The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

Matthew 27:23b-30; Mark 15:15-19; Luke 23:23-25; John 19:12-16

In this third part of our look at "Satan's Hour of Darkness," we look at a four-point outline (some in this lesson and the rest in the lesson to follow - 173b):  (1) The Demand of the Crowd, (2) The Denouncement of a Coward, (3) The Death Sentence of the Christ, and (4) The Depravity of a Cohort.

Satan's enmity against God was manifested throughout the Old Testament era by his continual striving to prevent the Christ from being born!  Satan sought to eliminate the ancestral line from which He (the Saviour) was prophesied to come.  When he failed in that mission, Satan attempted to eliminate Him shortly after He was born by using Herod the Great's horrific "Bethlehem Massacre".  God intervened, and the old dragon was again foiled in his quest.  Then, repeatedly throughout the Lord's earthly life, Satan continued in his attempts to destroy Him - either through temptations to sin or premature death.  Again, he was always hindered by the Lord from accomplishing his mission.

But during Christ's trials and crucifixion, God no longer hindered the powers of darkness.  The hour had arrived when the serpent would bruise the Saviour's heel (Genesis 3:15).  Satan fully availed himself of his opportunity to persecute, mock, and kill his age-old Enemy (his very Creator), which he did through his human dupes.

For all Caldwell Commentary study books go to

scripturetruth.com  or  mazon.com

John 19:1-5 SCOURGED.  MOCKED.  EXHIBITED.  HATED.  The horrible atrocities heaped upon the One Who came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost went beyond the bounds of reasonable human understanding.  Where was the divinely inspired, Scripturally-based justice of Israel in the Jews' dealings with Jesus?  Where was the much praised Roman justice when it came to His civil trials?  Why was a bound Prisoner scourged and mocked and condemned to die when "the judge" repeatedly declared His innocence?  Why was the Lord Jesus treated in a way that unparalleled the treatment of any other person in history?  What is the secret of His gross mistreatment and injustice?

The answer is that divine restraint was removed so human depravity was permitted to demonstrate itself in all its deceitful fulness as representatives of both Jews and Gentiles crucified the Son of God Who came to save them.  We are also told by Christ Himself that His unparalleled mistreatment was due to the fact that it was "Satan's Hour of Darkness" (see Luke 22:53).  The "hour" had arrived when the serpent would bruise the Saviour's "heel" (Genesis 3:15).

Learn about this "hour" in both this and the following two lessons.

Matthew 27:15-21; Mark 15:6-11; Luke 23:17-19; John 18:39, 40

In this second half of our study on "The Lamb Before His Shearers" (see Lesson 171a), we do not so much look at the silence of Christ as we did when He stood before His accusers and before Herod Antipas, but we look at the selection of the crowd.  Pilate presented the crowd assembled around the Praetorium with a "Passover Bargain".  They could choose to free one prisoner, and the choice was between Jesus and Barabbas, a robber, murderer, and insurrectionist against Rome.

We also discuss "Mrs. Pilate's Precautionary Dream" - one her husband should have paid great attention to!  Thirdly, we then look at "The Multitude's Providential Choice".  Sadly, they chose to free Barabbas instead of Jesus - but, of course, Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world!

For all Caldwell Commentary study books go to

scripturetruth.com  or  mazon.com

Matthew 27:12-14; Mark 15:3-5; Luke 23:5-16

This is the first of a two-part study entitled, "The Lamb Before His Shearers," speaking of the Lord Jesus, the True Lamb of God sent to redeem mankind from our sin, as He appeared before the official representatives of Rome in a three-phased "civil" trial.  After having failed to find a legitimate indictment against Jesus, the Jewish Sanhedrin Council accused Him of blasphemy when He truthfully claimed to be "the Christ, the Son of God".  The condemned Him to die.  However, since the Jews did not have the legal authority to exact the death penalty themselves, they had to turn to Rome (although this didn't stop them a little later when it came to stoning Stephen to death).  They really wanted Jesus crucified because the Old Testament declared any one who hung from a tree to be "cursed"!  They figured this would surely disqualify Him as the Messiah in the eyes of the people.  Little did they know how He literally became the curse of sin for you, me, and for them!