Photo Every Day 2025

I took this photo Wednesday evening after seeing one of the drawings that a student at ENGAGE drew while I was speaking.

Seeing the drawing actually made me stop and think about the messages that I had been preaching. I had been talking a lot about how Jesus transforms people… about how they were one way BEFORE they met Jesus, THEN He transforms their life through the power of the gospel, and they are a totally different way AFTER putting their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

All of that is completely true and worth talking about, but after seeing this drawing I was convicted that I hadn’t spent enough time just talking about JESUS! What makes the THEN possible and powerful? It is the work of the cross.

So Thursday morning I threw out my plans, tossed aside the sermon I had planned, and just spent the morning reading my own personal notes to the students. Obviously there was a bit of commentary added to these notes, but I promised I would share my notes in a blog post… so here they are in their completely raw form (I do plan to go back through and add scripture references to these notes in a later blog post, but I just wanted to get these out there for now. I hope they are a blessing to you…)

Timeline for Jesus’ Death

Betrayal and Arrest

• Judas, one of the 12 apostles, arranged the for Jesus to be turned over to the Chief priests
• Judas approached the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus had been praying, coming with soldiers and officials. Jesus asked who they were looking for, they said “Jesus of Nazareth”. Jesus said “I Am he” and the soldiers fell down. He let them get back to their feet, and asked a second time who they were looking for. They said “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.”
• At this point Judas walked up to Jesus and gave him a kiss, the signal that this was, in fact, the man they had come to arrest
• When the soldiers seized Jesus, Peter pulled out a sword to attack. With one wild, passionate swing of the sword, the fisherman turned apostle cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s officers, named Malchus. Jesus told Peter to put the sword away, touched the solider who had come to arrest him, and miraculously healed his ear. 

First trial before Annas (Jewish)

• The soldiers bound Jesus and led him to Annas’s house. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest. They likely brought Jesus to Annas to ensure they had the right person.
• After verifying they had, in fact, arrested the right person, the soldiers and officials became even more violent, striking Jesus directly in the face

Second Trial before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin (Jewish)

• Jesus was sent, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest
• False, contradicting testimonies were given about Jesus
• Jesus did not defend himself, but remained silent before his accusers
• Caiaphas asked him directly, “Are you the Son of God?”
• Jesus answered: “I Am”
• At this point Caiaphas tore his clothes and declared blasphemy
• Those around spit in Jesus’ face, struck him with their fists, slapped him, blindfolded him, and mocked him. 

Peter’s denials

• While this second trial is taking place, Peter is standing in the courtyard and is asked three times whether he knew Jesus or was one of his followers. Three times Peter denied that he knew Jesus, or that he was one of Jesus’ followers. 
• On the third denial, a rooster crowed, and Peter remembered that Jesus told him he would deny him three times. Somehow Jesus knew. Luke tells us that Peter “went out and wept bitterly”.

Third Trial before the Sanhedrin (Jewish)

• At daybreak, Jesus was brought again before the Sanhedrin
• They asked again if he was the Christ. 
• Jesus said, “If I tell you, you will not believe me.”
• They asked “Are you then the Son of God?”
• Jesus said, “You are right in saying I am.”
• Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”
• They were not willing to hear the truth. Their hearts and minds were not open to the truth. Instead, the lies they believed had turned them into bloodthirsty monsters, hellbent on destroying an innocent man. This was the work of Satan, who hates the truth, and only comes to kill, steal, and destroy. 

Remorse and Suicide of Judas

• When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse 
• He tried to return the money he had received from the chief priests for betraying Jesus, but the chief priests refused to take it. 
• Unable to forgive himself for what he had done, and somehow unaware of the mercy, grace, and forgiveness that would certainly have been offered by the one he betrayed, Judas was overcome by regret and hung himself. 

Fourth Trial before Pilate (Roman)

• the Jews led Jesus, bound, to the Roman governor, Pontious Pilate. 
• The Jewish leaders lied about Jesus, claiming he opposed paying taxes
• They also told Pilate that Jesus claimed to be a king, suggesting he was a threat to Rome that needed to be eliminated. Truthfully, Jesus did not really claim to be a king, the scriptures proclaimed he was King. 
• Pilate initially tried to avoid dealing with Jesus, telling the Jews to judge him themselves, by their own laws
• The Jewish leaders responded by saying, “But we have no right to execute anyone.”
• They clearly wanted Jesus dead
• Perplexed by their uncharacteristic hatred for this man, Pilate brought Jesus into the palace to question him privately 
• Pilate asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews. Jesus said he was, but that his kingdom is not of this world
• Jesus told Pilate that he came into this world to testify to the truth.
• Pilate asked, “What is truth”?
• Again, not wanting to be involved, and not believing Jesus to be guilty, Pilate told the Jewish leaders that he found no fault in Jesus

Fifth Trial before Herod Antipas (Roman & Jewish)

• It was at this point that the fact Jesus was from Galilee came to light. This was very helpful information for Pilate. Realizing Jesus was actually from Galilee, which was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod to let Herod deal with him 
• The Jewish leaders followed along to accuse Jesus before Herod. The scales of justice simply had to be tipped in their favor. This was their chance to destroy Jesus, and they didn’t want anything to mess up their plan. 
• Herod asked Jesus questions and tried to get him to perform miracles, but Jesus just stood silent, giving no answers, and performing no miracles.
• Herod and his soldiers ridiculed Jesus, mocked him, dressed him in a purple robe, and sent him back to Pilate.

Sixth Trial before Pilate (Roman)

• Pilate, hoping to get out of the mess he didn’t want to be in, invoked an old custom of releasing a prisoner back to the people. 
• To stack the deck, Pilate offered to release back to the community a notorious well-known and well-hated murderer, Barabbas, or Jesus
• Incredibly, the people chose for Barabbas to be released back into their community, not Jesus. 
• Still not wanting to put Jesus to death, and claiming he found no fault in him, Pilate commanded that Jesus be flogged as punishment, in hopes that the flogging would appease the mob of bloodthirsty Jews

The flogging Jesus received was likely a Roman scourging, a brutal form of punishment. The instrument used was typically a *flagrum*, which was a whip with multiple leather thongs embedded with sharp objects like bone, metal, or glass to maximize tissue damage. The victim was stripped naked and tied to a post, and the lashes—often up to 39, per Jewish custom, though Roman practice had no strict limit—tore into the flesh, causing severe lacerations, muscle damage, and blood loss. This weakened the victim significantly, often leading to shock or death.

• Following the flogging, the Roman soldiers twisted a crown of thorns together and put it on Jesus’ head. They covered his bloody, unrecognizable body with a purple robe, possibly the same one Herod covered him with, and mocked him, then struck him in the face.
• Desperately wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to the people again, the FINAL TRIAL, but the crowd just kept shouting, “Crucify him!”
• Pilate questioned Jesus privately again, the  came back out to the angry mob again and tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders began shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar!” A clear threat of massive revolt and pubic unrest, which would undoubtedly lead to the death of Pilate—either by the people, or by Caesar himself. 
• With no other options left, Pilate gave the order for Jesus to be crucified. 

It is amazing to note that crucifixion was only commonly used as a form of brutal Roman punishment for a few hundred years. It is as if this horrible punishment came into existence for the very purpose of Jesus dying the worst death possible. 

During the crucifixion, solders would stretch a criminals arms across a heavy, solid wooden beam, and drive long nails through the wrist of each hand. The nails would not go through the palm, as the flesh of the palm would just tear, and the arm would be free. Instead, the nail could go where the hand an arm come together, trapped by solid bones, keeping the criminals arms securely held wide. The feet would be placed on top of the other, with a nail driving through both feet, locking firmly into the wood. In this pierced position, the criminal would find it quite difficult to lift themselves high enough to breathe. Slowly, but surely, the weight of their own sinking body, held up by the arms, would cause the air passage of the throat to the lungs to be cut off, and the criminal would die of asphyxiation. 

The practice of crucifixion not exist during the lifetime of the prophet Isaiah, who lived 700 years before Jesus was born, and who prophesied that the Messiah, God’s suffering servant, would be pierced for our transgressions. King David who lived roughly 1,000 years before Jesus prophesied that the Messiah would have his hands and feet pierced while enemies surround him.

Journey to Golgotha

• The soldiers continued to mock Jesus, strike him on the head with a staff, and spit on him
• They forced Jesus to carry his own cross

It would not be a full cross, like you typically see portrayed in the movies. The vertical beam would already be at the top of the hill. Jesus would be carrying a 30-40 pound crossbeam, after a full night of trials, beatings, and Roman flogging

• Physically unable to continue carrying his own cross, the soldiers seized a man named Simon from Cyrene, and forced him to help Jesus carry the cross to the top of the hill. 

First Three Hours of Crucifixion

• Two other criminals were crucified beside him. One of the left, and one on the right. 
• The soldiers took Jesus’ clothes. He hung on the cross completely naked. Crucifixion was meant to be as much humiliating as it was excruciating. 
• The soldiers cast lots for his clothes, which fulfilled prophecy Both of the criminals mocked Jesus. 
• The people passing by hurled insults at him. The religious leaders continued to mock him while he hung on the cross. 
• The soldiers also mocked Jesus
• The criminals who hung beside him also heaped insults on him. 
• Apparently one of the criminals saw the humble response of Jesus, or felt convicted of mocking him, and suddenly one of the criminals who was crucified with Jesus rebuked the other criminal. He said, “Don’t you fear God? We are being punished justly. We deserve this punishment. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then that criminal said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Last three hours of crucifixion 

• At around noon, the sky turned black
• Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

This is the moment when all of the sin of the world was placed upon Jesus. The crushing weight of our sin, and the fact that the Father cannot be in the presence of sin, caused an unprecedented separation between God the Father and God the Son. 

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)

• Jesus said, “It is finished” and breathed his last
• At that moment the temple of the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom (access to the Father had been purchased)
• The earth shook. Rocks split. Tombs broke open. 
• A centurion, one of the soldiers who no doubt had been mocking Jesus, possibly hitting and spitting on him, stood in front of Jesus, saw how he died, and said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”