Jesus's Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:

(John 19:1) Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him.

At the end of the last chapter, Jesus having been brought before Pilate to receive a sentence of death, Pilate had told the people he had found no fault in Jesus.  However, the people clamored for Jesus's crucifixion, so Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped.  It's difficult to understand Pilate's heart.  At the very least, I find him to be a very weak man.  He found no fault in Jesus, yet he let the people drive him, the Roman governor, to scourge an innocent man and deliver Him to be crucified.  John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible, suggested that he might have delivered Jesus to be scourged so that they would be satisfied with that punishment and then he could release Jesus.  This might have some basis in truth as Pilate continued to say that he found no fault in Jesus (v. 4).  However, it was the custom to first scourge the criminals they condemned to be crucified.  Whatever his reasoning, he still was morally weak for having an innocent man scourged.

(2) And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. (3) And said, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands.

In derision, the soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus's head.  They also put a purple robe on Him and mocked Him as a king.  They also struck Him with their hands.

(4) Pilate therefore went forth again and said to them, "Behold, I bring Him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in Him."

Then Pilate went back out to the Jews to tell them he was bringing forth Jesus to show how He had been scourged and abused and to tell them again that he found no fault in Jesus.  He found no fault, yet he allowed this to be done to Jesus?  Perhaps his purpose was to show that since he had allowed so much to be done to Jesus, if he had found Him to be the least bit guilty, he would have had no problem crucifying Him.  However, he said he still found no fault in Jesus. 

(5) Then Jesus came forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!"

Then Pilate brought Jesus forth, and He was wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and was surely in a worse condition due to the scourging.  Pilate told the people to look at Jesus and see what had been done to Him, hoping this would satisfy the Jews.

(6) When the chief priests and officers therefore saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify! Crucify!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."

However, not at all satisfied, the chief priests and officers cried out to crucify Jesus.  Pilate told them to take Jesus themselves and crucify Him if they thought they must, because he found no fault in Him.

(7) The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by our law, He ought to die because He made Himself the Son of God."

The charge of sedition was not working with Pilate, so the Jews told him that according to their Jewish law, Jesus ought to die because He had called Himself the Son of God, which they were calling blasphemy.  Their law called for stoning, but they had wanted the governor to sentence Jesus so that He would be crucified, a more horrible method of killing.

(8) When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid.

When Pilate heard that, he was afraid.  He was convinced that Jesus was innocent as he could see more and more clearly the design of the Jews.  However, they now brought up a charge of which he did not have a full understanding.  He would bring their wrath if he denied them; however, as he saw Jesus as innocent, he probably wondered if He could truly be divine.

(9) And went again into the judgment hall and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.

Therefore Pilate went back in to try to get an answer from Jesus.  He asked Him where He was from, but Jesus did not answer him.  He was surely trying to determine if Jesus was indeed divine and not of this world.  Jesus had already told Pilate His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36), and Pilate already had enough information to determine Jesus was innocent, yet he had had Him scourged and ridiculed.  Pilate was a morally weak man refusing to do what his conscience knew to be the right thing, so probably nothing more Jesus could say would change his actions.

(10) Then Pilate said to Him, "You don't speak to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You and have power to release You?"

In arrogance, Pilate cautioned Jesus about not speaking to him, as he told Jesus in his puffed-up pride that he had the power to either crucify Jesus or release Him.

(11) Jesus answered, "You could have no power against Me, except it were given you from above; therefore he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."

Jesus told Pilate that he had no power over Jesus except what had been given to him by God.  Once Jesus had been delivered to be crucified, it was definitely going to be carried out.  And then Jesus went on to answer the question about Pilate's guilt in this matter.  He said that the one who delivered Him to Pilate had the greater sin.  That indicates that Pilate had indeed sinned in scourging an innocent man, but Jesus held the sin of delivering Him in the first place the greater sin.

(12) And from then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."

After Jesus said that to Pilate, Pilate tried to release Him, being convinced of His innocence and probably desiring not to sin anymore against Him.  However, the Jews cried out against him, telling him he was no friend of Caesar's if he let Jesus go because Jesus had spoken of Himself as being king, so they saw that as against Caesar, returning to their charge of sedition.

(13) When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

When Pilate realized the Jews might make accusations of his treachery against Caesar, he feared more for his own position than he did of condemning an innocent man, and he brought Jesus before the judgment seat, and he sat down as the judge in the place called Gabbatha in Hebrew, the Pavement.  The Greek word translated as "pavement" was "lithostrotos," meaning stoned or mosaic pavement.  "Gabbatha" meant "elevated" or "platform."  The Pavement was evidently an elevated stone or mosaic platform probably where judgments were pronounced.

(14) And it was the Preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!"

It was the Preparation Day of the Passover at about noon.  The Jews counted their hours beginning at dawn or six in the morning.  The time was getting short before Passover would begin at sundown, so I suppose Pilate decided it was time to get this deed done.  He told the Jews to behold their king.

(15) But 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."

However, the Jews cried out to crucify Jesus, to which Pilate asked if they wanted him to crucify their king.  The chief priests answered that they had no king but Caesar.  They rejected their King Messiah, but also denied God as their king, calling Caesar their only king.

(16) Then he delivered Him therefore to them to be crucified. And they took and led Jesus away.

So the weak governor Pontius Pilate delivered Jesus to the Jews, knowing what they were about to do.  They took Jesus and led Him away.

(17) And He, bearing His cross, went forth to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, (18) Where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side and Jesus in the middle.

Jesus bore His own cross and was led to a place called the Place of the Skull, or Golgotha in Hebrew, which means "skull."  It was so called because of the bones of criminals who had been executed that lay there.  That is where Jesus was crucified with two others, one on either side of Him, He being in between them.

(19) And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Pilate had made an inscription on the cross above Jesus, as the other Gospels put it, saying, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."  The latter part of the inscription was meant to be the accusation against Him according to the account in Matthew, but it was a true assertion of who Jesus really was.

(20) This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Many Jews had the opportunity to read the inscription because Jesus was crucified close to Jerusalem.  Pilate had written the inscription in three different languages, which probably accounts for the slight varying interpretations of all the Gospels.  Matthew had said it read, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.  Mark said simply, THE KING OF THE JEWS, however, he did indicate that was the accusation, so he may have been commenting only on that part of the inscription.  Luke said it read, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

(21) Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"

The chief priests of the Jews objected to Pilate writing that Jesus was the King of the Jews.  They told him to write it as Jesus had said that He was King of the Jews, not that it was a fact.

(22) Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

However, Pilate answered that what he had written was to stand.  Neither he nor the chief priests realized that it was undoubtedly the will of God that it be written that way.

(23) Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also His robe. Now His robe was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

The soldiers who had raised Jesus up on the cross, apparently four of them, took Jesus's garments and divided them into four parts among them.  However, Jesus's robe or tunic, His outer garment, was made without seams and not easily divided.

(24) They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the scripture might be fulfilled which says, "They parted My garments among them, and for My vesture they cast lots." These things therefore the soldiers did.

The soldiers did not want to tear the robe, but agreed to cast lots for it, not knowing they were fulfilling the scripture in Psalm 22:18, "They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture," His outer garment.  The soldiers had indeed divided his garments among them and cast lots for His robe.

(25) Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

Jesus's mother and Mary Magdalene stood by the cross of Jesus.  It's unclear if Mary's sister and Mary the wife of Cleophas were two different women, or one and the same.  It's doubtful that Jesus's mother would have had a sister named the same as her, however, she could be Jesus's mother Mary's sister-in-law, who would have been called her sister.  Matthew and Mark, in their accounts, spoke of a Mary, the mother of James and Joses.  Mark said specifically she was the mother of James the Little and Joses.  James the Little was one of Jesus's twelve apostles, the son of Alphaeus, who is the same as Cleophas (Alphaeus being Greek and Cleophas, Hebrew).  If Cleophas was Joseph's brother (the husband of Jesus's mother), then Mary his wife would be called Jesus's mother Mary's sister; however, we are not told that.  But we are given one more clue when in Mark 6:3, neighbors asked about Jesus's family, specifically His brothers James and Joses.  This would suggest a very close relationship, if not Jesus's brothers from the same immediate family, probably His first cousins, sons of his earthly father Joseph's brother Cleophas, or Alphaeus.  By the way, this Cleophas is probably not the same person Cleopas in Luke 24:18 as Cleopas is a Greek name short for Cleopater, whereas Cleophas in the Greek is Alphaeus.

(26) When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son."

Jesus looked upon His mother Mary and also saw His beloved disciple John standing by her.  He told His mother to behold her adopted son who would care for her in the absence of her son Jesus.  Adam Clarke in his Commentary on the Bible pointed out that John was the only disciple who did not die a premature unnatural death.  It seems God protected and preserved him for the care of Jesus's earthly mother.

(27) Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." And from that hour that disciple took her into his own.

Jesus also told John to behold his mother, and he did indeed care for her as his mother, taking her into his own home.  Albert Barnes in his Notes on the Bible wrote that tradition said that Mary lived with John until her death about fifteen years later.

(28) After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst."

This is really an amazing verse.  Jesus was thirsty, but He could have certainly borne that without complaint, but so that the scripture would be fulfilled, and that all who witnessed it would have further proof that He was the Messiah fulfilling every last detail that was written about Him by the prophets,  Jesus said He was thirsty.

(29) Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to His mouth.

The Roman soldiers dipped a sponge in vinegar and put it on a hyssop branch and then lifted that up to Jesus's mouth.  That indeed fulfilled the scripture in Psalm 69:21 which read, "...in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink."

(30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, "It is finished," and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost.

Jesus was in complete control the entire time.  He asked for the drink to fulfill prophesy, and when that was done, He declared that His work culminating in dying on the cross was finished.  He then proactively gave up the ghost.  He chose to die at that point.  Everything that happened to Jesus was all within His will.  He could have stopped it at any point, but because of His love for us sinners, He chose to go through it all for us.

(31) The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath Day (for that Sabbath Day was a high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and they might be taken away.

It was the Preparation Day for the Sabbath, and it was a special high one in that the Feast of the Passover commenced on the Sabbath in that year.  It was about 3:00 in the afternoon when Jesus died (Matthew 27:46) and that was the time the Jews started making preparation for their Sabbath.  Jewish law ordered that the bodies of criminals should not hang all night (Deuteronomy 21:23), and because they were anxious to start preparing for their high Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to break the crucified men's legs so that they would die quickly and could be taken away.  To be able to keep breathing when hanging on a cross, one would lift his body up with his legs, so once his legs were broken, he could no longer lift himself to breathe and would die.

(32) Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.

The soldiers did indeed break the legs of the two criminals who were hanging on either side of Jesus.

(33) But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they did not break His legs.  

The chief priests of the Jews would have surely liked to see Jesus's legs broken as an added cruelty, but because Jesus laid down His life of His own accord, He was not to be killed by the breaking of His legs.  

(34) But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side and immediately blood and water came out.

One of the soldiers, just to make sure Jesus was indeed dead, pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water spewed forth.  It is a consensus belief among commentators that the soldier had pierced the pericardium that surrounds the heart and that is where the water flowed from.  By piercing the heart, the soldier would guarantee that Jesus was dead or would have been immediately killed by his action.  The blood and the water would have proved that, but additionally may have been symbolic of water baptism and blood atonement.

(35) And he who saw it bore record and his record is true, and he knows that he says truth that you might believe.

This sounds like it was probably John himself who saw the soldier pierce Jesus's side and probably His heart, proving that Jesus was indeed dead so that there could be no claims of His having just fainted when He was later found to not be in His tomb.  John desired to make it a certain truth by an eyewitness that Jesus had indeed died.

(36) For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, "A bone of Him shall not be broken."

Even after Jesus had died, the things that were done to Him fulfilled scripture.  Psalm 34:20 reads, "He keeps all His bones; not one of them is broken."

(37) And again, another scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced."

Additionally, the scripture in Zechariah 12:10 was fulfilled which reads in part, "...and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced..."

(38) And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus.

Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a secret disciple of Jesus, following Him secretly because he feared the Jews, asked Pilate if he might be permitted to take the body of Jesus.  Pilate indeed gave him permission and he took Jesus's body.

(39) And there came also Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

Nicodemus, another secret follower of Christ, who had first come to Jesus in the middle of the night so as not to be seen, brought a large quantity of myrrh and aloes, a hundred pounds, to perfume Jesus's body in honor and respect for Him.  John Wesley, in his Notes on the Bible, pointed out that while Jesus's apostles had apparently all left Him dead hanging on the cross, these two followers who had formerly only followed Jesus in secret, now came out publicly to care for His body.

(40) Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus's body and wrapped it in linen with the spices as was the custom of the Jews to bury someone.

(41) Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre in which was never a man yet laid.

Near the place where Jesus had been crucified there was a garden in which was a new sepulchre that had never been used.  Matthew 27:60 told us it was Joseph's own new tomb that he had hewn out of rock.  

(42) There they laid Jesus because of the Jews' Preparation, for the sepulchre was near at hand.

Had they had more time, they may have prepared a different place for Jesus to be buried in His own tomb, but because it was near the end of Preparation Day and the Sabbath was fast approaching, they buried Him in Joseph's tomb as it was nearby.  This fulfilled another prophetic scripture in Isaiah 53:9, "And He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death..."  Jesus had died among wicked criminals and was buried in a rich man's tomb, as Joseph was said to be a rich man.  Matthew told us in chapter 27:57 that Joseph was a rich man and a disciple of Jesus.  Mark 15:43 stated he was also a respected member of the council of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking for the kingdom of God.  Luke 23:50 added that he had not agreed to the council's decision regarding Jesus.  He was a good and just man who cared for Jesus's body and gave Him his own new tomb.  

Jesus Teaches at the Feast of Tabernacles

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:

(John 7:1) After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for He would not walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill Him.

In the last chapter, Jesus had fed the five thousand and then had a long discourse with the Jews concerning Himself, the Bread of life.  He then must have gone to Jerusalem as John 6:4 had said the Passover was near.  Finding that the Jews sought to take His life, He would not continue there but He returned to Galilee and walked there.  

(2) Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.

This would make it at the end of September or the beginning of October when the Jews celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles.  It was so called because of the tents or tabernacles which were erected in and around Jerusalem and designed to commemorate their dwelling in tents in the wilderness.  During this feast the Jews dwelt in those tents for eight days.

(3) His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea that Your disciples also may see the works that You do."

Jesus's brothers or cousins or some such close relatives urged Jesus to leave that place and go into Judea so that the disciples He had made there previously (John 4:1) or perhaps any disciples from all over who would be going to Judea for the feast, would be able to witness His works.

(4) "For no one does anything in secret while He Himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show Yourself to the world." (5) For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

Jesus's kin did not believe in Him and did not know His true purpose in doing the things He did.  They thought He did His works for fame and glory from men; therefore they said He needed to go into Judea where He would be seen by a greater number of people than where He was.

(6) Then Jesus said to them, "My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready."

Jesus told them that it was not yet His time to go and be seen there, but that they could go anytime they wanted.

(7) "The world cannot hate you, but Me it hates because I testify of it that its works are evil."

The reason they could go anytime they wanted was because they were not hated by the world.  Jesus said that the world hated Him because He testified about how evil its works were.

(8) "You go up to this feast; I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."

Jesus urged His kin to go on to the feast, but He was not going at that time because the time was not yet right for Him to go.

(9) When He had said these words to them, He was still in Galilee. (10) But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

Jesus had been still in Galilee when He spoke to His brothers, but after they had left to go to the feast, He also started toward it, but not openly as it would have been if He had gone with all His relatives, but He went secretly.

(11) Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"

Indeed, the Jews were looking for Jesus at the feast and asked around where He was.

(12) And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him, for some said, "He is a good man;" others said, "No, but He deceives the people."

There was much murmuring among the people as they debated about Jesus.  Some saw Him as a good man, while others thought He only deceived the people, pretending to be the Messiah.

(13) However, no man spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

However, no one spoke openly about Jesus for they feared the Jews, that they might be mobbed by them and turned out of the synagogue or even prosecuted. 

(14) Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

At about the middle of the feast, about the fourth day, it was apparently Jesus's time and He went up into the temple and taught.

(15) And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never learned?"

The Jews marveled at Jesus and wondered how He knew the scriptures so well when they knew He had had no formal education.

(16) Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me."

Hearing the people or knowing their thoughts, Jesus answered that His doctrine came directly from His Father who sent Him.

(17) "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of Myself."

Jesus went on to say that if any man was willing to do the will of the Father, if he had an honest desire to obey God, he would be led to embrace the doctrines of the Bible, and would then know if Jesus taught the doctrines of God or if He spoke of Himself and was not directed by God.

(18) "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He who seeks His glory who sent Him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in Him."

Jesus said that anyone who spoke from himself was seeking his own glory, but as He only sought the glory of the One who sent Him, God, that made Him true and there was no unrighteousness or falsehood or deception in Him.

(19) "Didn't Moses give you the law and yet none of you keep the law? Why do you go about to kill Me?"

Jesus pointed out that Moses had given them the law and yet none of them kept it continually.  All men violated it in some way or another as there was no one who did good (Psalm 14:3, Psalm 53:3).  He asked why then they wanted to kill Him because they presumed He had violated the law as when He healed the man at the pool of Bethesda and told him to carry his mat.

(20) The people answered and said, "You have a devil; who goes about to kill you?"

The majority of the people were not aware of the intentions of the chief priests and scribes, and said that Jesus must be demon possessed to think that anyone wanted to kill Him.

(21) Jesus answered and said to them, "I have done one work and you all marvel."

I believe Jesus's point was that He had done that one work of healing the man at the pool of Bethesda and that had them all shocked and astonished that He should do it on the Sabbath and then tell the man to carry his mat on that day.

(22) "Moses therefore gave to you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and you on the Sabbath circumcise a man."

Jesus told them that Moses had given them the law of circumcision, although it did not come from Moses originally; it had been in practice since Abraham.  He said that they circumcised on the Sabbath.

(23) "If a man on the Sabbath Day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry at Me because I have made a man completely whole on the Sabbath Day?"

Jesus went on to say that if one received circumcision on the Sabbath because it was the eighth day when the law directed male children to be circumcised, and that was not breaking the law of Moses, but upholding it, how could they then be angry at Him for healing a man and making him whole on the Sabbath.  Circumcision is a physical symbol of the relationship between God and the Jewish people.  It's about making the physical body holy and acceptable unto God.  Therefore if that holy act was lawful to be done on the Sabbath, then how could they be angry at Jesus for making a man completely whole on the Sabbath?

(24) "Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment."

It's the original, "You can't judge a book by its cover."  Jesus said they should not judge according to the appearance of a man, as they saw Him as only a carpenter's son, but rather they should judge His fruits, His actions.  Was it not good to make a man whole on the Sabbath?  In like manner, people shouldn't judge the chief priests to be pious and holy just because they wore long flowing robes and spoke long prayers in public.  Once again, they were to judge their fruits whether or not they were good.

(25) Then some of them of Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?"

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, apart from the people as a whole who had come into Jerusalem for the feast, had heard about plans to kill Jesus and asked if this man was the One they sought to kill.

(26) "But, lo, He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?"

Those people from Jerusalem continued to reason among themselves.  If Jesus was the one they sought to kill, then why didn't they say anything when Jesus taught so boldly?  They supposed that the rulers must have known that He was the Christ.

(27) "However, we know where this Man is from, but when Christ comes, no one knows where He comes from."

The people continued to reason among themselves.  Could Jesus really be the Christ when they knew where He had come from, the son of Joseph and Mary from Galilee?  However, they would not know exactly where the Christ would come from.  They knew by prophecy that He would come from Bethlehem, be from the line of David, and born of a virgin, but they didn't know who His parents would be, and Joseph and Mary from Galilee didn't fit their expectations.

(28) Then Jesus cried out as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me and you know where I am from, and I am not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, Whom you do not know. (29) But I know Him for I am from Him and He has sent Me."

Perceiving the questioning among the people, Jesus cried out in a loud voice in answer to them.  I think the sense is, "So you think you know Me and where I am from?"  But He had not come into the world in the normal way by Himself and His parents.  Actually, the people might have realized that there would be some miracle to His birth, as how can one be born of a virgin?  Jesus had come from God.  God had sent Him, and God was true, true to the promises He made by the prophets and true in the testimonies He gave of Jesus, as when Jesus was baptized.  Obviously, these Jews did not truly know God as they professed to know Him or else they would have known these things.

(30) Then they sought to take Him, but no man laid hands on Him because His hour had not yet come.

That made them angry and they sought to take hold of Jesus, but they were not able to lay hands on Him, being restrained by divine providence, because it was not yet the right time.

(31) And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When Christ comes, will He do more miracles than these which this Man has done?"

Many people believed in Jesus, reasoning in their hearts that the coming Christ could not do any more miraculous things than this Man had done, so He must be Him.

(32) The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.

The Pharisees heard that the people were thinking such positive things about Jesus, and that raised their ire all the more.  They, with the chief priests, sent officers to take Jesus.

(33) Then said Jesus to them, "Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to Him who sent Me. (34) You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."

As Jesus knew that the Pharisees had planned to take Him and put Him to death, He told the people that He would only be with them for a little while, about six months from this Feast of Tabernacles to the next Passover, and then He would go back to Him who had sent Him.  He warned they would be seeking their Messiah but they would never find Him because He had already come and gone.  And where He went, to heaven, they could not come.

(35) Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where will He go that we shall not find Him? Will He go to the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles?"

The Jews wondered among themselves where Jesus could go that they would not be able to find Him.  They wondered if He would go to where the Jews had been dispersed among the Gentiles and teach them.

(36) "What saying is this that He said, 'You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

However, if that was the case, then what had Jesus meant when He said they would seek Him and not find Him and they wouldn't be able to go where He went.  If He went to some region of the Gentiles, nothing really kept them from finding Him there.

(37) In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink." 

On the last day of the feast, the Jews had a ceremony of drawing water from the fountain of Siloam which the priests poured out on the altar while they sang, "With joy shall you draw water from the wells of salvation."  It was on this day that they commemorated God's miraculously giving water out of a rock (John Wesley's Notes on the Bible).  Jesus stood up and cried out that if any man thirsted, let him come to Him and drink of His living water.

(38) "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

Jesus went on to say that whoever believed in Him, as the Scriptures themselves had said (Isaiah 44:3 and Isaiah 55:1), an abundance of living water would flow from his heart.  An interesting note about the use of "belly" instead of our more romantic "heart"--actually our feelings do flow more from our bellies than from our hearts.  We have "butterflies in our stomach," we can be literally sick in the stomach with dread, and we can feel immense love in our gut.

(39) (But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom they who believe in Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

This was a parenthetical statement by John explaining Jesus's figurative expression of "rivers of living water."  He meant this in a spiritual sense.  John went on to say that he who believed in Jesus would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit after Jesus had been glorified and ascended into heaven.  That is not to say that the one who believed didn't have the Spirit of God drawing him to Himself and to Jesus, but once the Holy Spirit lived within him, there would be greater measures of spiritual gifts and guidance, "rivers of living water." 

(40) Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."

Many of the people who heard Jesus speak believed and said that He was surely the great Prophet Moses had spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:15, "The Lord thy God will raise up to you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like Me, to Him you shall hearken."

(41) Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will Christ come out of Galilee? (42) Has not the scripture said that Christ comes from the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?"

Other people said Jesus was the Christ, which they misunderstood as being separate from the Prophet.  Then others asked if the Christ would come out of Galilee as they imagined Jesus was born in Galilee just because He grew up there.  They knew from the scriptures the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem.

(43) So there was a division among the people because of Him.

The people were all divided over their opinions about Jesus.  Many would miss out on the gift of salvation because they got hung up on every detail.  And of course, it's not that the details were wrong, they just didn't see the whole picture.  I think of how some people wish to question every single contradiction they think they find in the Bible in order to disprove it and disprove God.  However, they just don't know the whole picture.  Any scripture can be taken out of context to mean something else.  But in the context of the whole and especially with the help of the Holy Spirit showing us truth, we can be assured God's Word is true, even if we don't have all the answers.  Although the longer you are with the Holy Spirit and in God's word, you begin to understand considerably more than you did in the beginning, and many of those answers reveal themselves.

(44) And some of them would have taken Him, but no man laid hands on Him.

Some of the people wanted to seize Jesus and would have taken Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  Just like in verse 30, it was not yet Jesus's time to be seized, so no one was able to lay hands on Him.

(45) Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"

Those officers that the chief priests and Pharisees had sent to take Jesus (verse 32) reported back to those who sent them.  The chief priests and Pharisees asked why they had not brought Jesus to them.

(46) The officers answered, "Never has a man spoke like this Man."

It's not just that God did not permit the officers to lay hands on Jesus, but He softened their hearts toward Him!  I think that is wonderful!  Those officers might be brought to salvation even though they were once the enemy.  We should never judge and give up on any person as the Holy Spirit of God is able to draw even the meanest hearts.

(47) Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? (48) Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? (49) But these people who do not know the law are cursed."

The Pharisees asked the officers if they, too, were deceived.  They thought by suggesting that not one ruler or Pharisee believed in Him would be proof to them that Jesus was not the Christ.  After all, they were learned in the scriptures and so wise and holy!  They judged all those people cursed who did not know the law as they supposedly did.

(50) Nicodemus said to them (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them), (51) "Does our law judge man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"

Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus in the night (John 3:1), was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews.  He asked the other chief priests and Pharisees if their law would judge a man without hearing from him and witnessing what he did.  Their law required justice and gave every man the right to a fair and impartial trial.  Nicodemus stepped in to make sure justice was done and that Jesus was not presumed guilty and condemned without hearing from Him personally.  Nicodemus had a secret respect for Jesus that made him step in, but it appears he did not have the courage to openly testify for Him.

(52) They answered and said to him, "Are you also of Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet arises out of Galilee."

The chief priests and Pharisees asked Nicodemus if he was also from Galilee, insinuating that he must be one of Jesus's followers.  They told him to go search the scriptures and the histories and see that no prophet arose out of Galilee.  However, showing how much they didn't know the scriptures or perhaps they did know but didn't think they would be challenged, they were wrong about the fact that no prophet had come from Galilee.  Jonah had come from Galilee and of course, he became a symbol of Christ three days in the tomb when he was three days in the belly of the great fish.  Additionally, being rulers, they surely had access to a public register that would tell them that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem and that He was in the genealogy of David.

(53) And every man went to his own house.

Thus that simple question of Nicodemus put an end to their desire to seize Jesus at that time, and everyone went back to his own house.

Nicodemus and the Last Testimony of John the Baptist

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:

(John 3:1) There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This was very early in Jesus's ministry.  In the last chapter, we were told of His first public miracle and His first cleansing of the temple.  Now John begins to tell us about Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and said to be a member of the Sanhedrin which ruled the Jews.

(2) The same came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that You do except God be with Him."

It seems that Jesus may have done other miracles besides turning water into wine as Nicodemus was aware of miracles that He had done.  He told Jesus he knew He had to be from God because no one could do those things unless God was with Him.  I find it noteworthy that the first person John tells us about seeking Jesus, other than His disciples, was a Pharisee, and a ruler at that.  In the other Gospels, we are made to come to the belief that Pharisees were synonymous with wicked hypocrites and enemies of Jesus.  But here was a Pharisee seeking the truth about Jesus, although he seems to have done it in secret at night.  This proves that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all and was offered to all, although the rich and powerful usually find it harder to accept as we were told in Matthew 19:24.

(3) Jesus answered and said to him, "Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Jesus answered him by telling him that most assuredly a man had to be born again to be able to see the kingdom of God.  It was not enough to just have knowledge about Jesus.

(4) Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus meant by being born again, but he seems very sincere about learning just what He had meant.  He asked how a man could be born when he was old; was he supposed to somehow enter his mother's womb to be born again?

(5) Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Jesus explained that a man must be born of water and the Holy Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God.  Up to this point, Jews were not baptized, at least not until John the Baptist; only those wishing to convert to Judaism were baptized.  Jesus said they, too, must be baptized or washed in water to be made clean, and they also must be baptized by the fire of the Holy Spirit.  Water baptism by itself was not enough; they must also receive the Holy Spirit to be truly born again.  Water baptism represented a person's desire to have their sins washed away by Jesus, and that true desire to repent and become a new person would entitle them to the gift of the Holy Spirit who would then lead them in truth.  However, water baptism was not always necessary if it could not be done, as with the thief on the cross.  There, Jesus washed away his sins like as said in Ezekiel 36:25, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you."

(6) "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

Jesus went on to explain that when born of the flesh as man is born by his mother in natural birth, he was only flesh.  Even if he were able to be born again a second time from his mother's womb, he would still be born of flesh.  However, when he is born again of the Holy Spirit, he becomes spiritual, seeking the holy things of God, and becomes a new man striving to become pure in his actions.  

(7) "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (8) The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound but cannot tell from where it comes and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Jesus told Nicodemus not to wonder about how one was actually born again.  It was not something one could physically see, as watching a baby be born.  It was more like the wind that you know is there because you can feel it and see it, but you never saw where it came from or where exactly it would end up.  So it was with someone born of the Spirit.  You might feel and hear of the effects of it, but you can never actually see the Spirit in a person or when it came to be in the person.  You cannot see that second birth just as you cannot see the birth of the wind.

I learned something fascinating as I studied the original Hebrew word "ruach."  It means "wind" or "spirit," and was used many times in the Bible to mean each one almost equally.  It was used in Genesis 1:2, "...And the Spirit (ruach) of God moved upon the face of the waters."  It was used in Genesis 8:1, "...And God made a wind (ruach) to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided."  Also in Exodus 10:13, "And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind (ruach) upon the land all that day and all that night, and when it was morning the east wind (ruach) brought the locusts."  It's fascinating to think of the wind as the Spirit of God as it surely was in those last two examples.  

(9) Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, "How can these things be?"

Nicodemus still didn't understand and asked Jesus how those things He spoke of could be.

(10) Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you a master of Israel and do not know these things?"

Jesus asked Nicodemus if he was a master, or learned teacher, in Israel and actually did not know these things.  After all, why did he baptize converts to Judaism?  Was it not to symbolize a new birth?  And surely the Spirit of God was evident in the scriptures.  What was there not to understand for a learned master of Israel?

(11) "Verily, verily, I say to you, We speak what We know, and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness."

Jesus and His disciples taught what they knew to be true, but it seems that learned teachers of Israel taught what they themselves did not understand.  Not only did Jesus and His disciples teach, but the disciples could testify about what they had seen, the miracles Jesus did proving He was from God, as Nicodemus had said he knew He was in verse 2, yet he did not receive His testimony.

(12) "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

Jesus went on to ask Nicodemus how he would understand and believe a deeper and more spiritual answer when he did not even grasp and believe the earthly things he should have already understood and believed, like water baptism and a simple understanding of the spiritual nature of God.

(13) "And no man has ascended up to heaven but He who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven."

I believe the sense here is that no one has ascended up to heaven and returned to be able to tell about those heavenly things.  Only Jesus, the Son of man, came down from heaven as a son born to human parents, but was also God in heaven.  "Was God in heaven" is not exactly accurate.  When you really look at the words of Jesus, He said, "who is in heaven," present tense.  The omnipresent God was at that moment in heaven and in bodily form there on earth in the presence of Nicodemus.  Jesus was the only one who could talk firsthand about heavenly things.

(14) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, (15) That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

Jesus referred Nicodemus to the scriptures which in Numbers 21:8-9, told of how Moses lifted up the brass serpent on a pole and whoever had been bitten by a fiery serpent could look up to the brass serpent and live.  He said it was to be in the same way of Him, that He, the Son of man, was to be lifted up on the cross, and whoever looked to Him and believed in Him would not perish in their fiery sin but would have eternal life.

I never quite understood why a brass serpent so like an idol of sorts could be symbolic of Jesus.  However, for the first time, I see that just as the brass serpent was used as a symbol of the people's sin and their righteous punishment, so the perfect Jesus Christ on the cross was made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13) taking on all our sins and suffering what should have been our punishment for our sins.  On the cross Jesus was a curse, a symbol of our sins and punishment.  When we look to Jesus on the cross and believe and accept what He did for us, we are saved from eternal death, just as the people were saved from death when they looked to the brass serpent.  Of course, there was no real power in the brass serpent itself, but God gave the people a way to be saved by using it.  The perfect Jesus was not worthy of His punishment and in human reality, just because He suffered and died unjustly does not mean we should be saved.  However, God used Jesus on the cross and Jesus willingly allowed Himself to take on all our sin, so that we could be saved.  But we have to look to Him.  It's not automatic just as making the brass serpent was not an automatic cure.  The people had to look up to it accepting the fact that that was their only way of being saved.  Looking up to Jesus is our only way of being saved!

(16) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Jesus told Nicodemus that it was because God loved His children in the world so much that He gave them a way to be saved from their sin and death.  He gave them His only begotten Son, a term for the nearest and dearest possible bond among men.  There is no more deeper bond; God gave of Himself to save the world.  Whoever believed in Jesus, Son of Man and God on earth, would not die but would have everlasting life.

(17) "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Although the world did deserve to be condemned, that was not the reason God sent Jesus.  He sent Him to provide a way that the world might be saved through Him.  People of the world were unable to save themselves through the law, for all fell short (Romans 3:23), so because God loved His creation so much, He sent them a way to be saved.

(18) "He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

God did not send Jesus to condemn and punish those who did not believe in Him.  They were already condemned because of their sin!  They just remain condemned if they do not believe in and accept Jesus.

(19) "And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil."

Jesus explained when the condemnation came.  God's light had come into the world through His word and the prophets and even in the consciences of man that God gave them, but men loved darkness rather than the light because they wished to continue in their evil ways.  Satan may tempt man, but man himself decides whether or not he enjoys his sin.

(20) "For everyone who does evil hates the light, nor comes to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."

Those who do evil do not like the light; they don't want to come near it and have their evil deeds exposed.

(21) "But he who does truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they were done in God."

However, the one who obeys the truth and does rightly has no fear of the light.  In fact, he loves the light and truth and wants to learn more.  He searches for truth and light so that he knows his actions are right.

(22) After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judea and there He tarried with them and baptized.

Then Jesus and His disciples went into the land of Judea and stayed a while.  Jesus was probably still in Jerusalem (which is in Judea) when he dialogued with Nicodemus.  He and His disciples now went out of Jerusalem into the country of Judea.  His disciples under Jesus's direction baptized people.  John 4:2 later tells us that Jesus Himself did not do actual baptisms, but rather His disciples did the baptizing.

(23) And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized. (24) For John was not yet cast into prison.

John the Baptist was also still baptizing even though Jesus and His disciples were, in an area said to have much water.  He had not yet been cast into prison so he continued to do the work he had been sent to do.  People indeed did come to be baptized by him and by Jesus and His disciples.

(25) Then there arose a question between John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.

A discussion arose between the disciples of John and other Jews about purification.  It seems by what follows that they discussed who should be doing the baptizing as the disciples may have felt some resentment that it was being taken from them.

(26) And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond Jordan, to whom you bore witness, behold, the same baptizes and all come to Him."

John's disciples came to him to tell him that Jesus, the One he had testified of as being the Messiah, was also baptizing and it seemed all the people were going to Him.

(27) John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven."

John answered that a man could not receive anything from heaven by his own will, only if it was given to him by God.  If Jesus was now baptizing, then it was by God that He should do so, and seeing it was God's will, they should be glad and not envious.

(28) "You yourselves bear me witness that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him.'"

John went on to tell his disciples that they had heard him tell them in the past that he was not Christ, but he had been sent before Him.

(29) "He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice; therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled."

John went on to explain and compared himself to the friend of a bridegroom who stood with the bridegroom.  It was only the bridegroom who got the bride, but his friend who stood with him rejoiced greatly for his friend.  In that way, John rejoiced because his purpose had been fulfilled.  He came to prepare the way for Jesus and he had done that, and now Jesus began His ministry.  That was a great joy to John.

(30) "He must increase, but I decrease."

It was time for Jesus to begin His ministry and make His doctrine grow and spread to all people, and as John had fulfilled his purpose of preparing the way for Jesus, it was time for him to decrease his teaching and baptizing.

(31) "He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all."

John told his disciples that because Jesus came from above in heaven He was foremost and above all, even him.  Although John did prophesy about things he may not have had direct earthly knowledge of, he modestly admitted most of what he could speak of were earthly things that he knew about, but Jesus would teach with firsthand knowledge from heaven.

(32) "And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies, and no man receives His testimony."

The old commentators I read believed this meant that no man (or very few) received Jesus's testimony and teaching.  In this context, I see it differently.  I believe it means that Jesus was able to testify of all that He knew of in heaven, and no other man on earth could receive a testimony such as His, only He who had Himself lived it.  Therefore, Jesus had the foremost authority to testify about His own doctrine.

(33) "He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true."

Jesus, the One who received His testimony by living it in heaven proves that God is true!  That's the way I understand it.  But if taken the way many commentators see it, then this was John saying that he was one who had received Jesus's testimony and could certify that God was true.

(34) "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit sparingly."

Jesus, whom God sent to save the world, actually spoke the words of God, for He was God and He was the Word, and God would not limit the amount of His Spirit that He gave this Son of man, so although Jesus was fully man, He was fully God.

(35) "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand."

Father God in heaven loved His Son on earth and had given all things of heaven and authority over all things to Him.

(36) "He who believes on the Son has everlasting life and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

Anyone who believes in the Son of God will have everlasting life, but those who do not believe in Him will perish and suffer the wrath of God that already abides on him because of his sin.  It's not that God actively goes forth and punishes those who don't believe in Him, although He could, but every one of us have had the wrath of God already on us because of our sins, and it is only through Jesus and His atonement that we may have His wrath removed from us.  Some commentators believe that at some point in these last verses, it ceased to be the words of John the Baptist, and were the words of John the evangelist, the author of this Gospel.