THE PERIOD OF THE CROSS

When we begin to study the period of the passion, we are talking about the issue of time.  Since we in the West are a very time conscious people, we often want to know the time frame of an event.  That’s why one of our first questions we ask concerning something that took place is: “What time did it happen?”  So it is only natural that we want to know what was the time frame of all of these passion events that we have been studying?

Time has always been something of a mystery to mankind (*).  Down through the ages, people have come up with different ways of calibrating and “telling time.”  These “time machines” have gone from the very simple to the very complex.  Perhaps the most ancient tool for calibrating time is the “sundial” which measured the day through the slowly-moving shadows created by the rotation of the earth around the sun.  It was a very general calibration of time through the slow movement of a sun created shadow.  Through our sophisticated science and technology today, we can measure time in nana-seconds!

While the exact time of day or night that these events took place is not the central theme of our study, it is an important consideration. This is especially true since the Gospel accounts of the Passion of the Christ make several very important passing references to the time a particular event took place.  And we are obviously told that for a purpose.

During the Passion of Christ, there were different ways of reckoning time. The Romans had one way and the Jews another.  And since both are mentioned in the passion narratives, we must study the passages carefully or we will be confused.  So while the purpose of this study is not the study of time per se, we do need to hit the pause button and get some basic information about the time frames of Christ’s Passion.

As we briefly look at the time of the passion, let me remind you again of what we saw earlier in this study. The Bible clearly teaches that the events of the Passion were planned by the Triune Godhead in the eons of eternity past – long before time began. That’s why the Bible refers to Christ as “…the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Note also these very crucial related verses that emphasize this same truth about the time of the Passion – before the first second of cosmic time began:

“All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:32-35).

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(*) For a fuller study of the mystery of time from a Biblical point of view, refer to my book “What Time Is It?”  It can be ordered from NDI or downloaded from my Biblical Principles For Living web site on my personal blog (www.jlwilliams.net).

“This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel” (II Timothy 1:9-10).

Paul also wrote similar words to Titus about the Passion of Christ that was planned by God for us before He created the world.  He wrote that “…the faith of God’s elect” and our “hope of eternal life, which God…promised before the beginning of time, and at His appointed season, He brought His word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior” (Titus 1:1-3).

Paul further wrote about this “divine mystery’” to the saints at Corinth.  He said that these events of the cross were “God’s secret wisdom…that God destined for our glory before time began” (I Corinthians 2:7).

So those verses let you view the Passion from the vantage point of eternity – before time ever began…before the cosmos was ever created…before the first sin was ever committed…before grace was ever humanly needed…before you and I were ever born. It’s incredible and mind-blowing to realize that God was thinking about you and me and our salvation “way back then!”

As wonderful as that revelation is, it is still a bit hard for us to comprehend because we are all encapsulated into time. For us everything is either past, present or future. Therefore, this truth about our salvation being secured “before time began” is something we could only know through divine revelation – never through human reason.  It is not something that we would have ever “dreamed up” or conceived because all of our thinking is time-focused and earth-bound.  But God dwells in the realm of eternity which is “outside of time.”  Therefore, the only thing we can know about His domain and what takes place there is if He chooses to reveal it to us.  And since love, mercy and grace are a part of His eternal nature – He wanted us to know that it was working for our salvation “…before the beginning of time.”  What incredible, awesome, “Amazing Grace!”

But now let’s step back out of eternity into time.  Not the time you and I are living in right now, but the precise time of the Passion of Christ.

The Jews of Christ day divided both the day and night into 8 distinct time periods.  It is also important to remind you that because of the creation account in Genesis, the Jews reckon time from “sundown to sundown” – not from “sunup to sunup” like we do in the West. That’s because the various fiats of creation were each followed by the phrase: “And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day…” (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31).  So the night hours would be listed first, then the daylight hours – which again is generally the reverse of how we reckon time in the West. So here are the approximate time units of their nights and days:

NIGHT:
1st Watch = 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
2nd Watch = 9:00 PM – Midnight
3rd Watch = Midnight – 3:00 AM
4th Watch = 3:00 AM – 6:00 AM

Here are several good Old Testament example of these “night watches”:

• First, the familiar question in Isaiah 21:12: “Watchman, what is left of the night?”
• Then there are King David’s several references to his “night meditations”:  “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night” (Psalm 86:6; c.f. 16:7; 119:148; 90:4, etc).
• In the New Testament it is interesting to read that Jesus specifically performed one of His greatest miracles in the last watch of the night just before sunrise. When His disciples were in a fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee, we read: “During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake” (Matthew 14:25).
• Jesus also made a specific reference to the late “night watches” in one of His parables that exhort us to vigilance and watchfulness through all of the long night hours separating His First and Second Comings:

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning (Because of the darkness of the “night watches”), like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet…it will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night…You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him” (Luke 12:35-38).

Here are the basic periods of the day in Jewish reckoning…

DAY:
3rd Hour = 9:00 AM
6th Hour = 12:00 noon
9th Hour = 3:00 PM
12th Hour = 6:00 PM

A good example of these various time periods is found in the “Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard” told by Jesus.  As you will recall, the landowner went out “…early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.”  This would have been between the 4th watch of the night and the 1st watch of the day – or soon after 6:00 AM.  Then Jesus said the landowner continued to hire workers “…about the third hour…the sixth hour and the ninth hour and…the eleventh hour…” (Matthew 20:1-16).  And the fact that the landowner paid them all the exact same wage seemed totally unfair!  It produced a wage dispute.  But that must be kept as the subject of another study!  At this point I just wanted you to note these Jewish times of day that were used by Jesus.

These various references to time in the Old and New Testaments we have paused to briefly look at will now help us better identify some of the time frames of Christ’s Passion.  But first let me set the stage by again reminding you of the various trials that Jesus went through after His last Passover Meal in the Upper Room and His late night arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.  As we have already seen, there were actually 6 separate “Trials.”  3 were “Religious Trials” and 3 were “Civil Trials.”

RELIGIOUS TRIALS:
Before Annas (John 18:12-14)
Before Caiaphas the High Priest (Matt. 26:57-68)
Before the Sanhedrin (Matt. 27:1-2)

Note:  We know that these “Religious Trials” also began very early in the morning because of these words of commentary by Doctor Luke: “At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them” (Luke 22:66).

CIVIL TRIALS:
Before Pilate (John 18:28-38)
Before Herod (Luke 23:6-12)
Before Pilate (John 18:39-19:6)

There is another very important series of events that we must carefully put within this time frame of Jesus’ various trials in the late night after His arrest – the denials of Peter.  Without a careful comparative reading of the Gospel narratives, we will miss the important sequence of Peter’s various denials – generally thought of as “3 times.”  However, it has often been pointed out by critics of the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible that there are blatant discrepancies in the denials of Peter.  As one Bible scholar said:

“Discrepancy has been charged to this account because the related details are so diverse that they simply refuse to group themselves into just three denials without some very questionable manipulating of the texts” (The Life of Christ in Stereo, p. 218).

Suffice it to say at this point, in all probability there were really “6 denials” in total by Peter – and not just 3 as has often been thought.  A careful parallel study of all Four Gospel accounts seem to indicate that there were “3 denials” by Peter before the cock crowed at all, as well as “3 denials” “…before the cock crowed twice” (Mark 14:30). [For a further discussion of this, please note the Appendix at the end of this chapter].

Jesus’ last trial before Pilate is summarized by these words of capitulation that represent a guilty verdict resulting in the death sentence: “Finally Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified” (John 19:16).

After this point, the Passion of Christ moves from the various houses, palaces and judgment chambers where Christ was tried – to Golgotha, the place of His execution by crucifixion.  With these understandings, let’s now place the various time periods of Christ’s passion into the larger crucifixion story. I trust that this outline summary below will be helpful to you.

 

A GOSPEL HARMONY OF THE PERIOD OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST *

After being dismissed from Pilate’s court, Jesus is sent out carrying His cross to Golgotha, along with the two condemned thieves. There He is crucified (Matthew 27:33; Mark. 15:22; Luke 23:33; John 19:17).  Then we read: “It was the third hour (9:00 AM) when they crucified Him” (Mark. 15:25).

It is important to note here that only Mark’s Gospel – most probably the first Gospel written, recorded that Jesus’ crucifixion took place at 9:00 AM. Initially, Mark’s account seems to contradict John’s account at this point because John recounts that Jesus was crucified at the “sixth hour” (John 19:14). However this is easily resolved when you realize that John was no doubt using the “Roman Clock,” which calibrates time like we generally do today – from midnight to noon and vice versa.  As a result, John says the trial of Jesus before Pilate took place at “…about the sixth hour,” or around 6:00 AM. The rest of the time between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM was filled with the mocking of the soldiers (Mark 15:16-20)…Pilate’s guilty verdict against the two robbers (Mark 15:27)…the various other preparations for the crucifixion and the “death march” to Golgotha.  Jesus then, was crucified around the “third hour” by Jewish reckoning, or at the “sixth hour” by Roman reckoning – or 9:00 o’clock in the morning.

After Jesus is crucified around 9:00 AM in the morning, the following events took place in the time period between then and early afternoon while He was hanging on the cross.  And even though we will recount briefly Christ’s “7 Last Words,” in a future chapter we will examine them in more detail.  At this point let’s just look at them in this time context.

1. He was nailed to the cross between the two thieves, for we read: “Two robbers were crucified with Him, one on His right and one on His left” (Matthew 27:35-38; Mark 15:24-28; Luke 23:33-38) with “…Jesus in the middle” (John 19:18).

2. The soldiers took Jesus’ garments, leaving Him almost totally naked on the cross – adding shame to His pain:

“When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarments remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom” (John 19:23; c.f. Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34).

3. The Jews and other on-lookers mocked Jesus – adding insult to injury (Matthew 27:39-43; Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35-37).

4. Jesus refused the offer of wine mixed with myrrh as a narcotic to help deaden the pain:

“There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, He refused to drink it” (Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23).

5. He then gave His first cry from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

6. Jesus now begins to conversed with the two thieves crucified on each side of Him – leading to the conversion of the one on the right (Luke 23:39-43).  As a result, Jesus spoke His second words from the cross: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

7. Sometime thereafter, Jesus spoke His third words from the cross to His mother, Mary: “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to His beloved disciple, John: “Here is your mother” (John 19:26-27).

8. Now darkness descended upon the land when “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us…” (II Corinthians 5:21).  As a result of this we read: “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness came over all the land” (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). So from 12:00 noon until 3:00 PM a physical darkness encompassed the land that symbolized the spiritual darkness that had now entombed Jesus.

9. In the midst of this spiritual and physical darkness, Jesus cried out His fourth utterance from the cross: “‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘ My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:46-47; Mark 15:34-36).

10. Shortly after this time, Mark and John gives us this account of Jesus’ next succinct cry from the cross, and the response of a by-stander:

“Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips” (John 19:28-29).

11. After this, Jesus uttered His sixth words from the cross – only recorded by John: “When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished’” (John 18:30).

12. Jesus then cries out His seventh and last words of His passion – only recorded by Doctor Luke: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46).  However, Matthew tells us that these were not gasping, whispered, muffled, dying words – but ones of the final crescendo of the song of salvation planned from before the beginning of time!  So we read that Jesus “…cried out again in a loud voice…” (Matthew 27:50).

13. After this last and final cry from the cross, Jesus “…breathed His last” and “gave up His spirit” to His Heavenly Father by an act of His own will (Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30).

14. Then what was perfectly orchestrated in eternity past took place in the Holy of Holies – dramatically symbolizing that the work of salvation was complete: “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).

15. Apparently the cause of this “rending of the temple veil” was a great earthquake that shook the City of Jerusalem and surrounding area. For we read that “The earth shook and the rocks split.”  And as a result of this violent convulsion of the earth, another event took place that is only recorded by Matthew:

“The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people” (Matthew 27:53).

16. During this time we read of the testimony of the Roman soldier who had been in charge of the crucifixion of Jesus:

“The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, ‘Surely this was a righteous man’” (Luke 23:47).

Mark gives more details of this confession when he writes:

“And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard His cry and saw how He died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’” (Mk. 15:39).

Matthew records the centurion’s response this way:

“When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely He was the Son of God!’” (Matt. 27:54).

17. At this point, those who hated Jesus left the crucifixion scene – with a sick satisfaction that they had “won the day.”

“When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.”

But we see the “lingering love” of those who stayed on a while longer in grief contemplating what had taken place:

“But all those who knew Him, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things” (Luke 23:48-49).

From this careful harmonizing of the Four Gospel accounts, we can now better understand the time period of the Passion of Christ.  We have seen that after His celebration of His last Passover with His Disciples in the Upper Room, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane for a late night of prayer. That agonizing time was interrupted by the angry mob that arrested Him and took Him away in shackles for a series of 6 “mock trials” that lasted late into the night – and continued early in the morning.  So Jesus had very little – if any sleep, the night of His arrest.

Then after the injustices of those trials were completed, Jesus was led away to Golgotha where He was crucified at approximately 9:00 AM.  After that He hung on the cross until around noon when the earth became dark for the next 3 hours.  At approximately 3:00 PM, Jesus died.  As a result, the earth shook…the temple veil was rent into from top to bottom…some graves were opened – and the work of redemption was forever completed!

So as you read this book in this moment of time, know that God was thinking about you “before time began!”  And be assured that if you personally know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, then God loved you and made provision for your salvation before He ex nihilo spoke the worlds into existence through His fiat power! 

Therefore, before you were ever born, He had made provision for His perfect Lamb to be “…slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).  Your salvation then, did not begin at the time you “first believed.”  No, His love for you began long before your love for Him!  As John rightly said: “We love because He first loved us” (I John 4:19).  So God’s unmerited love, mercy and grace were provided for you before you were ever born. Before you were ever conceived in your mother’s womb, God’s love for you was conceived in the council of the Triune Godhead!  That’s why Paul reminds us that “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (II Timothy 1:9).

Therefore, God unconditionally loves you and has unconditionally forgiven you – all on the basis of His Beloved Son’s death in your behalf!

With these eternal truths in mind, I want to close this chapter with the Apostle Paul’s exhortation for the saints of his day – which is equally relevant for the time you and I are living in:

“As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.  For He says, ‘In the time of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:1-2).

If you have never accepted Christ or fully surrendered your life to Him, I pray that this day of Lent will be that “day of salvation” for you!  Why wait?  You are only missing out on an unbeatable life because of His unconditional love and unconditional forgiveness that are the result of His unmerited favor!