Transcript

Sir John Bowring was a well-known 19th-century British politician, economist, and a prolific author. He had a distinguished career, with many great accomplishments. Bowring served as a Member of Parliament and as the Governor of Hong Kong.

Once, Bowring was on a ship, sailing past Macao off the China coast. A cathedral built by early Portuguese colonists overlooked the harbor and had been destroyed by a typhoon.

From the ship, Bowring observed the remains of this old church on the shore. Above the ruins, the spire of the church remained in place, with a cross piercing the sky with its silhouette, standing strong and tall.

The scene so impressed and moved Bowring that it eventually served as the inspiration for the hymn, he wrote: “In the Cross of Christ I Glory.”

Though Bowring could have boasted about the successes of his career. Instead, he wrote, “In the cross of Christ I GLORY, towering o’er the wrecks of TIME; all the light of sacred STORY gathers round its head SUBLIME.”

And life with all of its ups and downs, Bowring recognized that the cross of Christ meant everything. “When the woes of life o’ertake me, hopes deceive, and fears ANNOY, never shall the cross forsake me, lo! it glows with peace and JOY.”

John Bowring’s tombstone is not marked by his impressive resume and accomplishments. Instead, on it are found the words of the hymn he wrote: In the Cross of Christ I Glory.

In the Cross, we do glory. The Cross is a symbol of Christ’s death and it is a symbol of life, eternal life. By Christ’s perfect payment for sin, dying in our place, we find forgiveness, redemption, righteousness, and life.

As it’s been said, “How splendid the Cross of Christ. It brings life, not death; light, not darkness; heaven, not loss. A tree had destroyed us; a tree now brought us life.”

And because of all we have in Christ by His Cross, we echo the words of our apostle, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Gal. 6:14).

In this episode, we will begin a series of messages on the Cross, and the seven sayings of Christ from the Cross.

Luke 23:26-27: “And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.”

The seven sayings of the Cross are grouped into two sections. The first three statements took place during the first three hours that Christ was on the Cross, from 9:00am till noon. The last four statements took place at around 3:00pm.

The first three were said during the daylight; the last four were uttered after darkness came over the world. The first three had to do with other people and Christ’s compassion for them; the last four had to do with Christ and the meaning of His death.

The first 3 sayings are: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). And, “Woman, behold thy son!…Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26-27.

The last 4 sayings are: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). “I thirst” (John 19:28). “It is finished” (John 19:30), and “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Each of these statements are important, because of the One who said them: the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of the place where He said them: the Cross. And these seven sayings teach us of the heart of God, and there are timeless truths to be found in each one.

Verse 26 states, “And as they led Him away.” Crucifixion was a public event and a common sight in Palestine at that time which was under Roman occupation.

On the day of their death, the condemned criminal was paraded thru the city to his place of execution. The Romans wanted people to see their justice.

It’s said that a Roman Centurion would lead the parade, with soldiers on each side of the criminal, removing the possibility of escape and dissuading any who might want to mount a rescue attempt.

Also, as part of their humiliation, the condemned were made to carry their own crossbeam. The upright beam of the cross was either left at the execution site or taken there ahead of time. Carrying the heavy crossbeam was a burden by itself.

And so in this manner, Christ was led thru Jerusalem’s streets. John 19:17 reads, “And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.”

Jerusalem was crowded for the Passover; thousands upon thousands of people from all over the world were come to the city to celebrate the feast.

And there would have been much activity in the narrow streets, and much buying and selling going on in the hours leading up to a Sabbath, which began at 6:00pm that day.

And due to all the visitors in Jerusalem, Luke recorded that “there followed Him a great company of people.” A very large crowd followed Christ out of the city of Jerusalem as He made His way to the place of His execution.

In verse 32, we see that also in the procession were the “two other malefactors,” who were being led to their deaths with Christ. And from verse 27, we read how there was much lamenting, wailing, and crying. It was a noisy, crowded scene, and a scene of suffering.

Christ’s journey to the Cross and the path He supposedly walked is often referred to as the Via Dolorosa, which means simply, “the way of sorrow” or suffering.

A song has been written called, Via Dolorosa, and the following are the lyrics which paint the picture well: “Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day, the soldiers tried to clear the narrow streets, but the crowd pressed in to see the Man condemned to die on Calvary.

“He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon His back and He wore a crown of thorns upon His head and He bore with every step the scorn of those who cried out for His death. The blood that would cleanse the souls of men made its way through the heart of Jerusalem.

“Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering, like a Lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King, but He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me, down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.”

Making that difficult walk, Christ showed His love for us with every step. As Paul put it, “He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

The Scriptures NEVER say that Christ stumbled or fell on His way to Golgotha. But having just experienced a brutal scourging and the abusive treatment of the Roman soldiers, the Lord may have been slowing the progress of the procession, and the soldiers may have grown impatient that they were not getting to Golgotha quickly enough.

So at this point, the Roman soldiers conscript a civilian at random to help and to carry Christ’s crossbeam the rest of the way. It’s said that “The sign of impressment was a tap on the shoulder with the flat of a Roman spear.”

They requisitioned a man by the name of Simon. He was “a Cyrenian.” Cyrene was a port city on the Mediterranean Sea in North Africa in Libya.

Simon is a Jewish name, so we can assume he was a Jew, and the city of Cyrene was said to have had a large Jewish population at that time.

Acts 2:10 refers to those present on the day of Pentecost and how there were people from “Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, AND IN THE PARTS OF LIBYA ABOUT CYRENE….” (Cf. Acts 6:9).

Simon had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Mark 15:21 tells us that Simon had his two sons, Alexander and Rufus, with him.

Verse 26 states that Simon was “coming out of the country,” meaning he was coming out of the country into the city of Jerusalem.

Thus, as the Lord was coming “OUT” of the city of Jerusalem (Matt. 27:32), Simon was coming out of the country INTO the city from his journey, and they came together.

Simon had not been part of the crowd of people calling for the Lord’s crucifixion. Simon was an innocent by-stander who was simply passing by the procession on his way into the city, and the next thing he knew he was being pressed into service by Roman soldiers.

This was a holy day, and he was being asked to perform a humiliating act, and he resisted it. Verse 26 here says that the soldiers “laid hold upon” him. Matthew and Mark says that they “compelled” or forced him to do it (Matt. 27:32; Mark 15:21).

Simon wanted no part of this, but he had no choice. And so “on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.” And for the rest of the way, the Lord walked in front of His crossbeam as Simon carried it behind Him.

Ironically, Simon had come all that way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and sacrifice his Passover lamb, and this day, he ended up meeting and carrying the crossbeam for the death and sacrifice of the true Passover Lamb.

Luke 23:28-31: “But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

“For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”

As the Lord, with the large crowd, continued to make their way to Golgotha, there was a group of women who “bewailed and lamented Him” as they went, weeping loudly, mourning, and lamenting as the Lord was being led to His death.

While these women were weeping over the present injustice of one man’s death, Christ, the One who was the Prophet like unto Moses, looked ahead and spoke prophetically, telling of the coming day of death and destruction that would come upon the entire nation.

The Lord turned to these weeping and mourning women with words that must have caught them off guard. The Lord addressed the women as “Daughters of Jerusalem,” and told them to not weep for Him, but to weep for themselves and for their children.

He prophesied that the days are coming in the Tribulation, when things will be so bad that child-bearing, normally a blessing to women, will be a curse. And barrenness, normally a curse to women, will be a blessing.

Better not to be a mother than to be a mother at this future time, Christ told them.

In Matthew 24:19, the Lord said that after the image of the beast, or the idol of the Anti-Christ, stands in the temple at the mid-point of the Tribulation, “Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!”

In Luke 19:44, at His triumphal entry, the Lord wept over Jerusalem and referred to the time in the Tribulation when the Antichrist and his armies would one day level the city “even with the ground, and thy children within thee.” This is also referred to Daniel 9:26: “and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”

The future destruction of Jerusalem, which caused Christ to weep as He entered that city, was the same destruction over which the women of Jerusalem were now told to weep.

Having children in that day, mothers would only experience the horror and agony of seeing their own children suffer and die. Something no mother wants to see or face. And Christ sought to spare the daughters of Jerusalem this pain.

Quoting Hosea 10:8, the Lord said the suffering would be so great in that day of wrath that people will call on the mountains to fall on them and for the hills to cover them.

Revelation 6:15-17 predicts that men at that time will “hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And say to the mountains and rocks, FALL ON US, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (cf. Rev. 9:6).

The Lamb, in His judgment, will strike such fear in men that they will desire hills, rocks, and mountains to cover them for protection or to fall them on them for a quick death so they would not have to face Him or His great wrath.

It will be a terrible time of suffering and judgment and Christ stated, “if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” Christ warns of a time in the future, worse than at that present time.

A tree when it has life is green; when that life is absent, the tree is dead and dry.

Israel was a green tree and had the One who is Life during the years of Christ’s time with her. That was a time of blessing and opportunity, and it should’ve been a time of fruitfulness and joy for Israel.

But the nation had rejected her Messiah, and desired Him, the Holy One, to be crucified, and now she would become like a dry tree by His departure from Israel.

And a dry, dead tree is one that is fit for a fire. And the time of fire, the fire of God’s judgment and wrath upon Israel and Jerusalem is the Tribulation.

And the Lord asked “if they do these things in a green tree,” unjustly crucifying an innocent and righteous One, just imagine “what shall be done in the dry?” as many will be betrayed and many will be put to death in that day.

Luke 23:32-34: “And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

They all then came “to the place, which is called Calvary.” Calvary is derived from a Latin word meaning “skull.” And at Calvary, they crucified the Lord.

And Jim Bishop wrote the following: “The executioner laid the crossbeam behind Jesus and brought Him to the ground quickly…the beam was fitted under the back of His neck, and, on each side, soldiers knelt on the inside of the elbows.

“Once begun, the matter was done quickly and efficiently. The executioner wore an apron with pockets. He placed two five-inch nails between his teeth, and hammer in hand, knelt beside the right arm.

“The soldier whose knee rested on the inside of the elbow held the forearm flat to the board. With his right hand the executioner probed the wrist of Jesus to find the little hollow spot where there would be no vital artery or vein.

“When he found it, he took one of the square-cut iron nails from his teeth and held it against the spot, directly behind where the so-called lifeline ends. Then he raised the hammer over the nail head and brought it down with force [again and again, as he drove the nail in]. The executioner jumps across the body to the other wrist…”

He repeats the process on the left arm. After the Cross was upright, in place, and set firmly, “the executioner…knelt before the cross. Two soldiers hurried to help, and each one took hold of a leg at the calf. The ritual was to nail the right foot over the left…”

The two thieves were also crucified beside the Lord. Mark 15:27-28 reads, “And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.”

The Lord fulfilled a prophecy from Isaiah 53:12 in His crucifixion and death as He was “numbered with the transgressors.”

That same passage goes on to say, “…and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, AND MADE INTERCESSION FOR THE TRANSGRESSORS.”

With Christ’s first words from the cross, He fulfilled this other prophecy in Isaiah 53:12, as He interceded for the transgressors and offered a prayer for the guilty: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

“Father,” was the cry in the first words which He uttered from the cross and “Father” was the cry of His last words, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Warren Wiersbe writes, “The Greek New Testament indicates that our Lord repeated this prayer. He said several times, “Father, forgive them.” As they laid Him on the cross on the ground, He said, “Father, forgive them.’ As they nailed His hands to that cross, He prayed again, “Father, forgive them.’ When they lifted that cross and placed it, our Lord prayed, ‘Father, forgive them.’”

At a time of excruciating pain and agony, when nails were driven into His hands and feet, at the moment when most victims of crucifixion would scream out in anger and agony at the pain with curses, Christ repeatedly prayed audibly to the Father for forgiveness.

So who was Christ was praying for? Who is the “them” in “Father, forgive them”? Was it the Jewish leaders who conspired to have Him put to death? The crowd who called for His crucifixion and asked for Barabbas instead? Pilate, who passed sentence?

The Gentiles and the Roman soldiers who actually nailed Him to the cross? The mocking crowd who taunted Him? The answer is all of the above, and more.

The scope of this prayer even extends beyond the people who were present at the cross to include all Israel nationally who, as a whole, had rejected their Messiah and His ministry and turned from the truth of His identity as God’s Son though they had so much proof.

As the kingdom believers prayed to the Father in Acts 4:27-28: “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.”

The reason Christ asked for the Father to forgive them was “for they know not what they do,” or because of their ignorance. Their ignorance was the ignorance of who He was. He had proved Himself to be Israel’s Messiah and the Son of God, but they did not believe it.

They did not know the full scope of their wickedness, or the enormity of their sin, in crucifying Him. They were guilty of killing an innocent man, but they were guilty of much worse than they knew. They were guilty of crucifying the very Son of God from heaven.

They needed God’s forgiveness more than they knew or fully understood.

Forgiveness is only needed for the guilty. Nobody can forgive an innocent person. So though they did not know what they were doing in crucifying Christ, they were still guilty.

A.W. Pink said, “Sin is always sin in the sight of God whether we are conscious of it or not. Sins of ignorance need [forgiveness]…God is Holy, and He will not lower His standard of righteousness to the level of our ignorance. Ignorance is not innocence.”

After Israel’s national rejection of the Savior and His crucifixion, in answer to Christ’s prayer at Calvary, Israel was given a second chance to receive her Messiah.

When Christ prayed, “Father, forgive them,” the Father did just that, and He gave the people of Israel another year to receive and believe in His Son, just as the Lord predicted He would in the parable of the barren fig tree (Luke 13:6-9).

In Acts 1-7, we find confirmation that God the Father answered Christ’s prayer and that Israel was indeed forgiven and given another opportunity to receive Christ.

Acts 1-7 is the year between Christ’s resurrection and the stoning of Stephen, when the chosen nation was given that second chance. But Israel’s answer to this opportunity was the martyrdom of Stephen.

At Stephen’s stoning, he saw “the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” He saw Christ standing in His wrath prepared to pour out His judgment on Israel and the world.

And when Stephen was dying, similar to Christ, he prayed, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” But the Father did not answer this prayer.

Stephen’s death and Israel’s rejection of Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit should have resulted in the Tribulation period. This is the time that Christ predicted on the way to Calvary, when women will be blessed to be barren, when men will call on mountains to fall on them and hills to cover them out of their terror and dread.

But God interrupted Israel’s prophetic program and the Tribulation with the dispensation of the grace of God. Israel fell in her unbelief, but instead of her fall resulting in the Tribulation, God stopped the prophetic clock, and He turned to the Gentiles, the nations, and ushered in the dispensation of grace, which had been hid in God.

This is an age in which God is showing grace and peace to the world and is giving all people an opportunity to be saved from their sins and have a home in heaven through faith alone in Christ and His finished work.

This age has continued for nearly 2000 years now. It will conclude with the Rapture of the Church. At that point, God will pick up right where He left off with Israel, and He will pour out His wrath on this Christ-rejecting world in the 7-year Tribulation.

These wonderful words from the cross were words of grace and love. And this prayer by our Lord to His Father was not in any way for Himself. The petition was for others. And it was the wrong which they were doing to the Father that was on His heart and mind.

Here we find the crucifixion of Christ, representing the worst that man can do to God, and yet Christ, the One who is love incarnate, pled for His Father’s forgiveness and His restraint toward the very ones who had committed this crime and brought it about.

Christ lived the Word of God that He taught to Israel, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

Christ prayed for forgiveness for others and forgiveness was the very thing Christ was dying for, to provide us with the forgiveness of all our sins.

All we have to do to receive that forgiveness today is believe that Christ died for our sins and rose again. Have you trusted Christ as your Savior?