The King Dies on a Cross (Luke 23:44-49)

This lesson covers Jesus’ death on the cross, the darkness, the torn veil, and the earthquake.

Luke 23:44-49

Jesus Dies on the Cross

Luke 23:44-49

44 Now it was about the sixth hour [noon], and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour [3 p.m.]. 45 Then [because] the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.'" (Psalm 31:5) Having said this, He breathed His last.

47 So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous Man!"

48 And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. 49 But all His acquaintances, and the women who followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

(Compare Matthew 27:45-56; Mark 15:33-41; John 19:25-30)

• The significance of the miraculous events that accompanied His death which we find in our passage in Luke 23 and also in Matthew 27.
• Jesus is the way - Christ's passion as preparation for believers.

Luke 23 records two miracles that occurred as Jesus hung on the cross and died:

1. There was darkness was over the earth because the sun darkened.
2. The veil of the temple was torn in two.

Matthew 27 also records two miracles that occurred when Jesus died:

1. The earth quaked and the rocks split open.
2. Graves opening and many dead saints returned to life (Matthew 27:50-53) and entered Jerusalem where they were seen by many.

 I believe that considered together in the right order, these four miracles may help give us a picture of what was occurring in the spiritual realm. Tonight however, we will focus just on the two miraculous events recorded in Luke 23.

Darkness over the earth

Luke tells us that from noon (the sixth hour), until 3 PM (the ninth hour), there was darkness all over the earth. The NKJV reads “And then the sun was darkened…” but other versions, such as the NASB read “because the sun was darkened…” It may be that God caused an eclipse to occur during those hours that His Son hung on the cross. Certainly this might have somewhat eased Jesus’ suffering, because He was not hanging in the hot sun. But even beyond that, I believe that this darkness may have occurred as Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself. In Matthew’s account of this in Matthew 27:45-46 we read:

45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Matthew’s account to me suggests that Jesus felt forsaken by God, making this darkness a picture of the condition of mankind after the Fall, separated from God because of sin.

Sin and death entered the world and judgment and condemnation came upon all men as a result of Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Within several generations from Adam, before He poured out His wrath upon the world in the Great Flood, God would in Genesis 6:5, "the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and ... every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Indeed the Old Testament contains numerous examples of man’s wickedness, together with the resulting judgments that God poured out (including the Flood, the confusion of man’s language at the Tower of Babel, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of the Canaanites, and the Babylonian captivity of Israel), within the frame of the unfolding of God's plan to redeem man from sin and death and to restore his relationship with God through His only begotten son, Jesus Christ.

During His time upon the earth, Jesus announced that He was the way, the truth, and the light. Several times in the Gospel of John Jesus referred to Himself as the light of the world (John 8:12). In John 12, during the days immediately preceding His capture and crucifixion, Jesus spoke to His disciples and the crowds of people in Jerusalem about His coming crucifixion and glorification. Jesus told them that He would be lifted up from the earth and draw all peoples to Himself. We read there that puzzled by what they had heard:

34 The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?"

35 Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

And just a few verses later, in John 12:44-46, we read:

44 Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness."

But in our passage tonight, as Jesus, the light of the world, hung on the cross, dying, the sun grew dark, and for three hours, from noon until 3 PM, the earth was plunged into darkness. The Greek word (skotos) translated here as “darkness” has several senses, all of which I believe are relevant here. Skotos can mean darkness in the sense of the absence of light, a time when it is easier to commit crimes without being detected (John 3:19-21). Skotos can also mean blindness, both physical blindness and spiritual blindness. And finally, skotos can also mean dark (i.e., evil) things or people.

As Jesus hung on the cross, dying, truly the light of the sun grew dim. But also I believe that some, perhaps even many, people were blind or blinded to what was really going on in a spiritual sense. They saw Jesus suffer and die on the cross, but they did not, could not, understand the significance of what they saw. People realized that it was an innocent man, even a righteous man, who had been put to death. But to recognize Jesus as innocent or righteous, while important, is not enough to be saved. Pilate recognized Jesus as an innocent man, one in whom he could find no reason for death. What is needed is to see Jesus as our Savior and our Lord, to whom we are obedient.

I suspect that many people in the crowd that day believed that because Jesus died on the cross, He could not have been the Messiah, because He did not fulfilled the prophecies associated with the triumphant Messiah. Before His death, Jesus had not restored Israel to glory and had not ruled over that restored Israel. They could not conceive of the Messiah being crucified….

I suspect that even Jesus’ disciples were probably at a loss to explain it. Luke tells us that they stood at a distance, together with the women who had followed Him from Galilee, and watched Jesus breath His last and then the crowds file back into Jerusalem, beating their breasts in sadness. It would not be until later, after His resurrection, that He would open their understanding:

Luke 24:45-47

45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

46 Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,  47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

To those who knew Him, it must have seemed at this point in time that evil had triumphed over good, that darkness had triumphed over light. The scribes, Pharisees, and chief priests who had conspired to have Jesus crucified had had their way. Satan, who had stirred up Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus, had apparently triumphed. Jesus of Nazareth, their friend, their teacher, and their companion, who had done miracles, had healed the sick and the possessed, had taught the Scriptures with authority, had displayed great love and compassion for the poor, was dead. No one like Him had walked the earth before nor would any one like Him walk the earth again.

I believe that the darkness that enveloped the earth for three hours was a symbol of several things;

• Mankind’s separation from God, which had existed since the Fall
• Jesus’ separation from His Father as the sins of the world were laid upon Him.
• The inability of the people to grasp what was happening in the spiritual realm
• The apparent triumph of darkness over light, of evil over good, and of death over life.

But praise God that things were not as they seemed! God had another plan, a perfect plan, whereby through the death of Jesus upon the cross, the debt owed by mankind to God for their sins could be paid, whereby the separation that had existed between mankind and God from the Fall could be removed, and whereby mankind would no longer be enslaved to sin and death.

The tearing of the veil

I believe that here we see another picture of how Christ's sacrifice has removed the separation between God and man. As we have said, from the time of the Fall, mankind, because of its fallen nature and its sin, had been separated from their Maker. The design of the original tabernacle, as well as that of the temples that were constructed at Jerusalem, included a veil (or curtain) that separated the holy place from the most holy place, where the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat were placed. It was there in the Holiest of Holies that God would appear in a cloud above the mercy seat.

The instructions that God gave to Moses regarding the making of that veil are found in Exodus 26:31-35:

31 "You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. 32 You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. 34 You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy."

Only Aaron, the High Priest, was allowed to enter the most holy place, and then only on the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, when the High Priest offered atoning sacrifices for the sins committed by the nation of Israel against the Lord.

Leviticus 16:1-34

Turn with me to Leviticus 16, where we read:

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died; 2 and the Lord said to Moses: "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

3  "Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. 4 He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. 5 And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering.

6 "Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

11 "And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. 12 Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. 13 And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die. 14 He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 "Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. 16 So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19 Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

20 "And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

23 "Then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. 24 And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, put on his garments, come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26 And he who released the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27 The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. And they shall burn in the fire their skins, their flesh, and their offal. 28 Then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

29 "This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. 30 For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. 31 It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. 32 And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father's place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments; 33 then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year." And he did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Notice how the High Priest had to prepare himself before he entered into the presence of the Lord in the holiest of holies. The Lord had warned Moses, saying, "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat." Entering into the presence of the Lord was a matter of life or death; indeed deviating from what the Lord had prescribed had recently cost Nadab and Elihu, two of Aaron's sons, their lives. After fire from the Lord had consumed them, Moses told Aaron in Leviticus 10:3:

"This is what the Lord spoke, saying:

'By those who come near Me
I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people
I must be glorified.'"

Before he went behind the veil into the holiest of holies in the presence of God the high priest had wash his body first, then put on holy linen garments, and finally offer an atoning sacrifice of a bull for his own sins and the sins of his house.

I believe that the veil in the temple was a picture of the separation that existed between sinful man and righteous God. Only at one day of the year and only in accordance with a prescribed ritual, could the high priest stand in the presence of God.

But when Jesus breathed His last and the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb of God was finished, the veil in Herod's temple was torn from top to bottom. Scripture does not give us any information on the thickness of this veil. The Mishna contains a statement that this curtain was 40 cubits [a cubit was length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger or about 18 inches 40 cubits = about 60 feet] in length and 20 cubits [20 cubits = about 30 feet] in breadth and the thickness of a man's hand. It is said that it took 82 young girls to weave the two curtains each year and 300 priests to wash it. Assuming this description to be accurate, only God could have torn such a curtain in half.

Thanks be to God that the completed sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross was all it took to tear asunder that veil of separation between God and man. Cleansed of our sins and wearing the very righteousness of Christ (2 Cor 5:20-21), we can go boldly before the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16), as adopted sons and daughters. Our relationship with God is much closer to that of Moses, who talked with God as one man speaks to another.

The shaking of the earth [Matthew]

Matthew records that when Jesus died, the earth quaked, and the rocks split. Earthquakes recorded in Scripture are frequently associated with two things:

• The presence of God. For example, when God appeared to Israel at Mount Sinai Scripture records that the whole mountain quaked greatly (Exodus 19:17-18). See also Isaiah 6:4, where God’s voice shakes the doorposts of the temple, and Psalm 68:8, where the presence of God shakes the Sinai itself.
• The judgment and wrath of God, especially during the end of the age. Speaking about God’s wrath toward His enemies, the prophet Nahum writes:

Nahum 1:5 and in Isaiah 13:13, God’s judgments are associated with earthquakes.

Jesus tells us that natural disasters, such as earthquakes, will grow more frequent as the last days draw near. And the Book of Revelation states that earthquakes will accompany many of the judgments God pours out on the earth. The opening of the sixth (Revelation 6:12 ) and seventh seals (Revelation 8:5), the resurrection of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:13), the opening of God’s temple in heaven (Revelation 11:19), and the pouring out of the seventh bowl (Revelation 16:18) are all accompanied by earthquakes.

The earthquake which occurs immediately after Jesus’ death is I believe a picture of God’s wrath being poured out as a result of the sins of all the world that Jesus took upon Himself on the cross. I believe there may also be a sense where the shaking of the ground and the splitting open of the rocks is a symbol for the shaking and breaking of the current order. The Old Testament (or covenant), as represented by the Law, has been replaced by a New Testament (or covenant). Listen to what the author of Hebrews has to say about this new covenant:

Hebrew 8:6-13

 6 But now He [Jesus] has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —   9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.  10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.  12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

In the Book of Acts, chapter 16, as Paul and Silas sat in the stocks in the prison at Philippi, praying and singing hymns, a great earthquake occurred that broke open the stocks and the doors to the prison. In a similar way I believe the earthquake that followed Jesus’ death is a symbol that the prison in which sin and death had held mankind for centuries upon the earth has now been broken open. In Romans 8:2 Paul writes, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” We can see a picture of this in the second miracle that Matthew documents in conjunction with Jesus’ death: the resurrection of the dead.

The resurrection of the dead [Matthew]

Matthew records that after the earth quaked and the rocks split open, “the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matthew 27:52-53) As I read it, the text seems to say that the earthquake broke open tombs (better than graves, as a tomb or sepulcher is more of a building or cave) outside the city of Jerusalem in which were buried some of the saints or holy ones. After three days, when Jesus had been resurrected, those dead saints arose, entered into Jerusalem, and were seen by many.

Indeed, as Paul writes to the Church at Rome, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11) God, through His Holy Spirit, raised up Jesus from the dead on the third day. I suspect it was that same Spirit which caused the dead saints to arise and enter Jerusalem.

I see this miracle as a picture of how those who were dead in their sins and trespasses but believe have been made alive, and indeed will never die, by the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross. Notice here that it is the saints, the holy ones, who are resurrected with Jesus. Just as not just anyone who was dead and whose tomb was disturbed by the earthquake rose and walked the streets of Jerusalem, so too not just anyone who has sinned will have the blood of Jesus applied to his sin, but only those, like father Abraham, whose faith is accredited to them as righteousness.

The bigger picture

So looking at all four miracles together, we can construct, I believe, the following spiritual picture of what happened when Jesus died on the cross. On the cross, Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself. The result of this was terrible – Jesus, who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf. As a result, His Father turned away from His Son and the earth was plunged into darkness for three hours. As Jesus exclaimed “It is finished!” and breathed His last, an earthquake rocked Jerusalem, a symbol of God’s wrath toward sin, as well as the changes that Jesus’ death had effected. By His death on the cross Jesus paid the price for our sins. His death tore from top to bottom the curtain that separated a sinful mankind from a just and perfect God. No longer were we under His wrath for our sins; now we can bold go before the throne of God as His adopted sons and daughters. His death gave life to those who were dead in their sins; He came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul put the matter like this:

Ephesians 2:1-3

2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

We all once were children of wrath; many, those who do not yet know Christ and believe in Him, still are. Romans 9:8 tells us “That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” Of us, as Paul writes in Galatians 3:29, it can be said: “And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Jesus as the way

Shortly before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Gospel of John records that Jesus addressed His disciples. After He told His disciples that He was going away but He would prepare a place for them and return for them, Thomas spoke up and said, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"( John 14:5)  Jesus answered with one of the several “I am” statements that John’s Gospel records, saying, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) A couple verses later Jesus adds, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12)

We have seen how Jesus encouraged those who would follow after Him and be His disciples to count the cost of that commitment. In Luke 9:57-62 we read the following exchange between Jesus and several would-be disciples on precisely this subject:

Luke 9:57-62

57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go."

58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

59 Then He said to another, "Follow Me."

But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."

61 And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."

62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Several times Jesus called upon His disciples to deny themselves, to take up their cross, and to follow Him (Mark 8:34-35). But Jesus in His role as teacher and leader of His disciples not only told others what they must do He Himself showed them by the example of His life. Just as Jesus showed His disciples what it means to be a servant-leader by washing their feet, He showed them what it meant to be obedient to the will of God by going to the cross.

In John 15:18-16:4, Jesus speaks encouragement to His disciples about the coming tribulations they will bear because of Him:

15:18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  23 He who hates Me hates My Father also.  24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'

26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.  27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

16:1 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.”

A couple verses later He concludes His comments to His disciples with these words: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Without the Holy Spirit filling and leading us, it is hard to take pleasure in Jesus’ words, “In this world you will tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Our flesh desires to pursue pleasure and to avoid pain. Yet we should understand that as believers, we have been given the privilege of completing the sufferings of Christ (Colossians 1:24-27). We are to consider it all joy when we encounter various trials, knowing that through them we are being made perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).

Luke 23:49 records that all those who knew Him, both His disciples and the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching Jesus die, and the crowds filing back into Jerusalem. Each of His remaining disciples would in time have their moment of doubt and pain, when they were called upon to stand for Jesus and die or perhaps renounce Him and live. Of the eleven remaining apostles, ten of them would be put to death for their beliefs, and the eleventh, John, would be boiled in oil but be kept alive by the power of God.