By Rony Kozman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
The Death of Jesus
John 19:8–11, 16b–18, 28–30
God created us in His image (Gen. 1:26–28). God gave us a mission to rule the world on His behalf. We were tasked with advancing God’s kingdom. But instead of filling the earth with God’s righteous reign, we have filled the earth with sin, death and violence. Instead of ruling the world together in harmony as God intended, the male and female sought to rule one another (Gen. 1:26–27; 3:16). Sin subjugated Cain (Gen. 4:7). Sin and death ruled the world.
Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion were under God’s control. (8–11)
God did not abandon His creation. One of the overarching themes of the Bible’s story is how God’s kingdom would come to earth. God did not leave the world to be ruled by sin and death. God’s purpose for creation would not be defeated. His kingdom would come.
And in His plan, at the appointed time, the Father sent His Son into the world (Gal. 4:4–5) to defeat the dominions of sin and death and to establish God’s kingdom and reign in the world. The death and resurrection of Jesus — the King — is how God reestablished His kingdom on earth. It was all according to God’s plan (John 19:11).
Jesus suffered the cruel punishment of crucifixion for us. (16b–18)
John 19 presents Jesus’ death as the crucifixion of the King. John shows us the paradox of Jesus’ enthronement. Jesus takes His throne upon a cross. He wears a “crown of thorns” and He is given a “purple robe” (v. 2). Jesus is accused of claiming to be a king and rivaling another ruler — Caesar (v. 12).
Pilate asks, “Shall I crucify your king?” (v. 15), and the sign that hung on the cross identified Jesus as “the King of the Jews” (v. 19). Jesus is the crucified King. The crucified Christ. (“Christ” is not Jesus’ last name; it is a title that indicates that He is the promised King of Israel who would establish God’s kingdom.) This Christ takes His throne as King of the Jews and as ruler of the world through His suffering and death.
Jesus’ death completed the work necessary for our salvation. (28–30)
Jesus is both the crucified King and the slaughtered Passover Lamb. According to John, Jesus died on “the day of Preparation for the Passover” (19:14). This reminds us of the Jewish Passover festival that commemorated the Exodus, and the final plague, where God killed every firstborn Egyptian son but spared the firstborn sons of Israel.
God instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb, and to smear the blood of the lamb over the doorway and on the doorposts, and death would not strike the Israelites. Jesus is the Passover Lamb whose sacrifice rescues us from death. And as the Lamb of God, He also rescues us from sin. As John the Baptist announced when he saw Jesus, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29.)
By His death, Jesus rescued us from the two kings who usurped God’s reign and ours — sin and death. Those who are in Christ receive the forgiveness of sins, and they are freed from the reigns of sin and death. Jesus is the King. We share in Jesus’ death and resurrection. And we rule with Christ and advance God’s kingdom throughout the world (Rom. 5:17).
God has created the world anew through Christ. Jesus’ death was the decisive act of God’s re-creative act.
In the crucified Christ, we behold the new human (John 19:5), and through Christ’s death, God’s new creation is as good as finished (v. 30).
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