Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 2 * BOOK 16
HIS ARREST, HIS SUFFERING
You will never feel sweeter fellowship than at one of these classes, just being with fellow believers. It’s extra special when folks come out on week nights to study together because that means they love The Book and are hungry for The Word, not because they want to hear me. Let’s pick up in the garden where Jesus is speaking.
Matthew 26:55,56
“In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, `Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled,’ Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.”
They ran like scared rabbits. But these same men, after the Resurrection had no such fear. What made the difference? The power of Resurrection. We may look at that power in the next lesson where the apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,…” That’s where it’s all at in this Age of Grace. Before that, the Resurrection hasn’t been mentioned and is not part of that Kingdom Gospel. But in the Age of Grace it become the very foundation. Some teachers and preachers have problems with His Resurrection. But if they have a problem with the Resurrection, they’ll have a problem getting into glory. Because unless you can believe the Resurrection you have no salvation and no hope. That’s what the Scripture says. I’m always quoting I Corinthians 15:1-4 (just look at it and it will bear me out). I want to move on now through Chapter 26, through His mock trial, and Peter’s denials and the cock crowing. Chapter 27. Now they bring Him before the Governor, the Roman authority.
Matthew 27:11a
“And Jesus stood before the governor:…”
Think about that. Who is He? The Creator! We have the Creator of these very men who are sitting in judgment over Him. And there He stands meek as a lamb, not saying a word. One word and He could have annihilated the whole city of Jerusalem. Remember, here Jesus stood before the Roman authority, but one day that same Roman authority will stand before Him. As will Presidents, and Kings. Go to Revelation Chapter 20. We are living in a day of such gross unbelief, where they scoff at this Book. They don’t realize how meticulously and supernaturally this whole Book is put together. Human intellect could never have done it. But here it is in Revelation 20:11. At the end of time for the human experience; eternity is about to begin.
Revelation 20:11,12
“And I saw a great white throne, and him (Christ) that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;”
Do you see the reversal now? Back in Matthew, God was standing before the Roman Government. Never forget that Christ was God. Christ laid aside His glory but never His Deity. Unless that Governor was saved (and we don’t know about that), he will stand before Christ and Christ will be The Judge. So all men, great and small, who have not experienced salvation, will one day stand before Him to face their eternal doom. Back to Matthew Chapter 27 again. The Nation of Israel is on trial more than Jesus is:
Matthew 27:15
“Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.” They now cry out they want to release Barabbas rather than Jesus. Pilate keeps trying to convince the crowd that he can find nothing wrong with Jesus.
Matthew 27:24,25
“When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing (he couldn’t get anywhere with them), but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, `I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.'” Do you think he is? No way. Pilate, too, one day will stand before the righteous Judge. He will have to admit he could have done what he didn’t do. Verse 25 is crucial, especially as it pertains to the Nation of Israel. “Then answered all the people (Jewish crowd, remember Jerusalem is packed because of the feast day), and said, `His blood be on us, and on our children.'” Isn’t that amazing? What a horrible statement. They are ready to pass this on to generations to come. And was it passed on? Absolutely. The Jews have been suffering for almost 2000 years, and it’s not over.
Again, I had the young Jewish man that watches our programs in Hollywood call the other day. He’s a Judaistic Jew and not a believing Jew. He realizes that time is short and we’re close to the end. I asked him if he realizes the horrors that are facing his nation. He told me he did; however he doesn’t think that the Tribulation is going to be seven years long, but while it does last, he knows the nation is going to go through some very tough times. And all because they had rejected their Messiah when He was offered to them back here in the Four Gospels. Let’s look at verse 27:
Matthew 27:27
“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldier. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.” This was done in mockery.
Matthew 27:29
“And when they had platted a crown of thorns (these were big thorns, like found on the thorny locust tree. If you have ever been stuck by a thorn you know how it hurts and acts like a poison), they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, `Hail, King of the Jews (imagine, before the Creator God).'”
Matthew 27:30-36
“And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull. They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall; and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled (in the Book of Psalms) which was spoken by the prophet, `They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there:'”
They watched Him like they were watching some kind of entertainment. Let’s go to Isaiah Chapter 52 for a moment. It wasn’t just the physical abuse that caused this but also the spiritual. Remember God is laying on Christ all the sin of mankind. That, coupled with the physical abuse at the hands of the Romans, left these results:
Isaiah 52:14
As many were astonied at thee; his visage (appearance) was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:”
Or more than anyone had ever experienced before. Keep in mind that this was the last picture His followers saw of Him as He hung on the Cross. He was so totally disfigured – almost to the point of not looking human. Remember that because when Mary sees Him standing, and thinks He’s the gardener, she couldn’t comprehend at her first glance Who It really was. Back to Matthew 27:
Matthew 27:37
“And set up over his head his accusation written, `THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.'” You have to look at what each of the Four Gospels says about this verse. Put them all together and see how it reads. All four will give a few different words. These words when put together were, “THIS IS JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Matthew 27:38
“Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another on the left.” Everyone knows this account. How the one turned to Him and recognized Who He was.
Matthew 27:45,46
“Now from the sixth hour (noon) there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour (3:00pm).” In those three hours there is no record of Jesus saying a single word.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say `My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'” I’m emphasizing this three hour period because I want to tie that in with one of the acts on the Day of Atonement. I feel that it was fulfilled during these three hours. We’ll come to that in a future lesson. I think there is a reason why this three hour period was silent and dark.
Matthew 27:50
“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”
He gave up His own life although Peter in Acts Chapter 2 will tell the Nation of Israel, “You killed the Messiah.” In other aspects of Scripture we feel the Romans put Him to death. But in reality neither one did. No one took His life. He gave it up of His own free will. They couldn’t have taken His life if they had wanted to.
Matthew 27:51
“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake. and the rocks rent:”
Many people miss this part. The veil was that part in the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, that separated the sanctuary, (in which the priest ministered daily from the Holy of Holies), wherein was the Ark of the Covenant. It was behind the veil that Aaron, the High Priest, would go once a year on the Day of Atonement. After Solomon’s Temple was built that veil was thick and heavy. I believe Josephus indicated that a team of Oxen couldn’t have ripped it apart. And yet the verse says it was ripped from the top to the bottom. The reason from the“Top to the Bottom” is to prove that this was something that men had nothing to do with. This was an act of a miracle-working God. Indicating now that the way into the presence of God had been made possible by His death. The veil in symbolism spoke of His body of flesh. It was the suffering of the body of flesh that made it possible for mankind to come into the very throne room of Heaven boldly anytime we want. Nevertheless the Jews didn’t understand this. They sewed it back up and went on their way with Temple worship as though nothing had happened, not realizing why the veil had rent.
Matthew 27:52,53
“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves (not while Christ was on the Cross but when?) after his resurrection.”
Christ had to be the first One. This is an absolute Scriptural mandate. No one had ever been resurrected from the dead before Christ was. He was the first! Those people in Scripture who had died and were brought back to life had each died again. But Christ’s Resurrection opened the door to life after death. It had to begin with the Creator Himself. These are just basic doctrines that you have to rest on. To show the power of His Resurrection, and in order to fulfill the Firstfruits, we also see others were resurrected after His Resurrection. They went into the holy city of Jerusalem and appeared unto many. I know the Scripture doesn’t tell us what happened to them, but they had to have gone on up into glory.
Remember the Jews are still frustrated and asked that extra guards be placed around the tomb of Jesus. They are going make sure that the tomb is going to be sealed because they remembered He had said, that after three days, He would rise again. So they sealed it and put those extra guards around the tomb. They did everything humanly possible so that the disciples couldn’t come in and steal His body and then claim He had risen from the dead. Oh the frustration of simple men. How they think that they can withstand a Holy and mighty God, and people haven’t changed. We’ve got world leaders tonight that think they can tell God what to do back there in the Middle East. And we that it will never work.