So what happened on the cross? Why is this THE seminal moment of Christianity? Many of us accept the reality of the cross without understanding why it matters. The cross, in its simplest terms, was a substitution. Back in the Garden of Eden, mankind rebelled against God and decided to be god instead. That created a separation between God and man and that rebellion was so infectious that it spread from generation to generation, leading us to do all manner of things that are not like God. In order for God to restore that broken relationship something had to bear the punishment for all of that evil—something had to die or we would have to bear it ourselves. But that something had to be completely without evil. The problem was that anyone born human of a human father would be unable to resist the rebellious spirit. So Jesus came, born of a human mother but not a human father so was without that rebellion.
To understand why Jesus died on the cross we need to get some history on the Old Covenant sacrificial system. We need to go back to: Leviticus 16:20-22 where I want to illustrate the transfer that takes place from man to sacrifice. God, you see, modeled this substitutionary death long before the cross.
1.Transference – Leviticus 16:20-22
"When he has finished purifying the most holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he is to present the live male goat. 21 Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the Israelites' wrongdoings and rebellious acts—all their sins. He is to put them on the goat's head and send it away into the wilderness by the man appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on it all their wrongdoings into a desolate land, and he will release it there.”
The sin offering for the people was taken outside the camp ( vs 27) after laying hands on the offering. Most offerings were then slaughtered and the blood of that offering was sprinkled on the mercy seat to “cover” the people’s sins. In a sense, we “laid hands” on Jesus when the guards tied him up, when they struck him, and when they literally nailed his hands and feet to the cross. So too then, Jesus as the ultimate sin offering was taken outside of Jerusalem to Golgotha, bearing on Himself all of our iniquities:
Hebrews 13:11-13 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy of holies by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that He might sanctify the people by His own blood. 13 Let us then go to Him outside the camp, bearing His disgrace. (burning outside the camp comes from Exodus 29:14 and other places).
2.He became sin for us - 2 Corinthians 5:21
He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God made Jesus bear the guilt for all of our iniquities, though He Himself was innocent. He took our sin and gave us His purity.
3.God placed the punishment for our sins on Him – Isaiah 53:6
Isaiah 53:6 “the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.”
4.The Father then turned His back on the Son, pouring out His wrath against all sin. Isaiah 54:7
“I deserted you for a brief moment but I will take you back with great compassion.”
5.Jesus died, and He sprinkled His own blood on the mercy seat of the heavenly temple as a “propitiation” (Romans 3:25) or cleansing for our sin (Hebrews 9:21 – 26). Unlike the animal sacrifices which had to be done year after year, this was a once and for all cleansing as Jesus absorbed the full impact of our sin.
6.This satisfied the wrath of God against sin
Romans 5:9-10 “Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath.”
What does this mean to us now?
Removed our Sin
Psalm 103:12 He “removed” our sins:
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
The word “remove” is a primitive Hebrew root that means “to widen.” The gulf between us and our transgressions is ever widening because you cannot ever go east enough to go west!
Blotted out our sin
Isaiah 43:25 He has blotted our sins out and won’t remember them anymore. It is I who sweep away your transgressions for My own sake and remember your sins no more.
“Blotted” means literally to rub like with an eraser. To “remember” means “to mark.” So it would be the opposite of “erasing.” God doesn’t write down our sins anymore because they have all been erased—past, present, and future!
Redeemed us
Romans 3:24 They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Redemption means “release through a price paid.” The price for our release from the punishment due us for sin was the death of Jesus.
Did away with the Old Covenant
He did away with the Old Covenant with its sacrifices and Laws when the curtain was torn in two (Ephesians 2:15-16, Romans 7:4) so now we don’t need animal sacrifices to “cover” our sins since Jesus cleansed them “once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
Tasted death
Hebrews 2:9 He tasted death so we don’t have to. He died both spiritually (“why have you forsaken me”) and physically. When He died physically He was placed back in the presence of the Father (Luke 23:45)
You died with Him and rose with Him
Romans 6:6-8, Colossians 2:20
For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin's dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin's claims. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies. Death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Reconciled us to God
Colossians 1:22 “But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him.”
Reconcile means to “restore to a prior state of harmony”. Before the rebellion in the Garden of Eden we were at harmony with God. Ever since we have “alienated and hostile in mind because of your evil actions” (Colossians 1:21).
Made us His children
Galatians 4:4-7 “But when the completion of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Set free from the power of sin
Romans 7:4-6 “Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.”
So Jesus, on the cross, stood in your place before God, who poured out what was due for everything you have ever done that is not like God, then turned around and gave you the life He deserved because He never sinned. And that life, which frees you more and more from the old self, will sustain you forever into eternity. You didn’t earn it but you get it at no cost to you. Isn’t that cool!
