“behold Your King… Crucified" Series

Good Friday: “Behold Your King… Crucified”: John 19:1-16

Call to Worship: “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”

Many times during the week of Passover, one sacrifice would be made for approximately every 10 people during this celebration; given the estimates of between 250,000 to 2.5 million people attending, there would be between 25,000 and 250,000 blood sacrifices made during this celebration. It is also estimated that there were more than 30,000 crucifixions during the reign of Rome, but only one sacrifice is still remembered and only one NAME is remembered, and celebrated year after year: That name is JESUS.

After Jesus had spent an evening celebrating the Passover and then spending time in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, He is betrayed by his own disciple, Judas, and arrested by hundreds of Roman soldiers as well as officers and representatives of the temple. He was denied by Peter and interrogated by Annas and Caiaphas.

We look at John 19:1-16 as the Roman governor, Pilate, continues Jesus’ mock trial and interrogation: 1 “Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; 3 and they began to come up to Him and say, "Hail, King of the Jews !" and to give Him slaps in the face. 4 Pilate came out again and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him." 5 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold, the Man !"

So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, "Crucify, crucify !" Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him." 7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God." 8 Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid ; 9 and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to Him, "You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?" 11 Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above ; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." (Pilate thought he could set Jesus free, but Jesus was the One with the power to set Pilate free – from sin and death and hell.)

“How Deep the Father’s Love”

12 As a result of this, Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar." 13 Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha (a raised place). 14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!" 15 So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. 17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS." 20 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'" 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

Beautiful Savior:

Beautiful Savior, King of creation, Son of God and Son of Man!

Truly I’d love thee, Truly I’d serve thee, Light of my soul, my joy, my crown.

Genesis 1 proclaims: “In the beginning God ('elohiym-is a Plural name that God gave Himself in the Old Testament used 2200 times) created the heavens and the earth. (Before CREATION there was ONLY God! Nothing else!) 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light "; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” Jesus was the king of creation, speaking the creation into existence. (Heb 1 too)