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Book: John
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John 19:31
I. "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation."
A. That is the preparation for the Sabbath day.
1. It takes quite a it of preparation for the Sabbath day.
In as much as they cannot kindle any fires on the
Sabbath, and can do no work, all of the food must be
prepared the day before.
a. Today, they plug in and turn on all the
appliances they plan on using on the Sabbath.
b. They usually have a pot of hot water plugged
in.
c. All of the food must be prepared in advance.
d. They are allowed to serve the food on the
Sabbath, but cannot prepare it.
2. John tells us that this was the high day. i.e. the
high day of the feast.
a. In Numbers 28:16 we read, "Now the fourteenth
day of the first month is the passover of the
Lord. And in the fifteenth day of this month
is the feast. Seven days shall unleavened
bread be eaten. In the first day shall be a
holy convocation, you shall do no manner of
servile work therein. Vs. 25 And on the seventh
day ye shall have an holy convocation, you
shall do no servile work therein.
b. The fifteenth day was the first day of the
feast, the feast was for seven days until the
21st. day of the month. The first day of the
feast and the last day of the feast were
sabbath days in which no servile work was to
be done.
c. The Passover lamb was slain on the fourteenth
day of the month.
d. The fifteenth day of the month began at
sundown, thus the feast was that evening after
the crucifixion of Jesus.
3. This was the reason for the desire to hasten the death
of the prisoners so that they would not be hanging on
the crosses on the Sabbath day. Not the weekly sabbath
day that came on Saturday, but the high Sabbath day
that came on the 15th of the month.
4. Our calendar is based on the time it takes the earth
to rotate around the sun.
5. The Jewish calendar was based upon the time it takes
the moon to complete its phases, or 29 day months.
6. Because Easter it the traditional celebration of the
resurrection of Jesus by the church, the date for the
celebration takes place on the first Sunday after the
first full moon after March 21st.
7. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, and the month
begins of the first day of the new moon. Thus the full
moon is usually equated with the Passover for it
appears between the fourteenth and fifteenth day of
each month.
8. The Passover meal was to be eaten on the evening of the
fourteenth day. Jesus had the passover meal with His
disciples on the evening of the fourteenth day. The
Jewish day begins with evening, thus it was still the
passover day when Jesus was crucified. The fifteenth
day would begin at the next evening.
9. According to Sir Robert Anderson, in the year 32 A.D.
Jesus made His triumphant entry on Sunday April 6th.
This in the year of 32 A.D. would have been on the 10th
of Nisan of the Jewish calendar.
10. This would have meant that Jesus had the passover meal
on the fourteenth with His disciples, which would have
been on Wednesday evening, as the day begins at
sundown. Later on that day, after the sun came up He
would have been crucified.
11. The high Sabbath would have begun at sun down on the
fifteenth which would have been Thursday night, which
was the beginning of the high Sabbath. The next day,
the sixteenth would have been the weekly Sabbath, and
the women came early in the morning of the first day of
the week to the tomb, which was a Sunday morning.
II. They sought Pilate that their legs might be broken in order to hasten
their deaths, that they might remove the bodies before the Sabbath
day.
A. The word broken in the Greek is literally cracked apart, or
splintered.
1. For this purpose they used an iron pipe or a large
mall.
2. The excruciating pain hastened the death.
3. Otherwise a person could hang for as many as five days
before dying. It was usually two or three days.
B. The splintered the legs of the two that were hanging on either
side of Jesus, but when they came to Jesus they found that He
was already dead and did not break His legs.
1. Herein was a prophecy fulfilled from Psalm 34:20 "A
bone of Him shall not be broken."
LEV 22:24 Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or
crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make [any
offering thereof] in your land.
2. When the Lord gave them the commandment concerning the
Passover lamb He declared in Exodus 12:46, "In one
house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth
ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither
shall you break a bone thereof.
3. In Numbers 9:12 "They shall leave none of it unto the
morning, nor break any bone of it according to all the
ordinances of the passover they shall keep it."
C. "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and
forthwith came there out blood and water."
1. His intention was no doubt to guarantee the death of
Jesus by piercing Him through the heart with his spear.
2. The blood and the water indicate that from a medical
standpoint Jesus probably died of a ruptured heart, or
a broken heart. When the heart is ruptured the sac
around it fills with a clear fluid that looks like
water.
3. The scripture speaks so much of our being cleansed from
our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ.
D. In this action the soldier fulfilled another prophecy, "And
they shall look on Him whom they pierced." Zech. 12:10
E. John tells us that he saw it and bares record, and his record
is true; and that he knows that what he has said is true, that
you might believe.
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