September 15th, 2015, Kichijouji Bible Study
Gotthold Beck
Matthew
27:27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the imperial headquarters and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.
27:28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.
27:29 Twisting some thorns into a victor’s crown, they placed it on his head and put a stick in his right hand. They knelt down in front of him and began making fun of him, saying, “Long live the king of the Jews!”
27:30 Then they spit on him and took the stick and hit him repeatedly on his head.
27:31 When they had finished making fun of him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away to crucify him.
27:32 As they were leaving, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced to carry Jesus’ cross.
27:33 When they came to a place called Golgotha (which means “Skull Place”),
27:34 they offered him a drink of wine mixed with gall. But when he tasted it, he refused to drink it.
27:35 After they had crucified him, they determined who would get his clothes by throwing dice for them.
27:36 Then they sat down there and continued guarding him.
27:37 Above his head they placed the charge against him. It read, “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.”
27:39 Those who passed by kept insulting him, shaking their heads,
27:40 and saying, “You who were going to destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days―save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
27:41 In the same way the high priests, along with the scribes and elders, were also making fun of him. They kept saying,
27:42 “He saved others but can’t save himself! He is the king of Israel. Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.
27:43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him, if he wants to do so now. After all, he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
27:44 In a similar way, the bandits who were being crucified with him kept insulting him.
27:45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
27:46 About three o’clock, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, eli, lema sabachthani?”, which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
27:47 When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling for Elijah.”
27:48 So one of the men ran off at once, took a sponge, and soaked it in some sour wine. Then he put it on a stick and offered Jesus a drink.
27:49 But the others kept saying, “Wait! Let’s see if Elijah will come and save him.”
27:50 Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice again and died.
27:51 Suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, rocks were split open,
27:52 tombs were opened, and many saints who had died were brought back to life.
27:53 After his resurrection, they came out of their tombs and went into the Holy City and appeared to many people.
27:54 When the centurion and those guarding Jesus with him saw the earthquake and the other things that were taking place, they were terrified and said, “This man certainly was the Son of God!”
[International Standard Version]
I would like to continue to learn on the subject that we began a few weeks ago, that is to say, “Accomplished Plan of Salvation.” I read a story about a man called Camille a few years ago, who liberated the country of Caucasus. He was well known for his bravery and sincerity. He became a beloved hero of the country and was well respected by the people.
While he served as the ruler of the country, gambling began to spread and people came to be addicted. One man started gambling and this vice spread rapidly all over the country. It almost put the entire nation on the brink of extinction.
Camille loved his people very much and decided to enact a new law to prohibit them from indulging in this vice. After the law became effective, the first violator of the law was arrested. It was the mother of Camille himself. It is not hard to imagine how astonished her son, Camille, was when he heard that.
He respected his mother enormously and loved her. However, the law had to be enforced strictly without exception. Camille, getting flustered, confined himself in his room for a couple of days to contemplate how he could help his mother avoid the punishment.
Camille was a son of his mother and at the same time the leader of this country. He had found a violator of the law that was legislated by himself. He could never condone this offense. If he permitted an exception, he would lose public trust and would never be able to remain as the good ruler of the country.
Two days later, his mind was determined when he came out of his room. He called on all elders and brought his mother to the judgment seat. His mother was tied to a pillar and a soldier was standing by to whip her. At the moment the soldier raised his hand to strike with a whip, Camille commanded him to stop.
Then, Camille took his clothes off and had his own hands tied to the pillars instead of his mother before he ordered the soldier to whip himself. He loved his mother deeply and so he took the punishment on behalf of her.
The same is exactly true for what Jesus has done for us. Jesus decided to take the punishment we had to take. We committed sins and made ourselves the enemies of the Lord God. The Bible tells us that the souls that have sinned will certainly die and the wage of sin is death.
The Holy God cannot let any kind of sin pass unpunished. Our dearest God desires to save all sinners. The Lord God opened the way to save humans so that his love and righteousness would be fulfilled. That is the way through which Jesus, the son of God, came down to this dark world to bear our sins on the cross.
John
3:16 For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but have eternal life.
2 Corinthians
5:19 for through the Messiah, God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them. He has committed his message of reconciliation to us.
What did his mother do after Camille was whipped 100 times on her behalf? Needless to say, his mother thanked Camille so much that she could not express it in words. How about us? Have we ever thanked Jesus from the bottom of our hearts for the sacrifice he made on behalf of us?
Jesus took the punishment on behalf of each one of us and he was made to be sin itself according to the Bible. The mother of Camille then said to her son, “I hate all the dreadful things I have done, for because of these things, you had to suffer so much.”
We all ought to say the same thing to Jesus, “I hate all our sins and arrogance. For because of these things, you had to endure so many pains and die on the cross.” There is only one way for the souls of humans to be saved from destruction. It is to ask the Lord Jesus to forgive their sins; there should be no other way.
If you have not believed in Jesus and accepted him yet, I beg you to accept this great savior, Jesus today. Then, you will be saved and receive the eternal life.
Jesus is seeking each human being. He loves each one of us from his heart. He wants us to belong to him. There was only one way out left for Camille's mother. Her only way out was her son, the ruler of the country, to be punished on behalf of his mother.
That was true for the very first man, Adam. He committed a sin; he was separated from the Creator and left in a desperate state. However, still, the Lord God fashioned garments from animal skins for Adam and clothed him as stated in the Bible. Abel, the son of Adam, believed in the promise of the Lord God and offered a lamb as sacrifice.
For Abel's sin to be covered, the blood of the innocent had to be shed. Believers in the era of the Old Testament offered lambs for their sins to be covered likewise. It was the only way for them to be justified. The blood of animal offerings could not by itself earn forgiveness for our sins. However, this blood symbolized the blood Jesus would shed.
Then, how could the believers in the era of the Old Testament be justified? They believed in the promise of the Lord God and acted based on his word. They offered lambs as the sacrifice based on the word of the Lord God. Believers in the era of the Old Testament believed in the blood of the sacrificial lamb. They received eternal lives in return for it. They were aware that the blood of sacrificial animals just symbolized the blood Jesus would shed in the future.
The Bible states that a man called Abraham already thought of the day of Jesus more than 4000 years ago.
John
8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day, and he saw it and was glad.
For the degenerate human beings, the only way out was the Incarnation of Jesus, his becoming a human being. The Incarnation of Jesus was the greatest turning point throughout human history; it revealed the greatest of all love. It is the foundation of all salvation and the center of all worship.
Jesus is the true God and a real human at the same time. Jesus was a sinless man. He was born from a virgin, Mary, and he lived in the same human body as ours, which consists of blood and flesh.
Philippians
2:6 In God’s own form existed he, and shared with God equality, deemed nothing needed grasping.
2:7 Instead, poured out in emptiness, a servant’s form did he possess, a mortal man becoming. In human form he chose to be.
Jesus was conceived with the Holy Spirit and he had no Original Sin. As a perfect man, Jesus was equipped with spirit, soul and flesh. He had the eternal life in his body and did not know sin at all.
Therefore, death had no power over Jesus and there was absolutely no reason that Jesus had to die. Still, Jesus died on behalf of each one of us and gave up his very life as the one who bore the sins of the world. Jesus' heart was troubled very much because of the sins of mankind and he died in unspeakable anguish. Jesus bore the sins of all mankind and took the punishment of death. John the Baptist was the servant of the Lord who introduced Jesus to this world for the first time.
John
1:29 The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’
The arrival of this savior, sent by God according to the promise he made thousands of years ago, was already prophesied in the Book of Isaiah.
Isaiah
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, each of us, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Hebrews
2:9 But we do see someone who was made a little lower than the angels. He is Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might experience death for everyone.
Jesus had eternal life and there was no reason that he had to die. Still, he bore the sins of all mankind and gave up his life on the cross. It is written that the wage of sins is death.
It is because Jesus bore the sin of all human beings and sacrificed himself for them, that he is called the last Adam. The first Adam surrendered to the devil together with all mankind. The last Adam took the punishment for our sins to open the way of salvation for all mankind.
Jesus took the divine punishment, which was supposed to be inflicted on us. He was cursed, abandoned and slaughtered. Then, his body was buried in a tomb. Let us briefly think about this tomb of Jesus.
The tombstone of Jesus signifies the false victory of the devil. In reality, the cross of Jesus marks the fierce battle fought between life and death, which is beyond expression in language.
Colossians
2:14 having erased the charges that were brought against us, along with their obligations that were hostile to us. He took those charges away when he nailed them to the cross.
2:15 And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.
The tomb of Jesus symbolizes the false victory of the devil. Jesus was certainly killed. The multitude witnessed and sympathized when the eyes of Jesus was closed. When Jesus' body was laid in the tomb, the hand that had once healed blind, deaf, mute, crippled people and lepers had no power now and was hanging loosely.
The voice of Jesus that once calmed the raging waters, that once called the dead back to life, that spoke of life and hope, that drove away the evil spirits, could not be heard anymore. Jesus, who said a few days ago, “I am the resurrection and I am life,” was now laid cold and lifeless. Jesus' body was placed in the tomb and the door of the tomb was covered with a large stone.
If Pilate put a sign on the tomb on that day, he would have written on it, “Jesus, the King of Jews.” It was actually what Jesus was. If the devil put a sign on top of the tomb, it would have read, “Jesus of Nazareth who was defeated by me.”
If the Lord God placed a sign at the door of the tomb, he would have written on it, “Inside lies the human race covered with sins.” Not only did Jesus die for our sins, but he died along with all the sinners. Jesus as the last Adam, who had no sin at all, was crucified together with all human beings.
Therefore, not only did Jesus die because of our sins, he died with us. The blood of Jesus was shed in order for our sins to be covered. And Jesus was crucified because it was necessary in order for our old self to be taken away. Jesus died. In his death, our old man died along with him. This is a fact regardless of whether we believe it or not. However, only if we believe in this fact, we will experience it. Thus, what is most important for us is faith.
Acts
16:30 he took them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
16:31 They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will be saved.”
16:32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and everyone in his home.
16:33 At that hour of the night, he took them and washed their wounds. Then he and his entire family were baptized immediately.
16:34 He brought Paul and Silas upstairs into his house and set food before them. He was thrilled, as was his household, to believe in God.
However, Jesus did not remain in the tomb forever but came back to life. The resurrection of Jesus is the victory of God, the Creator, which can be clearly seen. Here is a question that was sent to me before. What kind of death was the death that Jesus went through? It is impossible for sinners to have a fellowship with the Lord God.
It is impossible for them because they are separated from the Lord God. For all human beings, this is a permanent separation. No human can obtain an eternal life through his own efforts. The eternal separation from the Lord God leads us to the eternal death. Indeed, Jesus went through this eternal death.
If Jesus was a child of Joseph and Mary, he was an ordinary human and he would never have been able to come back to life, even though God performed a miracle on him and took all his sins away. However, Jesus was truly the Son of God who had eternal life.
Therefore, although Jesus once went through death, he did not have to remain dead. Jesus came down to this world in human form. However, because Jesus had the power to give life, he could come back to life once again after he was buried into the ground. Because he died once, he can give eternal life to all those who want it.
John
12:24 Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces a lot of grain.
If a grain of wheat dies, it will produce a lot of grain. Likewise, Jesus dies and gives an eternal life to all his believers. When Jesus died, our old man died together with him. When Jesus resurrected, at the same time, we were also reborn as new men.
Only if we believe in this fact, will we then experience it in our daily lives. All believers have experienced how Jesus led them from darkness to the light, from slavery to liberation and from death to life.
Acts
2:32 It was this very Jesus whom God raised, and of that we are all witnesses.
Among so many miracles recorded in the Scripture, the greatest of all miracles is the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is the most significant incident throughout the history of the world.
The resurrection is the greatest proof that Jesus is the only way that leads us to salvation. The resurrection of Jesus is the finest revelation of strength of the Lord God. This itself is the most significant truth of the Gospel too.
Let us briefly go over the meaning of the resurrection. For us believers, the resurrection of Jesus is unimaginably important and it is more important than anything else. When Jesus talked about his own death to his disciples, he would always talk about his resurrection too.
Matthew
16:21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he would have to go to Jerusalem and suffer a great deal because of the elders, the high priests, and the scribes. Then he would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised.
17:22 While they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.
17:23 They will kill him, but he will be raised on the third day.” Then they were filled with grief.
20:17 When Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and told them as they were walking along,
20:18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death.
20:19 Then they will hand him over to unbelievers to be mocked, whipped, and crucified, but on the third day he will be raised.”
If our savior stayed in the tomb after he was crucified, what was the meaning of his death for us? If Jesus did not come out of the tomb, it meant that he only died for his own sin and he could never become our savior.
The wage of sin is death. Because everyone has sinned, sin entered the world as stated in the Bible. All humans are sinners and commit offenses without exception. That is to say, we are all separated from the Lord God. Those who are segregated from the Lord are unable to save other segregated ones and liberate them.
The blind man cannot give direction to other blind people. It was for the same reason that the Lord Jesus, only begotten son of the Lord God, had to come down to this world to save us from our sins.
Therefore, all human efforts to lead themselves or others to the salvation are totally meaningless. Muhammad wanted to save mankind. Confucius too struggled to save human beings. Gautama Buddha tried hard to save the human race and liberate them. However, they were all humans after all who were separated from God.
It is written that sin entered the entire human race because everyone has sinned. Muhammad, Confucius and Gautama Buddha died because they committed offenses. In other words, they died because of sins of their own. It is absolutely impossible for those who died because of their sins to lead others to salvation. Muhammad did not resurrect. Confucius did not resurrect either. Gautama Buddha also remained dead. Only Jesus came back to life from death.
Acts
2:32 It was this very Jesus whom God raised, and of that we are all witnesses.
Luke
24:34 They kept saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon!”
If Jesus had not come back to life, he would neither have been a son of God nor the savior who was sent from God, but just another human. While Jesus was living on this world, he clearly stated that he was the son of God and the promised savior. And as the true son of God, Jesus accomplished the work, which only the Lord God could have done.
However, Pharisees and religious leaders of those days refused to accept Jesus as a son of God. They demanded to see the evidence that Jesus was truly the promised savior. The answer of Jesus to them can be found in these verses;
Matthew
12:39 But he replied to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign. Yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah,
12:40 because just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea creature for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”
What Jesus mentioned here was that his resurrection would prove his identity as the promised God of salvation. It is also true to say that if we resurrect, it will prove that we are the children of God. And Jesus actually resurrected. He came back to life from death. It is because he was truly the promised savior. The resurrection of Jesus is the proof that he truly bore all our sins.
If Jesus had not come back to life, it would have meant that he, after all, died because of sins of his own and there would have been no salvation for us. The resurrection of Jesus was a victory over death too. Because Jesus did not commit any sin at all, death had no power over him. Paul wrote to the believers of his time;
1 Corinthians
15:14 and if the Messiah has not been raised, then our message means nothing and your faith means nothing.
15:17 and if the Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you are still imprisoned by your sins.
15:18 Yes, even those who have died believing in the Messiah are lost.
15:19 If we have set our hopes on the Messiah in this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people.
Jesus resurrected nevertheless. This is our joy, foundation and strength.
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