Introduction: Today we continue our studies through the most exciting but also the most dreadful story in all the Word of God - the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I started off with the idea of comparing the four soldiers of verses 23-24, and the four saints (women) of verses 25-27. But as I considered what verse 23 tells us I could not escape the fact that a message needed to be preached on the humiliation of Jesus Christ on the cross. We need to be reminded of the terrible personal cost that Jesus bore willingly for us in going to the cross of Calvary. We already know about the crown of thorns, the strips, the cursings, the rejections, and the pain of having the nails driven into His blessed hands and feet. But I believe it very important for us to rivet our eyes on another aspect of the cross - Jesus’ humiliation. I trust that when this message is finished we will each have a greater appreciation for what Jesus, God’s Son, did for us that day on Calvary’s hill. Every detail of what He did for us bears our utmost attention.
We consider the matter of clothing to be very mundane, everyday, very this-worldly; there’s nothing spiritual about clothes. Everybody wears them, some in a catchy fashion and others not, some in the latest styles and others - well, we say they’re clothes come from the dark ages. Certainly it’s an interesting subject, as styles keep changing,. As far as styles go, though, as Christians we understand that there are limitations in what we may wear and how. For we all know that public exhibitionism is not what the Lord desires to see in His people; on the contrary. It’s exactly that truth that makes us raise our eyebrows when we read our text. For it’s said here that "the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments." We imagine Christ on the cross girded with some sort of a loin cloth; that’s how He is presented in many pictures and in the imagination of many. But that’s a wrong presentation; the practice of the Romans was to strip every last shred of clothing from off those who were being crucified, and the gospel writers give us no reason to think that an exception was made for our Saviour. "They...took His garments," John writes. And that means nothing else than that Jesus Christ hung naked on the cross.
Why might that be? Why does the apostle John, as he relates the account of Jesus’ crucifixion on that terrible day of so long ago, tell us this detail? Is it not too embarrassing for public mention?
We find the notion of a naked Christ embarrassing, even offensive. Certainly it does not strike us as material fitting for a sermon. The Lord God, however, has seen fit to have His only dear Son hang unclothed on the cross -why?- So that the good news of Christ’s work on the cross might be driven home to us the more pointedly. In a culture that has a fixation on clothing and how to display nakedness while being dressed, I proclaim to you the gospel of Christ’s nakedness on the cross.
The theme of this message is this: God stripped His Son naked on the cross so that He might cloth us royally in His righteousness. There are two points to this message: the curse of Christ’s nakedness, and the blessing of Christ’s nakedness.
I. The Curse Of Christ’s Nakedness
1. The custom of stripping the condemned
We know the events surrounding our text. Jesus had been taken to Pilate, unjustly sentenced, handed over to the Jews for crucifixion. Pilate had an inscription with the charge against Jesus printed on a board and nailed to the top of the cross: "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." The soldiers dug the hole for the pole, fastened the criminal onto it, then maneuvered the pole to the hole and with a thud dropped it into it. There He hung now, "the King of the Jews."
That being done, there wasn’t much else for the soldiers to do. With the actual crucifixion finished, all that remained was guarding the cross against rescue attempts until the criminal was dead. And that could take any number of hours.
The boredom of waiting was compensated somewhat by the law of the empire that the soldiers attending the cross could divide among themselves whatever material goods the criminals took with them to their cross. The criminals were lost men; whatever they had they would no longer need anyway, including their clothing. Besides, being the rejects that they were, nothing was lost by humiliating them before the public eye. Psalm 22:17b says, “they look and stare upon me.” So it was that the soldiers, after they had crucified Jesus, pulled from Him His clothes and sportingly set about dividing it amongst themselves.
2. From riches to nothing
We do well, brothers and sisters, not to pay too much attention to the soldiers. They were just men. Far more important for us is the fact that Jesus Christ hung absolutely naked. Jesus Christ: He had lived with the Father from eternity in dazzling glory (Jn 17:5). True God He was, heir of the world; more, all things existed for Him (Col 1). But all that glory was gone. A royal robe He didn’t have, a carpenter’s robe He didn’t have; He no longer had even a peasant’s robe. The contrast between what He had when He lived with the Father in glory and what He has now is so radical; on the cross He has absolutely nothing to His name! The Christ traveled not just from riches to rags; He traveled from divine glory to stark nakedness! On that tragic day of so long ago He had nothing left. But why?
3. The background for why Christ was humiliated
To understand the reason why, brothers and sisters, we need to go back in our thoughts to Paradise. From our reading in Genesis, we know that when God created Adam and Eve He gave to them no clothes. Naked they were, naked they did their work. That’s what the Lord tells us “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (2:25).
a. What does that mean, that they “were not ashamed”?
Does this refer to the fact that they were not embarrassed before each other? In itself that’s quite true. But that’s not unique; that happens today within marriage too. No, Adam and Eve lived before God, and God came to them regularly and they spoke together; yet even in God’s presence Adam and Eve were not ashamed. The reason why they were not ashamed to appear naked before God was this: they had nothing to hide from God, they were themselves perfect and righteous and holy. Everything they did was most pleasing to God, all of it reflected perfectly the task that God had given to them in creating them. There was with them no sin. And therefore had they nothing to be embarrassed about; they could stand openly and freely in His holy presence as they were. It is that openness that they could have before God that was symbolized by their nakedness. They were not ashamed before God because they were perfect before God, and because they were not ashamed before God were they not ashamed before each other or the rest of creation either.
Then came that fall into sin. And the first thing we read after their sin is this: “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (3:7). They knew it, they were uncomfortable with that nakedness, and so "they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons."
b. Before whom were they uncomfortable with their nakedness? Was it simply that now they were embarrassed before each other?
Not so, beloved. We read nothing to the effect that each went their separate ways. But we do read that when God came they hid themselves from Him; that is, they were embarrassed before God. And why did their nakedness bother them when God came? That’s because they knew that God tolerated no sin. It’s what God had earlier said to them: in the day you eat, in the day you sin, you shall die. They had sinned, made themselves sinful, corrupt, polluted. So they could not stand in God’s holy presence any more; they knew that God’s sentence of death awaited them. That’s why they tried to hide from God, to cover themselves with clothes and disappear behind the trees. They were conscious of their nakedness, conscious that they are open to God’s holy eyes, exposed. Their sinfulness, their inner corruption, made them most uncomfortable with that reality, and so they make for themselves skirts from fig leaves in that desperate attempt to hide their corruption.
But it didn’t work. God came to them, sought them out, discovered them behind the bushes and the fig leaves, saw through their leafy masks to the corruption beneath. And God, being as He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil," and not being able to "look on wrong" (Hab 1:13), agreed with Adam and Eve; these sinners should wear clothing to cover their nakedness, their sinfulness, their corruption. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coasts of skins, and clothed them.” (Gen 3:21).
3. The reason for clothing
a. To cover sin
God ordained clothes as a result of our fall into sin. As a result, He was not pleased with Noah’s drunken nakedness after the flood. Noah displayed no shame for his sinfulness, his depravity, his nakedness. It’s also the reason why the Lord at Mt Sinai forbade Israel from making a raised altar which the priests would need to climb in order to perform their sacrifices. For the people standing on the ground below could then see something of the priests’ nakedness under their robes - not fitting for those who would be doing sacrifices to God for the forgiveness of sins. In fact, that’s also why God later commanded that the priests of Israel, when they did their work, had to wear under their robes "linen breeches to cover their nakedness"; these breeches had to reach “from the loins unto the thighs" (Ex 28:42f).
We do not wear clothes today because the temperature requires it, or that ultra-violet rays damage our skin. Rather, we wear clothes because of our fall into sin; we wear clothes because sin remains in us. In the face of the exhibitionism of our day, we do well to remember this purpose of clothing. And we should make sure that we keep ourselves covered - not just in the presence of people, but in the presence of the God who is always with us. Thus, God made sure Adam and Eve’s nakedness was covered because He wished there sinfulness covered.
b. To show grace
They had covered themselves because they had been afraid of God. And rightly were they afraid. But the miracle was then that God had not destroyed them outright! God had let them stand in His presence, be it after they were covered with clothes. Why did God let them stand in His presence, why not destroy them? That, brothers and sisters, was because the Christ was going to come! This was God’s promise: the seed of the woman shall triumph over the seed of the serpent. This coming of Christ was foreshadowed by the fact that God took one of the animals He had created, and killed it (most likely a sheep), so shedding blood. That blood pointed forward to the shedding of Christ’s blood on Calvary. It was because Christ’s blood would one day be shed that Adam and Eve could now appear before God. Blood is shed. But that blood is shed also for another purpose: God wants to make clothing, clothing to hide nakedness, sinfulness. So there is a very close connection between the clothing and the shedding of that blood, between the clothing and the cross. Those garments God gave to Adam and Eve spelled out not only that there was distance between man and God; they spelled out also that God was gracious. For God covered depraved Adam and Eve so that He need not look at their nakedness, their sinfulness. More, with the clothing -prepared through the shedding of blood- God assured these two sinners that a Saviour was coming, a Saviour who would cover their nakedness fully, cover their shame, their sinfulness. Clothes: they were for Adam and Eve not only a daily reminder of their sinfulness; they were also a daily remainder of God’s grace for Christ’s sake. Clothes meant distance, but not destruction; shame and yet grace. Do you see that, brothers and sisters in Christ?
4. The connection of all this to Christ’s humiliation on the cross
Now there is the Son of God, nailed to the cross of Calvary. Through the soldiers God striped all His clothes from Him, made Him as naked as were Adam and Eve in Paradise. Why did God do so? He did so, beloved, because on this cross there should be no grace for Jesus. This man had taken sin upon Himself, the one who came to take the place of Adam and Eve, of Abraham and David, of you and me. Adam couldn’t stand by Himself in God’s presence, and therefore he hid himself, covered himself. Yet God in mercy spared him for Christ’s sake. Well, here is Christ now, and Christ is not going to be spared! Christ may wish the mountains to fall on Him and the hills to cover Him from the intense wrath of God, but God strips Him bare; there is no way that Christ can hide from the anger of this God. Christ becomes the sinner, and there is no mercy and therefore is He not to be covered up in any way. Nothing should stop the full load of God’s wrath from descending upon Him. What was horrible about the nakedness of Christ on the cross was not that His private parts were exposed to the jeering eyes of the crowds; what was horrible was that which was symbolized by this nakedness: Christ stood naked before God, unclothed while all our sins rested on Him. That nakedness demanded that He receive the full load of God’s holy fury. That was the horror that descended upon Christ when the soldiers -nay, when God- stripped Jesus from His clothes.
5. The prophecy that this would take place
The Holy Spirit lays on Johns heart to now quote Psalm 22:18 which says, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” Psalm 22 was originally written by David in regard to the time when he had to flee from his son Absalom who had rebelled against his father and had taken the throne. David had fled very quickly from Jerusalem. In fact, he went barefooted (2 Sam. 15:30), something that was unbecoming of a king. And when everything is boiled down, why did David have to flee? It all boiled down to his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband and the ultimate lose of control in his family over all this. People could see right through what David had done and he felt it and knew it. He felt naked in their sight and in God’s sight. He called out to God for help and God helped him.
Now the apostle John refers to this same verse but applies it to Jesus Christ. Jesus was exposed, physically so, spiritually so; God stripped Him, and piled our sins upon Him. But for that very reason could that Son of David on the cross not repeat the cry of His father David, could Jesus not implore God to hasten to His aid. For He was naked, heaven saw all the sin he taken upon Himself, nothing could cover those sins, and therefore could Jesus receive no mercy: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Jesus was naked, denuded so that there might be no reason for heaven to show Him any mercy. God eternal wrath was poured out on Him.
II. The Blessing Of Christ’s Nakedness
So we have seen why God had to strip His beloved Son while He hung on the cross. He did it because of our sins. We were defiled, and so we could not stand before God. Naked we were before God, and bare. Condemned. But God stripped Christ, poured His wrath out on Him so that we might not be found naked. Christ was unclothed on the cross, so that we might be clothed before God. Christ was publicly shamed in nakedness, so that we might be publicly honored by God. Such was the purpose for the Savior’s shameful nakedness: that you and I might not be found naked by God, might instead be clothed by Him eternally! Praise God!
Christ has been successful in bearing the humiliation and the shame and the rejection that we deserved. He who hung naked on the cross, the vilest of creatures on earth, that same Jesus is now "crowned with glory and honor" (Heb 2:9); God has highly exalted Him at His right hand (cf Phil 2:9; Acts 2:33). And if God has received back into favor one so vile as Christ was made to be, one so rejected as Christ was, shall God reject those for whom Christ was humiliated?! Surely, beloved, He shall not! Christ has fulfilled that word prophesied ages ago by Isaiah: because of what Christ has done for us, God "clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Is 61:10). It’s repeated in the revelation shown to John; John sees that great multitude of the saved from every nation and tribe and tongue, and every last one of them is "clothed in white robes" (Rev 7:9), all are holy, pure before God. And so, beloved, we can stand before God, not in our own shameful nakedness, nor in our fig leaves, but in clothes obtained from God, the white robes of righteousness granted to all the saints. The curse of Christ’s nakedness has become for us the blessing of salvation!
Application: Since our blessed Saviour was stripped literally and in a spiritual sense for us because of our sins, and has freely given to us the robes of righteousness, is it not fitting for us to live as those who have been covered by the righteousness of Christ and our sins are no longer seen by God as a result? Jesus suffered the humiliation of nakedness before the people and before God because of our sins. His covering was given to us to cover our nakedness as a result of sin. The shame of our sins have been covered, and not temporarily, but eternally. That is the doctrine; that is the Biblical truth here. But what are each of us here doing about it in our daily lives? Sadly, many Christians still live as if they are still naked spiritually; that the righteousness of Jesus Christ has never been imputed to their account. Some of these self-called Christians may not be Christians after all. But how can a true believers be so calloused as to disregard the shame Jesus went through before God and man so that we could freely have our sins washed away and be made alive spiritually? How? Where is the faithfulness to Jesus that He desires for doing this for us? As John says in Rev. 2:17, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Have your spiritual ears listened to what the Holy Spirit has left for us here in John 19:23,24? I trust we each have. Let us go forth praising God as His people who have on royal vestments given to us by Jesus Christ!
