I still remember how incredibly mind-blowing and humbling it was for me when I realized that Jesus—the God of the universe—prayed for me 2000 years before I ever existed. Mere hours before his betrayal, Jesus was thinking of me, of you, and of all those who would come after. And he prayed for us. (John 17: 20-24) Knowing full-well the torment he was about to endure to save us. Dying for the sins of every person that had ever existed, and every sin of every person yet unborn.
If you read a little further in John, you'll come across chapter 19, verses 33-37, which say that the Roman soldiers overseeing Jesus’ execution decided to see if he was really dead by stabbing him in the chest with a spear. When they pulled out the spear, blood and water gushed from the wound. This is very important because it means that there was a build up of fluid in Jesus’ pericardial sack.
Contrary to what many people think, death by crucifixion was not caused by blood loss; it was caused by asphyxiation. The strain on the arms and chest caused the victim to be able to inhale, but not exhale. In order to breath, they would have to push themselves up on their nail-pierced feet in order to exhale. Eventually the person would be too exhausted to push themselves up, so they would suffocate. (This is why they broke the legs of the two thieves next to Jesus to speed up their deaths before Passover. Without their legs they couldn't breathe. (John 19:31-32) However, the presence of fluid in his chest cavity is proves that Jesus had already died of asphyxiation by the time the order to break his legs had been given. This unique circumstance surrounding the death of Jesus fulfilled what was said in Psalm 34:20, while the rest of the crucifixion brings conclusion to the prophecies of Isaiah 53:
“For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!”
~Psalm 34:20 New Living Translation (NLT)
“For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!”
~Psalm 34:20 New Living Translation (NLT)
“Who has believed our message?To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
Unjustly condemned, he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.
He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.
But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.”
~ Isaiah 53 New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, and the literally earth-shattering significance of his substitutionary death on our behalf.
When Jesus died, there was a massive earthquake. The veil in the temple—which was several feet thick—was torn from top to bottom. And then there was the Darkness; recorded by several eyewitnesses in cities ranging from Jerusalem, to Athens, to Rome itself.
The extra-biblical historian Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160-240 AD) recorded the events following the Crucifixion as such:
"On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the 263 third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Savior fails on the day before the passover [see Phlegon]; but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun?"
~ Julius Africanus, Chronography, 18.1
The earth itself shook when Jesus died. To everyone there, it must have seemed like the end of the world.
“The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, ‘This man truly was the Son of God!’”
~ Matthew 27:54 New Living Translation (NLT)
In that moment, it was undeniable who Jesus was. He was God. And he died of a broken heart; his soul crushed by the weight of our sins.
But still, he prayed “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34 )
Jesus loved us all. And even though he was God, and knew everything that was going to happen to him, he still prayed for us.
The Prayer of Jesus
“After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.
“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. Guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.
“Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!
“O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”
~ John 17 New Living Translation (NLT)
That, my friends, is love.
