What Was Jesus Doing On The Cross?

In 2010 I was in Hong Kong visiting with friends and while I was there, I had the great pleasure of meeting Alister McGrath, who is the Professor of Theology at Oxford University in the U.K.  

He was in HK delivering a lecture at the Baptist University. There were about 400 people attending the Meeting. As I was listening to his lecture, it was all I could do to ‘hang on’ to his thesis (what he was saying).  

Now, I’m no slouch when it comes to theology, and I was thinking to myself about whether the students were understanding what he was saying.  

At the end of his lecture, he offered a Q&A Session and was asked a question by one of the attending students, “How do I reach my friend for Jesus?”  

And there it is. After his 11/2 long theological lecture that I was struggling to understand, that student didn’t ask the professor to explain the point of his lecture, instead his greatest concern was the salvation of his friend - “How do I reach my friend for Jesus?” 

So, how do we reach our friends for Jesus? 

It’s very simple: tell them what Jesus was doing on the cross?  

This new Series is going to be solid theology and it’s also going to be easy to understand so that, Colossians 3: 16a ‘the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill(s) your lives’.  

Firstly, here's a summary of the events that led up to the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross: 

In the dark hours of the Friday morning before Passover, Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and betrayed by Judas He was arrested by a crowd of men that included the leading priests, the captain of the temple guard, the temple guards, the Jewish elders and the Roman soldiers 

Matthew 26: 47-56; Mark 14: 43-49; Luke 22: 47-53; John 18: 1-12 

Then Jesus was taken to the home of Caiaphas the High priest where the Jewish Religious Leaders agreed on false charges against Him 

Matthew 26: 57-68; Mark 14: 53-65; Luke 22: 54-71; John 18: 12-24 

Then in the early light hours of Friday morning Jesus was taken to the ‘Praetorium’, the temporary accommodation of the Roman Govenor Pontius Pilate where the Jewish Religious Leaders demanded the death penalty upon Jesus 

Matthew 27: 1-2, 11-14; Mark 15: 1-16; Luke 23: 1-25; John 18: 28-19: 16 

It is likely Pontius Pilate stayed in Herod’s Palace rather than in the soldier’s quarters in the Fortress Antonia at the far end of the Temple Mount.  

(Page 864 ‘The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah’ by Alfred Edersheim 1883 “The most readable and eloquent narrative and interpretation of the Life of Christ...unequalled”) 

The Roman Governors visited Jerusalem 3 times a year during the main Jewish feasts to supervise the Roman army which was there to control any likelihood of rioting by the Jewish political activists (zealots).  

Not wanting to condemn Jesus, Pilate sent Him to Herod Antipas the son of Herod the Great who was also staying in Jerusalem at that time. Herod mocked the Lord and sent Him back to Pilate 

Luke 23: 6-12  

Under pressure from the Jewish Religious Leaders and the crowds of people who came to demand His execution, Pilate condemned Jesus to die and had Jesus brutally flogged and led off to Golgotha to be crucified on the cross 

Matthew 27: 19-26; Mark 15: 15; Luke 23: 24; John 19: 16 

 The unlikely route of Christ on His way to Golgotha is called the Via Dolorosa which starts close to the Pools of Bethesda on the other side of the Fortress Antonia 

This route was chosen to support the view that Pontius Pilate was staying in the Fortress Antonia 

Arriving at Golgotha, and at about 9 o’clock in the morning, Jesus was crucified between two condemned criminals, and from midday till 3 o’clock in the afternoon God sent darkness across the whole land and then Jesus gave up His life for the forgiveness of our sins 

Matthew 27: 33-50; Mark 15: 25; Luke 23: 26-49; John: 19: 16b-30  

At this point we are reminded of Jesus words when He said, John 10: 17-18a “The Father loves Me because I sacrifice My life so I may take it back again. No one can take My life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again.’  

And of course, as Jesus said, it didn’t end there; in the dark hours early Sunday morning, Jesus was resurrected from the dead for our salvation!  

Matthew 28: 1-10; Mark 16: 2-6; Luke 24: 1-8; John 20: 1-18 

Golgotha and the empty tomb of Christ are now preserved within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher  

In the same way that the Via Dolorosa route is unlikely, also unlikely is the alternative ‘Golgotha’ and Garden Tomb location made popular by the British military man General Charles Gordon in 1882 

There is no archeological evidence for that location, in fact the opposite; the tombs date to the 8th century BC whereas the real Golgotha tombs date to the 1st Century AD.  

Matthew 27: 60 ‘He (Joseph of Arimathea) placed it (the body of Jesus) in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left.’ 

The Roman Emperor Hadrian who conquered the 2nd Jewish rebellion in about 130 AD. built a temple to Jupiter over Golgotha and a temple to Venus over the tomb of Christ. Roman fragments of the ruins have been found at these temple sites. Also, supporting the archeological evidence was the Christian historian Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus (better known as Jerome 347-420 AD) who verified the record of these temples.  

Hadrian’s temples were destroyed in 310 AD. by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine and in 325 AD, Constantine’s mother Queen Helena began to preserve the sites and in 335 AD the completed Church of the Holy Sepulcher was dedicated to God. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the last 1700 years.  

Destroyed by the Persians in 614 AD and rebuilt by Modestus the Cappadocian Patriarch of Jerusalem. Destroyed again by the Muslim invaders in 1009 and rebuilt in 1048 by the Byzantine emperors. It was further renovated by the Crusaders between 1100-1149. In 1808 a fire damaged much of the Church and following repair was damaged again by the 1927 earthquake. Current restorations began in 1962 just after the reestablishment of Israel as a nation. 

As we finish this Introductory Message let me end with a Personal Testimony:  

42 years ago, a friend of mine asked Jennifer and I to go with him to a Church Meeting in our hometown. The guest speaker that Sunday was an evangelist from Australia and in that evening Meeting he preached about the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross.  

Jennifer and I responded that night and received Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  

That night we were wonderfully saved! 

Romans 10: 9  

And for the last 37 years of my Pastoral Ministry, I have made it my priority to preach and teach about what Jesus was doing on the cross because, 1 Corinthians 1: 18b ‘The message about the cross shows us God's power to save us.’ EASY 

Galatians 6: 14 

Through this new Message Series, we will be examining what Jesus was doing on the cross – and I pray that it will bring a great richness that will fill your life and encourage you to tell your friends about Jesus – Amen!  

Colossians 3: 16a 

Finally: 

Dear friend, are you saved – have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior? 

Receive Him today - do it now!