The prophet Isaiah wrote that the suffering servant would suffer but that this suffering would be viewed by the people as punishment by God. The Bible does show in this very chapter that “it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer”, and Jesus himself went to the cross after He had prayed “My Father if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Yes, Jesus suffered; yes, it was God’s will to have him stricken and afflicted but it was not some sort of punishment.
You see punishment has to do with paying a penalty for some wrong committed, but Jesus did no wrong. He went about his life not doing anything wrong. It was John the Baptist who said that Jesus is the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The Old Testament said that on the night of the Passover, the Israelites were to take “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.” The sacrifice was to be a lamb without blemish. Spotless. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” So, Paul clearly said that Jesus Christ was without sin. He had done no wrong. No, Jesus went to the cross not as a punishment but as a sacrifice. Jesus went to the cross and died to fulfil the law. As Paul said, Jesus died a sinner’s death so we might live. We are the sinners, we are the ones who have done the wrong, and it is us who deserve to be punished. Even the criminal on the cross beside Jesus said so. “But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23: 40-41, NIV).
On the day of Jesus' death on the cross, two things happened that show this clearly. While Jesus hung on the cross, great darkness came over the world, and it lasted for three hours, and during this time Jesus realised that the close communion with His Heavenly Father had been broken. “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” You see God the Father, had turned his back on Jesus, the Son of God, because all the sin of the world had been placed on his body, and the Holy God could not bear to see this sinful being. The sinless had become sinful. And the other thing that happened when Jesus died, was, “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” The curtain that divided the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was torn into two. The curtain that separated the sinful world and a sinless God was ripped from top to bottom. Now, there was nothing to stop mankind and God from having that close relationship that God had originally planned from the beginning of time. If we cast our minds back to the Garden of Eden when God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. There was no sin separating man and God, and now with Jesus' death again there is no sin separating man and God.
Lastly, the crucifixion was preplanned. This wasn’t a thing that the religious leaders and the Roman authorities chose to do. This was all planned. A thousand years beforehand David wrote, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” (Ps 22:1, NIV) The very words used by Jesus on the cross were in the Old Testament. We remember Jesus the twelve year old boy sitting in the Temple learning and asking questions, and there he may have learned that approximately 20 years later he would have to utter these words. What kind of man would be calm enough to remember to utter these words during an agonising death? This is our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, what does all this mean for us today? Simply this:
God loves each one of us and he wants to have a deep, lasting relationship with each one of us. He showed this by sending His son to die on the cross for each of us. The barrier that was built was torn down by God to allow each of us to come to Him. No matter how bad we have been, God wants us to come to Him.
When we come to God we should have an attitude of gratitude. Our first words should be “Thank you” because he tore down the curtain that had been erected.
We should say thank you for dying on the cross for us, so that we may live.
We should say thank you that He gave us the Holy Spirit, so that we may live for Him and be empowered to serve Him.
We should say thank you that He gives us a way out when we are tempted so that we can avoid yielding to the temptation.
We should say thank you for………. (Can you think of things in your own life that you are thankful for? Now is the time to praise him.)
