Good Friday | BattleCreek Church | Pastor Alex Himaya

Well, good evening and welcome, and I just want to thank you for joining us for our Good Friday service here at Battle Creek Church. Whether you're watching from home, with family, with friends, or maybe even by yourself tonight, I'm really glad that you're here. You see, Good Friday is one of the most meaningful moments of the year to remember as a believer because it invites us to slow down and remember the night, the night that changed everything. For many of us, life moves quickly. We move from one thing to the next, from one responsibility to another, and sometimes we can't—we can rush past the moments that are meant to shape us. But Good Friday is different. It's a moment where we intentionally pause. You see, we slow down and we take time to reflect on what Jesus endured for us. So tonight, we're going to walk through the final hours of Jesus' life. The story we're about to walk through is not an easy one. The details surrounding that night are raw and at times may feel difficult to hear, but they're true. And so as we move through this service, some moments may feel heavy. So if you're watching with young kids tonight, you may want to use discretion as we tell this story. At the same time, I want to encourage you not to turn away from this moment, but to lean in. You see, because the more clearly we see what Jesus went through, the more clearly we begin to understand the depth of His love for us. The cross wasn't just a symbol. It was a real moment in history where Jesus, willing to step into suffering and death for the sake of this world, for every moment of that night, reveals something about the heart of God. It reveals a love that was willing to sacrifice, a love that was willing to suffer, and a love that refused to give up on you and me. You see, throughout this service, Scripture will guide us through this story.

We'll pause at different points to reflect and worship and remember what Jesus endured on our behalf. And very soon, we're going to share in communion together. As we prepare to do so, would you take a moment now and grab something for communion, crackers or bread, some juice, and I would love for you to join us and partake in that. As you grab those elements, would you just take a moment to quiet your heart? Since night is heavy, as we just take a moment to quiet your heart, because Friday invites us to sit in the weight of this story, to remember the cost of the cross and the love that led Jesus there. And even in the heaviness of the night, we can hold on to the hope, because this story isn't over. Would you pray with me today? Father, we are thankful. Father, we take a moment to humble our heart, to quiet our heart, and Father, we are just so thankful for you, God. God, you didn't have to do it, but yet you still did it. And so, Father, tonight, as we remember the sacrifice that you made, God, that we know that we don't deserve it, God, Father, we come with a heart of gratitude, and we say thank you. Father, speak to us tonight. Reveal your heart to us tonight, God. I'm so thankful for what you did on that cross 2,000 years ago, God. We love you and we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. The trial and the crucifixion for Jesus began the night before at what we call the Lord's Supper. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that on the night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and he gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it into pieces and said, this is my body, which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. You can go ahead and take the bread. Paul tells us in the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant between God and his people, an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it. You can go ahead. and take the wine. Paul continues, for every time you eat the bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Would you pray with me, church? Father, in this moment, on this evening, and this occasion, we're not overwhelmed only with emotion, but we're overwhelmed with gratitude for what you, Jesus, went through for us. May we, in this service, honor you, give you praise, and lift you up. In Jesus' name we pray, and together we all say amen. Amen. ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ In the garden He waits ♪ ♪ For the very moment He has made ♪ ♪ Like the face before a fist ♪ ♪ Like the eyes before a kiss ♪ ♪ It's beautiful languish ♪ ♪ In the garden He prays ♪ ♪ That this overflowing cup could pass away ♪ ♪ And in this hour of need ♪ ♪ If there were ever such a thing ♪

♪ Out of fear I fall asleep ♪ ♪ Oh, the hour has come ♪ ♪ The hour has come ♪ ♪ In the garden He bleeds ♪ ♪ But a glimpse of the calming sea ♪ ♪ And every angel up above cannot calm the sorrow ♪ ♪ When a father leaves his son ♪ ♪ Oh, the hour has come ♪ ♪ Come, the hour has come ♪ ♪ The hour has come ♪ ♪ The hour has come ♪ Jesus left that upper room or that supper, made His way south down the hill through the ancient city of David. Eventually He turned back to the east across and through that valley called the Kidron Valley. And as the earth was descending beneath His feet, that temple mount had to feel higher and higher and higher. It's not in the Bible, but I think maybe Jesus was remembering that moment where Satan took Him to that pinnacle and tempted Him to jump off. As He made His way on the other side of the mountain, he began to ascend again up what's known as the Mount of Olives. It's a mountain with olive trees and olive groves all over it. And in the middle of that mountain is a garden called the Garden of Gethsemane. One of my favorite places on the whole planet

is the Garden of Gethsemane. Years ago, I was reading a scholar who was writing about making trips to Israel into the Garden of Gethsemane. And here's what he said, It's like the fifth gospel, but because seeing it with your own eyes makes the other four gospels come to life. But that word in Hebrew, Gethsemane, it means the press. Likely it meant the olive press. And in that day, and in some places even today, there's a stone trough with a millstone or a rock wheel with a hole in the middle as a hub. And a stick is placed in that hub and maybe a servant or an animal would press that millstone around, crushing those olives. And there are three passes used to crush the olives and produce the oil. The first pass would produce by far the most valuable olive oil, known as extra virgin olive oil. It's the oil closest to the skin where it's been kissed by the sun. And that oil was used by the priest in the temple. The second pass just produced olive oil that was used in lanterns to create light. And the third pass, under some sort of a cantilever system, the pits of the olives were actually crushed into a substance like what you and I would call lye

that they made soap out of. Now I want you to think through this for a moment because Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane in that moment on that night, that one prayer is actually three prayers because there are a couple of divisions in the prayer. Remember, he took his disciples in and asked them to pray, came back and found them asleep, went back to pray again, came back and found them asleep, and then went back to pray again. Three prayers to match the three presses where the life of Jesus was literally gonna be pressed out of him. Now think through this. That first pass produced extra virgin olive oil used in the temple by the priest. In Jesus, we have the high priest of all high priests. That second pass produced oil that created light. In Jesus, we have the light of the world. That third pass produced soap. In Jesus, he truly is the one who forgives us for all of our sins. And he prayed those priestly and those pastoral prayers asking God, is there any way for this cup of suffering to pass from before me? He ended that prayer, nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done. And at the end of those prayers, Judas shows up with the guards. They weren't Roman guards,

they were temple guards or Jewish guards, and they came to arrest Jesus. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Oh troubled Messiah, you prayed through the night ♪ ♪ Unbearable sorrow, the world on your mind ♪ ♪ Betrayed by the kiss of a friend, you were taken ♪ ♪ By your own free will, rejected and disowned ♪ ♪ By those you came to heal, stripped of your clothes ♪ ♪ You were mocked, you were beaten, made a king of fools ♪ ♪ A crown of sorrow driven deep into your brow ♪ ♪ Yet you made no sound What you went through to love me, I'll never understand What blows my mind away is, you love me as I am They called for Barabbas, a king for a thief Parading your kindness like rags through the streets Draped with the weight of the world on your shoulders As you climbed that hill, a burden far too great for flesh and bones to bear You stretched out your arms as you welcomed those rough-made nails Your body fell, the very hands that shaped the world hung up to bleed Lifted on high, crucified, Him who knew no sin The Nazarene, the Son of Man, the Lamb of God, Emmanuel, given to die What you went through to love me, I'll never understand What blows my mind away is, you love me as I am Precious Redeemer, Lamb that was slain Hope for the hopeless, lifter of shame Friend to the sinner, grace to my soul Death is defeated, now my sin is gone And I'm blown away Crushed by the weight of the world that you came to save You took my place, your blood as rivers flowing freely to the ground Healed in your spirit, you let out a holy cry As you gave your life Oh Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani Oh my Jesus Christ What you went through to love me, I'll never understand What blows my mind away is, you'd do it all again Oh the perfect Son of God In all His innocence You're walking in the dirt with you and me He knows what living is, He's acquainted with it ♪ With our grief, the man of sorrow, son of suffering ♪ ♪ Blood and tears, how can it be ♪

♪ There's a God who weeps, there's a God who bleeds ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who would reach for me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the son of suffering ♪ ♪ Some imagine you are distant and removed ♪ ♪ But you chased us down in merciful pursuit ♪ ♪ To the center you were grace ♪ ♪ And the broken you embrace ♪ ♪ And in the end the proof is in your wounds ♪ ♪ Yeah, in the end the proof is in your wounds ♪ ♪ Blood and tears, how can it be ♪ ♪ There's a God who weeps, there's a God who bleeds ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who would reach for me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the son of suffering ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah to the son of suffering ♪ The trial for Jesus began with the Jewish phase of the trial when Jesus appeared before Annas who was the former high priest, kind of the Yoda of all high priests. And this happened in the current high priest home, Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas. In fact, Caiaphas' house is still standing to this very day underneath a church and we can visit that house. I've been there many times and under that house is a prison, which is amazing that a high priest would have a prison in his house. I've read before that what kind of a priest needs a prison under his home and maybe he was a youth pastor at one time,

but under that prison is a well dug out of the rock about 30 feet deep. And most scholars believe that's where Jesus spent his last night alive, that they put a rope around his chest and lowered him through that hole into that well. One time we were in that well during the anniversary of the Holocaust. That morning, we got under our hotel rooms a letter that said, hey, at some point throughout the day, there's gonna be sirens sound all over the country of Israel. And in that moment, we want you to observe 10 minutes of silence. We could have been anywhere on the tour when that happened and we were in that well when that happened. And those sirens went off and for 10 minutes in that well, we just prayed. What a powerful moment that was. On another occasion, an agnostic who traveled with me to Israel in that well said, I believe and confess Jesus Christ. We read while we're in there some of Psalm 88 which says, they have left me among the dead and I lie like a corpse in a grave. I am forgotten, cut off from your care. You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depth. Your anger weighs me down with wave after wave

after wave, you have engulfed me. Caiaphas, one of those involved in this dialogue with Jesus in this part of the trial looked at Jesus and he asked him, Jesus, are you teaching blasphemy? Are you teaching that you are the son of God? And Jesus responded and said, what I've taught, I've taught openly. I've taught in the synagogue. I've taught in the temple. And one of those bystanders hit him in the face and said, you should show more respect to the high priest, not knowing that he just hit the true high priest in the face. That little detail about. The priest hitting Jesus in the face seems insignificant to the theology and the story, but in reality There's so much significance bound up in the head of the lamb When the sacrifices are described in the book of leviticus nearly every time they mention the offerer of the sacrifice Taking his hand and pressing or holding the head of the offering In other words, you couldn't just take a lamb Up to a priest and hand it to him on a rope and say here you go Make the sacrifice please it was deeply personal You had to look this living animal in the eyes and know that it was dying so that you don't have to The offerer would place his hands on the head of the offering as an act of transference Before the priest and god you said this animal now bears my sin And that's exactly what the high priest unknowingly

Was doing here with jesus the lamb of god And as they struck his face over and over again, they were unwittingly playing into the narrative Transferring their sin allowing him to act more fully as their substitute in their place The high priest is getting personal with jesus looking him in The eyes and in that moment He can choose to place his hand on his head Transferring his sins saying I believe in you I believe that you can cleanse me from my sins or he can choose to slap his face and reject him That the most important day or most important sacrifice is found in leviticus chapter 16 Which coincidentally is the very center of the torah? And that sacrifice is called yom kippur or the day of atonement and on that day the high priest Would go before the presence of god and over the sacrifice pronounce his own sins first Then the sins of all of israel was it which is exactly the part that the high priest is playing without knowing it in this story here the sins of all of israel Then matthew tells us in chapter 27 That he was led away by the chief priest. This sounds exactly like isaiah 53 Where the prophet tells us that the messiah was led away like a lamb for slaughter So So There is a place of sorrow and love The innocent savior broken and bleeding for us The nails in his hands thorns on his brow Rivers of mercy endlessly flowing down The son of god high and lifted up the father's love

Came pouring down for us Um There is a place for all who would come His arms are open our sins are washed white in his blood Wash away in his blood Lost and unworthy Come find your home the broken and Hurting and his love will never let go Oh, the Son of God, high and lifted up, the Father's love came pouring down for us. Oh, the spotless Lamb for every sinner slain, our victory, our hope beyond the grave. Our hope beyond the grave. Oh, the Son of God, high and lifted up, the Father's love came pouring down for us. Oh, the spotless Lamb for every sinner slain, our victory, our hope beyond the grave. Our hope beyond the grave. Our hope beyond the grave. The Son of God, the heart of heaven. Given to us. Hallelujah. Oh, how gracious is the God who came to us. How wonderful and righteous is His love, our Jesus. Oh, through the suffering and the hatred of the cross, He gathered every hope we thought was lost. Our Jesus. We are in awe of what love has done. Delivered us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, how gracious is the God who came to us. How wonderful and righteous is His love, our Jesus.

Oh, through the suffering and the hatred of the cross, He gathered every hope we thought was lost. Our Jesus. our Jesus the next phase of the trial is the Roman phase where the Jews took Jesus to appear before Pilate who was the leader of the Jews for the Romans Pontius Pilate is the center of all kinds of controversy and skepticism around the scripture because he's such a central character to this story the the critics would say he should appear in archaeology and all over history Josephus mentions him some others mention him but in 1961 at a place called Caesarea Maritima or Caesarea by the sea they uncovered a first century stone that mentions Pilate in great detail 1961 yeah why do I mention that because eventually all of history and all of the facts will eventually catch the Word of God the authenticity of the Word of God we can trust the Word of God Pilate questioned Jesus didn't know exactly what to do with him you remember his wife had a dream and said have nothing to do with that just or that innocent man isn't it interesting that those are the words she used so he sent him to Herod who happened to be in town because the Passover was there Herod would come during the Passover as many of the Romans would come to Jerusalem during the Passover to prevent riots from taking place Herod entertained Jesus got Jesus to entertain him asked him all kinds of searching questions about the truth and then sent him back to Pilate the application is that you and I have Jesus on our hands what we can't get him off of our hands Pilate then said I tell you what I'll do I'll give him a fierce beating and and that Roman soldier called a lictor what would take the criminal and stretch him over a stump or over a boulder so that every muscle on his backside was pulled tight stretched and exposed and then he would take this weapon called a flagellum the slang is a cat of nine tails it's a handle with nine strips of leather and off the each of the strips of leather a conglomeration about the size of your fist made of metal rock and bone designed to be grappling hooks and that soldier called a lictor would then stand on every side of Jesus taking that whip

and slapping it and as those hooks would grab flesh he would pull it back ripping the flesh off the back of Jesus history says that when he had slapped and ripped and slapped and ripped and slapped and ripped and done all the damage he could do from one side then he would stand on the other side of Jesus and slap and rip and slap and rip tearing the flesh off of his entire midsection then he would stand behind the criminal throwing this weapon over his face onto his face and on his scalp and on his chest ripping the flesh off of his skeleton when he had done all the damage he could do from this side and this side and from behind him history says that he would come and then look into the eyes in this case Jesus Christ's eyes and throw that weapon over his head onto the back of his scalp ripping the flesh off of his skull they knew from experience that hitting a man 40 times would kill him as an act of mercy they hit Jesus 39 times then they took this crown of thorns put it into those exposed nerves took a scepter and hit him on top of the head with it to mash it into his brow that that thorn on the head of Jesus reflects the ram caught in the thicket or the thorns on Mount Moriah with the Isaac and Abraham story then they stood him up in front of that crowd on that platform with a crown of thorns on his head a scarlet robe on his back a mock scepter in his hand and they began to mock him spit on him hail Jesus Oh hail the bloody one hail the king of the Jews they had beat him within an inch of his life passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52 and that Zachariah passage that they all say that his face was unrecognizable The Hebrew word there literally means not in human likeness That doesn't mean that Mary was walking by and wondered. Is that my boy? Is that my son? It means as they walked by they they wondered. Is that a human or an animal? And then Pilate stood him before the people and asked that crowd What do you want me to do with Jesus Christ and from the back of the crowd to the front of the crowd? It began to roll like thunder as the crowd began to chant kill him Crucify him murder him The Bible says that Pilate took a basin of water and washed his hands And then said take him and do with him as you wish

Roman history says that the prisoner was never going to carry the whole cross It was just the horizontal piece and they would tie his arms to it and then tie a rope Around his waist and lead him through the city streets Why in the city it's crime prevention to say if you break the Roman law, this is what happens to you That via Della Rosa that that path That that the Catholics in Jerusalem Love to take and with each of the stations along the way Scholars are now telling us that that via Della Rosa is actually the very same procession Through the city that the priests would lead the lamb of Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement down In that day still in this day those streets in old Jerusalem are very narrow merchants are selling things and and At one point the Bible says that Jesus fell and every step he took remember what his backside looked like what what his head looked? Like that that cross timber pressing those thorns into the back of his head every step he takes But but the Bible says at one moment he falls Maybe the rope was jerked and he falls and you know What happens to you when you have a timber on your shoulders behind your head your hands immobilized and you fall forward? His head was planted under the weight of that timber into the pavement Some scholars believe that at that very moment That between the weight of that timber and his ribcage that his heart was actually bruised which is incredibly biblical From that point forward a man named Simon from up from a place called Cyrene What was forced to carry the cross the rest of the way for Jesus Christ? They Led him all the way to a place called Golgotha Golgotha means the skull and in all of my studies No one ever told me that the place called Golgotha actually looks like a skull It has marked me my very first trip there in in 2000 we weren't even at Golgotha. We were at a place called the garden tomb I was in a gazebo because the garden tomb can fit two or three people at a time and there was a long line Of people waiting to take their turn to go into that empty tomb And so I was just in a garden full of flowers in a gazebo overlooking a cliff

About 50 feet down as a bus station in a parking lot and about a hundred yards away is another cliff that goes back up a rock side Mountain on the other side as my eyes were just kind of perusing this whole area My eyes made their way up that rock and there I saw it in the cliff What looks like a human skull our guide that trip? His name is Avi came over to me because I lost it. I was weeping and he put his hands on my shoulder He said Alex, what's the matter? I said, that's it, isn't it? And he said yes, that is Golgotha Where they took Jesus and what they did in that moment is they would stretch his hands out and drive nails Into his hands again art has lied to us the weight of a human body would rip right through the flesh of the palm But here at the hand at the base of the hand There are two bones that make your forearm that would act like a hook on that nail In addition the nerve there is called the median nerve which physicians tell us when that is severed. It's unbelievably painful So they hooked him onto the cross with the nails in his hands and then a nail Through his feet and then they took that cross and lifted it into an existing hole with a pulley system And when that cross came into place Jesus on that cross had been mocked they had put a Sack on his head and punched him and said if you're really the Messiah tell us who it is that hit you They spit on him. They ripped the beard out of his face had been Beaten with an inch of his life, as that cross comes up, joints in his body dislocated, but not a single bone broken. And in the immense suffering and agony on that cross, Jesus began to utter some statements. We've done series over the years where we've walked through these statements made on the cross, but there's one of them that stands above all the others in my mind. And in all the times that I've read it, I still cannot understand this statement. And by the way, this statement is made

in the imperfect tense, which in the Greek, I've told you many times, means that the action happened and it keeps on happening, meaning that he said it and he kept on saying it. And the nail driven in his left hand, Father, forgive them. And the nail in his right hand, Father, forgive them. The nail in his feet, Father, forgive them. Joints dislocated, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing. They put Jesus on the cross at nine o'clock in the morning, which is significant in Levitical law. That's the hour of the traditional morning sacrifice. At 12 noon, when that Middle Eastern sky should have been at its brightest and hottest, it grew as dark as midnight. The earth began to shake and quake and the thunder began to roll, meaning that even nature was shocked. Creation was shocked. What was happening to the one by whom and through whom it had been spoken into existence. And then Jesus utters this statement, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In that moment, I believe Jesus who had never known sin became sin, not like it, but became sin for you and for me. God's eyes were too pure to look on sin and he turned the other way. Listen, Jesus had never known separation from the father or the displeasure of that father.

In that desperate moment, he identified with every sinner that has ever lived as those sins were laid on him by the high priest as the lamb of God. You know how a man dies on a cross. We know that he was dehydrated. In fact, the scripture says that he said, I thirst. When you're bleeding out and you're dehydrated, your tongue begins to swell, eventually to the point where air can't pass. One of the soldiers there took a hyssop branch, which is prophecy from Psalm 22, with a sponge on the end of it, dipped it in a wine vinegar called gall and lifted it up to the mouth of Jesus. And when he realized what it was, he rejected it, but it was just enough moisture on the back of his tongue for him to utter this statement, it is finished. And it was, the payment for sin and guilt was finished. But the way a man dies on a cross is he suffocates or he smothers. You've seen a step or a saddle on some images of crosses and you say that was merciful, it wasn't merciful. It was actually prolonged torture and it was anguish creating because on a cross, all of your weight is suspended on these nails on your midsection. And so if you could get your weight up on those nails or on that step or saddle and take in a breath and then fall back down, it would prolong your life another five to 10 minutes for every inhale

that you could take because on the cross, it's almost impossible to exhale. So you inhale and then you come back down and your body is now poisoning itself because you can't exhale the carbon dioxide. And so the way that they would speed up this death is they would break the legs of the criminal. Because the Passover was coming, they sent the guards to speed these deaths up and they came to the criminal on one side of Jesus and they broke his legs so that his death would be hastened. They came to the criminal on the other side of Jesus, they broke his legs so that his death would be sped up. But they came to Jesus and they said, he's dead. He's already dead. By the way, they were executioners. They knew what a dead man looked like. One of the other soldiers said, no, no, they told us to make sure, and it says they took a spear or a sword and shoved it under his ribcage into the heart of Jesus. John and his gospel, who was an eyewitness of this moment, said that I saw blood and I saw water. Now, John certainly didn't know in the first century what cardiologists know today, that when a heart ruptures and a human dies, that the red blood cells coagulate away from the white blood cells and it appears as if it's blood and water. And church, all I can tell you tonight is the physical,

because I cannot even imagine the spiritual, that for every bad ass. attitude you and I have ever had, every willful act of disobedience you and I have ever committed, Jesus Christ died. Now they didn't have long to prepare the body for burial because the Sabbath was coming. In the first century, they would wash the body and then put sawdust on it, and they would mix it with a substance known as myrrh, a gummy substance, and they would put spices and flowers to push back the smell of death, and then they would wrap the body with strips of linen, like a mummy. Well, they didn't have time to finish the job. They had to hurry it because the Sabbath was coming. They placed his body in a new tomb or a borrowed tomb, and then they sealed that tomb with a large stone. And as that large stone was wheeled in front of that tomb, then cords were taken, tied in a knot, and hot wax sealing that cord to the rock, and then somebody with the signet ring of Caesar would mash that signet into that hot wax, stating that the one who breaks this seal, the punishment for him is death. Guemery says, he is gallant, here in this earth, and he will not yet set his eyes on that land, until he has opened it.

And he will set his mind to the word of God, not concerning it the s Dance of the Fates.