This message was recorded August 21, 2022. The speaker is David Simpson. Now please take your Bibles and I want you to turn to the book of Exodus. So that's the second book in the Bible, Genesis and then Exodus. And we're going to start in chapter 12. And I just want to show you these places in the Old Testament before we go to the New Testament, which we started last week. But I want to make sure this is firmly set in your minds so that you know. Exodus 12 is the chapter where God is making His final move to move His children out of Egypt. So this is the place where the blood, if you remember, is put upon the door. is the door, the lentils of the door. And that's a picture of imputation. So they're inside, they have nothing to do with it, and blood is sprinkled on the door. That's imputation. And that's salvation by imputation. And then what we're told in this chapter is, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. He's not talking about that blood on the door only as a type. He's talking about when Christ comes. And when I see the blood, that's not just a mistake, it's a time word. It's an occasion word. So there was an occasion where God saw the blood. And when was that occasion? Well, of course, that was when He offered the blood, shed the blood. cross of the blood. When I see the blood, I will pass over you." The blood was imputed. God saw that blood, and He passed over, giving forgiveness for His people, justification for His people. All of that is a wonderful picture. Now, in this 12th chapter then, We have a verse that makes a prophecy, and I want to be sure that this prophecy is fixed in your mind before we go to the New Testament or go on. But if you'll look, please, down in verse 43, 1243, he makes a reference to the ordinance of the Passover. See it there? The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the ordinance of the Passover. So you would have to go back to the previous part of this chapter to study that a little bit, and we're not going to do that. But one of the things that he tells us that has to do with this ordinance of the Passover in verse 46, the very last statement, neither shall you break a bone thereof. So you have a lamb that is offered for a sacrifice, and they were not to break a bone. So what they would do, I know it's a little rough on a Sunday morning crowd, but they would cut its throat, catch the blood, but they would not break a bone. and we can ask why. We may not be able to know exactly why, but I would say this, that blood comes from the bone. Blood is produced in the bone. And so the bone is not to be in any way violated because that's where the blood comes from. And that blood is a precious blood that would be the price of redemption. But that's maybe some speculation on my part. You can think of it as you please. There's a second place where we're told this. Go to the book of Numbers. So Exodus, Leviticus, and then Numbers. So keep on going until you're right. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, book of Numbers. And look in chapter number nine. The book of Exodus is a book of redemption. The book of Numbers is a book of testing. And so they were numbered. And this tells us something about God's redemption. It has very particular numbers. We even have a book named Numbers. And his redemption was for a particular people. I listened to a song this morning, one of the lines, we're going to sing it at the end. and we listened to some of the music of it this morning, there's a line in there that refers to infinite grace. And I would say to you, God's grace is not infinite. Infinite would mean that there are no boundaries, but there are boundaries. It was for a particular people and it was to accomplish a particular thing. And that's what this gospel is all about. So the book of Numbers is a book that would tell us that God's very precise in the numbering of his people, but it's a book of suffering. a book of testing rather, and chapter 9 is a restatement of a lot of things that you see in Exodus 12. But I just want you to look in verse number 12, so numbers 9 and verse 12. And they shall leave none of it unto the morning, which we're told in Exodus 12, nor break any bone of it." So there's the second time that it's stated. And then you'll see a parenthesis, according to all the ordinance of the Passover, they shall keep it. So this goes back to Moses, 1450 years before Christ. Then the next time we see this is in the Psalms, so go with me to Psalms, so keep going to your right until you find the Psalms, Job, Psalms, and Proverbs, if you get that far, and find Psalm 34, Psalm 34. And David is writing a little bit short of 1,000 BC. I always just say 1,000 to make it a round figure, probably more like 950, but say 1,000 years before the coming of Christ. So you have almost 500 years that have passed, and from Moses and now down to David, and look in verse number 20, and this is what brought us to study this because we're studying Jesus in the Psalms. It says in verse number 20, He keeps all His bones, and not one of them is broken. Now then, let's go on to the New Testament. And so now we've gone to 1450 years before Christ. 950 years before Christ. Now the time of Christ, and go with me to the book of John, where we studied last week, chapter 19. And now you're talking about Romans, Roman soldiers, and Roman soldiers knew nothing about the Old Testament. They cared nothing about the Old Testament. They didn't care if they kept the Old Testament, broke the Old Testament. It didn't matter to them, not one whit. Not one little bit. But we are told that the soldiers had been told to break the legs of the three men that were put on the cross that day. So the two thieves and their legs were broken. And they were supposed to also break the legs of Jesus of Nazareth. But when they came to him, they said, in verse 33, that he's already dead, there's no need to break his legs. It does tell us that one of the soldiers threw a spear and hit him in the side, and that's a fulfillment of a prophecy from the book of Zechariah. But if you go down to verse 36, we find our verse that pertains to our subject. For these things were done, so here are these soldiers now, 1,500 years almost after the time of Moses, 1,000 years after the time of David, carrying nothing for the law. Verse 36, all these things were done. that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. So I would say to you, whether a saint or a soldier, God's providence rules. God is sovereign. That's what we mean when we say God is sovereign. He does what he wants, when he wants, with whom he wants, and he does it that way all the time. Though we don't understand it, doesn't make it not true. And so here you are, these soldiers, all these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, the bone should not be broken. Now, With that in mind, I want you to look over to the book of Luke, because the last time we talked about chapter 18, we talked about the arrest of Jesus. But I now want us to turn to his trial. So today, let's just talk about the soldiers and the trial. So we're talking about the soldiers and the Savior, and today we'll look at the trial. So I want you to look with me, Brother Steve already did a good job of reading the scripture for us, but why don't we read verses eight through 11 and talk about these verses. Verse number eight. In the early part of this chapter, Jesus had been before Pilate. Pilate was the governor of the Romans. Herod was the governor of the Jews. Verse number eight now. When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to see him for a long time. him, because he had heard many things about him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by him. And then he questioned him many words, and Jesus answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod with his men of war set He met Nod and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate." So last week we talked about the arrest. The arrest would have been in the evening. If I remember correctly, it would have been somewhere around 9 o'clock in the evening that he was probably arrested. He was taken to jail. He stayed in jail all night long, early, early, early the next morning, earlier than normal and against the law. This was all done against the law, against the law of the Jews and against the law of the Romans for them to have a trial at this time of the morning, if nothing else. So here is this trial and they are brought in verse number 1 before Pilate. Pilate, as I said, is the ruler, the governor of the Romans. And they made these accusations in verse number 2. And the only thing that Jesus said to him in verse number 3 after he was asked, Are you the king of Jews? Jesus really said one word, thou sayest. It's really just the word say, and it's put in the second person, you say. And the word it isn't there, it's just you say. And Pilate looked at his chief priest and he said, I can't find anything wrong with this fellow. Nothing wrong with him. There's no reason for this. So I want you to go up then to verse number eight, and I'm just going to kind of center on, first of all, the silence of Jesus, because when He's before Herod, it tells us in verse number nine that He answered him nothing. So He didn't even give him the satisfaction of saying, Thou sayest. He answered him nothing. One preacher that I read of called this Jesus' majestic silence. I like that phrase. His majestic silence. And both Matthew, Mark, and Luke also tell us this, our text. But in Matthew, we're told that when he was before Jewish rulers, he answered them nothing. And when he's before Pilate, he answered him nothing. And now, of course, here before Herod, and he answers him nothing. Jesus' silence is perhaps more eloquent than had he spoken and preached to them. He would not dignify their ignorance and their vitriol with trying to convince them. You see, Jesus was not here to convince these fellas. He was here and they were fulfilling God's providence just like he was fulfilling God's providence. and he was not trying to convince them. He wasn't saying to them, why don't you just believe on me? If you'll open your heart, you'll know that I love you. Why don't you realize that God has a wonderful plan for your life? Nothing like that. He answered them nothing, nothing. And then in verse 10, we come upon a word that I like, you know, words captivate my attention. I apologize for that in one sense, but this word vehemently, the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him, vehemently and accused is one word. vehemently accused him. It's a compound word. It's a word that means to stretch, and it has a preposition you added to it, which is the word for good, and it is a stretching. It's a word that they would use that would be talked about someone who is speaking with passion about something, seeking to convince. So there's a lot of passion in this. It's word is used in Acts 18, verse 28, where it says that Apollos was a believer that Paul came across. And it says that he mightily convinced, there's our two words, it's really one word, mightily convinced the Jews that Jesus was Christ. That same word. And the dictionaries translate that word forcefully, vigorously, even the word violently is used as a word. So here they are vehemently, vehemently accusing him, passionately doing everything they can. Their faces are red. Veins are standing out on their necks. They are filled with a vitriol trying to accuse Him. But then there is another word that is here. Go back to verse 5, and you put these two words together. The more fierce, see it right there in verse 5? They were the more fierce. And the more fierce is a word that is a present tense word, and it means they kept on doing what they were doing. And you could translate that word by the word insisting. They were the more insisting. The more fierce, the more insisting. And this is a word that has to do with them keeping on doing what they were doing. They could not stop from doing this. They just kept on. They're very fierce about this. And here in this text, they are before Pilate. So they're trying to bring legal accusations. They're being very passionate about it, but they're trying to bring a legal reason that Pilate would have, because by law, you had to have something that was legal to accuse Jesus with. So they're looking for something legal that would be against him, these legal charges. But in verse 11, and verse 8 and 11 there before Herod. And you remember that Herod was a descendant of Esau. Esau represents the flesh, represents the natural man. He was an Edomite. Edomites came from him. Herod was an Edomite. Jesus called him what? That fox. Now, that's more than just a slang word. You and I might call someone a fox and might think that they're sly, but that's not really what Jesus is saying. He's really saying that He's a man of the flesh. He's a natural man. There's nothing spiritual in Him. He's just natural, just like an animal. He is natural. He cares nothing If you have a little dog at home, that's fine, but your dog cares nothing for spiritual things, I can tell you that, no more than a fox would. And this fox cares nothing for things that are spiritual. He is a natural man. Look in verse 11, it refers to the men of war, the men of war. The word that is used is soldiers, but he calls them men of war. And these men of war did four things that further demean our master. Let me point out these four things to you. First word I'm going to give you in verse number 11 is the word contempt. Because it says they set him at nought. They set him at nought. That means that they treated him as less than nothing. Nought is a word that means nothing, nothing, nought, nothing. They treated Him as less than nothing. Here is God who became man. The God-man before them is the Savior, the Messiah, long predicted, and they set Him at naught. They treated Him as less than nothing. This is total contempt toward Him. The second word I'm going to give you, and that's the word ridicule. because it says, then, and mocked him. They treated him lower than nothing, lower than even the contempt. They had contempt for him, but now they're going to ridicule him. They're mocking him. Third word I give you is accusation. They arrayed him in a gorgeous robe. The word gorgeous is a word that means shining. shining robe. Probably it was white. Probably white like a priest. So why would they put a shining white robe on him like a priest? Meaning he's a false priest. That's why. Because they are accusing him of being a false priest. So you have all these priests around. and they are accusing him of being a false priest. So you can imagine that the priests that are around are glad to see that. They're happy, they're excited to see that they put this on him because they're accusing him of being a false priest, false religion. And then the fourth thing they did, I'll give you the fourth word I would give to this, and that is control, and sent him again to Pilate. The word sent is also used back in verse 7. And as soon as he knew that he belonged into Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him. Now, the word that is used for sent is actually, again, a compound word, and it's sent up. Not just sent him, but sent up. and they sent him up because they have control over him. This word is to show that they have control. So here is puny man who sent the sovereign Lord from Pilate to Herod, from Herod back to Pilate. And in verse number 12, and the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together. If you know anything about history, you'll know that Herod and Pilate didn't like each other. The Jews and the Romans didn't get along. They tolerated each other. The Romans didn't really want to be there. was too small. Pilate didn't want to be there. It was demeaning to him to be in a little place like that. He thought of himself as far above being in Israel, but nevertheless, there he was. And Herod and the Jews certainly didn't want the Romans there. They despised each other. So, epitomized in these two men, they despised each other. But Luke tells us that same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together. That's the dirty business of politics. Politics is a dirty business. I know we have to have it. At least I guess we have to have it because we do. But boy, it's a nasty business, isn't it? I don't care if you're talking about Democrats or Independents or Republicans. It's a nasty business. Nasty business. Always been a nasty business. I listened to a podcast that went through talking about the presidential elections from the very beginning until this last one. Nasty. Oh, my goodness. We think it's bad now? It's always been bad. Always been a nasty business. And that same day, Pilate and Herod were made to be friends. And the word friend comes from the word love. Like they loved each other. They didn't love each other. They were made to be friends together. Neither man found Jesus dangerous. Neither man found him to be an enemy of the state. At the very most, they thought him to be a religious fanatic of some kind. It tells us then that they scourged Him. Matthew 27 and 26, right after this, it tells us they scourged Jesus. I'm still talking about His trial. And scourging was practiced both by the Romans and by the Jews. It was always practiced by someone who knew what they were doing, a trained and hardened soldier. So you had to go to scourging school to be a scourging soldier. And you had to know exactly how to lay that whip to the back to do it. But Jesus had foretold his scourging in Matthew 20, verse 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18. Had foretold his scourging. And here's what one dictionary said about scourging. The person was stripped and tied in a bending position to a pillar or stretched out on a frame. So either bent over or stretched out. And the scourging was made of leather thongs or leather strips and weighted with sharp pieces of bone or lead, which tore the flesh at both the back, and then it would slip around and tear at the breast and tear it open. So it would tear the breast open and tear the back open. And then another one that I read added this. The number of strokes was not prescribed, but it continued until the flesh hung down in bloody shreds. Some say it was just 39. Well, it was determined that if you went to 40 or more, that you're actually killing the person. But nevertheless, they did it until the flesh was open and hanging down. I mean, this is a terrible sight, terrible sight. This would open up The back to your organs, lower part of your back. Bones were showing in the back. Meat from the breast and the side hanging down. Blood, blood. In John 19.1 it says that Pilate scourged Jesus, but it was his soldiers. And it tells us in John 19 too that the soldiers crowned him with thorns, again making a phony crown and a phony robe. And when they put those thorns on him, it pierced down into his scalp, blood trickling down. And then it tells us that they put other clothes on him. They stripped him and put on a scarlet robe. And John, when he translates this, he calls it a purple robe, which would have been a soldier's cloak. So most likely what they did was they took an old soldier's cloak that had been well worn, maybe in battle, but faded, old, torn. And they put that on him, soiled, and it's in that someone carrying his clothes because they're going to give them back to him. We'll see that, the Lord willing, next time we approach this passage. But the soldiers are there to do the bidding. and all of this ripping and tearing and shredding and abuse to his body, but not a broken bone. I would imagine that other times bones were broken when they were scourged, but not Jesus. The Father said, so far, but no further. And that was it. Now the Lord willing, the next time we'll talk about the crucifixion.