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University SDA Church- East Lansing

The Face of Jesus Christ

David Shin

The Face of Jesus Christ- Part 1

Today we are beginning a new series of messages that we've entitled, The Face of Jesus Christ.

And it came out of a personal reflection of mine as I've been going through the last few chapters of each of the Gospels.

And it's my prayer that each 1 of you will journey with me as we were going through these different aspects of the character of Christ.

I want to back up, do a little bit of review.

We said that it was always God's desire to reveal himself to humanity.

He wanted to reveal his character to man, show us who he was, but there was a problem.

He always had to clothe himself in another medium.

Remember with Moses at the burning bush, he did not come out and talk to Moses face-to-face, he had to be within the bush.

He chose a very humble medium with which to communicate with Moses.

We also see that in the Old Testament, the pillar of cloud was another means of communication.

God would be enshrouded in a cloud and Moses would come to the cloud and God would speak to Moses from within a cloud.

It was never face-to-face communication, It was always through another medium.

And then we have the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant was where the Shekinah glory was, and this was a place where God's presence resided, and yet it was covered.

You were not able to go into the most holy place of the sanctuary, rather you were only to view it many times only when it was being taken from place to place, it was covered and there was a particular way that this object was covered.

You'll notice that in 1 Samuel 6, verse 20, after the Ark of the Covenant has been uncovered and people perished because they witnessed the glory of God.

It said, 1 Samuel 6, verse 20, who can stand in the presence of this what?

God wants to reveal himself to humanity, he wants to show us his character, but the problem is because of his holiness we are not enabled to stand in his presence.

So God solved the problem we talked about in our first presentation by the greatest revelation of God in history, Jesus Christ.

There was no filter, there was no veil, and all you had to do to know the character of Jesus was to look in his face, amen?

Every look, every smile, every nod, every wink, every whisper, every sound, every touch, you could literally touch God.

You could look directly into the face of Jesus and know who God was.

The greatest revelation, yet it took the greatest condescension.

And we've said that the greatest revelation of Jesus can be found in the face of Jesus Christ.

2nd Corinthians says, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ.

So we come to our passage today with our title, In the Olive Grove, and I'd like to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26, verses 36 through 46.

Matthew chapter 26, 1, 1, 4, 6 in your pew Bible.

Matthew chapter 26, 1146 in your pew Bible, 2636-46.

And I'd like to read this entire portion and then go back and highlight some points very briefly.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there.

And he took with him Peter and 2 sons of Zebedee, James and John, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed, and he said, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.

He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed and said, Oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.

And he came to his disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, What?

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

And a second time he went and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup cannot pass away, unless I drink it, your will be done.

And he came and found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy.

So he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

And he came to his disciples and said, Are you still sleeping and resting?

Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners." Verse 46.

This was after the Last Supper, before the crucifixion, and the Bible says in this passage that he went to a place called Gethsemane.

It's interesting, in John's account, it doesn't mention Gethsemane, it says that it was a place across the Kidron Valley.

Another account says it was on the Mount of Olives.

It was in a garden, an olive grove, on the Mount of Olives.

This was incidentally the very same place where Jesus ascended in Acts chapter 1.

In Zechariah 14, verse 4, it says that this is the place where Jesus will descend.

Very significant place, the Mount of Olives.

And the Bible tells us that this was a place that Jesus was accustomed to be going.

It was a regular place of prayer, so there was nothing out of the ordinary.

He would many times go with his disciples to pray, but this time it was different.

This time, Jesus, his composure was changed, and the Bible tells us, it's interesting, when you look at the nuances of the original language, in verse 37, it says, and he took with him Peter and 2 sons of Zebedee.

He took with him his 3 disciples, remember on the Mount of Transfiguration he took these 3, these were his closest friends, and the Bible says that he began to be sorrowful.

This is interesting because in the Greek language they have different tenses.

This is a very significant figure of speech, a tense in the verb.

In other words, prior to coming to the Garden of Gethsemane, everything was fine, but then He entered the garden, took his 3 friends, and the Bible says, he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

The Bible goes on and says something else, and he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.

Jesus walks into the garden, suddenly he feels this weight upon him, and notice the language that comes out his mouth.

He's telling his 3 friends, his 3 closest companions look something's going on my soul is not just sorrowful but he says exceedingly sorrowful to the point of death Another translation says he was deeply grieved to the point of death.

In the Old Testament, When you sinned, you would have to bring a lamb into the sanctuary.

The Bible was very clear as to what you had to do to that lamb.

Prior to slitting the throat of the lamb, the sinner had to place his hands on the head of the lamb, and what he would do was transfer or confess all of his sins on to the Lamb.

The Lamb would then be slain and sacrificed on the altar.

Symbolically, the sins of the person were being transferred to the Lamb.

And I don't think that we can even scratch the surface of what is happening because the Bible says that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of whom?

If we were to compress all of Pastor Shin's sins, which I hope that none of you found out about, past, present, and future.

All the sins that I have committed, am committing, well by God's grace I'm not right now, but you get the point, all right?

And will commit, and you compress them down, and then you take all the compressions of every single person in this room and you place them upon 1 individual.

You take all the billions in the world, all of the people in the state penitentiaries that have done terrible deeds, all the people throughout the scope of history, past, present, future, and you place them upon 1 individual at 1 moment in time, and this is exactly what was happening.

Jesus walks into the garden, and suddenly he becomes the sin-bearer.

The corporate guilt, sin, shame, all of the things that come with sin are being placed corporately upon 1 man and it is crushing his soul.

He turns to his closest friends and he says, look, I'm not just sorrowful, I'm exceedingly sorrowful even to death.

In other words, I think I'm going to die.

The Bible goes on by saying he fell on his face.

He goes to pray and the weight is so great that he falls physically on his face and prays, Oh my father, and notice the nuances of his language, Oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away.

In other words, he's saying, Lord, I don't know if I can do it.

The sinless 1 is becoming the sin bearer and this is foreign to him and he's like, I don't know if I can do it.

Please Lord, if there's any other way, please.

The Bible tells us the Luke account, the physician.

Notice what he says, he says, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood.

When you're under so much stress, you actually start sweating blood, the bursting of blood vessels.

The Face of Jesus Christ- Part 2

Today we are continuing in our series of messages entitled, The Face of Jesus Christ, is taken from 2 Corinthians, where the Bible says, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is found in the face of Jesus Christ.

I'd like to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 18 verse 28, it's 1, 2, 4, 7.

In your pew Bible, we'll be staying for the majority of our time in John's aspect of this interchange between Pilate and Jesus.

Incidentally, all 3, all 4 of the Gospels talk about Pilate and Jesus, but John's Gospel is unique in that it gives us the most dialogue.

So I'd like to invite you to turn with me there.

I'll have some scriptures on the screen as well so you can follow along in your Bibles and on the screen.

The Bible tells us, and they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium and it was early morning but they themselves did not go into the praetorium lest they should be defiled that they might eat the Passover.

That these religious leaders are about to murder the son of God, the Passover lamb, and they're like, uh-uh-uh, we can't go into the house of a Gentile because we might become ceremonially defiled.

This is a little bit of a twisted priorities here.

They're killing the son of God and they're like, we don't want to go into your house Pilate because you're a Gentile and we might defile ourselves.

Why did they have to go to the house of Pilate, the Praetorium?

The reason was the Jews were given jurisdiction over spiritual matters, but when it came to the death penalty, they still needed the Roman official's stamp of approval.

They had convicted Jesus on the grounds, remember last week, of blasphemy and now they were going to Pilate.

Now Pilate could care less about the conviction of blasphemy.

All he cares about is a civil insurrection.

And it was early in the morning when they came.

This is an inscription that was found in the 1960s.

Many higher critics did not believe that Pontius Pilate, the name, was a legitimate name that was ever used, and this was an archaeological discovery.

The only inscription, incidentally, with the phrase Pontius Pilate.

It essentially validated the biblical description of Pilate and you'll be interested to also know that every archeological discovery that has been made has never contradicted the holy scriptures.

It has become so reliable that when archeologists go to do a dig overseas, you know what they bring with them?

They bring a map and they bring a bible because the bible has been historically accurate when it comes to archeology.

Pontius Pilate was mentioned another time earlier to this incident in Luke chapter 13.

The Bible says, Pilate mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices.

It seems to indicate that Pilate had murdered them while they were giving sacrifice.

He was a weak, mean man that was not afraid to use lethal force.

Philo and Josephus also record some incidents about Pilate.

He did not get along with the Jews and it was a very interesting, tenuous relationship.

We see that the Bible says in John Chapter 19, verse 29, 18, verse 29, Pilate then went out to them.

Remember the Jews did not want to come in because they did not want to be defiled, so Pilate had to go out to them.

And he said, what accusations do you bring against this man?

Remember last week we said that they had pinned the accusation of blasphemy, a religious conviction.

And you'll see the interesting response by the Pharisees.

In verse 30, they answered and said to him, if he were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you.

In other words, they're just saying trust us.

We don't want to give you a legitimate conviction as to what happened.

Pilate then goes into the Praetorium where Jesus is and starts dialoguing with Jesus.

And for the sake of time, We're not going to read through the entire chapter of John chapter 19 and 18, and you will thank me for it later.

Incidentally, this was a very difficult passage to study because it was so large I had to really hone in on a certain section.

Pilate is in a quandary because even though Pilate is not afraid to use lethal force when necessary, Pilate does have an element of morality about him.

And he looks at the face of Jesus and he notices very quickly that in the countenance of Jesus there is a difference between him and the hardened criminals.

Pilate has been interacting with criminals for a very long time and he looks at the face of Jesus and he sees innocence and he dialogues with him and 3 times, not once, not twice, but 3 times in Luke's account, Pilate says some very interesting words.

I want you to notice it there very quickly on the screen.

Pilate turned to the leading priest and the crowd and said, I want you to notice the nuances of what he's saying here.

He said, I find nothing wrong with this man.

He has cross-examined Jesus, and he says, look, I can't find anything wrong with him.

Verse 14 of that same chapter, You brought this man to me accusing him of leading a revolt.

I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him what?

Again in that same chapter, This is driving home a point in the mind of Luke.

I have found no reason to sentence him to death.

I would like to contend here this morning that Pilate not only did not believe that Jesus was guilty of a crime worthy of death, furthermore I believe that in Pilate's heart of hearts he wanted to release Jesus.

The reason I believe this is the Bible explicitly says in that same chapter, Luke 23, 21, Pilate argued with them.

Pilate comes out and he starts arguing with the religious leaders.

This is a pagan man, a non-believing pagan king, the prefect of Judea, the governor that was assigned to that region by Caesar, he goes out and starts arguing with them and he says that he wanted to release Jesus.

That was the reason why he would argue with them.

And in John chapter 19 verse 12 the Bible tells us that Jesus was attempted to be set free by Pilate.

He's in a quandary because he knows that Jesus is innocent and he starts to go out there to engage the mob, trying to convince them that this man is innocent.

Furthermore, he's trying to convince them that releasing him would be the best option.

There was a critical moment in which he compromised his position that I believe led him down the path of ultimately washing his hands and Jesus being crucified.

And this compromise began in Luke chapter 23 verse 20.

How could it be that someone that was so convicted that Jesus is innocent, furthermore is arguing in his favor trying to release him could later on wash his hands and Jesus would be crucified.

I believe it began right here at this critical point.

Pilate argued with them because he wanted to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, crucify him, crucify him.

For the third time he demanded why, what crime has he committed?

And I want you to notice this part that I've highlighted.

The next sentence seems contradictory to what he has just said.

I found no reason to sentence him to death so I will have him flogged and then I will release him.

Why are you going to whip an innocent man?

But perhaps in his mind he thought that they would have mercy on him or it was to appease the crowd that was beginning to get very, very angry.

He thought perhaps I could do this, I'll give in a little bit and I will perhaps quell the mob that is gathering around.

This is an interesting parallel or these sentences are placed specifically next to each other, it shows you the illogical framework that Pilate is working from.

He says, look, I found no reason to sentence him, but I will flog him and I will release him.

This is a picture of the Roman whip that archaeologists believe that they used during the first century.

It was a short handle like you see there on the screen, those things that are coming down are made of leather and you see those little kind of balls on the end of that leather?

That was a part of the whip where they would tie lead balls to the end of the leather, and then they would also take sharp pieces of sheep bone and place it on there as well.

The prisoner would be tied to a post, his back would be exposed and it usually took 2 Roman soldiers to take turns on the prisoner.

I'm not going to go into the details of what's happening, but medical examiners looking at the type of lacerations that would happen on the back of an individual that was going through something like this have said that it was designed to inflict as much pain as was humanly possible.

The Jews would only whip them 39 times because they believed that the 40th time would actually kill the individual.

So they would bring them to the very edge of death and then stop right there.

He's a physician at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and he probably is a Christian and he was curious as to what happened during the flogging period.

I'm not going to belabor this, but I just want us to get a grasp as to what was happening to Jesus at this point.

It's in the Bible and it's there for a reason.

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