The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

Life of Christ Lesson 177: Faith: A Penitent Thief {The Crucifixion} (It is Finished VI)

The sub-title for this concluding lesson on our mini-series, "It is Finished" (What Jesus Did for You) is, "Faith: A Penitent Criminal".  The conversion of one of the two thieves dying with the Lord is a wonderful demonstration of His triumphant victory over the wicked forces of Satan's principalities and powers even when He was seemingly at His weakest (He was really at His strongest).  This is the true account of a sinner who experienced the transforming power of God's grace.  There are some very significant doctrinal teachings that come to light in the Lord's promise to the penitent thief.  What appears to be five short and simple verses (Luke 23:39-43) about a man's dying salvation are actually complex and packed full of deep, spiritual, and eternal truths regarding the Christian faith. Did you know the thief's salvation was fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy?  It was!  Be surprised to learn where that prophecy was given.

Life of Christ Lesson 176: Hate: A Provoking Crowd {The Crucifixion} {It is Finished V}

The title of this fifth lesson of our "It is Finished" series concerning Christ's cross-work is "Hate: A Provoking Crowd".  As Satan was in the very process of bruising the Saviour's heel (Genesis 3:15), he was also seeing to it that representatives of each First Century "people group" voiced hatred and scorn at his age-old enemy, God's Son (the One Who cast him like lightning from Heaven).  The events of this lesson occurred during the Lord's first three hours on the cross, before it became eerily dark.  The outline for this study is four-fold:  (1) The Scoffer Passing By the Saviour, (2) The Sanhedrin Calling Down the Saviour, (3) The Soldiers Mocking Under the Saviour, and (4) The Sinners Hanging Next to the Saviour. Please understand this truth: Many people erroneously think the crucifixion manifested the Lord's weakness.  The total opposite is true!  Christ crucified is the power of God (II Corinthians 13:4)! This lesson in written form (with Homework Questions) is found in "The Caldwell Commentaries" - Life of Christ Vol. 8 (available through www.scripturetruth.com [http://www.scripturetruth.com]).

Life of Christ Lesson 175b: The Crucifixion - Part I {It is Finished IV}

This is the continuation of Lesson 175a on the Lord's crucifixion.  Repeatedly, throughout His earthly ministry, Christ's enemies sought to destroy Him, but they could not.  HIS predetermined "hour" had not come.  But finally it did, and their desires were granted by the will of God Himself.  The Lord Jesus, Prince of Life, willingly yielded Himself into their hands.  At any minute - even hanging nailed to a cross - He could have used His power to escape, but He did not.  He was fully surrendered to carry through to completion His divinely ordained mission to redeem mankind.  Regardless what it meant for Him personally by way of spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental anguish, He would drink the full, bitter cup of His Father's wrath and holy judgment against sin - for you and for me.  As in the first part of this two-part look at Christ's horrific crucifixion, we will see how Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled.  Learn, too, who wrote the first Gospel tract and what it said.  Also, did you know the Holy Spirit did NOT inspire any of the four gospel writers to record details about the Lord's actual crucifixion!  Why do you think that is?

Life of Christ Lesson 175a: The Crucifixion - Part I {It is Finished III}

In-depth commentary/study books to ACCOMPANY EVERY STUDY on our podcast are available through Amazon.com [http://Amazon.com]and scripturetruth.com [http://www.scripturetruth.com] Search under Katherine Caldwell Commentaries) In this lesson, we engage in the unpleasant task of describing the suffering of the cruelest, most disgraceful death instrument depraved mankind ever invented.  We discuss a four-point outline in this two-part study of "The Crucifixion":  the Pain of Crucifixion, the Prayer of Christ ("Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"), the Parting of Clothing (a fulfillment of Psalm 22:18), and the Placard of the Cross.   Similar to the lack of any details recorded in the four gospels about the Lord's scourging by the Romans, we also find that none of the four divinely inspired authors wrote anything more about His crucifixion than simply to say, "they crucified Him" along with "two robbers".  From the human perspective, we can assume Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John saw little reason to describe the horrors of crucifixion to their contemporary readers, for everyone in that day knew more about crucifixion than they wanted to know.

Life of Christ Lesson 174b: The Way of the Cross - Part II {It is Finished II}

An extremely serious lesson (continuation of Lesson 174a)!   BE BLESSED!