Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S59 || The Cross: History's Hinge Point || Mark 15:22-41 || Session 59 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
The crucifixion stands as the pivotal moment in human history—the hinge point where everything changed. Join us as we explore Mark's account of Jesus' death, unpacking the profound theological significance beneath the deceptively simple words, "they crucified him."
We begin at Golgotha, examining the possible connections between Christ's crucifixion and Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac centuries earlier. This extraordinary parallel reveals God's consistent character throughout salvation history, providing the ultimate sacrifice Himself rather than merely requiring one from us.
What strikes many is Jesus' deliberate refusal of pain-dulling wine mixed with myrrh. Unlike most crucifixion victims who gladly accepted any relief, Jesus chose to experience the full, unmitigated suffering with complete clarity of mind. This decision reveals the intentional nature of His sacrifice—He came to earth specifically to die, and would do so with full awareness.
Perhaps most mysterious is the supernatural darkness that fell at midday during the crucifixion. This wasn't a natural eclipse (impossible during Passover's full moon) but a divine sign of judgment and mourning as Jesus bore the weight of human sin. When he finally cried out and gave up his spirit—not as one whose life was taken, but as one who sovereignly surrendered it—even the hardened Roman centurion recognized something extraordinary had occurred.
The account ends with a touching detail often overlooked: while the male disciples fled, a group of faithful women stayed to witness everything. These same women would follow Jesus' body to the tomb and return to find it empty—providing crucial eyewitness testimony to both his death and resurrection.
The cross isn't the end of the story, but rather sets the stage for the resurrection. Join us next time as we continue exploring how this darkest moment in history brings us the brightest hope for eternity.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
The most important event in human history is Jesus' death on the cross. The most significant is his death and his resurrection. We're going to deal with that today. Jesus' death on the cross. It's the high point or you could even describe low point of the gospel. It's the low point for Jesus because he is persecuted by everyone around him, but for us it's the most meaningful because it provides the way back to the Lord God. Hi, my name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve. We have a ministry we call Reasoning Through the Bible. Today we're going to find again Jesus' death on the cross. So if you have your copy of the Bible, open it to Mark, chapter 15, and we're going to go ahead and start here. Steve, can you start in verse 22 and read to verse?
Speaker 2:32?. Then they brought him to the place Golgotha, which is translated place of a skull. They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it, and they crucified him and divided up his garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read the King of the Jews. They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left, and the scripture was fulfilled, which said and he was numbered with transgressors. Those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads and saying Ha, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking him among themselves and saying he saved others. He cannot save himself. Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross so that we might see and believe. Those who were crucified with him were also insulting him.
Speaker 1:We have here everyone who has turned their backs on Jesus. Even the thieves on each side of him were ridiculing him and insulting him. This is again Jesus' death on the cross, and it is most significant to our faith. Let's walk through this passage and we'll learn many things. In verse 22, they took him outside the city of Jerusalem, outside the walls, to a place called Golgotha or the place of a skull. Now, still today, there's a place that you can go to Jerusalem and it looks similar to a skull.
Speaker 1:There's no way of knowing whether that is the place that Jesus died on Could be. The modern one is more of a tourist attraction than the actual place. Christian traditions would hold that this very spot where Jesus died on the cross was the same exact spot that Abraham sacrificed Isaac. Now, there's no way of knowing that, but we do know that God specified both locations. He told Abraham the exact spot to sacrifice Isaac, and the exact spot where Jerusalem was to be located was chosen by God as well. So it would be like our Lord to connect those two events, because the be like our Lord to connect those two events, because the sacrifice of Isaac was a foreshadow of the death of God's own Son, jesus on the cross. But again, we have no way of really knowing the exact location. So, steve, what are your thoughts with this idea of Jesus being crucified outside the city?
Speaker 2:Well, it fulfills prophecy one that the criminals were to be crucified outside the city. Also, that the Messiah was going to be crucified or put onto a tree. It says cursed all those who are on a tree. Glenn, when you say Abraham sacrificed Isaac, I know what you're talking about. He obviously didn't really sacrifice Isaac. He attempted to sacrifice him. He was following God's orders and we went through that whole story when we went through Genesis there.
Speaker 2:But I just want to have some people that might not be familiar with it that Abraham didn't actually sacrifice him.
Speaker 2:I don't feel that that was the place where he did it, because I think it was more up where the temple actually was, which was kind of a high place there on the temple mount. I kind of think that that's where it was and the temple holy of holies was over that place where Abraham was, but for sure it was there in the Jerusalem area called Mount Moriah back there in Genesis. As to where it was and whether it was the actual Golgotha outside the city or there on the Temple Mount area where Abraham was, I still think that God is connecting both of those areas. Here's the reason why is because whenever Abraham went up with Isaac and Isaac asked Abraham. He said, father, I see that you have the wood, I see that you have the fire, yet I don't see where the sacrifice is. And Abraham said God will provide for himself. The sacrifice, and God did and this is exactly what God is doing here in Jesus Christ is he is providing himself as the satisfactory sacrifice, the propitiation that is needed in order to pay for our sin debt.
Speaker 1:Verse 23 here says they tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. Now why would he refuse the wine mixed with myrrh?
Speaker 2:This was a concoction that they would give to the people that they were crucifying to dull the pain that they were experiencing. Crucifixion was extremely, extremely painful and cruel. The people would hang, their arms outstretched, their feet would be nailed to the cross, as well as their hands. In order to breathe, they would have to push up with their feet so that they could catch their breath. Then they would hang once again and it would obstruct their breathing, their diaphragm. So you had this repetitive action of them pushing up with their feet that was nailed to the cross and then hanging from the cross with their hands constantly. This was a mixture that they would give to them to help dull the pain.
Speaker 2:Well, jesus didn't want his pain dulled. He didn't want his faculties to be muddled. He was conscious of what he was doing. We've talked about that all throughout Mark and the other Gospels that we've gone through. Jesus has orchestrated this. He knows exactly what he's doing here at these moments when he's on the cross. He doesn't want his human mind to be muddled in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 1:He didn't want anyone to accuse him of well. He didn't really feel the pain. That's why he refused the drug. He took the full weight of our sin. He took the full pain. The full crucifixion was on him and he didn't want to take away any of that. He paid the full price.
Speaker 1:The other connection that I always think of is the myrrh. Again, was a type of drug, but remember, way back at Jesus' birth, the wise men brought gifts of myrrh. The myrrh was used at his birth and at his death. The myrrh was a spice, it was a type of drug and it was given to him at his birth and given to him at his death, or at least it appeared. He didn't take it at either place. But the connection between the birth and the death was that Jesus came to die. His purpose for coming to earth, from the very day he was born, was to die on a cross. That's the connection. He came here to pay for my sin and for your sin.
Speaker 1:Then, in verse 24, it merely says and they crucified him. A simple sentence. And they crucified him. But there's a lot packed in there. Jesus' death was ugly and horrible, yet it has the greatest meaning. It was very, very gruesome. All it says here is they crucified him. Steve, why doesn't any of the Gospels go into any of the gruesome details about the crucifixion? You mentioned a couple, but it was very horrible. I've heard medical explanations of what happens to a human body when they go through this process, yet the Gospels mention none of this. All it says is they crucified him. Why does it go into any of the really horrible, gory details?
Speaker 2:Because the people of the first century at the time that this was written, they knew what crucifixion was. It happened all the time. It wasn't any mystery to them what crucifixion was. It would be like in our day well, they executed him. Well, how do they execute people today? They do it in a certain way. We're familiar with what it is giving them drugs here in the country where we live. In past times it might have been with the guillotine and they might have said the person was taken up and the guillotine was used. Well, that was chopping off their head. As you go through different eras, there's different types of capital punishment and ways and means in order to carry that out. To me, glenn, this shows that this is an eyewitness account that was written in the contemporary times. Because of that, just as crucifixion, the people of that era would know what crucifixion meant. You didn't have to go into any detail for them when it says they crucified him.
Speaker 1:Many of the crucifixions took a very long time. That was the point of crucifixion was that it was not quick. It was very slow and very painful and it was a gory, horrible death that, as we're going to learn, god draws a darkness down upon this in the sense that it wasn't something to look at. It was to know that it happened, but it was so horrible from a taking on of our sin and so horrible from a physical pain that we don't focus on the gore, we don't focus on the blood and the sense of just a gory, human, passionate reaction. We focus on the crucifixion in the sense that he took my sin and he took your sin. That's the point that we have here. What's really interesting to me is that at one point he has this quote Lord, lord, why have you forsaken me? Which is actually the first verse of Psalm 22. If you go back and I would encourage our listeners go back and read Psalm 22. It is a first-person account from Jesus' perspective as he hangs on the cross, describing what he's feeling and what he's seeing around him as he hangs on the cross. It's quite interesting that Psalm 22 gives Jesus' perspective on crucifixion and it was written way back before crucifixion had even been invented. We have an inspired Word of God giving Jesus' perspective on his bones being out of joint, his hearts melting like wax, his tongue is cleaving to his mouth. All of this was a description of the physical parts, but he also describes what he's seeing with these people around him ridiculing. The Word of God describes crucifixion in more detail in Psalm 22 than it does in any of the four Gospels.
Speaker 1:One of the things that happens to a crucified body is that it dehydrates and it's a very slow, painful, horrible death. It is the most horrible form of execution ever invented by man, and it's all packed into this word here. In verse 24, they crucified him. But it's the hinge point of history. The death and resurrection of Christ is where all of history rests upon. Without that, we have no way back to God. With it, then, all of human creation can be reconciled to God through this act. It is the most important event that ever happened in human history. Yet all it says here is they crucified him. Such a simple sentence, but such a profound one. In verse 24, the soldiers gambled for the one thing that Jesus had that was of any value, which were the clothes on his back. This means that he was most probably crucified naked. They took his clothes and gambled for them, the crude soldiers not realizing what was going on. But it means he was probably even humiliated to the point of being naked and being ridiculed. In that sense he was humiliated entirely and thoroughly and that was as thorough of a death and a humiliation as possible.
Speaker 1:Now, in verse 25, it says it was the third hour, which would have been 9 am, and there's a bit of an apologetic question, simply because John 19.14 says that Pilate met with Jesus in about the sixth hour. So we have Mark talking about the third hour and Pilate at least John saying that Jesus met with Pilate about the sixth hour. How do we reconcile this? Well, first of all, mark very well could have been using the Jewish way of calculating time, while John may have been using the Roman legal way, which started at midnight and since nobody really had accurate clocks back then, really hard to say exactly when midnight was. That's why John says about the sixth hour, which is imprecise. Then also, we read this in one minute and we think it all just happens in one minute.
Speaker 1:But really, preparation for the crucifixion took some time. Remember, the Roman soldiers had to go through a process. They had to do it right. All this was happening with the trials that morning. It wasn't instantaneous. It's very possible that it took two or three hours for all the preparation to happen and to get ready and to walk out to Golgotha. It's accurate to say that these things are both true, simply because of the time frame that happens here. Verse 33 says darkness fell from the sixth to the ninth hour, which would have been noon to three, now, steve. It also says here that he was crucified in between these two thieves. What do we think of when we have Jesus crucified between thieves?
Speaker 2:What I think of is you have an innocent person being crucified, put to death, amongst two guilty parties, people that were there because they had been found guilty and been sentenced to death.
Speaker 2:So that's the picture that I see you have an innocent person in the middle along with these two thieves.
Speaker 2:The other thing that's going on, glenn, at this nine o'clock hour that's a parallel to the Lamb of God, the Passover lamb for all of us.
Speaker 2:As John put it behold the lamb that takes away the sin of the world is that at nine o'clock in the morning, the priests up on the Temple Mount were sacrificing their Passover lambs that they were going to eat. Later. That day, the day before the actual Passover, they're busy up on the Temple Mount sacrificing all the lambs for the people to have and to eat at their Passover meals. So the next day, the next morning, at nine o'clock, the priests are sacrificing their lambs that they're going to eat later on. So here you have Jesus, the lamb that takes away the sin of the world, at nine o'clock, being sacrificed at the same time that you have the temple priests up on the temple mount doing the same thing, sacrificing their Passover lambs. I don't think that it's a mistake that this is happening. God is drawing a parallel between the two the sacrifice for the world and the leadership up there doing the same thing, the ones that have rejected Jesus, yet they still don't realize what truly is going on and taking place at this critical time in history.
Speaker 1:Verse 26 says the inscription of the charge against him read the King of the Jews. Now, part of this is because the Romans would, of course, do this near a gate or a roadway outside the city so that when visitors came they would see the punishment that happens to criminals and they would put the charge of why this person was crucified on a placard and post it next to the dying or dead person. You imagine these two thieves. Or imagine if you were a visitor walking into Jerusalem and you see these horribly tortured people on a cross and the sign next to it says thief. Well, what's it going to do? It's going to make you very aware not to steal anything. In our day we tend to arrest thieves and then let them go and don't really punish them quickly, but in those days they didn't have a whole lot of thievery. Simply because you had a very good incentive I don't want to be out there on that cross as a thief. It was quite a profound thing that would diminish thievery and crime. They had to put a crime on Jesus.
Speaker 1:Pilate knew we read from previous sessions on Jesus. Pilate knew we read from previous sessions. Pilate knew that he was really doing this out of envy when he put the king of the Jews. We can quite imagine this was Pilate sort of poking the eye to the Jewish leadership this is your king, we're crucifying him because he's your king. To the Roman governor, pilate, this was okay, this is your king. This poor beggar that's been crucified. The Jews, that kind of manipulated Pilate into crucifying this innocent man. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. It told us that this was Pilate's way of kind of giving a tease or a poke in the eye to the Jewish leadership, saying all you Jews that think you're so haughty, this is your king. Well, at the same time, it was also profound. Pilate probably didn't realize that he was actually giving the truth, because Jesus is the true king of the Jews. Steve, there's just so much meaning in each of these things in this story.
Speaker 2:I think it's a way of showing dominance, too, of the Roman government over the Jewish people, because again there have been uprisings, and I think that Pilate possibly was taking an opportunity to show this is what happens to your people that want to uprise against us and claim to be king of your people, the Jews. Here's what happens to them. But you've hit the nail on the head. Pilate was really prodding the leadership because, remember, they didn't want him to be called a king, they didn't want him to be noted that way. They used that as an accusation against him so that Pilate would carry out the sentence to crucify him, but they really didn't believe in it. So it's definitely a jab at the leadership as to who he was.
Speaker 1:Verse 30, the Jewish leaders that were out there poking fun at him were yelling up to Jesus save yourself and come down from the cross. Of course, this is full of irony, simply because, I mean, jesus did have the power to I mean he was God incarnate have the power to. I mean he was God incarnate, he had the power to come down off of the cross and save himself. But what would happen if he did come down off of the cross? What's the irony here, steve?
Speaker 2:Well, I think the irony is they say come down so that then we might believe They've been given plenty of miracles that he's done throughout his three-year ministry. Miracles that he's done throughout his three-year ministry, plenty of opportunity to come to the realization of who he is, to change their mind, to repent is what that word means about who he is as the Messiah. They wouldn't have believed. Even if he would have come down, they still would not have believed. Their heart was hardened. This is not something that's going to happen. It's something that they're just again mocking him with.
Speaker 1:And of course he had the power again to come down off the cross. They were saying save yourself, come down off the cross. Well, if he saved himself and came down, he wouldn't be saving them, he wouldn't have the opportunity to save them. If he came down, then they would end up dying in their sins. But because he didn't save himself, then now he could save them and he could save you and he could save me. In verse 32, the Jewish leaders say let this Christ, king of Israel, now come down from the cross that we may see and believe. And you just pointed out, steve, they'd already seen. Even if he came down, I don't think they would have believed, simply because they had already seen things and rejected that If he came down off the cross, then he wouldn't be able to pay for their sins. Let's go ahead and read the next section.
Speaker 1:Starting in verse 33, says this when the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour, jesus cried out with a loud voice Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani, which is translated my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying Behold, he is calling for Elijah. Some ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave him a drink, saying Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.
Speaker 1:And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who was standing right in front of him saw the way he breathed his last, he said truly, this man was the Son of God. There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary, magdalene and Mary, the mother of James the less, and Joseph and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they used to follow him and minister to him, and there were many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. Verse 33 says the sixth hour, which is noon. Then it says there was darkness for three hours, starting at noon. What is the significance, Steve, of the darkness here for this period of time in the middle of the day?
Speaker 2:It normally doesn't get dark. That time of day is the significance of it. It's the sixth hour would have been noon. That's when the sun is at its highest peak. For it to become completely dark is out of the ordinary. It's really even supernatural.
Speaker 1:It's showing that the heavens are out of balance. Darkness in the middle of the day, from noon to three, just doesn't happen right. So it's showing there's something out of balance. There's something wrong in nature here. Bible teachers claim that this is the Father hiding the horribleness of the cross. Very possibly, but at a minimum it was a sign saying that something very dark is happening here, and it is. Jesus took on the sin of the world. Jesus was the light of the world and when he dies the light goes out. The darkness is also a symbol of judgment, of God's severe wrath being poured out. There was not only darkness on the land, but darkness in the hearts of the people crucifying Jesus.
Speaker 1:There have been, of course, liberal theologians that have tried to explain away miracles, saying well, this was the eclipse of the sun or something similar, but this had to be supernatural. It was not a natural event. Passover, which is when this occurs, always occurs on a full moon. It's not possible to have a solar eclipse when there's a full moon because of the position of the sun and the earth. It is a supernatural darkness brought on by God, the Father, to draw a veil over the darkest event in human history, which is Jesus taking on the sin of the world. Then, in verse 34, what does Jesus say here? What is he saying and why does he say?
Speaker 2:this. He says my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is the very first verse of Psalm 22 that you mentioned earlier in the session. People have looked at this and said he's crying out for Elijah, as what's given here in the testimony of Mark. But I think Glenn is that he is reciting Psalm 22 to himself as he is going through this pain of the crucifixion, because at the very end of it he says it is finished. That's really how Psalm 22 ends. Psalm 22 ends roughly I'm paraphrasing, but it's been completed. So I personally think that Jesus is going through and reciting Psalm 22.
Speaker 2:Now, the people of the day, the scholars, they would have recognized that this is the first verse of Psalm 22. So in a way, I think it's him pointing them to this event of the crucifixion. This is being a prophesied event of the Messiah being crucified, by pointing the scholars and the people back to Psalm 22. In other words, a way of go and read it. I'm reciting the first verse here. Go read Psalm 22. It's speaking about me and what's happening right now.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly. And again, I would encourage all of our listeners go back and read Psalm 22. What you'll see is a crucifixion from Jesus' perspective, as he's hanging on the cross. He's giving a first-person description of what he is seeing. It's all the way down to they pierced my hands and my feet, what his body feels like, what he's seeing with the people around him. It's most amazing.
Speaker 1:Then, in verse 34, again, notice that Mark accurately translates the Aramaic to the Greek. The Eloi, eloi lama sabachthani was an Aramaic phrase that has been translated into the Greek. Mark knew how to translate things, so there's no issue translating between languages. All of our modern translators are all quite good as well, so we can trust all of our modern translations. Verse 35, the people around him misunderstood what he was saying and thought he was crying out for Elijah. He was actually quoting, as we said, psalm 22. Verse 36, they gave Jesus a little bit of vinegar, sour wine, when he was at the point of death. This was was again to fulfill prophecy, because Psalm 69, 21 talks about giving vinegar to drink. Even in death, he was fulfilling prophecy. Verse 37 is where he dies. He says he cried out loudly and whatever it was that happened when he died. The centurion saw this and says what? What did? The centurion saw this and says what? What did the centurion say, steve?
Speaker 2:He says truly, this man was the son of God. He, I think, became a believer in who Jesus was at that moment.
Speaker 1:Remember Jesus had been beaten. He'd been up all night, hadn't eaten in a while. He was severely, severely beaten before he got to the cross. Now he's been on the cross bleeding out, yet he still had the energy to cry out loudly. He cried out with a loud voice and we learned from the other Gospels. He said to Telestai it is finished, which is a legal term. He said that I've paid it all. It's over with. I've paid the full price in full. And that's when he gave up his spirit. Even at the end, he was in full control. No one took his life. He gave it. He still had the strength to cry out loudly that everything was finished.
Speaker 1:Jesus died because he gave up his spirit. No one took it from him. So it has here this. However it was, he died. There was something about it that this rusty old centurion remember. This centurion, it was his job to execute people. He was the executioner. He saw many deaths. He was not squeamish about seeing people die. Yet there was something different about this one. When Jesus gave up his spirit, the centurion noticed this one's different and said this is the Son of God and again, we've pointed this out all along the Gospels Son of means having the same nature of the Gospels. Son of means having the same nature of, and so son of God means having the same nature as God. This centurion realized that this was God that died on the cross. Not God in the sense of God's nature that died, but God in the sense of God the Son's human nature died. Then, in verse 40 and 41, what does it say?
Speaker 2:about the women, that there were women looking on from a distance, and these are women that had come with him from Galilee. These are a group of women that have been with him as he has gone about his ministry and they're still following him and they're even at his death, albeit, it says, from a distance. They're watching what's going on.
Speaker 1:These women stayed when the men left. The men scattered, but the women, if we follow the description through, they had followed him from Galilee, it says in verse 41, which means they were with him all the way from Galilee, all the way in. They would minister to him, they would meet his needs. They would bring him him. They would meet his needs. They would bring him things, bring him food, bring him water, help him with whatever his needs might be. They stuck with him when it got ugly. When the men didn't. The men ran away. They stayed there and watched. They followed Jesus all the way to the cross. They followed the body down to the grave and saw them roll the stone in place Chapter 16, verse 1,. They were there the following morning when he rose.
Speaker 1:This tells us not only that these women were strong enough. They loved their Lord. They never wavered. They did their role, which was to minister to him. Even when others ran, they were faithful. It also tells us that there's no way that anyone could get mixed up on who actually died on the cross, whose body went into which grave, where the grave was, all those things, because there was eyewitnesses all along the way, all the way from Galilee through Jerusalem to the cross, to the grave and to the resurrection. Steve, that tells us that we can trust these eyewitness accounts. There's no way the wrong person died on the cross. There's no way they got the body mixed up. The most important lesson, though, is that these women stayed faithful.
Speaker 2:Yes, and this is not the end of the story. So many times we see depictions of Jesus on the cross, but that's not the end. The real exciting part is what's coming next, and that he's going to be resurrected from the grave, and we're going to find that out in our next session in the verses that we go through.
Speaker 1:We'll see you next time as we continue to reason through the Bible.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.
