In The Dark Of Night

Judas Witnessed The Resurrection

As the supper ended, Satan put into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus and he went out into the dark of night.


Matt 27:5
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

Peter describes it this way:
Acts 1:18
Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

These two verses paint a different picture of how he died and what happened prior. However, it’s the time of death we are concerned with here.
Why didn’t Jesus replace Judas himself? He had 40 days with his apostles during his resurrection appearance to do so. Peter stood up and announced they (the 11 remaining apostles) were going to cast a vote to replace Judas in order to fulfill what was written in Psalms. (His office or position must another replace). Jesus knew this scripture. The reason Jesus did not replace Judas himself was because Judas was still alive. Most probable up until the day of ascension.
Let’s go back to the beginning to see how they were chosen. Matthew and Mark indicate a rather random approach:

Matthew 4
18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

Mark 1
16. Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
17. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
19. And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
20. And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

John reveals a prophetic selection:

John 1

45. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
48. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
50. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
51. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Wow. If someone revealed to me a secret known only to me then foretold I would see heaven open and the angels of God, I would follow him.

At this point they were still called disciples. A disciple is a follower but an Apostle is an empowered gift ministry ordained of God. An Apostle is one who gives new light to that generation by revelation from God and in demonstration of power.
It is in Luke where we read the depth and true method of how Jesus selected the “ chosen twelve” out from among the disciples by praying all night until dawn when God gave him the names.

LUKE: 6
12. And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
13. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;
14. Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
15. Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
16. And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.

This indicates that the Twelve Apostles were carefully selected from among the disciples according to the will of God.

The following in Mark adds more detail to choosing The Twelve.
Mark 3
13. And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.
14. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,
15. And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.

According to this record they were chosen for two reasons. 'To Be with him ' and to be 'sent forth and preach and heal " with power.
Jesus spent all night in prayer in order to chose and name the 12 apostles from among the disciples. From that day forward they were known as “the twelve”, “the chosen”, “the Apostles.”
Jesus also spent a good deal of time teaching and training them. This is one reason he would've replaced Judas during the forty day period.
If choosing the original 12 was the result of such intense prayer by our lord and savior seeking divine guidance from God, then why did not Jesus himself replace Judas the same way during the 40 days he was among them in his resurrected body? It's because it was not necessary yet. Judas, being one of "The Twelve", was alive with them up until the Ascension
There was no need to replace him . It wasn't until Christ Ascended and was gone did Judas kill himself . Thus the timing of his replacement fits. Matthew merely collapses time pertaining to his death.*
Returning to choosing the apostles we learn he was always numbered with THE TWELVE.
Matthew 26
14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
Matthew 26
20. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
Matt 26:47 Judas, one of the twelve
Mark 14:10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.
Mark 14:43 Judas, one of the twelve
Mark 14:20 Judas, one of the twelve
Luke 22:3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of twelve.
22:14 the twelve apostle.

Paul gives us the original witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:5
…he was seen of Peter then of the twelve (Judas). Judas was alive and witnessed his resurrection appearance

:7 …then of all the apostles. Again, Judas was there.

When Peter stood up to replace Judas after the ascension he said “ for he was numbered with us and had obtained part of this ministry.” Somewhere between the time of the day of ascension and the day Peter took a vote to ordain a replacement, Judas killed himself.

Matt 28:16; Luke 24:33 and Mark 16;14 all mention Jesus appearing to the eleven in his resurrected body. Tradition assumes the missing apostle was Judas but God’s word has checks and balances. John 20:24 reveals that the missing apostle was Thomas.
Matt, Mark and Luke all use 'collapsing time summary' to end their gospel. Even though 40 days had elapsed during that time and many other things happened as mentioned in John. It merely collapses time into a few brief sentences in order to emphasize Christ’s great commission and glorious ascension.

Same principle regarding the short sentence describing the end of Judas’ life in the gospels. God magnified with great detail the crucifixion and death of his son Jesus Christ but described Judas' pitiful ending in one brief collapsed time summary. God’s word says a lot by limiting his demise and the end of a chosen man's life to one sentence.

I believe Luke tells us in Acts the time of Judas' separation from the Apostles.

Acts 1: 2
...Jesus through holy spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

He did not replace Judas.

Jesus then gave them more instructions and teaching then when he ascended it says:
in verse 9-11: Now when he had spoken these things , while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven (Judas departs) behold, two men in white apparel (angels) said "You men of Galilee"...

Judas was the only one of the chosen twelve who was not a Galilean. The angels spoke truly and in detail manner to the remaining eleven of the return of Christ.

Judas had time to return the money to the temple, witness the resurrection appearances, purchase a plot for his grave with the money of iniquity (what he stole from the bag) and slip away on the day of ascension to kill himself. This tormented soul repented, confessed he'd sinned and that he had betrayed the innocent blood. Yet Jesus says of the one who betrayed him “ better had he never been born”


*Of all the parallel events written in the four gospels, Matthew is the most often out of chronological order. It's not a mistake, still being the true word of God, however just told differently.

The Glory of the Celestial

Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation but salvation is not the only way to everlasting life.

A Christian is born of God’s seed, is now body, soul, and spirit. A son by birth. The saints. The body of Christ. Our body, soul, and spirit will be quickened if dead or changed if alive at the rapture. Unconditional eternal life giving spirit beings to reign in the new heaven and the new Earth. Grace Age.

David is not saved yet he will have everlasting life on Earth after the resurrection. Conditional immortal body, soul and an ethereal spiritual connection. As long as they drink from the river of life proceeding out of the throne of God with the tree of life in the midst. Paradise on Earth. Rev 22:1, 2, 17. He is not ascended to heaven. Old testament believers, adopted sons, the bride of Christ, were not spirits in limbo that Christ took to heaven with him. They are dead. The Law Age.

Those who live today who do not hear enough of the word to believe but “worketh righteousness” are accepted with God (Acts 10:35) and will have everlasting life on Earth after the resurrection. Same condition as Old Testament. Not to be confused with the Gathering Together or rapture of those born again in Christ before the great tribulation and resurrection. All the ages.

All the dead are dead until the rapture followed by the resurrection of the just and unjust. Then the second death which is final. They are neither in heaven or a burning hell or anywhere in between. They are dead except one, Jesus Christ.

This was posted in response to The Reward in Heaven on Truth or Tradition web site. As it is no longer available the following links are similar:
Working in the Future Kingdom; What will we be doing in heaven?"

"The New Body: Looking good and feeling fine."

Also: You Must Be Born Again

So what distinguishes the saved in Christ from those who are resurrected unto everlasting life? After all, God says we (in Christ) are sanctified or separated out from among all others (I Coronthians1: 2) and have a glory above all other glories. (2 Corinthians 3:8-11; 1 Corinthians 2:7) What separates us is we will have free reign IN HEAVEN as well as on Earth, as opposed to just on Earth. The verses you mention are written and confined to Israel and those who will inherit the Earth. I’m surprised at how accurately you rightly divide the administrations except for after the return.
Jesus Christ certainly rightly divided the future. When stated by the malefactor on the cross “ Lord remember me when you enter your Kingdom.” Jesus knew that the malefactor could not be with him in his Kingdom (heaven) for he was not born again of God’s spirit by seed. It was not available yet (John 3). Jesus corrected him by saying you have a future with me in Paradise (his kingdom on Earth). Paradise is not heaven. He said to the Pharisees, “where I go you cannot go.” Heaven or paradise. He told Peter and the Apostles you cannot go now but later you can. Because Pentecost and the future gathering together or rapture must take place first.
There are other obvious verses placing us with Christ in heaven. I’m not sure why you chose verses only pertaining to Israel (who are the adopted sons as opposed to sons by birth) regarding a future on Earth. That which is born of Spirit is spirit. It is also raised a spiritual body (1 Corin 15). Surely you don’t really believe spirit beings of light will be bound here on Earth? Partakers of divine nature are not flesh and bone but holy and spiritual. Your interpretation that our body will only be flesh and bone is based on one verse from the resurrected Christ and is a giant leap of assumption. By leap I mean for example when you quote from "The Reward In Heaven" you use 1 Peter 1:4 (reserved in heaven) and Colossians 1: 5 (stored up for you in heaven) and say “Jesus was talking to Jews who knew that they would inherit the Earth” when it was not Jesus but actually Peter and Paul who knew they were talking to those separated into the kingdom of his dear son and the elect who are set apart by way of the spirit. (Col 1;13; 1 Peter 1:2). To lump those verses with the gospels is is not rightly dividing the word as I see it. You use the same technique when claiming that Jesus was flesh and bone only when in truth you said that, not Jesus (Luke 24:39). He said as I have, not I am. Also, he was not yet ascended into his glorious new body. (He was glorified after the ascension John 7:39). Your definition of a spiritual body is that of your own . Because of your interpretation of this verse, the whole premise of this teaching is flawed and not convincing. The article a indicates a spirit, (when used in King James never refers to a Godly spirit) thus being translated ghost or spirit being or a spirit to be afraid of is accurately translated. It’s clear from the context of verse 37 that Jesus was responding according to what they were terrified of and what they supposed they saw when he said ..." for a spirit."

As for Jesus visit with Nicodemus, the book of John is all about Jesus telling of things to come that were not in scripture or clearly understood in the Old Testament. It is also a book about seed and the new birth and being Sons of God by birth, not adoption. “ But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the Sons of God who were begotten of God, not by flesh and blood of man.” This sets the tone. “Of his fullness have we all received.” Past tense. The Kingdom of God is what he foretold. It came on the Day of Pentecost. We are never told to look for the coming of the Kingdom of God after Pentecost. This notion and teaching that Jesus didn’t know anything pertaining to the mystery is old school from a confined theory in a box. You have to tippy toe around too many verses to still believe that. Eph 3:5 “ …as it (the mystery) is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets.” Jesus was a “prophet” (the prophet according to Jn 7:40) “Now” has been privately interpreted as a window opened only to Paul at that time. Jesus foretold of being born of the spirit,. Jn 3. He reproved Nicodemus for not connecting the miracles he mentioned from the beginning to a man of the Pharisees and not believing in the power of God of the Old Testament as able to perform this new birth. He foretold how to enter the Kingdom of God when it became available was by being born of the spirit, Jn 3:3. He foretold to the woman at the well that in the future God seeks those to worship him in spirit and truth. Jn 4:23, 24 (speaking in tongues). He foretold of receiving the gift of holy spirit and speaking in tongues was the manifestation (in a metaphor) of having received. Jn 7:38, 39. He foretold of his ascension. John 3: 14. He foretold of salvation. Jn 3;16, 17. (saved: to be made whole; having spirit within permanently, eternally). He foretold of being baptized in the spirit. (The new birth). Acts 1:5; Matt 3: 11. He foretold of speaking in tongues. Mark 16: 17.
He foretold how to receive the holy spirit when the time came (Pentecost) by instructing the apostles to breath in when the sign appeared (cloven tongues) . Jn 20:22. He foretold of being one spiritually and glorified. Jn 17. How close to the one body is that? He told to them to go unto the uttermost parts of the world. Adding the gentiles was part of building his church and of the one body. Jesus knew a lot about the mystery. God said “he shall see his seed” at the cross. Isaiah 53: 10. He saw his seed as one glorious distinct and separate spiritual body. God revealed it to him as he proclaimed,

“ My God, my God, this was my destiny.”

Our reign is with Him who openly will share His Heavenly Kingdom reserved for us (1Peter 1:4, 5). Revealed in the last time, eternal in the heavens. That’s the more glorious truth of 2 Corinthians 3: 8, 9 and 1 Corinthians 2:7. I Corin 15 states “To every seed his own body…the glory of the celestial is one the, the glory of the earthly is another.” “Everything after it’s kind” is the Genesis of the Biblical teaching of seed.

Under your Difficult Verses section:
I Corinthians 15:50 You say that “Some people have used this verse to show that each saved person will be spirit instead of flesh and that the saved will not be on earth in the future but in heaven.” Then you say, “ Both of these ideas are erroneous.” Why? Because you say they are? Do they really say they won’t be on earth “also?” Or in addition to being in heaven? No. That’s what you say they say. Why shouldn’t a person conclude what the word says that he will become a ‘spiritual body?” Or “become a life giving spirit?” To build a whole theology around Jesus resurrected appearance stating “ can a spirit have flesh and bone” and “in his glorified body Christ had flesh and bone” is erroneous. How do you know that was his glorified body? Could he have received a glorified body after the ascension? Paul saw him as ‘One born out of due time” after his ascension and said nothing about flesh and bones, therefore I can now declare by my interpretation that he was given a glorified body after the ascension. You conclude in a private interpretation “Therefore flesh can most definitely enter the Kingdom of God.” Let’s throw out all those surrounding verses referring to our “raised a spiritual body” in keeping with our erroneous ideas. The same private interpretation can be said for your quote after 1 Corinthians 15: 51-53 stating “ The above verses say Christians will be changed but not into spirit beings”. Doesn’t say “Christians” first of all, and again no regard for the many clear verses declaring “afterward the spiritual”, or ‘bear the image of the heavenly man” Jesus Christ, calling our attention to the stark difference to Adam who was flesh and bone. If this chapter exhausts itself to distinguish and clarify the difference between spirit and flesh and our heavenly future, I’m surprised by your misinterpretation of what Jesus meant in the context with Thomas?

You state, “The purpose of this study is to show that the future home of the saved is on earth, not in heaven.” The problem is you use the majority of the versus written to the Jews, not the saved. Therefore, based on one scripture (Luke 24: 39) you ‘squeeze’ this viewpoint on all the versus pertaining to a future in heaven as being “erroneous.” Concluding that “if the disciples were not expecting Christ to go to heaven, they certainly would not have thought they were going” because of what he said in Acts 1:6. They weren’t expecting to speak in tongues either. Are we to use your same logic that we’re not really speaking in tongues? Of course they didn’t know about going to heaven. They were Jews! Not yet saved. How many other truths did they not yet know? Several! Because they didn’t know or expect doesn’t negate any of the truths revealed to them later. Including our glorious, uniquely, extremely different, eternal future with Christ in heaven. It’s inconsistent to lump versus that are obviously written to Israel, who definitely are inheriting the earth and not entering the Kingdom of God in heaven, as written to us. How can you rightly divide the administrations regarding to whom it is written properly only to provide at your liberty an exception to join us all together in the end as if there were never any difference?


Jesus was not “refuting the idea he was spirit” as you say but a spirit. We will be given a new body that is fashioned like his “spiritual“ body with or without flesh and bones to soar through the heavens as we please for our citizenship, not a temporary visa, is in heaven. Can we visit Earth? Why not? Can we eat and take hot showers? Why not? To say we are limited to being on Earth with no existence in heaven is nonsense. You just have it backwards. Our temporary visits are in Paradise, our home is in Heaven.


You even teach yourself from The Sacred Secret “ many people think that God always deals with people the same way that he will treat us, but this is not the case, God has something for us that was never done before the Church Age” and “we even ascended with him and are seated with him in heaven, which is exactly where we will be after the rapture.” “Christians will be taken up to heaven to be with Christ.” To say this is only for seven years is another leap of assumption of private interpretation.

I believe you are rightly dividing in that teaching but for some reason you decided to leave heaven for good and retire on Earth. I’ll stick with the word and have both.

Enjoy and appreciate your site and teachings immensely.

Thank you,
Michael Meyer

The Others Crucified

How Many Were Crucified With Jesus?

By Kenn McDermott


A majority of Christians have been taught that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified along with two others, and that his cross was in between the other two. We have seen many displays, pictures, monuments, bumper stickers, crosses along the roadside, crosses in churchyards, and the like - all showing three crosses.

This fascinating study clearly demonstrates how God has protected His Word through the centuries and how the truth is still available to those who hunger and thirst after it. We are exhorted by God to study His Word and to “rightly divide” it. Although some things may be difficult to understand, this particular topic and the supporting verses are quite clear and easily understood. If you can grasp what is presented here, paying close attention to detail and staying your mind on the fundamental truths we will cover, you will, of necessity, find yourself in a quandary: do you continue to believe what you have been taught or do you change your mind to bring your belief into alignment and harmony with God's Word? I pray that you will consider the material presented here, and that you will ask God to help you as you study His wonderful, matchless Word. God wills not only that all men be saved, but also that they also come unto a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).

A major reason for so much confusion regarding the "others" crucified with Jesus is that men have interpreted the Word of God to suit themselves, their theology, and their traditions. Instead of going to God's Word and studying it for ourselves to determine if what we are being told is correct, we too often choose to believe men and women with degrees from Bible colleges and seminaries. We say that hundreds of years of tradition can't be wrong, but I hope to show you differently here.

Jesus Christ challenged the religious traditions of his time, as per the following verses:

Matthew 15:1-3 (KJV)
(1) Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
(2) Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
(3) But he [Jesus] answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

This identifies the root of the problem: a lack of real faith in the integrity of the Word of God. Such faith leads to the indispensable conviction that the Word cannot contradict itself. When one is rooted and grounded in that premise, he has a basis from which to work out what seem to be apparent contradictions, of which there are many in the Bible.

When it comes to the subject of the others crucified with Jesus, the key is to realize that, as with any author, one part of the narrative may not tell everything about a particular incident. At another place, the author may choose to add more information. Because we know that God cannot contradict Himself, if what He tells us in Matthew is different than what he tells us in Luke about the same event, we know that we must put the two together to get the whole picture. You could call this principle “narrative development.”

Before we begin our study of the four crucified with Jesus, let's discuss the problems created by traditional teachings. The two thieves and the two malefactors described in God's Word have, by tradition and the ignorance of Scripture on the part of medieval painters, been made to be the same. In other words, only two were crucified with Jesus. But if we let this stand, we have a major discrepancy in the Word of God. Matthew 27:38 (and Mark 15:27) clearly state that there were "two thieves," while Luke 23:32 says "two malefactors."

Matthew 27:38
Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

Luke 23:32
And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

Furthermore, both, thieves (or robbers) reviled Jesus, but only one of the malefactors "railed on him," while the other malefactor defended Jesus.

Matthew 27:44
The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

Luke 23:39 and 40
(39) And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
(40) But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

Another discrepancy created by traditional teaching is regarding the timing of the crucifixion of the two malefactors who were "led with him to be put to death" and the timing of the crucifixion of the two thieves.

Luke 23:32 and 33
(32) And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.
(33) And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

The two malefactors were crucified at the same time Jesus was. Yet, Matthew 27 says that after a number of things happened at Calvary, two thieves [robbers] were crucified with him.

Matthew 27:33 – 38
(33) And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
(34) They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
(35) And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
(36) And sitting down they watched him there;
(37) And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
(38) Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

If all of this is synonymous and dealing with only two individuals, then words have no meaning and language is useless for the purpose of communication. The Bible then becomes just another book written by men, full of errors and misstatements and not what the Word says of itself in 2 Peter 1:21, namely, "...holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

The King James Version says "two thieves;" the Greek words are duo lestai of which duo is “two,” lestai is “robbers.” The Greeks used an entirely different word for “thieves,” kleptes, but this distinction is obscured in the KJV. Duo lestai, two robbers, were crucified with Jesus after an interim of time.

Luke tells us that two malefactors (duo kakourgoi) went with Jesus when he was led forth from Pilate's Hall and were crucified at the same time Jesus was crucified. Remember that Matthew and Mark stated that there were two robbers (duo lestai) crucified with him after the garments had been parted and the soldiers had sat down and were watching what was going on. Matthew and Mark record that both “robbers” reviled Christ. Luke has only one reviling Christ, and he is called a “malefactor.”

There is an easy way to understand the Word of God: read it carefully and think about it. Instead of believing the picture of three crosses we have been conditioned to, we must believe what God tells us in His Word. Two malefactors were crucified with Jesus when he was crucified, and two robbers were later crucified with him after his garments were parted, etc. Thus, one malefactor and one robber were on either side of Jesus. For the record, every robber is a malefactor (evil-doer), but not every malefactor (evil-doer) is a robber.

From reading Matthew, Mark, and Luke we know there were four others crucified with Jesus. So now we go to the Gospel of John, which is not concerned about the time element when describing the crucifixion account. It does not provide the when, but instead gives us the where.

John 19:17 and 18
(17) And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
(18) where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

Whoa! That verse says there were only two crucified with Jesus, and now we have an apparent contradiction. So what do we do? Well, because we cannot resolve it from what we can read in English, we need a tool to be able to dig beneath the English “surface” of Scripture into the Greek below.

If you have an interlinear translation of the Stephens Greek Text, from which the KJV was translated, you can check the following for yourself, but to assist you we are including a scanned image from The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, by George Ricker Berry, page 303:

Please note that immediately above the word "one," which is in brackets, there is no corresponding Greek word. This indicates that the translators added the word "one."

In the interlinear translation, John 19:18 reads "where him they crucified and with him others two on this side and on that side [one] and in the middle Jesus." The word "one" appears in the English, but there is no corresponding Greek word. To indicate that the translators added the word "one," they put it in brackets. If the word "one" is not in the critical Greek texts, why is it in the KJV? Because by 1611 the Western world had been so indoctrinated by paintings showing Jesus on the center cross and one evil-doer on either side of him that when the translators came to this particular verse, they inserted the word "one." By taking out the added word "one," we do not touch the original, God-breathed Word, which then reads as follows:

John 19:18
Where they crucified him, and two others with him on either side, and Jesus in the midst.

One more point of logic is relevant, based in the following verses:

John 19:32 and 33
(32) Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
(33) But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

When we let the Word of God speak with its inherent and inerrant accuracy, we see that the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men on one side of Jesus. Then they came to Jesus next in line and found him dead already. As Jesus is the focal person, the Word does not mention the last two men still in line, but certainly the soldiers continued on and broke their legs if necessary. Here is a graphical representation of the five crosses to help you replace the traditional mind picture with the biblical one:

The word "other" in John 19:32 ("and of the other which was crucified with him") is another key to further substantiate that four men were crucified with Jesus. In the Bible, there are two Greek words translated "other." One is heteros and the other is allos, and their usage is for two different situations. In John 19:32, allos is used because more than two may be involved. The two malefactors and the two thieves (robbers) make four. Therefore, the soldiers broke the legs of the first and of the other (allos) of the four involved.

In Luke 23:32, the English word "other" is also used: “And there were also two other [heteros], malefactors, led with him to be put to death.”

The word for "other" in this verse is not allos, but heteros because there were only two involved. This is the remarkable accuracy of God's Word. Two malefactors were led with Jesus and crucified with him; later, after they had parted his garments, cast lots, sat down for a while, they put up an accusation, and finally, after they had done all of that, they brought the two robbers and crucified them. Two plus two makes four. When the soldiers came, they broke the legs of the first and of the other (the allos, of more than two), but when they came to Jesus they found that he was dead already. This is significant because the prophets of old had prophesied of the Savior that none of his bones would be broken. The Passover lamb was not to have any broken bones, and Jesus was the Passover lamb that year (Ex. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Ps. 34:20).

So, who do we believe—the doctrines and traditions of men or God and His rightly divided Word, which is truth? The choice is yours, because God will never violate your free will. He gently and lovingly invites you to consider the truth of His Word, but He will never make up your mind for you.

This study of the five crucified can be used as a starting point because it clearly shows how to work God's Word from the inside to the outside instead of the traditional way, which is from the outside to the inside. Once you grasp that concept, you can begin a journey into the Bible that will answer many, many questions for you and help you see why God magnified His Word above His name. In other words, He underwrote it.

Psalms 138:2
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

the five crosses at Ploubezere Brittany

The Cross To Calvary

The Cross To Calvary

Jesus Christ was tortured and beaten beyond recognition. He had not the form of a man. What a band of soldiers did to him in a over a thirty hour period without sleep is unimaginable.Truly the cross he carried bore our sickness, our disease, and our sorrows. Beaten beyond the point where anyone could look upon him, unable to move, they dragged him to the hill while another followed behind carrying the wooden cross of crucifixion and death.

Isaiah 52:14
Everyone was afraid of the way that he looked. He did not even look human. Nobody would recognise him as a man.

The cross that Christ carried to Calvary was the spiritual cross bearing the sins of the world. He touched the wooden cross when they crucified him and nailed his hands and feet and set it upright for all to see.

John 19:17
And he bearing his cross, went forth to the place called [Place] of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha;

What cross? The spiritual cross of sickness, pain, bondage and sin. John was speaking in a metaphor. (The word for bearing in the Greek used in John and Luke is bastazo).

Luke 14:27
And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Again, a figure of speech. Not a wooden cross. They tried yet in the end could not bear it.

Luke 5:11
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all , and followed him.

Matt 26:56
…Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.

They dropped the cross. Not the wooden one but the heavier one. The spiritual one with the weight. The phrase “bear his cross” was a common expression in Jesus time for describing ones taking on the responsibility of doing another’s will.

Matt 10:38
And he that taketh not his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
16:24
…let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Mark 8:34
Whomsoever will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Jesus was not speaking of a wooden cross nor was John.

Mark 10:21
…take up the cross and follow me.

Luke 9:23
…If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Thank God we are no longer asked to bear our cross. The cross represents what he accomplished for us. Since we became born again we are a new creation free from that cross bearing burden.

Gal 6:14,15
God forbid that I should glory in the cross of Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified … for in Christ we are a new creation.

The weight of the cross is no longer upon us. It is finished. By bearing his spiritual cross and nailing it to the wooden one he gave us the victory.

Col 2:14
Having put an end to the handwriting of the law which was against us, taking it out of the way by nailing it to his cross.

The Gospel period was still under the law. We are no longer under the law which was the weight of an unbearable cross.

Heb 12:2,3
…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…

The traditional teaching is that Christ carried the wooden cross part way and then the soldiers compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry it the rest of the way. It is depicted that way in paintings and movies and is embedded in Christianity. However, the following verses tell us different.

Matt 27:31-32
And after they (the soldiers) had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and put his outer garments on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out , they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

Mark 15:20-21
And when they mocked him , they took off the purple from him. and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by…to bear his cross.

Luke 23:26
And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian…and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after (behind or following) Jesus.

All these verses indicate that immediately upon leaving the judgement hall the soldiers made Simon bear the wooden cross. The word after in Luke is different than the word after in Matthew. Strong's concordance says behind or from the rear. The word led
can also be translated carried. Knowing his weakened condition they most likely carried his upper body dragging the rest. Also the word bear in all these verses is different than the word bastazo in John. The word bastazo is never used in the Bible in reference to bearing a literal wooden cross.

As tradition often does it has taken the one verse from John and one word from Luke and magnified it above the many clear verses. Apparent contradictions are stumbling blocks for those who are seeking an excuse not to believe the Bible. Like the traditional teaching of dying on Good Friday and resurrected on Sunday morning not adding up to 3 days and 3 nights. For those who do not research or understand how, it is understandable to be confused or challenge traditional teaching. But shame on the theologians and religious leaders who do not correct these errors in favor of supporting and disguising tradition as truth and then defending their error and promoting it in Bible footnotes and commentaries.
Jesus rebuked the theologians and religious leaders 2000 years ago for the same thing:

Matt 15:2,3.6
…Why do you transgress the word of God with your tradition?
…Thus have you made the word of God of none effect by your tradition.

It’s God’s desire for us to have the truth. Only then do you have the word of God. 1 Tim 2:4

1 Corin 13:7
For the love of God rejoices in the truth.

So should we.

God's Final Passover

God’s Final Passover

Jesus Christ, God’s passover lamb, was slain and is the ultimate and final sacrifice for us. Who has redeemed us to God by his innocent blood. Only God could have foreordained before the foundation of the world the precise hour that would miraculously coincide with the slaying of the yearly passover lamb by the high priest on the altar. At that exact moment the Son of God was nailed to the cross and pierced with a spear of death. And there was darkness over the whole land.

1 Corinthians 5:7 ...For Jesus Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.  

Tradition has confused many events during the final week of Jesus Christ’s life and death. The truth has become cloudy about the infamous Last Supper that Jesus had with his apostles. It was Jesus’ desire to prepare a place and partake in the yearly ceremonial passover feast with his beloved followers. However, it became clear to Jesus via revelation from God this was not to be and his final hour was near.

Matt: 26: 2
You know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

It is a week long ceremony but the passover, the preparation and slaughter of the lamb, was on the 14th of the month of Nisan. The actual feast would take place that evening which was after 6 p.m., the 15th of Nisan. That hour of evening began the new day which would be like our midnight. So he revealed this to his disciples on the 12th of Nisan. His fate and time of death was written in the word and in the stars. The Last Supper was not the passover meal. The Last Supper took place that same evening after sunset, the 13th of Nisan.

Matt 26: 20, 21
Now when the even was come he sat down with the twelve and they did eat…

A day later, after hours of torture without sleep, he stood in front of Pilot for judgement. Pilot questioned the people.

John 18: 38, 39
…I find no fault in him at all. But you have a custom that I should release unto you one at the passover. Do you want me to release unto you the King of the Jews?

Clearly it was before the passover, the 14th of Nisan. A short time later it was noon when Pilot saw him again.

John 19: 14
And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour…..

Again, the passover had not taken place therefore the Last Supper was not the passover meal.

To place a time of the crucifixion and death we have two verses.

Mark 25:25
And it was the third hour ( 9:00 a.m.) and they crucified him.

Matt 27:47 ; 50
And about the ninth hour ( 3:00 p.m. ) Jesus cried with a loud voice…
with a loud voice he gave up the ghost.

“As with all lambs sacrificed on the altar, the Passover lamb had to be perfect, without spot, flaw , or blemish. Jesus, our Passover Lamb, was spotless, unblemished by sin. At 9: 00 on the morning of the 14th day of the month of Nisan, the Passover lamb was bound to the altar in the temple and put on public display . At the same time, our Passover Lamb was nailed to a cross and put on public display on Calvary.
At exactly 3:00 in the afternoon of that high holy day, the high priest ascended the altar and, to the sound of the shofar, cut the throat of the Passover lamb , declaring, “ It is finished.” At that same moment, on Calvary, our Passover Lamb declared “It is finished!” and gave up his spirit. “It is finished” means “ It is paid in full.” Our sin debt was paid in full with the blood of Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, who was sacrificed for us.”*

∑ * The Hidden Power of the Blood of Jesus by Mahesh Chavda pg 39
∑ According to the historian Josephus the practice in the first century A.D. was to begin slaughtering the Passover lambs at the ninth hour, our 3p.m.

John 19: 31; 42
The Jews because it was the preparation sought to remove the bodies as they could not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day (for that sabbath day was a high day)…
There laid they Jesus because of the Jews preparation…

John 19 :31 proves that he was crucified on the 14th of Nisan, the high sabbath day, the passover.

These are some of the verses that make it very clear that Christ died on the preparation of Passover Day and that the Last Supper had taken place before. They would be considered unclean and could not participate in the actual feast had they not handled their dirty deed before hand. ( Num 5; 9-12 ) The religious leaders obviously had someone else handle the bodies.

Here are a few unclear verses mainly due to translation.

Matt 26 :17, 18
Now that the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus , saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
…The Master says ,” My time is at hand; I will ( “I desire to” is the text ) keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.”

Here the word day and feast of is not in the text as they are italicized in the King James. It more accurately should be translated “the time of preparation” which indicates it took place over a period of time.

Mark 14 :12
And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where do you desire us to go and prepare that you may eat the passover?

Ever try to find a restaurant to eat for New Years Eve right before midnight in New York City or San Francisco.? This is Jerusalem. It’s packed. If this were the actual day of passover they would not find a place. Again, it’s the beginning, the first of the preparation week and the word day is an error in translation or interpretation. It’s the 12th of Nisan.

Luke 22:7
Then came the day ( time ) of unleavened bread when the passover must be killed (prepared for sacrifice).

Again, the word day in Aramaic and Greek can also be translated time. It was the time of preparation of the seven day feast. Jesus and the disciples were not ignorant. They knew they had to prepare and find a place before hand, not at the very moment.
In verse 11 the word is might eat , not shall. And verse 15 reads more accurately “ At one time I most heartedly desired” to eat this passover with you before I suffer.

Matt 13:17
…I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not here it.

The same word applies here. Jesus desired to partake of the Passover meal but it was not to be. Here are a few observations that would indicate that the Last Supper was not the Passover .

They sat down to eat: Matt 26:20; Mark 14:18; Luke 22:14. The Passover meal was to be eaten standing up. Ex 12:11. The bread mentioned in Matt 26:26 as well as the other gospels at this meal was not unleavened bread . The Greek word used here is artos. The Greek word for unleavened bread is azumos. Further evidence that this was not the Passover meal which was to be eaten with unleavened bread. (The feast of unleavened bread and the Passover feast are two separate events that happen to overlap). Also, there is no mention of the Passover’s lamb being eaten. Had this been the Passover meal it most likely would have been mentioned.

They also plotted to kill him before the feast (15th of Nisan) because they feared the people.

Matt 26: 4,5; Mark 14:1,2 Luke 22:1,2

This in no way negates the significance and magnitude of the Last Supper. Many tremendous truths are revealed during that time. Read John 13 and 14.

Here is a verse that clearly separates the two events.

John 13:1,2
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father…and supper being ended…!!

What supper ended? The last supper of our Lord Jesus Christ here on Earth. Long before his death was foretold, God put into place the stars and planets to measure time. Years of time that were now narrowed down to a final hour. THE FINAL HOUR of his death and the salvation of mankind. Before this supper Jesus knew the approximate time but now God revealed to him that he would not partake of the passover but was to be our Passover for all time. To be crucified at the very moment the sacrificial lamb was killed for the sins of the people. Time means nothing to God but timing is everything. For centuries the Passover foreshadowed and covered the Jews sins on the outside. But Jesus Christ , OUR PASSOVER, was sacrificed for us and cleansed all our sins on the inside that the world through him might be saved. That’s world history and that’s timing that no man or science could ever match. Only a matchless God could accomplish these events. God, who gave his Son for our sins that he might deliver us from the present evil world to live eternally in the new heaven and new Earth.

Cry of Destiny

“To This End Was I Born, For This Cause Came I Into The World.”

And they took Jesus and led him away to be crucified. And about the ninth hour he cried out. This hour had been coming since the dawn of paradise and the fall of man. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was nailed to the cross to shed his blood for the sins of all mankind. “My God, my God, for this purpose was I kept.” And it was finished. Your redemption and mine. For this purpose he came into the world.

One of my favorite verses is from Romans where God promises that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Such promises like “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”, or “I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my Fathers hand.” This leaves no room for doubt that we are safe and protected for eternity and nothing that we or anyone else could say or do would cause God to ever forsake us. All this because of what Jesus Christ did for us.
Now every year around Easter time we hear stories related around the period of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Inevitably, whether on television, radio, or in a church service, someone expounds on the famous verse from Matt. 27:46 and Mark 15:34 : “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” This version of Jesus’ last words before dying on the cross is translated in the form of a question. And unfortunately, this has misled well-meaning people into formulating a theory to find the answer, that over time becomes tradition and eventually is taught and accepted as the truth of God’s Word. Commonly what follows is the traditional teaching that at that moment, while hanging on the cross, Jesus became sin and God cannot stand sin so He had to abandon His only begotten Son. What they fail to mention are the very next and last words that Jesus uttered and then cried out, “It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and having said this he gave up his last breath. (John 16:32)
The reason why this verse is so popular is because it stands out in contrast to all the other verses regarding the same subject. It contradicts the promises of God and suggests the possibility of a condition upon which God would break His promise and abandon his child. Yet, year after year this contradictory explanation is taught with great sincerity but devoid of any Biblical authority.
This is the constant challenge we as believers are continuously confronted with: Do we follow what tradition teaches us or do we seek to understand and know what the word of God really says? (Matt. 15:3)
In order to determine truth from error there are two fundamental Biblical principles to rightly dividing the word:
∑ The apparent unclear verse must be understood in the light of the many clear verses regarding the same subject.
∑ Most apparent contradictions are either due to translation or our understanding relative to the Biblical times and customs.
If we combine these basic principles with some common sense and logic we can remove the conflict that hinder our believing. First, we will look at the many clear verses regarding the same subject.

John 16:32
Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: an yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

Jesus was speaking of his crucifixion that he would not be left alone because God would not leave him as do the others.

John 10:30
I and my Father are one.

John 10:38
…though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him

2 Corin. 5:19
…God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them…

John 14:10,11
Beleivest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake

Jesus was continuously imploring his disciples to know and believe of his unity and indivisibility with God his Father. Not question or doubt. Jesus would never have misled his disciples into believing these scriptures revealed by God only to have their faith and trust shattered at the final hour of his life. Bye crying out “My God, my God, why hath thou forsaken me?” would only have discouraged them and left them feeling even more hopeless as they stood by watching in horror and disbelief.

John 11:41.42
…Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

The same holds true at his suffering on the cross for those who were standing by watching and listening.

John 17:21-23

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

How could the world and the disciples know beyond a shadow of doubt that God sent him and loved them if Jesus is shouting to God as the world watches and hears his dying words about God forsaking him? This is shameful how we’ve allowed the cloak of tradition to trick us out of God’s finest hour!

Luke 23:47

Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying certainly this was a righteous man.

After the centurion saw and heard what was done he glorified God. He would not have glorified God if Jesus had cried out that God had forsaken him. The following should dispel any truth to the forsaken theology.

John 8:26-29

…he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

As Jesus is foretelling, he declares the Father will not leave him alone because he always did the things that pleased God. Was he not pleasing God when he took on the sins of the world?

Heb 2:9

But we see Jesus, who was…crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

John 10:17

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of the Father.

2 Corin 5:21

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Romans 8:3

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.

Nothing mentioned so far that God couldn’t handle. It pleased God. In truth, God had no pleasure in previous sacrifices for sins, but the offering of the body of Jesus Christ was accepted by God once and for all.



Heb 10:1-10

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those whose approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore when he came into the world, he said: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold I have come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do your will O God.” Previously, saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings for sin you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then he said “Behold, I have come to do your will O God.” He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

So far in these scriptures we have not found any forsaken theology nor deviation disrupting the harmony of God’s word regarding this subject. What we find is the promise of God’s never ending love and faithfulness. For it is through His love [agape: unconditional, unlimited love via the spirit] that renders us inseparable from our Lord and Saviour and God our Father.

John 17:26

And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Romans says you cannot separate or be forsaken by this love [agape].

Rom 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love [agape] of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved [agapeo] us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, nor any other creature [creation] shall be able to separate us from the love [agape] of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing shall separate including sin. Shall not God who reveals this promise to us do the same for His ‘First begotten among many brethren.’ Agape bears all and endures all things according to 1 Corinthians 13. Including the sin laid on Jesus when they slaughtered the lamb of God, who became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

What a savior! He stayed on that cross because he loved us. And he loved us because " God so loved the world"...that He dreamed a plan to save us...that He gave us His only begotten son..." that believers would never be separated from God..." that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Now that we have seen how many clear verses cast light regarding the same subject ( in Matt27;46 and Mark 15:34), this passage of scripture now becomes an apparent contradiction. Notice I use the word apparent. That is because there are no contradictions in the original " God breathed word" (2 Tim 3:16). " For holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter1:21). God is perfect therefore his word must be perfect and the words which make up the word must be perfect also. To paraphrase these two verses: There were many writers inspired by God but only one author. The author, who is God, told them what to write by revelation. The writers would have written using words from a language and vocabulary with which that were familiar, but the words they wrote were words that God told them to write. This explains the difference in the gospel narrative. Matthew was versed in scripture and noted the fulfillment of sayings brought to pass. *1

Therefore , with God as the author, we would expect to find that passages in the scripture dealing with the same subject may augment and complement each other but never be contradictory or inharmonious. One record may give certain details regarding a subject or and event, while another record dealing with the same subject or event may supply added details such as time or place.

This brings us to the translation, the next principle and method of understanding the apparently unclear verse. There are variations among many translations of the Bible. This is where human error , imperfections and private interpretation disrupt the symmetry of the original inspired word of God. That's why it may be necessary to consult the manuscripts, printed texts, and various translations of the scriptures as well as concordances, dictionaries, and other resources.

Matt 27:36
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying , Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Mark 15:34
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani? Leaving in the foreign language should have caught our attention from the beginning. Why did the translators leave those foreign words in the verse? I have asked teachers and clergy this same question after they have taught on or quoted from this passage. None of them could answer. This is a deviation from normal KJ translation and is rare to find in the New Testament.*2 The reason why these foreign words appear is because the translators were uncertain of their meaning and proper translation. These are not Greek words, they are Aramaic. Jesus spoke Aramaic. Some scholars believe the Gospels were originally written in Aramaic.*3 In the King James Version they let the Aramaic words remain then added what they concluded what the English translation might be.

To begin with, there is no Aramaic word as lama, but there is the word lmna. Lmna is a declaration "for this purpose" or " for this reason." The root of sabachthani is shbk or shbq. The root word shbk means to spare, to leave, to reserve or keep remaining. In Romans the word reserved is from the root word shbk which is cited from 1 Kings 19:18.

Rom 11:4
But what say the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image Baal.

1 Kings 19:18

Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

Here it is translated "reserved" in the New Testament and "left" in the Old. This same shbk is translated "remaining" in the following scriptures:

2 Kings 10:11

So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

Deut 3:3

So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left remaining.

Joshua 10:33

Then Horam king og Gezer came to help Lachish; and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had left him none remaining.

Going back to that place and time where God's only begotten Son was dying on the cross he cried out " My God, My God, for this purpose was I left remaining;" *4" For this purpose was I kept." According to noted Aramaic scholar George M. Lamsa from his major work "Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text" this verse reads" My God, my God, for this I was spared!" Truthfully, this is what Eastern Bibles read from the Peshitta text.

Now we have the word of God in alignment and harmony and not man's tradition. We don't have to create a theology to account for the error in the translation of the western Biblical version. When Jesus Christ spoke these words of triumph he glorified God. And God was right there with him as you or I would be if our son lay dying. God never forsook him. It was man who forsook him!

Isaiah 53:2-9

For he shall grow up before him a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray: we have everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed , and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had no violence , neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin , he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

In the end it was man who abandoned him. It was man who turned away from him, not God! Isaiah said it was men who despised and rejected him , and we hid our faces from him when he was smitten and beaten and personified the ugliness of our sin. Yet It Pleased The Lord! He endured the unbearable suffering because he loved us and God was with him.

" To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world..." (John 18:37)

What a God! What a savior! For God laid on his Son the iniquity of us all that We might become the righteousness of God. He who knew no sin, the lamb of God, became sin for us. He could've saved himself at any time but chose to save us for all eternity. Jesus knew his mission of atonement from the scriptures which were written of him. But the magnitude of the glory of what God envisioned for us was not fully revealed until the agony of the cross. He gave up his life because God revealed to him his purpose and calling of God for all mankind...when He made his soul an offering for sin... Jesus saw the glorious future...he SAW HIS SEED...the Justified Many!!

"My God, my God, this was my destiny!" *5

1. The verse, Matt 27:46, was not noted by Matthew as fulfilling any prophecy of scripture as were the other verses and events in the same chapter that were noted. Citing Psalm 22 as a reference is from the Bible publishers and not inspired of God.
   
2. There are other examples where the translators have allowed the Aramaic words to remain; Matt 5:22, Mark 5:41, 1 Corin 16:22.
3. " In the first century, Jesus and his earliest followers certainly spoke Aramaic for the most part, although they also knew Hebrew. Therefore the Gospel message was first preached an the Aramaic for the Jews of Palestine. Modern scholarship tells us that the originals of the four Gospels and other parts of the New Testament were written in Greek; this is disputed by the Church of the East and by some noted western scholars." George M. Lamsa. Preface from Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text; Harper Collins.
4. Wherefore have you left me? is broken down thus: " Wherefore" implies destiny. "Sh'wik-thani" is the only correct transliteration, and it means "left me" in the sense of the purpose for which Jesus was left on the cross. It absolutely does not meam "foresaken" in this usage. Translators notes from Matt 27:46 at www.ARAMAICBIBLE.com Victor N. Alexander.
5. Amplified Aramaic