Come Follow Me LDS- Easter, Episode 6: Friday {Good Friday)- Crucifixion & Day of Atonement

-- 2 Keys to understanding the events of Friday
- Clarification between the Jewish Messiah & The Son of God
- Why Jesus was condemned to death
- How the crucifixion is a re-enactment and fulfillment of the Day of Atonement Ritual

 

 

Come Follow Me Easter

LDS Mormon

 

all right in this episode we are going

to cover the events of Easter week on

Friday

that's the crucifixion and I'm gonna

give you two keys that will give you a

much richer understanding of what's

happening here we go all right so

let's set the stage here for where we

are on Friday it's important to

understand that Friday for the Jews

began on Thursday evening

so the Last Supper and all that happened

in Gethsemane and Judas's betrayal are

all part of this same day I'll get to a

in a moment why that's important but

this is all on Friday really so here

Jesus has been betrayed into the hands

of the high priests and the elders and

basically the Jews which are the

establishment which are the people that

are in power and he has taken to the

high priests and basically asked

specific questions and what they're

trying to do here is to cross him so

that he will be a part of these

crucifixions that are going to be

happening here on Friday morning and so

they don't have much time they want to

push this through as fast as they can so

there is the high priest anis who is the

father-in-law of the current high priest

Caiaphas and Anna's apparently he goes

to first and this is a very very

powerful man all five of his sons and

Caiaphas his son-in-law have all been

high priests and that has never happened

before so he likes to keep everything

within the family very very powerful man

but I want to go back to this these

questions here so that we set the stage

for the crucifixion here because this is

really important

this distinction of what questions they

are asking him clarifies an awful lot

and is a very important part of a thread

of theology that passes through all of

the Scriptures so here's what happens

here now in mark we go back to mark and

he talks about the high priests we don't

know for sure if this is anise or

Caiaphas but he's with the high priests

or these are some of the false witnesses

that come forward they say we heard him

say I will destroy this temple that is

made with hands and within three days I

will build another man another made

without hands now we typically think of

that as okay this is about his

resurrection on the third day he'll come

back and his body is a temple and will

be risen on the third day and that's all

true

but it's important to understand that

for the Jews they believed that the

Messiah would do exactly that that the

Messiah would build the new temple and

lead the Jewish nation into freedom and

into greatness and build the new

Kingdom for them and the temple would be

the center of that and so they

understood this as whoever is going to

be doing this this is a messianic

prophecy that would be fulfilled so

Jesus is saying when he when he said

that he is fulfilling a prophecy that

the Jews all agree with in their

theology they all agree that that is

what the Messiah is going to do and that

is a sign of the Messiah now this has

been brought up previously within

Jerusalem in the temple and the Jews did

not have a problem with this I mean if

they did it wasn't a problem worthy of

death

when Jesus basically was saying I am the

Messiah that wasn't the issue that's

never the issue here's the issue and

this is what condemns him to death

after they asked him these questions and

they can't cross him on anything Jesus

doesn't answer the question on this

because he knows I this is my perception

he knows that it doesn't matter if he

says that he's the Messiah that's not

what the issue is he wants to proclaim

something much larger that they have

lost in their theology and so when Jesus

says nothing to this what the high

priest says follows up with is art thou

the Christ that's the Messiah art thou

the Christ the Son of the Blessed or of

God art thou the Christ , the son of God

this is a very important distinction

because this is not what they believed

of the Messiah that he was the son of

God that this was Jehovah that would

come down condescend below all men and

be born of a woman and take on the sins

of the world that did not exist at least

not in mainstream Judaism with the Jews

here at this time and in fact today that

doesn't exist if you're not real

familiar with it the Jews today do not

believe that they're still the Messiah

is still going to come and that Messiah

is the same thing we think of with Jesus

Christ it's not the same thing the

Messiah that the Jews are waiting for

right now is someone that is a Davidic

King that's the same a Davidic King that

will come rebuild the temple and lead

the nation and the can anew a new Jewish

Kingdom ok they in basically but he's

not Jehovah right he's not the son of

God brought in two flesh and becoming

one of us and becoming mortal in a sense

that is a problem for them that is

blasphemy

and so the high priest this is where

he's going to cross him and this is

where Jesus does speak up that's what he

wants to proclaim that he is not just

what

think of as the Messiah but he is the

son of God he is Jehovah he is divine

okay that's a very important distinction

and by the way that is the whole

remember that Obinna dye goes on trial

with King Noah and with all of the

priests to see the exact same

scenario and he comes in and he's

preaching about something specific and

this is where I would disagree with what

would we call it mainstream LDS

scholarship Abinadi was not accused of

he was not accused of calling out King

Noah and the height and the priests for

being unrighteous I mean he did but

that's not what put him to death that's

not what condemned him to death it's not

because he said that they were not the

righteous branch kind of a kind of this

righteous nationalism which I've seen

written about that they were the chosen

people and they could not do wrong kind

of idea that wasn't the issue but Ben

and I abated I was put to death and

condemned specifically because of

blasphemy because he said that the son

of God would descend condescend below

all men be born in flesh of a woman and

take upon him the sins of the world and

everything in their Mosaic law that they

weren't following anyway looked forward

to this event to his birth to his life

and to his sacrifice and that is what

got him killed and in fact he says in in

Mosiah

he says he goes in and he makes this

distinction and he tells us exactly what

the Son of God means what that title

means he says that he's the father

because of because everyone

was a believer in him becomes his seed

right in that that's a reference to

Isaiah but that he is also the Son of

God

and why is he the son because he will

come down to earth and take upon him a

body and then go through life and take

on the sins of the world and make the

atonement that said the sack they do 20

sacrifice that's what the Son of God

means and that's what's happening here

is that he is proclaiming I am the son

of God in other words I came down took

on this flesh and I and I and he has

already now atoned in a sense

spiritually at least for the sins of the

world

blasphemy that's what gets Jesus killed

here so a clarification of what they

mean by the Messiah is different from

what we think of as the Messiah right

he's put to death because he says he is

the son of God and His divine so same as

a Ben and I exact same thing happening

in that trial alright so Jesus's

response specifically here to the high

priest when he asks if he is the son of

the Blessed or the son of God he says I

am that is a go AME right which is the

name that is I am that I am

so right there he is saying I am Jehovah

I just like what Jehovah said to Moses

what his name was I am that I am a

go am ii that is what is being said here

i am the son of god and i am Jehovah I

am your God and I have descended into

flesh and we'll make the atoning

sacrifice and it's only then when he

claims this that the high priest rents

his clothes and says what need we any

further witnesses so it's not when he

says he's the Messiah it's not for

anything else it's when he says that

he's Jehovah and is the son of God very

important distinction in the Jewish

Mishnah it says exactly that if someone

if there are if someone is to use the

name that the high

priests are to rent their clothes and

that it is a sin worthy of death and

that's exactly what has happened here in

mark and in order to condemn a high

priest which Jesus is in a sense he's

proclaiming to be a high priest here in

order to proclaim a - to condemn a high

priest or a false prophet you have to

have the full Sanhedrin make that call

make that judgment and so Jesus is you

know mocked he spit upon and then he's

brought to the Sanhedrin all 71 members

it's very similar to what we might think

of as the 70 today all 71 members of the

Sanhedrin in Jerusalem there would be

other Sanhedrin’s in other areas but

this is the Jerusalem Sanhedrin the

chief Sanhedrin if you will they condemn

Jesus then to death and even though they

say that they can't actually kill

someone they can and they do sometimes

they have to have in this case for

whatever reason the approval of the

Romans but remember that they had picked

up stones to kill the adulteress where

Jesus says hold back which one of you is

innocent and has not sinned right so

they were they were ready to stone her

and by the way that is still that is

written in the bylaws the scriptural

bylaws of the church today about the

seventy and the head of the church and

the high priests there is a check and

balance system that is in place it's

kind of interesting so then the Jews

take him to Pontius Pilate to be judged

and plenteous Pilate come it has to come

out to them because they can't come into

the judgment Hall because it's Passover

and they he comes out to them and says

what is the accusation against him and

they say if he was not this is in john

if he were not a malefactor we would not

have delivered him up unto thee then

said Pilate unto them take him and judge

him according to your law right so this

is not something what he is claiming

here what Pilate is

saying is he's not broken anything that

his Roman law here if he's saying that

he is the Messiah or whatever

he is cross-examine Jesus with there is

nothing that is going to condemn him to

death with Pilate and so he's telling

the Jews to take him and the Jews say

here this is where they say it is not

lawful for us to put any man to death

and maybe what they're really trying to

do here and maybe there is a reason they

couldn't in this instance but maybe what

they're really trying to do here is put

it on to the Romans so that this can get

done again this crucifixion is happening

here today and if they can get him in

there and get this done now they can get

rid of him whereas if they take him if

the Jews take him and try him and

try and condemn him to death then you

know there might be an uprising the

people remember this is during Passover

so he has a lot of disciples a lot of

followers and believers that are there

at Jerusalem and so Pilate then

cross-examines him again and he says are

you a king are you the King of the Jews

and basically eventually Jesus says you

say that I am in other words yes I'm the

king of the Jews but my kingdom is not

of this world if it were of this world

then my servants would fight to deliver

me but since it's not of this world then

his servants are not in a fight to

deliver him in other words the kingdom

of the Jews here is of the world it is

not of heaven he is completely accusing

the Jews here of being not of heaven

that this is the kingdom of men even

though they are the priesthood bearers

although some of them may not be even

though they are the ones running the

temple he's saying that my kingdom is of

heaven and this is not my kingdom and

then Pilate finds out that Jesus is from

the Jews that Jesus is saying that he is

the son of God this changes everything

for Pilate

pilot actually has a concern about this

he's actually a little fearful of it he

has some respect for this and he asks

Jesus where do you come from because

he's worried if there is some divinity

in this man and pilot is responsible for

this and he puts him to death that

that's something that could come back on

him and of course the Jews are saying

okay he says he's the son of God but

he's not even though that's what they're

gonna put him to death for and so Pilate

with more concern and hesitation decides

that he is gonna go ahead and follow

through with this and he asks the Jews

saying look you're cut it's custom

during Passover so again this is

something that happens often we think

about the crucifixion as this one thing

that is specifically just for Jesus it's

not remember there's going to be two

other men that are already set to be

crucified actually three other men

they're already going to be set to be

crucified that we know of and that this

is a custom so this is something that

happens often with the Romans that the

Jews would ask for one of the

individuals that are going to be

crucified to be set free and the Romans

would grant that so part of this is

custom tradition and ritual and this is

the second key to understanding what is

happening here this day we have talked

all this week about how the Feast of

Tabernacles and the customs and rituals

of that feast and especially of the Day

of Atonement that happens during the

Feast of Tabernacles are happening

throughout the entire week even though

it is Passover and this is a very

important thing in understanding what is

happening here because as Jesus goes

through these scenarios he is going

through the traditions customs and the

rituals that happened during Yom Kippur

the Day of Atonement and the fall

festival and this is exactly what

happens here remember we talked about

this being one day from Thursday evening

until Friday evening this is one day and

it's a Friday we know from the Qumran

texts

that's the Essenes that are the ones

that had the Dead Sea Scrolls that were

out in the desert we know that they

always celebrated the day of atonement

on a Friday so this is a day of

atonement it would always be a Friday

and from Thursday evening to Friday

evening his Friday for the Jews so let's

go through what that day of atonement

ritual is because this means everything

on the Day of Atonement the high priest

in a certain vestige ER would go to the

altar and they would sacrifice a bowl

and he would take the blood of the bowl

and he would cleanse the temple with it

and we talked previously about Jesus

cleansing the temple and how he's the

high priest and that was something that

was a day of atonement event after

sacrificing the bowl they would take two

goats and the goats had to be completely

similar in weight in appearance in value

and here's how they would work this they

would take one goat and the high priest

would put his hands on the head of that

goat and by proxy would absolve

the sins it would remove the sins and

purify that goat completely so that it

was spot free and then would put his

hands on the other goat and would

basically place all of the sins over on

to the other goat so you've heard the

term scapegoat well we're gonna go over

that right now that's where this this is

where this comes from and so they would

take the one that is now pure

because you had to have a pure

unblemished sacrificial animal right and

they would sacrifice that animal they

would kill the animal cut the throat and

that would be the sacrifice for the day

of atonement and they would take the

blood then the high priest would take

the blood and put it on the altar

cleanse the altar would pour out who

talked about pouring out a spirit or

pouring out the blood or you think about

Jesus in Gethsemane the night before

here when his he's soaked in blood this

is the blood of the goat

perhaps the blood of the bull also and

then the blood would also be taken in

and splattered throughout the temple and

even in the Holy of Holies and on the

Ark of the Covenant in the throne of God

to cleanse the temple and then cleanse

the land purify the land and even on the

people and cleanse the people and renew

a covenant with everybody being purified

and cleansed the other goat would be

released out into the wilderness and

eventually over time what they would do

with a go because that goat may have

come back that's a problem having the

goat comeback into Jerusalem a couple

days later that has all the sins and

they have to discharge that goat and get

it out of town they would take that go

out of the city and actually run it off

of a cliff and they would also take some

wool and the wool they would start off

with would be scarlet and then when they

were done they would have white wool and

so you think of the phrase in Isaiah

where your sins are as scarlet but they

can be white as wool is where that would

be attached to a lot of the phrases a

lot of these scriptures if you know the

rituals especially in the temple the

temple imagery in the temple drama

you'll understand more what is being

said and what they are referring to it

is ritual and ritual is incredibly

important the fulfillment of what is

happening here

with Christ whether it's looking at the

the Seder meal whether it's looking at

the Agatha Simon looking at to the

crucifixion this is all the fulfillment

of ritual so when a prophet may prophesy

about something they may actually be

using the rituals to tell what is going

to happen and how that is how something

is going to be fulfilled certainly

that's the case with the Savior and

with his atonement so the high priest

would change their clothes and when they

they would actually go into white linen

when they would go into that Holy of

Holies and cleanse it out it's important

to remember right he's wearing white

linen to go into the Holy of Holies by

the way he's changing clothes as he goes

along and gets further and further into

the temple to the Holy of Holies so

let's follow through now back to Pontius

Pilate so Pontius Pilate asks if they if

the Jews would want to release Jesus

because he sees nothing wrong with him

and he's a little afraid of actually

condemning these Jesus here because of

the chance of there's some divinity

there with Jesus and the Jews say no of

course crucify him crucify him and they

say no don't let him go we want Barabbas

to go so they choose to crucify Christ

so then they take him back Pilate

scourges him whips him they put on a

thorny crown on him and again the whole

theme of all of this from the very

beginning on Palm Sunday it's about him

being a king that's important to

understand that he is the Davidic King

the Messiah and so all of this theme is

something that would be happening during

the Feast of Tabernacles and during the

Day of Atonement where he would go into

the Holy of Holies and be crowned as the

Davidic King as the Messiah but also as

the king of kings as Jehovah and here he

is

by a worldly Kingdom being enthroned and

dressed up and mocked in a purple robe

with a thorny crown and Pilate actually

sits him down on the judgment seat on

his judgment seat so that and then

everyone yells out judge us and judge us

and they're mocking him that he is the

King of the Jews so here you have this

tragic irony of this man being mocked as

the King and yet he is more than just a

king obviously and they are going to let

Barabbas go the son of the Father go

here you have then looking at this the

day of atonement the ritual that would

foretell they would do this every year

and this would be for telling exactly

what is going to happen here where you

have the pure goat right no sin is going

to be the one that is sacrificed for all

of the people and then you have the goat

that has all of the sins all of the sins

is going to be the one that has let go

and actually sent out of the city I'm

sure that Barabbas sent out of the

city not to return this is exactly the

Day of Atonement ritual that is

happening and we see this in other

examples as well for example when Christ

says that when Jehovah says that he

will be provided as a sacrificial lamb

to Adam and Eve it's when Adam and Eve

at that point they've now been exposed

to sin they are actually cast out of the

Garden of Eden at that point right so

it's the same idea this is kind of how

covenant works in the pre-existence in

the war in heaven when finally

there's a savior that stands up and says

I will be the savior I will be the pure

goat then there are others who deny him

and are not willing to go

along with it and that third of the

hosts of heaven are cast out at that

point that's what happens here with the

crucifixion and with Jesus and Barabbas

another important point here is that the

Jews say that you Pilate you may not

find an issue here with him but we have

our own law and with our law

we condemn him to death basically what

is their law their law is the lower law

so it is the lower law that kills the

representation of the higher law that's

how we get it the lower law kills the

icon the crux of no pun intended the

crux of the higher law and just as Paul

says in one of the Corinthian books of

Corinthians he says the letter of the

law killeth right because it killed

Christ the Jews here represent the lower

law and Christ is bringing in without

them realizing it the higher law and

it's done exactly through the

consequences of the lower law and Pilate

is really stuck on this King thing again

he's worried so he says behold your king

and he's like should you should I

crucify your king and they say yes

crucify him he's not a king to us our

king is Caesar basically and so Jesus

bears his cross carries his cross has

some help from another man but he

carries a cross out to Golgotha and this

is outside of the city

where there would be a pathway for all

people coming in and out of Jerusalem

very crowded at this time would see him

and the other two men up being crucified

and they're there in that spot to be

shamed in front of everybody and all the

passers-by and the synoptic Gospels

Matthew Mark and Luke all have him being

crucified at 9:00

and then being taken off the cross at 3

o'clock so he's up there for six hours

the timing of what goes on in Jerusalem

at this time is changed since Passover

that year fell on a Friday on the eve

also of the Sabbath being Saturday then

they move everything up during that day

and so for example they had an offering

that they would make a sacrificial

offering that they would make in the

temple they moved that up to 12:30 p.m.

and then the killing of all of the lambs

I mean you can imagine all the people in

all of the lambs that are being killed

for the sacrificial feast that would

have happened at 2 o'clock and so as all

of the lambs are being killed here is

the sacrificial lamb the pure goat from

the Day of Atonement also being killed

this is the suffering servant from the

forth servant song in Isaiah who would

be whipped who would be mocked who would

suffer and who would die in atone for

the sins of the world and so Pilate

makes a sign that goes up above the

cross that says Jesus of Nazareth that

might actually not be right it might be

something else but Jesus of Nazareth

King of the Jews and Jesus goes through

the incredible incredible suffering

physical suffering of a crucifixion

where his feet are nailed to the cross

his hands are nailed to the cross and

his wrists are nailed to the cross and

slowly but surely all of his internal

organs start to collapse and break apart

and to bleed and as his family the women

that are there at the cross which by the

way is an important thing to understand

there's three or four different women

that are listed in John that are at the

cross as we said before just about just

like the anointing the women would be

there on this

of Jesus’s mortal life his step moving

beyond making this step out of mortality

the women definitely would be

represented there but all those all the

disciples that are there with Jesus at

the cross and they would have been would

be hearing the shofars that's the horns

being blown for the Passover that

represented Israel being freed from the

Egyptians or in other words as we spoke

enough previously this week with

understanding what the Passover really

means is that the firstborn the blood of

the Lamb literally here now from the

night before in Gethsemane to the cross

here now the sacrificial lamb the

Passover lamb is freeing all mankind

from sin just as Israel was freed from

Egypt incredibly ironic and fulfills

all of this ritual and tradition that

the Israelites have had but have lost

over the centuries and when they had

taken Jesus to be crucified the soldiers

were told had his garment and the

garment is described as being one that

is not that has no seam in it and this

would be a high priestly robe that's

what this is the vestiture of the

high priests are described in several

different places and this is what the

high priests robe would be and then

Jesus while he is up on the cross looks

down to his mother and to John the

Beloved and says John behold thy mother

and woman behold thy son so he's giving

the care of his mother here over to John

and then as he gets to the end of the

suffering on the cross and he is close

to being done he says I thirst and they

gave him on hyssop dal and vinegar and

this also is another representation of

the Day of Atonement

because on the day of atonement the

priests only

would take the inwards inward parts of

the goat raw but with vinegar to clean

it and they would consume that because

on being the day of atonement was on a

Friday at that point later in the day

they would not be able to cook it

because the Sabbath was right there and

so they would take the inward parts

which would be the representation of the

gall which is like bile and the vinegar

that is given to him and he takes that

and that being again the representation

of the sacrifice on the day of atonement

on Yom Kippur and then finally on this

entire day of atonement from the Last

Supper which represented him to

Gethsemane and the blood that was spilt

there in the suffering that he had there

to the betrayal and the trial and then

the crucifixion the entire day of

atonement Jesus finally says it is

finished and he bowed his head and he

gave up the ghost and so with Jesus he's

already dead and so they one of the

soldiers takes a spear and Pierce's his

side this is what is mentioned in John

and out comes blood and out comes water

in the other Gospels what is mentioned

is that when he dies the veil rents in

the temple I think this is the same

symbolism that you would have here the

veil is our bodies the veil is physical

material and so for John he shows the

veil being pierced with the spear and

elsewhere the Gospels show the temple

veil being rent and then in a rush then

Joseph of Arimathea who is a high person

of high status he gets to he goes to

Pilate and asks for the body of Jesus

and he has a tomb in a garden that he

can take him to and Nick

another man of high status in Jerusalem

so you can see that Jesus had a number

of followers that were in positions of

power but they had to be in secret or

they would have been cast out or worse

and Nicodemus comes and he brings spices

for the burial and these spices

including the myrrh weighed about a

hundred pounds so there's a lot that is

buried with him that these spices and

that much of spice is indicative of a

royal burial and so they took Jesus's

body and that hundred pounds of spices

and they wrapped him up in white linen

think of the Seder meal think of the

high priest in the Holy of Holies and

they laid him in the Sepulcher which was

very close to the place of Golgotha in

the garden because they were in a

hurry and buried him just as the

afikomen is buried and just as the high

priest on the Day of Atonement would go

through the veil and into the Holy of

Holies the Sepik already torment I hope

that those two keys of understanding the

clarity between being the Messiah of the

Jews and actually proclaiming to be the

Son of God and secondly understanding

the ritual of the Day of Atonement helps

rich in your understanding of this week

and of the atonement of the Savior I'll

talk to you next time