Pre-Crucifixion Truths

[0:00] If we may please to Luke's Gospel chapter 24 and we're going to start. Actually we're going to start with the resurrection and kind of work our way back.

[0:11] And I'm going to be sandwiching between some multiple translations here and I hope I can keep my ducks in a row because I'm using Dr. A.T. Robertson's Harmony of the Gospels.

[0:22] And he puts all of them, all four of them on one page but as you can appreciate the Gospels are not always completely coordinated chronologically so it requires some switching back and forth.

[0:35] And I've got some references here to keep us on track I hope. So let's go first of all to Luke's Gospel chapter 24 and beginning with verse 1.

[0:49] And here is what we read. But on the day, on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came unto the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

[1:06] And just briefly let me mention the reason that they're doing this when Jesus is already in the tomb is because it was a real hurry up job in order to get Jesus down off the cross and covered and taken to the burial site before the Sabbath began.

[1:31] Because the Jewish Sabbath was approaching and it absolutely forbade any activity with a dead body on the Sabbath day which would desecrate it.

[1:45] And they only had until sunset to get this done. And you'll recall that when the three were on the cross, the two thieves on either side of the Lord, they broke their legs in order to hasten death.

[2:01] Soldiers came along and took their mallet and simply smashed the kneecaps of those men hanging there. And that meant that they could not push themselves up with their legs anymore to get a gasp of air and then sink back down.

[2:20] And of course that hastened their death by suffocation. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead already. So they didn't break his legs.

[2:30] And by the way, there's a prophecy in the Old Testament that says not a bone of him shall be broken. But the soldier did take a spear, position the point of the spear right at the ribcage of the heart, right below the heart, and shoved that spear up into the heart of our Lord, making certain that death had occurred.

[2:56] And therefore, there came out blood and water. And you can see that they were separated, which of course is proof positive that death had already taken place.

[3:12] So for these people who say, well, maybe Jesus, maybe he wasn't really resurrected because he wasn't really dead. So he was just placed in the tomb and in the coolness of the tomb, he revived.

[3:26] Such complete nonsense. But, you know, unbelief always looks for some excuse and they will find it no matter what. So at any rate, they had to hurry to take the body down.

[3:38] And remember, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus. And Pilate says, well, he's only been on the cross for hours.

[3:52] He's not dead yet. And they sent a guard to check it out. And the guard came back and said, yes, sir, he's dead. So he said, all right, then you can have the body.

[4:03] So Joseph of Arimathea, who was a Pharisee, had a brand new tomb cut right out of the limestone rock like a cave.

[4:16] And there had never been a body placed in it. It was his own tomb. It was to be the family tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, but hadn't been used by anybody. And they heard they took the body down from the cross and probably wrapped it in a shroud and took it to the burial place.

[4:34] But they did not have time to apply all of the salves and ointments that they usually do in the preparation of the body and then wrap it. So all they could do was deposit the body with the intent of coming back later.

[4:47] And that's exactly what these women are doing. After the Sabbath is over, they bring back these myrrh and aloes to salve over the whole body to retard the decomposition somewhat.

[5:02] And that's where we pick up on Luke 24 and verse 1. On the first day of the week at early dawn, indicating, of course, that the Lord had risen earlier that morning, they came into the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

[5:24] Now, it doesn't say it in Luke, but it does in Mark that on the way there, the ladies were concerned about, how are we going to roll that big stone away? Because it was a massive stone.

[5:35] And when they got there, the problem was solved because the angel had already rolled it away. But be advised, and we'll look at this later maybe if we have time, the stone wasn't rolled away so that Jesus could get out, but the stone was rolled away so that the women could get in.

[5:52] Jesus was already gone, and the stone that was across there was not an impediment to him. He passed right through it, just like we're going to be able to pass through things too when we get a glorified body.

[6:05] But right now, it doesn't work that way. So we read that they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

[6:18] And it came to pass, while they were perplexed thereabout, thinking no doubt that somebody had stolen the body, didn't know why, they were perplexed.

[6:29] Two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And I just need to insert something here. This is just one more occasion where angelic beings are referred to as men.

[6:39] Obviously because they look like men, talk like men, walk like men. But these men are dressed in white apparel, and they have an effervescence about them that is absolutely dazzling.

[6:54] And we just cannot imagine what that was like. They were affrighted, scared to death, bowed down their faces to the earth. They said, and the men said to them, Now, why seek ye the living among the dead?

[7:07] He, meaning of course Jesus, is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you when he was yet in Galilee.

[7:23] Now, these women are trying to process what's taken place here and arrive at some conclusion as to what happened to the body.

[7:34] These complete strangers, who have a very scary appearance, are telling them, He's not here. Don't you remember him telling you about this?

[7:47] And now they start to think. Did he? What was it? When was it? How was it? And they're trying to compute all of this and put it together, and it must have been a very confusing time for them.

[8:03] In the first place, you've got to remember, these women are still in deep grief, just from the crucifixion and the death itself. And now, on top of it, the body of the person whom they so dearly loved, whom they came to lovingly provide for in the burial, is gone.

[8:25] Add that confusion to it, and their minds are swirling, and they're trying to process all of this, and imagine what in the world is taking place. And the angel, who obviously knows a lot more than we can imagine, probably, how did the angel know what Jesus had told them before?

[8:44] Well, obviously, he knew because he made mention of that. Don't you remember him saying something about that? Saying, when he's yet in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day, rise again.

[9:06] And after he said that, and they're processing and thinking about it, one of them probably turned to the other and said, you know, he did say that. I remember he did say that.

[9:18] Or even if they were not there, Peter, who made that famous declaration, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the other apostles with him, you can be sure that they had told the women what Jesus said, because this was stunning stuff, fellas.

[9:37] This was completely off the record. It wasn't supposed to be this way. And Jesus is talking about dying. And on the one hand, he's presented as the Messiah, and the Messiah is the King of the Jews, the King of Israel, who's going to rule and reign on the throne.

[9:57] What's this dying stuff that he's talking about? And we'll see some other light shed on that as well. So I want you to go now to Luke chapter 9 and verse 21.

[10:12] Luke chapter 9 and verse 21. And in my book here, it's page 100. Let me look this up. And we're doing this because there is such great chronological disparity in the way the Gospels are recorded.

[10:28] Matthew, Mark, and Luke are pretty much together chronologically, but John is completely off of their chronology. He's got a chronology of his own because he's proving a different case, and he's got a different objective, so he has to be taken into consideration in a different way.

[10:46] And let us look, if we may, at John 8. Okay.

[10:59] Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right.

[11:24] And he charged them. This is right after he makes this confession. And right after Peter makes a confession that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[11:35] And right after Peter said that, of all things, Jesus says, yes, that's right, but don't tell anybody. And we talked a little bit about that before.

[11:46] Why in the world would he not want them to tell anyone because wasn't that the whole purpose of his coming was to present himself as the Messiah of Israel? So then in verse 22, he told them not to tell this to no man.

[11:59] And in verse 22, then the Son of Man, speaking again of himself in the third person, must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and the third day be raised up that did not register with them at all.

[12:18] Got to understand that. In fact, we are told that Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him for saying that.

[12:30] Stop talking that way. That's not true. That's not going to happen. We would never allow something like that. God has sent you and that's not going... And Jesus rebuked Peter then by saying, get there behind me, Satan.

[12:43] You're thinking just like the world thinks. You're thinking just like Satan thinks and you are not savoring the things of God. And Peter is totally confused.

[12:56] He can't figure out what in the world is going on. Why is Jesus saying something like that? That's not the way it's going to be. We won't let that happen.

[13:07] That's completely... And yet, Jesus seems so certain about it. Now, Peter is going to have all kinds of confusing issues come up that are going to absolutely perplex him and we'll see that as time goes along.

[13:26] But let us go on now if we may to... Let's see. Page 107. I appreciate these gospels being all together but it does get confusing.

[13:45] And here in 944 and 45 of Luke's gospel in verse 43 while all of these were marveling at the things which he did he said to his disciples let these words sink into your ears.

[14:06] That's another way of saying guys I want you to really get this. Pick up on this. Listen to me now. Let these words sink into your ears for the son of man this is just Luke's rendition shall be delivered up into the hands of men.

[14:29] But they understood not this saying and it was concealed from them. Now earlier he said let this sink down into your ears.

[14:42] I want you to get this. Now the next verse says it was hidden from them. What's going on here? Something really really important.

[14:53] When Jesus shows up in Jerusalem for Palm Sunday and the accolades hail Hosanna is he blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and so on nobody I mean nobody had a clue that this thing was going to end on the cross.

[15:12] No way. And when the people are crying out Hosanna to the son of David the Pharisees and the scribes sidle up to Jesus as he's mounted on that donkey going into the city and they come alongside Jesus and they say tell your people to stop saying that.

[15:38] Quiet them. And they're making a big scene. And Jesus said I tell you if these should hold their peace the stones would cry out.

[15:53] It is a moment that he will not be denied. And they're trying to process all of this. it looks like he's going into Jerusalem. It looks like when he gets there he's going to go to that temple and establish the throne and what's going to happen then?

[16:11] Well hey now we're talking politics. And what is Rome going to do about that? Plenty. Rome only knows one thing and that is a heavy boot.

[16:26] That's all Rome knows for power and they know how to deal with insurrections and so on. So what we've got here is a situation that says they understood not this saying.

[16:39] It was concealed from them that they should not perceive it and they were afraid to ask him about this saying. Why were they?

[16:51] Simply because they're confused. They're upset. They're puzzled. They're confused. They don't want to press the issue. He's already told them listen carefully and they've been listening to what he said but they don't get it and they're tempted to ask him what are you talking about?

[17:08] Give us more clarification. And they're afraid to ask. This is a typical human response to an intellectual situation where they don't want to show their ignorance and they don't want to deny what has been said so they're between a rock and a hard place and they just look at each other with these quizzical looks on their faces.

[17:29] Did you get that? What is this? And they're completely in the dark. Why is all of this going on? For one reason. So that after the fact, after the resurrection, they can look back on all of those things that were said and it all comes together.

[17:53] it was terribly, terribly important that this be revealed before the fact because it is going to add tremendously to the credibility of the resurrection and the fact that his death on the cross was the whole plan all along and they did not get it.

[18:13] But they'll get it afterwards. And then they can connect the dots and put it all together and you know what it'll do? it'll put a spine and a backbone in these apostles that will make them willing to lay down their life rather than deny the truth of what they know.

[18:37] It's a beautiful thing. Yes? They didn't understand the resurrection. Oh no. No, absolutely not. They didn't understand the death and they didn't understand the resurrection either.

[18:49] None of this made any sense to them. They just could not conceive. In fact, look at it this way. Look at it from the Roman side. Or not the Roman side, but the Jewish establishment side.

[19:02] The scribes, the Pharisees, etc. They knew what the claim was about Jesus being the Messiah. They knew the claim, but they didn't believe it.

[19:12] They had difficulty explaining the miracles. The best they can do is say, well, he does that through the power of the devil. But they were not able to process all of this.

[19:24] And it was an issue that they're trying to contend with. And when they see Jesus on the cross, they are very smug and convinced.

[19:37] Aha. Now, if there is anything that proves that he is not the Messiah and not the Son of God, look at him. You think for a moment that God would allow his son to go through this?

[19:55] That he would allow his son to be submitted to crucifixion by the Romans if he is the Messiah? Ha! Who could believe that for a moment? These poor stupid Galilean fishermen have just been hoodwinked.

[20:08] And now the truth has come out. I hope they know now that he is not their Messiah. I hope they understand that now. This should convince them if anything would. And the resurrection was the last thing.

[20:21] And by the way, what about Mary, his mother? When Jesus was just a baby, six weeks old, Joseph and Mary brought him into the temple.

[20:37] An aged Simeon was there. And the Lord had told Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's anointed.

[20:51] And when Joseph and Mary walked into the temple carrying baby Jesus, the Spirit of God whispered in old Simeon's ears, Simeon, here he is, here he is.

[21:12] And Simeon walks over and puts out his hands, and Mary places Jesus into the hands of Simeon. And he holds that baby and he says, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen your glory.

[21:34] in the person of this baby. And then he went on to say to Mary, and a sword shall pierce your own heart also.

[21:51] What was that all about? when Jesus was on the cross, Mary, his mother, was standing there. And it was just like a knife right to her heart to see her son undergoing that excruciating, agonizing pain.

[22:13] And do you think that Mary thought for a moment, oh, it's terrible that Jesus has to go through this, but it's only going to be for three days, and then he's coming back from the dead.

[22:25] She didn't know that. She didn't believe that. She was as clueless as the others were. And I'm sure she was stricken with grief and crying and sobbing like everybody else.

[22:40] But if she knew what was going to happen three days later, she could have been different. But, well, let us move on. And more?

[22:51] Yes? Did it bring emphasis to that Simeon thing that he was blinded before earlier on? And that he got his sight? No. No, he wasn't blinded.

[23:02] No. No, he wasn't blind. He just remarked that now my eyes have seen him. He didn't mean that he was blind before. He just made his eyes on him. All right, let's go to, well, I'm going to have to abbreviate this.

[23:18] So, so, let's go to John's Gospel chapter 8, shall we? I'm trying to put together some things and enable everybody to connect some dots because they're really very important.

[23:31] You've got to understand, and I'm sure you fellows already know this, but I just want to emphasize it, that Jesus did not come into this world to be a good example or show us how to live or anything else.

[23:42] He came into this world to die. And John tells us in his first epistle that God sent his son Jesus into this world that he might be the savior of mankind.

[23:56] Sent him to die. We all, when we're all born, we're all born to live. Jesus was born to die. So, in Luke's Gospel, I'm sorry, John's Gospel chapter 8, and okay, I got the wrong page.

[24:25] Boy, this is confusing. Doggone it.

[24:39] John 8, 12. No, I've got the light of the world. 8, 12, page 98. Well, fellas, I'll just have to blame it on my old age, I guess.

[25:09] John 8, 12, page 98. John 8, 12, is it there?

[25:20] Maybe it's some, no, I got the paragraph mixed up with the page number. I'm sorry. You're right, it is John, John 8, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 8, let's start with verse 12.

[25:41] All right, John 8, 12, and now I've got the right page. I put down the wrong paragraph number to the page number. And therefore, verse 12, Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.

[25:52] He that follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees, therefore, said unto him, thou bearest witness of thyself. Your witness is not true.

[26:05] The idea of being everything in Jewish law had to be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses, and they're accusing Jesus of just making a statement on his own, so it doesn't have any validity because you're doing it by yourself.

[26:18] Jesus answered and said unto them, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, for I know whence I came and whither I go, but you know not whence I come or whither I go.

[26:28] You judge after the flesh, I judge no man. Yea, and if I judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am the Father that sent me. Yea, and in your law it is written that the witness of two men is true, Deuteronomy 17 and Deuteronomy 19, I am he that bears witness of myself and the Father that sent me bears witness of me.

[26:53] They said therefore unto him, Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.

[27:05] These words spoke he in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and no man took him because his hour was not yet come. come. He said therefore unto them, let's continue on with this, I go away and you shall seek me, you shall die in your sin, I go, you cannot, where I go, you cannot come.

[27:36] The Jews therefore said, will he kill himself? Then he said, whither I go, you cannot come. And he said unto them, you are from beneath, I am from above, you are of this world, I am not of this world.

[27:49] I said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins, for except you believe that I am he, and you see his italicized? It's just I am.

[28:01] And he's identifying with Exodus 3.14, and Moses who described Jesus, or who described God as the I am, when Moses says, who shall I say sent you?

[28:14] He says, you tell him that the I am sent me, not the I was or the I will be, but the ever eternal I am. And Jesus said unto them, even that which I have spoken unto you from the beginning, I have many things to speak and judge concerning you, how be it he that sent me is true, the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world.

[28:34] They perceived not that he spake unto them of the Father, that is, the Father in heaven. Jesus therefore said, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, what is that?

[28:51] He's talking about the cross. Do they understand that? Not at all. He's talking about being lifted up on the cross. When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am he, or that I am, that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things, and he that sent me is with me and has not left me alone, for I do always the things that please him.

[29:20] As he spoke these things, many believed on him. Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed, if you abide in my word, then are you truly my disciples, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, and they answered him and said, we don't understand what you're talking about, because we are Abraham's seed, and we've never been in bondage to any man, and one could say, oh yeah, who are these Romans?

[29:49] Short memory, huh? Verily I say unto you, he that commits sin is the bondservant of sin, the bondservant abides not in the house forever, the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed, I know you're Abraham's seed, yet you seek to kill me, because my word is not in you, and they say my father is Abraham, and so on, and so on, and I want you to come down, if you may, and look at verse 50, I seek not my own glory, there is one that seeks and judges, verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keeps my word, he shall never see death, what a statement, on what basis could he make that statement, the Jews said unto him, now we know that you have a devil, Abraham is dead, in fact, he had been dead for 2000 years, that's plum dead, they say down south, Abraham is dead, and the prophet, and you say if a man keep my word, he shall never taste of death, this is crazy, what are you talking about, are you greater than our father

[31:01] Abraham, well yeah, but they didn't know that, are you greater than our father Abraham which is dead, and the prophets are dead, whom makest thou thyself, Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing, it is my father that glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God, and you have not known him, but I know him, and if I should say I know him not, then I should be like unto you a liar, but I know him and keep his word, your father Abraham, their biological father, if you go back far enough, rejoiced to see my day, which of course is the messianic day, and he saw it and was glad, and that requires some wonderful exposition, we haven't got time for, the Jews therefore said unto him, you are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?

[32:01] Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.

[32:14] That is blasphemy, pure and simple. You realize what this man had just claimed? He had claimed an equality with God.

[32:28] What does Moses say is the penalty for blasphemy? Stone him. Stone him to death. And when Jesus said, before Abraham was, I am.

[32:46] And rightly so, they took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Why?

[32:58] Simply because his hour had not yet come and he makes that statement a number of times except when he engages in his high priestly prayer to his father right before they come to arrest him.

[33:12] Then Jesus says, Father, the hour is come. And here they came up the hill. They could see those flickering burning torches off in the distance breaking into the night scene as they made their way up that Mount of Olives.

[33:33] Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. And they have not a clue as to what's taking place here. All right, let's see now if I've got another reference here.

[33:47] Page 147, let's see. And that will be Luke 18, 31.

[33:57] 31. 31. 31. 31. 31. 31. 31. 31. 31.

[34:08] 31. 31. 31. 31. 32. 32.

[34:20] I got great respect for Dr. A.T. Robertson, but I'm about to scrap his book. It's too confusing to try to sandwich in here.

[34:36] Luke 18, 31 through 34. He took unto them the twelve.

[34:50] and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all the things that are written by the prophets shall be accomplished unto the Son of Man. For he shall be, and here we are again, he shall be, speaking third person of himself, delivered up unto the Gentiles, shall be mocked, shamefully entreated, spit upon, they shall scourge and kill him, and the third day he shall rise again.

[35:24] Now you wonder, how much of this are going to be able to keep together, because when he is on the cross and has been mocked and shamefully treated, scourged and killed, they're witnessing that, the apostles are witnessing, there's a large crowd of people there, and they are forced to put together what he had just told them that they had earlier denied, that Peter rebuked him about, and here he was coming to pass, there he was on the cross.

[36:03] So they see that fulfilled right before their very eyes. Why didn't they go on and see the rest of it about the resurrection?

[36:16] because they're hearing this and seeing it, and when he's on the cross and the text says they understood none of these things, this saying was hid from them, and they perceived not the things that were said.

[36:35] And the old analogy goes, they were not connecting the dots, they just couldn't put it together. There is so much that is going on here that appears to be just flat out contradictory, but it isn't contradictory at all.

[36:50] Yet, the dynamic of what is taking place, the seriousness of it, what we would call from a human standpoint, the end game, has come, and they're trying to deal with that.

[37:03] But it isn't the end game at all, because there's another important chapter, and that, of course, is the resurrection, and that is what is completely beyond them. This whole nine yards, they just didn't get, and they won't get it until after the resurrection, after the 40 days on earth, and his ascension back, and Jesus said, when I depart, the spirit of God will come, and he will teach you, and remind you, of all the things I said.

[37:42] And you know what? That's going to provide them with the basis for the inspiration of the scriptures that they are going to write.

[37:53] Matthew, Luke, and John, or not Luke, but Matthew and John are going to use that material. The spirit of God is going to reveal to them, and this is why the scriptures, we speak of the scriptures having been inspired by the spirit of God, and Jesus said, he will recall all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.

[38:16] And that's in John's gospel 14, 15, 16, and 17, all of that content. So all of this is going to come together, but it is a very convoluted way of getting there, and in the midst of it all, there is tremendous confusion, sadness, disappointment, heartbreak, everything else.

[38:36] These disciples were ready, you know, Peter was ready to take on that whole army when it came up, and he took his fisherman's knife, and sliced that guy's ear off, and was ready to go at him, and Jesus said, hold it, hold it, Peter.

[38:50] And then of all things, he reached down and picked up the ear, and reattached it to that man. Now you wonder, what were these people thinking?

[39:02] But you've got to remember this also, it was dark, it was just beginning to get light, they were coming up with their torches, and it was still night, the apostles before that were asleep, and Jesus had to awaken them, and he said to the apostles, arise now, arise, he who has betrayed me is coming.

[39:27] And Judas was leading the band of soldiers, and these were not Roman soldiers, these were Jewish soldiers, they were temple police, priests, who were under the auspices of the high priest, these are not Roman soldiers, Romans don't have anything to do with this at all, and they take Jesus captive, they take him to the Caiaphas, who was the Jewish high priest, and in the midst of all of this, Jesus replaces this servant's ear, the guy's name was Malchus, and Jesus replaced his ear, and now Peter is ready to go down fighting, and Jesus not only will not let him fight, but he even restores the damage that Peter did, and the text tells us in the gospels, that they are all confused, and they said, whom seek ye, and Jesus said, no, I am he, let these go their way, and after this incident with Peter slicing the guy's ear, the apostles are standing there looking at each other, and they light out, they scatter in every which direction, head for the tall bushes, they're confused, they're scared, they don't want to be taken along with him, they don't know what to make of it, they can't figure out what in the world is going on, here we are ready to fight and die for Jesus right on the sea, and he won't even let us do that, and can you imagine what's going through the minds of these men, and as they go,

[41:04] Peter is rushing down the hill like all the others in every which direction, and I can just see, I have reason to believe that Peter was the elder apostle, I think that's one reason why he had such a primary position, he was the oldest one, he was the senior of the whole bunch, and he's trucking down this hill, puffing and panting, thinking, trying to make sense of all of this, and he can't, and he's asking, what's going on, and he sees off in the distance, those torches moving in a different direction, and he says, they're going, they're going into the city, and I bet, I bet they're going to Caiaphas, I bet they're taking them to Caiaphas, early in the morning, not even hardly daylight, probably six, seven o'clock in the morning, and Peter catches his breath, and then he decides to start following the far off, to see what in the world is going on, and as he follows and gets closer, sure enough, that's where they're going, Caiaphas and

[42:05] Annas were son-in-law and father-in-law, and neither one of them were legitimate high priests, the Romans put them in office, and they were nothing but cronies, and skimmed off of the money changers in the temple and everything, and that's where they're taking Jesus, and Peter starts following from a distance, and when he sees that they've arrived at Caiaphas' place, he gets in a little closer, they've got a fire going there, obviously they've been waiting for them, and they bring Jesus in, and the soldiers have him under guard, and Peter gets getting closer and closer, pretty soon, a little girl walks up to him, said, don't you belong with him?

[42:56] Aren't you one? No, no, I don't know the man, and she went on about her business, probably making coffee, if you will, for the morning, and pretty soon another one walks up to him and says, you're one of them, aren't you?

[43:15] and she heard him talking to somebody, and she said, your speech betrays you, you're a Galilean, you've got a northern accent, and he said, I don't know the man, and then moments later, a third one comes along, and this time Peter is more emphatic, no dammit, I don't know him, and off in the distance, you hear that cock-a-doodle-doo, and Peter has a meltdown, wow, I'm not finished, but I quit, yes, prior, did some research, they had killings, I guess, they had groups of men that did nothing, that go around and crucify them, oh yeah, yeah, it was the execution squad, yes, yeah, so when they, that spirit, they knew exactly what they were doing, well, yes, that was standard operating procedure, yes, and that's all they did, and, crucifixion was only reserved for the worst offenders, oh my, and that many times some countries didn't even commit, such a heinous, cruel, oh yeah, yeah, it was designed to do just one thing, to, inflicting unbelievable, unbelievable, pain, and suffering, on the victim, it made such a profound object lesson to everyone looking on, if you cross

[45:20] Rome, this is your fate, you think that's not going to make people think twice, the Jews are going to have a couple of revolts, it'll be 170 A.D., when the temple will be taken over, and then there will be another under the Bar Kokhba revolt, another 60 years later, about 130 A.D., and then there will be hundreds of people crucified, hundreds, line the road with them, and the big problem the Romans are going to have is getting enough material to make the crosses, and you can imagine the kind of scene that that would create, you got all of these people screaming, wailing, agonizing, one of the most excruciating kind of deaths that anyone could die, and I tell you that would make an impression on anyone, and anything is going to keep people in line, something like that would tend to do so, just amazing, they devised ways of brutality that you just cannot imagine, and you know something, 2,000 years later, we're not seeing any crucifixions in

[46:44] Ukraine, but we're seeing some very, very ugly, inhumane things, and it makes you wonder, it's just, it's just, I guess it kind of boggles my mind, that more of the world doesn't stop and ask themselves, how can we do this, how can anyone do this, what's wrong, why are people the way they are, why this brutality, cruelty, why this cruelty, what's wrong with the human race, if they would ever stop to ask themselves that question, there are answers, and it's very definitive, the Bible, the Bible has us pegged, it tells the truth about us, and sometimes it's pretty ugly, and we're seeing some ugliness of it right now in

[47:49] Ukraine, and other places as well. Hey guys, my apologies for the convoluted, messed up way this was presented, I'm going to have to find a different system, because with great respect to Dr.

[48:04] A.T. Robertson, who taught Greek at the Baptist Seminary in Louisville for 50 years, he confused me this morning, I'm sure he did a better job with those in his class back then, so thank you for being here this morning, enjoy your breakfast.