When they came to a place called The Skull, they crucified Him there. And the criminals were also crucified—one on His right and one on His left.
Luke 23:33
HIM
The three letters are H. I and M. Him – The third person pronoun refers to Jesus Christ, who is none other than the Messiah the Jews were all waiting for. Note the way Luke structures his account from the time the Sanhedrin seek to have Jesus put to death. Through the trial we are constantly reminded of who this One on trial really is.
He is:
- Son of Man (Luke 22:22, 48, 69)
- Christ (Luke 22:67, 23:2)
- THE ONE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD (Luke 22:69)
- Son of God (Luke 22:70)
- I AM (Luke 22:70)
- King of the Jews (Luke 23:2, 37, 38)
- Jesus Christ of Nazareth, King of the Jews (John 19:19) YHWH
- The Christ of God (Luke 23:35)
- His Chosen One (Luke 23:35)
Luke tells us over and over from 22:1 to the end of the cross account who this One is. The Four letters I referred to in the title are Y. H. W. H. The third person personal pronoun [Him] refers to none other than Jesus, the Christ, God’s Chosen One, the Messiah, the One Who will be seated at God’s right hand – the place of power and authority. This One on trial is the Son of Man (man as he was meant to be – the epitome of a human life lived under God’s control). He is also Son of God, always and forever Supreme Deity. “They crucified Him There” takes on added meaning when we consider who the players are on the macro level. [Him] is Creator (uncreated) God crucified by His [created] creatures. The thought of that is immense. It reminds me of Brian Kendrick’s line in the song The Servant King – “Hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered.” Oh my goodness. That is incredible. They, the puppet like creatures He created, dared to put the Creator to death on a cross. And not just an ordinary death – the most tortuous death ever conceived of by mankind. Now that is worth pondering at some depth.
It is this aspect of the reality that is summed up in those four words They Crucified Him There. When you stop to consider the Him who was crucified it defies imagination. That God would allow His creatures to put Him to death on a cross is unimaginable. It is this thought that is tied up in Jesus statement recorded in
Pilate demanded. “Don’t You realize that I have the power to release You or crucify You?” Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over Me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin.”
John 18:10-11
God could have sent 10,000 angels to take care of Him. Jesus Himself could have commanded 10,000 angels to release Himself from the cross and end this torture. But HE CHOSE not to. Amazing.
The Hands That Flung Stars Into Space to Cruel Nails Surrendered. Oh the depth of that thought. The idea of God surrendering to His creatures and allowing them to put Him to death is both abhorrent and incredibly majestic. Yet it happened at the cross. What is amazing about it all is that God had planned everything. He told His prophets, priests and teachers of the Law that the Messiah would suffer. He would become Messiah, Son of Joseph. Remember the two contrastive aspects of the Messiah – Messiah, Son of Joseph and Messiah, Son of David; The Suffering Servant and All-Conquering King. The Jews stumbled over the stumbling block. It was inconceivable to them that Messiah (God’s Chosen One) would suffer and die. The fact that this One they were crucifying (Him) was suffering and dying was dying proof that He was not Messiah – at least in their minds. But according to God’s plan He was in the exact position the plan had always required. This One, this Him, had come to give His life a ransom for many. This Saviour of the World had come to seek and to save the lost. This plan was included as one of Luke’s major themes: The Saviour and the lost, the downtrodden. Here now in the words They Crucified Him There we find the story reaches its zenith; its peak. Its moment of shock and horror and its moment of the grandeur of grace. How incredible.
This is the One whom they are crucifying. The very fact that they are crucifying Him gives them the certainty that they are in the right. Yet they are only able to crucify Him because God Himself is allowing them to. It is all part of His plan. It is the only way that He can be Just and Justifier (Romans 3:26), by paying the price of sin for these weak and destitute human beings, through the sacrifice of His own Son, His own blood. What majesty, what an horrific thought and yet at the same time, what Grace! Don’t treat it lightly! God Himself was on the cross reconciling the world to Himself. Don’t you as in-grafted branches become cocky in your new found position! It is only by Grace and because God Himself allows it. It shouts volumes about the God we serve. This Servant King, whose hands had flung the stars in place and yet surrendered to the cruel nails of crucifixion. And may I add, when this One, this Him, flung the stars in space and then named them one by one it was all according to His plan and all immaculately positioned to reveal His glory and His story. [But that is a whole other story, one I have told in Nuggets from the Word (January to December 2008) and in God’s Awesome Book in the segment Amazing Facts related to the names and positions of the signs of the Zodiac. These Nuggets are now all available. See God named the stars and set them in their appointed place and the Nugget Series The Message in the Stars – Virgo on this website.
This One referred as “Him” in these four words under investigation is YHWH, Creator God, the I AM. The One who can do anything, to whom nothing is impossible. Including death on a cross, the most horrific death imaginable. And He did it for you and me!
Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered.
Brian Kendrick (from the song The Servant King)
God said, “This is how much I love you” and then proceeded to stretch His hands out wide, as wide as the Cross.
Ian Vail
“Him” takes on added meaning on the macro level: [Him] is Creator (uncreated) God crucified by His [created] creatures. The thought of that is immense.
Ian Vail
Doubt wonders, “Have I done enough to go to heaven?” Grace answers, “No, you haven’t. But Jesus has on your behalf.”
Max Lucado
Only when our plans are aligned with Jesus’ are we happy with his arrival.
Ian Vail