the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them.  And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.” Matthew 28:1-10

2. Credibility of our Lord’s Resurrection

Despite the debate down through the ages, we have assurance that both the Holy Spirit and the Father resurrected Jesus Christ three days after His crucifixion.  Many simple statements of Scripture provide assurance enough!  The Scripture presents four categories of written evidence of our Lord’s resurrection.  First, as we noted in the above narrative, the Scripture clearly describes it. Secondly, both prophets and He, Himself, foretold of this pivotal historical event.  Thirdly, eyewitnesses of our Lord confirmed that His resurrection.  Finally, Scriptural writers, subsequent to His resurrection, inspired by the Holy Spirit, built doctrines upon this Scriptural reality. 

a. Prophecy

      Jesus’ Prophecy

ü     Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me shall live even if He dies.”  John 11:25 

In this passage, Jesus is not foretelling His resurrection but imparting to Martha the reality of His deity.  Jesus is, in effect saying to Martha that, to quote Robert Jamison, ““The whole power to restore, impart, and maintain life, resides in Me.”^[1]

ü     And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.  Mark 8:31

ü     For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” Mark 9:31

ü      “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again. Mark 10:33-34

His disciples did not fully understand the necessity of His spiritual, physical deaths and subsequent resurrection until He appeared to them in resurrection body.

      Ancient Prophets

ü     For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.  Psalm 16:10

ü     But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me. Selah.  Psalm 49:15

ü     And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today i have begotten You.’ “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.’” Acts 13:32-35

This passage is a quote from Paul’s message to the Athenians.  In it, he quotes King David and Isaiah who prophesied concerning Jesus’ resurrection.  If you doubt that these quotations speak of our Lord’s resurrection, remember that Paul, while empowered by the Spirit, said so!

ü     As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.  Job 19:25

A better translation of this verse reads this way: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lies, and as The Last He (our Lord) will arise above the dust (earth).”  Whether or not Job understood his words is debatable.  Often the Spirit inspired words that the writers themselves did not thoroughly understand. 

b. Eyewitnesses to His Resurrection

ü     And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.  Matthew 28:9

Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene and the “other Mary” just before dawn on the day of His resurrection.  They recognized Him and immediately began to worship Him.

ü     So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  John 20:19

Later that same day, He appeared to His disciples, in an unconventional way.  He supernaturally walked through the door, surprising His fearful disciples.  He, then, showed them the wounds He received at His crucifixion.  

ü     While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.  Luke 24:15-16

Jesus also appeared to two of His disciples as they were walking away from Jerusalem.  He opened their eyes to the Scripture.

ü     After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way.  John 21:1

This entire chapter details our Lord’s appearance to His disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.  He miraculously caused them to harvest an extremely large catch.  He also interrogated Peter concerning his for his Lord. Peter had, after all, betrayed Him only days earlier. 

c. Subsequent Witnesses

ü     But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.     1 Corinthians 15:20

By this verse, Paul concludes a debate against those who do not believer in resurrection yet believe in Jesus’ resurrection.  The point for our discussion here is that Paul, being inspired by the Spirit, wrote that Jesus was resurrected. Paul did this many times because of the centrality and importance of our Lord’s resurrection. Both Paul and Peter, by their presentation of the Resurrection communicate the very significance of it.  The verses I have noted here are not an exhaustive list.

ü     He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.  Romans 4:25

ü     …Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  Romans 8:34

ü     that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;  Philippians 3:10

ü     having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  Colossians 2:12  

ü     Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord…  Hebrews 13:20

ü     …who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.  1 Peter 1:21

Peter also based his faith upon the fact of our Lord’s resurrection.

3. Mechanics of His Resurrection

We noted earlier in this study that Jesus died a unique physical death by undergoing a trichotomous separation.  His human spirit went to the Third Heaven to the Father while His human soul went to Hades for the triumphal proclamation.  His body remained in the grave.  His resurrection involved the return of both His human soul and spirit as well as the conversion of His temporal body to a resurrection body.

a. God the Father returned His human spirit from the Third Heaven to His body.

ü     …having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Colossians 2:12

ü     …who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.  1 Peter 1:21

ü     Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord…  Hebrews 13:20

b. God the Holy Spirit returned His soul from Hades to His body.

ü     But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.  Acts 2:24

 We know that God here refers to the Holy Spirit by virtue of the context.  The passage speaks of God who worked miracles through Him and later and that His soul would not be abandoned to Sheol.  Both speak of the Holy Spirit.

ü     But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  Romans 8:11

ü     For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the spirit…  1 Peter 3:18

ü     …who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord…  Romans 1:4

4. Results of Resurrection

By our Lord’s salvation work and resurrection, He provided eternal salvation for the entire human race.  Every human being can appropriate His gift of eternal life by faith alone in Him alone.  The same mechanics, faith alone in Christ alone, has applied to every generation in human history.  His resurrection completed His salvation work. 

By His resurrection, Jesus Christ defeated Satan who previously possessed the power of death.  Our Lord, then, achieved the strategic victory of the angelic conflict.  This resurrection fulfilled the first presentation of the Gospel to Adam and Eve in the Garden.

ü     Therefore, since children [of Adam] partake of blood and flesh, He Himself [Jesus Christ] likewise also partook of the same that through death [spiritual death] He might render powerless him [Satan] who had the power of death.  Hebrews 2:14

John elaborated this victory over death.  Just as the death of the believer is the Lord's victory, so also is the resurrection of the believer our Lord's victory.

ü     Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me shall live even if He dies.  John 11:25

Our Lord’s resurrection is the greatest monument to God’s grace. Because the Father and Spirit resurrected Him, they will resurrect every believer.

By our Lord’s work on the Cross He strategically won, once and for all, the angelic conflict Satan fomented before human history.  Because He achieved that strategic victory, the Father awarded Him His third category or patent of royalty.  The first two royal patents include His Deity; He is the second person of the Trinity, and His human royalty related to Israel; His is the Son of David.  Because the Father awarded Him with this Third Royal Patent, He sits at the right hand of the Father. 

His Third Royal patent is the basis for the existence of the Church Age.  The Son has a family that relates to or fulfills each category of His royalty.  The Father and Son serve as His family related to his Deity.  Regenerate Israel fulfills His second patent of royalty.  The Father interrupted the dispensation of Israel to insert the dispensation of the Church to call out a royal family to fulfill the Third Royal Patent.  That family, the Royal Family of God, includes ever Church Age believer.  Paul wrote about this royal patent, calling it His royal title:

ü     God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets [in the Old Testament] in many portions and in many ways, at the end of these days, He has spoken to us by means of His Son whom He appointed heir of all things [Heir because He achieved the strategic victory of the angelic conflict] through whom He manufactured the dispensations; who being the flashing forth of His glory and the exact image of His essence [deity of Jesus Christ], and He [omnipotence of Jesus Christ] upholds all things by the word of His power.  When He had made a purification of our sins, then He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become so much better [even as a human being] than angels as He has inherited a more excellent title [His third royal patent] than they.  Hebrews 1:1-4

God the Father also perpetuated certain unique provisional aspects that He provided our Lord during His walk on earth into this Age of Ages, the Church Age.  Bob Thieme referred to the thirty-three years our Lord walked the earth as the Great Power Experiment of the Hypostatic Union.  An experiment in this context is a demonstration, a demonstration of a known truth, the demonstration of the power of Bible doctrine and the total availability of the Spirit’s power to our Lord as a human on earth. Our Lord was the first human being to be filled with God the Holy Spirit.  By means of this divine power, which, by the way, was never available in human history to a member of the human race, was provided the power of the Spirit to support Him, to enlighten Him and to give Him the power to fulfill the Father’s plan for Him. He took and used His power to its human limits.  The Father has made that same power available to every Church Age believer.  We live in the unique age where the Father demonstrates the Spirit’s power through every spiritual Church Age believer.  That plan involved the imputation and judgment of every sin in human history upon His body, His resurrection, ascension and session, His being awarded His third royal title, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” This is the most incredible and awesome power that God has ever demonstrated by means of a human being to Satan and his fallen angels.  Now, God demonstrates all of this power through you.  God is perpetuating this experiment or power demonstration into this age, the Church Age.

What has God provided us through His power? For the execution of His plan for each of us, from His omnipotence, He has provided us with our very own portfolio of invisible assets. By means of the Spirit’s omnipotence, He enables us to understand and apply Biblical truths.  Armed with this doctrine every Church Age believer can fulfill His plan for us.  The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit, through His baptism, creates through us a new spiritual species.  Also through this baptism, He provides us mechanics for the function of the royal family.  At the Rapture of the Church, the Father raises the dead in Christ while the Spirit gives a resurrection body to those who are alive in Christ.

ü     Therefore, we have been buried with Him [Jesus Christ] through baptism into death [baptism of the Holy Spirit] in order that, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  Romans 6:4

The power that raised Christ from the dead makes it possible for us to walk in newness of life.  For the omnipotence of God the Father provided our portfolio of invisible assets, and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit provides the power in divine dynasphere to execute the protocol plan of God.

5. The Power of His Resurrection

The same power, the omnipotence of both Father and the Holy Spirit, that raised Christ from the dead is the same power by which we as Church Age believers fulfill the unique plan God has for us.  However, if we are going to use this power, we have to know that exists, we have to know that it is available, and we have to know the mechanics of its utilization.  The Apostle Peter discussed this issue.

ü     Blessed be the God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who, according to His great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are guarded by the power of God through faith for a deliverance ready to be revealed at the last time.  1 Peter 1:3-5

What is this “living hope?”  It is the fact that your power, abilities, and strengths contribute nothing to your spiritual life.  God has provided the only power, the ability, and the only strength through regeneration, by which we fulfill our spiritual lives.  This power is available to us because the Father and Spirit resurrected Jesus.  God has made this power available to us only through the unique plan He has for believers in this Church Age.  What is this inheritance “which is imperishable and undefiled?”  It is an inheritance based on divine power rather than human power, on God’s grace rather than any human accomplishment.  It will not fade away because God’s power cannot fade.  The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that guards you and provides eternal security for every believer, whether you fulfill your spiritual life or not.  The “deliverance” refers to the resurrection of the Church, brought about by the omnipotence of both the Father and Spirit.

The power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power by which we have eternal security.  God’s plan, will, and purpose can only be fulfilled by the omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit related to the divine dynasphere.  In other words, the Father provides us with the plan while the Spirit provides the power.

ü     Now if the Spirit [Holy Spirit] from Him [God the Father] who raised Jesus from the dead indwells you [and He does], He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give spiritual life to your mortal bodies by means of His Spirit who indwells you.” Romans 8:11

You cannot have a spiritual life apart from the Holy Spirit’s omnipotence,  You access His power through residing in, living in, and having momentum inside His unique power system.  No one matures spiritually apart from the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit; it cannot be accomplished in the energy of the flesh. That is why Paul wrote these words:

ü     …that I may come to know Him and the power of His resurrection.  Philippians 3:10

The same omnipotence of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that has been provided for us in grace to execute God’s plan. 

The great power that the Father and Spirit provided Jesus during His walk on earth turned history around, because now in this Church Age the same omnipotence of God the Father and omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is available to you in the mechanics of the protocol plan of God, and in the promises and guarantees in our portfolio of invisible assets.  Never before in history has so much divine omnipotence been available to so many believers for the glorification of God through the execution of His will, His plan, and His purpose.  You have available to you the greatest power!  The dispensation of the Church is the greatest power experiment in human history, the greatest opportunity for the ordinary believer to make maximum use of divine power, to glorify God, to have a marvelous life on earth, and to receive the fantastic escrow blessings from the omnipotence of God the Father.  This is the challenge of the omnipotence of God.

6. Challenge and Application of Resurrection

ü     Therefore, my beloved brethren, become stabilized, not distracted, and excel in association with the work of the Lord at all times, because your labor for the Lord is not empty.  1 Corinthians 15:58

The Greek word GINOMAI means to become something you were not before.  Though we have no control over our death, burial, and resurrection, we do have control over our lives now.  We have the opportunity to use our free will to execute God’s plan for each of us.  God has provided unlimited divine assets, the portfolio of invisible assets, by which we execute this plan.

To “become stabilized” means you have the right to use your own volition to execute and fulfill the plan of God.  You have the right to learn Bible doctrine, to utilize your portfolio of invisible assets, to use the omnipotence of God - all to the glory of God.  You can only glorify God by executing the protocol plan of God.  When you do this, and only when you do this are you in a stabilized condition.

The apposition, “not distracted,” more clearly defines what it means to become stabilized.  Distractions are anything you put before Bible doctrine.

To “excel” means to be spiritually outstanding, become a mature believer with impact upon human history.  Most likely this impact will be invisible to those around, yet because of your spiritual life you have personal impact, national impact, international impact, and angelic impact.

This spiritual life is called “your labor” because you use your volition during this time on earth.  Your volition determines your control or lack of control over your life.  “Your labor for the Lord” are the decisions you make; not your Christian service.  It is your positive decisions daily, your evaluation of what is important in your life, the importance of Bible doctrine, the daily perception of Bible doctrine, your spiritual growth.

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^[1]Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. On spine: Critical and explanatory commentary. (Jn 11:25). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Easter Lesson 5: Part D Our Lord's Physical Death

Updated Here

D. His Physical Death

Let us now turn out attention to our Lord’s physical death.  Jesus said four things while He was hanging on the cross.  The first was His prayer of separation: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”  We have spoken of this at length.

The second, His utterance of physical anguish:

ü     After this [His work of salvation], Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished in order that the Scripture [Ps 69:21] might be fulfilled, He said, “I am thirsty.”  John 19:28

Notice that all of the things that Jesus did as He died physically continued to point to who He was and what He was accomplishing on the Cross.  He left nothing undone, providing a wealth of indicators for those who were looking, the sure signs that He was the Messiah.  The Scripture, in Psalm 69, clearly indicates, prophetically those things to be accomplished to fulfill the Scripture. 

ü     They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Psalm 69:21

Thirst accompanies intense suffering.  Jesus suffered, to maximum intensity while bearing our sins in His own body on the cross. This was the humanity of Christ speaking.  The vinegar here is different from that offered to Him earlier.  It was typical of the fermented acid drinks enjoyed by laborers in wine-growing countries. The posca of the Romans was very similar in nature, and formed part of the soldiers’ rations. It was this beverage that the soldiers offered to the crucified Christ as refreshment.  It was different from the myrrh-flavored anodyne (drug which lessons pain) which He had refused earlier. The gall referred to here is the food He had earlier refused. [New Bible dictionary (3rd ed. /). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.] They gave it to Christ, not in derision, but from compassion, to assuage his thirst. [Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.]

The apostle John described this actual event:

ü     Now a jar of [the Roman soldier’s] wine was standing there, so they dipped a sponge in it, put it on a branch of hyssop, and brought it to His mouth.  John 19:29

That the soldier picked up a branch of hyssop is a fulfillment of prophecy.  Hyssop was used to sprinkle the blood of the animal sacrifices.  In the account of the Passover in Exodus 12:22 hyssop was first used to sprinkle blood on the sides and top of the door. Hyssop was also used in the ceremony of purifying lepers as per Leviticus 14.  Hyssop was used in the ordinance of ceremonial purification of a person who had touched a dead body in Numbers 19. So it was used to indicate spiritual cleansing:

ü     Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7

Only a hyssop branch was there at the cross, indicating the fact that this was the efficacious and ultimate sacrifice.

The third, His shout of victory:

ü     Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” John 19:30a

By this statement, He announced the completion of His salvation work!  He had received the imputation of all sins ever committed in human history.  God the Father had judged every one of them, incurring His Son’s substitutionary spiritual death. After He had finished this spiritual death, He said, “It is finished.”  This phrase is the Greek word TETELESTAI, the perfect passive indicative of TELEO. This perfect tense is an intensive perfect referring to a completed action, emphasizing the existing results of that past action. The intensive perfect states emphatically that a thing is.  It refers to a present state resulting from a past action.  The present state is that salvation is available to every human being.  The past action is that the Father judged Jesus Christ for our sins.  The past action is a completed action so that the present state is a continuing status quo.  In other words, our Lord said, “My salvation work is finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever.” 

This statement is one aspect of His death that indicates that He did not accomplish salvation by dying physically, but by His unique substitutionary spiritual death. Had His work involved physical death, He would have died physically without indicating that His work was complete.  You see, there no analogy exists between the physical death of the animal in the Old Testament sacrifices and the physical death of Christ.  The analogy exists between the physical death of the animal and the spiritual death of Christ.  If Jesus had died physically for our sins, He could not have said TETELESTAI:

ü     It has been finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever.” John 19:30

The fourth statement, He exhaled His physical life:

ü     And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.” Luke 23:46

Jesus did not die physically as we do. We have no control over the manner, time and place of our death.  He, however, used His volition to dismiss the attributes of life from His body when He had completed His work.  As some allege, He did not die from blood loss.  We will see more on this issue in a minute.  John, who was evidently closest to our Lord when He died, noted exactly what he did before His physical death:

ü     Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.  John 19:30

An expanded translation of the second half of this verse indicates that not only did He bow His head, but that He pushed it and His upper body forward.  We will note the significance in a few minutes.  Another significant expansion to this translation indicates to whom He gave up His Spirit.  Here is a complete expanded translation:

ü     ...and He pushed His head forward and gave up His Spirit [to God the Father].  John 19:30b

ü     Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him.  John 19:31-32

As further evidence of their antagonism and hatred of Jesus, the Sanhedrists petitioned Pilate that the legs of the crucified be broken to speed up their death.  Note that they asked that their legs be broken, not that they be sent to their death by some merciful means such as strangulation or beheading, “like the coup de grace (as the French call it) to those that are broken upon the wheel, the stroke of mercy,” but by means of a method of the most exquisite pain.  There was not an ounce of compassion in these Jewish rulers’ souls!  [Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Jn 19:31). Peabody: Hendrickson.]

ü     ...but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.  John 19:34

Notice that that the Roman soldiers did not do what they were commanded to do, to break all of the victims’ legs.  By passing over our Lord, they fulfilled the Word of God! The bones of the Passover lamb were not to be broken according to prophetic Scripture:

ü     It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.  Exodus 12:46

Our Lord’s bones were not broken, again pointing to the fact that He was the Lamb of God!  The Passover Celebration portrayed His death every time the Jews partook of it.

ü     But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.  John 19:34

That blood and water came out when the soldier speared His body is very significant.  First, in doing what they were not commanded to do, that is spearing our Lord’s body, that soldier again fulfilled prophecy:

ü     I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.  Zechariah 12:10

John did not quote from the Septuagent, the current Greek translation of the Hebrew Scripture but directly from the Hebrew.  The Hebrew word choice is very significant.  The word “piercing” that Zechariah used means, “to thrust through with spear, javelin, sword, or any such weapon.” The word so carefully chosen describes exactly the action of that Roman soldier.  John carries it over from the Hebrew, not the Greek Septuagent. There is a very different word for “pierce” used in Psalm 22:16, “They pierced my hands and my feet.” The word used there is one signifying to bore as with an awl or hammer. What a striking difference!”  [Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997).]

Secondly, our Lord’s dying posture and that spear thrust resulted in the refutation of two false doctrines.  First, as we mentioned earlier, there are those who attach a special significance to His physical blood; that somehow the shedding of His physical blood was significant in dying for the sins of the world.  For instance, some believe that an angel caught His blood in a bowl then took it to heaven.  This passage heads that false doctrine off at the pass.  You see how important that this is.  To place emphasis upon His physical blood is to deny the significance of His substitutionary spiritual death, thereby relating His work to His physical death.

This verse documents that the blood in His body gushed out upon that spear thrust.  No angel caught it!  Furthermore, there are those who believe that He paid for our sins by His physical death.  This false doctrine also denies the significance of His substitutionary spiritual work. He did not bleed to death. How do we know this?  Had He bled to death, there would have been no blood to coagulate and pour out of that spear wound.  Furthermore, had He bled to death then He would not have volitionally “given up His Spirit” to the Father, after His salvation work was complete.

Thirdly, by the action we are about to discuss, He refuted a false doctrine that was to appear later, that is Docetic Gnosticism, which says that Jesus was not truly human, but actually an apparition, a spirit. Therefore, denying His true humanity.  Before He died, He thrust out His chest, as per John 19:30.  He had to push His head forward in order to push His body into a certain position, leaning far forward.  This was so that the blood in His body could pool in His chest cavity.  This was very significant. Generally when people died by crucifixion, they either slumped to the right or left, or just sagged down, depending on how they were nailed.  Jesus, however, actually pushed His body forward and held that position in physical death, allowing His blood to pool so that it would coagulate upon His death, then spill out upon the spear thrust.  What came out of His chest was blood clots and serum.  This indicated very clearly that He was human because we all know that apparitions do not bleed! Again, had He bled to death, there would not have been enough blood left in His body to coagulate. The fact that His blood did coagulate normally testifies to the fact that He was true humanity in the Hypostatic Union (contra Docetic Gnosticism), and then died of His own free will not bleeding to death on the Cross.  His physical death was not the sacrifice!  It was in His spiritual death.  It is mythology that Christ died physically for our sins.

How do we know this physical description in the Scripture is true?  Listen to the emphatic words of John:

ü     And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. John 19:35 

Not only was our Lord’s sacrifice unique but His very physical death was also unique.  His underwent a trichotomous separation, that is, each of His attributes of life went into separate directions.  When believers die, their bodies return to the earth while their souls and human spirits go to Heaven.  During His trichotomous separation, His human spirit went into the presence of God the Father in the third heaven:

ü     And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.  Luke 23:46

His human soul went to Sheol or to Paradise, a part of Hades, in the heart of the earth. He had said to the dying thief:

ü     Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.  Luke 23:43

His soul went into Paradise, a compartment of Hades. David prophesied about this as well.  What he wrote is documented in the Psalms:

ü     You will not leave My soul in Sheol neither will You permit Your Holy One [your body] to undergo decay.  Psalm 16:10

Peter commented on this passage, further documenting that our Lord’s soul went to Sheol as a part of His physical death in Acts.   2:27:

ü     His soul came out of Hades.  Acts 2:27

This was a resurrection message taught by Peter at Pentecost.  He further explained this passage later in Acts. 

ü     David [referring to Psalm 16] looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades nor did His body suffer decay.  Acts 2:31

The Apostle Paul also taught this in his letter to the Ephesians when he wrote:

ü     (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?  Ephesians 4:9

The lower part of the earth is Hades or Sheol.  The soul of our Lord’s humanity specifically went to the compartment called Paradise, or Abraham’s Bosom, which was where all Old Testament believers were located, until our Lord transferred them to the third heaven.  Why did he descend into Sheol? Again, Paul wrote to the Ephesians.

ü     Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives…” Ephesians 4:8a

Our Lord also addressed this topic as well when He introduced Himself as Messiah to those in His hometown. Jesus quoted from the Prophet Isaiah.

ü      The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives [those held in Paradise until the Lord released them], and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed…  Luke 4:18  [The parenthesis is mine.]  

You may ask why the Scripture calls the Old Testament saints, “captives.”  To what were they captive?  While in Abraham’s Bosom, or Paradise, they were still subject to space and time.  They were not released from that limitation until our Lord escorted them to Heaven.  While He was in Hades or Sheol, He went to anther compartment, Tartarus, the place imprisoning all of the fallen angels who participated in the Genesis 6 invasion of the human race, where, according to Peter, He made the victorious proclamation to certain fallen angels.

ü     …also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison…” 1 Peter 3:19

The Holy Spirit sustained and guarded the soul of our Lord while He was there.  

Jesus’ human body went into the grave when Joseph of Arimathea claimed Him. 

ü     And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.” Luke 23:50-53

Our Lord’s physical death then, was unique.  His human soul went to Sheol, His human spirit went into the presence of the Father, while His body went into the cave-tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea.  His is the only trichotomous separation in physical death in all of human history.

Why did Jesus have to die physically even though He had accomplished His spiritual work?  The answer to this question relates to our spiritual royalty.  He had to die physically or He could not have been resurrected.  His physical death looked forward to His resurrection, ascension, and session while it looked backward to His finished work on the cross. He had to die physically before He could have a resurrection body.  He had to have a resurrection body before He could ascend.   He had to be resurrected, ascend and be seated at the right hand of the Father before He could receive His third royal warrant.  He had to receive His third royal warrant so that we could become His body, the church, the royal family of God.  The very uniqueness of the Church Age is directly related to His physical death on the cross, which led to His resurrection, ascension, and session.

Easter Lesson 4 - Part C Our Lord's Spiritual Death 2

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While we are investigating the power that sustained Jesus on the cross, another question has come up.  Was Jesus Christ, in anyway, sustained by joy, the perfect happiness He shared with the Father as a result of being a spiritually mature human being?  Under the principle He taught His disciples in John 16: 20-23, I have to say no, unless we redefine our concept of joy!  By redefining the happiness the Father shares with mature believers, we should come to a greater understanding of our own spiritual maturity.  We will seek to redefine that concept in a later study. 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. [He then illustrated the concept.] Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John 16:20-22

The lesson we glean from this passage as it relates to His time on the cross is this: His sufferings and agony were not diminished in any way by His relationship to the Father, yet He looked with great satisfaction to the completion of His atoning work of substitutionary spiritual death.  He had grief and suffering but it was turned into joy in the morning!

Now, let us return to our narrative.  The veil of the temple was torn into two pieces:

ü …and the veil of the temple was torn in two.  Luke 23:45b

The veil of the temple covered the entry of the Holy of Holies.  According to the Rabbis, it was a handbreadth in thickness, and woven of seventy-two twisted plaits, each plait consisting of twenty-four threads. It was sixty feet long and thirty wide. The priests made two of them every year, and according to the exaggerated language of the time, it needed three hundred priests to manipulate it. This veil covered the entrance to the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary.  It was not the veil hung in front of the main entrance to the sanctuary. At this time, the Holy of Holies contained only a large stone on which the high priest sprinkled the blood on the Day of Atonement, occupying the place where the ark with the mercy seat had once stood. 

God tore this veil right down the middle, indicating that our Lord had removed the barrier between the human race and Himself by His Son’s salvation work.  What had come between God and the human race was once and for all removed. God tore the inner veil of the temple that had separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, making of the two rooms, one room. We now have free access to the inner sanctuary thanks to our Lord’s work.  There was, therefore, no more “within the veil.” This was God’s object lesson to the Aaronic priesthood; its ministry was now over, the temple was to be closed, a new Priest had arisen after the order of Melchizedek. But, Israel in her apostasy, repaired the veil, kept on offering sacrifices, until God in His wrath, sent Rome to destroy the city of Jerusalem and scatter His chosen people to the ends of the Roman empire. [Wuest, K. S. (1997, c1984). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Heb 9:8). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.  Vincent, M. R. (2002). Word studies in the New Testament (Vol. 1, Page 3-146). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.]

While our Lord was on the Cross, bearing the imputation and punishment for our sin, He accomplished several categories of work.  Let us look at these briefly.  You can expect a more thorough development of these categories in our communion services.

Imputation- In the Word of God, imputation is an act of God whereby He either condemns or blesses members of the human race.  Condemnation or blessing is ascribed, attributed, reckoned, given, or imposed on the human race.  God the Father imputed to our Lord every sin committed in the human race and judged them on Him.

ü He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.2 Corinthians 5:21

Unlimited Atonement- Jesus Christ bore the sin punishment for every human being in history.  He provided unlimited atonement, dying not just for some but also for every member of the human race.

ü …and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

Propitiation- Propitiation is the God-ward side of the work of Christ’s salvation work.  God the Father is satisfied with the sacrificial ministry of our Lord on the cross.  When the justice of God judged our sins in Christ on the cross, both His righteousness and justice were propitiated.  That is, His integrity was satisfied. Now, there always a problem when we assign our American words to define something as wonderful as our Lord’s substitutionary work.  There is often a nuance attached to a word that does not, in its totality, agree with what actually happened.  There is a nuance attached to this word, propitiation, which does not necessarily fit.  In its purist sense, propitiation means to satisfy an angry God.  If you understand that when God is said to be “angry” that this is an anthropopathism, that is, language of accommodation, then we can concur with the term, propitiation.  We all understand that anger is not one of God’s attributes but that the word “anger” explains His policy toward sin: He judges it. 

ü …whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; Romans 3:25

Expiation means to put an end to our guilt.  Our guilt has been extinguished, made amends for.  Our Lord supplied satisfaction for our sins.  The guilt for our sin has been expiated because the punishment for those sins was caused to fall upon another, who was our substitute. Expiation was made for our sins when they were punished not in ourselves but in another who consented to stand in our place. We are reconciled because our sins have been expiated. 

Redemption- It is the part of our Lord’s work on the cross that focuses upon sin.  It emphasizes the fact that we are all sinners in that we were born into the state of sin and after that, sinners by choice.  Every human being had to be condemned in order to be qualified to be saved.  Condemnation must always precede salvation.  The concept of redemption also views His work from the standpoint of a ransom paid on the cross for our salvation.  We were all born into the slave market of sin through the imputation of Adam's original sin at birth.  By means of His saving work on the cross, also called, referring to the Old Testament sacrifices, “the blood of Christ,” He purchased our freedom or salvation. We have been redeemed because our Lord expiated our sins. 

ü By whom [Jesus Christ] we have redemption through His blood [figurative], the forgiveness of sins.  Ephesians 1:7

Reconciliation refers to the fact that through His work, Jesus Christ removed the barrier of enmity between God and the human race.  By this, our Lord brought peace between God and the human race.  We, as members of the human race, personally ratify this peace treaty by faith in Christ.  We are reconciled to God by our Lord’s work on the cross.

ü And through Him [Jesus Christ], to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Colossians 1:20

Justification -By His work on the cross, He made it possible for us to be justified.  Justification means an act of vindication.  This is a judicial act of vindication, because we are born under condemnation, being spiritually dead.  Justification, then, is the official act of God, which occurs every time anyone believes in Christ.  The justice of God acts on our behalf pronouncing us justified, which means, having a relationship with God forever, having the perfect righteousness of God imputed to us. Justification is the judicial act by God, whereby He recognizes we have His perfect righteousness.

ü Much more therefore, having been justified by His blood, we shall be delivered from judgment through Him.” Romans 5:9

Sanctification: Like justification, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us when we believe in Christ.  Through sanctification, we share everything Christ is.

…that He might sanctify the people through His own blood…Heb 13:12

Easter Lesson 3 - Part C Our Lord's Spiritual Death 1

C. His Spiritual Death

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Now, at this point in our narrative, we are going to look at the events that came to be while He was hanging upon that cross.  During this time, our Lord bore our sins on the cross.  While Christ was bearing the imputation and judgment for our sins, God caused a supernatural darkness to fall upon the local area.  The Scripture says this:

ü It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured.  Luke 23:44-45a

“The sun was obscured” looks like this in the Greek: του ἡλιου ἐκλειποντος TOU HELIOU EKLEIPONTOS, literally reads, “the sun was darkened.” “Darkened” is the genitive absolute of the present active participle of εκλειπω EKLEIPO, an old verb that means, “to leave out, omit, pass by, to fail, to die.” The word describes an eclipse of the sun or moon.  These three hours of darkness, however, were miraculous, not an eclipse.  We know this because during the Passover season, the moon always shines fully.  This God-sent darkness shrouded the cross as the Father made the Son of God sin for us. Many documents change this correct text to “the sun was darkened” to head off the false doctrine that this was an eclipse. It was during this three-hour period that He accomplished His saving work by taking the imputation of the sins of the world and bearing the punishment of every sin.  This darkness continued three hours, between noon and 3 PM. No one ever saw the agony of our Lord Jesus Christ while being judged for every sin in human history.  It was as though all nature was sympathizing with the Creator as He suffered and died.  Just as three days of darkness preceded the first Passover in Egypt, three hours of darkness preceded the death of God’s Lamb for the sins of the world (John 1:29). [Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. “An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series”--Jkt. (Lk 23:44). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.]

ü About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken or abandoned Me?” Matthew 27:46

When God the Father imputed our sins to Christ and judged them, both He and God the Holy Spirit had to abandon Him.  This abandonment is the essence of spiritual death, in our Lord’s case, substitutionary spiritual death.  By this scream, yell or cry, He made clear exactly what He was doing on the cross.  He was in a state of separation, of abandonment by God because the Father made Him sin for us:

ü He made Him who knew no sin to be made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  2 Corinthians 5:21

This three-hour period is the focal point in human history, the pinnacle of the angelic conflict.  By these words, Jesus led us to discover the fact of His substitutionary spiritual death.  This is a rhetorical question as well as a prayer to the Father.  To us, He was speaking rhetorically, knowing what He was doing, but we, as humans need to be directed to this understanding. 

Why didn’t He just yell out, “I’m bearing the punishment for your sins!!”  The issue always comes down to our volition!  Do you want to know?  Do you want to grow up spiritually?  Is the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, especially how He died for each of us so important to you that you follow His lead?  Is the understanding that your choice to believe in Him, to be delivered from the miserable hell-bound existence into the glories of Heaven eternally, important to you?  This is a test of your volition, for which you answer to God!  So important was His cry that it appears in all three of the Biblical languages.  First, it appears in Psalm 22:1 as one of David’s Messianic prophecies, then in this verse in the Aramaic and Greek.

ü My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.  Psalm 22:1

In the Hebrew, quoted from Psalm 22:1, the interrogative Hebrew adverb LAMAH is translated “why.”  It literally means “for what reason.”  It indicates a rhetorical question.  The doubling of the vocative, “My God, My God,” [ELI, ELI] is usually a Hebrew idiom for intensity. The fact that this was an intense situation is a gross understatement.  We will never understand the intensity of Jesus’ suffering.  He addressed this to God the Father because He was applying His omnipotence in imputing our sins to His beloved Son; because He was applying His justice to judging the sins of the entire world on His Son’s perfect body.  Yes, He spoke these words in great intensity.  However, as we will study, these words refer to much more than the intensity of His suffering.

The Greek word “forsaken” is a composite of three words, “to leave,” “down,” and “in.” The first has the idea of forsaking a person. The second suggests rejection, defeat and helplessness. The third refers to some place or circumstance. The total meaning of the word is that of forsaking someone in a state of defeat or helplessness in the midst of hostile circumstances. The word means, “to abandon, desert, to leave in straits, to leave helpless, to leave destitute, to leave in the lurch, to let one down.” “All these meanings were included in that awful cry that came from the lips of the Son of God as He…” was dying for lost humanity. [Wuest’s Word Studies p. 87]  To expand the concept of abandonment: Our Lord cried out, “My God, My God, why have You left Me helpless, destitute, in the lurch, why have You let Me down.” 

He addressed these words to God the Holy Spirit as well as to the Father. All through our Lord’s life on earth, as the God-Man, He depended upon the empowerment of God the Holy Spirit.  That was part God’s plan for His life.  He was the first human being to be empowered by the filling of the Holy Spirit, as compared to certain Old Testament believers whom the Spirit endued with power.  He was the God-Man, who as a human lived in total dependence upon the Spirit.  That was His normal life on earth. We are to live in total dependence upon the Spirit as well.  The Scripture documents that the Spirit empowered Him:

ü Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.  Luke 4:1

The Holy Spirit’s empowerment characterized our Lord’s entire life. The Spirit energized His every prayer.  He overcame temptation by means of the Word and the power of the Spirit.  He performed most, if not all, of His miracles by the Spirit.  But now, when He needed the help of the Holy Spirit most, in the moment of His direst need, the Holy Spirit left Him helpless and destitute. He left Him in a proverbial lurch. He let Him down in a set of circumstances that were antagonistic, frightfully terrible. Abandoned by both the Father and the Spirit, rejected by the human race, laden with humanity’s sin, all the while, suffering the excruciating anguish of crucifixion, He suffered all alone.  How do we know this?

We need to go back to an Old Testament ritual offering which pointed to our Lord’s then future sacrificial death:

ü But if his means are insufficient for two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then for his offering for that which he has sinned, he shall bring the tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall not put oil on it or place incense on it, for it is a sin offering. Leviticus 5:11

A person making a sin offering, too poor to afford the required two turtledoves or two pigeons, could bring the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour.  An ephah of flour was just enough to bake one day’s supply of bread. Offering this quantity of bread flour, just enough to stay alive for one day, typified the giving up of life.  This offering pointed directly to our Lord’s sacrificial spiritual death. This offering could include neither frankincense nor oil.  Frankincense is a type of positively answered prayer. Was our Lords prayer, “why have you forsaken Me,” answered positively?  Absolutely not!  Heaven abandoned Him, rejecting His entreaty to be spared the cross.  You see, flour without frankincense speaks of our Lord’s death and His negatively answered prayer for release from the Cross.  Oil was forbidden in this sacrifice because it is a type of the Holy Spirit. Flour without oil speaks of the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit’s sustaining presence at the Cross.  The Holy Spirit left our Lord while He bore our sins and their punishment on the cross.

Now, though we understand that our Lord was abandoned by both the Father and Spirit, we do not yet understand why He was so utterly forsaken.

ü He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Let us revisit Psalm twenty-two, to the entire Psalm, which our Lord either partially or entirely quoted while He was on the cross detailing what exactly was happening on the cross. Though the Gospels quote Him as saying the first line, some insist that He quoted it in its entirety, with good cause.  In either case, He pointed us to this great Psalm.  It clearly answers the question our Lord asked in His prayer to the Father.  Two factors clearly stand out in the Psalm: one deals with the character of the Father, while the other, deals with the work our Lord accomplished.

Psalm 22:3 provides the answers to our Lord's question, “Why have You forsaken Me?”  The entire Psalm describes His work on the cross.  Though we will not study it beyond two verses, the outline of the entire Psalm looks like this, if you want to look at it on your own time.

Psalm 22:1 - 6 speaks of His abandonment by Deity.

Psalm 22:7 - 13 tells of the ridicule to which He was subjected.

Psalm 22:14 -18 describes His physical sufferings.

Psalm 22:19 - 21 are His prayer for resurrection.

Psalm 22:22 - 32 constitutes His praise for the answer to that prayer even before the prayer for resurrection was actually answered.  [Wuest: Ibid]

Again, these verses, Psalm 22:2-3 answer the question: “Why have you forsaken Me?” from the perspective of the Father’s character: The Hebrew phrase WA ATAH QADOSH is translated, “because You are holy.”  God's holiness, His integrity, consists of His perfect justice and perfect righteousness.  Both the Father and the Spirit abandoned our Lord Jesus during those three hours because He was receiving the imputation and judgment of our sins.  God the Father had to forsake Him because His integrity demanded, and continues to demand that He not come into contact with sin.  He must reject it because of His character.  He not only forsook His Son, but He judged the world’s sin on Him because He is perfectly just.  The Father, because He is righteous, rejected the sins of the human race.  His justice judged all the personal sins of the human race as He imputed them onto His Son.  The Father, because He is righteousness, condemned all our personal sins.  The Father in His justice judged our personal sins.  He previously passed over our personal sins, those of the entire world, withholding their justly deserved judgment until He judged them in His Son’s body on the cross.

ü …whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; Romans 3:25

ü Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us - for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”  Galatians 3:13

The second answer to our Lord's question, “why have You forsaken Me?" revolves around one Hebrew word, TOLAH in Psalm 22:6.  This answer comes from the perspective of Christ, His deity toward His humanity while being made sin for us.

ü But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.  Psalm 22:6

TOLAH refers to the coccus iliacus, a very unusual worm that was harvested, crushed, and then put into a very large vat.  In this manner, artisans manufactured a crimson dye designed to color king's robes.  The robes of royalty were produced from this worm’s blood.  On the cross, the judgment of our sins crushed the perfect and impeccable humanity of Christ.  Therefore, He calls Himself תּוֹלָע TOLAH, for the weight of those sins crushed Him as the Father judged those sins on His body.  It was as if He was turning on Himself; His Deity reflecting on the sins His body was bearing and redeeming.  Jesus Christ, who had lived a perfect life, a sinless life, should at its close be guilty of not just one loathsome deed, but the sins of the entire world?  From the exalted position of His deity, He looks down upon himself, loathes and repudiates the sins He is bearing. Our Lord as the Son of God, holy, spotless, repudiated His own humanity now laden with sin, but not even His own sin.  Hear His words again: [Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Bypaths in the Greek New Testament: p.88-91). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.]

ü But I am a worm…(a TOLAH).  Psalm 22:6

Also, prophetically from David, looking down the centuries:

ü For evils beyond number have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me. Psalm 40:12

That God the Father was imputing and judging the sins of the world on His body on the cross is analogous to the worm being crushed in a vat, so that its blood can be used for the manufacture of royal robes.  Because our Lord was judged for our sins on the cross, that is, crushed, we now wear the royal robes of His imputed righteousness.  God the Father imputes His own righteousness, and we share the righteousness of Christ through the baptism of the Spirit. [Thieme]

While undergoing substitutionary spiritual death, both the Father and the Holy Spirit had to forsake the Son but He also had to remain perfect while being forsaken.  Paul, in the Hebrews documents this:

ü [He] offered Himself without blemish to God….  Hebrews 9:14

The fact that He did not become corrupt while taking on the sins of the world means that His was a substitutionary spiritual death. He died in our place.  Accepting the imputation of every sin committed in human history did not make Christ a sinner, but the offering for those sins.  Christ was not a sinner by choice, but a sin offering by choice.  He offered Himself to God the Father to atone those sins.  The Father, because He is omnipotent and just, was propitiated or satisfied with His offering.

Our Lord did not have an old sin nature at birth; and He never sinned for thirty-three years because He chose to remain inside the Holy Spirit’s dynasphere, or power sphere, sustained and supported by His omnipotence.  Therefore, when our Lord arrived at the cross, He was perfect, ready to become a sin offering.  He never sinned.  Therefore, since all those sins imputed to Him had no affinity with anything in our Him, His was a substitutionary spiritual death, not a real spiritual death. In our real spiritual death, we are separated from God; there is a barrier between man and God.  We are also dichotomous, having only a body and soul.  But in a substitutionary spiritual death, Jesus Christ is separated from God the Father and the Spirit as a trichotomous person, having body, soul, and human spirit. The imputation of our sins to Christ was a judicial imputation, because there was no real affinity between our sins and the impeccable humanity of Christ inside the prototype divine dynasphere.  The omnipotence of God the Father imputed to the impeccable humanity of Christ what was not antecedently His own. 

That both the Spirit and the Father forsook Him brings up another question: How was He able to apply doctrine if the Spirit was no longer enabling Him to do so?  When we lose the Spirit’s empowerment, we lose the power to apply doctrine.  We do have the ability, however, to apply one category of doctrine.  That category of doctrine is what motivates you to name that sin or sins to the Father returning you to fellowship with Him and the Spirit.  Because we each have an old sin nature, we immediately start to corrupt the doctrines in our soul with scar tissue, rendering it inapplicable.  Not only that, but Satan immediately ensnares us in his system of cosmic power, which distorts our thinking.

Our Lord had no sin nature nor was He ever susceptible to cosmic influence so He was able to apply Bible doctrine without distortion without the Spirit’s power.  Therefore, He relied upon one source of strength to sustain Him while undergoing the crushing weight of our sins:  The Word of God! 

Do you see the importance of doctrine, the importance of the thoughts of Christ circulating through out your soul?  The power of the Word is far greater than we can comprehend, yet God has given this power to us without measure.  The only limitation to applying this power is our volition, which so often is negative!  What is our first clue to His use of this power? His continual prayer of intercession which was one powerful application of virtue love:

ü Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.  Luke 23:34

This fulfills one of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecies:

ü And He made intercessions for the transgressors.  Isaiah 53:12

Now, at this point, I am going to take the time to address a passage that I previously taught as documenting the Spirit’s empowerment of Christ while He was on the cross.  I want to correct my misinterpretation of this passage.  Now, in so doing, I have gained a much better understanding of our Lord’s volitional involvement when He became our substitute.  Had I not seen the error of my ways, I never would have received this lesson.  It is certainly germane to our total understanding of our Lord’s work for us as well. I have talked about the importance of our Lord’s volition before, but always as a general principle but without the direct statement of Scripture.  Not only had I misinterpreted the phrase we are going to look at, but I had missed the blessing derived from correct interpretation! Let us read a couple of verses before the phrase to establish a context for the lesson:

ü But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.  For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:11-14 NASB

We want to take a closer look at is this phrase in verse 14:

ü Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself…”  Hebrews 9:14

First, we need to correct the translation, make the correct application, then learn the lesson this phrase is teaching.  The first word is CHRISTOU, transliterated as Christ, our Lord’s title, referring to His being the Messiah.  His Messianic title, in this verse and in our phrase is not in the nominative case because I borrowed it from the previous phrase.  “Christ” is the antecedent of the next word so I thought it appropriate to bring His title, which refers to His person, over!  The next word is HOS, a relative pronoun, translated “who,” referring to our Lord. The next word, DIA is the preposition of intermediate instrumentality, which means “through” or more accurately, “by virtue of.”  The word it modifies has to be in the genitive case.  PNEUMATOS, translated, “spirit” follows.  This is an anarthrous noun in the genitive neuter singular. There is no definite article before the word “spirit.” We will discuss this word in more detail in the following discussion.  AIONIOU is the genitive adjective translated, “eternal,” referring to an attribute of the spirit.  HEAUTON is the accusative masculine pronoun, which is translated, “of himself” or “his” So the corrected translation should read this way:

ü Christ, who by virtue of His eternal spirit offered Himself…  Hebrews 9:14

I had previously taught that the reference to “spirit” here referred to the Holy Spirit.  As I was preparing to teach this series, just as I had last year, I detected a problem.  How could God the Holy Spirit sustain our Lord on the cross while being made sin for us yet leave us out of fellowship when we sin?  Perhaps, I reasoned, that under substitutionary spiritual death, the Spirit still empowers.  Still, I thought that I needed to look a bit deeper into the subject.  The first thing I did was to look at the verse that I had used as a source of the erroneous teaching.  The problem, as we have just seen, began with mistranslation, then misinterpretation. 

The problem with the original interpretation, from just a grammatical standpoint, stems from two factors.  First, as your NASB translation indicates by a footnote, the correct translation is “His” and not “the.”  Secondly, the “His” should refer to someone very close syntactically in the passage.  We do not need to look very far to see that from a common sense standpoint, that Jesus Christ is the referent.  “His,” then, refers to something belonging to our Lord!  The Holy Spirit does not even appear in the overall context in this passage.  The overall context of the passage is the sacrificial work of our Lord.  The author is comparing or rather contrasting the ritual animal sacrifices with our Lord’s efficacious sacrifice.

From a context of Scripture point of view, there is also a problem: both this phrase and Leviticus 5:11 could not be true.  One passage had to be mistranslated and or misinterpreted, or both.  Usually mistranslation leads to misinterpretation.  If this phrase referred to the Holy Spirit, then there would have been an obvious contradiction between this phrase and Leviticus 5:11.  I know that there are no contradictions in the Scripture, so by comparing Scripture with Scripture we should be able to get a clue as to which passage is correctly interpreted.  We found out, by exegesis that the English translation of the passage has an apparent weakness! 

The next thing I did was to ask myself to what the “Spirit of Christ” refers.  At this point, I went to my learned colleagues to see if, first, I was alone in seeing a discrepancy here.  I was relieved to find that I was not!  The principles of application I have put together here have resulted from a synthesis of my own doctrinal understanding and the comments of A. T. Roberson, Kenneth Wuest, M. R. Vincent and R. B. Thieme, Jr. 

The first issue deals with the sacrificed animals. The context of this passage is a comparison between the efficacy of the animal blood and of our Lord’s blood that He shed on the cross.  We know that His blood refers to His sacrificial work, which we will detail in a few minutes.

(1) The animals’ sacrifice could cleanse ceremonial defilements, which the Law specified, but our Lord’s sacrifice actually purifies us from sin. 

(2) The animals had no “spirit or will to consent in the act of sacrifice; they were offered according to the Law…”  Our Lord’s spirit, as eternal as He is, includes as an attribute of His person, His will, His volition. is HHis integrity and virtue love under-gird His will. His will, existing from eternity past, is the consenting act of His divine Personality, which from before time acquiesced in, and brought into being the Father’s redemptive purpose.  His eternal Spirit is not the Spirit of the Father dwelling in Christ’s humanity, nor is it the Holy Spirit given without measure to Christ, but it is “the divine Spirit of the Godhead which Christ Himself had and was in His inner Personality.”  His will was completely involved in His sacrifice. 

(3) These animals did not even have an enduring life or intrinsic value on which to base a sacrifice. They were a ritual pointing to our Lord’s actual sacrifice. Only His sacrifice was eternal, and totally unlimited and efficacious. 

Now the question, how does His divine spirit relate to His human spirit?  After all, we each, from the moment of salvation, possess a human spirit.  This is where our application comes in.  Jesus’ human spirit, that is, His human connection with the divine phenomena, or “the higher element of Christ’s being in his human life...was charged with the eternal principle of the divine life.” [Jamison] His humanity took on the will of His divine nature by the same mechanics we have been given.  When we listen to the teaching of the Word while accessing the omnipotence of the Spirit, He takes the doctrine we believe and circulates it through our thinking.  In so doing we become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3).  In His pre-incarnate life, Jesus concurred with the Father’s will. From eternity past, our Lord’s divine will agreed to follow the Father’s redemptive plan.  He began His sacrificial offering on the alter (to bring the Old Testament ritual in from the context of the passage) of the Cross and completed it with respect to the Angelic Conflict and the Father’s satisfaction when He entered into the Heavenly Holy of Holies.

This is the key to the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. The awesomeness of His atonement lies in His own perfect integrity, motive and volition which are the foundation of His sacrifice. The offering was from the source of His deepest self; His innermost being and personality, that is, His spirit. This is the core of the Cross.  Yes, we need to understand every aspect of His spiritual sacrifice, but we also need to understand and appreciate His motive.  His spiritual work resulted from this. What did He, Himself, say? These are Jesus’ own words:

ü And I… will draw all men to Myself.  John 12:32

This is the heart, the foundation of His spiritual sacrifice, that is, His satisfaction of the Father’s justice by suffering the legal penalty.  The “Cross is the supreme expression of…[the] divine spirit of love, truth, mercy, brotherhood, faith, ministry, unselfishness, holiness, - a spirit which goes out to …[all people evidenced by unlimited atonement]…with divine intensity of purpose and yearning to draw them into His own [dyna]sphere, and to make them partakers of His own eternal quality [consisting of delegated divine power, the Word, bringing many sons into glory]. This was a fact before the foundation of the world, is a fact today, and will be a fact so long as any [human] life remains unreconciled to God. Atonement is eternal in virtue of the eternal spirit of Christ through which He offered himself to God.” [Vincent, M. R. (2002). Word studies in the New Testament (Vol. 4, Page 483-484). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.]

            [Wuest, K. S. (1997, c1984). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Heb 9:14). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.]

             [Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. On spine: Critical and explanatory commentary. (Heb 9:14). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.]

            [Robertson, A. (1997). Word Pictures in the New Testament. Vol.V c1932, Vol.VI c1933 by Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. (Heb 9:14). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.]