JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED

The apostle Paul went to Corinth with a great deal of trepidation.  He had suffered at the hands of unbelievers before and this great cosmopolitan city, with all of its religious and philosophical tolerance, could very easily meter out persecution to those who stood firmly for the truth.  He bravely and boldly decided to leave the philosophical and intellectual arguments to others and concentrate on the very heart of the truth; Jesus Christ and him crucified. 

It is in this simple statement that we have the whole of the gospel message.  It needs to be expounded of course, but nevertheless it does hold the entire story of God reconciling man to himself. 

Jesus: An ordinary Jewish name, but a name with a great deal of history behind it.  It comes from Joshua, which in turn is a derivative of the name of God revealed to Moses at the scene of the burning bush, the name Jehovah.  To follow this we must look to the Hebrew, for the New Testament Greek gives the name Jesus, pronounced ee-ay-sous in the Greek, which is the equivalent to the Hebrew Jehoshua, which in turn is derived from Jehovah - yaw-shah, meaning ‘Jehovah makes free’ Jehovah saves.

Jesus’ Jewish name was Jehoshua ben Yoseph, ‘Jesus the son of Joseph’.  Christ however is not a name but a title and is from the Greek Christos, taken from the Hebrew maw-shee-akh, which means anointed or consecrated and in the English is transliterated as Messiah.  Saul was Israel’s first Messiah King and it was intended that he should lead his people to spiritual, political and economic freedom within the Promised Land.  David was the most successful of Israel’s Messiahs yet even he was unable to fulfill the role.  It would take a very special person to do this and in the prophetic writings of the Old Testament this one came to be known as ‘my servant’ (Isaiah 52:13), ‘Messiah’ (Daniel 9:25-26), as ‘Shiloh’ (Genesis 49:10); and in Psalm 2 we see him as ‘the Lord’s anointed, the Son of God’. 

Isaiah 9:6-7 tells us of a child, born to the Jews yet who was to be called, among other things, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and whose reign would be upon the throne of David over the promised kingdom for ever.

Jesus of Nazareth, known as the son of Joseph, was born, not of Joseph but of Mary. This was predicted in Isaiah 7: 14, announced as imminent in Luke 1: 30-35 and fulfilled in Matthew 1: 25 and Luke 2:7.  He was born to be King of the Jews, yet the Jews in the most part rejected him.  This rejection was predicted in Isaiah 53 and the reasons for it stated; his contemporaries despised him.  This is seen in the Gospels by the actions of the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, and by the people also when at Jesus’ trial they asked for a criminal to be released in his stead and called for his blood to be on them (they would take responsibility for his execution).  The sufferings of the Jewish people over the centuries have been the price they have paid.

Isaiah 53 goes on to say that even though God’s servant would, in his agony, bare the griefs and sorrows of men, those very men would believe themselves to be doing the will of God in having him executed, for they regarded him as being stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  However their belief was not the case; he was wounded for (men’s) transgressions, he was bruised for (men’s) iniquities: the chastisement of (their) peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All men have sinned and gone their own way, yet the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and afflicted during his trial, first by the council, Matthew 26: 67, when they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?   Also in Luke 22: 63-64 and John 19: 1-3, when Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face.

Yet during this repeated abuse he made no protest (he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth).  His trial was a mockery of both Jewish and Roman law; he was found guilty by means of false witness and religious bigotry, and for political expediency was condemned to crucifixion by the Roman governor.   He was crucified alongside two criminals, and Joseph of Arimathaea took him down from the Cross and buried him in his own sepulcher; all as described in Isaiah’s prophecy.  Yet it was the LORD’S will to have it happen, for when thou (LORD) shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see the results of his sacrifice and be satisfied, for by knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify those who believe.  As Abraham believed God and that faith was counted to him as righteousness, so all those who do no more than believe in God’s anointed Saviour will be made righteous, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)

Messiah/Christ was made an offering for sin in that he bore the burden of our sin and took upon himself its judgment.  This is clearly seen in such passages as Isaiah 53:4,6,11,12 and 1 Pet. 2:24 but is also alluded to in the scapegoat of Leviticus 16:20-22 and is in keeping with Psalm 103:12 where it is said,  “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

When in Deuteronomy 21:22-23 we read, “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;)” it becomes obvious from the word order that a such a sinner, though worthy of death, becomes cursed of God only if and when he is hung on a tree.  This would indicate that anyone who, through a miscarriage of justice and undeserving of death, upon being hung on a tree would also be cursed of God. 

The Romans introduced crucifixion as a means of executing their criminals.  An execution where one would be suspended above the earth by hands and feet pierced by nails, and in this manner made an obvious and public spectacle; cursed of men and because of Deuteronomy 21:23, cursed also of God.

Such a death is described in Psalm 22:14-17, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.  For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.  I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.”  It is obvious that this is a prophecy of future fulfillment and one which Messiah (who was not a sinner) would fulfill when he made his soul an offering for sin, when he was hung on a cross and became cursed in our stead: cursed, not because he was a sinner but because he was hung on a tree and became a substitute for all those who are sinners. 

When all these truths are brought together, we see the wisdom of God displayed in the greatest expression of holiness and love imaginable.  The Son of God taking the punishment of sin upon himself so that we might be freed from its curse       

“…because Christ also suffered for us… Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your soul” (

1 Peter 2:21-25).