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Tag Archives: Crucifixion

Repetitions in the Baptism and Crucifixion

04 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by memoirandremains in Christology, Matthew, Uncategorized

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Comparison of Jesus Baptism and Crucifixion, Crucifixion, John the Baptist, Matthew, Matthew 27, Matthew 3

the-crucifixion-philippe-de-champaigne

This is just a tentative list of repetitions. While listening to the story on Good Friday, last, I was struck by “If you are the Son of God” in Matthew 27 — because it was precisely the words of Satan in the temptation. Then I thought of the difference in the sky: it was torn open in the baptism; it was closed in the crucifixion.  Anyway, here are some notes to develop to some day:

Baptism Crucifixion
All Jerusalem went out to see him The crowd before Pilate
Pharisees and Sadducees Chief priests and the elders
John hesitates to baptize Jesus Pilate hesitates to kill Jesus
John warns them to repent Let him be crucified
Even now the ax is laid at the root of the tree His blood be on us
The heavens were opened There was darkness over the face of the land [the heavens were closed]
the Spirit of God descended like a dove and coming to rest on him; My God, My God why have you forsaken me
this is my beloved Son the soldier, truly this was the Son of God.
Satan, if you are the Son of God those who passed by, “if you are the Son of God”
Satan tempts Jesus with bread they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall
Satan tempts Jesus at the temple You who would destroy the temple and in three days build it up
All these will I give you [kingship] the soldiers mock Jesus as king

This is King of the Jews

 

Isaac Watts, I Sing My Savior’s Wondrous Death

26 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Hymns

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Crucifixion, Hymns, Isaac Watts, Resurrection

I sing my Savior’s wondrous death,

     He conquered when he fell:

“’Tis finished!” said his dying breath,

     And shook the gates of hell.


“’Tis finished!” our Immanuel cries,

     The dreadful work is done;

Hence shall his sovereign throne arise,

     His kingdom is begun.


His cross a sure foundation laid

     For glory and renown,

When through the regions of the dead

     He passed to reach the crown.


Exalted at his Father’s side

     Sits our victorious Lord;

To heav’n and hell his hands divide

     The vengeance or reward.


The saints, from his propitious eye,

     Await their several crowns

And all the sons of darkness fly

     The terror of his frowns.

Meditation: God Hath Highly Exalted Him (Philippians 2:9)

27 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Christology, Edward Taylor, Literature

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christology, Crucifixion, Curse, Edward Taylor, Exaltation of Christ, Galatians 3, Philippians 2, poem, Poetry, Praise, Puritan Poetry

Look till thy looks low wan, my soul; here’s ground.
The world’s bright eyes dashed out: day-light so brave
Bemidnighted; the sparkling sun paled-round
With flowering rays lies buried in its grave
The candle of the world blown-out, down fell.
Life knocked ahead by death: heaven by hell.

Alas! this world all filled up to the brim
With sins, devils, crowding men to hell.
For whose relief, God’s milkwhite Lamb stepped in
Whom those cursed imps did worry, flesh and fell.
Tread under foot, did clap their wings and so
Like dunghill cocks over their conquered crow.

Brave pious fraud; as if the setting sun
Dropped like a fire ball into the seas
And so went out. But to the East come, run:
You’ll meet the morn shrined with its flowering rays.
This Lamb in laying of these lions dead;
Drank of the brook, and so lifted up his head.

Oh sweet, sweet joy! These rampant fiends befooled.
They made their gall his winding sheet; although
They of the heart-ache must, or be cooled
With inflammation of the lungs, they know.
He’s canceling the bond, and making pay:
And balancing accounts: its Reckoning Day.

See, how he from the count-house shining went,
In flashing folds of burnished glory, and
Dashed out all curses from the covenant
Hath Justice’s acquittance in his hand
Plucked out death’s sting, and Serpent’s head did mall
The bars and gates of Hell he brake all down.

The curse thus lodged within his flesh, and coiled
Can’t run from him to his, so much he gave.
And like a giant he awoke, beside
The Sun of Righteousness rose out of’s grave.
And setting foot upon its neck, I sing
Grave, where’s thy victory? Death, Where’s thy sting?

Notes: 
The basic point of the poem is that in Christ’s death, Christ did not lose his enemies, but rather overcame his cosmic enemies and accomplished redemption for humanity.

Lamb: In John 1:29 we have recorded that John the Baptist refers to Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” In Revelation, Jesus is again referred to as a “lamb”:
Revelation 5:6–10 (ESV)
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10  and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”

Canceling a bond/Cosmic Conflict:
Colossians 2:12–15 (ESV)
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Discharging the Curse:
The Mosaic law contained a curse for those who failed to meet its demands. Jesus bore the curse of the law, discharging it:
Galatians 3:10–14 (ESV)
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Bearing Sin in His Body:
1 Peter 2:21–25 (ESV)
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Crushing the Serpent’s Head:
Following the Fall, God pronounces the doom of the Serpent through the “seed of the woman” who will crush the serpent’s (Satan’s) head. Genesis 3:15.

Victory Over Death:
1 Corinthians 15:50–57 (ESV)
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55  “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:1–11 (ESV)2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Final Days of Jesus, April 1, 33 A.D.

17 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in John, Luke, Mark, Matthew

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Crucifixion, Jesus, Passion, Passion Week, The Final Days of Jesus

They Have Not Got Rid of Him

23 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Matthew

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burial, Crucifixion, Easter, F.W. Krummacher, Good Friday, Jesus, Matthew, Matthew 27, Piltate, Resurrection, The Risen Redeemer, tomb

The religious leaders came to Pilate on the morning after the death of Jesus with the “design to perpetuate Good Friday”. As Krummacher explains

“They have murdered Him, but they have not got rid of Him, They are fully conscious that they have dragged an innocent, guiltless man to execution, but the awakened conscience is not to be lulled with lying subterfuges, as if He had attacked Moses, had reviled the temple, and had led the people astray. What they witnessed at Golgotha, the glorious termination of the righteous One’s career, the public confession of the heathen centurion, and especially the manifestation of the Almighty by the darkened sun, the earthquake, and the opening of the graves, served but to render them more sensitive to the lashes of that scourge which the judge within their breast incessantly inflicted on them. What marvel then if the Crucified One, in the form of a bloody spectre, was ever present to them, chasing away sleep from their eyes? Assuredly there is not a man amongst us who has decidedly rejected Christ that can ever wholly banish Him. Such a one, though he decline to confess it, lives ever in a secret feud with his conscious inner life.”

Excerpt From: Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher. “The risen Redeemer: The Gospel History From the Day of Atonement”. Translated by John T. Betts, 1869, 2-3.

Peter Paul Rubens: The Entombment

18 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Church History, Uncategorized

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Art, Church History, Crucifixion, Jesus, Luke 23:50-55, Mark 15:38-41, Mary, Peter Paul Rubens, The Entombment, Uncategorized

The depicitions of Jesus after the Reformation seemed to locate Jesus as an actual human person in space and time. The Medieval altar pieces isolate some aspect of Jesus’s life without reference into any historical reference. In fact, the depicitions are thoroughly ahistorical: An altar piece in the Getty Florence exhibit shows Jesus being crucified between canonized saints wearing bishop’s robes, with staff and mitre. I understand the theological coding of the picture, but it cannot be denied that Jesus did not die in the presence of men who would not be born for hundreds of years — much less men wearing costumes which had not even been invented.

Compare that to Ruben’s painting of the crucifixion, The Entombment, 1612. While the painting is thoroughly theological — a shaft of light falls on Jesus and Mary looks to heaven — the body of Jesus is the body of a dead man, not a dead icon. Mary looks like a distressed mother, not a stoic saint. There are other present to care for the bleeding body. (It is somewhat ironic to note that Rubens worked as a Roman Catholic. In fact, the notes on the painting provided by the Getty Museum indicate that Rubens was symbolizing the transubstantiation in the Mass by means of Jesus being placed upon an alter (the stone at the bottom of the painting) and the presence of wheat — the host of the Mass).

It should be noted that the Gospels indicate that Mary was not present when Jesus was taken down from the cross (however, touching the story). John 19:

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

Thus, John indicates that they were standing near the cross and that he then took Mary to his home (which makes some emtional sense, if his goal is to protect Mary the pain of watching the death).

Mark records that at the time of Jesus’ death the party was (1) standing a long ways off, and (2) does not record Mary being present at the time of death:

38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Mark 15:38-41. One can reconcile the two texts as follows: They all stand near the tomb, John leaves with Mary — and perhaps the other women. Leaving Mary at home, John returns and the women with John stand further off from.

Finally, the Gospels all records that it was not Mary who took down the body:

50 Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man,51 who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.54 It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.

Luke 23:50-55

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The Darkness and the Glory

06 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Preaching

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Tags

Book Review, Crucifixion, Gospels, Greg Harris, Isaiah, John, Luke, Mark, Matthew, Preaching, The Darkness and the Glory

by Dr. Greg Harris

The Darkness and the Glory

Isaiah 52:14 states of the Suffering Servant, “His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men”.  Greg Harris asks, “Is it [the statement] hyperbole?”  He continues, “If the head of Jesus had not been connected to His body and was discovered by someone in a field, it could have raised questions as to whether it actually was a human head?”

How could that be true?

Harris develops the question by working through the answer at great length. While any man could suffer merely physical torment, Jesus suffered in three ways which went far beyond physical suffering.

However, before he answers that question, Harris begins with another question: Why did Satan at first try to keep Jesus from the cross and then shift tactics to drive Jesus to the cross?  For Harris, the unity of the Bible is not a mere position to be stated, it is everywhere apparent in his writing. Whenever he tugs at one strand of the Bible, a dozen other texts come along from Genesis through Revelation.

The first movement in the book is a consideration of how Satan sought to derail his destruction by attacking Jesus. If he could not conquer Jesus with temptation, he would crush Jesus with trial.  Thus, Jesus suffered differently from other men, due to rampage of Satan and his demons.

Harris makes the point vividly by asking, What did Jesus see as the soldiers held him down and nailed him to the cross? Did he see the heavens opened? Did he see Satan’s legions?  He then uses this question to more fully consider the true spiritual dimension of the cross. In considering the matter, Harris works through the gospels, but also considers appropriate texts in Ephesians and Colossians (particularly Colossians 2:15).

From there, Harris moves to the matter of the darkness at noon. As he considers the matter, he draws on darkness elsewhere in the Bible. As he considers the matters of Abraham and Moses and the parallel texts in Hebrews and Luke: you really should read through the stories with Harris rather than merely pick up the conclusion. The means of obtaining the end point is as valuable as understanding the darkness.

Harris also considers at length the Father striking the Son and Jesus absorbing the wrath of God to redeem sinners:

Our sins did not go away by themselves; they did not evaporate. Our sins did not disappear because of some sort of imaginary sweep of God’s divine eraser. Our sins were borne by the One of whom the Scripture speaks (93).

This is a matter which we may never fully understand. Our forgiveness came at an eternal and infinite cost. Perhaps our faith hangs so lightly upon us because we too little value the redemption. And while the matters are beyond our comprehension, we  have no excuse to not seek to understand.

Thereafter, Harris considers the third unique element of Jesus’ suffering (beyond the demonic and the darkness): the separation of the Father: Matt. 27:45-46. Harris ties this event to an understanding the Hell of Hell:

The last agony Jesus experienced before His death was literally hell on the earth. He experienced “the outer darkness” as God the Father removed himself from God the Son. …He alone in all history partook of the outer darkness within the frailty of a human body. As we have seen so many times before, is it any wonder, “His appearance was more marred than the sons of men” (Isa. 52:14)? How could it not be? (107)

Harris then moves onto the question as to what happened between the last breath and the resurrection. That question requires a look through Genesis, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude, Ezekiel and the Gospels. It requires an understanding of what took place at the Fall, before the Fall and during the tenure Satan between the Fall and the coming of Christ.

This discussion entails a discussion of the two surprises Satan received when God pronounced judgment in Genesis 3.  From here, Harris goes onto note the glory and good gained by Jesus for the elect. In this, Jesus gained for redeemed humanity far more than Adam held at the first – and the exaltation of Jesus.

When reading the book, one continually has the sensation of learning and thinking along with Harris. The value in the book is not merely in the conclusion and exposition (which are of great use), but also in the process of thinking in biblical lines. To read the book is to learn how to think biblically, that is, within a biblical context.

Happily, he does not waste the readers’ time. With many Christian books, the author has one point sufficient for a pamphlet – yet the matter has been dragged into book length. To achieve that end, the book becomes filled with stories with do little to illustrate and less to edify.

Harris does not fall into that trap, because the book consists solely in understanding what the Bible says. As he works through a matter, he runs into new questions and considerations.  By answering one question, Harris comes to a new question in another text. Indeed, to a certain extent, the end of Harris’ book is arbitrary: because each act expositing a text leads to new texts and thus more questions.

Having finished the book, I am glad I read it. Not only did I learn about the Bible, I also learned better how to read and think through the Bible.

 

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