In The Beginning - Chapter 20 (It Is Finished)

Chapter 20

Back at the palace of Pontius Pilate, Jesus was participating in his fourth trial of the morning.

The whole of the Great Sanhedrin had accompanied Jesus to the palace as well as a large portion of the temple guard comprising more than a hundred men.  Already gathered there were a large crowd of people who wanted to plead for the lives of a friend or loved one.

The Romans had determined that it was easier to govern if the people were content.  As such they allowed the Jews to govern themselves by their own laws and to practice their religion with some specific limitations.  They did not allow the Jews to pronounce a sentence of death on anyone without the consent of the Roman governor.  It was also the custom at the time for the Roman governor to release a prisoner to the people in celebration of Passover.  These types of things worked well to quell the prospect of a popular uprising.

There was a man in prison at the time by the name of Barabbas.  He was Jewish patriot and Roman outlaw who was fomenting civil unrest and had been arrested under the charge of murder; many of those outside the palace of Pilate where there to plead for the life of Barabbas.

The chief priests approached Pilate who was sitting in a chair in the court yard of his Palace.  It was from here that he sat in judgment of the people of Israel.

Pilate sat quietly as the chief priests presented their prisoner.  Then he asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

One of them spoke up and said, “If he were not a criminal we wouldn’t have brought him to you.”  Hoping that Pilate would take his word for it and that would be the end of it.  The chief priests had already spent a long time discussing their strategy for getting Pilate to agree to the execution.

“OK, then take him and deal with him yourselves,” he said waving his hand as if to dismiss them.  There was no need for his involvement unless the crime of which Jesus was accused was a capital offense.

“We have no right to execute anyone,” replied the priest.

At this, Pilate paused for a moment and furrowed his brow.  An execution was an entirely different matter.  He was charged by Caesar with keeping the peace, which was no easy task in a region where the people were unwilling subjects.  An execution was not a good way of keeping the peace.

“This man is subverting our nation.  He opposes paying taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king!” said the priest, hoping that Pilate would condemn him for treason against Caesar, which was a capital offense and why Barabbas was arrested.

Pilate stood and walked back to the porch which was attached to the palace and overlooked the courtyard.  He motioned for Jesus to follow him.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked.

“Is that your own idea or did someone else tell it to you?” replied Jesus.

“I’m not a Jew,” replied Pilate, “your own people, including your chief priests, turned you over to me.  What have you done to make them so upset?”

“My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus.  “If it were, my servants would have fought to prevent my capture.  My kingdom is of another place.”

“Ah, so you are a king!” exclaimed Pilate.

“Yes, you are right,” said Jesus, “I am a king.  For this reason I was born into this world and for this reason I’m telling you the truth.  Everyone who cares about the truth listens to me.”

“Humph,”  Pilate said grimacing.  “What is truth?” he said sarcastically.

He walked past Jesus back out to the courtyard and announced, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

The priest was getting frustrated now and it was audible in his tone of voice.

“He stirs up the people all over Judea.  He started in Galilee and has come all the way here!”

Pilate’s eyebrows raised when he heard this.  “Is this man a Galilean?”

“Yes,” the priest replied.

This changed everything.  As a citizen of Galilee, Jesus was under the jurisdiction of Herod.  Things were looking up for Pilate.

Not only could this be the way he didn’t have to decide the matter, but he was also in a state of feud with Herod.  Years before Pilate had had some of Herod’s subjects killed and Herod had been his enemy ever since.

Pilate also knew that Herod had heard of Jesus and wanted to meet him.  As luck would have it (or so he thought) Herod was currently in Jerusalem.

“He is a Galilean and is under the jurisdiction of Herod,” said Pilate.  “Let Herod decide what to do with him.”  And he went back inside his palace.

The chief priest motioned to the head of the temple guard who grabbed Jesus by the rope which tied his hands together and they moved off down the street to the place where Herod was staying.  It was only a few blocks away and they arrived at about seven in the morning.

Along the way, unseen by the scrum of priests, members of the Great Sanhedrin, temple guard, and centurions, the road was lined on both sides by the angels of God.  The brightness of their glory was unprecedented in the heavenly realm.  The strength of God permeated every aspect of their being.  In the middle of the street walked the hoard along with a company of Satan's demons.

Satan himself led the entire crowd in their trek to the place where Herod was staying.  As he walked, he sneered at the angels that surrounded him.  He still believed his own lie, "You can be like God", and despised them for not following him during the great war in heaven.  Revenge is sweet, though, and he refused to think about anything beyond the current moment.  Whatever happened, there were billions of souls in the balance and he knew many would be his.

When Herod saw that they had brought Jesus to him he was very pleased.  He had heard tales of all kinds of magic tricks that this man could do and he very much wanted to be entertained by him.

Meanwhile, Judas, who had not known about the chief priests' plan to have Jesus crucified, was no longer possessed by the spirit of Satan, and was instead filled with remorse.

He ran back to the Temple where he had made his deal with the members of the Great Sanhedrin to betray Jesus. The place was empty except for the priests charged with maintaining the temple.

Confronting the first priests he found there he pleaded with them saying "I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood."

The priests looked down their noses at him.  "What is that to us?" one of them said.  "That is your responsibility."

Judas' heart sank within him as tears welled up in his eyes.  He threw the sack which contained the thirty pieces of silver they had paid him (the cost of a slave) down the hall at them and ran back out of the temple and into the street.

In fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah, the priests then picked up the coins and knowing they could not put blood money back into the temple treasury, instead used it to buy the potter's field where they would bury the dead who could not afford their own burial place.^[3]

Judas walked aimlessly through the streets until he came upon a man who was selling a rocky crag of land.  Judas knew the place well, having lived in and around Jerusalem for all of his life.  The price for the land was the same price that Judas had accepted as a bribe for leading the temple guard to the savior.  Surrounded by Satan's minions, Judas became suddenly resolute.  The night was dark as was Judas' countenance, both physically and spiritually.

Pulling his purse from inside his belt he payed the man thirty pieces of silver, took the deed to his newly acquired land and walked out of town.  He stopped only once, just long enough to buy a length of rope.

When he arrived at his newly acquired land, he found an outcropping of rock near which a tree grew out and over the cliff.  He fashioned one end of the rope into a noose and threw the other end over a branch of the tree which extended out over the cliff.

He tied the rope off securely, took a deep breath and jumped.  When his fall reached the length of the rope his neck was quickly broken, but the weight of his body caused the branch to snap as well and Judah fell headlong down the cliff hitting one sharp rock after another until he bowels spilled out, covering the ground in his blood and entrails.

Satan's demons smiled with satisfaction.  Judas' story was now complete.  As is always the case with those who agree to do Satan's bidding, what seemed like a pleasurable experience in the beginning turned out tragic in the end.  The demons returned to the hoard watching Jesus being questioned by Herod.

The priests accused Jesus to Herod and Herod who was most pleased with this turn of events began to question Jesus.  Jesus stood before him silently.

The angels of the Lord stood silently surrounding the entire gathering.  Shoulder to shoulder they stood glowing brightly in the strength of God's glory.

Intermingling with Herod and the rest of the crowd gathered there, Satan's minions shouted in blissful glee as the plans of their master came to fruition.

Herod had heard Jesus could do magic tricks wanted to see some for himself, but Jesus did not participate.

Seeing he was going to get nothing out of Him, Herod had his personal guard fetch one of his robes and they placed it on Jesus, mocking him as the King of the Jews.

No longer amused with his mockery, Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.

When Pilate saw that Herod had sent him back he called the chief priests and the rest of the Sanhedrin together.

Trying to find a way out of his predicament he said, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion.  I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.  Neither has Herod, because he sent him back here to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.

“It is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of Passover.  Do you want me to release the king of the Jews or Barabbas?”

Barabbas had been thrown in to prison for insurrection and murder.  The Jews were accusing Jesus of insurrection, but Barabbas was the real thing.  Having also been convicted of murder, Pilate had hoped the people would not want him releasing a murderer back into the population.

Just then, while Pilate was sitting there making his offer, one of his officials arrived with a message from his wife: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

While Pilate was distracted, the chief priests had talked to the temple guard and others gathered with them there and convinced them to ask for Barabbas instead of Jesus.

“Away with this man!” they yelled, “Give us Barabbas!”

Pilate continued to try to reason with them but the chief priests had whipped the crowd into a frenzy.  

“What should I do with Jesus, then?” he asked.

“Crucify him! Crucify him!’ they chanted.

“What crime has this man committed?” he asked.  “I have found no grounds for the death penalty.”

Hoping to appease their blood lust he said, “I’ll have him punished and then released!”

But the shouts got louder and louder and it was beginning to look as if a riot would ensue.

Pilate then ordered that Jesus be scourged before being released to the Jews.  Perhaps he thought that if they saw him punished, they would stop trying to have him killed.

Roman scourging was called the “halfway death” because it was supposed to stop this side of death.  It was not administered in addition to another punishment.  The two “thieves’ who would die on this day were not scourged.  And the Jewish law – Mithah Arikhta – forbade any manner of prolonged death for condemned criminals, and exempted any who were to die from the shame of being scourged…

The scourging of Rome … was administered by a trained man, called a lector – there were none in Palestine – and he used a short circular piece of wood, to which were attached several strips of leather.  At the end of each strip, he sewed a chunk of bone or a small piece of iron chain.  This instrument was called a flagellum.  There was no set number of stripes to be administered, and the law said nothing about the parts of the body to be assailed.

Jesus was standing, bent over a short column and tied to it securely…

The soldier who performed the flagellation for the Jerusalem garrison… moved to a position about six feet behind Jesus, and spread his legs.  The flagellum was brought all the way back and whistled forward and made a dull drum sound as the strips of leather smashed against the back of the rib cage.  The bits of bone and chain curled around the right side of the body and raised small subcutaneous hemorrhages on the chest…

The flagellum came back again, aimed slightly lower, and it crashed against the skin and flesh…. The flagellum now moved in slow heavy rhythm.

The Tribune was also watching…  It was his responsibility to stop the “discipline” when he thought that the guilty one might not be revived…. He ordered the executioner to stop.

The scourging had not taken more than about three minutes.  It was now over, and the Tribune sent two men for cloths and cold water.4]

The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.  They put the purple robe Herod had adorned him with back on his shredded back and shouted “Hail, king of the Jews!” and struck him in the face.

When this was done, Pilate came back out and said, “Look, I am bringing him out to you  to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

Jesus followed Pilate out, still wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and was barely able to walk.

Not moved at all by the pitiful shape Jesus was in, the chief priests and the rest of the Sanhedrin started their chant back up again: “Crucify him, Crucify him!”

“You take him and crucify him.”  Pilate answered, “I find no basis for a charge against him.”

Knowing they could not legally carry out a death penalty, the chief priest insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this he was even more afraid.  The Romans had many gods and it was not a good idea to get on the bad side of one of them.  He went back inside and had Jesus brought in with him.

“Where do you come from?” he asked.

When Jesus didn’t answer he yelled, “Do you refuse to speak to me?  Don’t you know I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?”

“You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above,” he said.  “Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

Pilate went back out to face the Jews, trying again to get them to relent.

“If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar,” they said.  “Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

They were trying to scare Pilate into crucifying him.  If Pilate allowed someone to live who claimed to be king he would be subject to the punishment for treason himself.

When he heard this, he sat back down on the judgment seat.

“Here is your king,” he said.

“Crucify him, Crucify him!” they chanted.

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

This was obvious.  God’s perfect design was for the Jews to have God as their king. The Jews believed the Messiah was to be their earthly king, but God sent his only son to be their spiritual king.  Their rejection of him was not new, the Jews had been rejecting God as their king for more than 500 years.

Finally, Pilate gave up.  Jewish law prescribed a very specific ritual for when a man was found slain and the perpetrator was not known.

They were to take a heifer from the nearest town, one that had never worked or been yoked, and sacrifice it.  The elders from the town would wash their hands over the heifer and declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.  Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man.”  In this way the bloodshed would be atoned for.

Pilate walked over to a basin of water and washed his hands.  “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said.  “It is your responsibility.”

The reply from the elders here, though, was different than that prescribed by Jewish law in the case of the unknown murderer.

“Let his blood be on us and on our children,” they said.

It was around 11am on Friday morning when Pilate’s soldiers took charge of Jesus.  They brought out the crossbeam from a cross and made Jesus pick it up and carry it.  Just as his ancestor Isaac had carried the wood on which he was to be sacrificed, Jesus carried the means of his.

Severely weakened from the beating he had taken, Jesus was barely able to stagger down Via Dolorosa.  Becoming impatient with his progress, the Roman soldiers conscripted the help of a passer by named Simon of Cyrene.  They put the cross on his shoulders and made him carry it instead.

By this time, all of Jerusalem had heard what was going on and had come out to watch.  Jesus was followed by a large crowd including women who mourned and wailed for him.

Jesus turned to them and quoted to them from the prophet Hosea:“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.  For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’  Then “’they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”  and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry.”

Two other men, both criminals, were also brought out to be executed along with him.  Together they climbed the hill called The Skull.  Jesus hands were tied to the crossbeam Simon had carried and nails were driven through his hands and into the wood.  They then placed the crossbeam over another slotted beam to form the shape of a “T”.  They pulled one foot over the top of the other and nailed his feet to the second beam.

When he  was secured to the cross one soldier walked to either side of the crossbeam and lifted the cross until the bottom of the vertical beam dropped into a hole causing Jesus extreme agony.

Still in great pain, Jesus looked up into the sky and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

The Roman custom was to put a sign above the person being crucified which explained the crime for which this person was being executed.  This was expected to be a deterrent to those who would commit the same crime.

Pilate had written the sign above Jesus’ head himself and it read: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”  After all, that was the crime for which he was being executed.  He wrote it in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek ensuring everyone who passed by the place could read it.

When the Jews read the sign they protested and asked Pilate to change it to say he “claimed” to be the king of the Jews.  Disgusted, Pilate said “What I have written, I have written.”

The clothes Jesus wore were no longer of use to him.  The Roman custom was to humiliate the criminals as much as possible; they were crucified naked.

The soldiers divided his garments amongst themselves.  There were four soldiers and five garments, Jesus undergarment was woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said.  “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

Near the cross, stood Jesus' mother, his mother’s sister, Mary and Mary Magdalene.  Also nearby was John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

He looked down on them and said “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to John he said, “Here is your mother.”

As Jesus and the two other criminals hung there dying, the chief priests sneered at him.  They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers mocked him.  They offered him wine vinegar to ease the pain and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

One of the criminals who hung beside him joined in on the insults: “Aren’t you the Christ?  Save yourself and us!”

The other criminal on his other side, though, chastised the first.  “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, and we are getting what our deeds deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Filled with compassion, Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Satan stood afar off and observed the scene of Jesus dying on a cross, his greatest triumph yet.

On the cross, Jesus had been hanging for a number of hours getting weaker and weaker as he struggled to breathe.  The sins of all mankind were attached to him like a hideous cancer and the glow of his spirit which once shone bright with the Holy Spirit was all but extinguished.

He lifted up his eyes peering into the heavenly realm and saw God the Father sitting on His throne gazing back at him.  As the living and omnipotent God, He knew it would come to this when he created man, but that didn’t make it any easier.  As he watched the scene unfold in the earthly realm,  sadness welled up inside of him at the thought of all those who would not accept this most generous gift.

Those standing around Jesus began to mock him.  “He saved others but he can’t save himself!  He is the King of Israel!  Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him… He trusts in God.  Let God rescue him now if he wants him…”

At that moment, Jesus on the cross shouted “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”  which means My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

Those standing around the cross were speaking amongst themselves when it occurred and they didn’t understand what he said.  They asked each other “What did he say?”

“He’s calling for Elijah,” someone said, as they moved to prepare a sponge with some vinegar for him to drink.[3]

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In Heaven, God looked hundreds of years back in time to a cave in which the grandfather of Jesus, many generations removed, slept restlessly in a cave - another man who would be King of the Jews.

Just like his descendant, Jesus, David was being persecuted by his enemy (Saul) after having done nothing to deserve it.  Saul’s jealousy burned against him and he was attempting to kill him.  As the Holy Spirit which also inhabited the body of Jesus came upon David he awoke suddenly and sat up.

He pushed the skins under which he was sleeping away and sat next to the fire rubbing his eyes.  He took a long drink from the sheepskin in which he kept his water and washed the foul taste of sleep from his mouth.

The air was dank and smoky and David felt the stirring of the Holy Spirit within him.  He pulled out a quill and some papyrus and began to write.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

            Why are you so far from saving me,

            so far from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

            by night, and am not silent.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

            you are the praise of Israel.

In you our fathers put their trust;

            they trusted and you delivered them.

They cried to you and were saved;

            in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

But I am a worm and not a man,

            scorned by men and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

            they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

"He trusts in the LORD;

            let the LORD rescue him.

            Let him deliver him,

            since he delights in him."

Yet you brought me out of the womb;

            you made me trust in you

            even at my mother's breast.

From birth I was cast upon you;

            from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Do not be far from me,

            for trouble is near

            and there is no one to help.

Many bulls surround me;

            strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

Roaring lions tearing their prey

            open their mouths wide against me.

I am poured out like water,

            and all my bones are out of joint.

            My heart has turned to wax;

            it has melted away within me.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd,

            and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

            you lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs have surrounded me;

            a band of evil men has encircled me,

            they have pierced my hands and my feet.

I can count all my bones;

            people stare and gloat over me.

They divide my garments among them

            and cast lots for my clothing.



David stopped for a moment and closed his eyes.  A mournful spirit had come upon him.  He was deeply depressed, struggling to keep the tears from rolling down his face.  He lifted his eyes up peering right through the roof of the cave and into nothingness that he perceived existed there.

He pleaded with his God to relieve him of this feeling of ultimate misery and despair.

From deep within his spirit he felt the words forming in his mind "Call upon me and I will answer, cry for help and I will say 'Here am I'."

Immediately, his countenance began to change.  His depression and despair turned to a since of victory and joy.  He began to voice silent thanksgivings to God as he once again picked up the quill an papyrus and began to write.

But you, O LORD, be not far off;

            O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

Deliver my life from the sword,

            my precious life from the power of the dogs.

Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;

            save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my brothers;

            in the congregation I will praise you.

You who fear the LORD, praise him!

            All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

            Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

For he has not despised or disdained

            the suffering of the afflicted one;

            he has not hidden his face from him^[1]

            but has listened to his cry for help.

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;

            before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.

The poor will eat and be satisfied;

            they who seek the LORD will praise him—

            may your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth

            will remember and turn to the LORD,

            and all the families of the nations

            will bow down before him,

For dominion belongs to the LORD

            and he rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;

            all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—

            those who cannot keep themselves alive.

Posterity will serve him;

            future generations will be told about the Lord.

They will proclaim his righteousness

            to a people yet unborn—

            for he has done it.[2]

“He has done it!”  thought David.  A feeling of complete peace and exhaustion came over him and he laid his head back down and covered up with the skins and fell fast asleep.  The best sleep he had had in months.

----

Jesus, while hanging on the cross and after quoting the beginning of the song of victory first penned by his ancestor David, raised his eyes up to Heaven and said “Lord, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.”  Then he said “It is finished,” and his physical body died.

In the heavenly realm, the hosts of angels gathered around the cross immediately began to shout and moan and thrust their swords up into the air.  The demon hoard had disappeared.  With his ultimate triumph now complete Satan had also vanished.

Explosive bursts of light lit up the the entirety of Jerusalem in the tumult and seraphim exercised their powerful wings filling the air with loud rumbles of turbulence.

In the midst of the uproar, God took his finger and ripped the thick curtain that hung in the temple to separate the Holy of Holies where God figuratively sat on the Bema Seat on the top of the arc of the covenant.  Man no longer needed a human high priest to offer a sacrifice for his sin.  From now on, man could come directly to God through the great mediator, Jesus, the ultimate high priest and blood sacrifice for all mankind.

As the triune God gazed back and forth through the ages of the earthly history, the spirit of those who believed glowed brightly before Him.  What Satan had meant for evil God had used for good.  It was all at once the greatest tragedy and the greatest act of love ever perpetrated upon the earth.  At the moment that Jesus died he bore the sins of every man and woman who ever lived in the past, present, and future history of the world.  He paid the price which they could not pay.  By this one act the world was redeemed and Satan had lost once and for all.

---

[1] Unlike the statement by the popular song, Psalm 22 makes it clear in verse that God the Father did not turn His face away from Jesus on the cross.  Rather, He heard Jesus' cry for help.

[2] Psalm 22 (NIV)

[3] Jeremiah 19

[4] Bishop, Jim.  The Day Christ Died, Harper Collins, 1957, 1977.