Session 15

In the last session we stopped at verse 25, which says, "now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS. " What did these words mean?
As we mentioned in our last session that the Jews were trying to bring many accusations against the Lord Jesus. They tried to stir Pilate against Him to send Him to the cross. One of the charges was that He was trying to set Himself as king. For this, Pilate and the men who held Jesus, mocked Him by saying to Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" According to Roman Customs, anyone hanging on the cross should have the reason for the crucifixion or the charge written on his cross. Pilate could find no guile in Jesus. In fact he said, "I find no fault in this Man." Then he said, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person." Therefore, he put a sign on the cross" THE KING OF THE JEWS " and this was a great offense to Jews.
In the book of Mark, chapter 15 and verse 27, it is written that they crucified two thieves, one to His right and one to His left. Who are these two thieves and why did they crucify them with Jesus? 
in fact these two thieves were supposed to be three ones as their oral tradition says. Barabas was their chief as we read in verse 7 of the same chapter, "and there was one named Barabas, who was with chained his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion, but Pilate, who examined the Lord Jesus and found that He did not commit any of the charges, wanted to release Him. He gave the Jews the choice either to release Jesus or to release the thief Barabas. The multitude chose Barabas and asked Pilate to crucify Jesus. The reason why they were crucified with Jesus is that they were tried and condemned in the same time as Jesus was. The crucifixion process was not an easy one. Therefore, they were sentenced to execute for all who were condemned at once and all the people would watch them. But one of the main reasons was also to fulfill what was already written.
Yes in fact, this was my next question. It is written in verse 28 that, so the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "And He was numbered with the transgressors." What do these words mean and why where they mentioned in this event? 
this prophecy was already written by Isaiah hundreds of years before the crucifixion took place. The Messiah was going to be numbered with the transgressors. We see Him one of three crucified ones in this scene. These words came in the book of Isaiah 53 and verse 12. The importance of these words was to confirm that the cross was not a coincidence, and Jesus was not forced to go through it. It was predestined in the mind of God, blessed be His name. It was already mentioned in the Torah in full details with several prophecies that confirm that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, which leaves no room for doubt to believe that only a likeness of that was shown to them.
Dr. Nagy, it is obvious that everyone was mocking the Lord Jesus Christ either by blaspheming as we read in verse 29. The chief priests with the scribe were saying, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." What did they mean by these words? And were these words true? 
Of course these words were true. The Lord Jesus saved many people form sicknesses and afflictions, and the chief priests knew this very well as for Himself He could not deliver Himself from trouble.
So you say that Jesus was unable to save His own soul, was He unable to deliver Himself from the cross? 
Yes, the all-powerful and all mighty was unable. We can understand this once we know the reason why. The Lord Jesus was and still is the Almighty one who has no weakness or infirmity, but He committed Himself to fulfill the work of redemption as we mentioned many times before. Consequently, the fact that He was unable to save Himself showed the fullness of His power not weakness. The strength of Jesus was manifested in enduring the cross, despising the shame. The powerful and almighty one was able to deliver Himself, yet He found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He was the one who laid His life willingly. He chose to become unable to deliver Himself not because He can't but because He wanted to redeem us all.
Dr. Nagy, it is written, "He saved others" who were those people mentioned in this statement?
The Lord Jesus healed the blind, leper and the paralyzed from the bandage of sickness and disease and from the pain of infirmity. He saved Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector from the grip of money on his life. He saved the Samaritan from the bondage of prostitution and adultery that she used to make for living. He saved the woman who was caught in adultery by the Jews who decided to stone her. He saved the crippled from his sins by saying to him, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." He saved the daughter of Jairus and Lazarus by raising them from the dead. He saved Mary of Magdalene and the demoniac of Gadarenes from the hold of the evil spirits and many other people. He saved me and you and all those who believe in Him that He is the only Savior from sin. He saved us from our sins with His blood for it is written, "He cleansed us and saved us by His blood" for it is written that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sins. In fact, He is willing to save all who come to God through Him from their sins and iniquities and from the torment of hell and the grave. He is pleading for them now and in the Day of Judgment. Those are the ones who have been delivered from fear and grief.
Dr. Nagy, do you agree that the chief priests had a good reason to cry out, "Crucify Him!" in spite of the fact that they were the reason behind the cross of Jesus, nevertheless had the Lord Jesus eventually gone down the cross, which was easy for Him to do? Everyone would have believed in Him and this whole issue of the cross would not be needed.
The Lord Jesus did not come to earth for a few Jews or scripts or the chief priests to believe in Him but for all men to be redeemed. If He went down from the cross, then the process of redemption would be hindered and He would have lost all what He came for. The second reason is that Jesus was not emotionally affected by the words of men to make decisions. He was the one in control of the situation. Third, if He went down from the cross, they would have believed that He was the king of the Jews and would have set Him as king as they tried already many times before to subdue the Romans and to rule over the nations. This was not in the mind of Christ when He came to earth. Therefore, He was not affected by those words and would not pay any attention to them.

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