Theme: The passion and death of Christ
Text: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Heb. 4:14-16, 5:7a; Lk. 23:26-41
The entire message of the Gospel revolves around one unique historical event: the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary. It was sacrificial in every sense of the word as it involved the offer of God’s only Son in a most cruel and painful way. It was a sacrifice that went far beyond the sacrifice of Abraham who was ready to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac to the Lord. Abraham’s sacrifice showed certain similarities with the sacrifice of Christ. Isaac carried the wood for his own sacrifice up the mountain although they went with two servants. As a young man he could easily have resisted, yet he willingly accepted to be the sacrifice. After demonstrating his total commitment to God by his readiness to sacrifice his son God did not require such a price from Abraham and instead provided a ram for the sacrifice. In the case of His own Son, Jesus Christ, who also carried his own cross and was hang between two thieves, God could not provide a substitute because there was no one who could take His place. As in Isaac’s case, Jesus could have resisted. He could have declined to come into the world in the first place, and He could have resisted the cross. But He did not and God made the greatest sacrifice in the history of the universe because of His love for us. God’s sacrifice cost Him all that He had – it cost Him His only begotten Son. A single sovereign act of God brought together all the guilt and the suffering of humanity and offered one all sufficient solution. However, to receive God’s all sufficient solution we must all make our way to the same place: the cross of Jesus Christ. The passion and death of Christ was God’s chosen way of salvation planned from the beginning of the world to deal with every person’s sin, suffering and sorrow.
The cross has a different meaning for different people. According to Paul it is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. To the unbelieving Jew it is inconceivable that the Messiah, the Son of God, should die ‘on a tree’, that is under the curse of God. To the unbelieving Gentile it is ridiculous to suppose that a god, one who is immortal, should die. The cross is in reality the only way for Christ to accomplish His mission of redemption and it is the power of God to believers. Jesus had to be nailed to it and pour out His blood to deal with sin and its consequences to reunite God with man. Paul, the author of most of the New Testament, initially could not understand why the early believers would believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah because according to his understanding of the Scriptures being hung on a tree - that is on a cross - meant to be under the curse of God. He was so zealous for what he perceived to be the truth that he persecuted and killed those who believed that Jesus Christ, a cursed person, was God. But his life was radically changed when he understood clearly the reason why Jesus was made a curse. Do we understand that Jesus Christ became a curse because of us, because of you and me? Do we understand that Jesus Christ became a curse because He took our sin upon Himself? This was what was portrayed in the Old Testament by the sin offering. A person who had sinned was required to bring his sacrificial offering, a sheep, a goat, a bull or some other animal to the priest. He would confess his sin over the offering, and the priest would symbolically transfer the sin he had confessed from the person to the animal that would then be killed to pay the penalty for the sin. This was designed to foreshadow what was to be accomplished by the single, all sufficient sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. The cross, therefore, deals with the universal problem of all humanity, our rebellion against God. In Christ’s suffering and death, however, He bore more than our sins. If the penalty for sin is death then why did Christ have to suffer as He did to provide atonement? Isaiah tells us why He suffered. He suffered to bear our grief’s and sorrows, and He suffered for our peace and healing. Surely atonement for sin is our greatest need, yet God, sending His Son to suffer and die, provided more than an escape from judgement. He provided for our abundant life. Jesus had to take our place and endure all the evil consequences that were due by divine justice to our sin. It was the only way for God to offer us forgiveness without compromising His own eternal justice. If we have any need or problem in our life, there is only one place to go to find God’s provision or solution – it is to the cross of Jesus Christ.
Our sins and our iniquities led to our separation from God. Jesus’ death on the cross, therefore, was a great victory for us as it provided the solution for us to be reconciled to God and to enjoy His provisions. Because God dealt with our sin on the cross, it meant that all the misery and suffering that is a result of sin, was also dealt with. The cross has freed us not only from sin and Satan but also from death. It is the place where the love of God and His righteous judgement meet. His righteous judgement demanded the death penalty for sin, the shedding of blood. His love met His own demands and Jesus, the Son of God, died in our place. At Calvary we see the greatness of God’s love and greatness of man’s sin. When God created man, He created a perfect being in His own image and likeness. However there was a moment in history when a single act of disobedience led to man’s expulsion from God’s presence. Separated from God’s presence, man lost his essential communion with Him and thereby the ability to maintain God’s image and likeness. The result was the loss of his dominion that depended on his being in the image and likeness of God. Now instead of inner peace and harmony, he was filled with guilt and condemnation and has since never been free from sorrow, suffering, sickness and hardship. The cross was God’s way to restore man and it meant suffering and the shedding of blood. The blood flowed freely from His back, His head, His face, His hands, His feet and His side. As the Roman soldiers laid deep stripes on Jesus back with their whips, His blood flowed for our healing. As the Roman soldiers took a crown of thorns and forcibly drove it onto Jesus’ head, the blood flowed to sanctify our minds. As the soldiers pierced His hands and feet with nails, His blood flowed to cleanse our hands and feet. And as one of the soldiers after His death pierced his side with a spear His blood and water came out providing for us a river of life. The tragic sight of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross was more than even God Himself wished to witness but He went through it for our sakes. Jesus Christ was not merely identified with our iniquity; He also endured all the evil consequences of that iniquity. Now in exchange, God offers us all the good that was due to Jesus. None of us has ever done anything to deserve such an offer, and none of us can ever do anything to deserve it. We receive it when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Sin cannot coexist with God so God’s only begotten son hung on the cross bearing the sins of the world to reconcile us to God. The cross is the price Jesus paid for our redemption. He literally bought us back by paying our debt with His blood. We have been purchased, bought with a price, His blood for our sins. Peter says that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the blood of Christ, as a lamb, without spot nor blemish. His blood sanctifies and makes us clean and gives us access to God’s presence. Jesus Christ has not only made it possible for us to have access to God’s presence, He has also made it possible for us to know God personally and to experience the love, peace and joy that fellowship with Him brings. Jesus became a curse to “redeem us from the curse of the law, that we might receive the promises of the Spirit through faith.” Jesus Christ was sold for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. He became a slave to redeem us from the slave market of sin. Jesus bore our shame that we might share his glory. He endured rejection on our behalf so that we might have His acceptance with the Father. On the cross, Jesus cried out with a loud voice and there came no answer from heaven. For the first time in the history of the universe, the Son of God called out to His Father and received no response because He had been made sin with our sinfulness. So fully was Jesus identified with man’s iniquity that the uncompromising holiness of God caused Him to reject even His own Son? This happened that we might be made righteous with His righteousness, a righteousness that we cannot achieve by our own efforts. This is God’s own righteousness, a righteousness that had never known sin. Just like the sin offering the sin of the whole world was transferred to Jesus and by His sacrificial death, He made atonement for the sin of the whole human race. Jesus Christ also made His riches available to us by enduring poverty for our sakes. In the words of Paul we “know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich.” Jesus experienced total poverty on the cross. He was hungry, thirsty, and naked and no longer owned anything at all. After His death He was buried in a borrowed robe and in a borrowed tomb. Jesus endured absolute poverty for our sakes so that “God would make all grace abound toward us, that we, always having all sufficiency in all things, would have an abundance for every good work.” The final outcome of sin is death and when Jesus became identified with our sin, it was inevitable that He should also experience death, the outcome of sin. He died that we might have life “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God has provided one solution to all the problems of mankind. Are you looking for solutions to problems in your life? The only place where we can find God’s solution is at the cross of Jesus Christ.
The cross of Jesus Christ is at the centre of man’s existence on earth. From the moment the first man and woman sinned, it was pre planned by God that Jesus would die on the cross. From that time on, people looked forward in faith to what God promised He would do on the cross to save them. Today we look back and by believing what Jesus has done for us on the cross receive forgiveness and new life. The cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified was meant for the crucifixion of another person, a man named Barabbas, who had been found guilty of rebellion against the Roman government and sentenced to death. When Jesus Christ took his place it meant that Barabbas was declared not guilty and set free. Barabbas represents each one of us. We are all guilty of rebellion against God and deserve to die. But Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God took our place on the cross, that we might be freed from the sentence of death and set free. Christ paid a great price for our redemption. The price was the most horrible form of death - crucifixion - described as a merciless form of torture that deliberately prolonged the pain and postponed death for as long as possible. To the Romans it was so shameful that it was reserved for slaves and the worst criminals but it was God’s chosen way of salvation. Christ died as our substitute. He died instead of us, so that we might not have to die for our sins. But He also died as our representative, so that when He died we died with Him. Jesus Christ shed His blood to pay the penalty for our sin and for our forgiveness. Have you received God’s forgiveness and new life? Jesus offers us the gift of eternal life if we would accept His sacrifice and acknowledge Him as Saviour and Lord. You can accept His gift today and if you have already done so the simplest and purest expression of true faith is to say Thank You. The more we thank Him, the more we will believe what He has done for us. And the more we believe, the more we will want to thank Him. Amen!
