6 hours of utter agony for JESUS to pay for the sin of man
The meaning of the Cross
1. The ultimate demonstration of God's LOVE
Many people would say that it is the cross is the symbol of Christianity. Others would say that it is the means of Roman justice as capital punishment for criminals.
Both of these answers are insufficient to the real meaning behind the cross because it is the ultimate demonstration of the love of God.
Paul said in Romans 5:8
"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. "
The cross is the proof that there is no length to which God will not go to win the hearts of men. It shows how far God will go to bring us to Him.
2. Totally Unexpected by the Jews
For the Jews living 2000 years ago in Israel, the cross was an unexpected to be associated with their Messiah.
It was unthinkable. The Jews were expecting a political Messiah who would overthrow the Roman occupation and set up Israel in Jerusalem for a theocratic kingdom.
When John the Baptist came with the message: repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. That got their attention. Together with Jesus' own message:
Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
When Jesus travelled from Nazareth to other places, healing and performing Messianic miracles, people recognised that he could not be none other than the promised Messiah and failed to understand the real reason of Jesus first coming was spiritual because His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36):
John 6:15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Jerusalem is the city of the Great King
Psalm 48:1 Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
Psalm 48:2 Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.
Jerusalem is the centre of Israel's religious life and messianic expectations. Jerusalem is known to be the centre of the world, geographically.
God is doing something very spectacular for the whole world at the very centre of His own creation.
Jesus entered Jerusalem one week before the high holy week of unleavened bread; the Messiah of the Jews and their king, entered the holy city riding on a donkey, not on a horse, the crowd hailed him their king as was predicted by prophet Zechariah 9:9 :
Matt. 21:7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put them on them their cloaks, and he (Jesus) sat on them.
Matt. 21:8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
Matt. 21:9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD" Hosanna in the highest!"
Matt. 21:10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"
Matt. 21:11 And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
First and foremost in order to enter the kingdom of God and become citizens of the city of God, one must be born again and receive salvation. And that is exactly what Jesus is doing now, entering Jerusalem, to become a sacrifice for sins. He will do it in the most unexpected manner that shocked the religious people in Israel and His own disciples.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Matthew 27:33 They came to a place called Golgotha.
Matthew 27:34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.
Matthew 27:35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
3. The pathology of the Cross
Golgotha is the place of the skull, which is the mountain Moriah where God had asked Abraham to sacrifice his son.The cross was invented by the Persians and the Romans adopted it and used it as their principal means of capital punishment because crucifixion delayed death for hours or days. Crucifixion was so brutal that people usually die of asphyxiation.
The nails are pierced through the radius and ulna so that the weight of the body is hanged from the wrists and not from the hand, to allow the body to hang longer.
The spike through the foot is placed sideways through the heel bone and driven all the way into the wood so that the legs were held in a twisted position to allow the body to raise itself to breath because the pectoralis muscles and the diaphragm would become paralysed. That position allowed Jesus to raise His body on the spike from His heels to take a breath and and He would go down again and it would have been utter agony for our LORD to be on that cross from 9am, for 6 very long critical hours of utter agony.
The number 6 represents sin in the Scriptures. Jesus was on that cross for the sin of all humanity. The sin that was committed in the garden of Eden; the disobedience to the command of God, has been restored. Salvation is at hand.
Matthew 27:37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
4. Darkness for 3 hours at Jesus death
Matthew 27:45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.
From noon to 3pm, there is complete darkness over all the earth. When Jesus was born, a myriad of angels and stars illuminated the sky to announce the glory of the LORD and the saviour was born (Luke 2:8-15).
The darkness was all over the earth when Jesus was being crucified.
5. Why darkness?
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is recorded in Leviticus 16. On that day, the high priest is commanded to burn incense in order to create mist and fog to prevent him form seeing the presence of God. It was for his own protection that when he enters the holy of holies, it is in utter darkness because of the uncleanness, transgressions and the sins of the people.
During this divine transaction for our salvation, this vicarious atonement which is the substitutionary atonement, Jesus is presenting Himself and He is presenting His blood before His Father like the priest on Yom Kippur.
Jesus is entering the Holy of Holies, in utter darkness on earth, and He is offering Himself to His Father in the darkness of secrecy.
Darkness is also referring to the darkness and wickedness of the world. The world wants to extinguish the light of the world, Jesus, but God had a better plan than them.
Genesis 20:50 You (brothers of Joseph) intended to harm me (Joseph), but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
God is sovereign and nothing happens without His will.
Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice. "Eli, Eli, lema sabachtani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?).
God the Father who had been so close to His Son during His earthly ministry broke fellowship with His Son. The eyes of the Father God were too pure to behold the evil that had rested on His Son.
Jesus never experienced this separation from His Father. They were united in the Godhead in all eternity past.
During these 3 hours of darkness that represents our sins and transgressions, Jesus is separated from His Father.
Since our birth we have been separated from God and the holiness of God because of our sinful inheritance. When Jesus took our place on the cross, He became sin in our place and He gave Himself as the unblemished perfect sacrificial lamb to God to appease God of His wrath against sin.
When we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and we believe that He has taken our sin on Himself, we are atoned. We are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Amazing.
Isaiah 53:10a Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer
6. Who is responsible for crucifying Jesus?
One may say Judas, or Pilate, or Caiaphas, the chief Priest, but the ultimate answer is God Himself because in the sovereign grace of God, He crushed His son for ME and YOU so that we can be saved.
Why? Because we are unable to be as holy and righteous as God. God created us with free will to choose Him and history tells us that Adam, the first man, failed at this choice. Out of the whole creation, there was only one single restriction and he chose wrong and sinned against God. That tells us that we are unable to save ourselves and we need someone to advocate for us. And that is why God had to crush His Son so that He can die in our place as ransom for many.
Therefore,
I do not need to work for my salvation.
I do not have to go into purgatory after death to burn for my sins.
I do not need to make pilgrimage to cleanse me off my sins.
Jesus took my sins because He took my place as a ransom for my debt. It is a vicarious atonement that is a substitutionary atonement; Jesus took my place and died in my place. My spirit is alive now in all eternity.
7. It is finished (Telelastai - paid in full)
John 19:30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Jesus is crying out victory.
Jesus gave up His spirit. He died by choice.
John 10:17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again.
John 10:18 No one takes if from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.
On the 7th hour, Jesus was united with His Father. We know from various references in the Scriptures, that the number 7 is completion and Jesus completed the task that He was commanded to do for the salvation of humanity; to allow humanity to have fellowship with God the Father.
Let us rejoice because our LORD lives! Salvation is at hand.
Isaiah 53:11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their their iniquities.
Prayer
My friends if you have not made peace with God and you feel convicted today to surrender. I encourage you to pray this prayer with me:
Dear Lord,
I come before you now to ask for your forgiveness, for the sins that I have committed both against you and before You, both knowingly and unknowingly. I thank You Lord that You promise to forgive those sins if my heart is sincere, and my faith is in your Son, Jesus the Messiah, my redeemer, to atone for them.
Lord, I know I have strayed from the path You have desired for me. I have put my own interest and desires above yours and by doing so have chosen not to honor You in my ways.
Lord I can see that I moved away from You and You didn't move away from me. I desire that you cleanse me of my impure heart and renew in me a steadfast spirit to worship You and to obey You.
Help me to realize the errors of my ways and to be aware of and to fear your awesome power because I know the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.
Lord, I give You praise and thanksgiving for all you've done in my life, both for the blessings I am aware of and also for those that have remained hidden to me. Thank You Lord for adopting me into Your family, and for calling me your child.
Lord Jesus, I come now to rededicate my life to You, that You may use me however You will. Help me to hear your voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit and to be aware of its promptings. Lord I rededicate my heart to you, wanting to love you with all my heart, all my strength and all my might. Help me to grow in this manner.
Lord help me to be aware that I represent you as Your ambassador and thank You for that awesome opportunity. Help me to live my life in a way that brings honor and glory to You. I pray for knowledge and understanding concerning Your Word and Your will and Your ways and for wisdom and discernment on how to apply these things in my life and the life of others.
I thank you Lord that you have allowed me to come back into your good grace through faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I recognize Him as King above all kings and His Name above all other names for He alone is worthy.
I lift all things up to you Lord, and I ask for these things in the might name of Jesus,
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