Luke 23:32-34
Well, we return to Luke 23 this morning so you can open your Bibles there. Luke 23, the record of Jesus crucifixion, the cross and the empty tomb are two stubborn facts of history, and these are the places where God glorified himself most clearly. This is the, right here, what we’re reading is the pivot point of time itself. It presents to us a line that divides humanity into the elect, and the reprobate into believer and unbeliever. Humanity is separated into those two groups in this chapter right here.
The crucifixion, such a momentous event. I, I can’t overstate it. It’s difficult to get our minds into everything that’s going on here because there’s just so much every time we look at it. But the crucifixion is so momentous, and we can see that even, even in religions, even in the culture, that they recognize something important happened at the cross. Even if they don’t quite get it, even if they don’t quite recognize and understand what exactly is going on.
Roman Catholic iconography still portrays Jesus as being on the cross, suffering. If you’ve seen a Roman Catholic crucifix, it still features a dying, emaciated Christ on the cross. You’ll notice our cross. There is no Christ on it. Why is that? Thank you. He is risen indeed. Authors, playwrights, film makers have all used their talents and skills to portray the crucifixion in the most vivid, dramatic, and at times the goriest way possible. But truth be told, as we look at the accounts themselves, the physical sufferings that Christ endured, the Gospel writers treat these as somewhat incidental to the meaning of the cross. The focus in the Gospels is really more on the blasphemy of the tormentors of Jesus, and in drastic relief contrast in response, we see the mercy of Jesus toward them all as he suffers not as a victim, but willingly, freely, intentionally.
Suffering is the once for all sacrifice for sins. Luke writes in Luke 23:33, our text that when they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified him. Crucifixion. It’s summed up in a single verb, the verb stauroo, and here it’s in the aorist tense speaking of what happened in the past. Completed act, shows an established fact. Completed fact. The crucifixion. That’s it. One word, done, that’s it. The event of the crucifixion. It receives the same treatment in the other Gospels. A very simple, straightforward fact. No elaboration on the gory details as is portrayed in media and in entertainment and in Roman Catholic iconography.
Matthew, he uses that same verb, stauroo, but he puts it in a participle form and he makes the crucifixion even there incidental to the action. It’s after crucifying him, they divided up his garments, casting lots. So the main verb is they divided up his garments. It’s as a result of being crucified. No attention there though on the bleeding, the gore, the agony. We actually saw more agony and bleeding when Jesus prayed in Gethsemane then we see at the crucifixion itself. No attention drawn to the soldiers driving nails into his hands and feet, fixing him up on the cross, raising the cross into its place.
Interesting, isn’t it, how out of balance things can become? The flesh and blood spectacle which dominates popular culture and false religion is really incidental to what was truly important at the cross. That pointed to the real meaning of the cross. It was necessary for Jesus to suffer physically, to die bodily, for his body to be buried in the tomb, for him to rise bodily from the grave. All those elements necessary for our redemption, all necessary for Jesus to mediate between God and man so he could be the once for all atoning sacrifice that propitiates the wrath of God, satisfies his wrath. But the physical suffering is deliberately understated in the text, lest it detract from what’s really going on.
So what was really going on with the cross? Let’s read starting and I’m just going to mention verse 26, and then we’ll jump to verse 33 because they’re connected here. Verse 26, “And when they led him away, they took hold of a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.” Skip down to verse 33, or verse 32 I should say. “And two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’
“And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. Even the rulers were scoffing at him, saying, ‘he saved others; let him save himself if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one.’ And the soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ Now there was also an inscription above him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
“And one of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly for receiving what we deserve for what we have done; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise.’”
One section, one account, all the elements kind of woven together. We’re not going to be able to cover it all today, but we can see here at the cross, Jesus intercedes for sinners, even the worst of sinners. He intercedes for all that he died to save, and he demonstrates that by receiving one such sinner, a very, very bad one who trusted in him with his dying breath and from the cross, Jesus promised paradise with him to this one who believed. This one that we can call brother.
One single account, as I said, today we’re going to look at verses 32 to 34 because there’s some theology and doctrine here that we need to understand that helps us really to interpret what’s going on through the whole account. In verses 32 to 34, we’ll focus on the substitutionary elements and the intercessory elements in the ministry of Jesus in his priestly office. We saw the mercy of God in Christ last time on display as Jesus delivered that prophetic warning to the daughters of Jerusalem while on his way to the cross.
And today we see the mercy of God again, but this time in the offer of divine forgiveness, having arrived at his place of crucifixion and then nailed to the cross. Just notice how the darker things get, the deeper things get, the harsher things are, the more abusive they are, the more deadly that they are. The higher Jesus’ mercy rises, the stronger he looks. Not the weaker, the more powerful, the more pious. Bold, godly, holy, majestic royal.
He is cast in sharp relief against the reviling blasphemies of the religious and the profane. And here Jesus prays for his persecutors. And yet, as we’ll learn this week and next, Jesus came here not as a victim, but as a substitute and as an intercessor for sinners, to absolve all kinds of people of the deepest guilt, the ignorant and the indifferent, the vile and the harsh. And worse, the hypocritical, abusive religious leaders, even some of them.
So, humble sinner, let this encourage you. It’s a dark scene, it is filled with tragedy, and yet don’t miss the offer of salvation to you. If God is affecting your heart in making you to pay attention and see your sins and see your need for this savior, let that, let this text encourage you to draw near to Jesus Christ in obedient faith. Call out to him because he will answer with mercy and grace. Proud Sinner, you who think you don’t need this, be warned.
Four points are going to guide us through that whole section from verse 32 through verse 43. I’ll give you the points now. Substitution, intercession, aggravation, and absolution. We see the substitution for sinners, the intercession for sinners, aggravation of sinners or sins, and the absolution of a sinner. Substitution, intercession, aggravation, and absolution. We’re going to cover two of those points today and two next week, starting with number one, the substitution.
Luke sets the scene as we just read in verses 32 and 33. Look at verse 32 again. Now two others who also who were criminals were being led away to be put to death with him. The main verb that’s there, they were being led away. It reconnects us with the same verb used or the same root used back in verse 26. They led him away. So we’re on the move again. Luke, as a good narrator is kind of picking up the action. There was a stop in the action as Jesus delivered that prophetic warning, that mercy to the daughters of Jerusalem. But now we’re on the move again. The procession continues to the location of the crucifixion.
And in our text, the translators have helped us English readers to see a distinction that Luke makes. It’s subtle, but Luke does make a distinction. Jesus is led away with two criminals. And as the translators make this clear to us English readers, we kind of miss a subtlety that Luke makes in setting the scene that helps us to see he is being numbered with the transgressors. In fact, he’s replacing one of them, really showing as a picture of a substitute.
Literally verse 32 reads like this. Two other criminals were also led away with him to be executed, two other criminals. And that makes it sound to the English ear that two other criminals, that is Jesus is the other one. And people don’t like that. They don’t like the feel of that. Jesus is no criminal makes it sound like Luke is referring to Jesus as a criminal or subtly implying that and the two other criminals who are going off to be executed with him. And that is in fact what Luke is saying.
He though, though he says that he makes a very clear distinction between Jesus and the other two men in the text. And it’s subtle, but it does set the scene for this important point of theological reflection about this issue of substitution. Jesus is one of the three men condemned as a criminal. He is headed with criminals to execution. Matthew and Mark, in kind of portraying the same scene, they don’t recount it exactly as Luke does. They make a different point, but they refer to the two other men with the word lestes referring to them as robbers, violent men, insurrectionists, and they make a clear distinction in their accounts, their accounts between these two men as insurrectionists and then Jesus, who is not one of them.
The two men that are going off to be crucified with Jesus are of the same kind of criminal as Barabbas. Many think that they were partners with Barabbas in the recent insurrection. And so Jesus really in this account and as we saw in the earlier account, as he’s being offered up in place of Barabbas and Barabbas, is released instead of Jesus, Jesus is here, though himself, not an insurrectionist, he is nevertheless condemned as one and crucified as the centerpiece of insurrectionists.
This is why Luke doesn’t use the word lestes to identify all three men. He uses the term kakourgos, which is a broader term for all three condemned as criminals. And yet Luke is careful to distinguish between Jesus and then the other two, and he does so with the word for which is translated other. Or it could be translated also as another two words in Greek for other or another allos, which means another of the same kind, and then heteros which is another of a different kind.
Luke uses the latter word, not the former. So it’s two other criminals, that is, criminals of another kind. And yet Jesus is also treated as a criminal, but not of the same kind as them. He didn’t personally commit sins of insurrection. He didn’t, in his kingly status as the Christ of God, the King of the Jews. He didn’t call for an insurrection against Caesar. He said, render unto Caesar what’s Caesar and give what is God’s to God. He supported the right of the state in its rule. He didn’t call for a violent insurrection like these two men, but like these two he’s counted among them. They all were led away with Jesus to be executed.
So Luke is distinguishing between the two men who have been justly condemned as criminals, and then Jesus, who is unjustly condemned as a criminal, but he’s condemned none the less. And so Luke is setting the scene here with Jesus as an innocent substitute, taking the place of the vilest of criminals, an insurrectionist. In our days, we call this guy a terrorist.
Jesus identifies with the very worst of sinners, while he himself personally, as Hebrews 7:26 says, “He is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners.” Why is he here? Isaiah 53 predicts the entire scene as we’ve mentioned, and in verse 9 of Isaiah 53 it says, “His grave was assigned with wicked men”, just as we see here, and “yet he was with a rich man in his death” as we see in verse 50 and following. Joseph of Arimathea, we’re going to meet him. Although his grave was assigned with wicked men, Isaiah 53 says, “He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.”
Here at the cross, Jesus intercedes for sinners, even the worst of sinners. He intercedes for all that he died to save.” Travis Allen
Prophesied 700 years before this, the identification of Jesus with sinners. It continues in the text. Go back again. Let’s read verses 32 and 33 together. “Now two other criminals were also led away with him to be put to death. And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right, the other on the left.” Jesus is one of the three men condemned, two of them justly, he unjustly, and upon arriving at this place called The Skull, Ton Kranion, from which we get our word for cranium for the skull, Golgotha and Aramaic, that comes from the Hebrew gulgoleth. In the Latin it’s Calvaria, Calvary, all referring to the cranium, the skull.
So they arrived, the soldiers crucified Jesus and the others at The Skull place. It’s a fitting place that Rome chose to crucify enemies of the state. Name probably was derived from the appearance of the hill itself. Indentions in the cliff. The rock formation there made it appear skull like and this is where they crucified him. Very fitting and appropriate.
According to Matthew 27:34, they first offered here at the cross. Before they nailed him there. They offered Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. You remember that Mark 15:23 identifies the bitter gall as what he called myrrh? So that’s a, a narcotic put into the drink to deaden the pain. So it says in in Matthew 27 that after tasting and he was unwilling to drink and it wasn’t because he wasn’t thirsty. He was. It’s because he didn’t want to take anything that would deaden the pain. Why? Is it because he’s some kind of a masochist? No, this is not to suggest that taking painkillers or accepting anesthesia is somehow sinful.
What’s going on here is different. Jesus is refusing anything that would deaden the pain because he didn’t want it to deaden his mind either. He wanted to keep his mental acuity and his acumen sharp. Why? Because Jesus, he’s still in the office. He’s still got work to do. He’s still got he’s still got tasks on his task list. He needs to keep sharp, as we’ll see, for the purpose of prayer at the very least. So having refused this mild anesthetic to deaden the pain, which would also run the risk of deadening his mind and his thinking and not make him as sharp as he needed to be at this precise moment.
The soldiers then at this point relieved Simon of Cyrene of the cross beam that he’d been carrying for our Lord. They fixed it on Jesus with the ropes. The vertical beam of the cross was laid on the ground and Jesus laid on top of it, and the cross beam then fixed into its place. Secured to that vertical beam, the soldiers drove the long spikes through each of his hands. A single spike went through both feet as they’re put together one on top of the other. Some commentators suggest the nails went through Jesus wrists, which you can you could see the word cheir can, can refer to that whole section of the lower arm including the wrist. So it could be the hand, could be the wrist.
Nonetheless they secured the victim to the cross. The cross beam was fixed to the vertical beam and then that whole crucifix contraption, that death contraption was raised by the ropes and set into its base. Once in place, the victim could push himself up by pushing against the spike that was in his feet. So you imagine with every push, very painful. But he had to push himself up so he could rest on his backside with a protruding little horn like protrusion that was fixed into the vertical beam. Not enough to be an actual seat to sit in, but something to just take a little bit of the weight for a little bit of the time. Because the victim’s body, the, the weight pulled him down all the time with his extended arms fastened up.
Ultimately, in crucifixion, victims didn’t die by blood loss or trauma, but by suffocation. Their lungs were fighting, gasping for air, and when they were no longer strong enough to lift themselves up, they died a very painful death by suffocation. They couldn’t breathe, so the victim pushed up, grabbed a gulp of air, hung there, keep repeating the process until he had no strength left, until the life flowed out of him and he died.
Now we know that that’s not exactly how Jesus died. He suffered those same things, but he gave up his own spirit. He chose the time of his own death. Though he suffered in the same way, He maintained control over his faculties. He continued working and teaching and interceding for sinners, but he chose the time of his own death. In fact, the soldiers, when they came by to break his legs, to take away his support so that he would die sooner. They were surprised to find him not still alive, but actually he had expired already. He kept his faculties, he kept on working, he kept on ministering to the very end.
All four Gospel writers draw attention to this fact that we see in Luke that Jesus is crucified between two criminals, one on the right, the other on the left. Jesus died flanked by criminals, those who received what their violent deeds deserved. And so, as Isaiah 53:12 says, “He was numbered with the transgressors.” In fact, in that middle position, he is the centerpiece of the crucifixion event. Two insurrectionists and there’s Jesus taking the place of Barabbas and what’s written up above his head? “This is the King of the Jews,” falsely portraying him as an insurrectionist. He was not there to commit treason against Rome. His Kingdom is not of this world.
One criminal makes clear in verse 41. He was hanging there for entirely a different reason. He’s done nothing wrong. Everyone knew that. Pilate knew that. In fact, the Jews who put him there knew that. Skip ahead to verse 38. Take a look at that verse. It says, “Now there was also an inscription above him,” this is the posted charge, “This is the King of the Jews.” Essentially the same thing that we find in the other Gospels. Matthew adds his given name, that it was Jesus. John adds also his place of origin. He came from Nazareth.
So the whole inscription that’s posted above Jesus on the cross informing everybody the entire world of his crimes would have read this way. This is Jesus the Nazarene, who is, where he comes from, the king of the Jews, his crime. Luke’s note in verse 38, it may read to us as, as somewhat parenthetical is kind of a incidental, but it’s not. It’s actually very important He adds this note as an interpretive key for this entire scene so that we can look at that and go back and interpret what’s going on here. We can see the innocence of Jesus. We can go back and even think about Pilate and his time before Pilate. We see the non feasance of Pilate, should have acted, but he didn’t. And we can see the maleficence of the Jews, their hatred.
Not only has Jesus done nothing wrong, innocent of all charges, the placard above his head publicizes that he’s actually dying for righteousness. He’s dying as God’s chosen Messiah. For his part, Pilate is Roman governor. He should have provided legal protection against these spurious charges from the Jews. Should have, but he didn’t. He rightly adjudicated Jesus’ innocence, declared him to be innocent of all charges. He’s done nothing wrong and yet Pilate neglected his duty. He failed to act. So he’s guilty of what’s called non feasance.
He’s in a position where he could have done something. He refused and Pilate knows it. In fact, that’s the reason for the sign. He’s irritated about how the Jews trapped him, how they forced him to execute a man. I should put forced in air quotes, right? Nobody put a gun to his head or sword to his throat. He did it. He made the decision. It was volition on his part. But really he felt the pressure, tremendous pressure from the Jews to execute this man that he knows to be innocent of all charges. So he’s the one pilot who determined the wording that be inscribed on the placard here, that it should be posted above the cross for everyone to see.
Placards were prepared for the procession to the cross. They were inscribed on a plaque or a placard that that would be hung around the condemned victim’s neck or, or else carried by someone else out in front of the victim. And in whichever case, the sign was listing the charges, the state’s charges against this criminal after arriving at the place of crucifixion and after the crucifixion, that that placard was then nailed up above the victim so that all could see what got this person crucified. It’s a public notice justifying the sentence. But more to the point, it was a warning. This is what happens to all those who defy Rome.
So Pilate, having been burned by the Jewish religious leaders, Pilate sees this final opportunity to get even with them, maybe a little bit to salve his own conscience, to kind of just broadcast once again, just as he washed his hands in front of the Jews, said, I’m absolving myself of these sins. He has no power to do that. Only God forgives sins. But he tried to. And here he’s trying to show yet again, this man is innocent. He’s dying for a Jewish envy. This is a Jewish issue. He’s dying to, he’s showing that Jesus is dying as the King of the Jews, as if to spite the Jews, say, look at their king. And he’s also putting the sign there because he wants to get back at these Jewish leaders. So he has the last say about the charges that are written on the inscription.
You can read it for yourself, but if you’d like to, and I’d recommend you do, go over to John 19, John 19, the parallel account, and find your way to John 19:16. And we’ll read from there. “So he then,” that’s Pilate, “delivered Jesus over to them to be crucified, and they took Jesus, therefore, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the Place of the Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.” John has skipped the assistance that’s provided by Simon the Cyrene, that element covered in all three other synoptic Gospels, but all the other elements are there. And then we read this in verse 19, which provides, John provides us background. “Pilate wrote an inscription also and placed it on the cross and it was written, ‘Jesus the Nazarene, The King of the Jews.’”
So John gave that background. We don’t, we don’t imagine Pilate in his governor’s robe scurried up to the top of the cross and nailed the placard in place. All this really what’s showing what’s shown here, what John shows us all this happened before the procession left the praetorium. This is where he had the inscription written. This is where he had it hung around Jesus’ neck. And then you see verses 20 to 22. The problem it causes.
Therefore many of the Jews read the inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew or Aramaic, Latin and in Greek. Aramaic being the native language of the Jews, Latin being the language of the Romans, Greek being the universal, the lingua franca, the universal trade language. So every visitor could see there would be no one who missed this charge.
So the chief priests, verse 21, “The chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews;’ but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews’ And Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ So after that little bit of background, John returns to continue narrating the scene. That section there is parenthetical. It’s showing us what Pilate did in his last jab at the Jews. John then returns to narrate the scene. He shows the crucifixion detail, four Roman soldiers dividing the victims clothing amongst themselves, which we’ll come back to in our own time.
Now you can go back to Luke 23:34 and see a vital sentence here, a life changing sentence that’s uttered by our Lord, a sentence that we need to see, that we need to understand. The placard that Luke has given us in verse 38, Luke wants us to see that message on the placard, so that we can explain what’s going on here. The placard proclaims Jesus’ innocence. It, it also proclaims Pilots nonfeasance. The neglect of his duty as failure act. But it, but it also identifies and indicts the maleficence of the Jews, because the Jewish leaders here by that placard, they are ticked.
They are so, they cannot stand the way Pilate has represented the charge against Jesus. They won their little victory pressuring Pilate to sentence Jesus to be crucified, but here he’s raining on their parade. He is preventing them from spiking the football. They can’t do their victory dance because they know that if they’re not there and the people come, they’re going to see this perhaps as an unjust execution and their whole project, their whole endeavor is in great jeopardy.
These wicked old men, greedy hypocrites who intend to keep their power, stay in power, protect their authority, keep the money train flowing, they lift their robes and they run, high tail it to Skull Hill, stand at the foot of the cross and start hurling abuse and scorn, trying to prevent the lady from coming to the wrong quote on quote conclusion. They mock him, taunt him, and show that king of the Jews thing, it’s a joke. That’s the scene and the scene is set in Christ’s substitution for sinners. He’s there on the cross in the place of some of those people who will turn out to be his people. And that’s pictured by his taking the middle place, the place that Barabbas should have had the most violent of offenders in our terms, terrorist, insurrectionist, bloodthirsty, violent.
He stands in the place of sinners. He died in the place of those who will believe. That’s the substitution for sinners. That’s how the scene is set. Come to our second point number two, the intercession. The intercession. Luke is the only Gospel writer to record this sentence and I’m so thankful we’re going through Luke’s Gospel because this is so good. It helps us to see the heart of Christ, the heart of our Lord, to intercede for people. This is the first of Jesus’ seven sayings on the cross, the very first, and it says this, verse 34, “But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’”
Now. Is this universal forgiveness that Jesus is praying for? Is he asking the father to release all sinners for all time from all the guilt of all their sins? Does this prayer make the case for universalism that all will ultimately be forgiven and go to heaven with Jesus in the end? Or maybe backing off a little bit, does he pray for the absolution of all the sins that happened here at the cross for all these people? Is that what’s going on? Universal application of forgiveness, but for this one, say, complex of sins that happened here, indiscriminately spreading forgiveness throughout everybody who’s there.
Is that what’s going on? Is Pilate forgiven? Is Judas forgiven? Is everybody forgiven for this participation in this event? Does then Jesus become the model for the kind of love that dissipates divine wrath and ignores the demands of divine justice, saying farewell forever to an angry God of the Old Testament and welcome to the new God of the New Testament, a loving God who affirms and celebrates us. Um no, categorically, emphatically, no. That’s not what we’re saying here. We’re going to see why as we examine Jesus’ prayer for it’s true and beautifully rich meaning.
“Jesus is saying, ‘Father, forgive them. They do not know what they’re doing.’” Two questions to clarify. Forgive whom and forgive them for what exactly? Forgive who and forgive what? Let’s answer the second question first. Forgive them for what? For what they are doing is what he says. And what are they doing? They’re crucifying God’s chosen Messiah, his King. It’s not only the fact that Jesus was innocent. The guilt of crucifying goes way beyond that because he’s no mere man. From the lips of his bitterest enemies in verses 35 to 38, he is the Savior, the Christ of God, God’s chosen one, the King of the Jews. Every single one of those titles used in scorn, but actually true, each with a rich historical, biblical, theological, redemptive meaning that is powerful, profound, searching.
At the very beginning, he was proclaimed by angels, Luke 2:11, that this Jesus was born for mankind as Savior, who is Christ the Lord. He was given the name Jesus, Matthew 1:21 because there’s a fitting name because it means Savior, Yeshua, for he will save his people from their sins as proclaimed by Gabriel to Mary. Luke 1:32, “Jesus was born as God’s chosen Messiah, the Christ, the son of David, the true king of the Jews. He will be great. He will be called Son of the most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the House of Jacob forever and there would be no end of his Kingdom.”
If we unpack that eternal prophetic fulfillment, so much there. Jewish rulers accused Jesus before Pilate in John 19 verse 7 saying, “He ought to die because he made himself out to be the Son of God.” Well, that’s not new news. Gabriel announced that from the very beginning. The Holy Spirit, Mary will come upon you, the power of the Most High will over shadow you, and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. Jesus didn’t make himself out to be the Son of God. He is the Son of God, and as Son of God and Son of Man, he is the perfect mediator between God and man.
“His name is the only name under heaven by which men must be saved.” Far beyond innocent, this one, he is something far higher, far greater, something more. So the crime of putting him to death is so very serious, Peter indicted his own people, the Jews, for this crime twice at least in his ministry, says in Acts 2:22 to 23, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.”
Man, he’s telling him you guys know this. See how many times he repeats that, a man attested to you by God, miracles, signs, wonders, God did through him in your midst. You yourselves know it. You were there; you saw it. This man was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. But you nailed him to a cross by the hands of lawless men, and you put him to death. He lays the charge at them. He says you’re guilty.
Next chapter he’s preaching again, Peter. He says in verse 13 of Acts chapter 3 that, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One. You asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but you put to death the author of life, whom God raised from the dead, A fact to which we are witnesses will testify against you.”
That’s what they did. That’s what they need forgiveness for. The, they committed a sin in some level of ignorance. Even at the highest level of decision making Pilot the religious leaders, they didn’t know exactly what they were doing. 1 Corinthians 2:8 says, “None of the rulers of this age understood; for if they had understood, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
But they did crucify him. Why? Because they didn’t understand what they were doing, just as Jesus prayed. So they all are ignorant. They, they’ve got knowledge that they sin against, but they’re also sinning in ignorance too. There’s a whole complex of sins here at the cross. And yet, because, just because they’re ignorant, they’re not absolved. Jesus says they’re guilty. He prays for their forgiveness, which indicates their guilt. They need absolution. They need forgiveness for this sin. So we see what they’re forgiven for.
Forgive whom? Who is under the purview of Jesus prayer? What we can see, at least in the most general sense, those who are complicit in one way or another in the crucifixion of Jesus. They need forgiveness for the terrible crime, unthinkable sin of crucifying their own Christ, their only hope; crucifying God’s chosen King of Israel, the very means of their salvation, they killed. It’s like they’re sitting out on a on a limb over 1000 foot Cliff into rocks burning with fire and lava and they take an axe and they chop off the limb that they’re sitting on and drop into the cavern below. That’s what they did. It’s unconscionable.
The word, forgive, for a verb here, aphiemi means to release the offender for the guilt of the offense, to release him, let it go, send it away. And this is by far the great, single greatest crime in history ever since the fall of Adam in Genesis 3. And it’s adding even further the fact that they’re cutting off their own means of salvation. It’s a great crime. And Jesus asked the father here in such kindness, such mercy, release the guilty, forgive the offence, father, wipe it away. And he himself is one of the offended parties here. I mean, he’s actually receiving the blows, the piercing of the nails, the shame of being hung on the cross, stripped naked for everyone to gawk at, laugh at.
What we see here, though, is the intercessory ministry of Christ, a function of his priestly office, his high priestly office.” Travis Allen
The other offended party is the father himself and Jesus seeks absolution for the guilty for offending himself, also offending the father. And here’s where we need to make a distinction lest we misconstrue the doctrine of forgiveness. The fact that Jesus has a forgiving attitude, that he shows us what it’s like to love one’s neighbor and even one’s enemies, that Jesus prays for those who, who persecute him. And I, I don’t mean just saying something unkind on social media. I mean this is to the NTH degree. And here he asked the father to forgive.
What kind of an attitude and spirit is that? And so are they forgiven here? Did Jesus prayer secure their immediate forgiveness? Does his prayer secure immediate, unconditional, indiscriminate forgiveness for the sin of crucifying him? Not exactly. Understand that this prayer is a request to the father. You see that God alone forgives sins. This sin ultimately is against God and God alone. David said that in Psalm 51, “Against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight? ?
Wait a minute, David, what did you do? Oh, I slept with another man’s wife. I involved my entire Kingdom in facilitating my sin with this man’s wife, in doing the whole cover up. I took this man in from the battle where he’s bravely fighting against my enemies. I’m here in the lap of luxury in the palace. Joab and the men are out there fighting, and Uriah, I’m bringing him back from the battlefield where he’s out there in valor and bravery with integrity fighting the king’s enemies. He brings them back, gets him drunk, tries to get him to sleep with his wife, covers it all over with lies. When he can’t accomplish his will, he sends Uriah out and has Joab kill him through the enemy. And then he covered it all over. He hid it.
But God saw, David said in his confession in Psalm 51, though he’d committed sins against a lot of people, though he’d involved, he sullied the entire kingdom in his sin own. The kingdom paid for it. His family paid for it. What does he say in Psalm 51, “Against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil on your sight.” Why is that? Because God is the one who said thou shalt not commit adultery. God is the one who said thou shalt not murder. God is the one who said thou shalt not bear false witness. God is the one who said you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
God is the lawgiver and God is the judge, and as the lawgiver, he is the only one ultimately who can be sinned against, and thus the only one who can grant forgiveness. So Jesus makes a request of the father. Because he is the Messiah, he has been sinned against personally, but whose Messiah is he? God’s Messiah. He’s been chosen by the father, to sin against him is to sin against God, to crucify him is to strike against God. So he makes this request of the father, and the request itself does not absolve their sins. Now the father will most certainly answer yes. He doesn’t deny his son his prayer request, but he will grant forgiveness to all those, and only to those who repent and believe. Isn’t that what the Bible says?
Forgiveness of sins is by grace through faith. There’s a principle of justice summarized in contrasting language in Proverbs 17:15. You should write that down and memorize it, and then do some meditation reflection on it. Proverbs 17:15, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.” He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh. So who in the sin of crucifying Jesus has condemned the righteous? Might be easier to ask who hasn’t done that, right? Whoever is guilty in crucifying Jesus is guilty of condemning the righteous and is therefore Proverbs 17:15 an abomination to God, abhorrent to him, reprehensible.
So if God were here to answer Jesus’ prayer, granting immediate, unconditional, indiscriminate forgiveness for the sin of crucifying Jesus, that is to say, justifying the wicked, does that not cause God himself to become an abomination to himself? The only way for Jesus’ prayer, “Father forgive them”, can be answered yes is number one, if atonement is made for sins. “For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22 says. What’s he about to do? Shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins? The prayer can only be answered yes if atonement is made for sins, but also number two, if the guilty humble themselves and of their own free will confess their sins and seek forgiveness from God.
Jesus is on the cross for that very purpose, to atone for the sins of his people, that God may freely forgive all those who cry out for forgiveness, calling out in faith. If the death of Jesus atones for sins for their sins, satisfying the just wrath of God against them for their sins, then when God grants them forgiveness when they ask, when God justifies him by his grace through faith, not only does he avoid abominating himself, violating his own justice, but he can in mercy answer the prayer of his beloved son, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Mercy and justice come together here at the cross. God satisfies the demands of his own justice and the longings of desires for his own mercy to forgive the sins of sinners. God will not apply a blanket forgiveness that is not asked for. He would not apply a forgiveness to people who have not sought his forgiveness. He will by no means forgive the guilty. To do so would be a violation of how he relates to us as human beings, not only abominating himself and violating his own justice, but he doesn’t even relate to human beings like this. God relates to mankind through covenantal relationship.
He enters into covenant agreement with them, making promises to men and expecting obedience in return. He gives honor to mankind in his covenant. He shows great regard for the only creatures that he chose to bear his image. God never coerces the will of men, never imposes the gifts of his grace, even a soul saving gift of forgiveness that these people so desperately need. He doesn’t coerce them. God will not force men to receive a forgiveness that they don’t ask for. He won’t force them to take a gift they didn’t seek. Instead, God, he provides for sinners, Christ. He offers them forgiveness through Christ and he waits patiently for men to humble themselves. Come to him and ask.
You say, considering the wretched, fallen, depraved state of man, how will that ever happen? John chapter 3, Ezekiel chapter 36, It will happen when the Spirit of his own volition comes to regenerate them, to cause them to be born again, to give them a new nature, a new nature that will believe.
And so again, they’re not coerced. They do according to what their nature wants to do. It’s important to see here, there’s lots of theology that we can wander into. Now is not the moment. But what I want you to see here is the forgiveness is not just an attitude. And when I say just, I don’t mean to minimize that or diminish it in any way. Forgiveness is an attitude, and Jesus showed that attitude, asking God to forgive his persecutors.
This attitude of forgiveness ought to characterize every single believer. Why? Because he gave us of his Spirit, and his Spirit is living within us to form Christ within us, to give us the fruit of the Spirit, to make us patient, kind, merciful, gentle with sinners, forbearing, forgiving, merciful. But forgiveness goes beyond an attitude. Most fundamentally, forgiveness is a transaction between two parties, the offending party and the offended party. An offender must recognize and acknowledge his guilt. The offender must come in humility to confess, ask forgiveness, and seek reconciliation from the one they’ve offended. And when that offended party grants the forgiveness, the transaction has been completed.
When any Sinner comes to God in humble contrition, whoever it is, no matter the sin, God opens the floodgates of his infinite mercy. And in compassion he is pleased to grant the mercy of forgiveness. When I use the term mercy, I mean it very specifically. By mercy we mean sinners don’t receive what their deeds deserve. Why? Because Jesus paid that penalty. He took what our sins deserved, and so we receive mercy. But God goes even further to the contrite sinner. God goes even further to those who are humble, to those who cry out to him. He grants them grace, and I use that word intentionally.
We are very, sometimes very sloppy in our use of the word grace. We say we need to give them grace when we mean we need to be nice. That’s not what grace means. Grace is to give sinners positively what they do not deserve, which is the gift of justification. God declares sinners righteous, though personally they are not. God counts them righteous in Christ because of Christ’s righteousness. They’re not made righteous and then accepted by God.
All their original sin isn’t removed and they’re absolved of all sin up until the point of their, their confession, as some religions teach. And then they continue in that grace and continue working for their salvation. No, there is no righteousness in us. Paul said, “that I know that in me dwelleth no good thing that is in my flesh.” No, because of being joined to Christ by the Spirit, because of being united to him in a spiritual, mysterious way, we are counted righteous in Christ, declared righteous in Christ. That’s what it is to be justified. It’s a legal transaction.
And now, with that brief, ever so brief treatment of the doctrine of forgiveness in mind, we can return to the text again and consider Jesus’ prayer. I like how John MacArthur put this in a very important book, The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness. If you have not read that book, you need to. It’ll radically transform your relationships, helping you to carry an attitude of forgiveness that you’ll release all bitterness, all resentment. You will not harbor anger toward others, but instead you will walk around with the mindset that Christ had of releasing, still acknowledging the transaction needs to be there that, that needs to take place.
But what do you do when you’ve been sinned against by someone who has since died? You can never carry out that transaction, right? What do you do in an estranged relationship where there is no hope for putting that thing back together? You carry around an attitude of forgiveness where your heart is soft, willing to release, willing to let go, just as Jesus did and prayed this prayer on the cross.
But John MacArthur says in this book, The Freedom and Power Forgiveness, commenting on this very verse, “Father, forgive them.” He says, “It was not a prayer for immediate, unconditional and indiscriminate forgiveness of everyone who participated in Christ’s crucifixion. Rather, it was a plea on behalf of those who would repent and trust him as their Lord and Savior. Jesus was praying that when they came to grips with the enormity of what they’d done and sought forgiveness for it, he would not hold it against them. Forgiveness does not belong to those who stubbornly persist in unbroken unbelief in sin and rebellion. Those who carried their steely hatred of him to the grave were not absolved from their crime by this prayer.” End Quote.
That’s true. Some of these people will continue opposing Jesus. Some of the chief priests, the rulers of Israel, will continue in the book of Acts to persecute and to condemn and to try to silence the witness of Jesus. There’s only absolution if they humble themselves, turn to him, confess their sins and seek his forgiveness.
Last time, last week, we saw Jesus issue a warning in mercy, and that was, as we said, a function of his prophetic office. The ministry of the prophet is a ministry of mercy from God to warn against coming judgement. That’s what Jesus did in the previous section. Next time we’re going to see Jesus in his kingly office, using royal authority to grant a royal pardon to a vile offender, this criminal on the cross. What we see here, though, is the intercessory ministry of Christ, a function of his priestly office, his high priestly office.
The intercession of our Lord in his high priestly office is why any of us are saved. Any of us who are Christians now have been recipients of his intercessory prayer for us to God. The fact that any of us are saved, forgiven, justified by God, redeemed, it’s because he interceded for us according to the will of God. He prayed for us. The reason any of us persevere in abiding faith and grow, it’s because he’s praying for us. It’s what we read earlier out of Romans 8, isn’t it? He himself is at the right hand of the father, interceding for us. You know what he also did according to that same great chapter? He sent the Holy Spirit, his Spirit, to intercede for us according to the will of God with groanings at times too deep for words.
It’s Jesus, in conjunction of the father, who sent us his Spirit to convict us and regenerate us, to prompt us to holiness, to drive us toward more consistent obedience, to a deeper, broader repentance so that we may experience the joy of our salvation, bear the fruit of righteousness, to live in and enjoy and exult in the, the eternal life that we’ve received by his grace. It’s all because of him. It’s all because he prays. It’s all because the Spirit works. Our abiding in him, our continued cleansing from sin as we also prayed for earlier, it’s another of the benefits we have as a result of his high priestly ministry to us.
He’s a sympathetic high priest. He’s walked where we’ve walked, lived where we’ve lived, felt the pressures we feel, and to a greater degree. And so the Apostle John writes in his 2 chapter, 1 John, “My little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” He advocates for us with the father. He’s an intercessor for us with the father. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, not only for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
What does it mean to propitiate? Satisfy the wrath. It’s what he’s doing on the cross. He’s satisfying the wrath of God. All those and only those for whom Jesus is an advocate, Jesus is also the propitiation for their sins. And all those and only those for whom Jesus propitiates their sins, he’s also their advocate, their intercessor, their great High Priest. They cannot be fractured, broken, disjoined. They are conjoined as the same office of Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King. He demonstrated that ministry right here in this prayer.
Beloved, he knows you through and through. He knows you. He sees you at all times, in all seasons, in every moment, on all occasions, in all circumstances. He knows your highs, your lows. He knows your ups, your downs. Jesus knows and understands you. As David says in Psalm 139, he knows your thoughts from afar. He scrutinizes your path. He, you’re lying down, you’re rising up. He’s intimately acquainted with all of your ways. Before you do a deed, before you speak a word, think a thought, he knows it all, the good and the bad. Notice how that omniscience shows up here in his prayer to the father. Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them,” for what? What does he say? “For they do not know what they’re doing.” How does he know that? I just told you, he’s omniscient. He knows all things. His omniscient eyes always searches the hearts of his own. He knows the hearts of all men.
John, chapter 2 at the very end of that chapter. He knows all men. He knows what’s in a man. He’s always searching the hearts of his own. There at the cross, he knows those who are his own. He searches them. He loves them. He’s concerned for them. He intercedes for them according to God’s will. Right there, beloved, take heart in this. Jesus is your substitute and he is your intercessor. He knows you, he’s aware, he sees everything and he loves you and he prays for you in that love. And it’s not just a, a prayer thrown into the sky. He’s at the right hand of the father. The Father is with him. He leans over and speaks, as it were, to his father. He’s got a continual presence in the heavenly court to speak on your behalf. And just as we confessed in the Nicene Creed, by the way, Nicene counsel, Nicaea 325, 1700 years this year and here we’re confessing the same thing, rejoicing in the same truths.
Just as we confessed earlier this the Spirit was sent. He proceeds from the father and the son, so he prays, ask the father, and from the father and the son deploy the Spirit to you; answer that prayer. Real power to change you, transform you to conform you to the image of Christ. I’ll let this encourage you. Take heart in this. Jesus is your substitute. He’s your intercessor. And as we’re going to see next time, even in the greatest aggravation of sins is not going to prevent him from absolving the sins of his beloved people. We’re going to see one such man, one of our brethren here, who snatched from the gaping jaws of hell, deservedly so for his sins. That’s what we’ll see when we return to the text next time. Salvation of the penitent thief is the first answer from the father to the son who prayed, “Father, forgive them.”
Let’s go to him now. Our God and Father, what a great salvation that you have revealed to us in Christ. We thank you. Thank you doesn’t seem like enough, but it is what you command us to do, and we do it willingly, eagerly, zealously, fervently. We thank you because you’ve given us so great of a Savior and brought us into so great of salvation. Members of the Eternal Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit are all wrapped up in this plan of redemption to bring glory to the Triune God, and we get to be participants in that as recipients of your saving grace, your sanctifying grace.
Father, if there’s anybody here who doesn’t yet know you, maybe they’re, maybe they’re in the position at this point of being like the rulers and the authorities and the and the soldiers who castigate, and malign, and, and scoff, and have nothing in their heart but revulsion for this entire message. Maybe they’re like the, some of the ignorant people who are just spectators, just come, listen, watch, go home, do their thing.
And the father, maybe there’s one here who is a penitent thief. And even now you have deployed your spirit to convict them of sin, and righteousness, and judgement. Maybe that one is wrestling now, struggling, recognizing what they have to, to set aside and repent of and what they have to confess, and feeling like it’s too much for them. Oh father, please help them to overcome that barrier, to see that You have done the greatest work and nothing can stay your hand of loving salvation.
Please assure every Sinner that you receive all who come to you in repentant faith, all who trust in you, all who look to Christ and see in him their salvation. Be pleased to save even now. And for those of us who do know your salvation, please comfort us, encourage us, strengthen us, edify us in the knowledge of the love that Christ has for us and the love of the Spirit for Christ to exalt him to us, and the Spirit of Christ and Christ himself. Bring this to you, father, to see your great glory and the greatness of our salvation. We love you, Father, for this plan of the cross and this redemption, because in it the wisdom and the power of God are made known. It seems with every word we, we discover more. We’re so grateful. Please let us live lives of gratitude and joy, obedient unto you for your glory. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.