The Place Of The Skull

by Richard St.James

The Place Of The Skull

John 19:17 “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.
19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.”

1. Golgotha
2. The Title
3. The Coat
4. The Scripture Fulfilled

1. Golgotha

Verse seventeen, we read this: ”And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:”

Now, the skull is the bone that forms the exterior of the head, and encloses the brain.

The word skull appears five times in our King James Bible. The number five is a number that is connected with death, thus, the place of the skull is the place of DEATH. There is something else here, too. The place of death is the place of a PERSON. I can hear you, now. You are asking me this question. “What do you mean by this “place of a skull” being the place of a PERSON? Who is this person?”

Patience, my friend! When we run it down in the BOOK, we find that DEATH is that person who hangs around the “place of a skull”. We can see the first part of this connection by going to the book of Revelation to chapter two, in verse twenty-three. Are we ready to begin? “And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” [Revelation 2:23] Did you see “I will kill her children with death”?

Maybe you are not convinced yet, that Death is a person, indeed. We are now ready to see the second part of this connection by going to the book of the Revelation, in chapter six, verse eight: “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” [Revelation 6:8]

Conclusion! DEATH is a person, and he is riding on pale horse. Have you, my friend, ever heard the expression: you look pale as death? You see, one day DEATH is coming for you and I. Have you ever thought of that before? You need to think about it!

2. The Title

Verse nineteen: “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Here is the government of Rome [the earthly authority] TITLING the Cross on which they hung the SON of GOD. Now, a title is an inscription. An inscription puts a name on something by which a thing is to be made known to everyone, forevermore.

So for the last two thousand years, everyone who reads the Bible here [in John nineteen] can see this title that the earthy powers [a Gentile government] inscribed on the Cross of Calvary. The Roman government by inscribing this inscription: “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS” recognized unwittingly their own future demise. One day the Gentle governments will be blown to bits when the Son of God sets up HIS throne from Jerusalem.

In [Haggai 2:22] it says this: “And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.”

And in [Micah 4:7] we have this: “And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.”

There is one more thing to take notice here in this title or inscription. The three primary languages that dominated the world at that time were “Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin”.

Two of the languages in two thousand years later are now … dead languages.

The Hebrew language, in spite of the destruction of Israel and the casting to the Jews to the four winds, has survived. This is a supernatural preservation of a language, and nothing less.

3. The Coat

Verse twenty-three: “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.”

Now, they crucify God, Who was “come in the flesh” [1 John 4:2-3]. They strip HIM of HIS clothes. It is, as Job said of the wicked, “They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;” [Job 24:10].

In the Song of Solomon we see the Son of God has “put off” HIS coat. Look with me there in chapter five, verse two and three: “I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” [Song of Solomon 5:2-3]

In the book of Micah, SOMEONE in the future [according to prophet] will wail and will howl and go stripped and naked. We will read from there: [Micah 1:8] “Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.” Who is this?

In verse fifteen of this chapter HE appears again: “Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.” [Micah 1:15] Jesus Christ is the GOD, the GLORY of Israel!

4. The Scripture Fulfilled

Verse twenty-four: “They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.”

King David of Israel [before the year of 1015 B.C. which is the year he died] wrote Psalm 22 by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Turn to there. Read verse eighteen. “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” [Psalm 22:18] Now, this psalm is totally Messianic, and it is pointing to a then future event in history which would occur one thousand forty-eight years later in 33 A.D.

I need to say something now. The prophecies found in the Bible [Scripture] will come true [be fulfilled] 1oo percent of the time. The BOOK will have a perfect record when it is all said and done. You can count on it.

There is not another BOOK [The King James Bible] on the face of this earth that has ever, ever, come close to THIS BOOK! The fact that HIS garment [the coat] was not divvied up by the rending of it, and that it was kept whole, and was given instead to one soldier by the casting lots … literally fulfilled the Scripture. The whole thing was prophesied by the prophet [David] for this reason … so “that the scripture might be fulfilled.”

The Finished Work

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The Gospel According To John

John 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.

John 19:2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,

John 19:3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.

John 19:4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.

John 19:5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!

John 19:6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.

John 19:7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

John 19:8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;

John 19:9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

John 19:10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

John 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee
hath the greater sin.

John 19:12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

John 19:13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but
in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

John 19:14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

John 19:15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered,
We have no king but Caesar.

John 19:16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

John 19:17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

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

John 19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

John 19:20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.

John 19:21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.

John 19:22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

John 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

John 19:24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

John 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

John 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

John 19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

John 19:29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath
day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

John 19:32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

John 19:33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

John 19:35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

John 19:36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

John 19:37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

John 19:38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the
body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.

John 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.

John 19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

John 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.

John 19:42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

The Place Of The Skull