The Passion and Death of Jesus on the Cross

 

The Passion and Death of Jesus on the Cross

 

Luke 3:16 states: "John answered them all, 'I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.'"

Baptism by water symbolizes death. Jesus Himself received water baptism from John the Baptist, which foreshadowed His death on the cross. Jesus bestows the baptism of fire and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of fire is akin to the burning of the "old self"—much like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—and serves as a form of refining fire for those who have strayed in their faith. The baptism of the Holy Spirit imparts a spiritual, resurrected life, leading to a new birth.

After His baptism, Jesus spent three years in public ministry, ultimately bearing the cross to fulfill the will of God. His death on the cross was a death to sin and to the "body of sin." Although He was sinless, Jesus possessed a "body of sin"—a vessel for sin—inherited from the first man, Adam. Yet, this vessel contained no sin of His own. Consequently, God placed the original sin of humanity and the sins of the entire world into this body of sin, and His Son, Jesus, was put to death upon the cross.

Through the blood shed during His death on the cross, sin is atoned for. Hebrews 9:22 declares: "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Furthermore, the "body of sin" is consumed by fire. Hebrews 10:12 states, "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God." A sacrifice is an offering that is consumed by fire and presented to God.

Leviticus 1:6–9 describes the process: "He is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. He is to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord."

The body of Jesus, as He died on the cross, served as a sacrifice—a burnt offering consumed by fire. In a literal sense, however, Jesus’ body was not consumed by flames. Instead, He remained on the cross for six hours: the first three hours were spent in agonizing torment under the scorching heat of the sun, and the subsequent three hours were spent in total darkness. The suffering under the blazing sun can be seen as symbolizing a "baptism by fire," while the agony endured within the darkness represents a "baptism by water"—as if submerged in the depths.

Jesus was crucified at the "third hour," which corresponds to 9:00 a.m. by modern reckoning. Three hours later, at the "sixth hour" (noon), darkness fell upon the world. This darkness persisted for three hours, lifting at the "ninth hour" (around 3:00 p.m.)—the moment when the Lord breathed His last. John 19:1–3: "Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head, dressed him in a purple robe, and went up to him again and again, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' And they struck him in the face."

Pilate had Jesus flogged and handed Him over to the soldiers to be humiliated. He believed that if the people saw Jesus suffering through such brutal torture and mockery, their anger might subside—for the flogging administered by Roman soldiers was a cruel form of torture that tore and gouged the flesh. Yet, the people continued to cry out, demanding that Jesus be crucified. The chief priests, who incited the crowd to call for His death, claimed that Jesus’s crime was His assertion that He was the Son of God.

Jesus took up the cross and went to Golgotha—a place of a skull, signifying death. A prisoner condemned to crucifixion would carry the crossbar, while the vertical post remained fixed at the execution site. The crossbar represented one’s own sin; to carry it meant to bear the weight of one’s own transgressions. Those crucified alongside Jesus—one on His left and one on His right—were likewise hanging on their crosses in agony, bearing the burden of their own sins.

Jesus, the Word who became flesh and dwelt on this earth, remained committed to fulfilling the Scriptures until the very last moment of His life on the cross. As it is written: "Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.'" This was to fulfill the words of Psalm 69:21: "They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."

This passage metaphorically describes the suffering David endured at the hands of his adversaries. Who could possibly consume bitter gall as food when hungry, or drink undiluted vinegar when thirsty? It illustrates that the insults and shame David suffered from his enemies had reached an extreme.

Sour wine is essentially vinegar. To be offered vinegar—rather than water or wine—when one is thirsty only intensifies the suffering; it would be better not to drink anything at all. Although people offered Jesus this sour wine (vinegar) to mock Him, He accepted it to fulfill the Scriptures; then, declaring "It is finished," He passed away.

Furthermore, unlike the two criminals crucified alongside Him, Jesus’ legs were not broken; instead, His side was pierced by a spear. This, too, was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, as it is written: "Not one of his bones will be broken," and elsewhere, "They will look on the one they have pierced."

Ironically, the very people who served as the instruments through which these Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled—down to the last detail—were the Jews who mocked Jesus and refused to believe in Him, along with Pilate and the Roman soldiers. The Jews, the Roman soldiers, and Pilate—all of whom mocked and ridiculed Jesus—were, unbeknownst to them, used as instruments to bring about the fulfillment of the Scriptures. In the same way, people of faith are also used as channels through which the Word of God is fulfilled.