The prophet Isaiah wrote that the suffering servant would suffer judgment. In the previous sermonm, we saw how Jesus was silent when confronted by Pontius Pilate at his illegal trial. I don’t want to repeat what has been said, but suffice it to say Jesus was judged by Pilate and was taken away and died on the cross at Golgotha.
The reality was that Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent yet he substituted the innocent man, Jesus, for the guilty robber and murderer, Barabbas. Physically, Jesus paid the penalty of death, and the condemned man Barabbas was released. For you and me this is a complete miscarriage of justice, the person who does the crime does the time. But throughout the Old Testament, this substitution was the norm. The sacrificial system was the norm. A young spotless lamb was killed, and the blood of the lamb was spilled. The lamb wasn’t killed to feed a family, no, the lamb was killed for the sins of the person who offered the lamb. The lamb knew nothing about the person’s sins, or how good or bad the person was, yet instead of living in a field with its mother and brothers and sisters, its life was cut short. Also, if the lamb had a blemish or a fault, it wouldn’t be used. No, a spotless lamb, more valuable than a blemished lamb was used. “Where is the sense in that” you may ask, and it’s a good question, and it can only be answered in the life and death of Jesus Christ. Before Christ, we have an obvious picture of God’s desire for His people to live. This was shown at the time of the Passover and the Exodus that immediately followed. At that time, the Israelites left Egypt and left their slavery after the Passover Lamb had been slain, with the blood of the unblemished lamb painted on the doorposts and lintel. Immediately afterwards God moved over the land of Egypt, and this resulted in the death of the Egyptian firstborn whereas the Israelite firstborn remained alive. Turn the clock forward to the time of Jesus and the blood of Jesus was splattered all over the cross members. The spotless, sinless Jesus died on the cross not only in place of Barabbas but for Barabbas and all of us. God substituted our death by killing Jesus. We deserved death because of our sins. All of us are sinful, we are all flawed people. We have all fallen short of God’s standard. But because of the death of Jesus the prophet Isaiah wrote, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Paul said, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The great thing about the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus is that it is so much better than the sacrifices that were carried out in the Old Testament. You see in the Old Testament the people had to go back to the temple or the Tabernacle and keep offering the sin offerings to God but with the sacrifice of Jesus, it was done once and only needed to be done once. There is no need for Jesus to keep coming back to earth and be re-crucified on the cross once a year. No, the sacrifice has been done and that’s it finished. Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient to cover the sins of yesterday and for the sins of tomorrow. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Then he wrote “But when this priest (that is Jesus Christ) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God”, Jesus Christ sat down at the right hand of Father God, the job was done. The sacrifice was done.
Two questions, first question, how does God see you? As a Christian, He sees you as a sinless, spotless child of God because we have been washed in the blood of the lamb. John in his gospel wrote, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” We do not need to fear the Day of Judgment, because we have eternal life.
However, this leaves the second question? On the Day of Judgment, when the trumpet blows, and everyone is brought before God as Judge, how does God see the rest of your family, friends, and neighbours who don't believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour? Will they be like the Egyptians or the Israelites? Eternal life or eternal death? It is certainly true that Jesus died on the cross for them as well. God loves His Creation. He loves His creation so much that he sent His son to die on the cross for them. But your family, your friends, and your neighbours need to come to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves. At this moment in time, even though Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient to save them, they still need to come to a saving faith for themselves.
Therefore, tonight before we go to bed, let us thank God for Jesus dying on the cross in our place, and then let's pray for our friends, family, and neighbours that God may come and touch their hearts.
